\M1[ 
 
 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 A. H. WriPht 
 
Date Due 
 
 ISZli 
 
 SLI^ 
 
 ^^^^ '^'^^ 
 
 14- 
 
 EWI^ 
 
 iPfB::3^9in^^ 
 
 /i 
 
 
 m(\j2. 
 
 trw 
 
 Cornell University Library 
 F 241 W71 
 inside view ,,.ol.M.,J.9mffiMiiilli«lllf ''* 
 
 olin 
 
 3 1924 028 787 310 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028787310 
 
AN INSIDE VIEW 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FORMATION OF THE STATE OF 
 WEST VIRGINIA. 
 
 WITH 
 
 CHARACTER SKETCHES OF THE 
 PIONEERS IN THAT MOVEMENT. 
 
 By WILLIAM P- WILLEY, 
 
 Professor of Law in the West Virginia University. 
 
 WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA, 
 
 THE NEWS PUBLISHING COMPANY. 
 
 1901. 
 
 I '>, Y 
 

 Wll 
 
 
 A > '^'^^006 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1901t 
 
 By THE NEWS PUBLISHING CO , and W. P. WILLEY, 
 
 In the office of Librarian of Congress, Washington. D. C. 
 
 Copyright 1901. 
 By The News Publishing Co., and W. P. Willey. 
 
of West Virginia. Y. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTUODUC'TORV 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Two Vibginias Before Divoece 5 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Preliminauy Steps to Take Virginia Out of 
 
 THE Federal U.vion 16 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Secession Convention 36 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Done Behind Closed Doors -11 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 .\ftermatil of the Secession Convention 51 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The "Mass Convention" at Wheeling 57 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Reorganizing the Virginia State Government 69 
 
VI. The Formation 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 The Eestoked Goveknmbnt oe Virginia in Opera- 
 tion 76 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 Laying the P'oundation of a New State 80 
 
 CHAPTEE XL 
 
 Making a Constitution for the New State 88 
 
 CHAPTEE XII. 
 The New State Issue in Congress 98 
 
 CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 The New State Bill in the Hands of President 
 
 Lincoln 136 
 
 CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 The Constitutional Convention Eeconvened on 
 
 the "Willet Amendment." 143 
 
 CHAPTEE XV. 
 
 The State of West Virginia an Independent Sov- 
 ereignty 170 
 
of West Virginia. VII. 
 
 SKETCHES OF PIONEERS. 
 
 Intkoductoey I'I'S 
 
 Waitman T. Willbt 181 
 
 Jacob Bebson Blair 199 
 
 Archibald W. Campbell 302 
 
 JoHx S. Caslilb 207 
 
 Arthur Ikgraham Boreman 311 
 
 William Brskinb Stevenson 215 
 
 James Henry Brown 333 
 
 Francis Harrison Pibrpont 325 
 
 Jambs Clark McGrew 339 
 
 Chester D. Hubbard 343 
 
Waitmax T. A\'ir.LEY. 
 
THE FORMATION OF WEST VIRGINIA. 
 
 . CHAPTEE I. 
 
 INTEODUCTOET. 
 
 The sevaranee of West Virginia from the mother State was 
 a tragic event in the history of our Civil War. Virginia was 
 the oldest and proudest State in the Union. Her soil was 
 "sacred soil.'' It had been the theater of many of the historic 
 events in the childhood of our Eepublic, from the settlement at 
 Jamestown to the surrender at Yorktown. It had furnished the 
 explorers of our new country, the warriors to win its independ- 
 ence, the statesmen to build its government, it was "the Mother 
 of Presidents." Its population were a peculiar people. They 
 gloried in the prestige of their State. There was more State 
 pride in Virginia than in any of the States. Every man was 
 proud to call himself a Virginian and trace his ancestry to the 
 "First Families." It was strange, therefore, that a division of 
 this "sacred soil" should have been one of the incidents of the 
 war. It was strange, too, that it should be the only division 
 accomplished in a war for division, and that it should be brought 
 about by the party opposed to division as against the party fight- 
 ing to divide. 
 
 The manner of division is also interesting and instructive 
 in its details. It is a strategic chapter in our political history — 
 
3 The Formation 
 
 a chapter that has, strange as it may seem, remained virtually 
 unwritten. The bottom facts are little understood by our own 
 people; to the outside world they are a blank page; and to the 
 most intelligent reader they are, at best, but vague and obscure. 
 The explanation for this lies in the fact that the cutting in 
 twain of old Virginia was done during the commotion and tur- 
 bulence of a tremendous Civil War, when the public mind was 
 intensely centered on that struggle; and the rupture between 
 the two Virginias, which, under other circumstances, would 
 have attracted universal attention, was a minor incident in the 
 drama, that passed almost unnoticed and unrecorded to its con- 
 summation. Moreover much of the manijjulation and manage- 
 ment of the scheme occurred behind the scenes. It was not 
 intended for exhibition to the spectators. It was not officially 
 reported. There is no complete public record from which a 
 connected history of these events could be compiled. The main 
 facts are carried only in the memory of a few men who were 
 active participants in shaping those events, and there are not a 
 half dozen men now living who are in possession of the data, 
 from memory or otherwise, for a detailed history of the forma- 
 tion of the new State of West Virginia. 
 
 There were three men who were pioneers and leaders in the 
 movements, from beginning to end, which resulted in the erection 
 of a new State, one or more of whom the public has confidently 
 expected would write this history and save from oblivion the 
 important events which made the beginning and serve to com- 
 plete the history of the State. One of these, A. W. Campbell, 
 of Wheeling, was the editor of the Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, 
 during all of the period involved in this history, and as such 
 was intimately associated and familiar with the events trans- 
 piring during this period; his journal was a recognized power 
 in moulding public opinion; and he was a man of broad intelli- 
 gence, who took a keen and patriotic interest in all the pending 
 questions of the times, and was in a more advantageous position 
 
of West Virginia. 
 
 to write the early history of the State than any other man. Bat 
 Mr. Campbell passed away and made no sign. Another of the 
 recognized leaders was ex-Governor Francis H. Pierpont, who 
 was made the executive of the restored government of Virginia 
 preliminary to the erection of the new State, and who was in 
 intimate association with its enj;ire history, but who, also, has 
 passed away leaving no legacy of the historic facts which came 
 under his observation. 
 
 The third man to whom reference is made, Hon. Waitman 
 T. Willey, who represented the restored government of Virginia 
 in the United States Senate, and who was also one of the first 
 U. S. Senators elected by the New State, and through whose 
 agency, chiefly, the New State was born and reared into legal 
 entity, was the last surviving member of the trio. He, also, 
 recently passed away, far advanced in years. Senator Willey 
 had resisted the many importunities of his friends and fellow 
 citizens to write the history of the formation of the New State, 
 because, as the writer frequently heard him say : "I do not be- 
 lieve I am the man who should write it; I was in it, and my 
 personal bias would be very apt to color any narrative I might 
 write of those events — at least it would lay it open to that sus- 
 picion." 
 
 It had been Senator Willey's lifetime habit to keep a pri- 
 vate diary, and his recorded notes and impressions of the •ivents 
 relating to the movements and measures of the period when the 
 fight was being made for a New State, although entered in his 
 private journal with no thought that they should ever see pub- 
 licity, are, for that very reason, a more impartial, suggestive, 
 and instructive mirror of that time, than could be collected from 
 any other existing data. This journal, together with other doc- 
 uments of a special and exclusive character relating to the events 
 iu question, having come into possession of the writer, at the 
 death of Senator Willey, is his only reason for attempting this 
 work. 
 
The Formation 
 
 It is not the purpose of the writer to publish a private 
 journal, or to incorporate in this work any matter that was not 
 intended for publication, but rather to use the documents in his 
 possession as a basis of facts and of history from which to form 
 conclusions, understand the issues of that time, and thus, collect 
 and set forth a connected and accurate history of the events 
 which entered into that movement. 
 
 The writer has sought, first and foremost, the truth of his- 
 tory, and the events herein detailed are intended to be simply, a 
 plain, impartial, and accurate recital of the things done and the 
 issues fought in the erection of this State, and thus furnish the 
 "missing link," so to speak, which connects with the earliest be- 
 ginnings of our State history. 
 
CHAPTEE II. 
 
 THE TWO VIRGINIAS BEFORE DIVORCE. 
 
 An intelligent and comprehensive view of the events result- 
 ing in severing in twain the mother State cannot be obtained 
 without understanding the relations existing between the two 
 Virginias prior to the war. 
 
 It is commonly supposed that the separation was brought 
 about by questions growing out of the war. The poets have 
 snng of West Virginia as 
 
 "The child of battle, and of civic storm; 
 Cradled in war, and rudely torn apart, 
 Prom her who formed thy young and quivering heart." 
 
 But the war was not the cause, but only the occasion, for the sep- 
 aration. The war furnished only the opportunity, not the rea- 
 sons, for the severance. The question of dividing the State on 
 the lines finally accomplished, had been a mooted question for 
 fifty years prior to the war. It had agitated the Legislatures 
 and the conventions of the State. It had been a subject of 
 discussion in political campaigns and in party organizations. 
 It had so embittered the population of the two territorial sec- 
 tions as to threaten the public peace. The motive already 
 existed, at least in the western section, and the purpose was 
 only slumbering, awaiting the opportunity, when the war broke 
 out. It was like a great ship that had been strained in many 
 
The Formation 
 
 storms which needed only another troubling of the waters to 
 part its timbers. 
 
 The causes which developed this situation between the two 
 sections need only to be enumerated to appear conclusive. In 
 the first place we have the anomoly of a State exercising sover- 
 eignty over a territory so geographically divided by a chain of 
 mountains as to effectually cut off communication between its 
 population on the one side and the other. The ranges of the 
 Allegheny mountains erected their lofty crests and stretched 
 themselves in parallel ridges between the two sections from one 
 end to the other. They were impenetrable and impassable by 
 any ordinary means of travel and transportation. The State 
 government was administered from Richmond and its edicts 
 carried around through the District of Columbia and the State 
 of Maryland to the Western territory under its jurisdiction. It 
 was facetiously said that when a sheriff from one of the Western 
 counties had traveled to his State capital to settle his accounts he 
 had just enough left of the revenues collected to pay his expenses 
 back home. There was not only no communication between 
 the two peoples, but there was little or no acquaintance, and 
 asbolutely no commercial relations. Western Virginia belonged 
 by nature, not to Eastern Virginia, but to the valley of the Mis- 
 sissippi. Its natural outlets to market were South and West, 
 with Cincinnati and Chicago, with Pittsburg on the North, and 
 with Baltimore on the East. 
 
 How was it possible for a people thus divided, although 
 living under one State government, to develop or maintain any 
 social, business, or political relations? How was it possible 
 that their geographical separation should not engender, as it 
 did, an estrangement between the divided populations, which 
 would ultimately grow into jealousy and strife and bitter en- 
 mity? ISTothing so draws the population of two sections of 
 country together as business relations and commercial inter- 
 course ; and the reverse of the proposition is also true. History 
 
of West Virginia. 
 
 has demonstrated that nothing renders two distinct peoples 
 homogeneous so speedily and so effectually as the course of com- 
 merce. It is practically impossible as a political proposition for 
 two peoples to live side by side in harmony for any length of 
 time without either business or social intercourse. It is prac- 
 tically impossible for the members of one family, of the same 
 blood and household, to maintain amicable relations without 
 free and frequent intercourse. How anomalous that a State 
 should be so situated as to make this impracticable ! 
 
 Nature had divided Virginia. When the boundaries be- 
 tween the States of the Union were being fixed — as far back as 
 17S1 — there was a controversy in the Federal Congress as 
 to the Western boundary of Virginia. It was then claimed 
 that the Allegheny mountains should constitute her real bound- 
 ary, as it was her natural boundary. Pennsylvania, Delaware, 
 Maryland, and perhaps other States, were inclined to confine 
 Virginia to the Allegheny boundary. It was a question that 
 would not down till it was done. Daniel Webster had, thirty 
 years before the war, with prophetic forecast, advised the South 
 if it withdrew from the Union that the separation would leave 
 Virginia dissevered, for the natural line of division would leave 
 Western Virginia allied f^ith the States of the North rather 
 than the South. What Mr. Webster foresaw as a natural and 
 inevitable result of a divided nation, was one of the very first 
 results of an attempt to divide. 
 
 Moreover, the people of Eastern and Western Virginia were 
 never homogeneous. They were as far apart in tastes and tem- 
 perament as by geographical conditions. Their peoples were 
 of a different ancestry, different habits, different tastes, differ- 
 ent manners and modes of life. The population of the Western 
 section had come, largely, from the neighboring States of Penn- 
 sylvania, Maryland, and New Jersey. They constituted the 
 "Yankee" element of the State. They had nothing in common 
 with the population of the Eastern section, and the enforced 
 
The Formation 
 
 isolation only served to make this fact more evident and the 
 unnatural alliance more odious. 
 
 The Eastern Virginian was, and is, and always has been a 
 very peculiar type of an American citizen. He was an aristo- 
 crat by nature. He banked on his blood. His title to nobility 
 rose in proportion to the intimacy of his alliance with the "F. 
 F. V.'s" — the "First Families of Virginia." He was as proud 
 of his ancestry as the jockey of the pedigree of his horse. Caste 
 was as well defined and pronounced in the population as under 
 an absolute monarchy. The "poor white trash" had no standing 
 that a member of the F. F. V.'s was wont to respect. Many 
 of the notions that obtained under the old Feudal System, when 
 the Baron built a castle and walled himself in from the vulgar 
 contact of the plebeian and put on great pomp and ceremony, 
 seemed to have been imported to Virginia. The lordly owner 
 of a Virginia plantation surrounded himself with slaves, and 
 established himself in a mansion that was as inaccessible to the 
 common herd as a Feudal Castle. Nor was his personal dig- 
 nity and self-esteem less exalted than a Feudal Lord. He had 
 a knightly chivalry that would brook no trifling with his dig- 
 nity. The slightest insinuation against his dignity or honor 
 subjected the offender to the alternative of responding to a 
 challenge to a duel or being branded as a coward. 
 
 But with all this prevalent caste the representative Vir- 
 ginian had many noble traits. He was the very personification 
 of hospitality to his own class. He flocked with his own kind. 
 In his own home he dispensed a princely hospitality. He was 
 fond of society. He was the ideal gentleman in address and 
 manners. Ceremonious but big hearted. He loved his friends 
 and hated his enemies. He had leisure and liked to talk. He 
 would talk entertainingly without limit. His tastes ran to blood- 
 horses and politics, and his leisure gave him opportunity to 
 study both. He knew much of party politics and public ques- 
 tions, and his convictions on such matters were as fixed and 
 
of West Virginia. 
 
 unalterable as a rule of mathematics. He was loyal to his party 
 friends and meant extermination to his political foes. His 
 choleric temperament and profound convictions made him a nat- 
 ural orator. When he went upon the hustings during a political 
 campaign, he gave an entertaining performance even to those 
 who disagreed with him. Few better specimens of the highest 
 style of the orator have ever been heard than some who have 
 grown up spontaneously from Virginia soil. It was a florid, 
 fervid, inimitable speech, that no scholarship, or training or 
 tutorship could produce or bestow. It had in it a touch of 
 nature that could not be counterfeited. It appealed to a hear- 
 er's inner self as spontaneous speech only can. It was, unhap- 
 pily, a kind of oratory not often heard in these matter-of-fact, 
 practical times when all "soft sensations are in the throng r ■ 
 
 rubbed ofE." ^\i I 4 
 
 This high-strung aristocrat of the East could never have ; < ^ 
 been fashioned into fellowship with his democratic fellow citizen '^ ^ "^ .J' 
 West of the mountains. They were, by nature, birds of a difEer- f 5 "* ^ 
 ent feather, and no species of bird was ever more clannish than v "Y v 
 the old Virginian with his kind. He regarded his brother Wesl ~jj ? ^ ^ 
 of the AUeghenies with contempt — contempt for his humble ^ V 
 aneestrj, contempt for his plebeian tastes and occupations, con- ^ . i ,J "^ 
 tempt for his want of personal address and the habits of a gen- , 
 tleman, contempt for his calloused hands and his disposition ? n; ^ 
 to dirty his clothes with manual labor. They dubbed their ^'^ 1 nT' 
 Western brethren the "Peasantry of the West." They would ; ^S^- 
 not have associated with them on an equality. They would '" , ^ "■ 
 not have entertained them in their homes. They regarded them -< * f 
 as occupying a lower social plane than themselves — and these J if -J 
 aristocratic notions were just as intense as any religious preju- ,2 s ^ j 
 dice ever* was. There could be no compromise made with it. 1. k 
 They have not been eradicated by the war. They live to-day !^ j; i 
 wherever the old Virginian survives. 
 
 The bringing together, therefore, under one State govern 
 
10 The Formation 
 
 ment of two peoples so diverse in their tastes and character as 
 the Eastern and Western Virginians was like an attempt to 
 fuse an aristocracy and a democracy into one homogeneous 
 whole. Naturally they did not mix. Geographically they could 
 not mix. 
 
 The situation was aggravated by the existing system of 
 slavery. Slavery was a profitable institution east of the moun- 
 tains, it was of but little practical value west of the mountains. 
 That section of the State west of the Alleghenies was best 
 adapted to stock-raising, grazing, the growth of the cereals, tc 
 manufacturing, and such industries as could not profitably em- 
 ploy slave labor. Its people cared very little for the institutioi' 
 on economical grounds, and were somewhat awry with it for 
 moral considerations. They would not have invited it as an 
 original proposition. They accepted it like many other things 
 that were thrust upon them by the East. In the East it was 
 interwoven with all their domestic and political institutions 
 and was maintained without any moral compunctions. It had 
 shaped and moulded their laws and public policy, as well as 
 their private interests and modes of life. Nothing short of the 
 upheaval of a great revolution could have uprooted it. In fact 
 the value alone of slave property east of the mountains made 
 it one of the principal estates of that section. The market 
 value of this kind of property was much greater in the Bast 
 than the West, for the double reason that the earning power 
 was greater in the East and the property itself was more secure. 
 The western section of the State was bordered its entire length 
 by free soil which made the escape of the slave easy. He need 
 but cross the Ohio Eiver, or step across the invisible line into 
 Pennsylvania to find friends to help him to freedom from His 
 bonds. The uncertain tenure, therefore, of slave property in the 
 western countries made it relatively less valuable than in East 
 Virginia. 
 
 According to the census of 1860 the total slave population 
 
of West Virginia. 11 
 
 of Virginia was four hundred and ninety thousand, eight hun- 
 dred and eighty-seven — or in round numbers, one-half million. 
 Of this half million, only twelve thousand seven hundred and 
 seventy-one were owned in the counties now forming the State 
 of West Virginia, although those counties constituted a full 
 third of the territory of the State. 
 
 Let us now see how the State government at Richmond 
 took advantage of this disparity in the number and value of 
 slaves between the two sections to favor the eastern section, and 
 we will find one of the chief incentives to a growing sentiment 
 in favor of a division of the State. 
 
 The Constitutional Convention of 1850-51 had adroitly 
 inserted a provision in that instrument which enabled the slave 
 holder to make the most out of that kind of property as a basis 
 of representation and the State to make the least out of it as a 
 basis of taxation. 
 
 The provision in question prohibited any tax on a slave 
 under twelve years of age, and placed an arbitrary and equal 
 valuation of $300 on every slave over that age, no matter 
 whether his market value was $300 or $3,000. 
 
 Thus while the western farmer was taxed on his horse or 
 steer, and every other species of property, at its average market 
 value, the eastern planter was protected by the Constitution 
 itself, from bearing his fair proportion of the tax burden, by an 
 arbitrary and inequitable valuation of that particular property 
 which constituted his principal wealth. 
 
 No other public measure had inspired more bitter sectional 
 animosity than this. In a speech delivered in the Conventiou 
 which adopted that provision, Senator W. T. Willey said : ""'We 
 are engaged in no new controversy. This controversy com- 
 menced long prior to the agitation of public sentiment which 
 convened this body. This controversy commenced long prior to 
 the Convention of 1839-30. It is as old as the lust of power. 
 It is the old contest between the few and the many. It is the 
 
12 The Formation 
 
 same struggling effort continued through centuries past, to cen- 
 tralize power in the hands of the few against the antagonistic 
 struggle of the many to have it diffused abroad in the commu- 
 nity. * * * It seems that even here in the good old Com- 
 monwealth of Virginia, the same battle is to be fought again. 
 * * * I will not say that anything can destroy wesfern 
 fealty and allegiance. But referring to those principles of 
 selfishness, on which gentlemen base their resistance to our 
 claim for popular power, how can it be reasonably expected that 
 western fealty should not be diminished, while that very slave 
 property which we have heretofore done all that was ever re- 
 quired at our hands to protect, is made, in the shape of taxation, 
 the instrumentality of our political degradation, virtually giving 
 goods and chattels power in the government whence we arc 
 excluded." 
 
 The foregoing extract illustrates the feeling of the western 
 population and its representative men, on this inequitable ijrin- 
 ciple of taxation, and discloses also the remedy which the west- 
 ern tax-payers quietly considered as a means of escape. 
 
 Now look at the other horn of the dilemma: This same 
 Constitution which made slave property count for little in the 
 tax system, made it count for much in the system of representa- 
 tion. It provided what was termed a "mixed basis" of repre- 
 sentation, by which both voters and property were to count m 
 the elections by the people. "It enfranchised property and 
 inhabitants only in the west. It gave an unequal proportion of 
 representatives to the east, through their preponderance of 
 wealth — principally in slaves." 
 
 The effect of this undemocratic measure was to enhance 
 the power of the eastern slave owner in the law-making braaeh 
 of the government to such an extent as to give him absolute and 
 undisputed control of that branch of the State government 
 The power of the "Peasantry of the West" was thus proportion- 
 ately minimized. It was virtually extinguished. There was nc 
 
of Wesi Virginia. 13 
 
 legislative measure that western delegates might desire, however 
 urgent and equitable, that could have any chance of adoptior 
 except at the pleasure of the dominating money power of the 
 east. 
 
 Now having obtained undisputed control of the legislative 
 machinery, and a system of taxation that bore heavily on the 
 west and lightly on the east, let us see how they used this power 
 as between the two sections. They first inaugurated a system 
 of public improvements at the expense of the State treasury, on 
 a mammoth scale. Railroads, canals, turnpikes, bridges, &c., &c., 
 were built ad libitum, from the public revenues. But although 
 the "Peasantry of the West" were contributing an unequal pro- 
 portion of the money, none of these internal improvements were 
 located or projected west of the mountains. They were all east 
 of the Alleghenies where no "Western Peasant" ever traveled 
 ever used them, or ever saw them. However dire the necessity 
 for State aid in opening and developing the western counties, 
 not a dollar of the appropriations could they get. The eastern 
 section was being traversed by a network of railways, but not 
 even a broad turnpike could be obtained for the western section. 
 This policy continued until a debt approximating forty million 
 dollars was piled up against the State — which is not paid to 
 this d'ay, although the old State has set apart one-third of it 
 which she desires the Kew State to carry. The following facts 
 compiled from what appears to be official documents we quote 
 here to show how Virginia used her public revenues during this 
 period : 
 
 "Anterior to 1858 the sum of $22,841,474.04 had been expended 
 by the State of Virginia for internal improvements. 
 
 To railroads '. . . $13,369,127.50 
 
 Navigation companies 4,749,666.30 
 
 Plank roads 396,456.44 
 
 Turnpikes 2,229,714.13 
 
 Bridges 133,100.00 
 
 State roads 1,778,906.61 
 
14 The Formation 
 
 "At the session of 1858 the additional sum of $5,917,000 was 
 appropriated, and since paid. 
 
 To railroads $4,664,000 
 
 Navigation companies 647,000 
 
 Turnpike companies 166,000 
 
 "And to this sum may be added $3,351,000, appropriated to 
 works of internal improvement prior thereto, and not called for, but 
 since demanded — making in the aggregate the total sum of $31,609,- 
 474.04 paid by the State for works of internal improvement. 
 
 "By an ejcamination of the report of J. M. Bennett, Esq., auditor 
 of public accounts of Virginia, under date of December 10, 1860, it 
 will be seen that the outstanding public debt of Virginia, estimated 
 to the 1st of January, 1861, was $32,188,067.32; that the unfunded 
 debt of the State was about $5,000,000, and that by estimating the 
 back interest it would swell the public debt of Virginia in round 
 numbers to $47,000,000." 
 
 It is not possible to determine what proportion of this vast 
 sum of money was expended west of the mountains, but an intel- 
 ligent authority has estimated that the entire expenditures by 
 the State for internal improvements west of the mountains from 
 the beginning of the Commonwealth down to the time of the 
 separation, would not exceed $3,000,000 in all, though West 
 Virginia contained one-third of the whole territory of the State. 
 
 The simple enumeration of the foregoing facts and condi- 
 tions, establishes the statement with which we introduced this 
 subject, that the war was not the cause but only furnished the 
 opportunity for the severance of West Virginia from the mother 
 State. The fruit was already ripe and needed only that the 
 tree be shaken. There was no such unnatural and incongruous 
 alliance organized or existing in the Union of States as that 
 which existed between the two Virginias. The discriminating 
 policy with which the government was administered between 
 the two sections continually intensified the natural conditions 
 of antagonism. It destroyed any possible fraternity. It is not 
 
of West Virginia. 15 
 
 strange that the two sections parted. It is strange that the} 
 remained together as long as they did. 
 
 The succeeding pages will disclose the logical steps by 
 which the severance was accomplished, and West Virgini; 
 erected into a sovereign state. 
 
CHAPTEE III. 
 
 THE PRELIMINARY STEPS TO TAKE VIRGINIA OUT OF THE FEDERAL 
 
 UNION. 
 
 When the war clouds of the great Southern Eebellion were 
 gathering over the Nation James Buchanan was just finishing 
 his, term as President of the United States. 
 
 The situation was fast ripening for the tremendous struggle 
 that was shortly to follow. The presidential campaign which 
 had closed in November, 1860, had exceeded in excitement iind 
 animosity any other in the history of the country. There were 
 four candidates in the field, and they represented the divisions 
 of public sentiment upon the vital issue — that of slavery. 
 
 The "People's Party," or "Eepubliean Party," or "Aboli- 
 tion Party" — by all of which names it had become known — had 
 nominated Abraham Lincoln. That party represented the out- 
 spoken, aggressive opponents of the system of slavery. Its 
 platform declared against its extension, and between the lines, 
 the country read a declaration for its abolition. 
 
 The Democratic party was divided between the followers 
 of Stephen A. Douglass, who was the apologist of what was 
 termed "Popular Sovereignty" — which meant that each State 
 should have the right to determine for itself whether it would 
 be slave or free territory — and the followers of John C. Breck- 
 inridge, who were for the admission of States without restriction 
 as to slavery, and the protection of slavery in the territories. 
 
of West Virginia. 11 
 
 The Convention met at Charleston, S. C, and the Southern del- 
 egates being unable to agree with their Northern brethren as to 
 a platform on the slavery issue, withdrew from the Convention. 
 The residue of the delegates continued in session and continued 
 to ballot, without result, for some days, when they adjourned to 
 meet at Baltimore on the 18th of June; at which time they rnas- 
 sembled and nominated Douglass. The seceding delegates met 
 some days later at the same place and nominated Breckinridge. 
 This division meant the overthrow of the Democratic party, 
 which had been in almost continuous control of the government 
 for sixty years. < 
 
 The "American Party," which represented the conservative 
 sentiment of the country, and believed in dealing with slavery 
 and all other questions in accordance with the Constitution and 
 the laws made in pursuance thereof, nominated John Bell, of 
 Tennessee. 
 
 In this contest the Northern States voted solidly, with the 
 exception of New Jersey, for Lincoln. The South voted for 
 Breckinridge, with the exception of Virginia, Kentucky, and 
 Tennessee, which voted for Bell. Douglass received an immense 
 popular vote, but so scattered that he did not carry any State. 
 
 The election of Abraham Lincoln was accepted by the South 
 as a virtual declaration of war against their institutions, and, 
 as it maintained, a just cause for a dissolution of the Union. 
 
 The situation was simply the culmination and climactic 
 point in the nation of the same political antagonism that had 
 existed between East Virginia and West Virginia. The same 
 estrangement that had existed between the two sections of Vir- 
 vinia had been doing its work between the two sections of the 
 National Union North and South. There was little travel or 
 intercourse between the Northern and Southern States. From 
 want of acquaintance they had grown to be jealous and suspi- 
 cious of each other. The great railroads of the country ran 
 east and west, and there was but little business traffic between 
 
18 The Formation 
 
 the two sections. They were virtually two distinct nationalities. 
 
 The South, above all, was jealous of its system of slaveiy. 
 The North had declared "an irrepressible conflict" against the 
 system. It had declared that no union could exist between 
 States one-half free and one-half slave. There was a continual 
 efEort by the Forth to circumscribe and limit the slave territory 
 of the Union. When the Northwestern Territory was cut up 
 into five great States, every one of them had come into the Union 
 under a compact excluding slavery. The territorial limits of 
 slavery, if not being diminished, had, at least, come to be fixed, 
 while the free territory was growing proportionately much 
 larger. The sentiment against the institution, also, was grow- 
 ing more intense, aggressive, and menacing. The South had 
 come to believe that the only way to preserve its system of 
 slavery was^ for the slave States to withdraw from the Union and 
 set up an independent government. Public sentiment had been, 
 for many years, erystalizing on this remedy. They preferred 
 slavery to a place in the Federal Union. 
 
 The influence of the tariff controversy operated exactly in 
 the same direction as that of slavery — increasing and intensify- 
 ing the disunion sentiment. The Eastern and Middle States were 
 engaged almost exclusively in manufacturing. It was claimed 
 — and with good ground — ^that the tariff laws favored the East- 
 ern States at the expense of the South. The doctrine of "State 
 rights" naturally grew out of these two questions — slavery and 
 the tariff. As early as 1831 the right of a State to nullify an 
 act of Congress relating to the tariff, was openly advocated by 
 Mr. Calhoun in Congress and attempted by his constituents in 
 South Carolina. The Southern party were simply paving their 
 way, in this controversy, to a lawful severance from the Union. 
 If secession were a right enjoyed by the States under the Con- 
 stitution, as they maintained; if for good reasons any one or 
 number of States might dissolve their relations with the federal 
 government at pleasure; if the highest allegiance of the citizen 
 
of West Virginia. 19 
 
 is due to his State, and afterward to the national government; 
 and if acts of nullification and disunion are justifiable and la'W'- 
 ful under the Constitution-^if this construction of the Consti- 
 tution were tenable, the secession of a State that felt itself 
 aggrieved ought, they maintained, to be a peaceable, inasmuch 
 as it was a lawful, proceeding. These were the arguments that 
 had been heard on the hustings in many campaigns; they had 
 become familiar; and doubtless, many of the leaders and most 
 of the supporters of the secession movement believed it would 
 be peaceably accomplished. The attitude of President Bu- 
 chanan encouraged and gave plausibility to this view. He was 
 not a disunionist, but was extremely conservative as to the Con- 
 stitutional powers of the Executive to use force to prevent 
 secession. He was hesitating between conflicting views as to 
 his duty in the premises. 
 
 While the President was hesitating plans were maturing 
 among the hot-headed leaders of the Southern States, to carry 
 out their secession program, peaceably if they could, forcibly 
 if they must. The times were full of passion and rashness. 
 Between the presidential election in November and the inaugu- 
 ration of President-elect Lincoln on the 4th of March, all the 
 military posts and implements of war located in the South had 
 been seized by the secessionists. 
 
 The first step in the formal work of secession was taken in 
 South Carolina. A State Convention assembled at Charleston 
 on the 17th day of December, 1860, and deliberately declared 
 the relations of South Carolina with the Federal Union dis- 
 solved. The movement needed only a start to become conta- 
 gious. By the 1st of February, 1861, six other states had fol- 
 lowed the example of South Carolina, viz : Mississippi, Florida, 
 Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. On the 4th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1861, delegates from these seceded states met at Mont- 
 gomery, Alabama, and formed a government which they called 
 "The Confederate States op America." They elected Jef- 
 
80 The Formation 
 
 ferson Davis, of Mississippi, provisional President, and Alex- 
 ander Stephens, of Georgia, Vice President, and a Congress for 
 the new government also assembled and organized. 
 
 This was, in brief, the situation in the affairs of the Nation 
 when Gov. John Letcher, of Virginia, thought it incumbent upon 
 him to call an extraordinary session of his State Legislature. 
 Biennial sessions were the rule in Virginia and this was not the 
 year for the regular meeting. The executive had no power to 
 call a State Convention. Doubtless he felt that he must do 
 something. The pressure upon him was tremendous. Virgiuia 
 was beginning to realize her critical position in the gathering 
 storm. As a border State she would probably become the thea- 
 ter of a desolating war, if war was to be. Would she stand as a 
 break between the Cotton States and the North and endeavor 
 to avert war, or would she cast her destinies with the South and 
 take the consequences ? 
 
 Governor Letcher was evidently vibrating between these 
 alternatives when he called a session of his Legislature. He 
 could not appease, and he dared not defy the insurgent spirit 
 that was swelling about him. It was the province of the Legis- 
 lature to determine whether there should be a Convention of 
 the people, and by calling that body together the Governor made 
 it possible for himself to say that he had put the responsibility 
 where it belonged. Evidently, if he had been free to follow 
 his own judgment, he would have had neither a Convention nor 
 a session of his Legislature. In his message to the Legislature 
 he probably reflected the judgment of the vast majority of his 
 people, as well as his own conviction, that there should be no 
 Convention called, while at the same time they indulged the 
 vain hope that there might be a peaceable adjustment of their 
 relations with the Federal Union or a peaceable secession from 
 the Union. 
 
 The attitude of the majority of the people of Virginia could 
 not probably be better understood, at this epoch, than by study- 
 
of West Virginia. 21 
 
 ing this message of their Governor. First, there -was the in- 
 stinctive clinging to the old government and the old flag which 
 they could not lightly throw off. Secondly, there was a belief 
 in the possibility of a compromise through a Convention of the 
 States, or othervidse, that would secure the protection to the 
 institution of slavery for which the South was contending. 
 Tliirdly, in the event of the failure of compromise measures, 
 they believed in the lawful right of the Southern States to 
 peaceably withdraw from the Union. Of course, outside of 
 these divisions of public sentiment, there were the radical ele- 
 ments on either side, the one loyal to the Union in any event, 
 and the other the fanatical class of secessionists who were ready 
 for, and urging, an immediate, and, if need be, a violent sever- 
 ance from the Federal Union. 
 
 Governor Letcher's message very adroitly attempted to con- 
 ceal the underlying influences which had prompted the call for 
 an extraordinary session of the Legislature by citing certain im- 
 portant business measures of interest to the State that called 
 for immediate legislation. When he came to deal vrith the 
 "state of the country," he deplored with apparent sincerity, the 
 prevailing "spirit of faction which pollutes the fountain cf 
 national honor, and digs the grave of patriotism." He deplored 
 with equal sincerity the existing danger to the perpetuity of 
 the Union, and grew eloquent upon the grandeur and glory of 
 the national Union of States which was now threatened. His 
 notions of a proper remedy for the situation were disclosed by 
 the suggestions of a general Convention of all the States; that 
 the ISTorthern States should repeal the laws which were designed 
 to protect and afford a refuge for fugitive slaves; that effective 
 guaranties should be given for the transmission of slaves between 
 the slave-holding States; that slavery should be protected in the 
 District of Columbia and equality in the States and territories 
 must be recognized and the rights of persons and property ade- 
 quately secured. In regard to calling a State Convention to 
 
22 The Formation 
 
 determine what course Virginia would take in relation to the 
 secession movement, the message declared against it, and advised 
 in strong terms, that no practical good could result from it. 
 The Governor evidently believed that although, as he declared, 
 the Union was already disrupted, a peaceable solution was still 
 practicable; that the Northern States would yield to the defiant 
 demands of the South and that such concessions would be ^nade 
 as to secure the perpetuity of the Uunion with the institution of 
 slavery more effectually protected. The same forlorn hope of 
 an amicable adjustment was cherished by a large element in 
 the North; and a peace conference was then sitting at Washing- 
 ton, in which twenty-one States were represented, including 
 Virginia, proposing certain amendments to the Constitution, 
 and which were laid before Congress for adoption, but to which 
 that body gave little heed. The flames of sectional passion 
 were daily being fanned into a white heat by recurring events, 
 and had already gone too far to be arrested by the calm, conserv- 
 ative elements of the country. Men were rapidly defiling into 
 the two divisions which meant war to the death. 
 
 In obedience to the call of Governor Letcher, the Legisla- 
 ture met in extraordinary session at Kichmond on the 7th day 
 of January, 1861. 
 
 The existing divisions of sentiment on the great questions 
 of the hour were quickly made manifest in the proceedings of 
 that body. Among its first acts was the passage of a series cf 
 resolutions in both branches proposing that the State of Vir- 
 ginia should become the mediator between the Federal govern- 
 ment and the seceded States, and requesting a suspension of 
 aggressive action on the part of the Federal government for 
 sixty days to await the result of peaceful negotiations. These 
 resolutions were expressive of the conservative and patriotic 
 sentiment still existing among the people and voiced by their 
 representatives in the legislative body. But behind it was the 
 m(re violent and aggressive element, which, although yet in 
 
of West Virginia. 23 
 
 the minority, were red hot in their purpose to sever Virginia 
 from the Federal Union. 
 
 After a brief week of turbulent and heated debate this mi- 
 nority accomplished the passage of a bill for a State Convention, 
 which was, in fact, the pivotal point in determining the relation 
 of Virginia to the secession movement. If Virginia were to re- 
 main in the Union, there was no need of a Convention. The 
 only purpose of a Convention was to assemble a body which 
 could enact the formal procedure for taking her out of the 
 Union. 
 
 The secession schemers in the Legislature were far-sighted 
 and adroit, and not very scrupulous about the forms of law or 
 precedent when these stood in the way of their ultimate purpose. 
 It was without precedent, for instance, that a State Convention 
 should be called without first submitting the question to a 
 popular vote whether the people desired a Convention. It is a 
 fundamental principle recognized in all the States that the 
 assembling of a Convention whose office is to deal with the 
 organic law of the State, and which is, in fact, invested with 
 absolute jurisdiction over the Constitution of the State, should 
 not be authorized by anything less than the formal assent of 
 the entire people of the State. This principle had been recog- 
 nized and the precedent established in the only two other State 
 conventions held in Virginia, viz : in the years 1839 and in 1851. 
 But this was too slow a process for the secessionists. They 
 would strike while the iron was hot. They refused to risk a 
 vote of the people. They appointed a Convention to be held 
 less than a month distant. They ordered an election for dele- 
 gates to that Convention to be held on the 4th of February, 
 1861. They allowed but three weeks for all the machinery 
 for such an important election to be put in operation, and 
 for the people to select and determine the character of the 
 men who should represent them. At the same election it 
 was ordered that a vote be taken as to whether any action 
 
24 The Formation 
 
 of the Convention dissolving the relations of Virginia with the 
 Federal Union, or changing the organic law, should be sub- 
 mitted for ratification or rejection to a vote of the people. This 
 provision also was one looking to speed. It is perhaps without 
 precedent in the history of any State, that the work of a State 
 Convention should become law without first being passed upon 
 by the people. It was revolution, and these were revolutionary 
 measures. 
 
