VIIIUINIA. 



: mo to leave the remodelling of the jury 



issem- 



lio content for tl. 

 :n of military oommUslonen ratl] 



election occurred on tin.- JiM oj 



without tiny s, -1-i.Mis disturbance. The. Radicals 



had been active during tin- campaign which 



N-etion, mill tie .itivcs 



: 'iicral rule took ;tu earnest part, with u 



view of exerting all tit-- influence to which they 



entitled, under ihe law, on the i[m-slion 



of restoring the State to the Union on the 



proposed by the Federal Congress. The 



iv<ult, was that 169,229 votes wore ca-t on the 



i|iie-tioii of holding a convention, of which 76,- 



"< I wore those of white citizens, and 9.3,155 of 



Macks. For the convention 14,835 whites and 



92,507 blacks voted ; against the convention, 



i;i.-_> I'.i whites and 638 blacks. "Whole number 



in favor of convention 107,342, whole number 



ainiust it 61,887; majority 45,455 in favor. 



Of the 105 delegates chosen 80 were whites 



and -25 colored men ; 70 were Republicans and 



'iiservati 1 . 



After the election a few persons were tried 

 by military commission for illegal interference 

 to prevent voting, and some irregularities were 

 reel Hied by the commanding general. In one 

 or two cases new elections were ordered. On 

 the 25th of November James W. Ilunnicutt 

 was arrested by the civil authorities, on an 

 indictment found against him for incendiary 

 language used in a political harangue on the 

 L'Tth of September, at Elam Church, in the 

 County of Charles City. Ho was charged in 

 the indictment with conspiring " with divers 

 other persons" to incite the colored population 

 of the State to rise in insurrection against the 

 whites. The following are among the words 

 attributed to Mr. Ilunnicutt on the occasion 

 of the offence: ''You, the colored people, have 

 no property. The white race have houses and 

 lands. Some of you are old and feeble and 

 cannot carry the musket, but can apply the 

 : . n-cii to the dwellings of your enemies. There 

 are none too young the boy of ten and tho 

 girl of twelve can apply the torch." Mr. Ilun- 

 nicutt, who was one of the delegates elet ; 

 take part in the Constitutional Convention, was 

 hailed by the military commission to appear at 

 the Charles City County Court ten days after 

 the adjournment of the convention. 



General Schofield's order was issued on the 

 :M of November, designating the time and place 

 of m tin:; of the Reconstruction Convention. 

 The delegates were directed to assemble at ten 

 o'clock A. M. on the 3d of December, in the 

 hall of the House of Delegates, in the city of 

 Richmond. 



The convention met on the 3d of December, 

 and placed lion. John C. Underwood a 

 head as permanent presiding officer. Some 

 days were occupied in choosing the various 

 committees and settling the financial int- 

 of the members, and the body adjourned on 



the 20th, to meet January 2, 1868. No r< 



had at that time been made upon t!c 



of the future constitution. Among the 



lions referred were several looking tot 



rity of eijiial rights for colored citi/ -M,. 



of the~e propo.cd to provide in the organic law 



of the. State that negroea should be allowed 



equal privileges with whites in railroad cars, 



steamboats, etc. 



A convention of the Conservatives of the 

 a enililed in Richmond on the 12th of 

 -.her, and unanimously adopted the fol- 

 lowing resolutions : 



1. This convention doth recognize that by the re- 

 sults of the late war slavery has been abolish* i 



it doth declare that it is not the purpose or desire of 

 the people of Virginia to reduce or srbject again to 

 slavery the people emancipated by of the 



waruiid by the amendment to the Constitution of the 

 United States. 



2. This convention doth declare that Virginia of 

 right should be restored to her Federal relations with 

 the Government of the United States ; and that it is 

 not in the contemplation of the people of Virginia to 

 violate or impair her obligations to tne Federal Union, 

 but to perform them in good faith. 



3. Tnis convention doth solemnly declare and as- 

 sert that the people of Virginia are entitled to all the 

 rights of freedom, and all the guarantees therefor, 

 provided by the Constitution or the United States; 

 and they insist on the same as unquestionable ; and 

 that the said Constitution, which all are sworn to 

 support, does not justify the governing of Virginia by 

 any power not delegated by it, nor ought she, under 

 it, to be controlled by the Federal Government, ex- 

 cept in strict accordance with its terms and limita- 

 tions. 



4. This convention doth declare, in the language 

 of a resolution adopted by a public meeting held at 

 the Cooper Institute, in the city of New York: 

 " That the policy which continues to subject the peo- 

 ple of ten States of the Union to an irresponsible gov- 

 ernment, carried on by military power, is inconsist- 

 ent with the express promises of the Constitution of 

 the United States, and is subversive of the funda- 

 mental ideas of our Government and of civil liberty ; 

 and the object for which this great wrong has been 

 persisted in, as now being disclosed to the people of 

 this country and to the world to wit, to subject the 

 white people of these States to the absolute suprem- 

 acy, in their local governments and in their repre- 

 sentation in the Senate and House of Representatives, 

 of the black race just emerged from personal servi- 

 tude is abhorrent to the civilization ot mankind, and ' 

 involves us and the people of the Northern States in 

 the consequences of surrendering one-third of the 

 Senate and one-quarter of the House of Representa- 

 tives, which are to legislate over us, to the dominion 

 of an organized class of emancipated slaves, who are 

 without any of the training, habits, or traditions of 

 self-government." 



5. This convention, for the people of Virginia, 

 doth declare that they disclaim all hostility to the 

 black population ; that they sincerely desire to see 

 them advance in mteUigenoe and material prosperity, 

 and are willing to extend to them a liberal and |MMT- 

 mis protection. But that while, in the opinion of 

 this convention, ftny constitution of Virginia ought to 

 make all men equal before tne law, and should j.po- 

 teet the liberty and property of all, yet this conven- 

 tion doth distinctly declare that the government* of 

 the States and of the Union were formed by white 

 nirii to lie subject to their control ; and that suffrage 

 should still be so regulate. 1 by the St.ites as to con- 

 tinue the Fedenl and State systems under the con- 

 trol and direction of the white race. 



6. That in the opinion of this convention the peo- 



