THIRTEENTH DAY. MONDAY MORNING, JANUARY 18, 1875. The Senate met pursuant to adjournment, Mr. Speaker Paine in the chair. The Roll was called, and Mr. Ragland reported absent. MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR. The following Message was received from His Excellency, Gov. John C. Brown, by the hand of his Secretary, John S. Wilkes: MR. SPEAKER: I am instructed by the Governor to return Senate Joint Resolutions, Nos. 4, 11, and 14, approved. NEW BILLS. JOHN S. WILKES, Mr. Logan introduced Senate Bill, No. 75, To be entitled, An Act to compensate Justices of the Peace and jurors. Passed first reading, and referred to a Special Committee. Mr. Logan introduced Senate Bill, No. 76, To be entitled, An Act to fix the compensation of officers. Passed first reading, and referred to a Special Committee. Mr. Jordan introduced Senate Bill, No. 77, To be entitled, An Act to preserve birds, game, and animals, in the State. Passed first reading, and referred to a Special Committee. Mr. Wade introduced Senate Bill, No. 78, To be entitled, An Act to amend Section 2107a of the Code. Passed first reading, and referred to the Judiciary Committee. SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION. Mr. Hodges offered Senate Joint Resolution, No. 20, To inquire into railroad charges for freights, etc. Cn: motion of Mr. Moseley, the rules were suspended, and the resolution was adopted. SPECIAL COMMITTEE. The Speaker announced the following Special Committee on Senate Bill, Nos. 75, 76, 77: Messrs. Logan, Hodges, Trotter, Wilson, and Blizard. HOUSE BILL ON FIRST READING. House Bill, No. 82, For the preservation of game in Wilson county. Passed first reading, and was referred to the Special Committee on Senate Bills, Nos. 75, 76, and 77. SENATE BILLS ON THIRD READING. Senate Bill, No. 58, To regulate assessments of land that has been sold for taxes, passed third reading. Yeas.. Senators voting in the affirmative are: 23 0 Messrs. Aden, Blizard, Boyd, Buchanan, Butler, Ellis, Emmert, Haynes, Hodges, Jones, Jordan, Logan, Marchbanks, Marye, Moseley, Overton, Polk, Quarles, Trotter, Turley, Wade, Wilson, and Mr. Speaker Paine. Senators voting in the negative are: None. Senate Bill, No. 43, To regulate the practice of Pharmacy, on its third reading, was, on motion of Mr. Overton, made the special order for 11 o'clock, A. M., Saturday, 23d inst. Senate Bill, No. 65, To diminish jailers' fees, was taken up. Mr. Logan offered the following amendment: After the words, "that hereafter all jailers in the State," insert, "who shall furnish good, wholesome water, diet and bedding." Mr. Hodges offered the following amendment to the amendment of Mr. Logan: "Provided, That no allowance shall be made to jailers under the provisions of this Act, by County Courts, unless a committee of three Justices, to be appointed by the County Court, shall have reported to said Court that the jailer has complied with the provisions of this Act in reference to food, water and bedding.” Which amendment was agreed to, and the amendment, as amended, was adopted. The Bill, as amended, passed its third reading. Senators voting in the affirmative are: 21 2 Messrs. Aden, Blizard, Boyd, Buchanan, Emmert, Haynes, Hodges, Jones, Jordan, Logan, Marchbanks, Marye, Moseley, Överton, Polk, Quarles, Smith, Trotter, Wade, Wilson, and Mr. Speaker Paine. Senators voting in the negative are: SENATE BILL ON SECOND READING. Senate Bill, No. 69, For the sale of a portion of an Academy lot in the town of Bolivar, Tennessee, was taken up, and passed second reading. RECESS. On motion of Mr. Butler, at 11:10, A. M., the Senate took a recess for twenty minutes. At 11:30, A. M., Mr. Speaker Paine called the Senate to order, and it proceeded in a body to the Hall of the House of Representatives, to meet the House in Convention, for the purpose of inaugurating James D. Porter, the Governor elect. IN CONVENTION. The Convention was called to order at 11:40 by Mr. Speaker Paine, of the Senate. The roll was called, and the following Senators responded to their names: Messrs. Aden, Blizard, Boyd, Buchanan, Butler, Ellis, Emmert, Haynes, Hodges, Jones, Jordan, Logan, Marchbanks, Marye, Moseley, Overton, Polk, Quarles, Smith, Trotter, Turley, Wade, Wilson, and Mr. Speaker Paine. Absent-Mr. Ragland. Music by the 16th Infantry Band. The incoming and retiring Governors were then announced by Mr. Prater, the Doorkeeper of the House, and were escorted by the Speakers of the Senate and the House to the Speaker's stand. Prayer by Rev. W. A. Nelson. The President of the Convention, Mr. Paine, then presented His Excellency, Governor John C. Brown, who delivered the following VALEDICTORY. Fellow Citizens of the General Assembly: In obedience to the organic laws, I am here to surrender the trust with which I was invested by the popular voice. Having for two consecutive terms been complimented with the highest office in the gift of the people, I most cheerfully yield both its honors and responsibilities