310 



CONGRESS, U. S. 



the forty-eight counties to compose the new 

 State, eleven never had even the semblance of 

 representation had no part, nor lot, nor say 

 in the establishment of the new government. 

 The counties of Logan, Calhoun, Nicholas, 

 McDowell, Mercer, Monroe, Greenbrier, Poca- 

 hontas, Webster, Morgan, and Pendleton, eleven 

 in number, and containing a white population 

 of 55,400, were never represented anywhere 

 neither in Legislature nor convention in ref- 

 erence to the formation of a new State. They 

 never cast a vote either for the election of a 

 member of the Wheeling Legislature, or for 

 the convention that submitted the question of 

 the new State to the people, or for the conven- 

 tion that framed the constitution of the new 

 State. Are these eleven counties, with these 

 65.400 white freemen, to be brought within the 

 operation of a government which they had no 

 part in making, and to which they have in no 

 way consented ? 



" Again, sir ; the three counties of Hamp- 

 shire, Hardy, and Morgan, holding a popula- 

 tion of 27,509, were never represented either 

 in the House of Delegates, or either of the 

 conventions. Is it to be supposed that the 

 people of these counties cared aught for the 

 new government, when they would send rep- 

 resentatives neither to the Legislature nor to 

 the conventions acting in the premises ? Are 

 they to be hound by this new government 

 under such circumstances ? Is it their govern- 

 ment? Can it be said that they have given 

 their consent to it through their Legislature, as 

 the Constitution prescribes, when they were not 

 represented there at all ? 



" Still another test of the absence of popu- 

 lar, constitutional consent : On comparing the 

 ordinary vote of the counties composing the 

 new State with the vote actually cast for the 

 adoption of the new State constitution, it will 

 be found that there was not only not a majority 

 of the people, but a singularly small proportion 

 of them, that voted for the new State and its 

 new constitution. I submit a few particulars. 

 In 1860, the county of Braxton cast a vote, in 

 the Presidential election, of 754; in 1862, on 

 the vote for the new constitution, only 83, just 

 one ninth of the population ; Barbour county, 

 1,269 in 1860, and 459 in 1862 ; Boone, 566 in 

 1860, to 78 in 1862; Hampshire, 1,915 in 1860, 

 to 157 in 1862; Hardy, 1,479 in 1860, to 192 

 in 1862; Pendleton, 929 in 1860, to 116 in 

 1862 ; and this proportion runs through the 

 vote generally. Is the new government to be 

 inaugurated by such a vote as this ? 



" Yet, again : ten counties, to wit, Logan, 

 Fayette, Wyoming, Mason, Mercer, Monroe, 

 Webster, Morgan, McDowell, and Pocahontas, 

 with a population of 50,000, did not cast a vote 

 on the new State and constitution. Are these 

 counties and their 50,000 population to be 

 bound by a government about which they nev- 

 er cast a vote ? Is it their government ? Have 

 they consented to it? Is this the way of 

 carrying out the great and revered principle 



of civil liberty, that taxation and representa- 

 tion are to go together? 



"And I find the aggregate vote of the coun- 

 ties composing the new State to be, ordinarily, 

 48,000 ; while on the new State question, the 

 entire vote was only 19,000 ! Does a govern- 

 ment formed under such circumstances merit 

 the name of government ? I must say that 

 my friend from Massachusetts, (Mr. Dawes) 

 was not far from the truth when he said that 

 civil organizations, raised under such imper- 

 fect representation, were the merest mockery 

 of the Constitution and of the elective fran- 

 chise. 



" But the most remarkable anomaly involved 

 in the measure embraced in this bill, I have 

 yet to state. There are three counties em- 

 braced within the limits of the new State, 

 those of Greenbrier, Mercer, and Monroe, with 

 a population of 30,000, which are far removed 

 from the neighborhood of the northwest, and 

 which are totally dissimilar in interest. They 

 are on the line of the great Central Virginia 

 railroad, running through the very heart of 

 Virginia, and extending from the Ohio river 

 to the seaports of Virginia. Their fortunes 

 are indissolubly connected with the fortunes 

 of Eastern and Central Virginia. You can no 

 more separate their interests from those of 

 tide- water and middle Virginia, than you can 

 divide the interests of man and wife. Their 

 market is in the cities of tide-water Virginia ; 

 that of the people of the new State is, by na- 

 ture and by nature's God, in the city of Balti- 

 more. 



" Now, sir, upon none of the laws of the hu- 

 man constitution or the instincts of mortal 

 nature, can the people of these three counties 

 assimilate with their fellow-citizens of the 

 northwest. Nor is there one man or woman, 

 in my opinion, in these three counties, who 

 desires to be connected with this West Virginia 

 government." 



Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, closed the debate. 

 In opposition to the view of Mr. Stevens, he 

 urged that the Legislature of West Virginia 

 was the Legislature of the State, as follows : 

 " We come now to the great point in discus- 

 sion here. Who constitute the State of Vir- 

 ginia ? I beg leave here to thank my friend 

 from Massachusetts (Mr. Dawes) for suggest- 

 ing what was essential to the line of my argu- 

 ment. The gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. 

 Stevens) said the majority of the citizens of 

 the United States within any State are the 

 State. I agree to that, sir, subject to this 

 limitation, that the majority act in subordina- 

 tion to the Federal Constitution, and to the 

 rights of every citizen of the United States 

 guaranteed thereby. 



"But, sir, the majority of the people of any 

 State are not the State when they organize 

 treason against the Government, and conspir- 

 acy against the rights of its citizens. The 

 people of a State have the right to local gov- 

 ernment. It is essential to their existence. 



