last letters of General Rosecrans should be turned over to him. Accordingly, Mr. Stuart received the following letter from General John Echols: Hon. A. H. H. Stuart, Dear Sir: Lexington, Va., Sept. 16, 1868. General Lee requests me to forward to you the enclosed papers, which will explain themselves. He will notify General Rosecrans that he has given to them this direction. He also requests me to say that in signing the "White Sulphur Springs" letter, he went as far as he thought it was proper and judicious that he should go, and that he did not desire to be connected any further, in any way, with the political questions or canvass of the day. He deems it right, however, as you are a public man, in whose ability and prudence. he has confidence, to commit these papers to you, in order that you may take such action thereon, at your own instance, and upon your own responsibility, as may seem to you likely to promote public good, without connecting his name in any way with your action. You will understand and appreciate the General's wishes and motives. I am very truly, Jno. Echols. Mr. Stuart took no action upon these last letters of General Rosecrans. Grant and Colfax were elected President and VicePresident. But, when it is recalled that this was the first Presidential election after the close of the war; that, Grant was the popular hero of that war, and that the Republican party during the canvass waved the "bloody shirt," and aroused a great deal of bitter feeling against the South, the large vote cast for Seymour and Blair is astounding. Grant received the electoral votes of twenty-five States, Seymour of eight, but the popular vote was 2,985,031 for the former and 2,648,830 for the latter. Florida cast no electoral vote, and Mississippi, Texas and Virginia were not allowed to do so. Stephens in his "History of the United States," page 486, says: "Had they and the disfranchised in the other States been allowed to vote, the popular majority would unquestionably have been largely in favor of Seymour and Blair, notwithstanding the new colored element that had been clothed with the right of suffrage. As it was, the Radical majority was only 336,301." CHAPTER XXXII THE COMMITTEE OF NINE R. STUART now directed his whole attention to finding some means to prevent the Underwood Constitution, as it was called, with its test oath and disfranchising clauses, from being fastened upon the people. The outlook was gloomy. In little more than two weeks Congress would reassemble, and the Senate would approve the Constitution, as the House had already done, unless some effectual objections were raised to its most obnoxious features. The greatest obstacle to prompt action was the difficulty of reaching the people of the State and arousing them to a full realization of the impending danger. There was no efficient, organized political party to act for the conservative portion of the people. It is true there had been held in Richmond on December 11th, 1867, a State Convention, consisting of eight hundred members of the leaders of the old Whig and Democratic parties, to organize a Conservative party to oppose the Radical Republican party. Mr. Stuart was the chairman of this meeting.1 An Executive Committee was appointed to direct the affairs of the party. If, however, the party machinery was fully organized at that time, it was impotent and helpless. This is shown by the fact that Mr. Stuart wrote to a friend in Richmond urging him to call on the organized political committees in that city and get them to formulate a protest against the approval of the Constitution by the Senate. He received a reply that the committees thought they had no authority over the subject, and, therefore, declined to take any action in the matter!" It thus became apparent that if the people of Virginia 1History of Virginia, (Morton), p. 115. 2Stuart, Restoration of Virginia, p. 18. were to get any relief from the Underwood Constitution, they would have to take the matter in their own hands and act for themselves. Who was to take the lead and prove equal to the crisis? Not a voice had been raised to sound the alarm and point out a course which might solve the difficulty. It was at this critical juncture of affairs that Mr. Stuart appeared upon the political stage and inaugurated what became known as "The Committee of Nine." After the close of the Presidential election in 1868, which resulted in the election of General Grant over Mr. Seymour, Mr. Stuart realized that universal suffrage was a foregone conclusion in the Northern States and that they had the political power to put it into effect. The negroes in Virginia under the reconstruction acts had been clothed with the right of suffrage in the election of members of the convention which framed the constitution. The people had thus already had a practical experience of what it meant. Mr. Stuart was well aware that any proposed compromise of the Underwood Constitution upon the basis of universal suffrage and universal amnesty would bring down upon his head a storm of denunciation, but he did not hesitate. His first move was on December 19th, 1868, when he wrote a letter to the Richmond Dispatch, signed "Senex," in which he reviewed the political situation in Virginia, and called attention to the disastrous results that would befall the white people of the State if the Constitution were adopted with the test oath and disfranchising clauses. He recalled the fact that the people had made many sacrifices, and declared that they would be called upon to sacrifice many more cherished opinions in order to avert the dreadful calamities that threatened them. However, said he, the question to decide was not what they desired, what they were willing to take, but what they would be allowed to retain. He frankly admitted that the mode of carrying out the compromise suggested by him was by no means free from doubt. The time was short; Congress would soon reassemble. He urged that the Executive Committee, appointed by the Con servative Convention held in Richmond on December 11th, 1867, should "take the Constitution of 1850, and the proposed Constitution of 1861, and from the two select the better provisions, omitting the word "white" and all other provisions that would be in conflict with "universal suffrage and universal amnesty," and thus frame a complete Constitution. "Let us, then," he wrote, "avail ourselves of this idea. Let the Central Conservative Committee call together, say, two gentlemen of approved wisdom and integrity from each congressional district, to meet that committee in Richmond, about the first of February, to agree upon a constitution for Virginia, to be submitted to Congress as a substitute for that recommended by the late Convention. Let this constitution embody the universal suffrage and universal amnesty proposition in its broadest terms, and negro eligibility to boot!" This article was written without conference with any one and was not completed until a late hour at night on December 18th, 1868. The mail left Staunton at an early hour next morning and Mr. Stuart, being anxious to have the letter published as promptly as possible, took it to the railroad station to mail it on the train. Fortunately, he found General John Echols there on his way to Richmond. He explained to him the object of his early visit, gave him the article and told him he wished to have it published at the earliest day possible. He requested General Echols to read it, and expressed the hope that it would meet with his approval and that he would use his influence to secure its prompt publication. He also said to General Echols that if any objection was made because he had not signed his name to the article, thereby assuming responsibility for its authorship, Echols was authorized to inform the editor of the Dispatch that he might refer to him as the author. General Echols took the letter to the editor of the Dispatch and requested him to publish it. After reading it, the editor objected to publishing it on the ground that 1Stuart, Restoration of Va., P. 23. |