714 



VIRGINIA. 



view of the fact that the new constitution 

 inaugurates many radical changes in the State 

 government, and necessitates prompt and 

 thorough legislation upon almost every sub- 

 ject within the scope " of the powers of the 

 Legislature." "In conclusion," the Governor 

 says, "permit me to congratulate you upon 

 the progress already made toward the restora- 

 tion of the State to civil government. Its good 

 effects are already visible everywhere within 

 the State. Confidence is being restored; com- 

 merce is reviving; mining and manufacturing 

 enterprises are being organized; capital is seek- 

 ing investment in our public improvements, 

 and in our rich agricultural and mineral lands ; 

 and, above and more gratifying than all, joy 

 and hope are taking the place of gloom and 

 despondency. Peace and prosperity are once 

 more dawning upon our desolated land. Con- 

 scious of the rectitude of our own acts, mo- 

 tives, and intentions, and relying upon the 

 continued favor of the Almighty Disposer of 

 human events, let us all manfully grapple with 

 the living present, and confidently hope for a 

 glorious future for the Commonwealth." 



The two amendments to the Federal Consti- 

 tution were ratified on the 8th of October. 

 The fourteenth amendment received 36 votes 

 in its favor in the Senate, and 4 votes were 

 cast against it. In the House of Delegates it 

 was ratified by a vote of 126 to 6. The 

 fifteenth amendment passed the House unani- 

 mously, and received 40 votes in the Senate 

 to 2 cast against it. The election of United 

 States Senators occupied several days, and 

 finally resulted in the choice of John F. Lewis, 

 the Lieutenant-Governor, and John "W. John- 

 ston, who had formerly been a judge in the 

 State, and had participated in the cause of 

 the Southern confederacy, but whose political 

 disabilities had been removed by Congress. 

 The Legislature was in session nearly three 

 weeks. 



The leaders of the Eadical Republican party, 

 being dissatisfied with the result of the late 

 election, called a convention, to meet at Rich- 

 mond on the 24th of November. Delegates, 

 selected in the different counties of the State, 

 accordingly gathered in an old theatre at the 

 capital on the day appointed, and organized as 

 a convention ; but it soon became evident that 

 their counsels would be far from harmonious. 

 There appeared to be two factions, one of 

 which favored the plan of calling upon Con- 

 gress to repudiate and reject the whole action 

 of the State thus far in the work of reconstruc- 

 tion, while the other displayed a much more 

 moderate spirit. A committee was appointed 

 to frame an address to Congress, and two re- 

 ports on the subject were the result, one, 

 signed by a majority of the committee, and the 

 other by a minority. The majority report, 

 which was adopted by the convention, declared 

 that "the election held in this State on the 

 6th of July last resulted in a Confederate tri- 

 umph, which we unhesitatingly assert .was 



achieved by artifice, intimidation, and fraud." 

 " We believe," it continues, " that the secret 

 of our defeat can be found in the unfortunate 

 submission to a separate vote of the test-oath 

 and disfranchising clauses of the State consti- 

 tution, in direct conflict with the action of our 

 Constitutional Convention, and in opposition 

 to the deliberate and unanimous opinion of the 

 rank and file of the Republican party of Vir- 

 ginia." "What was asked of Congress was: 

 "That your honorable body guarantee a re- 

 publican form of government to Virginia, either 

 by ordering a new election, and by submitting 

 the whole constitution to a vote of the people, 

 or by requiring the test-oath of the members 

 of the Legislature, and awarding the seats of 

 those who cannot take it to those eligible op- 

 ponents who received the next highest vote, 

 where the circumstances show that the elec- 

 tors must have known that they were casting 

 their votes for ineligible candidates. In the 

 event of a new election, we would ask for a 

 military force sufficient to protect us in our 

 political and civil rights." 



They further claimed that every thing done 

 by the Legislature at its late session was illegal 

 and void, and that there was but one course 

 for Congress to adopt. " This," they say, " is 

 perhaps our last contest. On your decision, 

 loyalty in Virginia lives or dies. If you decide 

 against us, no one will dare to avow his Repub- 

 licanism, the pernicious example set here will 

 extend to other Southern States, the colored 

 people will again be at the mercy of their 

 former masters, the national debt will be repu- 

 diated, and the rebel Democratic yoke may 

 probably be placed on the necks of the Ameri- 

 can people in 1872. 



The minority report admitted that " a con- 

 stitution thoroughly republican in form was 

 ratified by a large majority of the qualified 

 voters of Virginia, at the election held on 

 July 6, 1869," but, in view of the "unwilling 

 support given that instrument by many who 

 voted for it," it asked attention to "probable 

 dangers of readmission without security for 

 the future." The minority, nevertheless, rec- 

 ognized " as a fact of perhaps graver import, 

 that prolonged exclusion will certainly entail 

 loss and suffering to party and individuals," 

 and declare that they desire rather " to remove 

 than place obstacles in the way of early read- 

 mission of the State to her full Federal rela- 

 tions." They further say : 



* Pause in internal improvement, "public and pri- 

 vate ; condition of the people as to anti-war indebt- 

 edness ; postponement of the operation of -iiome- 

 stead and school provisions of the constitution, im 

 perfect civil machinery for prompt administration of 

 justice, and rapid emigration from the State of handy 

 laborers all warn that we must do whatever lies in 

 our power to meet the needs of the people fully and 



In view of the election of the State and county 

 officers, to be held shortly after the readmission of 

 the State, we affirm as our platform of principles 

 in national politics, the Union, the Constitution! 

 and the enforcement of the laws; in State poli 



