9. A majority of delegates shall be necessary to proceed to business; and every question shall be determined according to the vote of a majority of the members present, except where the constitution otherwise provides; any smaller number, together with the speaker, shall be sufficient to adjourn; twenty may call a house, send for absentees, and make any order for their censure or discharge. 10. When the house rises, every member shall remain in his seat until the speaker passes him. 11. On a call of the house, the doors shall not be closed against any member until his name shall have been once enrolled. 12. Any member, sustained by seven others, shall have a right, before the question is put, to demand the ayes and noes on the decision of any question; and on such occasions, the names of the members shall be called over by the clerk, and the ayes and noes respectively entered on the journal, and the question decided as a majority shall thereupon appear. After the ayes and noes shall have been taken, and before they are counted or entered on the journal, the clerk shall read over the names of those who voted in the affirmative, and of those who voted in the negative, at which time any member shall have the right to correct any mistake committed in enrolling his name. 13. No business shall be introduced, or considered after 12 o'clock, until the orders of the day be disposed of, except messages from the senate or executive. Among the orders of the day, those which are general in their nature, shall have precedence over such as are private or local. 14. The speaker may call any member to the chair, who shall exercise its functions for the time; but no member, by virtue of such appointment, shall preside for a longer time than one day. 15. The speaker shall set apart convenient seats for the use of the members of the senate and executive, and of the judges of the superior courts of this commonwealth and of the United States, and of such other persons as he may invite within the bar of the house. 16. All bills or other business shall be dispatched in the order in which they are introduced, unless the house shall direct otherwise in particular cases. In future, all bills of a general nature shall, after their first reading, be printed for the use of the house. 17. The clerk shall not permit any records or papers to be taken from the table, or out of his possession; but he may deliver to a member any bills depending before the house, on taking his receipt for the same. 18. The journal of the house shall be drawn up by the clerk, on each day, and after being examined by the speaker, shall be printed and delivered without delay. 19. The clerk shall publish, with the laws, all resolutions of a general nature, annex marginal notes to each law or resolution, and subjoin an index to the whole. 20. The clerks of the senate and house of delegates may interchange messages at such time, between the hour of adjournment and that of meeting on the following day, as that the said messages may be read immediately after the orders of the day. 21. It shall be the duty of the clerk to make an alphabetical schedule of the petitions presented during the session, with a.short analysis of each, for the information of succeeding legislatures. 22. No petition of a private nature having been once rejected, shall be acted on a second time unless it be supported by new evidence; nor shall any such petition, after a third disallowance, be again acted on. The several clerks of committees shall keep alphabetical lists of all such petitions, specifying the sessions at which they were presented, and the determination of the house thereon; and shall deliver the original petitions to the clerk of the house, to be preserved in his office. 23. No petition or memorial shall be received, praying for the division of a county or parish, changing the place of holding any court or other local matter, unless the purport of such petition or memorial shall have been fixed up at the courthouse door of the county where such alteration is proposed, at two different courts, and shall have remained there one day during the sitting of each court, and at least one month shall have passed after the holding of the last court, and before the petition or memorial is presented. And no petition or memorial shall be received, or bill brought in for establishing or discontinuing ferries, nor for any other purpose affecting private rights or property, unless the parties interested shall have had one month's notice, and if they be not known to the petitioner or memorialist, the purport of the petition, memorial or bill, shall be set up at the courthouse in the manner before directed, and also three times inserted in some newspaper in the state most convenient for conveying the intended information, one month before offering or moving the same. 24. No petition shall be received claiming a sum of money, or praying the settlement of unliquidated accounts, unless it be accompanied with a certificate of disallowance from the executive or auditor, containing the reason why it was rejected. But this order shall extend to no person applying for a pension. 25. When any petition, or bill founded on one, is rejected, such petition shall not be withdrawn, but the petitioner, or member presenting his petition, or any member from the county or corporation in which the petitioner resides, may without leave, withdraw any document filed therewith; and a list of every document so withdrawn, shall be preserved by the clerk. All petitions not finally acted on, may, with the accompanying documents, be in like manner withdrawn, after the expiration of the session at which they were presented. 