Rhode Island American

GENERAL ELECTION.

The General Assembly of Rhode-Island convened at Newport on Wednesday last, to organize the government of the State for the ensuing political year. At the usual hour in the forenoon, the members elect moved in procession to the State-House, under the escort of the Newport Artillery. After the observance of the formalities prescribed by law and by usage in the organization of the House, Mr. Hazard the senior Representative from Newport, informed the members that the first business was to proceed to the choice of a Speaker. Asher Robbins, Esq. of Newport (the Chairman of the late General Republican Convention) and Nathaniel Bullock, Esq. of Bristol, were put in nomination. The House thereupon separated from the Senate, and proceeded to ballot for Speaker. The result on the first ballot was, for Nathaniel Bullock, 46—for Asher Robbins, 20.—all the members except six being in their seats. Mr. B. was accordingly chosen, and his election being declared he signified in a concise and appropriate manner, his acceptance of the appointment. The House next proceeded to the choice of Clerk, and Thomas Rivers, Esq. the late Clerk, and Mr. William R. Watson, were put in nomination. The result was on the first ballot, for Rivers 46, Watson 19, two scattering, all the members voting. The House then joined the Senate and the following Committee was appointed to count the votes returned by the several towns for General Officers. Providence, Messrs. Dyer and Brayton;—Newport, Simmons and Shaw; Washington, Barber and W. Watson; Kent, Harrison and Hawkins: Bristol, D'Wolf and Sisson. To these the Secretary and Clerk were added.

It is ascertained that the official majority for General Greene as Attorney-General, is 392.

The choice of Mr. Bullock as Speaker of the House of Representatives is highly creditable to the discernment and liberality of the members of that Body. For many years, with but occasional intermissions, Mr. B. has been an intelligent and useful member of the House—always sustaining an honourable part in its counsels and debates. He is a liberal politician, an advocate of salutary reform in the institutions of the State, and, like his predecessor in the Chair, a genuine republican in the best and unperverted sense of the word.

At a time when fresh attempts are making by the organ of the ultras, to get up an excitement in the State, with reference to the exploded distinctions of party, it is particularly gratifying that the members of the new House of Representatives, have evinced, in their first act, a liberality of sentiment and an uprightness of purpose, which must operate as a damper upon the projects of those, who, for selfish purposes, are now seeking to rake open and to inflame anew the dying embers of past political contention.

In re-electing its former Clerk, the House has manifested its continued confidence in the fidelity and ability of that officer. We know not on what ground he was opposed, unless he may have offended some of the ultras, by his avowed and decided approbation of the liberal doctrines contained in Mr. Adams's Inaugural Address.