122 EMPLOYMENT OF THE PLEBISCITE [42O 



resolution was adopted at a mass meeting on November 12, 

 i860, declaring that " any attempt upon the part of the State 

 to secede will meet with the unqualified disapprobation of 

 the people of the county." On November 24. the people of 

 Harrison county proclaimed that they would "first exhaust 

 all constitutional remedies for redress before they will re- 

 sort to any violent measures " ; that " the ballot box is the 

 only medium known to the Constitution for redress of 

 grievances." Similar resolutions were adopted at Morgan- 

 town, Monongalia county, Taylor county, and by the citi- 

 zens of Wheeling. Nevertheless, the secession ordinance 

 passed in a convention which had been called by the As- 

 sembly in an extra session held in obedience to a request 

 from the Governor. Conventions had heretofore been 

 called by referendum and, naturally, the opposition refused 

 to acknowledge the constitutionality of the Governor's and 

 the Assembly's procedure. The act of the Assembly had 

 provided, however, that the decision of the Convention on 

 the question of secession should be submitted to popular 

 vote. 



The ordinance of secession had passed in secret session 

 on April 17, 1861 ; with yeas: 88, nays: 55. Of the dele- 

 gates from western Virginia " twenty-nine had voted 

 against it, nine for it, seven were absent and one ex- 

 cused.""^ After many meetings of protest in the Western 

 cities and counties, a gathering at Clarksburg of nearly 

 twelve hundred citizens of Harrison county on April 22, 

 called for a general convention to be held at Wheeling on 

 the 13th of May. This, the first Wheeling Convention, 

 met, " determined to save Western Virginia to the Federal 

 Union." A report of the Committee on resolutions advised 

 that, if the secession ordinance should be adopted by a 

 popular majority, the dissenting counties elect delegates to 

 a new Wheeling convention for June 11, "the business of 

 which should be to devise such measures as the safety and 

 welfare of the people would demand." 



101 McPherson, p. 7. 



