VIRGINIA. 





soldiers ptit themselves under the protection of 

 foreign consuls. 



Another act prohibited the issue of licenses 

 for a less period than a year, and annulled the 

 permission to dealers to close out by auction. 

 Instead of increasing, this measure diminished 

 the State revenue. The first week in May was 

 signalized as the great week of auctions in 

 Richmond. Many first-class houses were thus 

 closed. The blockade prevented these houses 

 from replenishing their stocks of goods, but 

 they would have continued in business with 

 the remnants of their stock if they had been 

 allowed to take out licenses for fractions of a 

 year, and then sell out at auction. 



The regular session of the Legislature closed 

 in March, but an extra session was commenced 

 soon after. 



As the Federal army approached the capital, 

 Richmond, the determination of the authorities 

 to defend it increased. It was regarded as the 

 point in which " centered the hopes and ap- 

 prehensions of the South." The Legislature 

 adopted a resolution relative to its defence, 

 and the governor issued the following procla- 

 mation: 



The General Assembly of this commonwealth having 

 resolved that " the capital of the State shall be defend- 

 ed to the last extremity, if such defence is in accord- 

 ance with the views of the President of the Confederate 

 States, and having declared that whatever destruction 

 and loss of property of the State or individuals shall 

 thereby result will be cheerfully submitted to, and this 

 action "being warmly approved and seconded by the 

 Executive, 



Therefore, I do hereby request all officers who are 

 out of service, from any cause, and all others who may 

 be willing to unite in defending the capital of this State, 

 to assemble this evening at the City Hall, at 5 o'clock, . 

 and proceed forthwith to organize a force to co-operate 

 with the Tredegar battalion, and any other force which 

 may be detailed for the purpose indicated. The organ- 

 ization, upon being reported to the Executive, will be 

 recognized and properly officered, as prescribed by law, 

 and be subject to the orders of the Governor, for local 

 defence, under regulations to be hereafter prescribed. 



Prompt and efficient action is absolutely necessary. 

 We have a gallant army in the field, upon whom we 

 fully and confidently rely ; but no effort should be 

 spared which can contribute to the noble object. The 

 capital of Virginia must not be surrendered. Virgin- 

 ians must rally to the rescue. 



Given under my hand and under the seal of the 

 [L. a.] the Commonwealth, at Richmond, this 15th day 

 of May, 1S62, and mthe eighty-sixth year of the 

 Commonwealth. 



JOHX LETCHER. 



The following resolution relative to partisan 

 rangers was adopted on May 17 : 



Whereas this General Assembly places a high esti- 

 mate upon the value of the ranger or partisan service 

 in prosecuting the present war to a successful issue, 

 and regards it as perfectly legitimate, and it being un- 

 derstood that a Federal commander on the northern 

 border of Virginia has intimated his purpose, if such 

 service be not discontinued, to lay waste by fire the 

 portion of our territory at present under his power : 



P^ohed by the General Assembly, That, in its opin- 

 ion, the policy ofemploying such rangers and partisans 

 ought to be carried out energeticallv, both by the au- 

 thorities of this State and of the Confederate States, 

 without the slightest regard to such threats. 



A message of the governor to the Legisla- 



ture at the beginning of this extra session. 

 5, states that a conscription act h:i< U-en passed 

 by the Confederate Congn-.. II:- rt 

 relation to it were thus expressed : 



Since your adjournment the Confederate Congress 

 have passed a conscription bill, which relies 

 General Assembly, iu a great measure, from the neces- 

 sity of further legislation in regard to military in .. 

 This bill divests the State authorities of all control over 

 the troops of Virginia, and vests in the Confederate 

 Government the power to enroll all persons b- 

 the ages of eighteen and thirty-five, organize them, 

 commission the officers, call them into service, and dis- 

 pose of them in such manner as they may deem ad- 

 visable. 



It is my deliberate conviction that this act is uncon- 

 stitutional, but, taking into consideration the peculiar 

 condition of affairs existing at the time of its passage, 

 I forbear to debate the question at present. \N hen the 

 war is ended we can discuss these questions, and so 

 settle them as to preserve the rights of the States. Har- 

 mony, unity, and conciliation are indispensable to suc- 

 cess "now, and I will, as the Executive of the State (pro- 

 testing against it as an infringement of State rights), 

 acquiesce in its passage, and respectfully and earnestly 

 urge upon our people, as I have uniformly done, a 

 prompt and cheerful response to its requirements. 

 Drive the invader from our soil, establish the inde- 

 pendence of the Southern Confederacy, and then we 

 can mark, clearly and distinctly the line between State 

 and Confederate authority. 



The loss of slave property sustained by the 

 citizens of the State at this time was estimated 

 by the governor to exceed the loss from the 

 destruction of cotton or any other species of 

 property. The counties in Virginia which had 

 been overrun contained an aggregate slave pop- 

 ulation of 80.728, valued at $45,000,000, which 

 had been lost to the citizens. 



The principle of emancipation with compen- 

 sation proposed by President Lincoln in a mes- 

 sage to Congress in March, attracted some at- 

 tention at Richmond, and the following joint 

 resolution indicative of some of the views en- 

 tertained respecting it was introduced into the 

 Senate : 



The General Assembly of Virginia doth hereby de- 

 clare that negroes in slavery in this State and the 

 whole South (who are withal'in a higher condition of 

 civilization than any of their race has ever been else- 

 where), having been a property of their masters for 

 two hundred and forty years, bj use and custom at 

 first, and ever since by recognition of the public law 

 iu various forms, ough't not to be, and cannot justly 

 be, interfered with iu that relation of property by the 

 State, neither by the people in convention assembled 

 to alter an existing constitution, or to form one for ad- 

 mission into the confederacy, nor by the representa- 

 tives of the people in the 'State of the Confederate 

 Legislature, nor by any means or mode which the 

 popular majority might adopt; and that the State, 

 whilst remaining republican in the structure of its 

 government, can lawfully get rid of that species of 

 property, if ever, only by the free consent of the in- 

 dividual owners, it being true, as the General Assem- 

 bly doth further declare, that for the State, without 

 the free consent of the owner, to deprive him of his 

 identical property, by compelling him to accept a sub- 

 stituted value thereo'f, no matter how ascertained, or 

 by the post nati policy, or in any other way not for 

 the public use, but with a view to rid the State of 

 such property already resident therein, and so to de- 

 stroy the right of property in the subject, or to con- 

 strain the owner to send his slaves out of the State, 

 or else to expatriate himself and carry them with him, 



