VIRGINIA. 



711 



fill vacancies in various civil offices, owing to 

 the impossibility of finding citizens who were 

 qualified for the positions under the laws of the 

 United States. 



General Oanby assumed the command of the 

 First Military District on the 20th of April. 

 On the 22d he issued an order, declaring that 

 all officers of the provisional government 

 would be required to take the test-oath, which 

 was followed on the 7th of May by an order, 

 directing that " all persons elected or appointed 

 to civil office, who have subscribed the oath of 

 office of July 2, 1862, and filed the same with 

 the county clerks, or with other civil officers, 

 as required by law, will cause duly-certified 

 copies of said oath to be made and filed at 

 these headquarters, that their ability to qualify 

 under the joint resolution of Congress, passed 

 February 6, 1869, may be definitely ascer- 

 tained." A failure to comply with this order, 

 in any case, was to be regarded as an indica- 

 tion that the office was vacated. 



By an order of April 30th, the military divi- 

 sions of the State were reorganized and a new 

 assignment of military commissioners was 

 made. The districts were twenty-seven in 

 number, and the commissioners were at the 

 same time appointed superintendents of regis- 

 tration and election. On the 21st of May the 

 election order was issued. It named the day 

 of election, gave the clauses of the constitution 

 which were to be separately voted upon, and 

 set forth in detail the duties of registrars and 

 judges of elections. Directions were given 

 for the registration of all qualified electors, the 

 revision of the lists, and the final casting of the 

 ballots. To prevent the registration of any 

 person not entitled to vote, two white and two 

 colored persons, registered voters of the dis- 

 trict or ward, were to be selected by the Board 

 of Registrars, to challenge the right of any per- 

 son to be registered, who, in the opinion of 

 the person challenging, is disqualified as a 

 voter by reason of any of the causes set forth 

 in said acts of Congress. Upon said challenge 

 being made, the board shall examine the per- 

 son presenting himself for registration, with 

 reference to each cause of disqualification 

 alleged, and evidence shall be taken, if offered, 

 to sustain or disprove the challenge." 



Provision was also made for challenging at 

 the polls, "to prevent repeating or fraudulent 

 personations of duly-registered voters." Reg- 

 ulations were made for the preservation of 

 order in all respects similar to those prescribed 

 at other elections for the consummation of 

 reconstruction in the Southern States. {See 

 MISSISSIPPI, and CYCLOPAEDIA of 1868, ALA- 

 BAMA, etc.) 



The Boards of Registration were com- 

 posed of persons selected by the military com- 

 missioners, and special instructions to the 

 registrars were issued by the commander of 

 the district. These instructions designated 

 the classes of persons who were disqualified 

 from voting by the terms of the reconstruc- 



tion acts. Among the persons specified as 

 " disfranchised " were the following : 



8. All persons who voluntarily joined the rebel 

 army, and all persons in that army, whether volun- 

 teers or conscripts, who committed voluntarily any 

 hostile act, thereby engaged in insurrection and 

 rebellion. Any person, however, who was forced 

 into the rebel army, but avoided, as far as possible, 

 doing hostile acts, and escaped from that army as 

 soon as possible, cannot be said to have engaged in 

 the rebellion. 



9. All who exercised the functions of any office 

 under the Confederate government, or the govern- 

 ment of any of the Confederate States, which func- 

 tions were of a nature to aid in prosecuting the war, 

 or maintaining the hostile character of those govern- 

 ments, engaged in the rebellion, or gave aid and 

 comfort to the enemy. 



10. Voting, in convention, for the ordinance of 

 secession, or, at the election, for its ratification, like 

 any other act of engaging in rebellion or adhering to 

 the enemy, if done voluntarily, works disfranchise- 

 ment of the person who had previously held one of 

 the specified offices ; but, if the act be committed in- 

 voluntarily, through fear or force, it does not work 

 disfranchisement. Any act is. assumed to have been 

 voluntary unless the contrary is shown by satis- 

 factory evidence. In reference to this and other 

 questions, the oath of the person applying for regis- 

 tration is to be given such weight as, in the opinion 

 of the board, it is entitled to. 



11. Those who -voluntarily furnished supplies of 

 food, clothing, arms, ammunition, horses or mules, 

 or any other material of war, or labor, or service of 

 any kind, to the Confederate military or naval forces, 

 or money, by loan or otherwise, to the Confederate 

 government, or aided in any way the raising, organi- 

 zation, or equipment of troops, gave aid and comfort 

 to the enemy, and participated m the rebellion and 

 civil war against the United States. 



12. To give individual soldiers food or clothing 

 enough to relieve present suffering, or to minister to 

 the sick or wounded, are simple acts of charity or 

 humanity, and do not constitute giving " aid or 

 comfort to the enemy." A parent may give his son 

 who belongs to the hostile army food and clothing 

 for his own use ; but if he give him a gun, horse, or 

 other thing, to be used for hostile purposes, he 

 thereby gives aid and comfort to the enemy. 



Meantime the political parties were engaged 

 'in an active canvass of the State. They were 

 known as the Radical and Conservative parties, 

 and consisted mainly of two discordant sec- 

 tions of the Republican organization, which 

 had divided on the question of incorporating 

 into the constitution the proscriptive features 

 already mentionad. About 120 Republican 

 delegates assembled in convention at Peters- 

 burg on the 9th of March, and, after a some- 

 what turbulent session of two days, nominated 

 H. H. Wells for Governor, J. D. Harris (col- 

 ored) for Lieutenant-Governor, Thomas R. 

 Bowden Attorney-General, and A. M. Crane 

 for Congressman at large. The State Central 

 Committee was reorganized, and resolutions 

 were adopted to the following effect . 



1. Favoring the early restoration of Virginia under 

 the new constitution wHhout changes or amend- 

 ment, and an early election, without which there is 

 danger of final disaster. 



2. That the election of General Grant has awak- 

 ened confidence in, and given a new guarantee for, 

 the principles of the Eepublican party, and made 

 sublime the truth that all men are free and equal, 

 and entitled to all the privileges of citizens. 



