Phenix Gazette

RICHMOND, Jan. 17.

Yesterday, the Select Committee on Slaves, &c. reported that it was inexpedient at this time, to legislate on the question of abolition.

The reader will bear in mind, that the great Debate in which the House of Delegates is engaged, came on under the resolution of Mr. Goode to discharge the Select Committee from the further consideration of the question of abolition, and further, that it was inexpedient to legislate at all upon the subject of abolition. The Report of the Committee placed the House therefore in a novel attitude. The resolution which opened the discussion was to discharge the Committee: in the midst of the Debate, the Committee discharge themselves, by making a Report; yet it was felt on all sides of the House to be indispensable, that the Debate should proceed; that the grand subject should not be left half discussed, that gentlemen should have the privilege of reply. The embarrassment thus occasioned, gave rise to a protracted discussion, and was finally surmounted by considering the Report of the Committee in connexion with a motion of Mr. Preston to amend, by reversing it. The Debate then proceeded as if it had not been interrupted, and was ably continued by Messrs. Roane, Wood of Albemarle, and Preston. It is impossible to give the distant reader a just conception of the profound excitement which prevails, or of the universal consciousness of the incalculable magnitude and weight of the crisis. We trust in Heaven, that the country will keep cool and that the People of Virginia will display that solidity of character, that deliberation and patriotism, for which they are renowned. The emergency demands all her calmness and reflection.