 On the 4th day of February the vote was taken on the 
 matters submitted to the people under this bill. There was no 
 opportunity for the voters to pass upon the question whether 
 they should have a convention or not. That had already been 
 determined. They were simply permitted to choose those who 
 should represent them in that Convention. The only question, 
 therefore, which indicates the temper of the voters in relation 
 to the call for a Convention, was that of deciding whether ihe 
 Convention should be invested with supreme power, or whether 
 their acts should be subject to ratification by the people. Doubt- 
 less the voters understood, and knew that the Convention would 
 so interpret it, that if they surrendered their right to pass upon 
 the proceedings of that body and gave it absolute power, it 
 meant the immediate transfer of Virginia to the Confederate 
 government at Montgomery. • The situation made this obvious. 
 There could be no other excuse for a convention sitting at that 
 time than that of formally transferring the allegiance of the 
 State from the Federal Union. Eeading the votes of the people 
 upon that provision of the bill in this light, it plainly shows the 
 attitude of Virginia, at this epoch, upon the question of seces- 
 sion. A majority of nearly sixty thousand votes were recorded 
 in favor of holding a check upon the Convention, by referring 
 their action to the people. In other words, out of one hundred 
 and fifty thousand voters only about forty-five thousand were 
 at this time secessionists; the remainder, one hundred and ten 
 thousand, were still loyal to the Federal Union. 
 
of West Virginia. 25 
 
 But in a revolution numbers do not always decide events. 
 The principle that a majority shall rule belongs to the peaceful 
 sway of orderly civil government. The aggressive, organizing 
 forces of a revolution are the revolutionists themselves. The 
 opposing forces ai-e more or less passive until the purpose and 
 progress of the revolution are beyond control. The unthinking 
 and short-sighted elements of the population are drawn into the 
 whirlpool of passion and prejudice. The drift is always toward 
 the stronger current. By the time the Convention had assem- 
 bled the plastic spirit .of the population had absorbed much of 
 the passion of the hour. The Convention was no less a repre- 
 sentative body than was the Legislature which called it. In 
 both bodies there was a majority, doubtless, devoted to the Fed- 
 eral Union and averse, at least, to a violent severance of the 
 Union. But the same pliant, fluctuating attitude of the major- 
 ity in the legislative body, which enabled the radical minority 
 to hoodwink them into a call for a Convention, was manifest in 
 the latter body when the ultimate and only purpose of that Con- 
 vention was made an issue. The plastic delegate and the more 
 plastic populace were carried by every day stages toward the 
 deluge. 
 
CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THE SECESSION CONVENTION. 
 
 The Secession Convention — so called — which assembled at 
 Eichmond on the 13th day of February, 1861, was a very able 
 body of men. As "night brings out the stars," so the gloom and 
 anxiety which overspread the country at this time, brought to 
 the front the most prominent and experienced men in public 
 affairs. The people were disposed at this time to commit their 
 interests only to the most able and accomplished of their public 
 men. Every locality sent the "pick of the flock." No more 
 statesman-like assemblage had ever convened in the state which 
 had always been proud of her distinction as the "Mother of 
 Statesmen." 
 
 This was not, at the beginning, a secession Convention. If 
 a vote had been taken on the first roll-call a very large majority 
 of its members would have been found opposed to seceding from 
 the Federal Union. There was a leaven of secessionists present, 
 fairly proportionate in number to the popular sentiment in the 
 State, but enough, indeed, to leaven the whole lump. Although 
 in the minority, it was the aggressive, active, and determined 
 element in the Convention. It was strong in debate, fertile in 
 resources, diplomatic and far-sighted in its plans, courageous 
 and swift in action. 
 
 Virginia had wheeled about from her Democratic moorings, 
 in the recent presidential election, and cast her vote for John 
 
of West Virginia. 27 
 
 Bell, the Whig candidate. This very change in the party fealty 
 of the State was the highest assurance of a conservative senti- 
 ment among her population on the questions of the hour. The 
 John Bell party was the recognized Constitutional Union party 
 of the Nation. Virginia had been casting her vote for the 
 Democratic candidate since the days of Jefferson, and her change 
 of front, while due in some measure to the defection in the 
 Democratic party, was nevertheless, strongly indicative of the 
 attitude of her population toward the revolutionary spirit of 
 the time. In its political complexion the Convention was 
 doubtless a truly representative body of the people from which 
 they came. It was ascertained that eighty-five out of the whole 
 number of delegates had voted for Mr. Bell; thirty-five had 
 voted for Mr. Douglass ; and the remainder, thirty-two, had cast 
 their votes for Mr. Breckinridge. Thus the conservative. Union 
 sentiment, as indicated in the adherents of Mr. Bell, was grad- 
 uated downward through Douglass to Breckinridge, the latter 
 probably representing the radical, secession element, and giving 
 the former a majority over both. 
 
 It was not, then, a secession Convention at the opening. 
 It is doubtful whether even all the radical element were ready 
 at that time to support such a measure. Mr. John Janney, of 
 Loudoun county, was elected president of the Convention by a 
 good majority. His character and standing as a sincere, con- 
 servative and patriotic man was another evidence of the conserv- 
 ative attitude of the delegates. His address, on taking the 
 chair, was probably a fair refiection of the feelings of the 
 majority which placed him there, and is well worthy reading in 
 this light. Mr. Janney said, in part : 
 
 "Gentlemen, it is now almost seventy-three years since a con- 
 vention of the people of "Virginia was assembled in this hall to rat- 
 ify the Constitution of the United States, one of the chief objects 
 of which was to consolidate, not the Government, but the Union 
 of States. Causes which have passed, and are daily passing into 
 
28 The Formation 
 
 history, whidi will set its seal upon them, but which I do not mean 
 to review, have brought the Constitution and the Union into immi- 
 nent peril, and Virginia has: come to the rescue. It is what the 
 whole country expected of her. Her pride as well as her patriotism 
 — her interests as well as her honor, called upon her with an em- 
 phasis which she could not disregard, to save the monuments of 
 her own glory. Her honored son who sleeps at Mount Vernon, the 
 political Mecca of all future ages, presided over the body which 
 framed the Constitution; and another of her honored sons, whose 
 brow was adorned with a civic wreath which will never fade, and 
 who now reposes in Orange county, was its principal architect, and 
 one of its ablest expounders — and, in the administration of the gov- 
 ernment, five of her citizens have been elected to the Chief Magis- 
 tracy of the Republic. It cannot be that a government thus founded 
 and administered can fail, without the hazard of bringing reproach, 
 either upon the wisdom of our fathers, or upon the intelligence, 
 patriotism, and virtue of their descendants. 
 
 "It is not my purpose to indicate the course which this body 
 will probably pursue, or the measures it may be proper to adopt. 
 The opinions of to-day may all be changed to-morrow. Events are 
 thronging upon us, and we must deal with them as they present 
 themselves. 
 
 "Gentlemen, there is a flag which for nearly a century has been 
 borne in triumph through the battle and the breeze, and which now 
 floats over this capitol, on which there is a star representing this 
 ancient Commonwealth, and my earnest prayer, in which I know 
 every member of this body will cordially unite, is that it may 
 remain there forever, provided always, that its luster is untar- 
 nished. We demand for our citizens perfect equality of rights with 
 those of the Empire States of New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, 
 but we ask for nothing that we will not cheerfully concede to those 
 of Delaware and Rhode Island. 
 
 "The amount of responsibility which rests upon this body can- 
 not be exaggerated. *»******• 
 Is it too much to hope that we, and others who are engaged in the 
 work of peace and conciliation, may so solve the problems which 
 now perplex us, as to win back our sisters of the South, who, for 
 what they deem sufficient cause, have wandered from their old 
 orbits? May we not expect that our old sdster, Massachusetts, will 
 retrace her steps? Will she not follow the noble example of Rhode 
 
of West Virginia. 39 
 
 Island, the little State with a heart large enough for a whole conti- 
 nent? Will she not, when she rememhers who it was who first 
 drew his sword from the scabbard on her own soil at Cambridge, 
 and never finally returned it, until her liberty and independence 
 were achieved, and whence he came, repeal her obnoxious laws, 
 which many of her own wisest and best citizens regard as a stain 
 upon her legislative records? 
 
 "Gentlemen, this is no party Convention. It is our duty on 
 an occasion like this to elevate ourselves into an atmosphere, in 
 which party passion and prejudice cannot exist — to conduct our 
 deliberations with calmness and wisdom, and to maintain, with 
 inflexible firmness, whatever position we may find it necessary to 
 assume." 
 
 The spirit of pariotism and reverence for the old flag, 
 which prompted the foregoing address, were as fervent before 
 this "Secession Convention" as if it were a Fourth o,f July 
 audience. That it met a cordial response from a majority of 
 the delegates cannot be doubted, and that the sentiments were 
 sincere and earnest on the part of the speaker, his whole course 
 during and after the Convention, established. 
 
 The significance of the address will be overlooked if the 
 reader does not note that the controlling thought in the mind 
 of the speaker was that the mission of this Convention was 
 that of mediator between the conflicting factions of the North 
 and South. ''Virginia has come to the rescue" was his lan- 
 guage. "It is what the whole country expected of her." That, 
 evidently, was his idea of the purpose of the Convention, and 
 the idea of the majority of those who constituted that body at 
 this time. They did not apprehend the dark and desperate 
 purpose which was slumbering and but ha'f concealed on the 
 minority side of the house. 
 
 Three lines of policy quickly developed in the proceedings 
 as occupying the minds of delegates, for allaying or solving the 
 growing conflict between the States : 
 
 First, there was the uncompromising secession element, 
 
30 The Formation 
 
 which believed the only remedy was a separation from the Fed- 
 eral Union, and the formation of an independent government 
 of the slave-holding States. They maintained that the North 
 hated slavery; believed it to be a sin and a crime; that they 
 had determined to destroy it; that any compromise that could 
 be patched up to allay the existing conflict would only be tem- 
 porary; and the only permanent solution that would preserve 
 the institution of slavery was secession. They were ready for 
 this whether it were violent or peaceable, and they never flagged 
 in their purpose to accomplish it. 
 
 Secondly, there was the conservative division, representing 
 the majority, of whom the president of the Convention was the 
 exponent, which did not desire separation from the Federal gov- 
 ernment; believed a compromise was possible, and while com- 
 plaining of the attitude of the Northern States, were willing 
 to make any fair concessions for the preservation of the Union, 
 and thought the chief mission of Virginia and this Convention 
 was to bring about this peaceable solution. They had no very 
 well defined plans, but with a sincere attachment to the Union 
 were willing to give and take in any proposed scheme of adjust- 
 ment, and were awaiting the opportunity to throw their support 
 to any feasible proposition. 
 
 Thirdly, there were the reconstructionists, who had ideas 
 about the defects in our organic law; about the changes in the 
 Federal Constitution necessary to a full protection of the rights 
 of the States; and were ready with the exact provisions which 
 should be incorporated in the national constitution. They were 
 relying on the Peace Conference then sitting at Washington, to 
 which Virginia had sent commissioners, to obtain such constitu- 
 tional guarantees as would secure the claims of the South. 
 That body was endeavoring to formulate and agree upon certain 
 changes in the Constitution that would satisfy both sections, 
 but when they finally presented them to Congress, that tribunal 
 was not in a mood to consider them. The views of this division 
 
of West Virginia. 31 
 
 of the convention were well expressed in resolutions presented 
 by Mr. Richardson, among others of the same character: 
 
 'That in view of the grievances which the South has sustained 
 at the hands of the North, and of the election of a Chief Magistrate 
 avowedly hostile to the institutions of the South, It is the duty of 
 th'6 North at once to concede sudh constitutional guarantees to the 
 South as will prevent the recurrence of wrongs already inflicted 
 on us, and secure our full and equal rights in the Confederacy. 
 
 'That the failure to provide against these wrongs and to secure 
 these rights is an evidence of either indifference or hostility to us, 
 which are alike fatal to our peace and safety. 
 
 "That in view of these plain truths, we demand that security 
 for our rights and honor be accorded us in the Confederacy as 
 speedily as the necessary constitutional proceedings can he carried 
 out, and in default thereof, will dissolve our connection with those 
 who first wantonly wrong us and then obstinately persevere in the 
 injury." 
 
 It is probable that the plan of securing constitutional guar- 
 antees as a means of preserving the Union, had the sympathy of 
 a very large majority of the Convention, but only a fraction of 
 that number were sanguine of success in obtaining them. 
 
 Another feature of the various measures proposed, discloses 
 the fact that in this Convention there was very general unan- 
 imity on the proposition that a state had a right to secede from 
 the Union, and that the national government had no authority 
 to coerce her to remain in it. This doctrine was promulgated in 
 nearly all the resolutions which came from the several divisions 
 of the Convention. It was the doctrine of "State Eights" so 
 long and so emphatically asserted by the political doctrinaires 
 of the South. The logic of the doctrine was this : 
 
 The confederation of states was originally assented to by the 
 legislature for each State. 
 
 The Constitution was assented to by the people of each 
 State, for such State alone. 
 
 One is as binding as the other, and no more so. 
 
32 The Formation 
 
 The Constitution establishes a government, and it operates 
 directly on the individual — the Confederation is a league oper- 
 ating primarily on the States. But each was adopted by the 
 State for itself — in the one case by the Legislature acting for 
 the State — in the other, by the people, not as individuals com- 
 posing one nation, but as composing the distinct and independ- 
 ent States to which they respectively belonged. 
 
 The foundation, therefore, on which it was established, was 
 Federal, and the State in the exercise of the same sovereign 
 authority by which she ratified for herself, may for herself abro- 
 gate and annul it. 
 
 When a State does secede, the Constitution and laws of the 
 United States cease to operate therein. ISTo power is conferred 
 on Congress to enforce them. Such authority was denied to the 
 Congress in the Convention which framed the Constitution, be- 
 cause it would be an act of war of nation against nation — ^not the 
 exercise of the legitimate powers of a government to enforce its 
 laws on those subject to its jurisdiction. 
 
 The foregoing propositions are a very fair expression of the 
 views which dominated the Convention, at its assembling, on the 
 important question of the organic relation of a State to the 
 Federal Government. As in every deliberative body, so in this 
 convention, the effort was to formulate and agree. The evolu- 
 tionary process toward unity on all the crucial questions of the 
 hour was working itself out through the debates, the reports of 
 committees, and the private and personal intercourse of the 
 members of the Convention. Proposition upon proposition was 
 poured in upon the Committee on Federal Eelations, which 
 Committee became the chief repository of the work of the Con- 
 vention. Every phase of the situation, and every possible form 
 of solving the problems which any delegate had to offer, were 
 referred to it. Finally, on the 9th of March, about one month 
 after the assembling of the Convention, this Committee on 
 Federal Eelations presented a report, which is very instructive 
 
John S. Carlile. 
 
of West Virginia. 33 
 
 in view of the fact that it probably embodies the best expression 
 of the ruling sentiments of the Convention at this stage. After 
 a formal preamble reciting the facts bearing upon the general 
 situation of the country, the report concludes with the following 
 series of resolutions : i 
 
 "1. Be it resolved aad declared by the people of the State of 
 Virginia in Convention assembled, That the States which com- 
 posed the United States of America, when the Federal Constitution 
 was formed, were independent sovereignties, and in adopting that 
 instrument the people of each State agreed to associate with, 
 the people of other States upon a footing of exact equity. It is the 
 duty, therefore, of the common government to respect the rights 
 of the States and the equality of the people thereof, and within the 
 just limits of the Constitution, to protect with equal care, the great 
 interests that spring from the institutions of each. 
 
 "2. African slavery is a vital part of the social system of the 
 States wherein it exists, and as that form of servitude existed when 
 the Union was formed, and the jurisdiction of the several States 
 over it, within their respective limits, was recognized by the Con- 
 stitution, any interference to its prejudice by the Federal authority, 
 or by the authorities of the other States, or by the people thereof, 
 is in derogation from plain right, contrary to the Consitution, 
 offensive and dangerous. 
 
 "3. The choice of functionaries of a common government 
 established for the common good, for the reason that they entertain 
 opinions and avow purposes hostile to the institutions of some of 
 the States, necessarily excludes the people of one section from par- 
 ticipation in the administration of the government, subjects the 
 weaker to the domination of the stronger section, leads to abuse, 
 and is incompatible with the safety of those whose interests are 
 imperilled; the formation thereof of geographical or sectional par- 
 ties in respect to Federal politics is contrary to the principles on 
 which our system rests, and tends to its overthrow. 
 
 "4. The territories of the United States constitute a trust to 
 be administered by the general government, for the common benefit 
 of the people of the United States, and any policy in respect to 
 such territories calculated to confer greater benefits on the people 
 of one part of the people of the United States than on the people 
 of another part is contrary to equality and prejudicial to the rights 
 
34 The Formation 
 
 ot some for whose benefit the trust was created. If the equal 
 admission of slave labor and free labor into any territory excites 
 unfriendly conflict between the systems, a fair partition of the ter- 
 ritories ought to be made between them, and each system ought to 
 be protected within the limits assigned to it by the laws necessary 
 for its proper development. 
 
 "5. The sites of the Federal forts, arsenals, &c., within the 
 limits of the States of this Union, were acquired by the Federal 
 Government, and jurisdiction over them ceded by the States, as 
 trusts, for the common purpose of the Union, during Its continu- 
 ance; and upon the separation of the States, such jurisdiction 
 reverts of right to the States, respectively, by which the jurisdic- 
 tion was ceded. Whilst a State remains in the Uniop, the legiti- 
 mate use of such forts, &c., is to protect the country against foreign 
 force, and to aid in suppressing domestic insurrection. To use, or 
 prepare them to be used to intimidate a State, or constrain its free 
 action, is a perversion of the purposes for which they were ob- 
 tained; they were not intended to be used against the States, in 
 whose limits they are found, in the event of civil war. In a time 
 of profound peace with foreign nations, and when no symptoms of 
 domestic insurrection appear — but whilst irritating questions of the 
 deepest importance are pending between the States — to accumulate 
 within the limits of a State, interested in such questions, an 
 unusual amount of troops and munitions of war, not required for 
 any legitimate purpose, is unwise, impolitic, and offensive. 
 
 "6. Deeply deploring the present distracted condition of the 
 country, and lamenting the wrongs that have impelled some of the 
 States to cast off obedience to the Federal Government, but sensible 
 of the blessings of the Union, and impressed with its importance to 
 the peace, prosperity and progress of the people, we indulge the 
 hope that an adjustment may be reached by which the Union may 
 be preserved in its integrity, and peace, prosperity and fraternal 
 feelings be restored throughout the land. 
 
 "7. To remove the existing causes of complaint may be accom- 
 plished by the Federal and State Governments; the laws for the 
 rendition of fugitives from labor and of fugitives from justice may 
 be made more effectual, the expenditures of the government may be 
 reduced within more moderate limits and the abuses that have 
 entered Into the administrative departments reformed. The State 
 authorities may repeal their unfriendly and unconstitutional legisla- 
 
of West Virginia. 35 
 
 tion, and substitute in its stead such as becomes the comity and is 
 due to the rights of the States of the same Union. But to restore 
 the Union and preserve confidence the Federal Constitution should 
 be amended in those particulars wherein experience has exhibited 
 defects and discovered approaches dangerous to the Institutions of 
 some of the States. 
 
 "8. The people of Virginia recognize the American principle 
 that government is founded in the consent of the governed, and 
 they concede the right of the people of the several States of this 
 Union, for just causes, to withdraw from their association under 
 the Federal Government with the people of the other States, and to 
 erect new governments for their better security, and they will never 
 consent that the Federal power, which is in part their power, shall 
 be exerted for the purpose of subjugating the people of such States 
 to the Federal authority. 
 
 "9. The exercise of this right by the States of South Carolina, 
 Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas, with- 
 out the assent of the other States, has given rise to new conditions, 
 and presented questions touching those conditions, intimately affect- 
 ing the rights and safety of the other States. Among these are the 
 free navigation of the Mississippi River, the maintenance of forts 
 intended to protect the commerce of the Gulf of Mexico, and the 
 power to restrain smuggling along the interior borders of the 
 seceded States; but the Federal authorities, under the Constitution 
 as it is, disclaim power to recognize the withdrawal of any Sate 
 from the Union and consequently to deal with these questions, 
 holding that it is reserved only to the State as parties to the gov- 
 ernment compact to take lawful action touching them. 
 
 "10. Without expressing an opinion as to the question of 
 power, but in deference to the opinion of the Federal authorities, 
 the people of Virginia hereby declare their desire to confer upon the 
 Government of the United States, the powers necessary to enable 
 its proper authorities to deal peaceably with these questions, and, 
 if it shall become necessary, to recognize the separate independence 
 of the seceding States, and to make such treaties with them, and 
 to pass such laws as the separation may make proper. 
 
 "11. This Convention composed of delegates elected by the 
 people in districts, for the purpose of considering the existing diffi- 
 culties in our Federal relations, represents the desire and earnest 
 request of the people of Virginia, to meet as directly as possible th« 
 
36 The Formation 
 
 people of her sister States, and to them appeal for satisfactory ad- 
 justment. Virginia, therefore, requestsi the people of the several 
 States, either by popular vote, or in Conventions similar to her own, 
 to respond, at their earliest convenience, to the positions assumed 
 in the foregoing resolutions, and the proposed amendments to the 
 Constitution of the United States hereunto appended. And in the 
 event that this Commonwealth fails to ohtain satisfactory responses 
 to her requests, from the non-slaveholding States, she will feel com- 
 pelled to resume the powers granted by her under the Constitution 
 of the United States, and to throw herself upon her reserved rights. 
 
 "12. The people of Virginia will await any reasonable time to 
 obtain answers from the other States, to these propositions, aware 
 of the embarrassments that may produce delay, but they will expect, 
 as an indispensable condition, that a pacific policy shall be adopted 
 towards the seceded States, and that no attempt be made to subject 
 them to the Federal authority, nor to reinforce the forts now in pos- 
 session of the military forces of the United States, nor recapture the 
 forts, arsenals or other property of the United States within their 
 limits, nor to exact the payment of imposts upon their commerce; 
 nor any measure resorted to, justly calculated to provoke hostile 
 collision. 
 
 "13. In the opinion of this Convention, the people of Virginia 
 would regard any action of the Federal Government, tending to 
 produce a collision of forces, pending negotiations for the adjust- 
 ment of existing difficulties as aggressive and injurious to the inter- 
 ests and offensive to the honor of this Commonwealth; and they 
 would regard any such action on the part of the seceded States as 
 hurtful and unfriendly, and as leaving them free to determine their 
 future policy. 
 
 "14. The peculiar relations of the States of Delaware, Mary- 
 land, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and 
 Arkansas to the other States, make it proper, in the judgment of 
 this Convention, that the former Statesi should consult together and 
 concert such measures for their final action as the honor, the Inter- 
 ests and the safety of the people thereof demand, and for that pur- 
 pose the proper authorities of those States are requested to appoint 
 commissioners to meet commissioners to be appointed by this Con- 
 vention on behalf of the people of this State, at Frankfort, in the 
 State of Kentucky, on the last Monday in May next." 
 
 The foregoing resolutions disclose the plans and purposes 
 
of West Virginia. 37 
 
 that were being developed and formulated by the general bod} 
 of the Convention. They represent the sincere and patriotic 
 effort of the conservative majority to bring about a peaceful 
 solution of the issues dividing the sections and possibly to pre 
 serve and perpetuate the union of the States. 
 
 But outside of the public deliberations of the Convention 
 in secret conclaves, and by well defined and far-seeing methods 
 the radical elements of the convention were working along other 
 lines. They were men of fertile resources and determined pur- 
 pose. They knew what they wanted and had the courage to 
 bring it to pass. There was no division in their ranks, no diver- 
 sity in their plans, and no hesitation in carrying them out. 
 While they were participating in the deliberations of the Con- 
 vention and combating or commending the various propositions 
 under discussion, they were clandestinely formulating and per- 
 fecting a scheme that would override the Convention and take 
 "Virginia out of the Federal Union, nolens volens, and unite her 
 fortunes with the seceding States. Subsequent events show how 
 desperately and well they accomplished their purpose. Before 
 the Convention was aware of it the State of Virginia had been 
 virtually carried out of the Union and linked to the Southern 
 Confederacy. It was not the "Secession Convention," so called, 
 that ceded Virginia to the South, but a minority of designing 
 and desperate members of that body simply used the Convention 
 to give the semblance of authority to what had already been done 
 without its knowledge, and compel a formal ratification of what 
 it could probably not have done through parliamentary proc- 
 esses. 
 
 No record of what was going on behind the scenes, during 
 the session of the Convention, was ever made, or will probably 
 ever come to light. But there were some things cropping out in 
 the public proceedings that, read in the light of subsequent 
 events, give us an insight into the measures of the men who 
 were shaping the situation. That they were in constant and 
 
38 The Formation 
 
 intimate eommunication and conference with the representatives 
 of the embryo Confederacy whose headquarters were at Mont- 
 gomery, cannot be doubted. The seceded States of the extreme 
 South staked much on winning Virginia to their cause, both for 
 its moral effect and the geographical reasons arising out of the 
 position of Virginia with reference to the proposed Southern 
 Confederacy. 
 
 On the very first day of the Convention, before its organi- 
 zation was completed, the following significant resolution was 
 presented and passed : 
 
 "Eesolved, That a committee of five be appointed by the 
 President to await upon Hon. John S. Preston, Commissioner 
 from the State of South Carolina; Hon. Henry L. Benning, 
 Commissioner from the State of Georgia; and Hon. Pulton 
 Anderson, Commissioner from the State of Mississippi, and 
 inform them that this convention of the people of Virginia 
 respectfully invites them to seats in this hall, and will receive 
 at such time, and in such mode as they may severally prefer, any 
 messages they may have to deliver." 
 
 These Commissioners were picked men of the South, dis- 
 tinguished for their ability as orators of the old Southern type, 
 trained, magnetic, and skillful in all the arts of oratory. It was 
 the beginning of an organized campaign for arousing a senti- 
 ment, in and out of the Convention, in favor of the secession 
 movement. And it was a success. 
 
 The Convention set apart the 18th day of the month for 
 hearing these Commissioners. Their addresses were so arranged 
 in manner and matter as to make a harmonious, logical, and 
 complete presentation of the argument for secession. They not 
 only marshaled the arguments usually urged in favor of the radi- 
 cal measures, but they pictured, as only such orators could, the 
 glorious consummation of a Southern Confederacy, constituted 
 of a homogeneous population, with common sympathies, comracn 
 ambitions, common interests, and especially with common views 
 
of West Virginia. 39 
 
 regarding the institution of negro slavery. They predicted with 
 great plausibility, a new era of industrial prosperity for the 
 South, of which, the State of Virginia would derive the greatest 
 proiit. "Her seaboard cities would become the mightiest of the 
 continent." "She would have the direct trade of England which 
 was now controlled by the Forth." "She would be to the South- 
 em Confederacy what Few England was to the Forth." "The 
 great wealth of the Cotton States would be poured into her cof- 
 fers, and ere long the cities of the State would rival in magnifi- 
 cence the cities of the Italian Eepublics during the middle ages, 
 to which the treasures of the Orient were tributary. Towns, 
 villages, and hamlets, in which wealth and affluence greeted the 
 eye at every turn, would be constantly in the traveler's view. 
 Great factories whose stately furnaces would pierce the heavens 
 and whose ponderous engines revolved with a conscious nobility, 
 would erect lofty fronts to catch the smiles of the morning sun." 
 
 By arrangement, the last speaker was the Commissioner 
 from South Carolina — a popular orator of unsurpassed power in 
 the South. The preceding speakers having stated the argument 
 and laid a somewhat substantial basis for their cause, the South 
 Carolinian was to fire the Southern heart, stimulate their old 
 pride, and arouse their old time chivalry in behalf of a cause 
 that appealed to them as Virginians in a peculiar manner. It 
 was an address resplendent with oratorical effects, finished in 
 diction, and marvelous in its flights of eloquence. 
 
 That these addresses created a profound impression not 
 only upon the Convention, but the public at large, cannot be 
 doubted. They visibly changed the tone and atmosphere of the 
 Convention. The lukewarm delegates were raised to a higher 
 temperature, and, doubtless, many who were hesitating were 
 carried over to the secession side. Thousands of copies were 
 printed and distributed, and they were eagerly read and became 
 a prolific subject of discussion and criticism by the press of the 
 country. North and South. 
 
40 The Formation 
 
 It was an encouraging beginning to the conspirators, of 
 their campaign of public education and public stimulation. The 
 lobbies of the Convention took fire. The rabble, the violent, the 
 mob elements of the population of Eiehmond came to the front, 
 and began to take a hand, so to speak, in the proceedings of the 
 Convention. By various methods and devices they sought to 
 bring pressure upon the delegates to compel a speedy enactment 
 of the secession program. They filled the lobbies and galleries of 
 the Convention. They endeavored to intimidate those whom 
 they designated as "submissionists." They traversed the streets 
 with bands of music, serenading the champions of secession, and 
 heaping obloquy upon those who opposed it. They hung sug- 
 gestive nooses to the windows of delegates who were pronounced 
 in their opposition. They tore down the United States flags 
 snd hoisted Ihe Cenfederate flags in their stead. And by all 
 such devilish devices common to the unthinking and desperate 
 elements of a great city, the rabble of Richmond continued to 
 grow bold in the service of those who were seeking to mould, and 
 were moulding, public sentiment in favor of their cause. 
 
 While these things were being done in and about the Con- 
 vention, events were taking place in the country that served to 
 fire the secession sentiment and very materially assist the promo- 
 ters of that cause. A review of the general situation will help 
 us to understand the local situation at Eiehmond and the influ- 
 ences that were operating to bring the Convention to a well 
 defined position on the pending issues. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 DONB BEHIND CLOSED DOORS. 
 
 By the time the Eichmond Convention was a month old, 
 events had transpired in the country that served to very speedily 
 crystalize public sentiment North and South, on the pending 
 issues. 
 
 Lincoln had been stealthily conveyed to Washington and 
 inaugurated President. The chief cause of suspicion and com- 
 plaint by the South, had thus been consummated. His inaug- 
 ural address had been read and studied for a forecast of the 
 policy of the new administration toward the seceding States. 
 While conservative, and even conciliatory, in tone, there was the 
 absence of the hesitancy and uncertain attitude of the Buchanan 
 administration. The South read in it the clear warning that 
 all the powers of the Federal Government would be used to 
 preserve the integrity of the Federal Union, peaceably if pos- 
 sible, but forcibly if necessary. In his first official papers Pres- 
 ident Lincoln further declared his purpose to repossess the forts, 
 arsenals and public property which had been seized by the Con- 
 federate authorities. Soon after, an attempt was made to rein- 
 force the garrison of Port Sumter, which was the beginning of 
 actual hostilities. 
 
 This fort was held by a small garrison of seventy-nine men 
 under Major Eobert Anderson. When it became known that 
 the Federal Government would reinforce the forts, the authori- 
 
42 The Formation 
 
 ties of the Confederate States determined to anticipate the 
 movement and General P. T. Beauregard, commandant at 
 Charleston, sent a demand to Anderson for an evacuation. This 
 was refused, and on the following morning the first giin was 
 fired from a Confederate battery, followed by a terrific bombard- 
 ment, which was continued until the fort was reduced to ruins, 
 set on fire, and Major Anderson was obliged to capitulate. 
 
 "The news of this startling event," says Eidpath, the histo- 
 rian, "went through the country like a fiame of fire. There 
 had been some expectation of violence but the actual shock came 
 like a clap of thunder. The people of the towns poured into 
 the streets and the country folk fiocked to the villages to gather 
 the tidings and to con ment on the coming conflict. Gray- 
 haired men talked gravely of the deed that was done, and proph- 
 esied of its consequences. Public opinion in both the North and 
 South was rapidly conpolidated. Three days after the Tail of 
 Sumter, President Lincoln issued a call for seventy-five thou- 
 sand volunteers to serve three months in the overthrow of the 
 secession movement." Almost simultaneously a body of Con- 
 federate soldiers marched against the armory of the United 
 States at Harper's Ferry. Another company of Virginians 
 assailed the great Navy Yard at Norfolk. "It was now evident 
 to all men^slow as they had been to believe it — ^that a great war, 
 perhaps the greatest in modern times, was impending over the 
 Nation." 
 
 During the progress of these events the excitement at Rich- 
 mond and in the Convention had reached a white heat. Bon- 
 fires were burning in the streets. Stores and places of business 
 were closed and the populace sought the public squares. Citi- 
 zens from all parts of the State rushed into the city. 
 
 On the 16th of April the Convention went into secret 
 session. A bond of secrecy was put upon the delegates. The 
 reporters were excluded. The necessary ofBeers were required 
 to take a solemn oath not to divulge the proceedings. Two 
 
of West Virginia. 43 
 
 additional door-keepers were appointed to guard the doors and 
 keep the lobbies clear. In this secret session it is said that 
 Henry A. Wise, who was probably the high priest of the seces- 
 sion element, arose from his seat in his dramatic way, laid a 
 large horse pistol on his desk before him, and proceeded to 
 harangue the Convention in the most violent manner, declaring 
 that the hour had come for Virginia to assert herself, xhat her 
 forts and arsenals were threatened by Federal soldiers, and now 
 was the hour for her to arise in her might and resist the attempt 
 to coerce and deprive her of her sovereignty as an independent 
 State. The purpose to stampede the Convention into extreme 
 measures was now apparent. A most exciting and acrimonious 
 debate ensued. In vain did the Union men in the Convention 
 endeavor to stay the tide and prevent their colleagues from yield- 
 ing to the storm. 
 
 On the following day, the 17th of April, while the Conven- 
 tion was still sitting with closed doors, the ordinance of secession 
 was presented and carried by a good majority. It was as 
 follows : 
 
 "An Ordinaace to Repeal the Ratification of the Constitution of the 
 United States of America, by the State of Virginia, and to Re- 
 sume all the Rights and Powers Granted Under Said Constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 "The People of Virginia in their ratification of the Constitution 
 of the United States of America, adopted by them In Convention on 
 the 25th day of June, in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven 
 hundred and eighty-eight, having declared that the powers granted 
 under said Constitution were derived from the people of the United 
 States, and might be resumed whensoever the same should be 
 perverted to their Injury and oppression, and the Federal Govern- 
 ment having perverted said powers, not only to the Injury of the 
 people of Virginia, but to the oppression of the Southern slave- 
 holding States, 
 
 "Now, therefore, we, the people of Virginia, do declare and 
 ordain. That the ordinance adopted by the people of this State in 
 Convention, on the twenty-flfth day of June, In the year of our Lord 
 
44 The Formation 
 
 one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, whereby the Consti- 
 tution of the United States of America was ratified; and all acts of 
 the General Assembly of this State ratifying or adopting amend- 
 ments to said Constitution, are hereby repealed and abrogated; 
 that the union between the State of Virginia and the other States 
 under the Constitution aforesaid is hereby dissolved, and that the 
 State of Virginia is in the full possession and exercis^e of all the 
 rights of sovereignty, which belong and appertain to a free and 
 independent State. 
 
 "And they do further declare, That the Constitution of the 
 United States of America, is no longer binding on any of the citizens 
 of this State." 
 
 This ordinance was passed by a vote of 88 to 55. It was 
 to take effect when ratified by a majority of the votes of the 
 people of the State, and a poll was ordered to be taken on it, on 
 the fourth Thursday of the next month — or about thirty days 
 after its passage by the Convention. This was at least a formal 
 compliance with the conditions upon which the Convention was 
 called — that the people should have an opportunity of passing 
 upon the work of the Convention. 
 
 A vote was taken in accordance with the provision of the 
 ordinance, but before the result of that vote was ascertained the 
 State of Virginia had been completely transferred to the South- 
 ern Confederacy. The Union men in the Convention, finding 
 further resistance useless, began to withdraw after the passage 
 of the secession ordinance, and the conspirators had things all 
 their own way. They made use of their opportunity without 
 much regard to the forms of law. 
 
 The bond of secrecy was still enforced. It was evidently 
 a part of the plan that the country should not know what Vir- 
 ginia was going to do until it was done. After the adoption of 
 the secession ordinance, the Convention provided for communi- 
 cating the fact to their coadjutors in the South as follows : 
 
 "Resolved, That the President of this Convention communi- 
 
of West Virginia. 45 
 
 cate in confidence, by special messenger, the ordinance resuming 
 the powers of Virginia, granted und«r the Constitution of the 
 United States, to the President of the Confederate States, and to 
 the Governors of the non-seceding slave-holding States, and that 
 the obligation of secrecy be removed so far as it applies to the 
 Governor of this Commonyrealth, with the request to observe it as 
 strictly confidential, except so far as he may find it necessary to 
 issue secret orders." 
 
 Following up their purpose to complete the transfer of the 
 State, the Convention, two days after the passage of the ordi- 
 nance of secession, appointed commissioners to confer with 
 commissioners of the Confederacy in relation to an alliance with 
 the Confederate Government; and on the 35th of April, one 
 week after the secession ordinance, it passed the following ordi- 
 nance : 
 
 "Be it ordained by this Convention, That the Convention en- 
 tered into on the 24th of April, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, 
 between Alexander H. Stephens, Commissioner of the Confederate 
 States, and John Tyler, William Ballard Preston, S. McD. Moore, 
 James P. Holcombe, James C. Bruce, and Lewis E. Harvle, Com- 
 missioners of Virginia, for a temporary union of Virginia with said 
 Confederate States, under the provisional government adopted by 
 said Confederate States, be and the same is hereby ratified and 
 confirmed on the terms agreed upon by said Commissioners." 
 
 On the same day the Convention formally adopted and 
 ratified the Constitution of the "Provisional Government of the 
 Confederate States of America, ordained and established at 
 Montgomery, Alabama." 
 
