VIRGINIA. 



765 



portant points within this State in direct and 

 easy communication with other parts of the 

 country. 



The miscellaneous legislation of the session 

 was mostly of an unimportant character. 

 There was an act reapp ortioning the State in- 

 to Senate districts, one reorganizing the mi- 

 litia, and one making various changes in the 

 jury law; among these a provision making all 

 male citizens over twenty-one years of age 

 and under sixty, who are entitled to vote and 

 hold office, liable to serve as jurors except in 

 certain specified cases of exemption. A new 

 tax bill was also passed, and an appropriation 

 act disposing of $1,374,216.11 of the public reve- 

 nue for the various expenses of the government. 



The subject of inducing immigrants to settle 

 in the State has received considerable atten- 

 tion, but no efficient means for the purpose 

 has been devised. At the beginning of the 

 legislative session of 1871-'72 the Governor 

 submitted a plan of \vhich the following are 

 the main features : 



1. The organization at the capital of a 

 Bureau of Immigration under the control of a 

 board of nine directors, to be chosen, one 

 from each congressional district and one from 

 the State at large, who shall be President of 

 the Board and Commissioner of Immigration. 



2. The establishment in Europe, by the com- 

 missioner, of one or more agencies for the 

 purpose of organizing and furthering immigra- 

 tion by the dissemination of correct informa- 

 tion of the advantages and inducements of- 

 fered to the immigrant. 



3. The establishment at Norfolk of a depot 

 to receive the immigrants when they land, 

 and to attend to their transshipment to their 

 various destinations in the State ; and to em- 

 ploy in each county and city a local agent for 

 their reception, care, and assistance, until they 

 are settled or can care for themselves. 



4. The preparation and publication of a 

 pamphlet for distribution at the North and in 

 Europe, giving all the facts, statistics, and in- 

 formation of commercial, agricultural, manu- 

 facturing and climatic advantages and mineral 

 resources. 



5. Authority vested in the commissioner to 

 act as the attorney or agent of owners of 

 lands in the State, under properly-executed 

 powers of attorney, irrevocable except by con- 

 sent of the commissioner, for the sale and 

 transfer of such lands to immigrants. 



The assessed value of real estate in Virginia 

 is $276,023,366.62; that of personal property 

 $85,387,600. The receipts into the State Treas- 

 ury for the year ending September 30th, in- 

 cluding a surplus of $139,585.19, amounted to 

 $3,455, 240.11 ; the disbursements for the same 

 period were $2,370,754.04, which leaves a bal- 

 ance of $1,084,486.07. The interest falling 

 due on the portion of the debt already funded 

 on January 1, 1872, was about $600,000, but 

 no provision was made for its payment. The 

 system of taxation in the State is imperfect 



and unsatisfactory, and the Governor, in De- 

 cember, urged important changes. 



The school system of Virginia is not yet 

 established on a satisfactory basis, but has been 

 greatly improved. There are now about 2,000 

 public schools in the State. The land-scrip 

 granted by Congress for the purpose of estab- 

 lishing an Agricultural College has not yet 

 been disposed of, though the subject was de- 

 bated at the last session of the Legislature. 

 There was a disagreement as to the proper 

 mode of disposing of the proceeds, some con- 

 tending that they should be given to existing 

 institutions, and others that an independent 

 College of Agriculture should be founded. 



The State has three Insane Asylums; the 

 western at Staunton, the eastern at Williams- 

 burg, and the central at Richmond. The first 

 of these contains 188 male and 154 female 

 patients; the second 98 males and' 115 fe- 

 males, the last 79 males and 96 females. The 

 Institution for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind con- 

 tains 100 deaf-mutes, and 58 blind persons. The 

 penitentiary contained, on the 1st of October, 

 152 white men, 4 white women, 609 colored 

 men and 63 colored women 828 in all. 



The election of the year, which occurred on 

 the 7th of November, was for members of the 

 Legislature and local officers only. General 

 conventions of both parties were held, how- 

 ever ; that of the Democrats, or Conservatives, 

 taking place at Richmond, on the 30th of 

 August. Its main purpose was to effect a com- 

 plete organization of the party. No platform 

 was adopted, but there was much discussion 

 of the affairs of the State, and an address to 

 the people was issued, in which the conduct 

 of the Republican party in national and State 

 affairs, and especially in the administration 

 of the "reconstructed" governments of the 

 Southern States, was arraigned in the bitterest 

 terms. After alluding to the condition of sev- 

 eral of the States, the address closes thus : 



And what is it that lias made Virginia thus far a 

 shining exception to the rapacity, cant, ignorance, 

 and corruption, public and private, which, under 

 the shelter of these reconstructed governments, arc 

 pressing the very life-blood out of pur unhappy 

 Southern brethren ? The answer is plain. Her gov- 

 ernment is in the hands of her own conservative 

 people. Keep it there, fellow-citizens, we adjure 

 you, by all that is valuable in your social and po- 

 litical condition. Continue to demonstrate, bv con- 

 trast, your own capacity, and the utter incapacity of 

 radicalism, to create and to preserve a good and stable 

 government. Eadicalism, which, with a fair field to 

 do as it pleased with a prostrate and helpless people, 

 to devise for them what system, good or bad, it 

 would, has oppressed where it might have pro- 

 tected ; has provoked to violence, and then punished 

 what itself provoked ; and, in place of ( the legitimate 

 processes of government, has organized authority 

 into schemes of robbery, plunder, and spoliation. 

 Ponder these things, and speak about them among 

 yourselves, each to his neighbor. Above all, dis- 

 cipline yourselves strictly according to the plan 

 which has been furnished you. So, 'in the hour of 

 conflict, will you realize the advantage of the move- 

 ments of a regulated army over the desultory and 

 scattered efforts of a mob. 



