| From the Richmond Daily Dispatch |
| |
| March 14, 1863 |
| |
| General Assembly of Virginia |
| |
| Friday, March 13, 1863 |
| |
| Senate |
| |
| The President laid before the
Senate a communication from the Executive enclosing a letter from the
Secretary of War on the subject of the employment of slaves, called
for under an act of the Legislature, on the Piedmont Railroad
within Virginia. In his letter the Secretary of War says: |
| "As there was great need
of force in the construction of the Piedmont Railroad,
and serious apprehension on the minds of many slaveholders with regard
to the small-pox in Richmond, a portion of the slaves called for under
the act of the Virginia Legislature has been assigned to labor on the
part of the Piedmont Railroad within
Virginia. This has not been done in any case, however, without the
consent of the owners." |
| The Governor, in communicating
the letter to the Legislature, says: "If this construction be a
sound one, the slave labor of the State can be assigned to labor on
the {Virginia} Central, the Virginia
& Tennessee, or any other railroad in the State,
upon the plea of military necessity. Without roads it would be
impossible to transport the army and the supplies necessary to sustain
the troops. All I desire to know is whether this construction of the
law is in accordance with the views of the General Assembly." |
| The reading of the
communication gave rise to a warm debate, in which Messrs. Christian
of Augusta. Nash of Chesterfield, Douglas of King William, Neeson of Marion,
Robertson of Richmond and others, participated. The general tenor of
their remarks were in opposition to the construction put upon the act
by the Secretary of War. |
|