26. No petition shall be read in the house, unless particularly required by some member; but every member presenting one, shall announce the name of the petitioner, the nature of the application, and whether in his opinion a similar application had been before made by said petitioner. He shall also endorse on the back of the petition, his own name as a pledge that it is drawn in respectful language: whereupon it shall be delivered to the clerk, by whom it shall be laid before the proper committee. 27. At the commencement of each session, the following committees shall be appointed by the speaker: 1. A committee of privileges and elections, to consist of nine members. 2. A committee for courts of justice, to consist of not less than nine nor more than thirteen members. 3. A committee for schools and colleges, to consist of not less than nine nor more than thirteen members. 4. A committee of propositions and grievances, to consist of not less than nine nor more than thirteen members. 5. A committee of claims, to consist of not less than nine nor more than thirteen members. 6. A committee of roads and internal navigation, to consist of not less than nine nor more than thirteen members. 7. A committee on the militia laws, to consist of not less than five nor more than seven members. 9. A committee on the penitentiary, to consist of not less than five nor more than seven members. 12. A committee to examine first auditor's office, to consist of not less than five nor more than seven 13. A committee to examine second auditor's office, to consist of not less than five nor more than seven members. 14. A committee to examine clerk's office, to consist of not less than five nor more than seven members. 15. A committee to examine the register's office, to consist of not less than five nor more than seven members. 16. A joint committee to examine the treasurer's accounts, to consist of not less than five nor more than seven members. 17. A joint committee to examine the bonds of public officers, to consist of not less than five nor more than seven members. 18. A joint committee on the public members. library, to consist of not less than five nor more than seven 19. A committee on agriculture and manufactures, to consist of not less than five nor more than thirteen members. 20. A committee to examine enrolled bills, to consist of not less than five nor more than ten members. 21. A committee to examine the lunatic asylums in this commonwealth, to consist of not less than five nor more than ten members. 22. A committee on banks, consisting of not less than seven nor more than eleven members. 23. And a committee on trade and mechanic arts, to consist of not less than nine nor more than thirteen members. 28. The several standing committees shall appoint their own clerks when necessary, and discharge them as soon as their services can be dispensed with. 29. Five members of any standing or select committee, shall be a quorum to proceed to business. 30. The several committees are instructed to report, in all cases to them referred, whether other cases may arise, comprised within the principle of the petitioner: and if a bill be ordered, it shall be so drawn as to provide for all such cases, as well as that in which it originated; and in petitions and other matters referred, the committee shall have power, if they deem it expedient, to report by bill. 31. Select committees shall not consist of less than five nor more than thirteen members. 32. The committee of privileges and elections shall examine the oaths taken by each member, and certificates of election furnished by the sheriffs, and report thereon to the house. 33. The committee of privileges and elections shall report in all cases of privilege or contested elections, the principles and reasons on which their resolutions are founded. 34. The committee for schools and colleges shall annually examine into the state and manner of administration of the Literary fund, and make such report as they may deem proper. - 35. The committee of finance shall annually examine into the state of the debts due from the commonwealth; of the revenue and expenditures of the preceding year, and prepare an estimate of the expenses of the succeeding year, and make such report thereon as they may deem proper. 36. Any person contesting the election of a member returned to serve in this house, will be entitled to receive his wages only from the day on which such person is declared duly elected. 37. Whenever by the equality of sound, a division of the house is rendered necessary in the opinion of the speaker, or of a member, the members shall be required to rise in their places; and if on a general view of the house, a doubt still exist on the mind of the speaker, or of a member, as to the side on which the majority voted, the members shall be counted standing in their places, either by the speaker, or by two members of opposite opinions on the question, to be deputed for the purpose by the speaker. 38. Documents printed by order of the house, shall be printed on paper of the same size with the journal, and a copy shall be bound up with each journal, and furnished the members at the end of the session; and it shall be the duty of the public printer to furnish 185 additional copies bound for that purpose. 