716 



VIRGINIA. 



in force until they expire by their own limitation, or are 

 altered or repealed by the Legislature. 



SEC. 2. All writs, actions, causes of action, prosecutions 

 and rights of individuals and of bodies corporate and of 

 the State, and all charters of incorporation, shall con- 

 tinue ; and all indictments which shall have been found, 

 or which may hereafter be found, for any crime or offence 

 committed before the adoption of this constitution, may 

 be proceeded upon as if no change had taken place. The 

 several courts, except as herein otherwise provided, shall 

 continue with the Jike powers and jurisdiction, both in 

 law and in equity, as if this constitution had not been 

 adopted, and until the organization of the judicial depart- 

 ment of this constitution. 



SEC. 3 . That all fines, penalties, forfeitures,and escheats, 

 accruing to the State of Virginia under the present con- 

 stitution and laws, shall accrue to the use of the State un- 

 der this constitution. 



SEC. 4. That all recognizances, bonds, obligations, and 

 all other instruments entered into or executed before the 

 adoption of this constitution, to the people of the State 

 of V irginia, to any State, county, or township, or any pub- 

 lic officer or public body, or which may be entered into or 

 executed, under existing laws, " to the people of the State 

 of Virginia," to any such officer or public body before the 

 complete organization of the departments of government 

 under this constitution, shall remain binding and valid ; 

 and rights and liabilities upon the same shall continue, 

 and may be prosecuted as provided by law. And all 

 crimes and misdemeanors and penal actions shall be 

 tried, punished, and prosecuted, as though no change had 

 taken place, until otherwise provided by law. 



By command of Brevet Major-General CANBY. 



Louis V. CAZIABC, A.D. C., Acting Assiet.-Adj't-General. 



Mr. "Walker, who had been acting in the ca- 

 pacity of Provisional Governor since Septem- 

 ber, was formally installed in the position of 

 Governor of the Commonwealth, and took the 

 oath of office as such. His first act was to issue 

 the following proclamation, which may be re- 

 garded as an official announcement of the" final 

 consummation of reconstruction in Virginia : 



Whereas, A duly-authenticated copy of an act of 

 Congress, entitled " An act to admit the State of Vir- 

 ginia to representation in the Congress of the United 

 States," approved by the President of the United 

 States on the 26th day of January, 1870, has been re- 

 ceived by me from the Secretary of State of the United 

 States, by which action of Congress the constitution 

 adopted by the people of Virginia on the 6th day of 

 July, 1869, and the action of the Legislature of Vir- 

 ginia thereunder, have been approved and ratified by 

 Congress, and the State of Virginia restored in her 

 political relations to the Federal Union : 



And, whereas, There is no day appointed by the said 

 act of Congress for the convening of the General 

 Assembly : 



Therefore, I, Gilbert C. "Walker, Governor of the 

 Commonwealth of Virginia, do hereby make known 

 the facts stated above; and do further make known 

 that the General Assembly of Virginia will convene 

 at the capitol, in the city of Kichmond, on Tuesday, 

 the eighth day of February, 1870, at twelve ir., for the 

 discharge of its functions under said constitution. 



In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand 

 and caused the seal of the Commonwealth to be 

 affixed, at Kichmond, this twenty-seventh day 

 of January, 1870. GILBERT C. WALKER. 

 By the Governor : 



GA.BBIOK MALLORY, Sec'y of the Commonwealth. 



The cost of reconstruction during the year 

 ending September 30, 1869, was $146,902.86, 

 and it was thought at that time that $65,000 

 more would be required to complete the work. 

 The general financial condition of the State is 

 represented to be " as good as could be expect- 

 ed," but no official statement of its accounts 

 has been made. 



A judicial decision was pronounced in the 

 Circuit Court of the United States for the Dis- 

 trict of Virginia by the Chief Justice on the 

 10th of May, which involved the proper con- 

 struction of the fourteenth amendment of the 

 Federal Constitution. It appears that Coasar 

 Griffin, a colored man, had been tried and con- 

 victed in a State court in Eockbridge County, 

 and sentenced to two years' imprisonment by 

 Hugh W. Sheffey, the Circuit Judge of that 

 county. While the prisoner was in the cus- 

 tody of the sheriff, a writ of habeas corpus 

 was sued out of the United States Court for 

 his discharge, on the ground that the judge 

 was disqualified, at the time his decision was 

 rendered, to hold any office under the United 

 States, or any State, on account of his having 

 taken an oath to support the Constitution of 

 the United States, and subsequently become a 

 member of the Legislature of Virginia during 

 the civil war, and as such voted for measures 

 to sustain the so-called Confederate States in 

 the contest against the Union. It was claimed 

 that the disqualification of persons belonging 

 to this category to hold office, by the terms of 

 the fourteenth amendment, rendered the act 

 of Judge Sheffey null and void. The District 

 Judge, John C. Underwood, took this view of 

 the case, and ordered the discharge of the pris- 

 oner, but the matter was carried to the Circuit 

 Court, and this decision reversed by the Chief 

 Justice. The grounds for the reversal were 

 set forth at considerable length in the opinion 

 rendered on the occasion, but the general con- 

 clusion arrived at is briefly expressed in the 

 following paragraph : 



"It results from this examination that per- 

 sons in office by lawful appointment or elec- 

 tion before the promulgation of the fourteenth 

 amendment are not removed therefrom by the 

 direct and immediate effect of the prohibition 

 to hold office contained in the third section ; 

 hut that legislation by Congress is necessary 

 to give effect to the prohibition by providing 

 for such removal. And it results further that 

 the exercise of their several functions by these 

 officers, until removed, in pursuance of such 

 legislation, is not unlawful." 