 It will be observed that all these things were ordained and 
 adopted by this Convention before the people of the State had 
 been permitted to vote upon the adoption or rejection of the 
 secession ordinance. The time appointed for taking this vote 
 was the fourth Thursday of May, and yet by the 35th of April 
 the Convention had entered into a formal alliance with the Con- 
 
46 The Formation 
 
 federate Governinent, and had adopted and ratified tlie Consti- 
 tution of that Confederacy. It is true that in these negotia- 
 tions they made mention of the provision embodied in the ordi- 
 nance of secession, that it was to be submitted to a vote of the 
 people, but this, under the circumstances, was decidedly Pick- 
 wickian in its meaning and effect. 
 
 Behind closed doors, shut off from the people whose fate 
 they were deciding, with opposing delegates practically driven 
 out of the hall, this band of desperate men, without scarcely 
 the semblance of authority, deliberately usurped the powers of 
 the people, and without their knowledge transferred the State 
 of Virginia from its place in the Union of States to the domin- 
 ion of a Confederacy that was planning war against the National 
 Government. It is possible, and even probable, that such would 
 have been the ultimate result reached by the Convention even 
 had it pursued a legal and authoritative course to the end. 
 But that the method of the Convention in accomplishing this 
 transfer, was a high-handed usurpation, engineered by a des- 
 perate minority of that body, cannot be controverted. As Sen- 
 ator Willey afterward said in a public address : 
 
 "Before the seal of secrecy was removed from the proceedings 
 of the Convention; before the people fenw that the ordinance had 
 been passed; before the people had voted upon It — yes, sir! on the 
 very next day after the passage of the ordinance, the Convention 
 began to levy war against the United States — large approprlaitlons 
 for military purposes were made; field ofBcersi were appointed and 
 commissioned; the military stores, forts, arsenals, and arms, and 
 custom-houses of the United States, were seized at Richmond, Nor- 
 folk, Harper's Ferry, and other places. A fortnight had not elapsed 
 until the Convention, still in secret session, and before the peo- 
 ple knew that any ordinance of secession had passed, had, by 
 solemn compact made with commissioners from the insurrectionary 
 government of the so-called Oontederate States, annexed Virginia 
 to that confederation, and transferred to it her entire military 
 resources, and placed the militia under the control of the rebel 
 
of West Virginia. 47 
 
 chief of that insurrectionary organization. All this was done by 
 these secret conspirators, not only before the people bad voted 
 upon the ordinance of seoession, but before they were permitted to 
 know, or did know, that any ordinance of seoession had been 
 pasised. Thus were the unconscious people of Virginia, like beasts 
 in the shambles, transferred to a new allegiance, a new govern- 
 ment, and new rulers' and political masters, in the selection of 
 whom they had no knowledge or choice. And before the people 
 were permitted to know of these proceedings, the 'sacred soil' of 
 Virginia was trodden by the armed legions of South Carolina and 
 the Gulf States, and on the fourth Thursday in May, when the ordi- 
 nance was to be voted on by the people, thirty thousand glittering 
 bayonets surrounded the polls from the Chesapeake to the summit 
 of the Alleghenies. Portions of the Confederate forces had been 
 pushed across the Alleghenies, and were menacing the lives and 
 liberties of the people of Northwest Virginia. Oflttcers had been 
 commissioned and authorized to raise troops there and to organize 
 the militia in subjection to the military tyrants at Montgomery, 
 and in hostility to the United States. The civil authorities were 
 also treated with condign punishment unless they Instantly recog- 
 nized this new order of things, and administered their offices as 
 under the authority of the Southern Confederation." 
 
 With Virginia in alliance with the seceded States, the next 
 step in the Southern program swiftly followed. She was to be 
 made the battle ground of the most desolating war in modem 
 history. So rapidly was the State filled with soldiers from the 
 South, that Washington City was deemed to be in danger, and 
 another call from President Lincoln for 83,000 volunteers was 
 issued. On every side was heard the notes of preparation. "In 
 the seceded States there was boundless and incessant activity." 
 The Congress of the Southern Confederacy adjourned from 
 Montgomery to meet at Eichmond, which was chosen as the 
 capital of the Confederacy; and hither came Jefferson Davis, 
 its President, with his Cabinet, to direct the affairs of the Gov- 
 ernment and the army. 
 
 Thus did Virginia come swiftly into possession of the 
 
48 The Formation 
 
 fmits which her Convention had planned. "If the peaceable 
 secessionist," says Mr. Hagans, in his sketch of this period, "in 
 his happiest dreams, could he have drawn aside the veil of the 
 future, and seen the hand of destiny in the fierce flames which 
 WTithed over the roof of his ancestors, or hid their furies amid 
 the crashing walls of sacked and burning cities, or the howling 
 wilderness which sprang up in the track of passing armies 
 where all had been Eden, might have been awakened to that 
 sense of startling reality which a few short years demonstrated 
 to his horrified vision." 
 
 On the first of May the Convention adjourned to meet 
 again on the 12th of June. They had already made provision 
 for organizing and equipping an army, had severed their rela- 
 tions from the Federal Union, and had formally allied the 
 State with the Confederate Government, all preparatory to 
 milking war on the Government of the Federal Union, and 
 setting up an independent government of the Southern States. 
 With a ridiculous show of consistency, they now adjourn, pre- 
 sumably to await the result of the vote to be taken on the fourth 
 Thursday of May, on the question of seceding from the Union ! 
 
 That vote was taken. The people were allowed to formally 
 participate in the farcical proceeding of approving or rejecting 
 that which had already been consummated beyond recall, with- 
 out their consent and even without their knowledge. Whether 
 any official return of that vote was ever made, or, if so, what it 
 was, is not disclosed by the journal of the Convention. 
 
 But on the 12th of June the Convention reassembled. 
 Eighty-one delegates responded to the roll call. They then 
 proceeded to go through the formality of signing the ordinance 
 of secession. For what purpose the individual delegates were 
 required to attach their signatures to this particular ordinance, 
 is not specified in the resolution calling for it. Certainly it 
 was not deemed necessary to the validity of any other ordinance 
 that it should bear the signatures of the individual delegates. 
 
of West Virginia. 49 
 
 But, probably, as in the case of the Declaration of Independence, 
 these signatures were to be a symbol and a test of the courage 
 and loyalty of the individuals who were responsible for this 
 important document. The obligation to secrecy was formally 
 annulled, the doors were thrown open, the roll was slowly called, 
 and as each delegate heard his name pronounced by the clerk, 
 he walked forward and affixed his signature to this solemn 
 instrument. No one refused. Finety-two delegates responded 
 and affixed their signatures. 
 
 There are but two or three of the names of the delegates 
 from Western Virginia appearing among the signatures to that 
 ordinance. The others were not there. The passage of that ordi- 
 nance had been the signal for their withdrawal from the Con- 
 vention, and, in some instances, their hasty flight to more 
 friendly and safer environments west of the mountains. 
 
 After the Convention had settled down to business and 
 looked itself over it proceeded to pass the following resolution: 
 
 "Resolved, That Wm. G. Brown, James Burley, John S. Bur- 
 dett, John S. Carlisle, Marshall M. Dent, Ephraim B. Hall, Chester 
 D. Hubbard, John J. Jackson, James C. McGrew, Geoge McC. Porter, 
 Chapman J. Stuart, Campbell Tarr, and Waitman T. Willey, be and 
 are hereby expelled from this Convention, and that their seat® as 
 members of the Convention be, and are hereby, declared vacant." 
 
 The delegates named in the foregoing resolution were the 
 delegates representing Western Virginia who had been pro- 
 nounced in their opposition to the secession movement and had 
 voted nay on the question of its adoption. 
 
 It does not appear from the resolution that they had been 
 guilty of any other offense that would deprive them of their 
 seats, or that they had voluntarily resigned, or were to be allowed 
 to resign. No charges or specifications are made in the resolu- 
 tion upon which to base the summary action proposed. Their 
 absence from their seats, if long continued, might be some reason 
 
50 The Formation 
 
 for declaring them vacant, but the temper of the Convention 
 could only be satisfied by first declaring that they "be, and are 
 hereby, expelled." The parliamentary privilege of one delegate 
 differing from another was denied them! Th^ thereby com- 
 mitted an ofEense that rendered them ineligible to membership 
 in the body ! Not only so, but they subjected themselves to the 
 penalty of expulsion, as unworthy of association with a body of 
 men whose opinions, and judgment, and policy upon great issues, 
 they had dared to question ! So, therefore, the Convention pro- 
 ceeded to vote separately on each of the delegates named in the 
 resolution, and each received almost a unanimous vote for his 
 expulsion. 
 
 The Convention continued to act somewhat in the capacity 
 of a Legislature, passing upon miseellaneous measures arising 
 out of the exigencies of the times, until the 1st of July, when it 
 adjourned to meet again on the 13th of November. 
 
 On the latter date this body came together for the last 
 time, and proceeded to frame a new Constitution for the Com- 
 monwealth of Virginia. It was occupied chiefly with this task 
 until the 6th day of December following, at which time it ad- 
 journed sine die, and passed into history, bearing a most preg- 
 nant contribution to the history of the time, and furnishing a 
 typical example of the methods and madness of an able body of 
 men rife with a revolutionary spirit. 
 
CHAPTBE VI. 
 
 AITBKMATH OF THE SEOBSSION CONVENTION. 
 
 After the passage of the ordinance of secession by the Eich- 
 mond Convention, the delegates from Western Virginia realized 
 that their influence and usefulness in that body were ended. 
 
 They had made a brave and persistent fight, and lost. 
 They had appealed to the judgment, the sentiment and the 
 patriotism of their colleagues in Convention to save their State 
 from dismemberment from the Union, without avail. They had 
 done this amid the jeers and threats of the mob in the gallery 
 and the streets. They were the "submissionists." They had 
 stood out as the chief, and almost the exclusive, open and active 
 opponents of the secession program. They were marked men. 
 Not only the odium which was inspired by their position on the 
 immediate issues, but all the ancient antipathy between the 
 peoples of the eastern and western sections of the old Common- 
 wealth, was aroused against the western delegates. 
 
 Moreover, the bitterness, the malice, the suspicion, the vin- 
 dictiveness, and the spirit of violence incident to the outbreak 
 of a civil war, were rife among the populace of the city. The 
 menace of the mob was everywhere. It was not safe to get in 
 its way. 
 
 Under these conditions the western delegates, after consul- 
 tation, determined that it was the part of prudence for them to 
 get away from Kichmond as sipeedily and quietly as possible. 
 
52 The Formation 
 
 But even then it was a difficult and dangerous undertaking on. 
 account of the system of espoinage that had already been organ- 
 ized throughout the city. They were obliged to procure from 
 Governor Letcher written passports granting them protection 
 and permission to leave the city. On the morning of the 21st 
 of April, three days after the passage of the secession ordinance, 
 nearly all the western delegates left the city, going by way of 
 the B. & 0. railroad to Alexandria, which they reached that 
 evening, and where they remained all night. Even this city, so 
 near the Federal capital, was in a tumult of excitement and 
 preparation for war. As illustrative of the state of society even 
 at this early period, an extract from a letter written by one of 
 the delegates, Hon. James C. McG-rew to a fellow delegate, Hon. 
 Waitman T. Willey, who were traveling together, is here repro- 
 duced, as follows : 
 
 "During the time we remained in Alexandria an incident oc- 
 curred in my presence having direct reference to yourself, which I 
 have occasionally related to others, but never, I believe, to you: 
 
 "About nine o'clock at night, and after you had retired to rest, 
 I was in the office of the hotel conversing alone with the clerk, 
 when a number of well-dressed and respectable-looking men entered 
 hurriedly, and in an excited manner proceeded to scrutinize the 
 names on the hotel register, of those who had arrived during the 
 afternoon and evening; commenting variously, and in no very mild 
 or flattering terms, upon the political status of several of our little 
 party. When your name was reached the one who appeared to be 
 the leader, and who was reading the names aloud, at once loudly 
 and profanely denounced you as an enemy to Virginia and the 
 South, and declared that you ought to be taken from your bed and 
 thrown into the Potomac before morning. This proposition seemed 
 to meet with general approval, as there was not the slightest objec- 
 tion or remonstrance interposed by any of the party. They were 
 Induced to leave the hotel, however, without attempting to carry 
 their murderous threat Into execution." 
 
 This little party of 'TJnion refugees," so to speak, con- 
 tinued their journey next morning to Strasburg, and thence 
 
of West Virginia. 53 
 
 down the valley by way of Winchester to Harper's Periy, making 
 many narrow escapes from the mobs collected at different points 
 along the way. 
 
 They were still under the bond of secrecy put upon them by 
 the Eiehmond Convention, not to divulge its proceedings. But 
 some of them had already written to their constituents, advising 
 them in general terms, of the serious nature of the situation, 
 and to prepare for the coming storm. 
 
 The arrival at their homes of the western delegates was 
 the occasion of a general agitation of the whole population of 
 Western Virginia. They were quick to comprehend the desper- 
 ate character of the situation, but unable at once to determine 
 the wisest course to meet it. As in all such crises, there was at 
 first great confusion and diversity of opinion in the public mind. 
 All recognized the importance of unity upon some well defined 
 policy. Public meetings of the people in the various counties 
 were the order of the hour. The returned delegates were active 
 in organizing these meetings. 
 
 The earliest of these meetings was held at Morgantown 
 immediately after the passage of the ordinance of secession, and 
 before it was definitely known that it had passed, but had been 
 so reported. The temper of the citizens of this locality, as 
 expressed at this meeting, was representative of the prevailing 
 sentiment throughout the western section. They entered a sol- 
 emn protest against the secession of Virginia; denounced such 
 action as treason against the Government of the United States ; 
 declared their unalterable opposition to such action; that they 
 would not follow Virginia in such a course, but would dissolve 
 their civil and political relations with the east ; and commended 
 the firmness of western delegates in resisting secession from the 
 Union. 
 
 Similar meetings, expressing the same sentiments, were 
 held in Taylor, Wetzel, Preston, Brooke, Harrison, and other 
 counties. They served to give character and direction to the 
 
54 The Formation 
 
 gradually forming opinions and Judgment of the masses of the 
 people. It was a spontaneous and determined spirit of resist- 
 ance to the action of the secession Convention. Western Vir- 
 ginia was loyal to the government of the Federal Union. 
 
 On the 32nd of April a large public meeting was held at 
 Clarksburg, convened through the influence of the delegate from 
 that county, Hon. Jno. S. Carlile, which gave the first practical 
 turn to the course of affairs. This meeting, which was attended 
 by about twelve hundred citizens, adopted a series of resolutions, 
 which after denouncing and repudiating the course of the Rich- 
 mond Convention, recommended to the people in each of the 
 counties of Northwestern Virginia, to appoint five delegates 
 from among their wisest men, to meet in convention at Wheel- 
 ing, on the 13th of May following, "to consult and determine 
 upon such action as the people of Northwestern Virginia should 
 take in the present fearful emergency." 
 
 This proposition was favorably received. It was a practical 
 suggestion for uniting and organizing the people of the western 
 counties on some well defined course of action. Delegates were 
 appointed in nearly all, if not all, of the counties, to the pro- 
 posed Convention at Wheeling. And this Convention, as will . 
 appear later, became known as the "Mass Meeting," or "Mass 
 Convention," which took the initiative step toward the dismem- 
 berment of Virginia and the erection of a new State. 
 
 While the people were thus preparing for united and defi- 
 nite action, the civil organization of the State was rapidly disin- 
 tegrating and assuming a military air. Public officers were 
 resigning their posts. Bands of armed men were traversing the 
 public highways seeking to drive out all who were disloyal or 
 uncertain in their allegiance to the Federal Government. 
 Farmers, mechanics, and business men of every class, left their 
 labor to swell the groups congregated here and there discussing 
 the situation and learning the news. A feeling of disquiet and 
 distrust was so general and intense as to entirely overthrow the 
 
of West Virginia. 55 
 
 usual order of society. The roads were picketed in every direc- 
 tion; the peaceful yeomanry were arming themselves; and, all 
 classes of citizens were beginning to lose their reliance on the 
 civil law and preparing to protect their lives and property by 
 force of arms. 
 
 But public sentiment was not altogether on one side. In 
 every county and every locality there was more or less division 
 on the question of secession. It is true that the northwestern 
 section, as a whole, was largely opposed to the secession ordi- 
 nance. The returns of the vote taken on that ordinance^ 
 although, probably, not very accurate or complete, owing to the 
 confusion of the time, showed that out of about forty-four 
 thousand votes cast by the counties of the northwest, forty thou- 
 sand were against the ordinance of secession. Yet in some of 
 these counties there was a majority of the population in favor 
 of secession. In every locality there was bitterness and hate 
 between those holding opposite views, and it was usually the 
 policy of the minority to keep quiet. 
 
 Intimidation and persecution by each of the divisions of the 
 people, upon each other, led quickly to the organization and 
 equipment of military companies, here and there, for self- 
 protection, or the more ambitious purpose of joining armies of 
 the Federal or Confederate government. About this time 
 Henry A. Wise was sent by the Eichmond government, with a 
 military force, into the Kanawha Valley, for the purpose of 
 holding that section for the Confederacy. His entrance into 
 that section created intense excitement, the secessionists rally- 
 ing around his standard, and the Union men fleeing to Ohio 
 for safety. 
 
 In the northern section, a few companies of troops organ- 
 ized by the secessionists took possession of Grafton, as a strat- 
 egic point, which commanded the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, 
 and hence the passage of Federal troops from the west to the 
 Federal capital. In the last days of May General T. A. Morris 
 
56 The Formation 
 
 moved forward from Parkersburg to Grafton with a force of 
 Ohio and Indiana troops, and on the 3d of June came upon the 
 Confederates stationed at Philippi. After a brisk engagement 
 the Federals were successful, and the Confederates retreated 
 toward the mountains. 
 
 General Geo. B. McClellan was now commissioned to un- 
 dertake the conquest of West Virginia, and having taken com- 
 mand in person, on the 11th of July gained a victory at Eich 
 Mountain. General Garnett, the Confederate commander, fell 
 back with his forces to Carriek's Ford, on Cheat river, made a 
 stand, was again defeated and himself killed in the battle. On 
 the 10th of August General Floyd, commanding a detachment 
 of Confederates on Gauley river, was attacked by General Eose- 
 crans and obliged to retreat. General Wise had, in the mean- 
 time, abandoned the Kanawha Valley and gone back to Eastern 
 Virginia. On the 14th of September a division of Confederates 
 under General Eobert E. Lee was beaten in an engagement at 
 Cheat Mountain — an action which completed the restoration of 
 Federal authority in Western Virginia. 
 
 In the meantime the proposed Convention at Wheeling for 
 determining the course Western Virginia would take, had not 
 been forgotten. Delegates were being appointed by the several 
 counties to participate in that convention which was to meet on 
 the 13th of May, and was destined to become illustrious as the 
 initial movement in great events. 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 THE "mass convention" AT WHEELING. 
 
 The morning of the 13th of May, 1861, witnessed an excit- 
 ing and eventful scene on the streets of the city of Wheeling. 
 
 This was the day appointed for the assembling of what was 
 popularly termed the "Mass Convention." Hither had come, 
 in large numbers, the representatives of the people of the west- 
 ern counties to confer and determine upon a course of action 
 that involved momentous interests. They were new men on a 
 new mission, but they had the courage of their convictions, and 
 were intensely serious and resolute in their purpose. Everybody 
 was interested in the event, although he had no active connection 
 with it. The interest of the whole population of the city cen- 
 tered in the movement, for the time being. 
 
 It might be said, too, that these delegates had no very well 
 defined idea of what they were there for. Their mission had 
 not been exactly determined or expressed. It was an irregular 
 kind of proceeding. ISTo statute law or constitution authorized or 
 gave Jurisdiction to the Convention. No official authority could 
 be found for the calling of the Convention or the appointment 
 of delegates. It was one of the steps in a revolution. It 
 emanated directly from the people. It might be said to derive 
 its authority from that provision of the Bill of Rights which 
 declares that : "Government is instituted for the common ben- 
 efit, protection, and security of the people, nation or commu- 
 
58 The Formation 
 
 nity; * * * and when any goyemment shall be found to 
 be inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the 
 community has an indisputable, inalienable, and indefeasible 
 right to reform, alter or abolish it in such manner as shall be 
 judged most conducive to the public weal." 
 
 But what would or could this Convention do? All were 
 very well settled as to what they would not do. Their negative 
 attitude was pronounced, but while every delegate was eager to 
 join his colleagues in doing something, they had come together 
 without any concert or conference as to what they would do. 
 We are indebted to Mr. Hagan's sketch for the details of the 
 opening and organization of this Convention : 
 
 "By arrangement the delegates met at Washington Hall — 
 a public hall in the center of the city — at eleven o'clock on the 
 morning of the appointed day. The large building was filled to 
 overflowing with an eager throng, whose anxious countenances 
 depicted the depth of their feelings. It was a remarkable spec- 
 tacle; the faces of the delegates were not familiar to those who 
 had attended political meetings for several years previous. They 
 were a new set of men whom the people had thrust forward in 
 the peril of the emergencv. whose recommendations were in 
 entire sympathy with the masses in the struggle before them, 
 and a hearty confidence in their fidelity. They were plain, 
 unassuming men, too, but as plain men always do, they pos- 
 sessed those traits of character which make honesty the accom- 
 paniment of simplicity. Above all they were filled with a spirit 
 caught from their constituents, of genuine attachment to the 
 government of their fathers and a holy hope of relief from the 
 task-masters of the east. It was the fierce spirit of the freshly 
 lighted fire of pure and righteous revolution." 
 
 "The Convention was called to order by Chester D. Hub- 
 bard, of Ohio county, on whose motion William B. Zinn, of 
 Preston county, was called to preside. G-eorge K. Latham, of 
 Taylor county, was appointed temporary secretary. Before pro- 
 
of West Virginia. 59 
 
 eeeding further in the business for which they had assembled, a 
 venerable prelate, the Eev. Peter T. Laishley, of Monongalia 
 county, himself a delegate, invoked the blessing of Deity on the 
 deliberations of the body; a pious act of faith not without its 
 usefulness in estimating the character of the delegates and the 
 rectitude of their motives." 
 
 "A committee on permanent organization and representa- 
 tion was appointed. In the afternoon session John W. Moss, 
 of Wood county, was reported for permanent president, and a 
 long list of vice presidents; Col. Wagner, of Mason county, Mar- 
 shall M. Dent, of Monongalia, and J. G. Chandler, of Ohio 
 county, were appointed secretaries. 
 
 "The president, on being escorted to the chair, addressed 
 the Convention. After thanking it for the honor conferred, he 
 remarked that the object of the body was to consider the un- 
 happy condition of the country, and particularly to deliberate 
 calmly upon the position l^orthwestem Virginia should assume 
 in the momentous history of the country. He said that the 
 destiny of thousands was involved in the result of their action, 
 and therefore it should be characterized by the solemnity be- 
 fitting the occasion, and by the harmony and conciliation so 
 necessary to any movement inaugurated by the Convention.'"' 
 
 "ThB committee on credentials reported duly accredited 
 delegates from twenty-six counties, as follows : 
 
 Hancock, Marion, Wood, Harrison, Wirt, Wetzel, Hamp- 
 shire, Tyler, Frederick, Brooke, Monongalia, Lewis, Upshur, 
 Jackson, Pleasants, Berkeley, Taylor, Marshall, Ohio, Preston, 
 Eitchie, Gilmer, Mason, Barbour, Doddridge, Eoane. 
 
 A committee consisting of one delegate from each county, 
 was appointed on State and Federal Eelations. The following 
 persons composed it: 
 
 W. T. Willey, Chas. Hooton, Jos. Macker, G. W. Bier, E. T. 
 Trahorn, G. S. Senseney, S. Cochran, A. B. Eohrbough, John S. 
 Carlile, Daniel Lamb, D. D. Johnson, E. C. HoUiday, F. H. 
 
60 The Formation 
 
 Pierpont, J. S. Biirdett, J. E. Stamp, 0. D. Downey, J. J. 
 Jackson, Geo. MeC. Porter, Jas. Scott, A. S. Withers, S. Dayton, 
 A. R. McQuilkin, S. Martin, Mr. Foley. 
 
 The organization having been completed, and the machinery 
 put in working order, the Convention soon got down to busi- 
 ness. The ideas and plans of individual delegates were soon 
 disclosed by a torrent of resolutions poured in upon the Com- 
 mittee on State and Federal Relations. There was no journal 
 of this Convention ever published, and therefore the variety of 
 schemes for solving the great problems, as embodied in these 
 resolutions, has not been preserved. They were, doubtless, as 
 diverse and crude as the notions of any body of men, informally 
 and hastily convened to consider great and complicated ques- 
 tions, must inevitably be. And this diversity was the occasion 
 of bringing on a very sharp and acrimonious debate very soon 
 after the opening of the Convention. 
 
 But amidst the conflicting views, one fact was developed 
 beyond doubt, and that was that if there was any approach to 
 unanimity in the Convention upon any course of action, it was 
 for a separation from the old Commonwealth and the formation 
 of a new State out of the western counties. 
 
 This was the only specific scheme that had been agitated 
 among the delegates. John S. Carlile was the author and 
 open advocate of this measure and he had done no little mission- 
 ary work in its behalf. He had inspired the Clarksburg meet- 
 ing from which this Convention originated, and he had been 
 active in moulding public sentiment in favor of the new State 
 project, so that there was enough sentiment in the Convention 
 when it opened to form a strong nucleus for this movement. 
 
 Moreover this sentiment grew rapidly and spontaneously 
 from the moment the Convention opened. The idea of severing 
 relations with the old State seemed to best satisfy the vindictive 
 spirit of the hour. It became the rallying cry of the Conven- 
 tion. It was taken up by the populace on the outside, which 
 
of West Virginia. 61 
 
 became noisy and clamorous in its favor. Processions were 
 formed in the streets of the city, displaying mottoes expressive 
 of the new State sentiment. It had taken possession of the mul- 
 titude and swept everything in its way, completely swallowing 
 up every other proposition. 
 
 Thus it soon came to be not so much a question of what the 
 convention desired to do, as how to do it. Here was a proposi- 
 tion and a purpose to erect a new State. Under existing condi- 
 tions, it was new. It was a movement without precedent in the 
 history of the States. Other States had been formed but no 
 State had been arbitrarily made out of the territory of another 
 State as was proposed in this case. The situation presented 
 grave difficulties to the thoughtful delegates but they did not 
 deter the movement or dampen the ardor of its supporters. 
 
 Mr. Carlile had been the early and unwavering apologist of 
 the new State project, and naturally, came forward as the leader 
 of the scheme in the Convention. He was not much disturbed 
 by any suggestions of irregularity, or technical difficulties, or 
 want of precedent in reaching his object. Mr. Carlile was of 
 that impetuous nature which well fitted him for heading a revo- 
 lutionary movement. At the same time he was a man of ability, 
 an accomplished speaker, plausible and attractive in address. 
 He was thoroughly possessed of the purpose to accomplish the 
 severance from the old State, and he was indifferent as to the 
 method, so that it was done, and done quickly. He had no diffi- 
 ciilty in rallying the delegates — as well as the galleries — ^to his 
 support, and he aroused them to a high pitch of enthusiasm. 
 
 Mr. Carlile's scheme for the formation of a new State was 
 purely revolutionary in its entire conception. But this was a 
 time of revolution. It was in the air. And doubtless he de- 
 pended upon riding that wave, and being supported in the end 
 by the plea of necessity, in any radical measure that might 
 reach the result. 
 
 On the 14th of May— the next day after the assembling of 
 
62 The Formation 
 
 the Convention — Mr. Carlile had introduced the following reso- 
 lution, which embodied his plan of dismemberment and became 
 the basis of the debate which ensued : 
 
 "Resolved, That the Committee on State and Federal Rela- 
 tions be instructed to report an ordinance declaring that the con- 
 nection of the counties of this State, composing the Tenth and 
 Eleventh Congressional Districts, to which shall be added the 
 county of Wayne, with the other portion of this State is hereby dis- 
 solved, and that the people of the said counties are in the posises- 
 sion and exercise of all the rights of sovereignty which belong and 
 appertain to a free and independent State in the United States and 
 subject to the Constitution thereof; and that said committee be 
 instructed to report a Constitution and form of government for the 
 said State, to be called the State of New Virginia; and also that 
 they report a declaration of causes which have impelled the people 
 of said counties thus to dissolve their connection with the rest of 
 the State, together with an ordinance declaring that said Constitu- 
 tion and form of government shall take effect and be an act of this 
 day when the consent of the Congress of the United States and of 
 the Legislature of the State of Virginia are obtained as is provided 
 for by section 3, article 4, of the Constitution of the United States." 
 
 As already noted, this proposition was essentially and 
 purely revolutionary in its character. It ran counter to every 
 principle and provision of our system of government for the 
 creation of a new State. But to the large majority of the dele- 
 gates composing this Convention matters of constitutional law 
 and government were new and beyond their grasp. They did 
 not comprehend, and were incapable of an intelligent consider- 
 ation of the questions involved. They followed Mr. Carlile 
 blindly in the common object, without regard to its method of 
 attainment. Yet there were a few men among the delegates 
 who looked beyond the present and who knew that the scheme 
 of Mr. Carlile carried to its ultimate end, would only result in 
 defeat and failure of their cherished object. They were new 
 State men, but they were for following the forms of law, rather 
 
of West Virginia. 63 
 
 than attempting a revolutionary proceeding that the National 
 Government would refuse to recognize. Nevertheless it looked 
 like a very rash, if not a vain endeavor, to attempt to check and 
 turn the revolutionary tide and convert the Convention to a 
 more sane and considerate course of action. 
 
 In this exigency Hon. W. T. Willey was put forward to 
 stem the tide, and undertake the hold and seemingly hopeless 
 task of getting the Convention to think. Mr. Willey was the 
 opposite of Mr. Carlile in character and temperament. He was 
 less optimistic, more conservative, and as a lawyer, he had a 
 clear view of the issues involved, as well as a natural bias for a 
 legal and orderly proceeding. He and Mr. Carlile were fresh 
 from the Kichmond Convention where they had together wres- 
 tled manfully to prevent the secession of Virginia, and while 
 they were now equally earnest in their desire to thwart the 
 secession movement in the east, they were to become the chief 
 opponents in a very memorable debate. 
 
 Mr. Willey's appearance in the role of an opponent of the 
 pending proposition was the signal for an outburst of angry 
 denunciation both from the Convention and the crowds in the 
 lobby and in the streets. They called him a traitor and a seces- 
 sionist. The mob hooted and hounded him, and at night gath- 
 ered around his hotel threatening to hang him to a lamp-post. 
 This unthinking element could only interpret a disagreement 
 with the plan as outright opposition to the purpose. 
 
 Mr. Willey threw himself into the debate with all his native 
 eloquence and clearness of statement, and finally gained the ear 
 of the Convention. He declared that he would never lend him- 
 self to a revolutionary or an insurrectionary means of accom- 
 plishing an object which he thought could be accomplished ac- 
 cording to law. He pointed out with great force the provisions 
 of the Federal Constitution governing the formation of a new 
 State. He cited Sec. III. of Art. lY., which declares : 
 
 "New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; 
 
64 The Formation 
 
 but no new States shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction 
 of any other State; nor any State be formed by the junction of two 
 or more States, or Parts of States, without the consent of the Leg- 
 islatures of the States concerned, as well as of the Congress." 
 
 He called attention to the fact that Mr. Carlile's plan pro- 
 posed to call a new State into existence by a simple edict of the 
 Convention. The Convention was to declare it done, and from 
 that moment it was to be "in the possession and exercise of all 
 the rights of sovereignty which belong and appertain to a free 
 and independent State in the United States." This was to be 
 although it had ignored all the conditions imposed by the Con- 
 stitution for the erection of a new State. He further argued 
 that the Convention there assembled could not predicate any 
 authority for such a precipitate proceeding upon the call of the 
 people they represented; that "the delegates had not been ap- 
 pointed with this view, or empowered to act with such extreme 
 vigor ; that this was but an informal meeting of the people, not 
 legally convened, and could not bind the people to acquiescence 
 either in law or reason, or by any known rule or precedent ; and 
 above all, that the Federal Government would not recognize a 
 State created thus, because it was not after the mode prescribed 
 by the Constitution of the United States." He said the proceed- 
 ing if carried out would be "triple treason" — ^treason against 
 the State of Virginia, treason against the United States, and 
 treason against the Confederate Government, if that should suc- 
 ceed in maintaining itself. In other words, there was no exist- 
 ing government that did not assume a legal status except the 
 one proposed for the new State. 
 
 Hon. F. H. Pierpont followed Mr. Willey in a speech sup- 
 porting the position he had taken in opposition to the Carlile 
 plan. The debate continued three days with great earnestness, 
 and the result was marvelous as an illustration of how a body 
 like that may be turned about from a fixed and resolute purpose 
 
FkANCIS HAlilflSON PlERPONT 
 
of West Virginia.. 65 
 
 to accept and adopt that which they had almost unammously 
 and stubbornly opposed. From the correspondence of Mr. Wil- 
 ley, the following extract from a letter by Gov. Pierpont, gives 
 lis an inside view of the situation in and about the Convention 
 during this interesting contest. After referring to the speech 
 by Mr. Carlile on the first day of the discussion, in support of 
 his resolution, Gk>v. Pierpont continues : 
 
 "When he concluded, I, with others, I think, asked you (Mr. 
 Willey) to go on the platform, which you did, and commenced your 
 speech in opposition to Mr. Carlile's proposition, and spoke, I 
 should think, some three-quarters of an hour. My recollection is, 
 that l)y this time it was dark. I saw your weakness and exhaus- 
 tion, and I think I moved that the Convention adjourn until 9 or 10 
 o'clock the next day, to enable you to finish your speech. On the 
 next day the Convention assembled and you concluded your re- 
 marks — I think you spoke an hour and a half that morning with 
 great earnestness. Before the Convention assembled on Wednes- 
 day, I learned that placards had been put up at the market houses 
 and other places, calling a public meeting of the citizens, that day, 
 at the court house, for the purpose of condemning your opposition 
 to Mr. Carlile's project. I also learned that some parties had vis- 
 ited the various delegations the night before and that morning to 
 ascertain how they stood aSected in regard to that project, and 
 that three-fourths of the delegations were in favor of Carlile's 
 project. When you concluded your speech on the morning of the 
 third day, Campbell Tarr followed in a short speech. * * * i 
 then obtained the floor and went on the platform and spoke for 
 about an hour and a quarter, when some movement was observed 
 in the lobby, which was crowded, induced by some questions pro- 
 pounded to me by Mr. Carlile, which movement I thought indicated 
 a disposition to overawe the Convention, and supposed to be a mani- 
 festation of the spirit which had caused the call of the court house 
 meeting. I then referred to the court house meeting to condemn 
 you, and denounced the movement, and appealed to the men of the 
 mountain and river counties not to allow themselves to be over- 
 awed by this outside pressure. At this point the dinner hour ar- 
 rived, a motion was mado for a recess, and that I should conclude 
 my remarks after dinner. During the recess the same parties' who 
 
66 The Formation 
 
 had taken the sense of the delegations in the morning, again can- 
 vassed the delegations to ascertain how they stood and it was 
 found that they were as strongly opposed to Mr. Carlile's propo- 
 sition as they were in favor of it in the morning. After dinner I 
 proceeded with my remarks but had not spoken more than ten min- 
 utes, when Mr. Carlile came in and proposed to withdraw his reso- 
 lution and to recommit the whole subject to the Committee on 
 Resolutions." 
 
 Another letter among Mr. Willey's correspondence, ad- 
 dressed to Mm, and written by Hon. George R. Latham, refers 
 to the same discussion, as follows : 
 
 "Having had the honor of a seat in the Convention referred to 
 and having been much interested in Mr. Carlile's proposition, be- 
 cause opposed to it, and fearing exceedingly the consequences of 
 its adoption, I think I speak what I know when I say that upon the 
 conclusion of Mr. Carlile's explanation of his proposition, two-thirds 
 of the Convention regarded it with favor, and I am thoroughly con- 
 vinced that a majority would have voted for it until the very able 
 argument delivered by yourself in opposition to it. 
 
 "I at the time regarded the point as a most important crisis; 
 the situation made an indelible impression upon my mind; and I 
 have no hesitancy in saying to yourself, as I have frequently said 
 to others, that your effort on that occasion saved us firom anarchy, 
 and placed the restoration of the Government of the State of Vir- 
 ginia upon a basis which secured it at once the respect of the 
 thoughtful, and the confidence and recognition of the Government 
 of the United States; and from which each successive step in that 
 restoration, with all the beneficent results which have flowed 
 therefrom, became easy and natural. It may not be improper to 
 state here that in the Hon. J. J. Jackson, Sr., of Wood, and the 
 Hon. W. G. Brown, of Preston, you found able aids." 
 
 The foregoing letters, which serve to reveal the status of 
 afEairs existing in that Convention without other record, were 
 called out for a different purpose. The vigorous and violent 
 effort Mr. Willey made in opposition to the Carlile plan for 
 
of West Virginia. 67 
 
 forming a new State, had given rise to the accusation, and the 
 very general belief by the people and the press, that he was 
 opposed to the whole idea of creating a new State. These letters 
 were written vrith a view of defining his exact position on that 
 subject in the Convention. 
 
 The impression that Mr. Willey was opposed to the dis- 
 memberment of the old State was founded in error. He was 
 probably the first to advance the idea of separation from the old 
 State as the only effective security and remedy in the event of 
 secession. This he did in December, 1860, prior to the assem- 
 bling of the Eichmond Convention, in a published letter appear- 
 ing in "The West Virginia Guard." He took the same ground 
 in the Eichmond Convention itself, as well as in his public 
 speeches after the passage of the ordinance of secession. 
 
 When the "Mass Convention" had changed its mind on the 
 Carlile plan, it turned about to reach the same object in another 
 way. Hon. F. H. Pierpont had presented the committee hav- 
 ing the subject in charge, some resolutions, which were in the 
 nature of a substitute for the Carlile plan, providing for holding 
 a general convention on the 11th of June following, to which 
 delegates should be regularly chosen by all the loyal counties, 
 and which should devise such measures as the welfare of the 
 people of the northwestern counties should demand. This prop- 
 osition left all questions open as to what that subsequent Con- 
 vention should do. It was confidently believed that any Con- 
 vention of the people of the northwest would favor a separa- 
 tion from the old State, but the particular plan for accomplish- 
 ing that object should be determined by the Convention itself. 
 If the constitutional mode were to be followed, it would be 
 necessary to first reorganize the government of Virginia, i.nd 
 obtain from it the necessary consent to a division of the State. 
 No doubt the promoters of this new proposition had made 
 known the details of their plan, and it was the tacit understand- 
 ing that the work of laying the foundation of a new State should 
 
68 The Formation 
 
 begin then and there, and be prosecuted to its earliest eonsum- 
 mation under the forms of law. 
 
