CONDITION OF THE FARMERS BANK OF VIRGINIA. FARMERS BANK OF VIRGINIA, RICHMOND, 22d JANUARY 1847. To his Excellency WILLIAM SMITH, Governor of Virginia: Enclosed is a statement shewing the condition of this bank, including its branches, on the 1st instant. J. G. BLAIR, Cashier. Comparative state of the FARMERS BANK OF VIRGINIA, including the Branches, on the 1st January 1846, and 1st January 1847. Premiums received on northern and other funds, for the quarter ending 31st December 1846, Premiums paid on northern and other funds, for the quarter ending 31st December 1846, The last dividend of profits is 3 per cent. on the capital. The fund reserved from the profits for contingencies amounting to $238,005 94, on the first day of January 1847, increased by the sum of $ 13,674 23, which remains of the last half year's profits, after the dividend of 34 per ct., amounts to $251,680 17, equal to 9.40 per cent. on the capital, and is above what is believed necessary to make good any losses. Notes in Circulation of the whole Institution. $6,277 53 The undersigned directors of the Farmers examined, and are believed to be correct. Add circulation at Norfolk and Charlottesville, Deduct amount notes on hand at branches, de- Amount in circulation as above, $2,219,818 50 FARMERS BANK OF VIRGINIA, 14th JANUARY 1847. Bank of Virginia, certify that the foregoing statements have been STATE OF VIRGINIA, City of Richmond, to wit: John G. Blair, cashier of the Farmers Bank of Virginia, this day personally appeared before me, a justice of the peace of the city aforesaid, and made oath that the within statements, made out from the books of the bank, and from the returns received from the branches, are correct, to the best of his knowledge and belief. Given under my hand this 22d day of January 1847. SIMON CULLEN, J. P. CONDITION OF THE NORTHWESTERN BANK. NORTHWESTERN BANK OF VIRGINIA, WILLIAM SMITH, Esq. Governor Va. DEAR SIR, examination. I enclose (in the absence of our cashier from indisposition) our quarterly return for your Very respectfully, Your ob't serv't, JOHN LIST, Cash'r, State of the NORTHWESTERN BANK OF VIRGINIA, including Branches at Wellsburgh and Parkersburgh. Personally appeared before me, a justice of the peace for the said county, H. D. Brown, general bookkeeper in Northwestern Bank of Virginia, who being duly qualified according to law, declared that the foregoing statement is just and true to the best of his knowledge and belief. Given under my hand this day of January 1847. THOS. SWEENEY. To the Speaker of the House of Delegates of Virginia. SIR, PETERSBURG, JANUARY 25th, 1847. A citizen of this place, named R. R. Collier, has within a few days past, published a pamphlet purporting to be "Some observations on the Law affairs of Virginia," which he has thought proper to inscribe to the committee on courts of justice, and which, I am informed, has been forwarded by him, not only to every member of that committee, but to every member of the honourable body over which you preside. I respectfully represent, that the several articles (the notes excepted) which compose this pamphlet, originally appeared in one of the newspapers of this town as anonymous communications: but that from antecedent circumstances, as also from their manner and matter, a large portion of this community (among whom I might embrace the members of the bar, almost withcut exception,) entertained no doubt as to who was their author, and but little, that their purpose and design were to affect my reputation by indirect and insidious charges against me of judicial partiality and corruption. But whatever doubts may heretofore have existed as to author or motive, are now removed. Not content with circulating his medley, in the form of anonymous communications, through the medium of a public newspaper, the said Collier has carefully collected it together in pamphlet form-has announced himself the author by annexing his name-and has appended to a portion of it a note, which may be seen at pages 26 and 27, "every syllable and sentiment of which (he declares) is intended to have an individual application," and which he has since, again and again, in the presence of many of this community, openly and circumstantially declared he intended to apply to me particularly and exclusively, in which I am charged not only with gross professional ignorance, and with writhing under the anguish of a conscience overburdened with guilt, but am charged plainly and manifestly, with the specific crime of official partiality in the decision of a particular case. This pamphlet, containing this note, he is busily engaged in disseminating through this community-he has inscribed it to one of the most important committees of the legislature of the state, whilst that legislature is in session—and has, I doubt not, caused a copy to reach the hands of every representative, either in the senate or house of delegates. Thus, I submit, that not only the people in whose temples of justice I am specially commissioned to minister, but the legislature of Virginia