to a successor who is worthy of the former, and equal to the latter. He has been chosen our Chief Magistrate by an overwhelming popular majority, and enters upon his official duties under the most favorable auspices. He brings with him large experience from the other co-ordinate branches of the government, and I sincerely hope and believe his administration will be crowned with honor to himself, and the highest satisfaction to a hopeful and admiring constituency. But, gentlemen, without your cordial cooperation and support, any Executive officer would be powerless to meet those reasonable hopes and expectations. Harmony between the Executive and Legislative departments being so essential to the prosperity and well being of the State, I most earnestly invoke your deliberate aud friendly consideration of such wise and wholesome measures of State policy as he may recommend. In dissolving this official relation, I tender to the people, through you, an expression of gratitude for their confidence and generous support, with the assurance that, although I may not at all times have met public expectation, I have earnestly and faithfully desired, above all other considerations, to promote the general welfare. Sustained by this conviction, I confidently submit the record of my official acts to the scrutiny of an impartial public, and to you, the people's representatives, without apprehension for the result. Bound, as I am, and ever have been, by every sentiment of devotion to the interests of Tennessee, I shall never fail, in all my future relations to her, to contribute, by every means in my power, to the promotion of her greatness, the maintenance of her honor, and the perpetuation, unimpaired, of her Constitutional integrity. The President then introduced James D. Porter, Jr., the Governor elect, who delivered the following INAUGURAL ADDRESS. Senators and Representatives: Called to administer the Executive Department of the Government of the State of Tennessee for the next two years, I enter upon the performance of this high duty with a full sense of my responsibility to the people of the State. At no period in the history of Tennessee was there ever so much need for the practice of wisdom and prudence. The poverty of the people, the great financial disorder, the peril to the liberty of the citizen, the alarming encroachments that are being made on the rights and powers of the States, combine to make the times perilous, and call for the exercise of firmness and intelligence on the part of those charged with the administration of public affairs. A great political revolution in public sentiment has begun, and is in progress in Tennessee, and in the other States of the Union. What influence for good or for evil it is to have on the country, remains to be seen; but our duty is a plain one-to avoid the errors that have brought disaster to the best interests of the country. Foremost among them is that spirit of party which has gained such an ascendency over the minds of men as has caused them to substitute party for country, and make them seek party approbation rather than the approval and prosperity of the country. The people of Tennessee will count him a public benefactor who will direct the popular energies to useful pursuits-to a diversification of labor-to the encouragement of immigration, the opening of mines, the improvement of agriculture, the erection of school-houses, and especially is the great body of our people anxious for an utter abolition of all local jealousies and animosities, and for the encouragement and perpetuation of a spirit of brotherhood among the people of all the States of the Union. Thanking the people of Tennessee for the distinction they have conferred upon me, I will labor to repay this generous confidence by taking "care care that the laws are faithfully executed," and by maintaining the jurisdiction and rights of the State, and "this is the point to which the vigilance of the people should be chiefly directed. Their highest interest is at home; their palladium is their own State government. They ought to know that they can look nowhere else. with perfect assurance of safety and protection; let them maintain their local government, not ouly in its rights, but in its dignity and influence. It is vain to hope that the principles of our government can be preserved, or that anything can prevent it from running into the absolutism of consolidation, if we suffer the rights of the States to be filched away, and their dignity and influence lost through our carelessness or neglect." I count myself fortunate in being the successor of a gentleman who "has been so clear in his great office," and now announce my readiness to take the oath prescribed by law. At the conclusion of the inaugural address, the oath of office was administered to the Governor elect by the Hon. A. O. P. Nicholson, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. The inaugural ceremonies were concluded with prayer by Rev. M. B. De Witt. |