39. Any person shall be at liberty to sue out an original writ, or subpoena in chancery, to prevent a bar by the statute of limitations, or to file any bill in equity, and examine witnesses thereupon, for the purpose of preserving their testimony against any member of this house: Provided, That the clerk, after having made out and signed such original writ, or subpoena, shall not deliver it to the party, nor to any other person, during the continuance of the member's privilege. 40. Any person summoned to attend this house, or any one of its committees, as a witness, shall be privileged from arrest during his coming to, attendance on, or return from the house or committee; and no such witness shall be obliged to attend, until the party at whose request he was summoned, shall pay or secure to him, for his attendance and travelling, the same allowance which is made to witnesses attending the general court. 41. If any person shall tamper with a witness, in respect of his evidence to be given before this house, or one of its committees, or directly or indirectly endeavour to deter or hinder a person from appearing or giving evidence, it shall be deemed a high misdemeanor, which the house will severely punish. 42. No person shall be taken into custody by the sergeant at arms, on any complaint of breach of privilege, until the matter is examined by the committee of privileges and elections, and reported to the house, unless by order of the speaker. 43. In all elections, but one vacancy shall be filled at a time. 44. In elections by joint vote of the two houses of the general assembly, each house shall first communicate, by message to the other, the names of the persons who may be put in nomination for the said office in each house respectively; and then each house shall vote separately in its own chamber; and shall each appoint a committee on its part to meet a committee on the part of the other house, and communicate the result of the vote in each house respectively; and if upon such vote, any person have a majority of the whole number of votes, the same shall be reported by the committees to their respective houses, and the speaker of each house shall declare such person duly elected; and if no person shall have a majority of the whole number of votes, both houses shall in like manner proceed to another vote, dropping the person who shall have the smallest number of votes on the former vote; and so on till an election be made; and the results of each vote in each house shall, in like manner, be communicated by each house to the other, and reported by their respective committees; and the election, when made, shall in like manner, be declared by the respective speakers of the two houses. 45. Hereafter it shall be the duty of the clerk, previous to reading each bill, to announce whether it is on its first, second or third reading. 46. On every day so soon as the speaker takes the chair and calls the house to order, the standing committees of the house shall be called over to enable them to make reports. On motion of Mr. DAVIS, Resolved, That DANIEL WARD be appointed sergeant at arms. On motion of Mr. Davis, Resolved, That ROBERT BRADLEY be appointed first doorkeeper. On motion of Mr. DAVIS, the house proceeded to the appointment of a second doorkeeper; thereupon Mr. BANKS nominated David S. Jones; and Mr. HOLLADAY nominated William Chambers; and the vote was recorded as follows: For David S. Jones-Messrs. Powell, Morris, Dickinson, Smith, Evans, Carson, White, Walker, Godwin, Robinson, Richmond, Ballard, Edmundson of Lunenburg, Banks, Davis, M'Pherson, Daniel, Morison, Hargrave, Freeman and Castleman--21. For William Chambers-Messrs. Goode, (speaker,) Custis, Finney, Brown of Albemarle, Hart, Layne, Harvie, M'Dearmon, Sheffey, Johnson, Scruggs, Burwell, Boak, Small, Thompson of Botetourt, Bennett, Bambrick, Harrison of Brunswick, Bocock, Mosby, Fox, Lacy, Cardwell, Jones of Chesterfield, Slaughter, Irving, Chisman, Roane, Love, Scott, Hill of Fayette and Nicholas, Stillman, Carper, Wall, Jones of Gloucester, Leake, Carroll, Calwell, Major, Stovall, Hiett, Thompson of Hampshire, Darracott, Duncan, Lancaster, Dillard, Howard, Hunter, Thompson of Jefferson, Patrick, Wallace, Gaines, Gresham, Harrison of Loudoun, Schooley, M'Intyre, Poindexter, Haymond, Oldham, Browne of Mathews and Middlesex, Waggoner, Williams, Brown of Monongalia, Beirne, Edmundson of Montgomery and Pulaski, Breathed, Kelly, Perrow, Watts, Happer, Yerby, Nelms, Oliver, Edgington, Tatum, Newman, Syme, Lanier, Tunstall, Cackley, Cocke, Fairfax, Stone, Anderson, Tyler, Strother, Mayo, Cook, Harper, Dorman, Bare, Brown of Rockingham, M'Elhenney, Hill of Shenandoah, Stickley, Tate, Goodwin, Holladay, Fitzhugh, Burdett, Gillespie, Goodson, Chandler, Stephenson and Floyd-105. WILLIAM CHAMBERS was thereupon declared to be appointed second doorkeeper. On motion of Mr. DAVIS, Resolved, That the sergeant at arms employ for the service of the house two boys, whose compensation shall not exceed one dollar and fifty cents each per day. On motion of Mr. DAVIS, Resolved, That seats be assigned to the editors of newspapers within the hall, for the purpose of reporting the proceedings of the house. On motion of Mr. CARSON, Resolved, That a committee be appointed on the part of this house to join such committee as may be appointed on the part of the senate, to wait on the governor of the commonwealth of Virginia and inform him that a quorum of the two houses is assembled, and that the general assembly is now ready to receive any communication he may be pleased to make. Ordered, That