THE PEOPLE FOR THE UNION.

515

and were, controlled by their mana- | mensely strong-in the traditions, ging politicians, holding offices and earning perquisites by the grace of the Slave Power enthroned at the State capital; others were incorrigible, and were managed in this way: In Grayson county (having 8,187 inhabitants, of whom 1,291 were slaves), when Secession was proposed, a county meeting was held, to consider the project; by which, after discussion, it was decided to negative the movement, and hold no election for delegates to the proposed State Convention. This gave the Secessionists the opportunity they wanted. They proceeded to hold an election, and to choose delegates, who helped vote the State out of the Union. And this was one case like many others.

Gen. Edward W. Gantt, who had, in August, 1860, been chosen to Congress as an independent Democrat, from the Southern district of Arkansas, and who was an early and ardent Secessionist, testifies, since his reclamation to Unionism, that the poor farmers and other industrious nonslaveholders of his region were never Secessionists-that, where he had always been able to induce three-fourths of them to vote with him as a Democrat, he could not persuade half of them to sustain him as a Secessionist —that their hearts were never in the cause; and that those who could be persuaded to vote for it did so reluctantly, and as though it went against the grain. No rational doubt can exist that, had time been afforded for consideration, and both sides been generally heard, a free and fair vote would have shown an immense majority, even in the Slave States, against Secession.

For the Union was strong-im

the affections, the instincts, and the aspirations, of the great majority of the American People. Its preservation was inseparably entwined with their glories, their interests, and their hopes. In the North, no one had, for forty years, desired its dissolution, unless on account of Slavery; at the South, the case was essentially the same. No calculations, however imposing and elaborate, had ever convinced any hundred persons, on whichever side of the slave line, that Disunion could be really advantageous to either section. No line could be drawn betwixt the South' and the North' which would not leave one or the other exposed to attacknone which six plain citizens, fairly chosen from either section, could be induced to adopt as final. Multitudes who supported Secession did so only as the most efficacious means of inducing the North to repudiate the 'Black Republicans' and agree to the Crittenden or some kindred Compromise-in short, to bully the North into giving the South her 'rights'— never imagining, at the outset, that this could be refused, or that Disunion would or could be really, conclusively effected. Thousands died fighting under the flag of treason whose hearts yearned toward the old banner, and whose aspiration for an 'ocean-bound republic'-one which should be felt and respected as first among nations— could not be quenched even in their own life-blood. And, on the other hand, the flag rendered illustrious by the triumphs of Gates and Greene and Washington-of Harrison, Brown, Scott, Macomb, and Jackson--of Truxtun, Decatur, Hull, Perry, Porter, and McDonough-was through

out a tower of strength' to the
Unionists. In the hours darkened
by shameful defeat and needless dis-
aster, when the Republic seemed
rocking and reeling on the very brink
of destruction-when Europe almost
unanimously pronounced the Union
irretrievably lost, and condemned the
infatuation that demanded persist-
ence in an utterly hopeless contest-free, happy people.

the heart of the loyal Millions never
faltered, nor was their faith shaken
that, in spite of present reverses, the
flag of their fathers would float once
more over Richmond and Charleston
and Montgomery, over Raleigh, At-
lanta, and Houston, the symbol of Na-
tional authority and power, accepted,
beloved, and rejoiced in, by a great,

THE Virginia Convention of 1861, of which a majority assumed to vote their State out of the Union, as we have seen, had been elected not only as Unionists, but under an express stipulation that their action should be valid only in case of its submission to and indorsement by a vote of the People. How shamefully that condition was evaded and circumvented, we have seen. The vote to secede, taken on the 17th of April, and already anticipated by acts of hostility to the Union under the authority of the State, was, so far as possible, kept secret until the 25th, when it was proclaimed by Gov. Letcher that the Convention had, on the preceding day, adopted the provisional Constitution of the Confederate States, and placed the entire military power of the State under the control of Jefferson Davis, by a 'convention,' whereof the material provision is as follows:

whole military force and military operations, wealth, in the impending conflict with the offensive and defensive, of said Common

United States, shall be under the chief control and direction of the President of said Confederate States, upon the same principle, basis, and footing, as if said Commonwealth were now, and during the interval, a member of said Confederacy."

Thus it will be seen that the Unionists of Virginia were liable, that day and every day thereafter, to be called out as militia, and ordered to assault Washington, seize Pittsburg, or invade any portion of the loyal States, as Davis and his subordinates might direct; and, having thus involved themselves in the guilt and peril of flagrant treason against the Union, they were to be allowed, a month later, to vote themselves out of the Confederacy and back into the Union again! The stupendous impudence of this mockery of submission was so palpable as almost to shield it from the reproach of imposture; and, as if to brush aside the last fig-leaf of disguise, Letcher, nine days thereafter,' issued a fresh proclamation, calling out the militia of the State to repel 1May 3d, 1861.

