Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 17.djvu/122

 114 Southern Historical Society Papers.

In the House of Delegates, December 12, 1889, the Hon. Walter T. Booth, of Richmond, offered the following concurrent resolution :

Resolved (the Senate concurring). That the committee having in charge the arrangements for the delivery of the address of Hon. John W. Daniel on the character and life of Hon. Jefferson Davis be and is hereby authorized and instructed to select for the occasion some other and larger hall than that of the House of Delegates.

Agreed to by the General Assembly of Virginia January 22, 1890.

J. Bell Bigger, Clerk House of Delegates (tnd Keeper of Rolls of Virginia,

The following extract is taken from the report of the special com- mittee made January 22, 1890:

" They have discharged the pleasant duty of tendering the said invitation, and are gratified to report that Hon. John W. Daniel has accepted the invitation, and has designated Saturday January 25, 1890, at 8 o* clock P. M., as the time for the delivery of the same at the Mozart Academy of Music.*'

J. Bell Bigger, Clerk House of Delegates and Keeper of Rolls of Virginia.

At 8 P. M. on the 25th day of January, 1890, the Hon. R. H. Cardwell, Speaker of the House of Delegates, called the vast assem- blage to order, and delivered the following introductory address :

Ladies and Gentlemen :

It is the pleasing part of my duties to welcome you on this occasion — especially pleasing because the presence of this magnificent audience demonstrates that when the present General Assembly of Virginia invited one of her favorite sons, and her most gifted orator to deliver in this, the capital city of the late Confederate States of America, an oration on the life and character of the lamented Jeffer- son Davis, they but voiced the wishes of the people whom they have the honor to represent. In 1865, nearing the close of the Confede- racy's short life, the General Assembly of Virginia addressed an open letter to President Davis, in which it declared " its desire in this criti- cal period of affairs, by such suggestions as occur to them and by the dedication, if need be, of the entire resources of the Common-