Mr. CARSON carry the same to the senate and request their concurrence. After some time a message was received from the senate by Mr. M'MULLEN, who informed the house that the senate agreed to the said resolution. Ordered, That the committee under said resolution, on the part of this house, consist of Messrs. Carson, Godwin, Powell, Davis, and Thompson of Botetourt. Mr. CARSON reported that the joint committee had, according to order, waited upon the governor and ascertained from him that he would speedily send a message to the house. The SPEAKER laid before the house the following communication from WILLIAM SMITH, Esq. governor of the commonwealth: EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, DECEMBER 7, 1846. SIR,-Having been officially notified, that the house of delegates is now in session, and ready to receive the communication required by the constitution, I herewith transmit it to you, to be laid before that body. I have the honour to be, With great consideration, your ob't serv't, To the Speaker of the House of Delegates. To the General Assembly of Virginia: WM. SMITH. FELLOW-CITIZENS : In the performance of a duty enjoined by the constitution, I present to you the condition of our commonwealth, and my recommendation of such measures as are calculated, in my judgment, to improve it. In the performance of this duty for the first time, I have to regret that I cannot be as full and as precise as to be satisfactory to myself, or as seems to be contemplated by the constitution. With few exceptions, the law requires all reports relative to the public business to be made to you on the first day of your annual session; and I am thus deprived of the assistance they would afford me in the performance of my present duty. Had I possession of these reports, in time, I should not only have my opportunity greatly improved of thoroughly understanding the condition of the commonwealth, but I should be able to detect errors of fact or of principle, if existing, and to make suggestions for their correction with a force and clearness that I cannot hope now to attain. Our fiscal year has for many years commenced on the first of October-the penitentiary year likewise commences at the same period-and, by resolution adopted March 19th, 1839, all internal improvement companies in which the state is interested are, in this particular, put upon the same footing, and are moreover required to furnish their respective reports "to the second auditor on or before the first day of November annually." If this rule were made general, and all the public agencies were required to make their annual reports up to the first of October, to be delivered to those to whom by law they are directed, on or before the 1st day of November, and such reports as are now required to be made to the legislature should, instead of that body, be required to be made to the governor, and to be delivered to him on or before the time last mentioned, to be communicated with his annual message, it is obvious that he would be more able to see "that the laws be faithfully executed ;" and to acquire a much more thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the condition of the commonwealth; and that his suggestions would be entitled to more weight and consideration than, under present circumstances, he can anticipate. And, if it should be your pleasure to order that these various reports should be printed in octavo form, be bound, and be laid upon your table on the day on which you assemble, you would have a large amount of information in a most agreeable and compenduous form, of easy and ready reference, which is indispensable to you, and would be of great interest to every citizen. I therefore recommend the passage of a resolution directing your public agents hereafter to make their annual reports in conformity with these suggestions. It affords me great pleasure to inform you that the finances of our state are in a highly satisfactory condition. On the first day of October 1845, the balance in the treasury was $106,386 06. On the first day of October of the present year, it was one hundred and thirty-seven thousand four hundred and thirty-three dollars. By certain laws of your last session, appropriations were made from the treasury, chargeable upon the then accruing revenue, portions of which, estimated to amount to $97,000, were undrawn at the close of the last fiscal year. Regarding this sum as a charge upon the treasury, and drawn therefrom, there would have been still left at the period afore said, a balance of $40,433; and this, after promptly meeting every demand upon the treasury, and paying off $45,676 67 of the public debt, which debt was only payable at the pleasure of the legislature. But many of the charges upon the treasury are entirely contingent in their character. Of such charges many cannot, and none may again recur. And I have the satisfaction to inform you, that under a rate of taxation annually decreasing for the last three years, after defraying all the charges of government, and other permanent appropriations, you will have at your command, during the present fiscal year, an estimated surplus of upwards of $150,000. This prosperous state of our finances would seem to call for a further reduction of our taxes. But instead of such a policy, I earnestly recommend a small increase of them upon licenses, pianos, clocks and watches, dividends, and upon interest, except that payable upon our state bonds. I also recommend a restoration of the tax on money. Money may be