 The proposition met the approval of the committee, and 
 late that night of the third day of the Convention, they made 
 an elaborate report, reciting the facts that had led to the action 
 by this convention, and declaring that the action of the Kich- 
 mond Convention was utterly subversive and destructive of the 
 interests of Northwestern Virginia, and recommending the ap- 
 pointment of delegates to a general Convention to be held on the 
 11th day of June; that all counties disposed to co-operate would 
 send delegates, and appoint committees to carry out their pur- 
 poses; and that a central committee of five be appointed to 
 carry out the object of the Convention. 
 
 This report was almost unanimously adopted by the Con- 
 vention, without debate. The whole matter was put into the 
 hands of a well chosen Executive Committee, and "amidst a 
 blaze of enthusiasm, cheers for the Union, and the singing of 
 the Star Spangled Banner," this remarkable and historic Con- 
 vention adjourned, after setting in motion events which make 
 the first chapter in the history of a new State. 
 
CHAPTEE VIII. 
 
 REORGANIZING THE VIRGINIA STATE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 The regular Convention, recommended by the "Mass Con- 
 vention," assembled in the city of Wheeling, on the 11th of -June, 
 1861, in the same hall that had been occupied by the previous 
 Convention. 
 
 Thirty-five counties of the northwest were represented, and 
 had sent an aggregate of seventy-seven delegates. 
 
 In the meantime the ordinance of secession had been voted 
 on by the people of these counties, and disclosed almost a unani- 
 mous sentiment against it, so that opposition to the purpose for 
 which the Convention was called had almost ceased, and a very 
 harmonious and confident spirit was manifest among the mem- 
 bers of this body. 
 
 Arthur I. Boreman, of Wood county, subsequently elected 
 Governor, was chosen president of the Convention, and G. L. 
 Cranmer, of Ohio county, was elected secretary. An oath was 
 prescribed for the ofiicere and delegates, requiring them to 
 "support the Constitution of the United States, and the laws 
 made in pursuance thereof, as the supreme law of the land, 
 anything in the ordinances of the Convention which assembled 
 at Eichmond on the 13th of February, 1861, to the contrary 
 notwithstanding." 
 
 The Convention having thus organized, very much the same 
 problems which had confronted the previous body, immediately 
 
?0 The Foriiiation 
 
 arose for consideration, and the attitude of the various delegates 
 served to divide it on the plan of reorganization as they had 
 heen divided in the "Mass Convention." 
 
 Two schemes were presented, that of immediately forming 
 a new State out of the counties represented in the Convention, 
 after the Carlile plan, and the other, of reorganizing the Vir- 
 ginia State Government, and assuming by these counties that 
 they were the State. It was claimed by the advocates of reor- 
 ganization that the action of the Eichmond Convention was 
 unconstitutional and revolutionary in its character, and there- 
 fore not binding on the counties that were still loyal to the 
 Union. "The ordinance of secession was mere phraseology 
 which effected no change in the relation of the people of Vir- 
 ginia to the Federal Government. The Constitution of the 
 United Stales is the supreme law of the land. It was adopted 
 by the people of the United States in their sovereign capacity 
 and can only be changed or amended by the same power which 
 created it. No provision is made for wholly annulling it. To 
 change or amend it requires the assent of three-fourths of rhe 
 States acting through their Legislatures, or Conventions called 
 for the purpose, as shall be determined by Congress. Whea, 
 therefore, any State, or combination of parties, seeks to change 
 or amend the Constitution in any other mode than that provided 
 by the instrument itself, the movement is clearly contrary to 
 the organic law, and as such is revolutionary." 
 
 The majority of the Convention soon shifted to the support 
 of the proposition for reorganizing the Virginia Government 
 out of the loyal counties, vacating the offices, taking possession 
 of the whole machinery, and calling this organization the State 
 of Virginia, wholly independent of the organization that was 
 purporting to be the government of Virginia at the city of 
 Eichmond. 
 
 Having determined upon reorganizing or restoring the 
 State government of Virginia, the iirst aim of the Convention 
 
of West Virginia,. I'l 
 
 was to gain the support of the people of the northwestern coun- 
 ties in the movement, as well as the recognition of the Federal 
 Government. To this end the Convention adopted, with great 
 unanimity, and promulgated an address or declaration of their 
 motives and purposes, and a statement of the grievances which 
 impelled them to this course. The address will be found to 
 contain a very full expression of the attitude and aims of the 
 Convention, and is here reproduced : 
 
 "A Declaration of the People of Virginia, Represented in Conven- 
 tion, at the City of Wheeling, Thursday, June 13, 1861. 
 
 "The true purpose of all government is to promote the welfare 
 and provide for the protection and security of the governed; and 
 when any form of organization of government proves inadequate 
 for, or subversive of this purpose, it is the right, it is the duty of 
 the latter, to alter or abolish it. The Bill of Rights of Virginia, 
 framed in 1776, reaffirmed in 1830, and again in 1851, expressly 
 reserves this right to a majority of her people. The act of the Gen- 
 eral Assembly, calling the Convention which assembled at Rich- 
 mond in February last, without the previously expressed consent 
 of such majority, was therefore a usurpation; and the Convention 
 thus called has not only abused the powers nominally intrusted to 
 it, but, with the connivance and active aid of the Executive, has 
 usurped and exercised other powers, to the manifest injury of the 
 people, which, if permitted, will inevitably subject them to a mili- 
 tary despotism. 
 
 "The convention, by its pretended ordinances, has required the 
 people of Virginia to separate from and wage war against the (Jov- 
 ernment of the United States, and against the citizens of neighbor- 
 ing States, with whom they have heretofore maintained friendly, 
 social and business relations. 
 
 "It has attempted to subvert the Uniofi founded by Washington 
 and his co-patriots, in the former days of the Republic, which has 
 conferred unexampled prosperity upon every class of citizens, and 
 upon every section of the country. 
 
 "It has attempted to transfer the allegiance of the people to an 
 illegal confederacy of rebellious States, and required their submis- 
 sion to its pretended edicts and decrees. 
 
 "It has attempted to place the whole military force and military 
 
73 The Formation 
 
 operations of the Commonwealth under the control and direction of 
 Buch confederacy, for offensive a& well as defensive purposes. 
 
 "It has, in conjunction with the State Executive, instituted, 
 ■wherever their usurped power extends, a reign of terror Intended 
 to suppress the free expression of the will of the people, making 
 elections a mockery and a fraud. 
 
 "The same combination, even befbre the passage of the pre- 
 tended ordinance of secession, instituted war by the seizure and ap- 
 propriation of the property of the Federal Government, and by 
 organizing and mobilizing armies, with the avowed purpose of cap- 
 turing or destroying the capital of the Union. 
 
 "They have attempted to bring the allegiance of the people of 
 the United States in direct conflict with their subordinate allegiance 
 to the State, thereby making obedience to their pretended ordi- 
 nances treason against the former. 
 
 "We, therefore, the delegates here assembled in convention to 
 devise such measures and take such action as the safety and wel- 
 fare of the loyal citizens of Virginia may demand, having maturely 
 considered the premises, and viewing with great concern the 
 deplorable conditions to which this once happy Commonwealth 
 must be reduced unless some regular adequate remedy is speedily 
 adopted, and appealing to the Supreme Ruler of the universe for 
 the rectitude of our intentions, do hereby, in the name and on behalf 
 of the good people of Virginia, solemnly declare that the preserva- 
 tion of their dearest rights and liberties, and their security in per- 
 son and property, imperatively demand the reorganization of the 
 government of the Commonwealth, and that all acts of said Conven- 
 tion and Executive, tending to separate this Commonwelath from 
 the United States, or to levy and carry on war against them, are 
 without authority and void; and that the offices of all who adhere 
 to the said Convention and Executive, whether legislative, executive 
 or judicial, are vacated." 
 
 The Convention thereupon took up the real business of reor- 
 ganizing the government of Virginia in accordance with their 
 declared purpose in the foregoing address. They framed and 
 passed, without a dissenting vote, the following ordinance, 
 which set forth in detail the scheme of reorganization : 
 
of West Virginia. 73 
 
 An Ordinance for the Reorganization of the State Government. 
 Passed June 19th, 1861. 
 
 The people of the State of Virginia, by their delegates assem- 
 bled in Convention at Wheeling, do ordain as follows: 
 
 1. A Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General for 
 the State of Virginia shall be appointed by this Convention, to dis- 
 charge the duties and exercise the powers which pertain to their 
 respective offices by the existing laws of the State, and to continue 
 in office for six months, or until their successors be elected and 
 qualified; and the General Assembly is required to provide by law 
 for an election of Governor and Lieutenant Governor by the people 
 as soon as in their judgment such an election can be properly held. 
 
 2. A council, to consist of five members, shall be appointed 
 by this Convention, to consult with and advise the Governor re- 
 specting such matters pertaining to his official duties as he shall 
 submit for consideration, and to aid in the execution of his official 
 orders. Their term of office shall expire at the same time as that of 
 the Governor. 
 
 3. The Delegates elected to the General Assembly on the 23d 
 day of May last, and the Senators entitled under existing laws to 
 seats in the next General Assembly, together with such Delegates 
 and Senators as may be duly elected under the ordinances of this 
 Convention, or existing laws, to fill vacancies, who shall qualify 
 themselves by taking the oath or affirmation hereinafter set forth, 
 shall constitute the Legislature of the State, to discharge the duties 
 and exercise the powers pertaining to the General Assembly. They 
 shall hold thejr offices from the passage of this ordinance until the 
 end of the terms for which they were respectively elected. They 
 shall assemble in the city of Wheeling, on the Ist day of July next, 
 and proceed to organize themselves as prescribed by existing laws, 
 in their respective branches. A majority in each branch of the 
 members qualified as aforesaid shall constitute a quorum to do 
 business. A majority of the members of each branch thus quali- 
 fied, voting affirmatively, shall be competent to pass any act speci- 
 fied in the twenty-fourth section of the fourth article of the Consti- 
 tution of the State. 
 
 4. The Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, 
 members of the Legislature, and all officers now in the service of 
 the State, or of any county, city or town thereof, or hereafter to be 
 elected or appointed for such service, including the judges and 
 
74 The Formation 
 
 clerks of the several courts, sheriffs:, commissioners of the revenue, 
 justices of the peace, ofllcers of the city and municipal corporations, 
 and officers of militia, and officers and privates of volunteer com- 
 panies of the State, not mustered into the service of the United 
 States, shall each take the following oath or affirmation before 
 proceeding in the discharge of their several duties: 
 
 "I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Consti- 
 tution of the United States, and tlhe laws made in pursuance thereof, 
 as the supreme law of the land, anything in the Constitution and 
 laws of the State of Virginia, or in the ordinances of the Conven- 
 tion which assembled at Richmond on the 13th of February, 1861, 
 to the contrary notwithstanding; and that I will uphold and defend 
 the Government of Virginia as vindicated and restored by the Con- 
 vention which assembled at Wheeling on the 11th day of June, 
 1861." 
 
 If any elective officer, who is required by the preceding section, 
 to take such oath or affirmation, fail or refuse so to do, it shall be 
 the duty of the Governor, upon satisfactory evidence of the fact, to 
 issue his writ declaring the office to be vacant, and providing for a 
 special election to fill such vacancy, at some convenient and early 
 day to be designated in said writ; of whicih due publication shall 
 be made for the information of the persons entitled to vote at such 
 elections; and such writ may be directed, at the discretion of the 
 Governor, to the sheriff or sheriffs of the proper county or counties, 
 or to a special commissioner or commissioners to be named by the 
 Governor for the purpose. If the officer who fails or refuses to 
 take such oath or affirmation be appointed by the Governor, he 
 shall fill the vacancy without writ; but if such officer be appointed 
 otherwise than by the Governor or by election, the writ shall be 
 issued by the Governor, directed to the appointing power, requiring 
 it to fill the vacancy. 
 
 ARTHUR I. BORBMAN, President. 
 
 G. L. CRANMER, Secretary. 
 
 By way of executing the provisions of the foregoing ordi- 
 nance, the next day after its adoption the Convention proceeded 
 to elect the officers necessary to conduct the government which 
 they were reorganizing. The election resulted as follows: 
 
 For Governor, Francis H. Pierpont, of Marion county; 
 
of West Virginia. 75 
 
 Lieutenant Governor, Daniel Polsley, of Mason county; Attor- 
 ney General, James S. Wheat, of Ohio county. 
 
 Governor's Council— Peter G. Van Winkle, of Wood 
 county; Daniel Lamb, of Ohio county; William Lazier, of Mo- 
 nongalia county; William A. Harrison, of Harrison county; 
 J. T. Paxton, of Ohio county. 
 
 These were all the of&cers elected at this time. It will be 
 observed that under the fourth clause of the ordinance, a kind 
 of test oath was provided for officers who were already acting 
 under the old government, which was to determine whether they 
 were fit to continue under the new. They formally declared 
 all ordinances, acts, orders, resolutions, and other proceedings 
 of the secession Convention at Eichmond, illegal, inoperative, 
 null and void. 
 
 This finished the work of the Convention so far as the 
 matter of reorganization was concerned. But this body was big 
 with a purpose, yet in the background, which had not yet been 
 fulfilled, and that was the dismemberment of the old State and 
 the erection of an independent State out of the northwestern 
 counties. The time was not yet ripe for entering upon this 
 movement. The basis was laid in restoring the Virginia Gov- 
 ernment, and when that was put in operation, the new State 
 project could receive the formal assent of its Legislature, and 
 the first step toward its legal entity would have been taken. 
 With a view, therefore, of taking up in earnest the work of erect- 
 ing a new State, the Convention adjourned on the 20th of June, 
 to reconvene at the same place on the 6th of August following. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE HESTOEED GOVERNMENT OF VIRGINIA IN OPERATION. 
 
 In pu, suance of the ordinance of the June Convention, the 
 first Legislature, or General Assembly, under the reorganized 
 government of Virginia, met at Wheeling on the 1st day of 
 July, 1861. 
 
 This was called an extra session, as it was not the date for 
 the regular semi-annual session. Governor Pierpont, who, as 
 previously noted, had been elected to the executive chair of the 
 restored government, sent in a message giving a very full review 
 of the situation leading to the reorganization of the Virginia 
 government. He informed the General Assembly that he had 
 communicated to the President of the United States the pur- 
 poses and acts of the Convention and people of the northwest in 
 endeavoring to preserve the State of Virginia to the Union, and 
 had received from him assurance that they should have such 
 assistance from the Federal Government as could be given un- 
 der the authority of the Constitution. He made various recom- 
 mendations for completing and setting in full motion the ma- 
 chinery of the restored government. 
 
 On the 9th of July the two Houses of the General Assembly 
 proceeded to complete the organization of the government by 
 filUng the offices that were still vacant. They elected L. A. 
 Hagans, of Preston county, Secretary of the Commonwealth; 
 
of West Virginia. 77 
 
 Samuel Crane, of Eandolph county, Auditor, and Campbell 
 Tarr, of Brooke county, Treasurer. 
 
 It being ascertained that E. M. T. Hunter and James M. 
 Mason, representing Virginia in the U. S. Senate, had vacated 
 their seats and 'were engaged in the effort to overthrow the Fed- 
 eral Government, the General Assembly resolved to elect two 
 U. S. Senators to supply their places. Accordingly on the 9th 
 of July they elected Waitman T. Willey and John S. Carlile 
 United States Senators from the State of Virginia. These gen- 
 tlemen presented their credentials from the Virginia Govern- 
 ment at Wheeling, and were duly admitted by the U. S. Senate, 
 as Senators from Virginia. This was the first formal recogni- 
 tion by the Kational Legislature of the validity of the restored 
 government. The movement was thus gradually gaining a solid 
 basis, which gave encouragement and confidence to its promoters. 
 It was but a short time until "every branch of the restored gov- 
 ernment was in full operation, with all the fictions of the law 
 and all the positive enactments of the statute books, in full 
 force and effect." 
 
 This first session of the General Assembly, was occupied 
 chiefly with matters relating to the military, and providing for 
 the defense of the counties included in its Jurisdiction that were 
 within the Federal lines. Its session was uneventful, and it 
 came to a termination on the 26th of the month. 
 
 There were three other sessions of the General Assembly 
 of the restored government held at Wheeling before the organi- 
 zation of the new State and the removal of the capital of the 
 restored government to Alexandria. The second of these ses- 
 sions was the regular semi-annual session, which began on the 
 3nd day of December, 1861, and continued until the 13th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1863. An extra session was called to meet on the 6th day 
 of May, 1863; and another extra session met on December 4th, 
 1863, and continued into February, 1863. 
 
 ISo legislation of any special significance was enacted at any 
 
78 The Formation 
 
 of these sessions except the act giving the consent of Virginia 
 to the formation of a new State out of her territory. But the 
 reorganization of the gOTernment had been accomplished; had 
 obtained the recognition of the Federal Government; and the 
 legislative machinery had been put into operation and was sup- 
 plying all the needs of the restored government. 
 
 On the 13th of ]\'Iay, 1862, the General Assembly while sit- 
 ting in extra session, passed an act giving the formal consent of 
 the Legislature of Virginia to the erection of a new State out of 
 its territory. The following is the full text of the act : 
 
 Chap. I. — An ACT giving the consent of the Legislature of Virginia 
 to the formation and erection of a new State within the juris- 
 diction of this State. 
 
 Passed May 13, 1862. 
 
 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That the consent 
 of the Legislature of Virginia be, and the same is hereby given to 
 the formation and erection of the State of West Virginia, within 
 the jurisdiction of this State, to include the counties of Hancock, 
 Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Tay- 
 lor, Tyler, Pleasants, Ritchie, Doddridge, Harrison, Wood, Jackson, 
 Wirt, Roane, Calhoun, Gilmer, Barbour, Tucker, Lewis, Braxton, 
 Upshur, Randolph, Mason, Putnam, Kanawha, Clay, Nicholas, 
 Cabell, Wayne, Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Mercer, McDowell, Web- 
 ster, Pocahontas, Payette, Raleigh, Greenbrier, Monroe, Pendleton, 
 Hardy, Hampshire and Morgan, according to the boundaries and 
 under the provisions set forth in the Constitution of the said State 
 of West Virginia and the schedule thereto annexed, proposed by 
 the Convention wliich assembled at Wheeling, on the twenty-sixth 
 day of November, eighteen hundred and sdxty-one. 
 
 2. Be it further enacted. That the consent of the Legislature 
 of Virginia be, and the same is hereby given, that the counties of 
 Berkeley, Jefferson and Prederick, shall be included in and form 
 part of the State of West Virginia whenever the voters of said coun- 
 ties shall ratify and assent to the said Constitution, at an election 
 held for the purpose, at such time and under such regulations as 
 the commissioners named in the said schedule may prescribe. 
 
 3. Be it further enacted. That this act shall be transmitted by 
 
of West Virginia. 79 
 
 the Executive to the Senators and Representatives of this Common- 
 wealth in Congress, together with a certified original of the said 
 Constitution and schedule, and the said Senators and Representa- 
 tives are hereby requested to use tJheir endeavors to obtain the con- 
 sent of Congress to the admission of the State of West Virginia 
 into the Union. 
 
 4. This act shall be in force from and after its passage. 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 LAYING THE FOUNDATION OF A NEW STATE. 
 
 The Convention which had adjourned in June, and contin- 
 ued its life by an order to reconvene on the 6th of August, re- 
 assembled in Wheeling on the latter date. 
 
 It was tacitly understood that the primary object of this 
 second session was the formation of a new State. The adjourn- 
 ment was to afford time to mature the plans, stimulate public 
 sentiment in its favor, and provide for complying with all the 
 formal requirements of law. 
 
 In the meantime the scheme had grown in the favor of the 
 people. As the hostility between the Union and secession fac- 
 tions increased, the desire for a separation from the old Com- 
 monwealth grew in proportion. This sentiment was reinforced 
 in the Convention by the coming of delegates from the Kanawha 
 Valley which had theretofore been under the dominion of Gen- 
 era] Wise. They were eager for speedy and radical measui-es. 
 Thirty-nine counties were now represented in the Convention, 
 sufficient in population and territory to constitute an independ- 
 ent State, and they were quite unanimous in the desire for a 
 separate government of homogeneous people divided by the 
 Alleghenies. 
 
 Nevertheless there was conservatism, if not direct opposi- 
 tion, enough among the delegates to make the project move 
 slowly. Even among the leaders the "revolutionary heat had 
 
of West Virginia. 81 
 
 subsided into a steady glow of legalized opposition." Men were 
 weighing every feature of the project in a careful and states- 
 manlike manner. They were looking to future results as well 
 as to present gratification. There were not a few who were 
 held by a lingering pride in the old Commonwealth that they 
 could not entirely throw off. They were bom Virginians and 
 they were still ambitious to be designated citizens of the proud 
 old State. Mr. Willey had aptly given expression to this feeliag 
 by saying that he had no desire to see the old State severed, any 
 more than he woidd desire to have one of his limbs severed from 
 his body. But if the limb were diseased so that it threatened, 
 the life of the body, he would not hesitate to sacrifice the limb 
 for the life of the body. And so, dismemberment seemed to be 
 the only remedy for the condition to which the Commonwealth 
 of Virginia had come through the vicissitude of the times. 
 
 There were those, too, who still doubted the expediency of 
 the movement as a matter of public policy, although heartily in 
 sympathy with the motives which prompted it. About this 
 time, Hon. A. F. Eitehie, a delegate from Marion county, gave 
 out a letter which he had received from Hon. Edward Bates, 
 then Attorney General of the United States, in response to a let- 
 ter by Mr. Eitehie asking his advice upon the matter of forming 
 a new State. The Attorney General's advice was fetrongly 
 against the measure, and it created much comment. He argued 
 that the formation of a new State out of Virginia would be an j 
 original act of revolution, and that to take such a course would i 
 be to weaken if not destroy the claims of Western Virginia upon ' 
 the sympathy and support of the General Government and dis- 
 concert the plan for the reorganization of the revolted States and i 
 the restoration of the integrity of the Union. He remonstrated 
 against undoing what had already been done and venturing upon 
 a new and hazardous experiment at the moment when dangers 
 and difficulties were thickening about them. There is no doubt 
 that these views were shared by many patriotic men in and out 
 
82 The Formation 
 
 of the Convention. It was natural that they should feel some 
 hesitancy about a course, the end of which could not be confi- 
 dently predicted at such a time as this. 
 
 But the new State sentiment could not be turned aside or 
 destroyed. The Convention moved straight forward to the ac- 
 complishment of that purpose. On the 20th of August, the 
 Convention passed a full and comprehensive ordinance for the 
 formation of a new State. This ordinance is of much historic 
 interest and value, as embodying the details of the complete 
 purpose, and the full text, omitting only formal provisions for 
 taking the vote, is here printed, as follows : 
 
 An Ordinance to Provide for the Formation of a New State out of a 
 Portion of the Territory of This State. 
 ' Passed August 20, 1861. 
 
 "Whereas, It is represented to be the desire of the people in- 
 habiting the counties heinafter mentioned, to be separated from 
 this Commonwealth, and to be erected into a separate State, and 
 admitted into the Union of States, and become a member of the 
 Government of the United States: 
 
 1. The people of Virginia, by their delegates assembled in 
 Convention at Wheeling, do ordain that a new State, to be called 
 the State of Kanawha, be formed and erected out of the territory 
 included within the following described boundary; beginning on the 
 Tug Fork of Sandy River, on the Kentucky line Where the counties 
 of Buchanan and Logan join the same; and running thence with 
 the dividing lines of said counties and the dividing line of the coun- 
 ties of Wyoming and McDowell to the Mercer county line, and with 
 the dividing line of the counties of Mercer and Wyoming to the 
 Raleigh county line; thence with the dividing line of the counties 
 of Raleigh and Mercer, Monroe and Raleigh, Greenbrier and Ra- 
 leiglh, Fayette and Greenbrier, Nicholas and Greenbrier, Webster, 
 Greenbrier and Pocahontas, Randolph and Pocahontas, Randolph 
 and Pendleton, to the southwest corner of Hardy county; thence 
 with the dividing line of the counties of Hardy and Tucker, to the 
 Fairfax Stone; thence with the line dividing the States of Mary- 
 land and Virginia, to the Pennsylvania line; thence with the line 
 dividing the States of Pennsylvania and Virginia, to the Ohio river; 
 
of West Virginia. 83 
 
 thence down said river, and inciuding tlie same, to tlie dividing line 
 between Virginia and Kentucky, and witli tlie said line to the begin- 
 ning; including within the boundaries of the proposed new State 
 the counties of Logan, Wyoming, Raleigh, Fayette, Nicholas, Web- 
 ster, Randolph, Tucker, Preston, Monongalia, Marion, Taylor, Bar- 
 bour, Upshur, Harrison, Lewis, Braxton, Clay, Kanawha, Boone, 
 Wayne, Cabell, Putnam, Mason, Jackson, Roane, Calhoun, Wirt, 
 Gilmer, Ritchie, Wood, Pleasants, Tyler, Doddridge, Wetzel, Mar- 
 shall, Ohio, Brooke and Hancock. 
 
 2. All persons qualified to vote within the boundaries afore- 
 said, and who shall present themselves at the several places of 
 voting within their respective counties, on the fourth Thursday in 
 October next, shall be allowed to vote on the question of the forma- 
 tion of a new State, as hereinbefore proposed; and it shall be the 
 duty of the commissioners conducting the election at the said sev- 
 eral places of voting, at the same time, to cause polls to be taken 
 for the election of delegates to a convention to form a Constitution 
 for the government of the proposed State. 
 
 3. The Convention hereinbefore provided for may change the 
 boundaries described in the first section of this ordinance, so as to 
 include within the proposed State the counties of Greenbrier and 
 Pocahontas, or either of them, and also the counties of Hampshire, 
 Hardy, Morgan, Berkeley, Jefferson, or either of them, and also 
 such other counties as lie contiguous to the said boundaries, or to 
 the counties named in this section; if the said counties to be added, 
 or either of them, by a majority of the votes given, shall declare 
 their wish to form part of the proposed State, and shall elect dele- 
 gates to the said Convention, at the elections to be held at the time 
 and in the manner herein provided for. 
 
 5. The commissioners conducting the said election in each of 
 said counties shall ascertain, at the same time they ascertain the 
 vote upon the formation of a new State, who has been elected from 
 their county to the Convention, hereinhefore provided for, and shall 
 certify to the secretary of the Commonwealth the name or names 
 of the person or persons elected to the said Convention. 
 
 6. It shall be the duty of the Governor, on or before the fif- 
 teenth day of November next, to ascertain and by proclamation 
 make known the result of the said vote; and if a majority. of the 
 votes given within the boundaries mentioned in the first section 
 of this ordinance, shall be in favor of the formation of a new State, 
 
84 The Formation 
 
 he shall so state in his said proclamation, and shall call upon said 
 delegates to meet in the city of Wheeling, on the 20th day of No- 
 vember next, and organize themselves into a Convention; and the 
 said Convention shall submit, for ratification or rejection, the Con- 
 stitution that may be agreed upon by It, to the qualified voters 
 within the proposed State, to be voted upon by the said voters on 
 the fourth Thursday in December next. 
 
 7. The county of Ohio shall elect three delegates; the counties 
 of Harrison, Kanawha, Marion, Marshall, Monongalia, Preston and 
 Wood shall each elect two; and the other counties named in the 
 first section of this ordinance, shall each elect one delegate to said 
 Convention, and such other counties as are described in the third 
 section of this ordinance, shall, for every seven thousand of 
 their population, according to the census of 1860, be entitled to one 
 delegate and to one additional delegate for any fraction over thirty- 
 five hundred; but each of said counties shall be entitled to at least 
 one delegate. The said delegates shall receive the same per diem 
 as is now allowed to members of the General Assembly; but no per- 
 son shall receive pay as a member of the General Assembly and of 
 the Convention at the same time. 
 
 8. It shall be the duty of the Governor to lay before the Gen- 
 eral Assembly, at its next meeting, for their consent according to 
 the Constitution of the United States, the result of the said vote, 
 if it shall be found that a majority of the votes cast be in favor of 
 a new State, and also in favor of the Constitution proposed to said 
 voters for their adoption. 
 
 9. The new State shall take upon itself a just proportion of 
 the public debt of the Commonwealth of Virginia prior to the first 
 day of January, 1861, to be ascertained by charging to it all State 
 expenditures within the limits thereof, and a just proportion of the 
 ordinary expenses of the State Government, since any part of said 
 debt was contracted; and deducting therefrom the monies paid into 
 the treasury of the Commonwealth from the counties included 
 within the said new State during the same period. All private 
 rights and interests in lands within the proposed State, derived 
 from the laws of Virginia prior to such separation, shall remain 
 valid and secure under the laws of the proposed State, and shall 
 be determined by the laws now existing in the State of Virginia. 
 
 The lands within the proposed State, of non-resident proprie- 
 tors, shall not in any case be taxed higher than the lands of resi- 
 
of West Virginia. 85 
 
 dents therein. No grants of lands or land warrants, Issued by the 
 proposed State, shall interfere with any warrant issued from the 
 land oflSce of Virginia prior to the 17th day of April last, which shall 
 be located on lands within the proposed State now liable thereto. 
 
 10. When the General Assembly shall give its consent to the 
 formation, of such new State, it shall forward to the Congress of 
 the United States such consent, together with an official copy of 
 such Constitution, with the request that tihe said new State may be 
 admitted into the Union of States. 
 
 11. The government of the State of Virginia as reorganized by 
 this Convention at its session in June last, shall retain, within the 
 territory of the proposed State, undiminished and unimpaired, all 
 the powers and authority with which it ihas been vested, until the 
 proposed State shall be admitted into the Union by the Congress 
 of the United States; and nothing in this ordinance contained, or 
 which shall be done in pursuance thereof, shall impair or affect the 
 authority of the said reorganized State Government in any county 
 which shall not be included within the proposed State. 
 
 A. I. BOREMAN, President. 
 G. L. CRANMBR, Secretary. 
 
 The foregoing ordinance was adopted by a vote of 50 in 
 favor, to 38 against it; or about one-third of the delegates op- 
 posing. This vote reveals a very substantial opposition to the 
 measure, but it was not based on any antagonism to the gener.al 
 policy of the Convention in its endeavor to redeem the north- 
 western section of Virginia from the control of the secession- 
 ists. The negative votes were cast by some of the most ardent 
 and influential delegates in the work of reorganization. But 
 their opposition to the new State project was inspired by fears 
 as to its general expediency at that time. They believed, with 
 the Attorney General, that reorganization was good enough, 
 and that position was less vulnerable and more hopeful for suc- 
 cess than the plan of cutting loose from the old State. But 
 their opposition was not factious or persistent. When the ma- 
 jority had determined the course of action they joined' hands 
 with them in helping it along. 
 
 It will be noted that the ordinance provided for taking a 
 
86 The Formation 
 
 vote on two questions : the first to determine whether the people 
 desired to form a new State, and the second to choose delegates 
 to a Constitutional Convention, which should be authorized to 
 frame a Constitution for the new State, in the event that a ma- 
 jority of the voters were in favor of it. The result of this vote 
 was to be laid before the Greneral Assembly at its next meeting, 
 to obtain the consent of the legislative body required by the Con- 
 stitution of the United States, if a majority of the votes cast 
 was found to be in favor of a new State; and the Governor was 
 to convene the delegates, by proclamation, to meet at Wheeling 
 on the 26th day of November following, to make a Constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 The result of the vote taken in October upon these two 
 propositions was almost unanimous in their favor. The ratio 
 of affirmative votes was much larger than that appearing in the 
 Convention. The ordinance received 18,408 votes for its ddop- 
 tiou, and only 781 for its rejection. This was exclusive of the 
 soldier vote, supposed to be about 10,000, which, if it had been 
 taken, would doubtless have been quite unanimous in favor of it. 
 
 This expression of popular approval settled the new State 
 question beyond further controversy. It now only became a 
 formal matter of complying with the remaining provisions of 
 the Constitution to consummate the movement. A new Consti- 
 tution was to be framed, and a Convention for that purpose had 
 already been provided for, and when it had performed its work, 
 it would be submitted to the people for their ratification, and 
 then the formal consent of the restored government, and of the 
 Congress, for the admission of the new. State into the Federal 
 Union would complete the work of its projectors. 
 
 This Convention had, therefore, completed its mission, and 
 on the next day after adopting the ordinance providing for the 
 formation of the new State, it passed an order to stand ad- 
 journed until called by order of the President or Governor; and 
 if not so convened by the first Thursday in January, 1862, to 
 
of West Virginia. 
 
 87 
 
 then stand adjourned sine die. The emergency contemplated 
 in this order, which might require reconvening the body, never 
 did arise, and the delegates to this historic Convention sepa- 
 rated permanently on the date of their adjournment. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 
 MAKING A CONSTITUTION FOR THE NEW STATE. 
 
 The northwestern counties which were proposing to form a 
 new State, having given their assent by a formal vote, -to that 
 proposition, the next step was to make a Constitution for the 
 new State. 
 
 The delegates chosen for that purpose assembled in Con- 
 vention at the city of Wheeling, on the 36th of November, 1861. 
 
 All the counties which subsequently entered into the com- 
 pact were represented in the Convention excepting five or six 
 on the eastern border, which were at that time so far under the 
 domination of the Confederate soldiery as to make it impracti- 
 cable for them to take a vote, or express a free choice, although 
 it was understood that the sentiment of the people of those 
 counties was in favor of an alliance with the new State move- 
 ment. Therefore a conditional provision was made by the Con- 
 vention under which the counties so circumstanced should be- 
 come a part of the new State when they had an opportunity of 
 voting and had so voted in favor of it. The following forty- 
 four counties became, unconditionally, a part of the new State 
 organization, viz: 
 
 Hancock, Marshall, Monongalia, Pleasants, Doddridge, 
 Jackson, Calhoun, Tucker, Upshur, Putnam, Nicholas, Boone, 
 Mercer, Pocahontas, Greenbrier, Brooke, Wetzel, Preston, Tyler, 
 Harrison, Wirt, Gilmer, Lewis, Randolph, Kanawha, Cabell, 
 
of West Virginia. 89 
 
 Ijogan, McDowell, Fayette, Monroe, Ohio, Marion, Taylor, 
 Ritchie, Wood, Roane, Barbour, Braxton, Mason, Clay, Wayne, 
 Wyoming, Webster, Raleigh. 
 
 The following additional counties were to be included in 
 the organization in case they should adopt the Constitution by 
 a formal vote, viz : The counties of Pendleton, Hardy, Hamp- 
 shire, Morgan, Berkeley, Jefferson and Frederick. 
 
 The first fou^r of these counties voted for and adopted the 
 Constitution in the first instance, at the regular election. The 
 county of Frederick never did vote upon it. The counties of 
 Berkeley and Jefferson did not vote at the time appointed by 
 the Convention for talving the vote, but they subsequently, when 
 their situation permitted it, voted on the Constitution and 
 adopted it by a majority of votes. This vote, however, was not 
 taken until after the new State had been admitted into the 
 Union by act of Congress. This gave rise to a very complicated 
 question upon which opinions were very much divided. 
 
 These counties not having complied with the conditions 
 prescribed by the Constitutional Convention, prior to the pass- 
 age of the Aqt of Congress, admitting the State of West Vir- 
 ginia, it was held by some that further consent of Congress was 
 necessary to include them in the territory of the new State. 
 Bjr others it was held that the compliance with the conditions 
 provided for by the Constitutional Convention, and which Con- 
 gress had assented to, rendered it imnecessary for Congress to 
 grant special consent to their incorporation in the new State. 
 
 But the former view prevailed in Congress, and a subse- 
 quent act was passed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, at its first 
 session, legalizing the transfer of Berkeley and Jefferson coun- 
 ties to the new State. To add to the complications, however, 
 the government of Virginia had, in the meantime, resumed 
 business at Richmond, and the first act of its Legislature, 
 assembled on the first Monday of November, 1865, was to 
 repeal the former act ceding these counties to West Virginia. 
 
90 The Formation 
 
 (11 This was done before the passage by Congress of the act legal- 
 f izing the transfer. Now, therefore, it was contended that the 
 consent of the mother State having been withdrawn, these coun- 
 ties could not be legally transferred to the new State and that 
 the act of Congress giving sanction to the transfer was uncon- 
 stitutional and void. A suit was instituted by Virginia against 
 West Virginia, in the United States Supreme Court, to test this 
 question, which resulted in favor of West Virginia, through a 
 divided Court. 
 
 After formal organization the Convention entered upon the 
 work of framing a Constitution for the new State, and was 
 occupied with this work for about two and one-half months. 
 They made many radical changes and additions to the Consti- 
 tution of the old Commonwealth. Among the most important 
 of these were, first, the change in the antiquated system of 
 viva voce voting, and substituting therefor the modem ballot 
 system. 
 
 The office of Lieutenant Governor was abolished. 
 
 The famous old County Court system, that had constituted 
 a burlesque on judicial procedure from the foundation of Vir- 
 ginia, was superseded by a system of Circuit Courts, supple- 
 mented with a limited jurisdiction to Justices of the Peace. 
 
 The modem township system took the place of the old dis- 
 trict system in the management of county affairs. 
 
 The hateful discrimination in the system of taxation, of 
 which the western counties had complained, was abrogated and 
 "equal and uniform" taxation inaugurated. 
 
 A prohibition against granting the credit of the State to 
 corporations, or contracting any debt whatever, was wisely in- 
 corporated, as a surety against the methods under the old State, 
 by which it had become involved in obligations it could not pay. 
 
 It inaugurated a system of public free schools on a magnifi- 
 cent scale, and provided for setting aside a "school fund" by 
 
of West Virginia. 91 
 
 the State which would insure the adequate support of this sys- 
 tem for all future time. 
 
 In regard to the State debt of Virginia, it incorporated this 
 specific provision: 
 
 "An equitable proportion of the public debt of the Common- 
 wealth of Virginia, prior to the first day of January, in the year 
 one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, shall be assnmed by 
 this State; and the Legislature shall ascertain the same as soon 
 as may be practicable, and provide for the liquidation thereof, by 
 a sinking fund sufficient to pay the accruing interest and redeem 
 the principal within thirty-four years." 
 