itself, at whose hands I hold my office, and whose duty it is, for cause, to remove me from it, is given clearly and distinctly to understand and be informed by a citizen, who, for aught it knows, may be a public reformer and benefactor, that I, one of the judges of the general court of the state, have been guilty of official corruption. I pronounce the charge or charges, false-absolutely and entirely false false in their whole length and breadth-false in the aggregate and false in detail-false, whether they appear in the form of subtle insinuation, evasive inuendo, or positive assertion. I pronounce them utterly unfounded, either in truth or the semblance of truth. And the charges being thus made and thus denied, I do now most respectfully, but earnestly, demand-or, if I may not properly use that language-I most humbly pray, that the honourable body over which you preside, will, with all reasonable dispatch, institute a thorough, deliberate, and unsparing investigation into their truth or falsehood; and not of the charges contained in R. R. Collier's pamphlet only; but I unreservedly invoke the most searching and rigid scrutiny into every act of my judicial life, which the said Collier, or any other person on earth (if another there be,) may think proper to question or impugn. I waive all form, privilege or technical exception; and pray, that every member of the bar, practising in the second judicial circuit, may be examined in the progress of the investigation. I respectfully submit that the investigation which I solicit, is alike due to the public and myself; and I will not entertain the painful thought that the house of delegates can or will withhold it. If I am guilty, I ought promptly to be degraded from an office which I have dishonoured. The lives and liberties and property of my fellow-citizens ought no longer to be entrusted to my polluted hands. The pure and honourable gentlemen who fill the general court bench ought with haste to be relieved from the degradation of associating with me; and my name should be forever erased both from the list of judges and the hearts and memories of those who have heretofore honoured and esteemed me. But if I be innocent-if there be no shadow of foundation for the charges against me, not my character and peace of mind alone, but my public usefulness, and the interest and happiness of the people in whose courts I preside, demand that the house of delegates shall proclaim me so. No other remedy is adequate to meet the injury. Neither private action, nor punishment for contempt, nor personal chastisement can adequately avenge the injury of charges so serious in their character, and disseminated with malevolent industry in different portions of the state, and among the congregated representatives of the people. It is that tribunal alone before which my accuser has, substantially, preferred his charges, which can, if those charges prove false, secure to me the full and undiminished measure of public confidence and usefulness I have heretofore enjoyed. To the voice of that tribunal I submissively bow. If it pronounce me guilty, it at once consigns me to hopeless infamy; but if it pronounce me innocent, it secures to me whatever of reputation or happiness my previous life has earned-gives assurance to those whose legal rights are submitted to my decision that they are not exposed to the hazards of judicial partiality and corruption-and will, I trust, administer to my accuser a rebuke so lasting and effectual as to shield me for the future from his annoyance and persecution. I hope that, in my present position, I may be pardoned the pride of saying, that I have heretofore and do now enjoy, officially and personally, the honour, respect, and esteem of the circuit to which the legislature of the state has assigned me; and I dare to make the prediction, that, if the investigation now asked, be granted, my present accuser will be unable to find encouragement or co-operation within the broad extent of its limits. But how long this reputation, laboriously acquired and inestimably valued, shall be permitted me, if libels like this-charging on me official partiality and corruptiondedicated to the judiciary committee now in daily session-and laid upon the tables and before the eyes of all and every member of the legislature-shall be permitted by the legislature itself to pass and circulate without enquiry or investigation, I will not venture to say. It is enough to know, that if a suspicion even, no matter how confounded, against the purity of my character, get possession of the public mind, the confidence of the people among whom I labour will become alarmed, my official usefulness be destroyed and the public welfare impaired. I do, therefore, again most respectfully, but with an earnestness which I trust will be appreciated, request the house of delegates of Virginia to institute an investigation into all charges against my judicial character, either heretofore or hereafter made against it by R. R. Collier, or any other person or persons whomsoever. I