regarded as the most efficient form of property. Not content with ordinary profits, the owners of money generally hold it for purposes of usury or speculation. And I therefore think I may safely assume that there is no portion of the property of the commonwealth that can with so much propriety be called upon to contribute to the support of the state. The Literary fund exhibits the same general features as were presented by the last annual report. Although the permanent funds have received, substantially, the usual increase from fines, forfeitures and penalties, from sales of runaway slaves, &c., from escheats and derelict estates, from delinquent and forfeited lands, and from the Bristoe estate, yet the report will shew the material reduction of $ 63,630, a loss to the fund resulting from the depreciation of the stock of the Bank of Virginia, and now developed under a law of your last session. This fund also sustained, heretofore, a loss of $18,050 on United States Bank stock. This fund, since its creation, has at different periods lost heavily in dividends. It still owns 3767 shares of bank stock, now worth, it is supposed, $313,170. It does seem to me that this valuable fund, dedicated by your enlightened and patriotic predecessors to the intellectual improvement of our fellow-citizens, should not be identified with our monetary system, liable to all its losses, and without any corresponding equivalent. I therefore recommend that the state take this stock on her own account, and pay to the Literary fund a perpetual annuity of $18,790, that sum being an interest of six per cent. upon the estimated value of the stock aforesaid; or that the president and directors of the Literary fund be required to exchange it, as they can at par, for any safe six per cent. investment. The Literary fund also holds state bonds to the amount of $1,000,500 50, upon which the state pays an annual interest of $61,328 39. Why should this relation of creditor and debtor between the state and the Literary fund be maintained? Wherein consists its utility? The old idea, that the state might refuse to make such an appropriation, is entitled to but little consideration, and certainly less respect. The day is past, if it ever existed, when Virginia, unmindful of her honour and her duty, would refuse to pay a specific and acknowledged debt, destined, too, to the education of her own children. I therefore recommend, that the bonds in question be surrendered to the state, to be cancelled, and that the legislature pay to the Literary fund, for and in consideration thereof, a perpetual annuity of $61,328 39. The two suggestions which I have made in connexion with this subject, if adopted, will put an end to frequently recurring, and sometimes inconvenient enquiries-will, to some extent, diminish the expenses of managing the fund, and assuredly contract and simplify its accounts. The education of our fellow-citizens, especially the indigent portion of them, has long engaged the attention of our benevolent and enlightened statesmen. Hence sprung the University of Virginia, the primary school system, and the noble fund, to the condition of which I have briefly adverted. Looking to the extent of our territory, the sparseness of our population and the condition of about two fifths of it, we may congratulate ourselves upon the amount of good which we have already accomplished. But much remains to do. The necessity of education is obvious and urgent. The enlightened, patriotic, and indigent, combine to call upon you, as they have done upon your predecessors, to adopt some vigorous and decided system, which will place within reach of our whole white population the blessings of education. In the numerous appeals in behalf of this policy, which have within the last three years been made from the forum and the press, it seems to have been assumed that we are the degenerate sons of distinguished sires, and that we must adopt some efficient system of education to arrest our downward course. This is not true in fact. On the contrary, never, since we took our stand among the nations of the earth, have our daughters been fairer, or our sons more patriotic; never have the blessings of morality, of christianity, and of education, been so highly appreciated or so extensively diffused. In the anxious consideration which has been given to this subject, the great difficulty has been in agreeing upon a practical and efficient system. Few can appreciate our difficulties, none can do so who are not familiar with our physical and social condition. But, among our difficulties, I am happy to say, indisposition, and I will add, indifference, are not to be found. The prevailing wish of our state is, to spread the lights of science into our remotest glens, and into the humblest habitations of the people. That this will be done, there cannot be a doubt; how and when, it is in your wisdom to decide. I, however, would recommend, that a poll be opened on the day of your next annual election, to test the sense of each county upon the district school system; that a majority of the voters of each county, voting at said election, shall decide upon the adoption or the rejection of the system; that if it be rejected by a particular county, then the districts into which such county may be divided, shall severally vote upon its adoption, within their respective districts; the system to be adopted in each district giving a majority of its resident voters therefor. In these suggestions, my purpose is to compcl each county |