IV. A committee on roads and internal navigation, to consist of not less than five nor more than nine senators. V. A committee on finance, to consist of not less than five nor more than nine senators. VI. A committee on banks, to consist of not less than three nor more than nine senators. VII. A committee on federal relations, to consist of not less than five nor more than eleven senators. VIII. A committee on public institutions of the state, to consist of not less than five nor more than eleven senators. IX. A committee on immigration, to consist of not less than three nor more than nine senators. X. A committee on county, city, and town organizations, to consist of not less than five nor more than eleven senators. XI. A committee on agriculture, mining, and manufacturing, to consist of not less that five nor more than nine senators. XII. A committee on enrolled bills, to consist of not less than five nor more than nine senators. XIII. A committee to examine the clerk's office, to consist of three senators. XIV. Joint committees, each to consist of not less than three nor more than five senators, (except the joint committee on the public printing, which shall consist of two senators,) viz.: On executive expenditures; On the library; To examine the office of the auditor of public accounts; To examine the second auditor's office; To examine the register's office; To examine the treasurer's office; To examine the bonds of public officers; On the public printing. 30. The standing committees shall be appointed by the President, unless the Senate direct otherwise, and the senator first named by the President shall be the chairman, unless the committee direct otherwise. 31. The clerk of the Senate shall appoint a first assistant and a second assistant clerk, and five committee clerks, not more than one of whow shall be appointed from the same congressional district. One of the committee clerks shall be clerk of the committee on roads and internal navigation; one of the committees on general laws and of federal relations; one of the committees for courts of justice and of finance; one of the committee on public institutions, the committee of privileges and elections, and the committee on banks; one of the committee on county, city, and town organizations, and the committee on immigration. The clerks so appointed shall remain in the capitol during the sessions of the Senate. and shall perform any duties that the other standing committees may require, when not employed by their respective committees; and the clerk of the Senate may also require said clerks, when not employed by the standing committees, to assist in engrossing bills or aid him in the Senate chamber when necessary. said clerks shall be removable by the clerk of the Senate, or by the committees of which they are clerks. The second assistant clerk shall receive the same compensation as a clerk of a committee. The 32. The several committees shall in all cases, report whether other cases comprised within the principal of the matter referred, may arise; and if a bill be ordered, it shall provide for all such cases; and upon any matter referred, the committee shall have power to report by bill. 33. Select committees shall consist of not less than three nor more than nine senators, unless the Senate direct otherwise. 34. The committee of privileges and elections shall examine the oaths taken by each senator, and the certificates of election furnished by the proper officer, and report thereon to the Senate. 35. The committee of privileges and elections shall report, in all cases of privileges or contested elections, the principles and reasons on which their resolutions are founded. 36. The committee on finance shall, at each session, examine into the indebtedness of the commonwealth, 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. 37. The committee on general laws shall, at each session, examine into the state and manner of administration of the literary fund, and make such report thereon as they may deem proper. 38. To the committee on general laws shall be referred all resolutions and bills concerning the militia, private claims, propositions and grievances, and other matters of a general nature, not properly referrable to any other standing committee. 39. To the committee on public institutions shall be referred all bills and resolutions concerning schools and colleges, the penitentiary, lunatic asylums, the institutions for the deaf and dumb and the blind, the armory, and other public property at the seat of government. And it shall be the duty of the said committee to examine, at each session, into the condition of the penitentiary, and make such report thereon as they may deem proper. 40. To the committee on federal relations shall be referred all bills and resolutions touching our relations with the federal government. 41. To the committee on agriculture, mining, and manufacturing shall be referred all bills, resolutions, and petitions concerning agriculture, mining, manufacturing, commerce, and mechanic arts. 42. When the yeas and nays are ordered, or a call of the Senate is directed, the names of the senators shall be called in alphabetical order. 43. The President may call any senator to the chair, who shall exercise its functions for the time; but no senator, by virtue of such appointment, shall preside for a longer period than three days. 44. The order of business of each day shall be to read the Journal, to dispose of communications from the House of Delegates or the executive, to receive reports from the standing committees, (for which purpose they shall be called over by the clerk,) to receive reports from the select committees, to receive resolutions and petitions, to act upon the unfinished business of the preceding day; and then take up and act upon the bills and resolutions in the order in which they have been reported or introduced, unless the Senate direct otherwise. 45. Before reading each bill, the clerk shall announce whether it is the first, second, or third time of reading the bill. 46. Any person contesting the election of a senator returned to serve in the Senate, will be entitled to receive his wages only from the day on which such person is declared duly elected. 47. No senator 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 Senate, unless by order of the Senate. 48. 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 Senate thereon; and shall deliver the, original petition to the clerk of the Senate, to be preserved in his office. 49. No petition shall be received, claiming a sum of money or praying the settlement of unliquidated accounts, unless it be accompanied with the 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. 50. When any such petition, or bill founded on one, is rejected, such petition shall not be withdrawn; but the petitioner, or senator presenting his petition, or any senator from the county or corporation in which the petitioner resides, may, without leave, withdraw any document filed therewith, and a list of all documents so withdrawn shall be preserved by the clerk. All petitions not finally acted on may, with the accom panying documents, be in like manner withdrawn after the expiration of the session at which they were presented. 