VIRGINIA, WEST. 



819 



real value of their labor, far below the prices formerly 

 paid to masters for labor performed by their slaves. 



By reason of these combinations, wages utterly in- 

 adequate to the support of themselves and their fami- 

 lies have, in many places, become the usual and com- 

 mon wages of the freedmen. 



The effect of the statute in question will be, there- 

 fore, to compel the freedmen, under penalty of pun- 

 ishment as criminals, to accept and labor for the 

 wages established by these combinations of employ- 

 ers. It places them wholly in the power of their 

 employers, and it is easy to foresee that, even where no 

 such combinations now exist, the temptation to form 

 them offered by the statute will be too strong to be re- 

 sisted, and that such inadequate wages will become 

 the common and usual wages throughout the State. 



The ultimate effect of the statute will be to reduce 

 the freedmen to a condition of servitude worse than 

 that from which they have been emancipated a con- 

 dition which will be slavery in all but its name. 



The amount of registered stock issued by the 

 State is $21,996,398; do. of coupon bonds, 

 $12,973,000. Since January 1, 1865, $269,822 

 of interest had been paid on the registered stock. 

 With the exception of some parcels, the prop- 

 erty which had been taken and held by the Fed- 

 eral Government as abandoned, was given up 

 to the owners. 



At the municipal election in Richmond, on 

 July 28th, the Mayor, Attorney, and Superin- 

 tendent of the Poor elected were persons who 

 had held commissions in the Confederate army. 

 An order was issued by Maj.-Gen. Turner for- 

 bidding an organization of the Common Coun- 

 cil. The obnoxious persons declined. No meet- 

 ing was, however, allowed until it become ne- 

 cessary to prepare for the State election, when 

 a quorum was allowed to meet. By the re- 

 tirement of certain members the objections of 

 Gens. Terry and Turner were removed, and 

 the Council allowed to enter upon its duties. 



The freedmen in the State come under the 

 charge of the Freedmen's Bureau, and with the 

 exception of a few local disturbances, the course 

 of affairs was so similar to that in other South- 

 ern States, that it is unnecesary to repeat them. 



Desolated as Virginia had been by the war, 

 no State has manifested more prompt and sin- 

 cere acquiescence in the result. Without reser- 

 vation or reluctance, the State has assumed all 

 the responsibilities, burdens, and other duties 

 imposed upon her by the new situation. The 

 State government, established by a handful of 

 votes in the border counties, was honestly and 

 cordially sustained ; and Governor Pierpont 

 suddenly found himself with a jurisdiction and 

 a population almost as extensive as the largest 

 States in the Union. 



VIRGINIA, WEST. This State shared the 

 general prosperity of the northern States, as is 

 evident from the favorable condition of its finan- 

 ces, the treasurer's and auditor's reports show- 

 ing a large balance in the treasury, notwith- 

 standing that nearly $2,000,000 had been 

 expended for bounties during the war. During 

 the same time, according to the report of the 

 adjutant-general, 31,884 men were furnished 

 to the Federal armies. 



A movement was set on foot in Virginia with 



a view to bring about a reunion with West Vir- 

 ginia, and measures looking to that end wero 

 taken into consideration by the Virginia Legis- 

 lature. The subject was referred to a commit- 

 tee, the minority of which, in a report that ex- 

 hibited the feeling on the question in the minds 

 of a large portion of the people, said substan- 

 tially, that whatever mortification and regret 

 the people of Virginia had experienced at the 

 dismemberment of the Commonwealth, they 

 had the consolation of knowing that it was by 

 no act of theirs this "ungrateful deed" had 

 been accomplished; that West Virginia had 

 had no cause to complain, and that she could 

 point to no improvement or advantage enjoyed 

 or position attained for which she was not 

 more or less indebted to her "impoverished 

 mother." The report appealed to statistics to 

 sustain the assertion that "for a long series of 

 years, some, if not many of the counties now- 

 composing West Virginia, were unable to pay 

 the cost of their organization and representa- 

 tion, but were aided, fostered, and sustained, 

 and made all that they now are, by a people 

 who, in every vicissitude and under all trials, 

 have shown themselves the most generous and 

 magnanimous ever known." The report ar- 

 gued that as West Virginia was now a free and 

 independent State, " in the full and successful 

 exercise of all the functions, organization, and 

 representation in her State Legislature, as well as 

 in the Federal Congress," the proposition was 

 not timely ; that " an impoverished people, di- 

 vested of a large portion of their rights and 

 privileges, ignorant alike of their present posi- 

 tion and future condition, should earnestly in- 

 vite her to share their fallen state, gloomy pros- 

 pects, and uncertain fate." " If the position and 

 condition of the two States were reversed," the 

 report continued, " then might Virginia, with- 

 out any loss of self respect or descent from the 

 dignified position she has always sustained, and 

 in accordance with that noble philanthropy, 

 disinterested friendship, and generosity which 

 have always been characteristic of her people, 

 invite back and with outstretched arms receive 

 the wayward daughter." The report concluded 

 by recommending the adoption of the follow- 

 ing resolution : 



Jtesolvedby the General Assembly of Virginia, That 

 it is inexpedient at this time to legislate upon the 

 subject of a reunion between West "Virginia and Vir- 

 ginia ; but whenever the people of the former State 

 shall, through the constituted authorities, manifest a 

 disposition therefor, then will Virginia be prepared 

 to consider any overtures which may be made. 



Governor Boreman, in his message to the 

 Legislature in January, 1866, said, in relation 

 to the enforcement of the oath of loyalty em- 

 bodied in the Constitution of the State : 



After the war ended and peace was being restored, 

 I entertained the hope that I would be able at tbis 

 session of the Legislature to recommend the modifi- 

 cation of the more stringent laws in regard to the 

 election and qualification of officers ; but after what 

 has transpired at the first and only election held 

 since the close of the war in the localities where dia* 