"1st. Until the union of said Commonwealth with said Confederacy shall be perfected, and said Commonwealth shall be

come a member of said Confederacy, according to the Constitutions of both Powers, the

2

was held at Wheeling on the following day, whereby adherence to the Union was affirmed, separation from Eastern Virginia demanded, and a determination evinced to render no further tribute, whether military or pecuniary, to the Rebel rule at Richmond. Hon. John S. Carlile was especially decided and zealous in advocacy of separation. Another great Union meeting was held at Wheeling on the 11th, which was addressed in the same spirit by Mr. Carlile, as also by Francis H. Pierpont. The response of the masses was unanimous and enthusiastic. On the 13th, a Convention of delegates, representing thirty-five counties of West Virginia, assembled at Wheeling, to reiterate more formally the general demand that Secession be repudiated, and West Virginia severed from the Old Dominion. This Convention adjourned on the 15th, after calling a provisional Convention, to assemble on the 11th of June. The delegates were to be chosen on the 26th of May; on which day, about forty Counties held regular elections, and chose delegates in accordance with the call-usually, by a heavy vote.

apprehended invasion from "the Government at Washington," and designating twenty points throughout the State-five or six of them westward of the mountains-at which the militia from the adjacent counties respectively were required to assemble forthwith, for organization and service; and, only three days later still seventeen days prior to that on which the people were to vote for or against Secession-the State was formally admitted into and incorporated with the Confederacy, and Gen. Robert E. Lee' put in chief command of the Confederate forces in Virginia-by this time, largely swelled by arrivals from South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and other Rebel States. The people of West Virginia, thus summoned, in the name of their State, to fight against the country they loved for a Rebellion they abhorred, saw the toils closing fast around them, and realized that they must awake and resist, or they would soon be helpless under the feet of their betrayers. Rebel officers, appointed from Richmond, were busily at work, enlisting and mustering their young men for the uses of treason, under the guise of obedience to lawful and constitutional authority. On the 4th, a strong and spirited Union mass meeting was held at Kingwood, Preston county, near the north line of the State, at which the most determined hostility to Secession was avowed, and the separation of Western from Old Virginia demanded. The meeting further resolved to vote, on the appointed day, for a member of Congress not that of the Confederacy, and vacating the offices of all racy, but that of the Union. A like who adhered to the Rebellion. In meeting, impelled by a similar spirit, the debate which followed, Mr. Car'May 6th.

The provisional Convention met on the designated day. Arthur J. Boreman was chosen permanent Chairman; and John S. Carlile, on the 13th, reported, from the Committee on Business, a Declaration, denouncing the usurpation by which the Convention at Richmond had pretended to sever Virginia from the Union, repudiating the idea of allegiance to the Southern Confede

'Late a Colonel of Cavalry in the U. S. regular Army.

ORGANIZATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

519

from the Republic they thus cling to and uphold. Congress, after due deliberation, assented to and ratified this claim, admitting the new State of West Virginia into the Union as the equal of her elder sisters; her people being henceforth under no other obligation to the authorities of Old Virginia than are the people of that State to the authorities of her young sister across the Alleghanies.

Of course, neither the Rebels in arms, nor their sympathizers anywhere, were delighted with this application of the principle of secession. Gov. Letcher, in a Special Message, treated it as one of the chief sources of his general unhappiness. He says:

"President Lincoln and his Cabinet have

willfully and deliberately proposed to violate every provision of the third section of the fourth article of the Constitution, which each one of them solemnly swore or affirmed, in the presence of Almighty God, to preserve, protect, and defend.' That section is in these

lile opposed an immediate division of the State; but Mr. Dorsey, of Monongahela, who urged it, being supported by Pierpont and others, obtained, on the 20th, a unanimous vote in favor of ultimate separationYeas 56. The Convention had voted, two days earlier, by 57 to 17, that the separation of Western from Eastern Virginia was one of its paramount objects. In the afternoon of that day, Francis H. Pierpont, of Marion county, was chosen Governor, Daniel Palsley, of Mason county, Lieutenant-Governor, with five members to form an Executive Council. These elections were all unanimous. The Convention, it will be noted, was a Convention of Virginia, wherein the loyal counties and loyal people were represented, so far as the Rebellion did not prevent; and all this action was taken, not in behalf of West Virginia as such, but of loyal Virginia. The Legislature, which met soon after at Wheeling, was a Legislature of Virginia, elected on the regularly appointed day of election eastern as well as western counties being represented therein; and this Legislature, as well as the Convention, heartily assented to the formation of the new State of West Virginia. This action was taken, throughout, on the assumption that the loyal people of a State constitute the State; that traitors and rebels, who repudiate all respect for or alty to the Constitution and Government of the country, have no right to control that Government; and that those people of any State who heartily recognize and faithfully discharge their obligations as loyal citizens, have a right to full and perfect protection to Letcher as to Lincoln. Those who

words:

"New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any

other State, nor any State formed by the junction
of two or more States or parts of States, with-
concerned, as well as of the Congress.'"
out the consent of the Legislatures of the States

The answer to this is ready and simple: President Lincoln and his Cabinet do not regard John Letcher as Governor of that State of Virginia which is a member of our Federal Union. The Governor of that Virloy-ginia is Francis H. Pierpont; and its Legislature is that which, elected by loyal Virginians, assembled at Wheeling, and gave its free, hearty, and almost unanimous assent to the division of the old and the formation of the new State. All this must be as plain

* First named Kanawha, after its principal river.

'January 6th, 1862.