51. No petition shall be read in the Senate unless particularly required by some senator; but every senator presenting one, shall announce the name of the petitioner, 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 com mittee. 52. The committee to examine the clerk's office shall see that all papers belonging thereto are properly filed, labelled, and put away in the presses, and that the books belonging to the office are chronologically arranged, and shall make an annual report thereof to the Senate. 53. 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. 54. It shall be the duty of the doorkeeper of the Senate to preserve, in chronological or numerical order, a copy of every printed document distributed in the Senate, and to deliver the same, at the close of the session, to the clerk of the Senate, whose duty it shall be to have them bound and preserved in his office for the use of this body. 55. No bill of a private or local character shall be taken up for consideration out of its place on the calendar, unless two-thirds of those voting shall concur in such proposition. the 56. Whenever the Senate proceeds to consider any nominations of governor, which are subject to the choice or ratification of the Senate, the same shall be considered in executive session, with closed doors, and the proceedings thereon shall be secret, unless the injunction of secrecy be removed by a vote of the Senate. 57. At the commencement of each session, the President shall appoint four pages, who shall receive for their services three dollars per day each. 58. In order to prevent interruption of the business of the Senate, the doorkeeper shall be constantly at his post during the sessions of the Senate, and shall admit within the chamber no person except officers of the government of this and any other state, and of the United States; members and ex-members of Congress and House of Delegates; their officers; ex-members of the Senate of Virginia; ministers of the gospel, and reporters of the proceedings of the Senate; but ladies and their escorts may be assigned privileged seats. It shall be the duty of the doorkeeper to show all persons not entitled to privilege seats, to the gallery. It shall be his duty, when any person desires an interview with a senator or the President, or the clerk of the Senate, to send a message to him, and such person may be admitted to one of the privi leged seats, if so invited by either of them. And the President of the Senate shall, morcover, be permitted to invite to a seat near the chair any person he may deem worthy of such distinction. 59. No senator shall be allowed to be interrupted while speaking, even with his own consent, except on points of order, to correct erroneous statements, or to answer any questions that may be propounded by the senator speaking. 60. No senator shall be allowed to vote unless he be present within the chamber at the time the senate is being divided, or before the determination of the question upon a call of the roll. On motion of Mr. Quesenberry, Resolved, That the resident clergy of the city of Richmond be respectfully requested to open the daily sessions of the Senate with prayer. Mr. Bland offered the following resolution (modified at the suggestion of Mr. Quesenberry), which was agreed to: Resolved, That the secretary of the commonwealth be requested to furnish each member of the Senate, on application, with a copy of the Code of 1873, and with a copy of the Acts of Assembly for the sessions of 1874 and of 1874-75, to be returned to the said secretary of the commonwealth at the close of the present session. On motion of Mr. Smith, it was Ordered, That he inform the House of Delegates that the Senate is organized, and ready on its part to proceed to business. A message was received from the House of Delegates by Mr. Wall, who informed the Senate that that House was organized, and ready to proceed to business. A message was received from the House of Delegates by Mr. Powell, who informed the Senate that that House had agreed to the following joint resolution: Resolved (the Senate concurring), That a committee of three on the part of the House, and two on the part of the Senate, be appointed to inform his excellency the governor, that the general assembly has been duly organized, and is now ready to receive any communication he may have to make. The question on the adoption of the resolution being put, was determined in the affirmative. The President appointed as the committee, on the part of the Senate, Messrs. Bland and Lawson. Subsequently, Mr. Bland reported that the joint committee had performed the duty assigned them, and that he was requested by the governor to present his compliments to the members of the Senate, and to say that he would send in his communication immediately. The President laid before the Senate the following communication from the governor: COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, Richmond, 1st December, 1875. Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Delegates: A general assembly, combining larger experience than any which has convened since the close of the civil war, now assumes the weightiest responsibilities of the government. With felt pleasure and relief, with respectful and cordial salutations, I welcome the representatives of the people to the capitol. Let us bear in mind that the successful working of the govern ment depends upon the harmonious action of all its parts. Especially does the public welfare require the united and concordant services of the legislative and executive departments. Whatever tends to hinder cordial relations between them is to be deprecated and avoided. Impressed with the cardinal importance of this truth, I shall aim to promote its efficient observance; and my constant and laborious co-operation shall second your every effort to serve the commonwealth. Rarely, with great reluctance, and only when impelled by irresistible convictions, I have interposed the constitutional negative in arrest of acts of legislation. But so guarded has been my exercise of that important power, heretofore, that all the bills returned to your predecessors without my approval were on reconsideration rejected, and in every case, save one, by the unanimous vote of the respective houses in which they originated. With every reason to expect habitual concurrence of views in the future; guided in the more important duties before us by the recent expression which has been given to the will of the people; emulous to guard the honor and well-being of the state now committed to our united care; animated by like interests, aims and hopes, let us devote harmonious labors to the performance of a common trust. The subjects of legislation which await the exercise of your collective wisdom, are important and urgent, but not numerous. The great body of the laws needs no amendment. The habit which has prevailed of making frequent changes in the details of the stat |