 The settlement contemplated by the foregoing provision 
 between the old and new States has not yet been consummated. 
 The Legislature of the new State attempted to carry out ihe 
 purpose of the Constitution by appointing a commission to go 
 to Kichmond and confer with the proper officials, examine the 
 records, and ascertain and agree upon the proper proportion of 
 the debt which "West Virginia should assume. But the Ri<jh- 
 mond government refused to recognize the commission sent by 
 "West Virginia, and only an ex-parte investigation and report 
 was made. The Kichmond government subsequently, withoiit 
 any conference with the authorities of the new State, voluntar- 
 ily declared that West Virginia should pay one-third of the 
 total debt of the State, and thereupon issued what were termed 
 "West Virginia Certificates" representing one-third of the debt, 
 and which West Virginia was assumed to be under obligations 
 to pay, but which have never been recognized by the new State, 
 and which it is presumed it will never honor in any form to 
 any amount. These certificates are in the hands of creditors 
 of the old State, accepted in payment of obligations of the old 
 State, under the belief, doubtless, that they would be made good 
 at some future time; but this arbitrary action of the old State 
 
93 The Formation 
 
 has had the effect of postponing and defeating an amicable set- 
 tlement between the two governments. 
 
 The most exciting question which arose in the Convention 
 was that relating to the position which the new State would take 
 toward negro slavery. Would they ally themselves with the 
 Northern States, abolish slavery outright, and come into the 
 IJnion a free State; or would they provide for gradual emancipa- 
 tion of the slaves within the new State territory and become a 
 free State at some time in the future; or would they simply 
 ignore the question and let the Constitution be silent on the 
 subject? 
 
 Delegates divided along these lines with no little heat find 
 tenacity. The question of slavery was not a dead or indifferent 
 issue even in Western Virginia. There was a sufficient amount 
 of the old Southern sentiment in the Convention in regard to 
 the right and expediency of negro slavery; and, on the other 
 hand, a sufficient amount of the Northern abolition sentiment 
 to make an "irrepressible conflict." 
 
 There were included in the population of the forty-eight 
 counties, at that time, 12,771 slaves in a population of 334,921 
 whites — a very small proportion, it is true, but enough to make 
 the property value an itepi worth considering to those who owned 
 it, even if they were not wedded to the system. Slavery had 
 never been profitable in these counties, and never could be to the 
 same degree as in the cotton States. The majority of these 
 slaves were used as house servants, and' in the work of small 
 farms. The prosperity of the new State was not involved in the 
 controversy. It was more of a moral question, or of political 
 education, among the individual delegates. But it was dog- 
 matic, as the slavery controversy had always been on both sides. 
 It was apparently the only insolvable question that arose during 
 the debates on the Constitution. 
 
 The controversy arose on a resolution offered by Mr. Bat- 
 telle, of Ohio county, as follows : 
 
of West Virginia. 93 
 
 "Resolved, That at the time when this Constitution is submit- 
 ted to the qualified voters of the proposed new State, to be voted 
 for or against, an additional section to Article - — ; in the words fol- 
 lowing: 
 
 "No slave shall be brought, or free person of color, come into 
 this State for permanent residence after this Constitution goes into 
 operation; and all children born of slave mothers after the year 
 1870, shall be free; the males at the age of twenty-eight, and the 
 females at the age of eighteen; and the children of such females 
 shall be free at birth — 
 
 "shall be separately submitted to the qualified votersi of the new 
 State for their adoption or reje'ction; and if a majority of the votes 
 cast for and against said additional section, are in favor of its 
 adoption, shall be made a part of Article — . of this Constitution, 
 and not otherwise." 
 
 This was a proposition, it will be observed, looking to grad- 
 ual emancipation, and a free State as the ultimate end. 
 
 There was a motion to lay the proposition on the table, and 
 it is an interesting fact, as showing the sentiment of the Con- 
 vention, that upon this motion, which virtually involved the 
 merits of the slavery question, the vote was 24 yeas and 23 nays 
 — showing an almost equal division. 
 
 It is probable that the division in the Convention was fairly 
 representative of the division among the people. Although the 
 question was disposed of by this vote in the Convention, it would 
 not down. Its agitation was continued among the people in 
 connection with the new Constitution. The opponents of the 
 new State scheme used it to promote opposition to that movo- 
 ment. The abolitionists used it, because it was a bitter disap- 
 pointment that the Convention had not been pronounced for a 
 free State. And to the real friends of the new State there was 
 a fear that Congress would refuse admission unless an emancipa- 
 tion clause was incorporated in the Constitution. 
 
 The friends of gradual emancipation rallied and deter- 
 mined to have an informal expression at the polls notwithstand- 
 
94 The Formation 
 
 ing the Convention had failed to order it. This plan received 
 an impetus from a public meeting held soon after the adjourn- 
 ment of the Convention, at Buckhannon, in Upshur county, at 
 which the following resolutions were adopted : 
 
 "Resolved, That we had hoped and expected that the late 
 Oonventlon to frame a Constitution for the new State, would have 
 given the people a chance to express their sentiments upon the 
 subject of slavery in the proposed new State. And believing, as 
 we do, that a decided majority of the people are in favor of gradual 
 emancipation, we therefore regard the action of said Convention 
 as not reflecting the will of the people. 
 
 "Resolved, That we will open a separate poll book for this 
 county, in order to enable the people to express their preferences 
 for and against slavery within the proposed new State, when called 
 upon to vote upon the proposed Constitution; and we earnestly 
 invite our fellow-citizens throughout the proposed new State to 
 open poll books for a like purpose." 
 
 This suggestion was followed in many coimties — probably 
 one-half of them — but as it was an unofficial proceeding, no 
 very accurate returns of the vote are accessible. However, there 
 are returns reported from some of the counties, which seem to 
 be authentic, which are instructive, as showing a decided senti- 
 ment in favor of gradual emancipation. For examples : 
 
 For Against For Against 
 Const. Const. Eman. Eman. 
 Preston county 1,493 11 1,320 93 
 
 Upshur county 
 Monongalia county 
 Marshall county 
 Ohio county 
 Brooke county 
 Hancock county 
 Cabell county 
 
 The above returns show, probably, a fair average of the 
 vote in the twenty or more counties where it was taken. The 
 
 719 
 
 2 
 
 594 
 
 13 
 
 1,148 
 
 17 
 
 649 
 
 185 
 
 1,053 
 
 34 
 
 795 
 
 71 
 
 1,023 
 
 31 
 
 875 
 
 54 
 
 292 
 
 45 
 
 248 
 
 43 
 
 225 
 
 73 
 
 217 
 
 44 
 
 269 
 
 1 
 
 244 
 
 26 
 
of West Virginia. 95 
 
 contemporary comments of the newspapers are the best reflec- 
 tion of the impression made by this vote. For instance, the 
 Wellsburg Herald said editorially : 
 
 "Tihe vote seems to have taken everybody by surprise, those 
 friendly to emancipation as -well as those opposed to it. * * * 
 The attention of the loyal United States, and doubtless, of the dis- 
 loyal, has been turned by this vote, upon Western Virginia, and 
 it is felt to be a blow at slavery, and through it at rebellion, from 
 the right quarter, that cripples the rebellion more than the defeat 
 of an army. * * * The vote, be it borne in mind, was taken 
 under most adverse conditions. In many counties no vote was 
 taken, for the reason that parties higb in authority did all they 
 could to discountenance it; in others it was not known that such 
 a thing was contemplated; in others the conductors of election did 
 not see fit to trouble themselves with the matter, and no one else 
 conveniently could; at many precincts where numbers of votes 
 were cast for emancipation they were not returned through neglect; 
 so that under the circumstances the aggregate of 6,052 to 610 — 
 10 to 1, is fully as large as could reasonably be expected. The 
 vote for the Constitution itself was a meager one * * * but 
 the proportions in the different counties correspond sufSciently to 
 indicate what would have been the result had there been a full and 
 regularly taken poll." 
 
 The question now arose as to what use could be made of 
 the vote on emancipation. By many it seemed to be thought 
 that it could be utilized by the Legislature which was shortly to 
 assemble and give its assent to the Constitution, and that body 
 could make amends for the failure of the Convention in this 
 regard. The situation is very fully presented in an editorial 
 article of the Wheeling Intelligencer, commenting on the popu- 
 lar delusion that the Legislature could do what the Convention 
 had failed to do : 
 
 "The Legislature will assemble in this city on the 6th of May 
 coming, and their sole and only business can be, when they get 
 here, to assent or dissent to a division. That body can have noth- 
 ing to do with the Constitution or any of its provisions or short- 
 
96 The Formation 
 
 comings, further than the Constitution bears upon the merits 
 and demerits of the division question. The Legislature that meets 
 will he the Legislature of the whole State of Virginia, and it is 
 called simply in pursuance of that article of the Constitution of the 
 "United States, which requires the consent of the Legislature of any- 
 State previous to a new State being formed out of such State. 
 
 "It is a mistake, therefore, to suppose that the omission of the 
 Convention — the great and serious omission which that body made, 
 when it refused to submit the free State clause to a vote of the 
 people — can be remedied by any power short of that Convention, 
 or one similarly constituted. The Constitution as it is, without 
 addition or substraction, must go to Congress, and it will be for 
 that body to say whether or no they will take the will of the people 
 of West Virginia as informally expressed at the recent election, for 
 the deed, and in consideration of it, receive the new State Into the 
 Union. 
 
 "This is the way the whole question now stands, and we are 
 sorry for it. We did our best to forwarn all whom it could concern, 
 of the predicament in which we now find ourselves. We affirmed 
 what has overwihelmingly proved true, that the new State people of 
 West Virginia were a free State people; that they meant a free 
 State when they voted for a division, and that nothing short of a 
 free State would ever satisfy them, because nothing else would be 
 of any use to them. But we had all sorts of higher and lower influ- 
 ence to fight on this belief, and in an evil hour our free State mem- 
 bers of the Convention suffered thems«lv6s to be drawn into a blind 
 that completely overslaughed the whole effect. 
 
 "The only thing that remains for us now to do, is to seek an 
 admittance from Congress as we stand. We are not entirely with- 
 out hope that something can be done in that direction. The pros- 
 pects are not flattering, but we trust that the temper of debate in 
 the Legislature will be such, when comes together, as to brighten 
 them. Much at this crisis in our affairs will depend on the way in 
 which that body acts with reference to the free State question. 
 The members have it in their power to rivet the good effects which 
 the vote of the people has undoubtedly produced on Congress and 
 the loyal States, and they also have it in their power to neutralize 
 that effect by a resurrection in debate of all the old stale pro- 
 slavery cant that was used by such anti-new State and anti-free 
 State people as the Wheeling Press before th© recent election. 
 
Aethue Ingeaham Boeeman. 
 
of West Virginia. 97 
 
 "We hope for the best from the meeting of the Legislature. We 
 hope for a. short session and a harmonious one. Brevity and unan- 
 imity are 'wlhat are wanted. Let us go to Congress with all tha 
 propitiating influence we can. We need it all." 
 
 "The Constitution, as framed by the Convention, was sub- 
 mitted to the people of the counties embraced within the pro- 
 posed new State, on the 3d day of April, 1863, and resulted in 
 its adoption by a vote of 18,862 in its favor and 514 against it.. 
 The Legislature of the reorganized government of Virginia,, 
 assembled on the 6th of May following, and gave its formal 
 assent to the formation and erection of the State of West Vir- 
 ginia within the jurisdiction of the State of Virginia, accord- 
 ing to the stipulations and provisions of the Constitution'*' 
 which was laid before them by the Governor, as having beezi 
 adopted by the people. The act of the Legislature was ordered 
 to be transmitted to the Senators and Kepresentatives in Con- 
 gress, together with a copy of the Constitution, with the request 
 that they use their endeavors to obtain the consent of Congresa 
 to the admission of West Virginia into the Union. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE NEW STATE ISSUE IN CONGRESS. 
 
 Od the 39th of May, 1862, Senator Waitman T. Willey, 
 who in connection with Senator John S. Carlile, represented the 
 restored government of Virginia in the U. S. Senate, presented 
 to the Senate the application for the formation of a new State, 
 the act of the Legislature of Virginia giving its assent thereto, 
 a copy of the Constitution adopted by that portion of Virginia 
 which proposed to erect a new State, and a certified copy of the 
 returns of the vote in each county upon the adoption of that 
 Constitution. 
 
 Mr. Willey accompanied the application with an address in 
 which he recited the conditions which had prompted the move- 
 ment, the several steps which had been taken by the loyal coun- 
 ties to save Virginia from secession from the Union, and then 
 presented some reasons why Congress should grant this appeal 
 for an independent State. The following are the five reasons 
 which Mr. Willey urged ia support of the application : 
 
 First. Let us consider the population. I have prepared the 
 following table showing the white and slave population in each of 
 the forty-eight counties of the proposed new State, and also the per 
 cent, of slave population in each county, according to the census 
 of 1860. 
 
of West Virginia. 
 
 99 
 
 
 White 
 
 
 Per cent, of 
 
 Counties. 
 
 population. 
 
 Slaves. 
 
 slaves. 
 
 1. Hancock 
 
 4,442 
 
 2 
 
 0.0 
 
 2. Brooke 
 
 5,425 
 
 18 
 
 0.3 
 
 3. Ohio 
 
 22,196 
 
 100 
 
 0.4 
 
 4. Marshall 
 
 12,936 
 
 29 
 
 0.2 
 
 5. Wetzel 
 
 6,691 
 
 10 
 
 0.1 
 
 6. Pleasants 
 
 2,926 
 
 15 
 
 0.5 
 
 7. Wood 
 
 10,791 
 
 176 
 
 1.6 
 
 8. Jackson 
 
 8,240 
 
 55 
 
 0.7 
 
 9. Mason 
 
 8,752 
 
 386 
 
 7.2 
 
 10. Cabell 
 
 7,691 
 
 305 
 
 3.8 
 
 11. Wayne 
 
 6,604 
 
 143 
 
 2.1 
 
 12. Logan 
 
 4,789 
 
 148 
 
 3.0 
 
 13. Boone 
 
 4,681 
 
 158 
 
 3.3 
 
 14. Kanawha 
 
 13,787 
 
 2,184 
 
 13.7 
 
 15. Roane 
 
 5,309 
 
 72 
 
 1.3 
 
 16. Wirt 
 
 3,728 
 
 23 
 
 0.6 
 
 17. Ritchie 
 
 6,809 
 
 38 
 
 0.6 
 
 18. Doddridge 
 
 5,168 
 
 34 
 
 0.7 
 
 19. Tyler 
 
 6,488 
 
 18 
 
 0.3 
 
 20. Harrisok 
 
 13,185 
 
 582 
 
 4.2 
 
 21. Marion 
 
 12,656 
 
 63 
 
 0.5 
 
 22. Monongalia - 
 
 12,907 
 
 101 
 
 0.8 
 
 23. Preston 
 
 13,183 
 
 67 
 
 0.5 
 
 24. Taylor 
 
 7,300 
 
 112 
 
 1.5 
 
 25. Barbour 
 
 8,729 
 
 95 
 
 1.1 
 
 26. Lewis 
 
 7,736 
 
 230 
 
 2.9 
 
 27. Gilmer 
 
 3,685 
 
 52 
 
 1.4 
 
 28. Calhoun 
 
 2,492 
 
 9 
 
 0.4 
 
 29. Braxton 
 
 4,885 
 
 104 
 
 2.1 
 
 30. Clay 
 
 1,761 
 
 21 
 
 1.2 
 
 31. Nicholas 
 
 4,470 
 
 154 
 
 3.3 
 
 32. Fayette 
 
 5,716 
 
 271 
 
 4.5 
 
 33. Raliegh 
 
 3,291 
 
 57 
 
 1.7 
 
 34. Wyoming 
 
 2,797 
 
 64 
 
 2.2 
 
 35. McDowell - 
 
 1,535 
 
 
 0.0 
 
 36. Mercer 
 
 6,428 
 
 862 
 
 5.3 
 
 37. Monroe 
 
 9,526 
 
 1,114 
 
 10.5 
 
 38. Greenbrier - 
 
 10,499 
 
 1,525 
 
 12.7 
 
100 The Formation 
 
 3,686 
 
 252 
 
 6.4 
 
 1,552 
 
 3 
 
 0.2 
 
 7,064 
 
 212 
 
 2.9 
 
 4,793 
 
 183 
 
 3.7 
 
 1,396 
 
 20 
 
 1.4 
 
 5,708 
 
 580 
 
 9.2 
 
 5,873 
 
 244 
 
 4.0 
 
 8,521 
 
 1,073 
 
 11.2 
 
 12,481 
 
 1,213 
 
 8.9 
 
 3,613 
 
 94 
 
 2.5 
 
 39. Pocahontas 
 
 40. Webster 
 
 41. Upshur 
 
 42. Randolph 
 
 43. Tucker 
 
 44. Putnam 
 
 45. Pendleton 
 
 46. Hardy 
 
 47. Hampshire 
 
 48. Morgan 
 
 Totals 334,921 12,771 
 
 Thus, in 1860, the aggregate white population was three hun- 
 dred and thirty-four thousand nine hundred and twenty-one; and 
 the aggregate slave population was twelve thousand seven hundred 
 and seventy-one. It is but £air to say that, in consequence of the 
 ravages of war, the number of white inhabitants has, perhaps, not 
 increased since the taking of the census; and the number of the 
 slaves has, doubtless, diminished two or three thousand. Thus 
 also it will be seen that the per cent, of slaves in 1860 was only 
 about four per cent., and certainly does not now amount to three 
 per cent. We have, therefore, the requisite number of inhabitants. 
 
 Secondly. I respectfully solicit the attention of Senators to 
 the geographical position of the proposed new State. Look at the 
 map. Observe how this territory lies, like a wedge driven in 
 between the State of Ohio on one side, and the States of Pennsyl- 
 vania and Maryland on the other, and is completely cut off from all 
 convenient intercourse with East Virginia by the Allegheny moun- 
 tains, the sky-kissing summits of which are proposed as the eastern 
 boundary of the new State. How is it possible to identify these two 
 sections of the State of Virginia in a common State policy, or sys- 
 tem of internal improvements, or economical interests? You have 
 only to examine the geography of the State to see that this is im- 
 practicable. It never has been done. It cannot be done. Hence 
 the revenues of the State heretofore, with slight exceptions, have 
 all been expended in the construction of lines of improvement 
 avoiding those impassable mountain barriers, and leading to the 
 south and southwest in directions which have noc only not benefited 
 the northwest section of the State — that part contained in the new 
 State — but have, indirectly, operated to its serious disadvantage. 
 
of West Virginia. 101 
 
 This sectional appropriation of tlhe State's revenues hasi long been 
 inveighed against as unfriendly and unjust, and has engendered 
 bitter sectional animosity between the counties lying east and 
 those lying west of the AUeghanies. But, perhaps it might be more 
 charitable to attribute this policy to an absolute necessity growing 
 out of the utter impracticability of constructing any improvement 
 connecting the two sections of the State. 
 
 Third. This application for admission as a new State is predi- 
 cated on considerations of industrial and commercial necessity. 
 The people living within the limits of the projected new State 
 never had, and never can have, any trade or commerce with 
 Eastern Virginia. There is no means of getting back and forth 
 between the two sections by any direct and convenient way. There 
 never has been; there never can be. The impediments are insuper- 
 able. Trans- Alleghany sells nothing to c*is-Alleghany; and vice 
 versa. The traffic and commerce between the two sections have 
 not amounted to fifty tlhousand dollars in the last twenty years. 
 The natural and best markets of West Virginia are Baltimore, 
 Pittsburg, Cincinnati, &c. If Eastern Virginia were willing to do 
 so, she has not the ability to push her railways and other means of 
 transportation and travel into the northwest; and if she had both 
 the will and the ability, all such improvements in Virginia could 
 only carry the trade and staples of West Virginia beyond better and 
 nearer markets. 
 
 Fourth. The difference of social institutions and habits of the 
 people indicate the propriety of this division of the State. The 
 existence of negro slavery is said, and I think correctly, by its 
 friends, and by those who own slaves and yet are not its friends, 
 to require a system of laws and municipal regulations adapted to 
 the peculiar necessities and relations necessarily growing out of 
 that institution. But slavery never can exist to any considerable 
 extent in the territory proposed to be embraced in the new State. 
 It never has flourished there. It never can. The inexorable laws 
 of climate forbid it. The staple commodities of tlhe country are 
 not such as in the production of them slave labor is valuable. Why, 
 then, should West Virginia be forever subjected to a system of laws 
 amd policy adapted to, and Indeed necessary for, a state of society 
 and a class of interests fundamentally different from theirs, and 
 embarrassing their progress in almost every department of life? 
 Why should the labor of the white man of the West be compelled 
 
102 The Formation 
 
 to be regulated by the policy adapted to the slave labor of the 
 East? 
 
 In making these remarks, I have no reference to the moral 
 aspects of the slavery question. I do not wish in this connection to 
 be entangled in the mazes of argument with which moralists and 
 religionists have surrounded and Involved the question of slavery. 
 In this respect my opinions are maturely formed. I have heretofore 
 expressed them in the Senate. I am now only referring to slavery 
 and the new State in the light of a wise and judicious political 
 economy. Homogeneousness of interests, pursuits, and social insti- 
 tutions is essential to the tarmony and prosperity of every political 
 community. Henoe, the utility and wisdom of our separate State 
 organizations, exercising municipal authority within their respective 
 limits, and adapting their policy to the peculiarities of soil, climate, 
 markets, social habits, .and education existing within those limits. 
 Our national Union, embracng such a variety and extent of all 
 these peculiarities, has found, and must continue to find, the surest 
 guarantee of its perpetuity, in the perfect freedom with which each 
 State in it regulates its own institutions and policy, in conformity 
 with local exigencies and interests peculiar to each State. Now, 
 sir, look at this fact. The total number of slaves in Virginia, at the 
 last census, was four hundred and ninety thousand eight hundred 
 and eighty-seven. Of these, as I have already stated, there were 
 only twelve thousand seven 'hundred and seventy-one — now not 
 more than nine or ten thousand — within the boundary of the pro- 
 posed new State, although those boundaries include a full third of 
 all the territory of the State of Virginia. If it were desirable, yet it 
 Is utterly impossible, that the number of slaves in Western Virginia 
 should increase. During the last decade, which may be said to be 
 the era of slavery propagandism, the number of slaves in the forty- 
 four counties composing the territory asking admission In the 
 Union as a new State actually decreased moire than two thousand. 
 There was a decrease of slaves in nearly all, if not in every one, of 
 these counties. As I have said, the geographical position, the cli- 
 mate, the soil, the staple productions, the demands of labor, the 
 habits and pursuits, and I may as well add, the moral and religious 
 sentiments of the people, forbid its existence there. The country 
 is mainly adapted to the growth of cereals, to grazing, and to 
 manufacturing. Hence slave labor cannot be profitable there; and 
 for this, if for no other reason, it will never be in demand. Besides, 
 the extended border of free territory, from the Kentucky line to the 
 
of West Virginia. 10c 
 
 upper end of Hancock county, and thence back again on the other 
 Bide of the State to the State of Maryland, makes it impossible to 
 prevent the escape of any adult slave who wishes to escape. 
 
 Mr. President, in view of these considerations, I think I am 
 authorized to say that the division of the State of Virginia asked for 
 is a physical, a political, a social, an industrial and commercial 
 necessity. It is necessary for the preservation of harmonious and 
 fraternal relations between the eastern and western sections of the 
 State. It is indispensable to the development of the great natural 
 resources of West Virginia, and to the prosperity and happiness of 
 its inhabitants. And now, sir. 
 
 Fifth and lastly. A few words in relation to the resources of 
 the new State. Its area will be at least respectable — greater than 
 very many of the other States of the Union. It will contain about 
 twenty-four thousand square miles. It will embrace immense min- 
 eral wealth. It will include water-power more than sufficient to 
 drive all the machinery of New England. It contains the finest 
 forests of timber on the continent. It includes the Great Kanawha 
 salines and the Little Kanawha oil wells. It abounds in iron ore; 
 and its- coal fields are sufficient to supply the consumption of the 
 entire Union for a thousand years. Much of it Is well adapted 
 to the production of cereals and all of it is unrivaled for the 
 growth of grass and for grazing. The assessed value of lands 
 and lots in the forty-eight counties of the new State was, in 1859, 
 $71,780,202. I have prepared a table from the report of the auditor 
 of public accounts of Virginia for that year, not having access to 
 one of a more recent date, which I have here, showing this fact — 
 also showing that the taxes assessed for that year in these counties 
 amounted to the sum of $549,565 87. 
 
 Assessed value Assessed value Aggregate tax 
 
 of lands, 1859. of lots, 1859. on all subjects, 
 
 1859. 
 
 1. Barbour ? 1,404,365 00 $ 36,212 50 $ 10,739 10 
 
 2. Boone 485,837 50 4,040 22 
 
 3. Braxton 981,515 00 21,712 50 6,895 90 
 
 4. Brooke 1,004,540 00 156,340 00 8,830 03 
 
 5. Cabell 1,900,367 50 112,507 50 14,050 44 
 
104 The Formation 
 
 6. 
 
 Calhoun 
 
 341,010 
 
 00 
 
 300 00 
 
 2,150 60 
 
 7. 
 
 Clay 
 Doddridge 
 
 209,742 
 
 50 
 
 
 1,361 60 
 
 4,496 32 
 
 8. 
 
 737,885 
 
 00 
 
 17,780 00 
 
 9. 
 
 Favett^i 
 
 845,795 
 
 00 
 
 
 6.682 98 
 
 10. 
 
 Gilmer 
 
 737,575 
 
 00 
 
 21,065 00 
 
 4,587 45 
 
 11. 
 
 Greenbrier 
 
 3,239,862 
 
 50 
 
 237,651 00 
 
 28,662 74 
 
 12. 
 
 Hancack 
 
 835,545 
 
 00 
 
 60,197 50 
 
 5,967 85 
 
 13. 
 
 Harrison 
 
 3,527,047 
 
 50 
 
 289,985 00 
 
 26,339 69 
 
 14. 
 
 Jackson 
 
 1,521,287 
 
 50 
 
 82,435 00 
 
 10,155 98 
 
 15. 
 
 Kanawha 
 
 3,242,414 
 
 00 
 
 364,230 00 
 
 25,827 92 
 
 16. 
 
 Lewis 
 
 1,299,752 
 
 50 
 
 101,910 00 
 
 10,074 07 
 
 17. 
 
 Logan 
 
 343,660 
 
 00 
 
 10,900 00 
 
 3,360 45 
 
 18. 
 
 Marion 
 
 2,505,505 
 
 00 
 
 229,047 50 
 
 18,956 80 
 
 19. 
 
 Marshall 
 
 2,144,790 
 
 00 
 
 165,325 00 
 
 14,388 68 
 
 20. 
 
 Mason 
 
 2,511,880 
 
 00 
 
 239,695 00 
 
 18,892 00 
 
 21. 
 
 McDowell 
 
 163,585 
 
 00 
 
 
 
 970 10 
 
 22. 
 
 Mercer 
 
 667,342 
 
 00 
 
 14,825 00 
 
 5,915 35 
 
 23. 
 
 Monongalia - 
 
 2,785,775 
 
 00 
 
 253,910 00 
 
 21,211 61 
 
 24. 
 
 Monroe 
 
 4,046,655 
 
 00 
 
 110,907 50 
 
 27,680 59 
 
 25. 
 
 Nicholas 
 
 896,085 
 
 00 
 
 13,985 00 
 
 6,286 24 
 
 26. 
 
 Ohio 
 
 1,664,587 
 
 50 
 
 3,375,755 00 
 
 43,562 75 
 
 27. 
 
 Pleasants 
 
 582,282 
 
 50 
 
 19,290 00 
 
 3,940 95 
 
 28. 
 
 Pocahontas 
 
 1,177,490 
 
 00 
 
 8,725 00 
 
 8,013 56 
 
 29. 
 
 Preston 
 
 1,565,997 
 
 00 
 
 102,012 50 
 
 14,252 13 
 
 30. 
 
 Putnam 
 
 1,023,650 
 
 00 
 
 60,627 50 
 
 8,600 64 
 
 31, 
 
 Raleigh 
 
 506,040 
 
 00 
 
 9,795 00 
 
 3,712 21 
 
 32. 
 
 Randolph 
 
 1,407,252 
 
 50 
 
 31,385 00 
 
 8,753 32 
 
 33. 
 
 Ritchie 
 
 1,223,347 
 
 50 
 
 18,550 00 
 
 7,642 86 
 
 34. 
 
 Roane 
 
 617,637 
 
 50 
 
 15,510 00 
 
 4,573 07 
 
 35. 
 
 Taylor 
 
 1,112,587 
 
 50 
 
 134,505 00 
 
 9,755 61 
 
 36. 
 
 Tucker 
 
 378,745 
 
 00 
 
 
 2,147 18 
 
 37. 
 
 Tyler 
 
 851,840 
 
 00 
 
 58,977 50 
 
 6,721 24 
 
 38. 
 
 Upshur 
 
 1,235,879 
 
 50 
 
 45,720 00 
 
 8,583 82 
 
 39. 
 
 Wayne 
 
 1,003,015 
 
 00 
 
 24,105 00 
 
 7,402 27 
 
 40. 
 
 Wetzel, 
 
 829,687 
 
 50 
 
 32,747 50 
 
 6,036 41 
 
 41. 
 
 Wirt 
 
 483,105 
 
 00 
 
 31,560 00 
 
 3,411 71 
 
 42. 
 
 Wood 
 
 1,862,952 
 
 50 
 
 653,812 50 
 
 20,684 65 
 
 43. 
 
 Wyoming 
 
 359,107 
 
 50 
 
 6,100 00 
 
 2,473 31 
 
 44. 
 
 Pendleton 
 
 1,062,157 
 
 50 
 
 28,610 00 
 
 8,622 70 
 
 45. 
 
 Hardy 
 
 2,843,967 
 
 50 
 
 104,765 00 
 
 20,128 07 
 
of West Virginia. 105 
 
 46. Hampshire 3,480,287 50 255,257 50 26,253 93 
 
 47. Morgan 649,765 00 83,957 00 5,901 11 
 
 48. Webster* 
 
 Total ?64,186,373 00 | 7,593,829 00 $549,565 87 
 
 Assessed value ot 
 
 lands 64,186,373 00 
 
 Total value of lands 
 and lots $71,780,202 00 
 
 * This county has been made since 1859, but its lands and lots 
 are included in the above counties, out of which it was formed. 
 
 Sir, these counties of Western Virginia, knocking for admission 
 into the Union as a new State, contain, in rich abundance, all the 
 elements of a great commonwealth. Why have they remained un- 
 developed in the oldest State in the American Union? Why are our 
 mines un worked? Why are our water-falls forever wasting away, 
 unappreciated by the skill of man, chafing and foaming in their 
 channels, as if in conscious rage at the long neglect? The answer 
 to these questions is an irrefutable argument in favor of the division 
 'desired. Unless the State is divided, these natural resources of 
 wealth and power will remain forever undeveloped. Is this just 
 to the people there? Is it just to the country at large? 
 
 Thus, sir, we present our claims for this new State. We pray 
 you to grant your assent. It will send a thrill of joy through three 
 hundred thousand hearts, and it will do no injustice to any. Then, 
 :sir, will our invaluable virgin mines invite the espousal of your sur- 
 plus capital, and our perennial streams will lend their exhaustless 
 j)ower to your manufacturing skill. Then shall we soon be able to 
 say, in the jubilant language of the Psalmist: "The pastures are 
 -clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; 
 they shout for joy; they also sing." Virginia — Bast Virginia, re- 
 stored from her temporary aberration; West Virginia, like a newly 
 discovered star — ^East Virginia and West Virginia, twin stars, shall 
 thenceforth shine with ever-bringihtening lustre in the republican 
 zodiac of States encircling our western hemisphere. 
 
 This application for a new State was referred to the Terri- 
 torial Committee, of which Senator Benjamin Wade, of Ohio, 
 was chairman, and of which Senator Carlile was a member. 
 
106 The Formation 
 
 This committee, after much apparent difficulty in agreeing 
 upon the terms of a bill, reported on the 33d of June Senate 
 bill No. 365, which contained the usual specifications, and some 
 unusual conditions, upon which the consent of Congress woiild 
 be granted to the admission of the proposed new State. 
 
 The conditions incorporated in the bill were two, one relat- 
 ing to additional territory, including, in addition to the coun- 
 ties enumerated in the Constitution, the counties of Clark,. 
 Frederick, Warren, Page, Shenandoah, Eockingham, Augusta,. 
 Highland, Bath, Eockbridge, Botetourt, Craig and Allegheny. 
 The other condition related to salvery, and provided that the 
 Constitution make provision that from and after the 4th day 
 of July, 1863, the children of all slaves born within the limits 
 of the State shall be free. 
 
 Why or how it came about that the bill reported by this 
 committee proposed to incorporate a number of other counties 
 than those proposed by the projectors, is somewhat of a mystery,, 
 and is probably not definitely or certainly known outside of 
 that committee. But it was quickly interpreted as the work of 
 an enemy of the new State project, because the consent of these- 
 additional counties had not and could not be obtained to become 
 a part of the new State. Most, if not all of them, were in pos- 
 session and under control of the Eichmond government, and 
 reckoned a part of the Southern Confederacy. 
 
 It was very discouraging, therefore, to the people of West- 
 ern Virginia to find that such a condition was made in the 
 reported bill. Many lost hope and abandoned the effort to ob- 
 tain the consent of Congress, knowing that its consent, coupled 
 with such a condition, was a virtual defeat of the movement. 
 
 However, this territorial condition did not subsequently 
 give much trouble, as it found no sponsor in open Senate when 
 it came to be considered, and was easily eliminated. But it 
 was around the question of slavery that the great fight wa& 
 made, and this it will be interesting and profitable to follow in. 
 
of West Virginia. lOt 
 
 its various stages until it came back again to the people of 
 Western Virginia, and the new State finally became practically 
 a free State by popular vote. 
 
 It will be remembered that the Constitution adopted by the 
 Convention which framed it, and forwarded it to Congress, was 
 silent on the subject of slavery. The Convention had voted 
 down a proposition to insert a clause for gradual emancipation, 
 or submit it to a vote of the people, although an informal vote 
 was taken in some of the counties. But there were twelve 
 thousand negro slaves in these counties out of which the new 
 State was to be formed. If these counties were admitted as a 
 new State, with no provision for the emancipation of the slaves, 
 it would continue to be slave territory. Therefore, as had been 
 anticipated. Congress was not disposed to admit another slave 
 State, unless provision was made for making it a free State in 
 the near future. 
 
 The Committee reported the bill with a condition requiring 
 gradual emancipation. Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, offered 
 in lieu of this condition, the "Jeffersonian condition," that 
 "within the limits of the said State there shall be neither slavery 
 nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in punishment of 
 crime whereof the party shall be duly convicted." 
 
 This amendment was rejected by a vote of 24 to 11. The 
 Senate would readily have adopted this provision, making it 
 absolutely a free State, but for the fact that so radical a condi- 
 tion would have defeated the admission of the State. Some of 
 the interests involved would have been weaned from the measure 
 and combined to defeat it. 
 
 At this stage Mr. Willey offered an amendment, leaving 
 out all the additional Counties that had been named in the bill 
 reported by the Committee, providing for gradual emancipation, 
 and also for re-convening the Convention for the purpose of 
 adopting the new condition. The full text of Mr. Willey's 
 amendment is as follows : 
 
108 The Formation 
 
 "West Virginia is hereby admitted into the Union on an equal 
 footing with the original States in all respects whatever, and upon 
 the fundamental condition that from and after the 4th day of July, 
 1863, the children of all slaves born within the limits of said State 
 shall be free, and that no law shall be passed by said State by 
 which any citizen of either of the States in this Union shall be ex- 
 cluded from the enjoyment of any of th© privileges and immunities 
 to which such citizen is entitled under the Cionstitution of the 
 United States. 
 
 "Provided, That the Convention that ordained the Constitution 
 as aforesaid, to be reconvened in the manner prescribed In the 
 schedule thereto annexed, shall by a solemn public ordinance de- 
 clare the assent of the said State to the said fundamental condition, 
 and shall transmit to the President of the United States on or be- 
 fore the 15th day of November, 1862, an authentic copy of said 
 ordinance, upon the receipt whereof the President by proclamation 
 shall announce the fact; whereupon, and without any further pro- 
 ceeding on the part of Congress, the admission of said State into 
 this Union shall be considered as complete." 
 
 To the foregoing proposition Mr. Wade offered an amend- 
 ment that "all slaves within the said State who shall at the 
 time aforesaid be under 31 years of age, shall be free when they 
 arrive at the age of 31." After some debate this amendment 
 to Mr. Willey's amendment was adopted. 
 
 This virtiTally settled the feature of the bill relating to 
 slavery so far as the Senate was concerned. The Willey amend- 
 ment had been offered as at once a concession to and an ex- 
 pression of the sentiment of the Senate on that subject, and 
 with the addition of the Wade amendment, all cause of opposi- 
 tion from the majority of the Senate had been met, and it was 
 understood that the issue on the slave question was out of the 
 way. 
 
 But to understand the controversy that followed before the 
 passage of the bill it will be necessary to note that all the subse- 
 quent obstructions^ delay and difficulty in reaching a final ajid 
 favorable vote on the bill, were interposed by a quasi friend of 
 
of West Virginia. 109 
 
 th« new State, in no less a person than that of Senator Carlile, 
 Mr. Willey's colleague in the Senate, and one of the Senators to 
 whom this new state measure had been specially committed by 
 its friends; who had been one of the chief pioneers and apolo- 
 gists of the project; who had, from the very beginning, urged 
 and argued for the separation from the old State; who was so 
 impatient for its accomplishment in the State Convention that 
 he could not wait on the slow forms of law; and who now was 
 looked upon not only by his people at home, but by his col- 
 leagues in the Senate, as the earnest, able, and irrepressible 
 patron of the movement — even Senator Carlile, was about to 
 unmask and disclose the "wolf in sheep's clothing." 
 
 This deflection of Senator Carlile makes one of the most 
 mysterious chapters in the history of the contest for a new 
 State. No explanation of this change of heart was ever offered 
 by him. In fact no open avowal of his unfriendly purpose was 
 made, but his opposition was of that dangerous kind which is 
 made in the guise of a friend. His constituents, as well as his 
 fellow Senators, were slow to interpret his real attitude. It is 
 probable that he entertained a purpose to defeat the bill much 
 earlier than the discovery, or even suspicion, of his real purpose. 
 The bill, which was reported by the Committee on Territories, 
 is not susceptible of any other explanation than that an astute 
 enemy of a new State had framed some of its provisions. Sena- 
 tor Wade said in open Senate that the bill did not receive the 
 endorsement of the Committee, but was reported simply as a 
 basis of agreement. Mr. Carlile was a member of that Commit- 
 tee. Who else than he would have incorporated in the bill a 
 number of the valley counties which were then in rebellion, as a 
 part of the new State? Who better than he knew that these 
 counties would not voluntarily go with the new State? What 
 more effective and deadly provision could have been put in the 
 bill to kill the new State project, even if Congress had given its 
 consent ? 
 
