VIRGINIA. 



709 



However, $108,821.17, of claims presented, are 

 still unpaid, but it is not anticipated that more 

 than $34,000 of this claim will be allowed by 

 the Government. 



The Commissioners of the Insane report the 

 institution in a favorable condition. There 

 were 137 State beneficiaries to August 1st. 

 Admitted during the past twelve months, 46 ; 

 discharged cured, 11; discharged uncured, 8; 

 died, 18. Total number (at report), 89. 



There are 81 convicts in the State Prison, an 

 excess of five over the preceding year ; and it 

 is gratifying to learn that of the former num- 

 ber only three are women. 



VIRGINIA. No provision was made, in the 

 year 1868, for submitting the constitution of 

 Virginia to a vote of her people, although that 

 instrument was completed in April of that year. 

 The provisions of the constitution regarding 

 the elective franchise were quite restrictive, 

 and would exclude from the exercise of that 

 privilege a large portion of the most intelligent 

 and best-educated citizens of that State on 

 account of their participation in the late civil 

 war on behalf of the Southern Confederacy. 

 A movement began in the latter part of 1868, 

 among the more moderate Republicans and all 

 the conservative men of the State, for a modifi- 

 cation of these clauses, or their entire omission 

 from the new organic law. This question was 

 destined to create a new division of political 

 parties throughout the campaign of the year. 

 Not only was the subject discussed by the 

 newspapers and public men in the early part 

 of the year, but a delegation of prominent citi- 

 zens visited Washington to urge upon Congress 

 the expediency of submitting the constitution 

 to a vote of the people, with important changes 

 in its provisions. A bill providing for the sub- 

 mission of the constitution to a popular vote 

 had originated in the House of Representatives, 

 and was, at that time, occupying the attention 

 of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The dele- 

 gation from Virginia addressed a letter to that 

 committee, setting forth the views generally 

 entertained in the State, and the feelings which 

 prevailed among all liberal citizens, and asking, 

 as a fit embodiment of those views and feelings, 

 that an amendment to the pending bill be 

 adopted, providing that the constitution should 

 never be so changed as to deprive any citizen 

 of the right to vote, and that the disqualifying 

 sections should be stricken out. The discus- 

 sion of this subject, both in Virginia and at 

 "Washington, continued until the recommenda- 

 tion of President Grant in his message of the 

 7th of April, and the consequent action of Con- 

 gress, put the substantial object aimed at in the 

 Avay of accomplishment. The President, in his 

 message, recommended that provision be made 

 for holding an election under the direction of 

 the military commander, at which the question 

 of the adoption of the constitution should be 

 submitted to the citizens, and "that a separate 

 vote be taken upon such parts as may be thought 

 expedient, and at the same time and under the 



same authority there be an election for the 

 officers provided under such constitution, and 

 that the constitution, or such parts thereof as 

 shall have been adopted by the people, be sub- 

 mitted to Congress on the first Monday of De- 

 cember next for its consideration, so that, if 

 the same is then approved, the necessary steps 

 will have been taken for the restoration of the 

 State of Virginia to its proper relations to the 

 Union. * * I am led to make this representa- 

 tion," he said, "from the confident hope and 

 belief that the people of that State are now 

 ready to cooperate with the national Govern- 

 ment in bringing it again into such relations to 

 the Union as it ought as soon as possible to 

 establish and maintain, and to give to all its 

 people those equal rights under the law which 

 were asserted in the Declaration of Indepen- 

 dence, in the words of one of the most illus- 

 trious of its sons." A bill to carry into effect 

 these recommendations was immediately in- 

 troduced into the House of Representatives, 

 and rapidly passed through that body and the 

 Senate, and received the approval of the Presi- 

 dent on the 10th of April. It provides that 

 the President may, at such time as he may 

 deem best, "submit the constitution which 

 was framed by the convention which met in 

 Richmond, Va., on Tuesday, the 3d day of De- 

 cember, 1867, to the registered voters of said 

 State, registered at the date of said submission, 

 for ratification or rejection, and may also sub- 

 mit to a separate vote such provisions of said 

 constitutio'n as he may deem best, such vote to 

 be taken either upon each of said provisions 

 alone, or in connection with the other portions 

 of th e constitution, as the President may direct. " 

 After authorizing the election of officers at 

 the same time, and making similar provisions 

 with regard to the States of Texas and Missis- 

 sippi, the act closes by requiring the Legislature 

 to ratify the fourteenth and fifteenth amend- 

 ments of the Federal Constitution as a condi- 

 tion precedent to the readmission of the State 

 to the Union, and declaring that these pro- 

 ceedings shall not be final, or operate as a com- 

 plete restoration of the State until approved 

 by Congress. In pursuance of the provisions 

 of this act, the President issued his proclama- 

 tion on the 14th of May, designating the 6th 

 of July as the time for the election and sub- 

 mitting the following clauses to a separate 

 vote: 



ARTICLE III. Section 1, Clause 4. Every person who 

 lias been a Senator or Bepresentative in Congress, or 

 elector of President or Vice-President, or who held 

 any office, civil or military, under the United States, 

 or under any State, who, having previously taken am 

 oath as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the 

 United States, or as a member of any State Legis- 

 lature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any 

 State, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion 

 against the same, or given aid or comfort to the ene- 

 mies thereof. This clause shall include the following 

 officers : Governor, Lieutenant-Go vernor, Secretary of 

 State, Auditor of Public Accounts, Second Auditor, 

 Eegister of the Land-office, State Treasurer, Attorney- 

 General, sheriffs, sergeant of a city or town, commis- 