ask that the said investigation be free, full, comprehensive and complete. If I be guilty-if I have stained the purity of my office, in any manner or to any extent, I invoke public condemnation! But, if I be innocent-if the charges against me be grossly false and slanderous—if my judicial life and conduct have been pure and blameless, I challenge public vindication and approval. I ask of you the favour to lay this communication before the house, over which you preside, and to accept assurances of my regard and esteem. Very respectfully, JAS. H. GHOLSON. ANSWER OF The President and Directors of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company to the Memorial of the President and Directors of the Louisa Railroad Company, with accompanying Documents. To the General Assembly of Virginia. The answer of the president and directors of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad company to the memorial of the president and directors of the Louisa railroad company, to your honourable body exhibited. Your respondents regret that it has pleased the memorialists to present only in part to the legislature the correspondence between the companies on the subject matter of the memorial. Had all of it which is pertinent to the subject been laid before you, your respondents flatter themselves that there would have been no occasion for a reply by them, and that there would have been enough on the face of the application of the memorialists to have satisfied you that there was no foundation for their complaints, and no propriety in the appeal which has been made to you. If the Louisa railroad should be hereafter less prosperous than it has been hitherto, the fault will not be on the part of your respondents. Your respondents respectfully invite an attentive perusal of the documents marked B, appended to the memorial of the president and directors of the Louisa railroad company. It will appear from an examination of them, that the construction placed by the president of the Louisa railroad company on the resolutions of the president and directors of this company of the 20th of April 1836, in response to the letter of Frederick Harris, Esq., is in no way borne out; that so far from entertaining the plan of a joint stock of cars to be used on both roads, as suggested by Mr. Harris, and as now pressed by the president of the Louisa railroad company, the resolutions of this company contemplate only two plans-either an arrangement with the Louisa railroad company "for the general transportation by this company on the Louisa railroad on terms fair and equitable, and advantageous to the interests of both companies," or "a transhipment" at the Junction. In the latter case the board of directors of this company (it will be perceived) stipulate, that "for transporting persons or property from or to the point of connection with the Louisa railroad, this company would in no case charge more than would be charged for persons and property received upon or delivered upon the cars of the Richmond and Fredericksburg road at the same point," and that the "transhipment shall be made by the officers and agents of this company without charge." The memorialists admit that they have elected to do their own transportation after the 1st of July next, because your respondents were not willing to receive as a compensation for doing it a proportion of the income of the Louisa railroad, which it appears from the statement made by the memorialists would have yielded more than five thousand dollars less than the proportion which the Board of public works had deemed to be a fair one. Your respondents are satisfied that the estimates of the memorialists, based as they appear to be on the cost of transportation on roads having a much larger business in proportion to their length, and omitting on their face essential elements in a computation of expense, will be found to be delusive. They know that the cost to them of doing the transportation on the Louisa railroad, taking into consideration the interest on the investment in machinery employed in it and its depreciation, has been since the commencement, at least equal to the amount received by them for doing this transportation. But your respondents have no complaint to make of the decision of the memorialists, and have said this much only to repel the idea that they have been receiving an extravagant compensation for doing the transportation on the Louisa railroad. They will be sincerely gratified if its cost hereafter to the Louisa railroad company shall be less than it has been hitherto to your respondents, but they cannot think your honourable body will deem your respondents unreasonable, because in the exercise of the discretion allowed them by their act of incorporation, they prefer incurring the expense of transhipment at the Junction to adopting the intermediate plan proposed by the president of the Louisa company, of a train of cars made up by contribution by the two companies; or because ceasing to be the carriers on the Louisa railroad they are unwilling |