110 The Formation 
 
 But nobody, at this stage, accused Mr. Carlile, even if they 
 suspected it, of being unfriendly to the new State. His atti- 
 tude was one of gradual unfolding. When Mr. Willey offered 
 his amendment, which, in part, referred the Constitution back 
 to the Convention which framed it to incorporate the provision 
 relating to slavery, Mr. Carlile now came forward with an 
 amendment, requiring that the amended Constitution should be 
 "submitted to a vote of the people in said State of West Vir- 
 ginia, and be ratified by a vote of the majority of the people 
 thereof." 
 
 This could hardly be regarded as the proposition of a friend 
 •of the new State. Mr. Willey's reply to it, in part^ was : 
 
 "This amendment of my colleague seems to me a very extraor- 
 dinary one. A vote of the majority of the people Is a very extraor- 
 dinary sort of vote. It is not unusual, I believe, when you submit a 
 thing, that a majority of the people shall be required, men, women, 
 .and children, and negroes themselves, for I suppose they are called 
 people. But I object to it on other grounds, and I will state the 
 grounds of the objection. The people of Northwestern Virginia 
 have been very much harassed. They have had diflaculties of a 
 diverse character in this reorganization of the State. A great many 
 elections have been held. In appointing the Convention which 
 ordained this. Constitution, and in reassembling the Legislature to 
 give their assent to it, they have incurred a great deal of expense 
 and a great deal of delay, and they are not in a condition to incur 
 much more, unless it be absolutely necessary. The operation of the 
 amendment of my colleague would be to have not only a new Con- 
 vention, assenting to this fundamental proposition, but sending it 
 back to the people, imposing on the people the very considerable 
 cost as well as the trouble of a new election. To avoid that, and to 
 provide for any incident whidh might arise in the prosecution of 
 their object, the Convention which ordained the Constitution now 
 before Congress, wisely, as I think — and especially does it appear to 
 be wise in the light of the amendment of my colleague — refused to 
 dissolve the Convention, but by express stipulation in a schedule 
 adopted by them, appointed certain commissioners who were author- 
 ized to reassemble the Convention upon any occasion necessary; 
 
of West Virginia. Ill 
 
 and by looking to th« second section of the schedule annexed to the 
 Constitution, as printed and laid before the Senate, the Senate will 
 see who the commissioners are who have been appointed, and on 
 turning to the eleventh section of the schedule it will appear 'that 
 the commissioners hereby appointed shall have power, if it become 
 necessary, to reconvene the members of tlhis Convention on such 
 day as they may prescribe,' so that the Convention is still In exist- 
 ence, still a legal body, and it has provided for its own reassem- 
 bling." 
 
 But Mr. Carlile, whatever may have been his ulterior pur- 
 pose, insisted with some plausibility, that the matter involved 
 the property rights and social institutions of the people of the 
 new State and thej' ought to have a chance to vote on it. 
 
 Senator Pomeroy, of Kansas, was the first to characterize 
 this attitude of Mr. Carlile. He said: 
 
 "I simply wish to say, in a single word, that if this amendment 
 of the Senator's is adopted, or even if there is a prolonged discus- 
 sion upon it, the simple effect will be to put off the measure for 
 this session. If the Senator himself is not in favor of the admis- 
 sion of Western Virginia, he need not expect others to be; and it 
 the people of Western Virginia do not send Senators here who are 
 in favor of this measure, they certainly cannot expect to get it 
 through." 
 
 Mr. Carlisle. I do not think there has been anything that I 
 have said or done to justify the remark of the Senator from Kansas. 
 As I stated in the outset, I am in favor of the admission of West 
 Virginia, if you admit her under the Constitution which sihe has 
 brought here; but you refuse that, and seek to impose conditions 
 upon her people chang'ing radically the fundamental law as they 
 had adopted it, and deny to them even an opportunity to say 
 whether or not your terms are acceptable to them. The Senator 
 from Kansas is In favor of the admission of West Virginia upon 
 certain conditions. He proposes to admit West Virginia with such 
 a Constitution as he shall prescribe for the government of her 
 people. I propose to admit her with the Constitution sihe has 
 formed for her own government. I am in favor of her admission 
 without conditions upon the precise terms that she asks. 
 
 Mr.- Pomeroy. The amendment that has been proposed will 
 
112 The Formation 
 
 allow the State of West Virginia to come into the Union spedily by 
 the action of the Convention. I supposed that these people were 
 anxious for immediate action. It has been so represented to tlie 
 Commmittee. As the chairman has very well stated this morning, 
 we acted on the idea that immediate action was called for in thia 
 matter. If the Senator from Virginia himself, representing that 
 State, takes the responsibility of proposing an amendment which, 
 delays the matter for another year, he alone is responsible for the 
 effect of that vote. We are for admitting the State, and providing 
 that the Convention may accept or reject the proiK)sition immedi- 
 ately, and come into the Union." 
 
 Mr. Carlile proceeded to argue that the Convention which 
 framed the Constitution was not a full or fairly representative 
 body of the people, and that, therefore, it was right that the 
 people should have an opportunity of passing upon these funda- 
 mental propositions at the polls. 
 
 To this Senator Wade replied : 
 
 "I certainly did not intend to take any time in debating this 
 bill; but the very extraordinary course the Senator from Virginia 
 has seen fit to take has so entirely disappointed me that I almost 
 owe an apology to the Senate itself for urging this measure with 
 the zeal that I did upon its consideration this morning. I did so at 
 the request of some of the best men of that State, not only one but 
 many, almost supplicating that we should take it up and get through 
 with it to-day. When I saw a Senator from the State itself rise, so 
 evidently with no other purpose than to talk against time, and thus 
 to defeat the bill, I was disappointed beyond measure. We have 
 had a new proposition, a long argument, and a recurrence to old 
 speeches that had been made on former occasions, that must be 
 read here, all coming from a man pretending to be a friend of this 
 proposition. Any man knows that if anything was calculated under 
 these circumstances to defeat this measure, it was precisely the 
 course he has seen fit to take with it; he tells us that he is 
 still in some shape a friend to it, but what has been the pur- 
 port of his speech, except to shake the confidence of the Senate 
 itself in the Constitutional Convention that framed the Constitution 
 which we have been asked to ratify? He has gone back of their 
 
of West Virginia. 113 
 
 appointment; he has not only undertaken to And fault with what 
 they have done, but he has undertaken to s&y that they were not 
 really organized to do anything; and it is the first I have heard of 
 any such thing. We have sat in Committee with that gentleman; 
 we have heard his arguments and illustrations on this subject; we 
 have had many men of the proposed State before us, in council 
 with us upon it; and her© for the first time to-day we hear that the 
 Convention who framed this Constitution really did not represent 
 the people whom they professed to represent! After all the dis- 
 cussions in Committee and out of Committee and in the Senate, 
 to-day, for the first time we hear a deliberate, premeditated attack 
 upon the Convention that framed this Constitution. I do not be- 
 lieve that the people of West Virginia expected any such argument 
 from that quarter. I do not believe they would have implored! 
 me almost to use what influence I might have to> bring this; 
 matter before Congress at this late period of the session, if 
 they believed that one of their own representatives! was to 
 rise here and talk by the hour to endeavor to Shake the confi- 
 dence of the Senate in the competency of the Convention that had. 
 framed their Constitution. Sir, there is something wrong in this 
 matter. I do not profess to know where it is, but it is unusual; it 
 is not what we have heard before. It takes us all by surprise, and 
 it jeopardizes the measure. I hope that from the perversity of any 
 man, the people of Western Virginia, who are worthy of our favor, 
 will not cease to receive it because one of their own number takes 
 a very different view of this suhiect from what we expected he 
 would take." 
 
 It was evident that Mr. Carlile's opposition to the bill was 
 having its effect on the Senate, and in view of the division exist- 
 ing on other questions, the objection raised by him seemed to 
 imperil its passage. At this point Mr. Willey yielded the point 
 relating to a vote to be taken by the people, and offered a substi- 
 tute for the pending proposition the bill that had been offered 
 in the House on this same measure and which provided for sub- 
 mitting the amended Constitution to a vote of the people. Mr. 
 Willey said: 
 
 "It is with inexpressible pain that I have taken the position in 
 
114 The Formation 
 
 regard to my colleague that I have. I have determined, however, 
 not to discuss the matter, but I have the bill here offered by my 
 colleague in the other House, [Mr. W. G. Brown,] modified so as 
 to cover this state of things here, which, if it will suit the chairman 
 of the Committee, and the members of the Committee and my col- 
 league here, will be acceptable to me as another compromise under 
 the circumstances. 
 
 "I am willing to go one step further, and do that for the sake 
 of peace and harmony, and I do it with this view especially. I am 
 sorry to believe that — my colleague will take no offense, I hope, 
 when I say it — the extraordinary speech he has made will be an 
 additional firebrand cast into our midst. I am a man of peace. I 
 know that the almost universal sentiment of that people is for 
 •division. I know there is not a loyal man in Northwestern Virginia, 
 whether represented in the Convention or not, who is not this day 
 life and soul for a division of the State. To prevent discord, to 
 compose strife, I am willing, as a peace offering here upon this floor, 
 and with a view of preventing distraction in our midst, to submit 
 this proposition, if it will satisfy my colleague. It embraces essen- 
 tially his proposition, and I hope the Senate will be willing to take 
 it under the circumstances. It will put us to some expense; it will 
 put us to a good deal of unnecessary trouble in taking the sense of 
 a people who have but one opinion and one view on the subject; 
 but in order to prevent discord and preserve peace, I am willing, if 
 the Senate be willing, and my friends on the Committee, to whom 
 I am under lasting obligations, are willing to accept it." 
 
 Those who had opposed the admission of the new State on 
 other grounds than the slavery question now began to take ad- 
 vantage of the situation and to rally to the support of Mr. 
 Carlile. The session of Congress was nearing its close. A day 
 had been set for adjournment. Senator Trumbull, who was 
 opposed to the bill, moved its postponement until the next ses- 
 sion of Congress. Mr. Carlile came immediately to the support 
 of this motion as one fatal to the bill. Mr. Willey said that he 
 hoped he should have the co-operation of his colleague after 
 ■conceding all he asked in regard to taking a vote of the people. 
 
of West Virginia. 115 
 
 But, said he, my colleague "from point to point, and from step 
 to step, misrepresented three-fourths of the loyal people of Vir- 
 ginia on this floor. He misrepresents the will of the Legisla- 
 ture that sent him here, with scarcely a dissenting voice; and he 
 interposes an objection to-day which is calculated and designed 
 to thwart this whole movement." 
 
 At this point Senator Wade came to the rescue in his most 
 caustic fashion. He said: 
 
 "Gentlemen say that I have said enough. I suppose I have, and 
 am not going to say much more. Gentlemen ought not to admonish 
 me much, for I believe I never make long speeches. This is a very 
 easy way for us to rid ourselves of this question, but it will not be 
 satisfactory to those who feel such a vital interest in it as the peo- 
 ple of West Virginia, who have sent their population here almost 
 en masse to urge it upon this Congress to pass this measure and 
 relieve them from the alarm that they are under in consequence of 
 the uncertainty that they may be left in the hands of their enemies. 
 That there is to be a separation is a foregone conclusion, and no 
 man has urged it upon the Committee more strongly than the Sena- 
 tor who now opposes immediate action, [Mr. Carlile.] He, of all 
 the men in the Committee, is the man who penned all these bills 
 and drew them up. He is the man who has investigated all the pre- 
 cedents to see how far you could go in this direction. It was to his 
 lucid mind that we were indebted for the fact that there were no 
 legal or constitutional barriers in the way of this proposition. He 
 submitted to the labor; he did it cheerfully; he did it backed by the 
 best men of his State and section, and what did they say? They 
 said, "we cannot live any longer with Eastern Virginia. Independ- 
 ent of the great controversy that has sprung up in the nation, we 
 have a controversy of old standing that renders our connection with 
 Eastern Virginia absolutely impossible.' He is the gentleman who 
 impressed their opinions upon the Committee as strongly as any- 
 body else, and what change has come over the spirit of his dream 
 I know not. His conversion is greater than that of St. Paul. He 
 haS' persuaded us that the measure was right; he has appeared side 
 by side with his able Governor, who urged this upon us as a mea- 
 sure vital to the interests of the State that he represents. All at 
 once, after persuading us to bring the question before Congress, and 
 
116 The Formation 
 
 when we expected his powerful aid to help us to push it through, 
 we are brought up all standing by his powerful opposition. Why 
 did he write, why did he investigate, why did he persuade us that 
 there was scarcely a dissenting voice in all that part of Virginia, if 
 now he has discovered that it is all wrong? Why did he resort to 
 books, why did he go back to the old Missouri compromise, and 
 discover there the steps that were taken to initiate that State? 
 Why did he go back to the Rhode Island case, and to other cases, 
 and point them out to us? No gentleman urged the measure upon 
 us more strongly than he, in connection with his distinguished asso- 
 ciates, he acting as their chief and their spokesman, and yet all at 
 once, when we become earnest and see that the people want this 
 done, we have to encounter his violent, determined, persistent oppo- 
 sition. Sir, it is sheer trifling." 
 
 The vote being taken on the motion to postpone consid- 
 eration of the bill until the next session of Congress, it was 
 defeated by a vote of 17 for to 33 against — Mr. Carlile voting 
 for the motion. 
 
 The bill was then put upon its passage, and by the same 
 vote," and the same division of individual Senators, as recorded 
 on the motion to postpone, the bill admitting West Virginia as 
 a State was, on the 14th day of July, 1863, adopted by the Sen- 
 ate of the United States. 
 
 The full text of the bill as it passed the Senate and after- 
 ward the House, containing the new conditions upon which 
 admission depended, here follows : 
 
 An Act for the Admission of the State of West Virginia into the 
 
 Union, and for other purposes. 
 
 Whereas the people inhabiting that portion of Virginia known 
 as West Virginia did, by a Convention assembled in- the City of 
 Wheeling on the twenty-sixth of November, eighteen hundred and 
 sixty-one, frame for themselves a Constitution with a view of be- 
 coming a separate and independent State; and whereas at a general 
 election held in the counties composing the territory aforesaid on 
 the third day of May last, the said Constitution was approved and 
 adopted by the qualified voters of the proposed State; and whereas 
 
of }Vest Virginia. 117 
 
 the Legislature of Virginia, by an act passed on the thirteenth day 
 of May, eighteen hundred and sixty-two, did give its consent to the 
 formation of a new State within the jurisdiction of the said State 
 of Virginia, to be known by the name of West Virginia, and to em- 
 brace the following named counties, to wit: Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, 
 Marshall, Wetzel, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Taylor, Tyler, 
 Pleasants, Ritchie, Doddridge, Harrison, Wood, Jackson, Wirt, 
 Roane, Calhoun, Gilmer, Barbour, Tucker, Lewis, Braxton, Upshur, 
 Randolph, Mason, Putnam, Kanawha, Clay, Nicholas, Cabell, Wayne, 
 Boone, Logan, Wyoming, Mercer, McDowell, Webster, Pocahontas, 
 Fayette, Raleigh, Greenbrier, Monroe, Pendleton, Hardy, Hampshire, 
 and Morgan ; and whereas both the Convention and the Legislature 
 aforesaid have requested that the new State should be admitted 
 into the Union, and the Constitution aforesaid being republican in 
 form. Congress doth hereby consent that the said forty-eight 
 counties may be formed into a separate and independent State: 
 Therefore, 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
 the United States of America in Congress assembled. That the State 
 of West Virginia be, and is hereby, declared to be one of the United 
 States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing 
 with the original States in all respects whatever, and until the next 
 general census shall be entitled to three members in the House of 
 Representatives of the United States: Provided always, That this 
 act shall not take effect until after the proclamation of the Presi- 
 dent of the United States hereinafter provided for. 
 
 It being represented to Congress that since the Convention of 
 the twenty-sixth of November, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, that 
 framed and proposed the Constitution for the said State of West 
 Virginia, the people thereof have expressed a wish to change the 
 seventh section of the eleventh article of said Constitution by strik- 
 ing out the same and inserting the following in its place, namely: 
 
 "The children of slaves born within the limits of this State 
 after the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, shall 
 be free, and that all slaves within the said State who shall, at the 
 tiijje aforesaid, be under the age of ten years, shall be free when 
 they arrive at the age of twenty-one years ; and all slaves over ten 
 and under twenty-one years shall be free when they arrive at the 
 age of twenty-five years; and no slave shall be permitted to come 
 Into the State for permanent residence therein;" Therefore, 
 
118 The Formation 
 
 Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That whenever the people of West 
 Virginia shall, through their said Convention, and by a vote to be 
 taken at an election to be held within limits of the said State, at 
 such time as the convenience may provide, make, and ratify the 
 change aforesaid, and properly certify the same under the hand of 
 the President of the Convention, it shall be lawful for the President 
 of the United States to issue his proclamation stating the fact, and 
 thereupon this act shall take effect and be in force from and after 
 sixty days from the date of said proclamation. 
 
 Approved, December 31, 1862. 
 
 This bill did not pass the House, as will be seen from its 
 date, until early in the nezt session of Congress. In the mean- 
 time there was great anxiety and impatience manifested in re- 
 gard to it by the people of Western Virginia. This was ex- 
 pressed by the Legislature in a joint resolution passed on De- 
 cember 9th, as follows: 
 
 Resolved, That, feeling the greatest anxiety and Interest in the 
 successful issue of the movement for a new State in West Virginia, 
 we earnestly request the House of Representatives of the United 
 States to take up and pass, without alteration or amendment, the 
 bill which passed the Senate of the United States on the 14th of 
 July last." 
 
 The language of this resolution, "without alteration or 
 amendment," is suggestive, in that it shows the position to 
 which public sentiment had come in relation to the conditions 
 imposed by Congress. 
 
 On the 9th of December the Senate bill became the order 
 of the day in the House of Eepresentatives. The debate which 
 followed occupied two days, and traveled along the lines that 
 had been traversed by the Senate, excepting that the conditions 
 regarding slavery did not become a qiiestion. But the Consti- 
 tutional questioTis involved, and the validity of the proeeediag 
 under the Constitution, were discussed with great ability on 
 both sides. Hon. Wm. G. Brown, of Virginia, opened the de- 
 
of ^\ed Virginia. 119 
 
 bate by a full statement of the case in favor of the bill. The 
 opponents of the bill, among whom were some very able mem- 
 bers of the House, raised the constitutional questions upon 
 which they asked for the rejection of the bill. Mr. Bingham, 
 of Ohio, at that time a leader in the House, had charge of the 
 bill, and closed the discussion with a very able review of all the 
 questions involved, and a very conclusive argument in favor of 
 the bill. The entire argument of the opponents of the bill is so 
 well presented and answered, and the interesting constitutional 
 questions involved are so clearly set forth in this speech of Mr. 
 Bingham, that it is here reproduced as the most satisfactory 
 exposition of the issues that is accessible : 
 
 MR. BINGHAM'S SPEECH, CLOSING THE DEBATE. 
 
 "It seems to me, Mr. Speaker, that if the House were to adopt 
 the position which has been assumed by some of the gentlemen, of 
 this body who have opposed this bill with great earnestness, that 
 all seeming and alleged constitutional difficulty to the admis- 
 sion of this State of West Virginia would vanish at once. The posi- 
 tion, which has more than once been assumed in this debate, that 
 there is no State there, but that what was once the State of Virginia 
 is now only a Territory of the United States, within the limits of a 
 former State organization, relieves this House of all constitutional 
 difficulties upon the question of the admission of a new State organ- 
 ized therein. Sir, it is too late for any man in the American Con- 
 gress to rise in his place and say that before the people of any 
 Territory of the United States can organize and establish a Consti- 
 tution and form of government, preparatory to admission into the 
 Union as a State, an "enabling act" of Congress is necessary. 
 There are too many States represented upon this floor, and in the 
 Union to-day, which were organized into States and admitted as 
 such by Congress without the authority of any enabling act, to 
 admit of any such position being maintained in this House. If no 
 State formed or organized within the Territory of the United States, 
 could be admitted into the Union without the previous authority of 
 an "enabling act," what becomes to-day of the Representatives 
 upon this floor, and upon the floor of the Senate, from the State 
 of Michigan? There was no enabling act there. The people, in 
 
120 The Formation 
 
 the exercise of their inherent power to form their own local govern- 
 ment, organized for themselves within that Territory a form of 
 State government, by the adoption of a written Constitution, sent 
 it to the Congress of the United States for their approval, and 
 which approval was all that was needful to give full and legal 
 effect to their act. 
 
 "The whole question which has been brought into this debate 
 touching the necessity of an "enabling act" was, upon the applica- 
 tion of Michigan for admission into the Union as a new State, ably 
 discussed and fully and carefully considered in the Twenty-fourth 
 Congress. There was first on that occasion, if I recollect aright, 
 the opinion of the Attorney General that no such act was needful, 
 and which recited the precedent of Tennessee, which had been ad- 
 mitted as a new State without such an "enabling act." The ques- 
 tion was brought to the consideration of the House and the Senate, 
 and, after an exhaustive debate, a direct vote was taken upon it 
 whether the new State could be organized and admitted into the 
 Union without a previous "enabling act." If any one will consult 
 the record of that vote in the Twenty-fourth Congress upon the 
 admission of Michigan, he will find that it was decided by a very 
 strong majority in favor of the right of the people to frame for 
 themselves a State Constitution and Government preparatory to 
 admission as a State into the Union without a previous "enabling. 
 act." This right of the people can no more be taken from them by 
 Congress than can the right of petition. It was because this right 
 is inherent in the people of every national Territory that Michigan 
 was admitted as a new State into the Union against the objection 
 that there was no "enabling act." 
 
 "I might go further in this connection, and remark that in the 
 Instance of the State of Michigan, while it was yet a Territory of 
 the United States, and before admission by Congress into the Union 
 as a State, the Constitution which the people had adopted was put 
 into operation; the people under it organized their courts of justice, 
 and assumed to exercise, and did exercise, the highest powers of 
 sovereignty — the powers of legislation. Congress, by the act of 
 admission, gave effect not only to their Constitution, but, by rela- 
 tion, gave legal effect and validity to all that had been done by that 
 people under their new Constitution. With such a precedent un- 
 challenged to this day no further word need be said in support of 
 the proposition for which I contend, that the people of any Terri- 
 
of West Virginia. 131 
 
 tory ot the United States may, without an enabling act of Con- 
 gress, frame for themselves a Constitution and State Government, 
 and be thereby, with the consent of Congress, admitted as a State 
 into the Union. 
 
 "What, then, becomes of the objection to the admission of the 
 new State of West Virginia, because there was no enabling act, if, 
 as the objector asserts, Virginia is to-day only a Territory? Why, 
 sir, if Virginia is only a United States Territory, it results that the 
 people of that Territory, who apply for admission into the Union 
 under a Constitution adopted by themselves, are exercising only 
 the right of petition — a right which no man can question. If the 
 fact be asserted, then the only question for this House to determine 
 is, not whether it is constitutional, but is it expedient to grant the 
 prayer of the petition, and thereby give effect and validity to their 
 Constitution. There is the end of the argument, so far as the con- 
 stitutionality of that question is involved, if we adopt the assump- 
 tion that Virginia is but a Territory of the United States. 
 
 "I think it proper, before proceeding to consider the weightier 
 questions which have been raised here, to notice the objections 
 made by the Representative from the Accomac district, (Mr. Segar,) 
 wlio has just taken his seat. His argument, in my judgment, was a 
 felo de se — a self-destroyer. In one breath he says that the Con- 
 vention which met at Wheeling was a Constitutional Convention, 
 and the Legislature there assembled a Constitutional Legislature; 
 in the next breath he denies that these bodies are Constitutional 
 or legal bodies. If it be the Constitutional Legislature of the State 
 of Virginia which assembled at Wheeling, then it had the power to 
 provide, as it did provide, for the action of the people touching the 
 adoption or rejection of this Constitution, and the organization of 
 this proposed new State within the limits of Virginia. And yet the 
 gentleman, further on in his speech, came to the conclusion that 
 this legislative body at Wheeling was informal; that it was uncon- 
 stitutional; that it was tyrannical and oppressive; and he asks 
 this House to interpose its shield between the outraged people of 
 Virginia and this tyranny. A Constitutional Legislature who, by a 
 constitutional act, authorized the people to vote for or against a 
 Constitution framed by their own delegates to enable them, if they 
 see fit, to organize for themselves a new State, and to petition the 
 Congress of the United States for its admission into the Union, a 
 tyrannical body! 
 
122 The Formation 
 
 "It is the first time I liave ever heard a Representative upon 
 this floor venture so far as to say that an act authorized by the 
 Federal Constitution, and within the express reserved rights of the 
 people of every State, is an act of tyranny. The gentleman says 
 that in the Convention which convened the Legislature of Virginia, 
 eleven of the counties within the proposed State were not repre- 
 sented. What of that? Does the gentleman mean to say that it 
 makes invalid all that has been done under that Convention? Let. 
 him remember, if he pleases, when he makes an argument of that 
 sort, that that Convention, which was an original act of sovereignty 
 of the people themselves in Virginia, appointed the very Governor 
 of Virginia under whose proclamation he ventured to become a can- 
 didate for a seat in this House, and under whose certificate he ven- 
 tured to present himself here for admission. He cannot be allowed 
 to blow hot and cold in this way upon a question of this sort. If 
 the Convention was invalid, then their appointment of a Governor 
 was invalid, and his proclamation for the election, under which the 
 gentleman claims his seat, was also invalid. The election proclama- 
 tion of Governor Pierpont, if I recollect the record aright, was 
 issued before the people of Virginia were permitted to speak by 
 ballot on the question whether Governor Pierpont should be their 
 executive or not. It was the act of the Convention itself that ap- 
 pointed the Governor of Virginia under whose proclamation the 
 gentleman was elected; of that very Convention which the gentle- 
 man from Virginia (Mr. Segar) stands here this day to repudiate. 
 
 "There was one other objection in the gentleman's argument — 
 if it may be called an argument — which I desire to notice, and that 
 was that there was not a sufficient number of votes given at the- 
 election to justify the House in concluding that this Constitution 
 is the act of the people. It is the first time, I may be permitted 
 to say, that I have heard any man say that the neglect or refusal" 
 to vote of part of those duly qualified to vote invalidates an elec- 
 tion which in other respects is legal. If that were so, then it would 
 be impossible for the people of the State of Virginia, as long as 
 these rebels choose to remain rebels, to reassert their rights. As 
 to the way in which the minority may assert their rights against a 
 majority of rebels, I shall have something to say hereafter. 
 
 "If the gentleman honestly entertains the view of the subject 
 which he has expressed, and to which I have just referred, that aa 
 election legally held iS' made invalid because the great majority of 
 
of West Virginia. 123 
 
 the voters choose not to attend and vote, then with what propriety 
 did the gentleman come here from a district in which there are 
 fifteen or twenty thousand voters, backed by the pitiful vote of 
 only twenty-five citizens, and ask a seat upon this floor? (Laugh- 
 ter.) A man capable of playing that role might be capable of be- 
 traying in his place, after he is admitted, the reserved rights of the 
 people whom he represents. 
 
 "Mr. Speaker, I come now to the other question that has been 
 raised in this debate. No one could be more surprised than I was 
 to see the venerable gentleman from Kentucky, (Mr. Crittenden,) 
 upon whose head time, with its frosty fingers, has scattered the 
 snows of more than seventy winters, and who, for nearly half a 
 century of public service, has had so much of opportunity to learn 
 the true theory of our Government, come here and ignore its very 
 first principles altogether; and that, too, in the teeth of his own 
 manly utterances made no longer ago than at the last session of 
 this House. He uttered a great truth at the last session, in 
 speaking of the reserved rights of the people of Virginia, when he 
 said that the Convention of that people to reorganize their State 
 Government was an original act of sovereignty. It has always been 
 so held. The very Constitution under which the American Union 
 exists this day; the very Constitution under which every Represen- 
 tative upon this floor holds his seat this day, came to be by virtue 
 of that original sovereignty in the people which they have not sur- 
 rendered, which they could not surrender if they would, and which 
 they should not surrender if they could. There is not a man famil- 
 iar with the history of this Government but knows the fact that the 
 Constitution of the United States was formed and ratified by the 
 people, and put into full operation and effect in direct violation of 
 the written compact between the several States of the Confederacy. 
 By what authority? Let him who is called "the father of the Con- 
 stitution" answer that question himself. 
 
 "When the Constitution was on trial for its deliverance before 
 the American people, the enemies of that great instrument pointed 
 to the fact that if it were adopted, it would be adopted in direct 
 contravention of the written compact of perpetual union between 
 the thirteen States; because it was provided in the instrument 
 itself that the ratification of nine States, no matter if every man 
 in the four remaining States protested against it, should give effect 
 to the instrument, and make it the supreme law, to the entire 
 
124 The Formation 
 
 exclusion of every provision of the Confederation within the limits 
 of the States adopting It. The question was asked, how can you 
 abrogate the compact without the consent of all the parties to it? 
 What was the answer to this question given by Mr. Madison, and 
 Addressed to the listening people of all the States of the Confed- 
 eracy who were about to pronounce judgment upon the Constitu- 
 tion? He said: 
 
 " 'The question is answered at once by recurring to the absolute 
 necessity of the case, to the great principle of self-preservation, to 
 the transcendent law of nature and of nature's God, which declares 
 that the safety and happiness of society are the objects at which 
 all political institutions aim, and to which all such institutions must 
 be sacrificed.' 
 
 "And thus was the question raised by the enemies of the Con- 
 stitution answered; and by acting upon the great principle of 'self- 
 preservation,' the people ordained the Constitution and superseded 
 the Confederation. 
 
 "There is nothing in the Federal Constitution to take away or 
 limit this right or self-preservation in the people; nor is there any- 
 thing in that instrument that is contravened by this action of the 
 people of Virginia. Need I stand here to argue that there is not 
 one line or letter in the Federal Constitution that pretends to grant 
 any power to the people of any State to organize a State govern- 
 ment for themselves, especially the original States? Their State 
 governments existed before the Constitution was made; they con- 
 tinued after the Constitution was made — not by the grant of the 
 Constitution, but by the inherent power of the people themselves, 
 a power which they have have never surrendered, and which they 
 can never surrender. No truer utterance was ever made on the 
 floor of the American Senate than that of the late Mr. Benton, when 
 he said that the people of any State might alter and amend their 
 <!onstitution at their pleasure, without consulting anybody outside 
 of the State. 
 
 "Mr. Dawes. Provided it be republican. 
 
 "Mr. Bingham. Certainly, provided it be repuljlican. There is 
 that limitation. And provided further, if you please, that it does 
 not contravene any of the guarantees of the American Constitution 
 to the citizens of the United States, or of any of the restrictions 
 upon the States. I agree that there are limitations imposed by the 
 Constitution beyond the which the people of a State may not go; 
 
of West Virginia. 125- 
 
 but I am speaking of the power of the people in the States to re- 
 organize their State governments at pleasure, always in Siubordina- 
 tion to, but not by grant of, the Federal Constitution. My position 
 is, this power is inherent in the people, and does not exist by virtue 
 of grants of the Constitution. It is a right in the people them- 
 selves. We come now to the great point in discussion here. Who 
 constitute the State of Virginia? I beg leave here to thank my 
 friend from Massachusetts (Mr. Dawesi) for suggesting what was 
 essential to the line of my argument. The gentleman from Penn- 
 sylvania (Mr. Stevens) said the majority of the citizens oi" the 
 United States within any State are the State. I agree to that sir, 
 subject to this limitation, that the majoriy act in subordination to 
 the Federal Constitution, and to the rights of every citizen of the 
 United States guaranteed thereby. 
 
 "But, sir, the majority of the people of any State are not the 
 State when they organize treason against the Government, and con- 
 spiracy against the rights of its citizens. The people of a State 
 have the right to local government. It is essential to their exist- 
 ence. To-day, as the law stands in this country, and by the uni- 
 form construction of the powers of this Government, there is no 
 law by which the midnight assassin of a mere private citizen can 
 be brought to judicial trial, to conviction, and to judgment, within 
 any State of this Union, save the law of the State. Your Federal 
 triliunals under existing laws have no cognizance of the crime if 
 committed within a State on a private citizen, and can do nothing 
 in the punishment of it judicially. 
 
 "Now, sir, I beg leave to ask, can the minority of the people 
 of a State, by the act of the majority committing treason, and 
 taking up arms against the Federal Government, be stripped of 
 their right within the State of protection, under State laws, In their 
 homes and in their persons, even against the hand of the assassin? 
 Am I to stand here to argue such a question as that with intelli- 
 gent Representatives? I say, that if the majority of the people of 
 Virginia have turned rebels, as I believe they have, the State is in 
 the loyal minority, and I am not alone in that opinion. I repeat, 
 where the majority become rebels in arms, the minority are the 
 State; that the minority, in that event, have a right to administer 
 the laws, and maintain the authority of the State Government, and 
 to that end to elect a State Legislature and Executive, by which 
 they may call upon the Federal Government for protection 'against 
 
136 The Formation 
 
 domestic violence,' according to the express guarantee of the Con- 
 stitution. To deny this proposition is to say that when the ma- 
 jority in any State revolt against the laws, hoth State and Federal, 
 and deny and violate all rights of the minority, that however nu- 
 merous the minority may be, the State Government can never be 
 re-organized, nor the rights of the minority protected thereby so 
 long as the majority are in the revolt. In such an event, the ma- 
 jority, being rebels, must submit to the law of the minority, if 
 enforced by the whole power of the National Government. That 
 is no new idea, even. It is as old as the Constitution. I ask gen- 
 tlemen to refer to that remarkable letter of the Federalist, ad- 
 dressed by Mr. Madison to the American people, wherein h© dis- 
 cusses the fourth section of the fourth article of the Constitution 
 of the United States, to wit: 
 
 " 'The United States shall guarantee to every State in the 
 Union a republican form of government, and shall protect each of 
 them against invasion; and on application of the Legislature, (or 
 of the Bexecutive, when the Legislature cannot be convened,) 
 against domestic violence.' 
 
 "As if that great man had been gifted with the vision of a seer, 
 standing amidst his own native hills of Virginia, he foretold that 
 it might come to pass that a majority of the people of a State 
 might consipire together to sweep away the rights of the minority, 
 and break down their privileges as citizens of the United States. 
 In that paper Mr. Madison says: 
 
 " 'Why may not illicit combinations, for purposes of violence, 
 ■be formed as well by a majority of a State as by a majority of a 
 county or a district of the same State? And if the authority of the 
 State ought, in the latter case, to protect the local magistracy, 
 ought not the Federal authority, in the former, to support the State 
 authority?' 
 
 "That is precisely the question here to-day. That is precisely 
 the condition of things in Virginia. The majority have become 
 traitors. When the Representatives whom they had elected, who 
 were required by the existing Constitution of Virginia, as well as 
 by the Federal Constitution, to take an oath to support the Con- 
 stitution of the United States, went to Biohmond, joined in this 
 conspiracy, lifted up the hand of treason and rebellion against the 
 Government, foreswore themselves, and, in short, entered into a 
 deliberate article of bargain and sale with Alexander H. Stephens, 
 
of West Virginia. 137 
 
 Vice President of the Southern Confederacy, transferring the State 
 of Virginia to that Confederacy, they surrendered all right to rep- 
 resent any part of the people of Virginia; as a Legislature they 
 utterly disqualified themselves to execute that trust. But, sir, what 
 are we told? According to the logic of some gentlemen, it would 
 seem that because the Legislature at Richmond turned traitors, 
 because every man of them, except those few virho escaped for 
 their lives from that doomed city — as I trust it is a doomed city — 
 joined in this red-handed rebellion, therefore the people could have 
 no legislation. I appeal to the immortal words of the Declaration 
 in refutation of that conclusion. 'The legislative powers, incapable 
 of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exer- 
 cise.' No matter, sir, who turns traitor, the legislative powers are 
 incapable of annihilation. Now, what but this power remained to 
 the people of Virginia? Their Governor and Legislature had turned 
 traitor. You say that no special election could be held under the 
 Constitution of Virginia without a proclamation from the Gover- 
 nor, in vacation, or without a writ of election issued by the Legis- 
 lature. What was to be done? I say that the power remained 
 with the loyal people of that State to call a Convention and create 
 a provisional government, which they did. On the 23d day of 
 May, 1861, the people of the State of Virginia, invited by an original 
 Convention of the people themselves, met at the time and place 
 specified in the existing law of that Commonwealth, and elected 
 a Legislature. 
 
 "It is said that a majority of those chosen on that day, includ- 
 ing those chosen by the rebels, took the road to Richmond, and 
 took the oath of treason against the Government of the country? 
 Then I tell gentlemen who make that remark that these members- 
 elect never became part of the Legislature at all. The original 
 Convention of the people declared, in 1861, that only those who 
 were elected, and who qualified, should be the Legislature of the 
 State. I might go somewhat further with this argument. I say 
 that the ultimate power to decide that question, 'which of these 
 bodies is the Legislature of Virginia?' is in the Congress of the 
 United States. What is the lawful Legislature of the State? Al- 
 though they were literally chosen under the amended Constitution 
 of Virginia, (adopted in 1851,) and the statute of the State, never- 
 theless I say that it is competent for Congress to say — and it is 
 not only competent, but it is imperative duty of Congress to say — 
 
128 The Formation 
 
 that not a man of them who refused to take the oath prescribed 
 by the Federal Constitution, and who took the oath of that treason- 
 able conspiracy at Richmond, ever became a member of the Legis- 
 lature of the State of Virginia. Who then are the Legislature of 
 Virginia? Only those who qualify in pursuance of the require- 
 ments of the ordinance of the people themselves by taking the oath 
 prescribed by the Federal Constitution, and by the Virginia Consti- 
 tution. If those gentlemen had chosen to observe that form they 
 might have constituted a majority of the Legislature; but they did 
 not do it, either at Wheeling or in Richmond. They violated the 
 Constitution of their own State, as well as the Federal Constitution, 
 when they went to Richmond and took the oath of treason. 
 
