VIRGINIA. 



729 



carpenters' tools, blankets, and other baggage 

 was taken by the Confederates, who sustained 

 no loss. 



VIRGINIA, one of the largest States of the 

 Union, is bounded on tne North by Ohio, Penn- 

 sylvania, and Maryland ; east by Maryland and 

 the Atlantic Ocean ; south by North Carolina 

 and Tennessee ; and west by Kentucky and 

 Ohio. The population in 1860 was 1,047,613 

 white, 57,579 free colored, and 490,887 slaves. 

 The area of the State is about 61,352 square 

 miles. The assessed value of real property in 

 1860 was $417,952,228 ; of personal property, 

 $239,069,108. (See NEW AMERICAN CYCLOPE- 

 DIA.) The popular vote for President in 1860 

 was as follows : Lincoln, 1,929 ; Douglas, 

 16,290; Breckinridge, 74,323; Bell. 74,681. 

 That at the election in 1856 was : Fremont, 

 291 ; Buchanan, 89,706 ; Fillmore, 60,310. 



No State watched the proceedings in South 

 Carolina and Alabama relative to secession, 

 with greater interest than Virginia. In favor 

 of the Union by a large majority, she still pos- 

 sessed the warmest sympathy with the slave- 

 holding States. Public affairs, however, main- 

 tained their ordinary course until the 7th of 

 January, when an extra session of the Legis- 

 lature convened at Richmond. Governor 

 Letcher, in his Message, alluding to the con- 

 dition of the country, said that all see, know, 

 and feel that the danger is imminent, and all 

 true patriots are exerting themselves to save 

 the country from impending perils. He re- 

 newed the proposition in his previous Mes- 

 sage for a convention of all the States, and 

 said it is " monstrous to see a Government like 

 ours destroyed merely because men cannot 

 agree about a domestic institution. It becomes 

 Virginia to be mindful of her own interests. A 

 disruption is inevitable, and if new confedera- 

 tions are to be formed, we must have the best 

 guarantees before we can attach Virginia to 

 either." He charged upon the non-slaveholding 

 States the responsibility for the state of affairs, 

 and, if the Union was disrupted, upon them 

 would rest the blame. He alluded at length 

 to their aggressions, and said they have the 

 power to end the strife and restore confidence. 

 " Will they do it ? " He awaited their response 

 without apprehension. 



The Governor further declared he would re- 

 gard any attempt of the Federal troops to pass 

 through Virginia for the purpose of coercing 

 any Southern State as an act of invasion, which 

 would be repelled. He was not without a hope 

 that the present difficulties would find a satis- 

 factory solution. " Let New England and 

 "Western New York be sloughed off and ally 

 themselves with Canada." He opposed a State 

 convention, and suggested such measures as to 

 him seemed most suitable for the crisis. In the 

 House, a resolution was unanimously adopted 

 to appoint a committee with instructions to re- 

 port a bill for assembling a State convention ; 

 and anti-coercion resolutions were passed, say- 

 ing that " any attempt to coerce a State would 



be resisted by Virginia." The bill in favor of 

 calling a State convention was finally juloj.u-d, 

 and February 4th fixed as the day for the elec- 

 tion of the delegates, and the 13th as the day 

 for them to assemble. 



Numerous Union meetings, at this time, were 

 held in Western Virginia. Resolutions were 

 passed by the Legislature, declaring that the 

 Union, being formed by the asseiit of the States, 

 ought not to be maintained by force, that the 

 Federal Government had no power to make war 

 on a State, and that they would resist all at- 

 tempts at coercion into reunion or submission. 



On the 10th of January another resolution, 

 having for its object to preserve peace, was 

 adopted in the House. It requested the Presi- 

 dent, and also the Governors of the seceded 

 States to give assurances that the ttatu quo in 

 all matters tending to a collision should be 

 maintained for the present. In the Senate the 

 resolution was amended to ask of the President 

 an assurance of absolute preservation of the 

 peace for sixty days, and the whole matter 

 was then referred to a committee. It was 

 also resolved in the House to submit to the 

 people on the election for delegates to the 

 State convention, the question whether, if any 

 action should be taken in convention relative 

 to the Federal Union, it should be submit- 

 ted to the people for ratification or rejection. 

 The vote was ayes 77, nays 61. This was con- 

 sidered by the friends of the South as so 

 " emasculating " the convention bill as to throw 

 into imminent peril " all that the people of Vir- 

 gina held most sacred and dear, both as to the 

 Federal Constitution and the rights and honor 

 of the State." 



On the 14th propositions were introduced in 

 the Legislature looking to a national conven- 

 tion, to be held at Washington on February 

 4th. (See page 178.) Meantime Union meet- 

 ings were held in Winchester, Portsmouth, and 

 other towns, particularly in the western part 

 of the State. 



On the 17th the Governor communicated to 

 the Legislature the resolutions which had been 

 adopted by the New York Legislature, with a 

 Message expressing the utmost disdain ; saying, 

 at the close, that the threat conveyed can in- 

 spire no terror with freemen. The Legislature 

 ordered these resolutions to be returned to 

 Gov. Morgan, in New York, as an expression 

 of the indignation with which they were re- 

 ceived, because understood to countenance the 

 doctrine and contemplate the policy of coer- 

 cion. (See NEW YOEK.) On the same day the 

 House adopted the resolutions contemplating a 

 national convention at Washington, providing 

 that the commissioners should at all times be 

 subject to the control of the Legislature or the 

 State convention, if in session. This was re- 

 garded as embracing an approval of the Crit- 

 tenden propositions. 



The passage of the propositions for a peace 

 conference at Washington were a matter of 

 considerable interest, not only to the State, 