 "Now, who are the judges of this matter? I intend, if I can, 
 to strip from every member of this House all attempts to disguise 
 his responsibility here. I am not going to quarrel with good 
 friends if they differ with me in final conclusions, but I am not 
 going to stand here and allow the Representatives of the people, 
 on a question of this magnitude, to shirk their responsibility. I 
 say it without the fear of contradiction, because it has 'been affirmed 
 by every branch of this G-overnment, Legislative, Executive and 
 Judicial, more than once, that when the storm of revolution shakes 
 the civil fabric of a State of the Union, the ultimate and final 
 arbiter to determine who constitute the Legislative and Executive 
 Government of that State, and hold its great trust of sovereignty, 
 is the Congress of the United States, or the President acting by 
 authority of an act of Congress. The great case of Luther and 
 Borden must be fresh in the mind of every Representative of the 
 people, and that was the very question which was then and there 
 decided. What did the court decide in that case? Luther brought 
 his action for trespass to his domicile in the Circuit Court of the 
 United States for the district of Rhode Island. He charged the 
 defendant in that case with having broken open his residence, 
 which every man knows is, under our laws, his oastle. He charged 
 in his declaration that defendant not only broke into and entered 
 his house, but went through all his rooms, from garet to cellar, in 
 search of his person; that he had violated, if you please, his sacred 
 right of domicile. 
 
 "Now, I may be pardoned for reminding gentlemen here that 
 there is no right known to the citizen, under the American law, or 
 under the law of any country beneth the sun where the principles 
 
AkCI-IIBALD W. CAitPBELL. 
 
of West Virginia. 139 
 
 of the common law obtain, which is looked upon as more sacred 
 tlian the right of domicile. You know that by the common law it 
 is held so sacred that he who invades it without the leave of the 
 owner, and especially menacingly, is not entitled to tlie benefit of 
 the rule that the party whom he assails must flee to the wall, but 
 he may suffer Instant death, and the owner is justified before tn© 
 law, because his hearth-stone is not to be violated by a malicious 
 intruder against his protest and against his consent. There was a. 
 strong case against defendant on that record if he had not justified 
 Jiis act. But he did justify — and how? Rhode Island had been in. 
 revolution. Two opposing governments had beeft in operation, 
 "Who was to decide which was the lawful government? They first 
 said that the Courts were to decide. They asked the Courts of 
 Rhode Island to sit in judgment upon the question whether thei 
 government under which they held their commission was a govern- 
 ment at all. The Chief Justice of the United States, with bitter 
 irony and sarcasm, remarked that he did not 'see how the question 
 could be tried and decided in a State Court;' for that, whenever 
 they arrived at the conclusion that the government to which they 
 owed their existence was no government at all, the court itsell 
 ceased to be a court, and could not pronounce the judgment. The 
 breath of life would go out of its body instantly. This action, how- 
 ever, for trespass, was instituted in the United States Circuit Court 
 for the district of Rhode Island. 
 
 "The defendants, by their plea, justified the trespass on the 
 ground that plaintiff was engaged in insurrection, together with 
 others, against the State; that th'e State was, by competent au- 
 thority, declared under martial law; and that defendants, being in 
 the military service of the State, by command of their superior 
 officer, broke and entered plaintiff's house. The plaintiff denied the 
 authority, and replied it was defendants' own proper wrong. In 
 other words, was the government against which the plaintiff was 
 in insurrection the government of Rhode Island? 
 
 "The case finally came up to the Supreme Court of the United 
 States. The Chief Justice (Taney) in delivering his opinion, said 
 that it was a political question, and that the decision of it by the 
 Federal Executive, under the authority of Congress, was binding on 
 the judiciary. He also said the power to decide the question 
 which of the two governments in a State is the true government 
 is in Congress. 
 
130 The Formation 
 
 "That decision amounts to just this, and that is what gives 
 importance to it in the discussion of this question: if the Congress 
 of the United States solemnly decide, as they are the ultimate ar- 
 biter of this political question, that the people of Western Virginia 
 have no right to maintain the government which they have estab- 
 lished, and under which they have made this new CJonstitution, and 
 apply here for admission, they thereby decide that it is void. All 
 that remains is for the Executive to follow your example, and leave 
 that people to their fate. 
 
 ' "What is the effect of such a decision by Congress and the Ex- 
 ecutive? It is to bind your own judiciary to hold the legislation of 
 that people for the protection of their lives and property void. You 
 bind the judiciary of the State itself. You bind everybody who is 
 appointed to execute the laws within that State. While you pre- 
 tend to be for the Constitution as it is, you say to this people, that 
 inasmuch as they are in a minority, and inasmuch as the majority 
 have taken up arms against the Government of the United States 
 and of the State of Virginia, they are without the protection of 
 local State law; that their representatives duly elected are not and 
 cannot be called the Legislature of Virginia. 
 
 "I think I have said enough to satisfy the gentlemen who have 
 done me the kindness to attend to what I have said, that the Leg- 
 islature which assembled at Wheeling, Virginia, was the Legisla- 
 ture of the State of Virginia; and that it remains with you alone to 
 determine whether it shall be or not. If you affirm that it is, there 
 is no appeal from your decision. I am ready, for one, to affirm it, 
 and upon the distinct ground that I do recognize, in the language 
 of Mr. Madison, even the rights of a minority in a revolted State 
 to be protected, under the Federal Constitution, both by Federal 
 law and by State law. I hold, sir, that the Legislature assembled 
 at Wheeling, then, is the legal Legislature of the State; that it had 
 power to assent to this division of the State of Virginia; and that 
 it is wholly immaterial to me whether a majority of the counties 
 of that State refused, by reason of their treason, to co-operate in 
 the election of Delegates and Senators to that Legislature. On 
 the subject of granting the admission of the proposed State, to 
 which that body has assented, it Is enough for me to know there 
 is a sufficient number of loyal men within the limits of the pro- 
 posed State to maintain the machinery of a State Government, 
 and entitle them to Federal representation. That is the only 
 
of West Virginia. 131 
 
 rule heretofore recognized by Congress in the matter of admitting 
 new States duly organized. 
 
 "It may be urged .here that this Legislature, before assenting 
 to the division of the State, should have met at Richmond. It is 
 hardly worth while to follow out such an argument. Gentlemen 
 might as well allege that if the forces of the rebellion took pos- 
 session of this capital, the American Congress could not meet and 
 lawfully exercise its functions in Philadelphia. I do not expect to 
 argue any such question. I undertake to assert that the i)Ower 
 exists — ^that there is nothing either in the Constitution of the 
 United States, or in the laws of the United States, to make invalid 
 the meeting of Congress elsewhere within the limits of the Repub- 
 lic than the city of Washington. If you assert the contrary coil- 
 elusion, then all Jefferson Davis has to do in order to annihilate 
 the legislaitive power of the, Grovernment is to take possession of 
 this capital. I am not ready to stultify myself. 
 
 "Now, this Legislature of Virginia has passed an act, in due 
 form of law, assenting to the erection of a new State within the 
 limits of that State; that is all which is required by the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States on the part of the State of Virginia. It 
 remains to be determined then whether Congress will grant its 
 consent. 
 
 "This State, which it is proposed to admit into the Union, is 
 three times as large in territorial extent as the State of Massachu- 
 setts. It has an area of 24,000 square miles, and a free population 
 of 340,000. The question then comes up whether the Congress of 
 the United States ought to grant the prayer of the people of Vir- 
 ginia. Will Congress admit the new State upon the Constitution as 
 framed and proposed by the bill to be amended? 
 
 "The gentleman on the other side who professes to represent 
 Virginia in this matter, (Mr. Segar,) says that we should not ad- 
 mit this new State because there were eleven counties in which 
 there was not a single vote for the Constitution. Well, there were 
 fifty-two counties which voted. But he has not informed us how 
 many votes were cast against it. It so happens that there i& a 
 return of some 19,300 on the adoption of the Constitution in the 
 form as it originated in the Convention, and only 500, in round 
 numbers, cast against it. You must consider that at the time this 
 vote was taken a large portion of the male population were in arms, 
 protecting the frontiers against the Inroads of this armed rebellion. 
 
132 The Formation 
 
 Yes, sir, my friend tells me not less than seventeen regiments, ia 
 other -words, 17,000 men, were in the field. 
 
 "That objection is easily answered, however; for it is expressly 
 provided in the Senate bill, which is now before the House for con- 
 sideration, that the new State shall not be organized nor the Con- 
 stitution adopted until there shall be another election by the peo- 
 ple. They will have an opportunity then to vote it down. You 
 give it the sanction of law by passing the Senate bill, which pro- 
 vides that it shall not take effect until an election be held, and 
 that the Constitution as amended by this bill shall be ratified by 
 the people. They will then have an opportunity to determine, by 
 ballot, whether they will come into the Union as a free State, or 
 whether they will remain in the State of Virginia as now organ- 
 ized. I submit that I am justified in saying that the objection 
 raised by the gentleman from Virginia falls to the groimd, unless 
 he is Indeed unwilling to trust the people. That is precisely the 
 difference between him and myself. I have an abiding confidence 
 in the people, and that confidence shall remain unshaken until that 
 sad day comes, which I trust never will come, when a majority of 
 the people in every State shall imitate the bad example of a ma- 
 jority of the people of the State of Virginia. That would indeed 
 be a calamity for which our matchless Constitution provides no 
 remedy, and for which 'no posisible Constitution can provide a cure.' 
 The people will then have consented simply to national suicide 
 and self-destruction. 
 
 "It is because I have confidence in the people that I am willing 
 to send this bill to them. I want to see them vote on it, from the 
 base of the Alleghenies to the beautiful waters of the Ohio. I have 
 been among that people. I know something of their character. I 
 have seen eight or ten thousand of them in Convention assembled, 
 for the laudable purpose of holding up the arm of the Government 
 against this unmatched treason and rebellion. I believe that they 
 are loyal. I believe that they are the friends of free institutions. 
 We have some evidence of it in the Constitution now before us; 
 and we will have additional evidence in that instrument as they 
 will amend it, if you pass this bill. If it be urged that this bill, 
 because it imposes conditions on the State, is without a precedent^ 
 I beg leave to say that it is not without a precedent. There is 
 scarcely a single bill which has passed the Congress of the United 
 States for the admission of a new State without conditions annexed,. 
 
of West Virginia. 133 
 
 and ■without the future acceptance of which by the people of the 
 proposed new State the State could not come into the Union. 
 
 "The question has been asked, is It expedient to admit this new 
 State? Is it expedient to unite the people of that valley as one 
 man in support of the Government? Is it expedient to give validity 
 and legality to the acts of her lawful Legislature? That is an Im- 
 portant question for us to considbr. I trust that all men in favor 
 of liberty regulated by law, will say that it is expedient for the 
 American Congress, if possible, to sanction their action and give 
 force to their laws. I fear the chief objection, at last, to the organ- 
 ization of this new State, and to its admission into the Union, how- 
 ever gentlemen may disguise their thoughts, and shrink from a 
 manly avowal of them, is not that there is any constitutional objec- 
 tion to it — ^that there is anything inexpedient in it, when you take 
 into consideration the whole interests of the whole people of the 
 Republic — but simply that it is an inroad, which will become per- 
 manent and enduring if you pass this bill, iflto that ancient Bastlle 
 of slavery out of which hias come this wild, horrid conflict of arms 
 which stains this distracted land of ours this day with the blood 
 of her children. 
 
 "I have no doubt — I have no authority from any of their repre- 
 sentatives to say it — but I have no doubt from what I know of that 
 people, that if you give them the authority by passing this bill, that 
 they will not only ratify this Constitution, but that they will be glad 
 to accept the terms of the President's emancipation proclamation. 
 I believe that many moons will not come and go before the Com- 
 monwealth of West Virginia will stand amongst the free Common- 
 wealths of the Union. 
 
 "I have no doubt about the general sense of the people of 
 Western Virginia, and that if this hill passes in its present shape 
 there will be no slave 'bom there after the 4th day of July next. I 
 am not ashamed to say that I esteem liberty as above all price, and 
 that I count it a great privilege to be able to secure to any man 
 who is guiltless of crime his liberty, though he be a slave. I would 
 contribute to that great end of our free Institutions — ^freedom to all, 
 and i)ersonal securitj*^ to each. Without this men may as well not 
 be. 
 
 "Under this bill, it is provided that no person born in that State 
 after the 4th of July next shall be a slave; that all persons held in 
 slavery within the limits of that State under the age of ten years 
 
134 The Formation 
 
 shall be free at the age of twenty-one, and all over ten and under 
 twenty-one at the age of twenty-five years. God knows, I would 
 have preferred that this House had the courage to have said that 
 every human being should be free now and forevermore within the 
 proposed State, upon the adoption of the Constitution. I intended, 
 at one time, to have offered an amendment to the bill, but I had not 
 the opportunity given me. I chodse to follow the express will of a 
 majority in that respect. 
 
 "If I could not give liberty to-day to all the slaves in West Vir- 
 ginia, I consider it my duty to give liberty ultimately, as this bill 
 does, to nine tenths of the slaves within that State, and to forbid the 
 increase of slavery therein in the great hereafter. I think he would 
 be a poor representative of free men and free institutions who 
 would stand here and say, upon an occasion like this, that because 
 he could not secure liberty to every slave within the State, there- 
 fore he would refuse liberty to nine tenths of them, especially when 
 he has the opportunity at the same moment to declare that no per- 
 son born within the limits of that State alter the next anniversary 
 of our independence shall be held as a slave. 
 
 "I trust, then, the bill will pass; I trust it will pass, as I said 
 before, because I have an abiding confidence in the people them- 
 selves, that they not only will ratify what you will do, but speedily 
 avail themselves in their legislation of the opportunity preseated to 
 them by the President's proclamation to inaugurate immediate or 
 ultimate emancipation for every slave within the State. 
 
 "Refuse to pass this bill, and if they attempt, by their present 
 Legislature, to adopt the emancipation policy of the President, you 
 will have the argument thrown back into your faces that that is 
 not the Legislature of the State, and has no power to consent to the 
 proclamation of the President of the United States; and therefore 
 you will be required to repudiate it. Pledge yourself to this. De- 
 clare that the Legislature of the State, and upon that hypothesis 
 admit the State, and, of course, once admitted, its own Legislative 
 Assembly will be beyond question; and when the new Liegislature 
 under the new State of Virginia shall accept the President's propo- 
 sition, as stated in his proclamation of the 22d of September, all 
 doubters about the constitutionality of the act will be silenced; and 
 whether they be silenced or not, there will stand the record of the 
 majority of this House to give validity to their act, and from which 
 there can be no appeal." 
 
of West Virginia. 
 
 135 
 
 At the conclusion of Mr. Bingham's argument the vote of 
 the House was taken on the passage of the bill and resulted in 
 96 votes in favor and 55 votes against it. 
 
 The bill was approved by the President, and became a law 
 on the 31st day of December, 1862. 
 
CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 THE NEW STATE BILL IN THE HANDS OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 
 
 The bill for tlie admission of the new State having passed 
 both branches of Congress, now came into the hands of Mr. 
 Lincoln for his approval. 
 
 The opponents of the measure, both at home and at the 
 National Capital, made their last stand to obtain a veto by the 
 President. They were active and zealous in urging upon him 
 the arguments against the bill becoming a law. Senator 
 Carlile was now an open and active enemy of the new State 
 movement. Shortly after the passage of the bill by the Senate, 
 he declared in the course of his remarks on the Louisiana ques- 
 tion that "if he had had the means of supporting his family 
 without the three thousand a year he received as a Senator, he 
 would have resigned his seat on the very day that the State of 
 West Virginia was recognised by the Senate." 
 
 This was a radical advance even for Mr. Carlile, and was 
 thought to be such an impolitic declaration for a United States 
 Senator to make from his seat, that his friends urged that it 
 should be excluded from the published proceedings. But it did 
 not escape the criticism of the newspapers of the Capital, 
 which excoriated him without stint. The Legislature, then sit- 
 ting at ^\'^heeling, passed a joint resolution on the 12th of De- 
 cember, requesting him to resign his seat in the Senate, and 
 
of West Virginia. 137 
 
 forwarded the resolution to Washington, requesting that it be 
 laid before Congress. 
 
 Doubtless the pressure that was brought to bear upon Mr. 
 Lincoln to induce him to veto the bill, made him more careful in 
 its consideration than he otherwise would have been. Yet Mr. 
 Lincoln was a careful man. In the midst of the momentous 
 problems that were then pressing upon him day by day, he did 
 nothing in haste. The admission of West Virginia as a State, 
 however important at that time, was a mere side issue to the 
 great events that were occupying the mind of the President and 
 the attention of the Nation. It is safe to say that all his in- 
 clinations were toward giving the executive sanction to the new 
 State movement. He had promised the people early in their 
 struggle that they should have his support as far as the Consti- 
 tution would warrant. 
 
 Now he is face to face with the difficult question — difficult 
 both from a legal standpoint and as a question of public policy — 
 of granting or refusing the intent desire and ambition of the peo- 
 ple of Northwestern Virginia. He took his constitutional limit of 
 time for determining this. He took the written Opinions of the 
 members of his Cabinet. It was during Christmas week, while 
 Congress was taking a holiday, that Mr. Lincoln was wrestling 
 with the new State bill. The friends and patrons of the bill 
 were also on the ground awaiting the decision of the President. 
 What they were doing is very graphically related in a letter by 
 Hon. Jacob B. Blair, one of the Western Virginia Representa- 
 tives in the House. This letter is addressed to Senator Willey 
 and bears date in 1875, and the recital of the events of that time 
 were for the purpose of clearing up another matter then in con- 
 troversy. Mr. Blair writes : 
 
 "After the bill liad passed both Houses of Congress, and needed 
 only the approving signature of the President to become a law, it 
 was thought prudent by you (Mr. Willey) and mysolf to visit the 
 
138 The Formation 
 
 members of the Cabinet, and explain to them the true condition of 
 the loyial people of West Virginia, and to answer, if possible, any 
 objections they might urge either to the constitutionality or expedi- 
 ency of the measure. To this end we called on Mr. Chase, Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury; Mr. Seward, Secretary of State; and Mr. 
 Blair, Postmaster General; and I Isnow we had good reasons to con- 
 gratulate ourselves on our day's work. The other jnembers of the 
 Cabinet, if my memory serves me right, we failed to see. 
 
 "There was now but one i.hing more that could be done by the 
 Representatives in Congress from West Virginia, to secure the 
 success of the bill which we believed to be fraught with so much 
 interest to our constituents ; and that was to visit the President and 
 appeal to him in the name of the loyal people of West Virginia to 
 give the measure his approval. The President had had the bill 
 under consideration for nine days, and under the Constitution the 
 hour for action was at hand. We all felt confident that he would 
 approve it, but such was our anxiety for its fate that we felt restive 
 under the suspense. As I have said before, we then determined to 
 go and see the President and urge him to give the bill his favorable 
 consideration. There is scarcely the smallest Incident that occur- 
 red at that interview that I do not distinctly remember. It was in 
 the evening of the last day of December, 1862. You, Hon. Wm. G. 
 Brown, and myself were present. We had hardly taken our seats 
 when Mr. Lincoln remarked that he was glad we had called, as he 
 wished to talk to us as to the constitutionality and expediency of 
 creating the proposed new State nut of a part of the State of 
 Virginia. 
 
 "Without waiting for a reply he went on to say that he had 
 consulted his Cabinet on the above points, that he had their opin- 
 ions In writing, that he would read them to us, but would not tell 
 us which was which. Friend Brown just then got in a word, and 
 remarked that he thought we would be able to tell whose opinion 
 he read. You remember we did so in every instance. He had the 
 written opinion of every member of his Cabinet, save one — that of 
 Mr. Smith. Mr. Seward, Mr. Chase, and Mr. Stanton, were for us. 
 Mr. Wells, Mr. Blair, and Mr. Bates, were against us. The Presi- 
 dent then pulled out a drawer in the table by which he was sitting, 
 with the remark: 'Now, gentlemen, I will give you the odd trick;' 
 and I remarked, 'that is the trick we hope to take.' One thing I do 
 know, that we three agreed afterwards, that Mr. Lincoln's argu- 
 
of West Virginia. 13& 
 
 ment was the clearest, most pointed, and conclusive of all that was 
 read to us. We went at 7 o'clock and left after 10. You will re- 
 member that just as we were leaving I obtained a promise from 
 him, that notwithstanding that next day was New Year's day, when 
 the President received no visitors on business, that if I would come 
 up early he would let Mr. Brown know whether he had approved 
 our bill or not. I was there early in the morning, and he kept his 
 promise as he always did. He brought the bill to me and holding it 
 open before my eyes, he said: 'Do you see that signature?' I 
 read: 'Approved, Abraham Lincoln.' 
 
 "I need not say I was happy. I thanked the President in the 
 name of the loyal people of our new born State, for what he had 
 done for them, and with a light heart I made my way back to the 
 National Hotel. When a square off I saw your tall form standing 
 in front of the hotel. When I approached you, I shall ever remem- 
 ber the anxiety depicted in your countenance to learn the result of 
 my visit to the President. I told you all in a word, and then and 
 there two souls were made happy. We both went immediately to 
 the telegraph ofiBce, and sent the good news with lightning speed to 
 Gov. F. H. Pierpont, then acting Governor of the restored Govern- 
 ment of the State of Virginia. 
 
 "Individuals often prove ungrateful, but the masses of the 
 people seldom; and you may rest assured that the people of West 
 Virginia are not ignorant of the ability and fidelity with which you 
 served them in every position you were called by them to fill; and 
 no act of your life will be longer or more gratefully remembered by 
 them than your faithful, honest, persevering effort, which was, at 
 last, crowned with success, to secure for them that for which they 
 had so long prayed — an independent State carved out of the terri- 
 tory of Virginia west of the AUeghanies. 
 
 Your obedient servant, 
 
 JACOB B. BLAIR." 
 
 The author of the above letter, while a very able man, was 
 possessed of a very impulsive, sanguine temperament, full of 
 enthusiasm for whatever he undertook, and with a fund of hu- 
 mor and good fellowship that made him companionable under 
 all conditions. But to those who directly participated in the 
 contest for the new State at the Capital, this period of waiting. 
 
140 The Formation 
 
 when the whole issue depended on the signature of the Presi- 
 ■dent, was the most exciting as well as the most amusing chapter 
 in the history of the fight. Mr. Blair's impatient spirit, and 
 his wit, made merriment for his associates and relaxed the ten- 
 sion of their suspense during the days and nights they waited 
 for a word from the White House. While Mr. Blair's letter 
 suggests the incidents of the situation, it omits many that were 
 excessively ludicrous in which he figured as the impulsive actor. 
 He tells us that he called early on the President on the morn- 
 ing of Few Year's day to learn the fate of the bill, but he omits 
 to say, what his associates allege, that he called before the White 
 House was open, and climbed in a window, in his eagerness to 
 ^et at the President. 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was not a man to rebuke such a lack of for- 
 malitJ^ He enjoyed it. He had a keen eye for the ridiculous, 
 -and he loved to throw ofi the dignity of his office and be himself. 
 As illustrative of his free and easy manner, Mr. Willey tells that 
 he, also, called on him early one morning. The President was 
 in his office in the hands of his barber, and his face covered with 
 lather. Mr. Willey was a frequent caller and a friendly, con- 
 genial, unofficial familiarity had grown up between them. 
 When the President recognized Mr. Willey's voice in an outer 
 room, he called out : "Come in, AVilley, come in ! I'm just 
 having a shave. What can I do for you this morning?" Mr. 
 Willey's errand was a request from one of his constituents, a 
 lawyer, to be relieved from disabilities growing out of his con- 
 nection with the war of the rebellion, which under the law, the 
 President was authorized to relieve, on condition of their taking 
 the oath of allegiance. But this petition was a little peculiar, 
 as Mr. Willey said to the President, and he would submit it to 
 his judgment. "Well," said the President, "you just read it, 
 -Willey, to me while I am being shaved." Mr. Willey proceeded 
 to read the petition, the purport of which was that the writer 
 desired to be relieved from his disabilities, and resume practice 
 
of West Virginia. 141 
 
 of the law, but had couscientious scruples against taking the test 
 oath, and wanted to be excused from that. Mr. Lincoln waited 
 until the reading was finished, and then blowing the soap from 
 his lips, simply said: "He be darned!" 
 
 There was a strange and striking contrast, almost incon- 
 ceivable and indescribable, between this solemn visaged, serious 
 President, in his moments of good humor, and those other mo- 
 ments when all that was somber in his character seemed to 
 stand out as the controlling feature of his personality. In deal- 
 ing with this great subject of a new State, so complicated in its 
 character, and upon which he felt that so much depended, he 
 spent three consecutive hours with those friends of the bill,, 
 mostly in discovering and commenting upon the humorous fea- 
 tures of the contest, yet, at the same time disclosing a wise and 
 shrewd appreciation of the questions involved; and when, at 
 last, he was able to announce his conclusion, he did it with the- 
 manner and much the same exhibition of pleasure as a light 
 hearted boy. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION EE-CONVENED ON THE 
 "WILLET amendment/' 
 
 The Convention which framed the Constitution had made 
 provision, before its adjonmment, for reconvening in case of 
 need. The nevs^ condition relating to slavery which Congress 
 had imposed as a qualification for the admission of the new 
 State, made it necessary for the Convention to reassemble and 
 act upon it. Accordingly the Convention came together again 
 on the 13th day of February, 1863. 
 
 The exact question upon which the Convention was called 
 upon to act, was that of incorporating in their Constitution the 
 following provision, known as the "Willey Amendment." 
 
 "The children of slaves born within the limits of this State, 
 after the fourth day of July, 1863, shall he free; and all slaves 
 within the State who shall, at the time aforesaid, be under the age 
 of ten years, shall be free when they arrive at the age of twenty- 
 one years ; and all slaves over ten and under twenty-one years shall 
 be free when they arrive at the age of twenty-five years; and no 
 slave shall be permitted to come into the State for permanent resi- 
 dence therein." 
 
 The adoption of the foregoing amendment was not a mat- 
 ter of course either by the Convention or by a vote of the people. 
 The opponents of the new State measure now rallied all along 
 the line to defeat it on this issue. 
 
of West Virginia. 143 
 
 There is no doubt but that this Convention -which had, at 
 its former session, refused even to submit a provision of such 
 a nature to a vote of the people, had materially changed its atti- 
 tude toward that question. The informal vote taken by the 
 people at the time of the adoption of the Constitution had done 
 much to affect the sentiment of delegates. Now the question 
 had become an absolute condition to the, new State. Reject 
 this concession and Congress would reject the application for a 
 new State. This was now the pivot upon which the whole new 
 State project was to turn. 
 
 The opponents of the amendment, in the Convention, 
 sought to incorporate in the "WiUey Amendment" a condition 
 that the owners of slaves should be compensated under the pro 
 visions for emancipation; claiming that this was an, equitable 
 demand on the part of those who had been loyal in spite of 
 their interest. This was plausible, and abstractly, a just prop- 
 osition, and had more chances of carrying the Convention than 
 a direct assault upon the amendment itself. But it would, 
 probably, have been as fatal in its ultimate effect, as a vote 
 against the amendment. The Convention found a smooth way 
 out of the dilemma by passing a resolution asking Congress to 
 make an appropriation of $3,000,000 for compensating loyal 
 slave owners. That adjustment ended with the recommenda- 
 tion. 
 
 Outside of the Convention a good deal of agitation and 
 effort to prejudice the public mind against the "Willey Amend- 
 ment," and against the whole scheme of a new State, was being 
 industriously worked up. It was alleged, with a good deal of 
 effect, that the action of Congress was unwarranted "dictation ;" 
 that the new State would have no legal basis when it was ad- 
 mitted; and that even if the amendment was adopted, the 
 whole proceeding would have to be gone through with again, of 
 getting the consent of the reorganized government of Virginia, 
 and of Congress, to render it valid. 
 
144 The Formation 
 
 The opposition became so formidable as to arouse the ap- 
 prehensions of the friends of the new State, and they took sys- 
 tematic measures to overcome it. Among other things, they 
 invited Senator Willey to address the Convention on the ques- 
 tions at issue. His address was intended to be a complete 
 review of the whole controversy regarding a new State, and to 
 be used as a campaign circular for general distribution, among 
 the people. On the first day of the assembling of the Conven- 
 tion, Senator Willey, by arrangement, appeared and was at once 
 invited to address the Convention. The address contains such 
 a complete exposition of the questions at issue arid the objec- 
 tions occupying the minds of the people at this epoch, that it is 
 here reproduced as the best history, and affording the best un- 
 derstanding of the controversy that is attainable. Senator Wil- 
 ley said : 
 
 Mr. President: — Nothing has ever surprised me more than the 
 opposition which is made to the admission of the new State of West 
 Virginia into the Union by a portion of the i>eOple within itS' limits. 
 The assumed grounds of this opposition are, however, little less 
 surprising. It is to be regretted that there seems to be some 
 necessity for debating the question. 
 
 The fundamental objection on the part ot the opponents of the 
 new State appears to consist in the idea that the proper assent of 
 the Legislature of Virginia has never been obtained, and this objec- 
 tion is predicated on the hypothesis that what has been called the 
 Wheeling Legislature was not, in fact and in law, the Legislature of 
 Virginia. If this be true, the objection is well taken, for the Consti- 
 tution of the United States expressly provides that "no new State 
 shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of another State 
 without the consent of the Legislature of the State and of the Con- 
 gress." 
 
 I hardly suppose it is necessary to controvert the idea before 
 the people of West Virginia, that the Richmond Legislature since 
 the 17th day of April, 1861, was the true and rightful Legislature of 
 Virginia. Traitors may think so, but loyal men cannot think so. 
 Those who believe in the doctrine that a State has a right to secede 
 
Jacob Beeson Blaie. 
 
of West Virginia. 145 
 
 from the Union, may be excused for entertaining such an opinion, 
 but those who believe that Virginia is still in the Union, and one of 
 the United States, cannot tolerate such a political heresy. Why, 
 sir, those men at Richmond were rebels. They had abjured their 
 allegiance to the United States and sworn to support the Constitu- 
 tion of the so-called Confederate States. They had levied war 
 again&t the United States. Shall they be acknowledged as the 
 rightful Legislature of Virginia? Not by me, sir, while God spares 
 my life ! Not by me while the old flag of my fathers floats over one 
 foot of ground between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. 
 
 Well, then, sir, has Virginia been without a Legislature ever 
 since April 17, 1861 I recur to the question — Was the Legislature 
 which consented to the formation of the new State of West Virginia 
 the Legislature of Virginia in fact and in truth? 
 
 I need not rehearse to the people of West Virginia the atrocious 
 proceedings of the conspirators which led to the organization of the 
 Legislature at Wheeling. I need not remind them that without 
 their knowledge or their assent they were transferred, like slaves 
 on the block, to an insurrectionary government of self-constituted 
 rulers at Montgomery. I need not review the state of facts existing 
 among us by which we were left without judges, sheriffs, justices, 
 of the peace, courts, and all those arrangements of government, 
 legislative, executive and judicial, necessary to the protection, of 
 our lives, liberties and estates. All these matters are still painfully 
 fresh in the memory of all. The necessity to provide some security 
 for ourselves was absolute. If we had been disposed to submit 
 ourselves to the rebel government, it was utterly beyond our 
 reach — utterly unable to afford us the slightest protection. What 
 could we do? There were three alternatives before us. 1st, 
 To yield ourselves victims to unrestrained anarchy and lawlessness. 
 2d. To invoke the protection of a military governor, and submit 
 ourselves to the caprices of military despotism. 3d. Or to resume 
 the exercise of our original inalienable right of establishing a gov- 
 ernment for ourselves. We chose the latter, and the wisdom of 
 our choice has been vindicated by the comparative security, happi- 
 ness and prosperity of the people wherever the government we 
 restored has been established and maintained. 
 
 Our moderation in the exercise of this prerogative has been the 
 theme of admiration by all impartial men who have examined and 
 understood our proceedings. Instead of assuming to organize a 
 
146 The Formation 
 
 new State government, we simply resumed the old government, by 
 appointing new ofRoers to disoluarge its functions in place of those 
 who had vacated their offices by flight, or forfeited them by treason. 
 This we did, and nothing more. 
 
 And now, sir, was the government of Virginia, thus restored, 
 legitimate, and valid? Was the Legislature at Wheeling, which 
 gave its consent to the admission of the State, the true and lawful 
 Legislature of Virginia? 
 
 And here, sir, I beg leave to refer you to the following extract 
 from the opinion of Chief Justice Taney, delivered in the celebrated 
 case of Luther vs. Borden, 7 Howard, page 42: 
 
 "Moreover, the Constitution of the United States, as far as it 
 has provided for any emergency of this kind, and authorized the 
 general government to interfere in the domestic concern® of a 
 State, has treated the subject as political in its nature, and placed 
 the power in the hands of that department. 
 
 "The fourth section of the fourth article of the Constitution of 
 the United States, provides that the United States shall guarantee 
 to every State in the Union a republican form of government, and 
 shall protect each of them from invasion; and on the application 
 of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature can- 
 not be convened) against domestic violence. 
 
 "Under this article of the Costitution it rests with Congress 
 to decide what government is the established one in a State. For, 
 as the United States guarantee to each State a republican form of 
 government. Congress must necessarily decide what government 
 is established in the State, before it can determine whether it is 
 republican or not. And when the Senators and Representatives! of 
 a State are admitted into the councils of the Union, the authority 
 of the government under which they are appointed, as well as its 
 republican character. Is recognized by the proper constitutional 
 authority. And its decision is binding on every other department 
 of the government, and could not be questioned in a judicial tri- 
 bunal." 
 
 Now, sir, what are the facts in this case? Have Senators and 
 Representatives of the State of Virginia been admitted into the 
 councils of the Union under the authority of the re-organized gov- 
 ernment of Virginia which gave consent to the admission of West 
 Virginia into the Union? I need not answer that question. You 
 know that they liave been so admitted. My colleague (Mr. 
 
of West Virginia. 147 
 
 Carlile) and myself now holding seats in the Senate of the United 
 States, were elected hy the Legislature at Wheeling. And Messrs. 
 Blair and Segar, now holding seats in the House of Representa- 
 tives, were elected under warrants issued by His Excellency Gov. 
 Pierpont, the Executive of this rerorganized government. And 
 that is not all. For, dn the language of the Hon. Mr. Colfax, when 
 lately discussing this same question on the floor of the House of 
 Representatives of the United States: 
 
 "Secondly, The executive department of the Government, and 
 the highest portion of that executive department, the President 
 himself, has repeatedly recognized the Governor and the Legisla- 
 ture of Virginia as the rightful authorities of that State. 
 
 "Thirdly, The Secretary of the Treasury, lias recognized that 
 government as the rightful government of Virginia, for he has paid 
 to them out of the Treasury of the Union, without complaint and 
 without protest from any one of all the twenty-odd millions of loyal 
 people of the United States the $40,000 remaining in the Treasury 
 as the share of the State of Virginia of the proceeds of the sales of 
 public lands, and which the State of Virginia had hitherto refused 
 to take from the Treasury. 
 
 "Fourthly, The Secretary of War has recognized his govern- 
 ment as the lawful government of Virginia, and Governor Pierpont 
 as the rightful Governor of Virginia, by accepting his commissions 
 of the officers of the noble and loyal volunteer regiments of Virginia, 
 as commissions emanating from rightful and legal authority. 
 
 "Fifthly, The Secretary of the Interior has also recognized the 
 same thing in his communicating to Governor Pierpont, as the Gov- 
 ernor of Virginia, the official notice of the congressional apportion- 
 ment of 1860, as required by law." 
 
 Surely, then, I think I may confldently say that the Legislature 
 at Wheeling, and the government at Wheeling, have been most 
 amply recognized by "the proper constitutional authorities." And 
 if, in the language of the opinion just qu<Jted, "its decision is bind- 
 ing on every other department of the government, and would not 
 be questioned in a judicial tribunal," we ought to be content. 
 
 But the opponents of this measure express equal dissatisfaction 
 with the character of the act of admission passed by the Congress 
 of the United States; and whilst they cannot deny the power of 
 Congress in the premises, they assume to allege that this power 
 ias been exercised in an .oppressive and unconstitutional way. 
 
148 The Formation 
 
 They denounce the act of admission because we were not admitted 
 with the Constitution we had ordained and adopted, without modi- 
 fication or conditions. Mr. President, I am free to say that such an 
 admission would have been more acceptable to me. But I put it to 
 you to say whether there ever was a law passed of very great im- 
 portance which was, in all respects, perfectly acceptable to you. It 
 is impossible to please all parties exactly in any matter of import- 
 ant legislation. The wishes, feelings, prejudices and interests of 
 others must be consulted as well as our own. Dr. Franklin re- 
 marked, when atoout to cast his vote in favor of the Constitution of 
 the United States, that there were many provisions in it which he 
 would desire to be modified; hut that considering the views and 
 opinions of others it was the best Constitution he could get, and 
 that its advantages and virtues so overbalanced its defects and 
 vices, that he was willing to adopt it as a whole. Well, sir, I op- 
 posed the adoption of the condition imposed upon us in the act of 
 admission. I preferred to have no such conditions, and voted 
 against them. But I was but one of forty Senators, each of whom 
 were entitled to as much consideration as myself. A majority of 
 them determined to afiix the conditions complained of to the act of 
 admission, and they did affix it. The result was, that I must choose 
 between admission with this objectionable feature, or rejection 
 altogether. I could not hesitate. The advantages of admission 
 thus embarrassed, over total rejection were, to my mind, so over- 
 whelming that there was no apology for hesitation. 
 
 But, sir, let us examine the objection most frequently, and, as 
 I understand, effectively made against this act of admission. It is 
 called unwarrantable — nay, unconstitutional "dictation," on the part 
 of Congress, with matters properly cognizable by, and belonging to 
 the people of the State in their municipal capacity. Now, what Is 
 the precise cause of offence? 
 
 In the Constitution of the new State there was this section: — 
 "No slave shall be brought, or free person of color be permitted 
 to come, into this State for permanent residence. 
 
 The following is the substitute proposed by Congress for the 
 foregoing section: "The children of slaves born within the limits 
 of this State after the fourth of July, eighteen hundred and sixty- 
 three, shall be free; and all slaves within the said State who shall, 
 at the time aforesaid, be under the age of ten yeans, shall be free 
 when they arrive at the age of twenty-one years; and all slaves 
 
of West Virginia. 149 
 
 over ten and under twenty-one years, shall be free when they arrive 
 at the age of twenty-five years ; and no slave shall be permitted to 
 oome into the State for permanent residence therein." 
 
 Now this is the provision which has created so much ado; and 
 inspired so many jeremiades. Here is the head and front of that 
 terrible "dictation" which has toeen so bitterly denounced — especial- 
 ly by our friends possessing secession proclivities. 
 
 Now, sir, I frankly admit that every State should be left free, 
 within the plain limitations of the Constitution of the United States, 
 to regulate its own municipal affairs, without any interference from 
 any external power on the face of the earth. Does this act of Con- 
 gress infringe upon this right? Let us see. 
 
 By the 3rd section of Article IV of the Constitution of the 
 United States, it is provided as follows: 
 
 "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 be formed by the junctions of two 
 or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the Legis- 
 latures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress." 
 
 Now it must, therefore, be conceded by all that Congress had 
 an unqualified night to have rejected our application for admission 
 into the Union altogether. Suppose Congress had exercised that 
 right? Suppose, that to our application Congress had said — No! 
 You shall not be admitted on any terms. Would that not have been 
 "dictation," according to the logic of these Objectors? And yet 
 Congress had the right and power to do so. But Congress did not 
 exercise its power so arbitrar^ily. They did not reject our suit 
 altogether, but submitted a proposition to us. They did not assume 
 to thrust this proposition on us nolens volens, but referred it to our 
 free consent whether we would accept or reject it. They sent their 
 proposition back to the Convention which ordained the Constitu- 
 tion, and if it should be acceptable to the Convention, then it was 
 to be sent on to the people themselves for ratification or refusal. 
 Why, sir, what kind of "dictation" is this? It is a very harmless 
 "dictation" which leaves us perfectly free to obey it or disregard 
 it, as it may please us. There is nothing mandatory or compulsory 
 in the case. We have no power to compel Congress to admit us; 
 and Congress has no power to compel us to come into the Union 
 contrary to our own free will, nor have they assumed to exercise 
 any such power. And yet there are those who are constantly in- 
 
150 T-he Formation. 
 
 flaming the public mind with-. the indefinite .cry of. "Congressional 
 dictation." 
 
 But, Mr. President, I must be allowed to revert to a few his- 
 torical facts in connection with an admission of new States into 
 the Union. I think we shall find that the precedents are neither 
 few nor feeble, in which Congress has afiixed conditions to their 
 admission. Indeed we shall find a notable instance prior to the 
 adoption of the Constitution of the United States. In the 6th Arti- 
 cle of the celebrated Ordinance of 1787 for the government of the 
 Territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio river, we have 
 the following restrictive condition: — "There sluall be neither slavery 
 nor involuntary servitude in the said territory." And when Ohio 
 was admitted into the Union, the first born of this great territory, 
 the act of admission contained an express provision in effect that 
 the people of the State should never authorize slavery or involun- 
 tary servitude therein." 
 
 The admission of Missouri occupies a large space in the history 
 of the nation. The Constitution of that State contained the follow- 
 ing provision, art. 3, 26th sec. and 4th clause thereof: 
 
 "It shall be the duty of the Legislaturey as soon as may be, to 
 pass such laws as may be necessary to prevent free negroes' and 
 mulattoes from coming to and settling in this State, under any pre- 
 text whatever." 
 
 You will perceive that this clause is almost identical with the 
 clause in our Constitution, which it is proposed in the act of admis^ 
 sion shall be modified, and it was this clause in the Constitution of 
 Missouri which excited the memorable contest in Congress, result- 
 ing in the admission of that State by the adoption of the following 
 resolution : 
 "Resolution providing for the admission of the State of. Missouri 
 
 into the Union on a certain condition." 
 
 "Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
 United States of America in Congress assembled. That Missouri is 
 hereby admitted into the Union on an equal footinig with the orig- 
 inal States in all respects whatever, upon the fundamental condi- 
 tion that the fourth clause of the twenty-sixth section of the third 
 article of the Constitution submitted on the part of the said State 
 to Congress, shall never be construed to authorize the passage of 
 any law, and that no law shall be passed in conformity thereto, by 
 which any citizen of either of the States in this Union shall be ex- 
 
of West Virginia. 151 
 
 eluded from the enjoyment of any of the privileges and immunities 
 to which such citizen is entitled under the Constitution of the 
 United States, Provided, That the Legislature of the said State, by 
 a solemn public act, shall declare the assent of the said State to 
 the said fundamental condition, and shall transmit to the President 
 of the United States, on or before the fourth Monday in November 
 next, an authentic copy of said act; upon the receipt of which, the 
 President, by proclamation, shall announce the fact; and there- 
 upon, without any further proceeding on the part of CJongress, the 
 admission of the said State into the Union shall be considered as 
 complete.'' 
 
 I refer you also to act of Congress for the admission of the 
 State of Michigan into the Union. This act is entitled: 
 
 "An act to establish the boundary line of the State of Ohio, and 
 to provide for the admission of the State of Michigan into the 
 Union upon the conditions therein expressed." 
 
 These conditions are express and fundamenial. They are de- 
 clared to be so in the act itself. 
 
 In 1846 Congress passed what is called "An enabling act," look- 
 ing to the admission of the State of Wisconsin. In 1847 an act was 
 passed by Congress finally and fully admitting that State into the 
 Union. Both these acts contain explicit fundamental conditions, to 
 be complied with by that State, before the act of admission could 
 take effect 
 
 The joint resolutions of Congress for the admission of Texas 
 form no exception to what was then becoming almost a general 
 rule of Congress in their acts admitting new States. These resolu- 
 tions contain several important restrictions and conditions which 
 are worthy the consideration of those who seem to be so jealous of 
 Congressional dictation. I have them here, but I will not detain 
 the Convention by reading them. 
 
 I make one more reference. It is to the act of Congress admit- 
 ting the State of Kansas. If I saw proper to go into the extraor- 
 dinary history of Congressional legislation in reference to that 
 State, I should be able to furnish an array of precedents in favor 
 of the power of Congress to impose conditions upon the admission 
 of new States which it would be difficult for the opponents of the 
 exercise of such power to resist. I will content myself, however, 
 with a few extracts from the final act of admission 
 
152 Tlie Formation 
 
 Mr. President: I will not further transgress on the time and 
 patience of the Convention by the citation of other Congressional 
 precedents. I am happy, however, to he able to add to these high 
 authorities that of my able colleague in the Senaite of the United 
 States, (Hon. Jolin S. Carlile). I have here the original bill report- 
 ed by the Committee on Territories for the admission of West Vir- 
 ginia into the Union, drawn by Mr. Carlile. That it was the mature 
 result of Mr. Carlile's enlightened judgment, there can be no doubt, 
 for Mr. Senator Wade, the chairman of that Committee, when dis- 
 cussing the question, said: "He (Mr. Carlile) of all the men in the 
 Committee is the man who penned all these bills and drew them up. 
 He is the man who investigated all the precedents to see how far 
 you could go in this direction. It was to his lucid mind that we 
 were indebted for the fact that there were no legal or constitu- 
 tional barriers in the way of the proposition." We may, therefore, 
 confidently refer to Mr. Carlile's bill as containing his deliberate 
 opinion of the constitutional power of Congress in the premises, 
 and of the expediency and propriety of so exercising that power. 
 
 The first section of this bill is exactly as follows : 
 
 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
 the United States of America in Congress assembled. That the 
 State of West Virginia shall be admitted into the Union on an eciual 
 footing with the original States in all respects whatever, upon the 
 following conditions, viz: 
 
 First. That there shall be included within the said State of 
 West Virginia, in addition to the counties already enumerated in 
 the preamble to this act, the following counties, as laid off and de- 
 fined by the Legislature of the State of Virginia, to-wit: Berkeley, 
 Jefferson, Clark, Frederick, Warren, Page, Shenandoah, Rocking- 
 ham, Augusta, Highland, Bath, Rockbridge, Botetourt, Craig and 
 Alleghany. 
 
 Second. That the Convention hereinafter provided for shall, 
 in the Constitution framed by it, make provision that from and 
 after the fourth day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, the 
 children of all slaves born within the limits of said State shall be 
 free." 
 
 This section implies that it was competent for Congress in the 
 admission of West Virginia, to make it a fundamental condition, 
 
of West Virginia. 153 
 
 that a large additional section of territory, embracing sixteen 
 counties, with a white population of more than a hundred thousand 
 and a slave population of thirty or forty thousand, should be in- 
 cluded. It also declares that Congress had the power to make our 
 admission dependent on the amendment of our fundamental law, so 
 that "the children of all 'slaves bom within th© limits of said State 
 shall be free." These are, certainly, very important conditions. I 
 •do not say that Congress had not the power to prescribe them. 
 
 The second section of this bill of Mr. Carlile, Mr. President, I 
 confess looks a little "dictatorial;" for, after providing for an elec- 
 tion for delegates to frame an entire new Constitution for this 
 proposed enlarged new State, it prescribes the qualifications of the 
 •delegates to the Constitutional Convention, and also the number of 
 delegates each county should be entitled to elect, and finally pro- 
 vides that if the people should ratify the new Constitution formed 
 hy these delegates, then the President of the United States, shall, 
 by proclamation, announce the fact; and thereupon, without any 
 presentation of this new Constitution to Congress, the new State 
 shall, ipso facto, become a member of the Union. I confess I can 
 Tiardly subscribe these latter provisions as within the constitutional 
 power of Congress. But then, sir, I have to acknowledge that I 
 lave not investigated this section with the deliberation which was, 
 •doubtless bestowed upon it by Mr. Carlile. Is it not strange- 
 passing strange — Mr. President, that any person should be either 
 so ignorant of the history of his own country, or, so far the victim 
 of prejudice or passion, as, in the face of all these facts and prece- 
 dents, to denounce the Act of Congress admitting the State of West 
 Virginia into the Union, as a new policy and an invasion of the 
 rights of the people? 
 
 But Mr. President, the real objection to this measure enter- 
 tained by those opposed to it, is, I doubt not, that if the amendment 
 proposed by Congress shall be adopted, West Virginia will become 
 a free State. And as this is a question of great practical import- 
 ance, I shall be pardoned for bestowing upon it a brief consider- 
 ation. 
 
 Shall we, in forming this new State, organize it as a free State, 
 or as a slave State? Shall we have only free labor, or shall we 
 have slave labor also? I shall not say whether slavery Is morally 
 right or morally wrong. I shall make no argument upon the moral- 
 ity of slavery. I shall speak of it only In reference to the true 
 
154 The Formation 
 
 political economy of the new State. The question is, not whether 
 slavery ought to be abolished in East Virginia, where there are 
 480,000 slaves. It is aot proposed to disturb the institution there 
 or elsewhere beyond the limits of the new State, within which 
 there are only 7,000 or 8,000 slaves. All concede the rig'ht of each 
 State to regulate its own domestic institutions. And in the exer- 
 cise of this undoubted right, which affects ourselvesi alone, the 
 question arises whether we should recognize, or exclude slavery in 
 organizing our new State. 
 
 It cannot be presumed that the number of slaves now actually 
 owned within the limits of the new State would be urged as an 
 interest of such magnitude as might not be interfered with, if the 
 general welfare would be promoted by emancipating them. That 
 number is too small to stand in the way of the public good. But 
 small as is this number, the act of admission only affects a part of 
 them — not more than half; and this half are to serve their masters, 
 those under ten years of age, till they are twenty-one, and those 
 over ten and under twenty-one years of age, till they are twenty- 
 five. Shall this small interest stand between us and all the advant- 
 ages of a new State? Shall the welfare and prosperity of 330,000 
 of our people be forfeited because it might deprive some 2,000 or 
 3,000 people of the service of 3,000 or 4,000 slaves for a part of 
 their lives? May not this small interest be surrendered for the 
 public good, upon due compensation being made? We go into the 
 quarries and forests and fields of our citizens and impress teams 
 and materials to construct our public roads, because the public good 
 requires it. Shall it be said we shall not remove the obstruction of 
 a few hundred thousand dollars worth of slaves out of the great 
 highway of our State to wealth, prosperity and power? Certainly, 
 therefore it cannot be the value of the property or interest affected 
 by the act of admission, which constitutes the objection of the 
 opponents to this measure. It must be the value attached to 
 slavery as an inistitution, and a desire to see it perpetuated and 
 diffused all through our western counties, as it is in the eastern 
 section of the State, which prompts this opposition to a division of 
 the State. 
 
 But granting for the sake of argument, that slavery is all its 
 friends claim for it, let me ask them whether they can ever hope 
 to enjoy its blessings in West Virginia? Look at the geographical 
 situation of West Virginia — located between the two great free 
 
of ^Vest Virginia. 155 
 
 States of Ohio and Pennsylvania — ^and it will be apparent to all, 
 that slavery could never exist here to any great extent, even if it 
 were desirable to have it. The last census shows that the number 
 of slaves decreased some 2,000 during the last decade within the 
 limits of the proposed new State. It is a fact well established by 
 experience, that slave labor is not profitable in raising grain, 
 especially in growing and grazing stock — that for manufacturing 
 purposes it is entirely valueless. It cannot, therefore, ever be 
 valuable in West Virginia, where the climate and the soil are 
 adapted only to the growth of cereals in a moderate degree, but to 
 grazing and stock raising in an eminent degree; but more especially 
 are our great interests dependent on the establishment of manufac- 
 tories. Why then should we want slavery here? Or rather, why 
 should we wish to remain connected with Eastern Virginia where 
 slavery does exist, to be embarrassed and 'burdened by laws and by 
 a State policy well adapted to protect and promote the interests of 
 the section of the State where slavery does exist, but for that very 
 reason not adapted to our section of the State where slavery does 
 not and cannot exist? The policy of Virginia has been to cherish 
 slave labor: but we have only free labor. Shall we forever submit 
 to have our free labor placed on an equality with slave labor? Will 
 the hardy sons of toil in our mountains agree to that? 
 
 Mr. President, on this great question of slavery in its relations 
 to political economy, I cannot, with due respect to your patience, 
 venture into the wide field of details before me. I must content 
 myself with general conclusions. And in giving you these conclu- 
 sions I will not ask you to rely on my own poor judgment; but I 
 will borrow the sanction of names that will command your respect, 
 and refer you to facts wiich cannot be controverted. 
 
 In the infancy of Virginia — when she was a colony — and before 
 slavery had assumed its present unwieldy proportions, and when 
 Virginia was desirous of laying a secure and wide foundation for 
 her future welfare, as West Virginia is seeking to do now, the 
 House of Burgesses declared: 
 
 "The abolition of domestic slavery is the great object of desire 
 in these colonies, where it was unhappily introduced in their infant 
 state. But, previous to the enfranchisement of the slaves' we have, 
 it is necessary to exclude all further importations from Africa. Yet 
 our repeated efforts to effect this, by prohibiting and by imposing 
 duties which might amount to prohibition, have been hitherto de- 
 
156 The Formation 
 
 feated 'by His Majesty's negative — thus preferring the advantages 
 of a few British corsairs to the lasting interests of the American 
 States, and to the rights of human nature, deeply wounded by this 
 infamous practice." 
 
 Such was the language of our fathers. Baistern Virginia early 
 and earnestly protested against the injustice of the mother country 
 in forcing the evils of slavery there; but it seems that we have 
 some persons amongst us here in West Virginia that desire to em- 
 brace it ais a blessing. 
 
 When we were about establishing our nationality, George 
 Mason, of Virginia, used this language: 
 
 "Slavery discourages arts and manufactures. The poor despise 
 labor when performed by slaves. They prevent the immigration of 
 whites, who really enrich and strengthen a country. They produce 
 the most pernicious effects on manners. — Every master of slaves is 
 born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of Heaven on a 
 country. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence 
 punishes national sins by national calamities. He lamented that 
 some of our eastern brethren, from a lust of gain, have embarked 
 in this nefarious traffic. — As to the States 'being in possession of 
 the right to import, that was the case with many other rights, now 
 to be given up. He held it essential in every point of view that the 
 General Government should have the power to prevent the Increase 
 of slavery." 
 
 This was the language of a statesman uttered before the judg- 
 ment of men had been overcome by the influences of party spirit 
 and sectional prejudice. As slavery increased in Virginia, these 
 effects of it, so tersely described by Mr. Mason, became more and 
 more apparent. I might multiply the number of witnesses of equal 
 distinction whose testimony is no less explicit. ,In 1829-30, the 
 public opinion of Virginia as to the pernicious influences of slavery 
 on the material and moral welfare of the State was almost univer- 
 sal. Hear the language of a memorial addressed to "The Honorable 
 Convention of Virginia, held in Richmond, in Octoher, 1829." After 
 declaring that "Virginia is in a state of moral and political retro- 
 gression among the States of the Confederacy," they proceed to 
 delineate the causes of her declension. They say: "That the causes 
 heretofore frequently assigned are the true ones, we do not believe. 
 If they have any effect, as possibly they may, it must be extremely 
 small and partial. We humbly suggest our helief that the slavery 
 
of ^Yest Virginia. 157 
 
 which exists, and which, with gigantic strides, is gaining ground 
 among us, is, in truth, the great efficient cause of the multiplied 
 evils which we deplore. We cannot conceive that there is any 
 other cause sufficiently operative to paralyze the energies of a 
 people so magnanimous, to neutralize the blessings of Providence 
 included in the gift of a land bo happy in its soil, its climate, its 
 minerals and its waters; and to annul the manifold advantages of 
 our republican freedom and geographical position. If Virginia has 
 already fallen from her high estate, and if we have assigned the 
 true cause of her fall, it is with the utmost anxiety that we look to 
 the future, to the fatal termination of the scene. As we value our 
 domestic happiness, as our hearts yearn for the prosperity of our 
 offspring, as we pray for the guardian care of the Almighty over 
 our country, we earnestly inquire what shall be done to avert the 
 impending ruin? The efficient cause of our calamities is vigorously 
 increasing in magnitude and potency, while we wake and while we 
 sleep. The outlets for draining off a portion of this pestiferous 
 population of slaves, are fast closing against us. In the meantime 
 our white people are removing in multitudes to distant regions, 
 and those who remain seem destined to become martyrs to their 
 love of Virginia, exposed to foreign enemies, to civil feuds, and to 
 domestic insurrections, without the physical ability indispensable 
 to their own preservation." 
 
 But the evil, like a cancer too long neglected, had so enlarged 
 itself, and so thrust its poisonous roots into the vital part of the 
 body politic, as that the most skillful statesman feared, that its re- 
 moval might prove fatal to the life of the Commonwealth. 
 
 It was on the floor of that Convention, in 1829, composed of a 
 body of men than whom the world never presented more illustrious 
 — ^of a Madison, a Monroe, a Marshall, a Doddridge, a Randolph, a 
 Barbour, and others a little less distinguished, that Benjamin Wat- 
 kins Leigh, the intellectual peer of them all, used this memorable 
 language : 
 
 "I wish, indeed, that I had been born in a land where domestic 
 and negro slavery is unknown. I wish that Providence had spared 
 my country this moral and political evil. It is supposed that our 
 slave labor enables us to live in luxury and ease, without industry, 
 without care. Sir, the evil of slavery is greater to the master than 
 to the slave." 
 
 This, sir, was the language of that great man, uttered in a 
 
158 The Formation 
 
 speech, wherein he was resisting the abolishment of slavery — re- 
 sisting it because he believed the evil, on account of its extent and 
 peculiar relations, to be Irremediable. Will we of West Virginia 
 not be wise and avoid such an evil while we may? 
 
 But, sir, I wish to refer to some matters of fact pertinent in 
 this connection. In 1840 the total population of Virginia was 
 974,622; of Ohio, 230,760. In 1860 the population of Ohio was 
 1,980,329; of Virginia 1,596,318, so that the increase of population 
 during fifty years in Ohio was 1,759,569, whilst in Virginia it was 
 only 641,696. And yet, in extent of territory, in variety and value 
 of mineral resources, in natural commercial facilities and advan- 
 tages, in climate, and in all the natural elements of wealth and 
 prosperity, Virginia vastly excelled Ohio. How, therefore, are we 
 to account for the rapid progress of the latter beyond the former? 
 There is but one answer — slavery. Look at the rich, inexhaustible 
 mineral resources of West Virginia — our Iron, coal, oil, slumbering 
 beneath our hillS', cropping out on our mountain sides, everywhere 
 inviting the hands of industry and development. What has paral- 
 yzed that hand? What has kept capital, and skill, and population 
 from our midst? Why are our perennial streams forever wasting 
 away unappropriated and useless? Why are we without roads and 
 markets except where foreign enterprise has come to our relief? 
 The answer is the same — slavery. Shall we still cling to the in- 
 strumentality of our impoverishment now when we have an oppor- 
 tunity of escaping from it? Or, rather, will we not say to capital, 
 and skill, and labor, come — open our mines, build our roads, people 
 our valleys, make us rich and prosperous, and poweirful. This al- 
 ternative is now before us. Which stall we choose? 
 
 But I wish to institute some further comparisons. In 1790 the 
 total population of Virginia was 748,318 — of New York 340,120; or 
 408,198 less than that of Virginia. In 1860 the population of New 
 York was 3,880,735— of Virginia 1,596,318, or 2,284,417 less than that 
 of New York. Do you suggest that a large proportion of this great 
 increase in population in the State of New York is composed of 
 the people of the city of New York, and as Virginia is an agricul- 
 tural State, the comparison I have instituted is not a fair one? 
 But I ask why is not the city of New York at Norfolk — or rather, 
 why is not Norfolk what the city of New York is? and more than 
 it is? The 'harbor at Norfolk is better. The geographical po- 
 sition is better whether for foreign or domestic commerce. Why, 
 
of West Virginia. 159 
 
 then, is not the wealth, population and power, political and 
 physical, of New York, in the genial clime ot Virginia instead of 
 on the icy shores of the North river? Why is not Virginia the 
 Empire State of the confederacy to-day rather than New York? 
 The same answer still comes back — slavery. 
 
 The Hon. John B. Henderson, of Missouri, lately instituted the 
 following comparison, discussing in the Senate of the United States 
 the economical effects of slavery: — "Missouri commenced her ca- 
 reer as a State in 1820, with a population of 66,557 inhabitants. 
 Illinois at the same time had but 55,162. Forty years elapse, and 
 Missouri, with superior advantages, presents a population of 1,182,- 
 317, while Illinois shows 1,711,753. The ratio of increase in Illinois 
 for the ten years preceding 1860 wasi 101 per cent., while that of 
 Missouri was but 73 per cent. In 1810 Kentucky had a population 
 of 406,511. Ohio at the same time had 230,760. Fifty years pass by, 
 and Kentucky has 1,155,713, while Ohio shows 2,339,599. In 1810 
 the population of Kentucky is nearly double that of Ohio; in 1860 
 the population of Ohio is more than double that of Kentucky. The 
 facts are plain. What is the cause? It is slavery. 
 
 I beg leave also to refer to an interesting article recently pub- 
 lished by Hon. Robert J. Walker, whose public life, national repu- 
 tation, political antecedents and eminent abilities, entitle his opin- 
 ions to the highest consideration in this connection. He extends 
 the comparison between Illinois and Missouri to the value of lands, 
 extent of internal improvements, cities, and to agriculture, manu- 
 factures and wealth; and produces an array of figures and facts in 
 favor of free labor over slave labor that is startling. 
 
 Mr. President, there is no sophistry which ever can evade the 
 logic of these plain facts. I do not know how any candid man can 
 fail to see the advantages to West Virginia of a separate State 
 organization. Nor will this separation be at all detrimental to any 
 Interest of Eastern Virginia. If it would be, we might pause — we 
 might hesitate. But it will not, cannot be. It will not affect the 
 title to a single slave outside of our own borders. It will leave 
 slavery in Eastern Virginia precisely as it was and is. It will de- 
 range no mutual interest; for there is little that is common to both 
 sections. The Allegheny Mountains are the natural boundary of 
 Eastern Virginia on the west, marked out by the Almighty hand. 
 Their recognition as such would only be obedient to the commands 
 of nature and Providence. What trade, or traffic or commercial 
 
160 27(6 Formation 
 
 interest of East Virginia would this separation Injure? None at 
 all. For we never had any commercial relations with that section 
 of the State, and never can have. What social relations or inter- 
 ests would be disturbed? None. The social habits and character- 
 istics of the two sections are radically different. In the East the 
 tone of society is aristocratic; in the West it is democratic. In the 
 Bast white labor is not reputable; and in the West the toilers in 
 our fields and factories acknowledge no social inferiority. It was 
 when speaking of what he called the "peasantry" of the West, that 
 Benjamin Watkins Leigh, in the Constitutional Convention of 1829, 
 said that in political economy slaves fill exactly the same place as 
 the white laborers of the West. "What real share," said this illus- 
 trious representative of the aristocratic sentiment of Eastern Vir- 
 ginia, "What real share, so far as mind is concerned, does any man 
 suppose the peasantry of the West * * * can or will take in 
 the affairs of State?" Yes, sir, this was the sentiment of the Tide- 
 water and Piedmont districts of the State at that time — an assump- 
 tion of social and political superiority based on slave la'bor and 
 slave property. Nor has this sentiment at all abated. It was at 
 the bottom of the present rebellion. It rankles to-day in the bosom 
 of the aristocracy of Bast Virginia, and of the whole South, more 
 intensely than every tiefore. Mark the language of the Richmond 
 Whig of a late date. It is but the index of what is called in Bast 
 Virginia "The ruling class:" 
 
 "We have committed many errors in our treatment of the Yan- 
 kees. Not the least has been in regarding them as something better 
 than they really are. They are by nature menials, and fitted only 
 for menial duties. They are in open and flagrant insurrection 
 against their natural lords and masters, the gentlemen of the South. 
 In the exercise of their assumed privileges they deport themselves 
 with all the extravagant airs, the insolence, the cruelty, the cow- 
 ardice and love of rapine which have ever characterized the revolt 
 of slaves. The former leniency of their masters only serves to 
 aggravate the ferocity of their natures. When they are again re- 
 duced to subjection, and taught to know their place, we must take 
 care to put such trammels about them that they will never have 
 an opportunity to play these tricks again." — Richmond Whig. 
 
 Against these arrogant assumptions and the policy growing out 
 of them, we have been warring for the last forty years. 
 
 Sir, I rejoice to see here my distinguished friend, (Col. Smith). 
 
GiiESTEK D. Hubbard. 
 
West Virginia. 161 
 
 Well do I remember his noble defense of West Virginia in the Con- 
 vention of 1851. Well do I remember how his manly, honest voice 
 was raised in the capital of the State against the despotism of tne 
 eastern majority based on slavery, when that majority were at- 
 tempting to fasten on him and his children, and upon us all, the 
 nefarious principles of the mixed basis of representation. 
 
 Do not these perpetual conflicts and antagonisms of opinions 
 and policy constitute unanswerable reasons for distinct municipal 
 organizations of the two sections? Do they not point to a division 
 of the State as a means of peace, and of establishing harmonious 
 relations between the two sections, by leaving each free to regulate 
 its own municipal concerns according to its own will and wishes? 
 
 Look at the map of Virginia. All over the State east of the 
 Alleghenies you see a net-work of railroads, affording every needful 
 facility of transportation and travel. West of those mountains 
 there is not a mile of such facilities constructed on State account, 
 or by the authority of the State. Even the representatives in our 
 Legislature have been compelled to travel far away through other 
 States and districts in order to reach our own capital. Do we 
 actually love these embarrassments and disabilities so well that we; 
 are determined to entail them on our children forever? 
 
 But, sir, I am told that all the mighty advantages and blessings 
 of a separate State organization, will be more than counterbalanced 
 by the evil of — what? What is the unfortunate drawback in these 
 magnificent prospects of West Virginia? Why, sir, it is alleged 
 that we shall be overrun with free negroes! I have learned th- 
 this objection has been seriously urged by some men — that there 
 are those in our midst, who have actually ventured so far upon the 
 supposed credulity, and want of common sense of the people, as to 
 address to therasuch an argument as this. Sir, I beg pardon for 
 this style and tone of expression. I mean no offense to any person. 
 But I confess that I am unable to restrain the expression of min- 
 gled surprise and indignation at this bald attempt to abuse the 
 minds of the people by a fallacy so transparent. Why, sir, where 
 are the free negroes to come from that are to overrun us? Not 
 from East Virginia. The division of the State will not affect the 
 status of slavery east of the Alleghenies. If the free negroes in 
 East Virginia have hitherto declined to come to West Virginia, why 
 should they come now or hereafter? Will they come from Ohio? 
 What is there in West Virginia that would attract free negroes 
 
162 The Formation 
 
 from Ohio? Would they come from Pennsylvania? — There is no 
 more reason why they should abandon Pennsylvania than Ohio to 
 come into West Virginia. Where, where, I ask again, are the free 
 negroes to come from that are to overrun us? There are only 
 36,000 free negroes in all the populous State of Ohio, and only 
 56,000 In the great State of Pennsylvania. There is nothing in the 
 soil or climate of West Virginia to attract a free negro, but much 
 to repel him. Besides the kind of labor which will be required here 
 will not be of a character to induce his employment. 
 
 But supposing we had an attractive soil and climate for the 
 free negro — supposing we were surrounded by States where free 
 negroes abounded — supposing free negroes began to immigrate into 
 our borders, what then? Could we not by a change in our organic 
 law easily provided under our Constitution, or by a simple statute, 
 prohibit them from coming into our m.dst, as Indiana, Illinois, and 
 perhaps other States have done? Does not the merest tyro know 
 so much as this? The people have only to say to their represen- 
 tatives in the Legislature, pass such a law. The whole question 
 is completely under their control. And yet there is an effort made 
 to get up a clamor about the danger of free-negro-ism. Sir, I should 
 be ashamed to attempt such a fraud upon the public credulity. 
 
 But, sir, I am happy to say that the work is already done. The 
 people and their representatives, have already been relieved of the 
 necessity of prohibiting free negroes from coming into our new 
 State when it is organized. Yes, sir, by the law as it now stands, 
 and will stand the very moment our admission is complete, it will 
 absolutely require the passage of a law to authorize It, before a 
 single free negro outside of our territory, dare attempt to become 
 a resident amongst us. That such is the fact every lawyer knows, 
 and he who does not know it, is not well qualified to teach the 
 people. 
 
 In chapter 198, section 32, of the Code of Virginia we have this 
 explicit provision: 
 
 "No free negro shall migrate into this State." 
 
 In chapter 107, section 1, of the same Code, we have another 
 provision in these words : 
 
 "No negro emancipated since the first day of May, 1806, or 
 hereafter, or claiming his right to freedom under a negro so eman- 
 cipated, shall, after being twenty-one years of age, remain in this 
 State without lawful permission." 
 
of West Virginia. 163 
 
 I may refer to other provisions in the Code of Virginia. In 
 section 31, chapter 198, is the following clause — "Any free person 
 who sball bring a free negro into this State, shall be confined in 
 jail and fined." 
 
 It is also provided in section 32 of said chapter, that — "If a free 
 negro not authorized by law to do so, come into, or remain in this 
 State, any person may, and every sheriff, sergeant, and constable 
 is required, to apprehend and carry him before some justice, who 
 shall require him to pay one dollar to the person apprehending 
 him, and give bond in a penalty not less than |100, to leave the 
 State in ten days and not return. If the free negro fail to pay the 
 fee aforesaid, or give said bond, he may, by order of the justice, be 
 punished with stripes, and repeated so long as he remains in the 
 State." 
 
 I say nothing of the humanity and propriety of these provisions. 
 
 But surely those apprehending danger from the influx of free 
 
 • negroes, could not devise more stringent measures to prevent it. 
 
 And now, sir, I refer you to article 11, section 8, of the new State 
 
 Constitution. It reads thus: 
 
 "Such parts of the Common Law and of the Laws of the State 
 of Virginia, as are in force within the boundaries of the State of 
 West Virginia, when this Constitution goes into operation, and are 
 not repugnant thereto, shall be and continue the laws of this State 
 until altered or repealed by the Legislaiture." 
 
 What then will be the effect of the admission of the new State 
 into the Union, on this question? It will be this, that thereafter 
 no free negro can come into West Virginia, nor can those who are 
 in it, or who, under the operation of the condition proposed by Con- 
 gress, if adopted by us, will hereafter become free, remain in it, 
 unless they get permission according to law — that is to say, no free 
 negro outside of the new State can come into it, and all those in it 
 may be compelled to leave it. And yet we are warned not to vote 
 for the new State, because if we are admitted under the act of Con- 
 gress we stall be inundated with free negroes. Sir, where does 
 this warning voice come, from? But, sir, I will not longer detain 
 the Convention in exposing the fallacy of a pretext so flimsy. 
 
 There is another objection invented to embarrass this great 
 measure. It may be well enough to bestow upon it a passing no- 
 tice. Appeals are being made, I understand, to the fears of the 
 people lest they should, by voting for the new State, involve them- 
 
164 The Formation 
 
 selves in. debt by an increase of expenditures in the construction of 
 necessary public buildings, &c. Of course, sir, this will involve 
 some expense; not, however, exceeding a few hundred thousand 
 dollars. I will venture the assertion, that the simple act of com- 
 plete admission as an independent State will, on the very moment 
 it takes place, increase the value of every tax payer's estate, within 
 the limits of the new Commonwealth, to the amount of five hundred 
 per cent, on what he will ever be required to pay for all the public 
 buildings and expenses of organizing the new State. I believe, sir, 
 that on the day when we shall be finally and completely made an 
 independent State of the Union, every landholder within our bor- 
 ders will be worth more, by an average of from twenty-five to forty 
 per cent, than he was the day before. And every merchant and me- 
 chanic will have secured to him the certain prospect of an increased 
 and better business, greater by an hundred fold than ever they en- 
 joyed before. Such an objection, when contemplated in the light 
 of the great and manifold advantages of a new State, sinks into 
 insignificance. 
 
 As to our assumption of a just and equitable portion of the 
 debt of Virginia, existing at the time of the ordinance of secession, 
 that is eminently right and proper. We should not deserve to be 
 admitted into the Union on any other terms. Any attempt to evade 
 this would be dishonorable. But, sir, how will our admission as a 
 new State increase our liabilities in this behalf? If we remain un- 
 divided, will we not be made to pay our equitable proportion of 
 that debt of Virginia? Nay, if the policy of the Eastern majority 
 of our legislative councils shall 'be hereafter as it has been hereto- 
 fore, we shall be made to pay more than our equitable proportion 
 Of that debt. The same discriminating and unfriendly legislation 
 against which we have been remonstrating for forty years, will be 
 fastened on us and our posterity forever. We shall simply be tax- 
 payers to build roads and canals for the benefit of that sectional 
 majority who have no identity with us in geographical location, 
 social habits, or commercial relations, and not much in political 
 principle. Shall we still, and forever, with canine docility and 
 compliance, continue to lick the rod with which we hav« been 
 beaten ? 
 
 But, sir, this is not all. We shall, by remaining in the old 
 State, not only be liable to the payment of our pro rata share of 
 the public debt of Virginia, as it existed when the ordinance of se- 
 
of West Virginia. 165 
 
 cession was passed, but we shall also Tse subjected to the payment 
 of, at least, a proportioned share of the enormous debt which Vir- 
 ginia has incurred since the passage of that ordinance. It was bad 
 enough to be compelled to pay taxes to build railroads and internal 
 improvements on the other side of the Blue Ridge, which few of us 
 would ever be able to see, and none of us ever derive any benefit 
 from. I say it was hard enough to be compelled to pay that old 
 debt. But it was contracted according to law. The good faith of 
 the State was pledged, in lawful form, to redeem it, and therefore, 
 no good citizen dare shrink from the obligation to pay it. But what 
 obligation is there resting upon us loyal West Virginians to assume 
 this new debt? How and for what purpose has it been created? 
 To forge weapons to slaug*hter our fellow citizens, our fathers and 
 sons, and brothers! To raise means to destroy our property, our 
 lives, and our liberties! Yes, sir, it was for flhese hellish purposes 
 this new debt has been created. And that these purposes have 
 been but too fully accomplished, let the blood of thousands of 
 our fellow-citizens, shed by the murderous haads of the East- 
 ern soldier and Western guerillas, this day crying from the 
 earth to 'heaven, answer. Look upon the ashes of many a 
 happy homestead; look upon the anguish of many a stricken 
 heart; upon the widowhood and orphanage all through our 
 once happy hills and homes. These are the results oomtem- 
 plated and accomplished by the creation of this new debt of Vir- 
 ginia. Where is the man that will advise the people of West Vif- 
 ginia to be taxed to pay such a debt as this? Where is he? And 
 yet, so surely as we remain in Virginia, undivided, so surely will 
 we be compelled to pay this new debt. The men who would create 
 such a debt for such a purpose, will not hesitate to make ua pay 
 for it after these purposes are accomplished. And what is the 
 amount of this new debt? What will it be when the war is ter- 
 minated? No human being can now tell. The debt of Virginia, 
 when the ordinance of secession was passed, was at least forty 
 millions. It is now, perhaps, eighty millions. If the war lasts a 
 year longer it will be a hundred millions. And yet there are those 
 who are advising the people that they should resist the admission 
 of the new State because At would involve the expenditure of a few 
 hundred thousand dollars in the construction of public buildings, 
 &c. ; whilst, by adhering to the old Sitate, and rejecting separation, 
 it will subject them to the burden of a new and additional debt 
 contracted since the ordinance of secession, amounting to fifty, 
 
166 The Formation 
 
 sixty, or perhaps, a hundred millions of dollars. Give us a new 
 State, and our existing rates of taxation will be lessened. Remain 
 as we are, and they must necessarily be increased more than a 
 hundred fold. I cannot appreciate such economy as this. 
 
 Mr. President, there are those who are so uncharitable as to 
 suppose that underlying these specious but fallacious objections, 
 there is concealed a secret hope that the rebellion will succeed, 
 and that West Virginia will be dragged into the Southern Confed- 
 eracy, like the captive princess chained to the triumphal car of the 
 ancient Roman conqueror? Can it be possible that these pretexts 
 are assumed to cover up a design so disloyal and fratricidal? Are 
 they mere diversions of the enemy to distract our attention from the 
 true issues? 
 
 Why, Mr. President, what would be the condition of the people 
 of West Virginia in a Southern Confederacy? — with all our waters, 
 with most of our trade and traffic and travel, flowing to the North? 
 — with little or no trade, or travel, or commerce, or social inter- 
 course with the remainder of even our own State? Cut off from 
 all these advantages by impassable geographical and natural bar- 
 riers, not to be overcome by any available amount of capital or 
 skill — compressed like a driven wedge between the two mighty 
 States of Ohio and Pennsylvania, which, if hostile to us, could 
 sweep us away with a "besom of destruction," before relief could 
 reach us? And would not these States be hostile? Does not uni- 
 versal history teach us this signflcant lesson, that no contiguous 
 people, speaking the same language, possessing the same religion, 
 accustomed to the same civil institutions, ever did live, in peace, 
 under distinct and independent governments, with no natural bar- 
 riers to separate them? Perpetual war or consolidation is the in- 
 evitable result of such a condition. 
 
 Sir, we have recently heard a great cry for peace. No man 
 earnestly desires peace more than I do. But, sir, there is no peace 
 but in the union of these States. Disunion is perpetual war. To 
 establish two confederacies of the United States is to inaugurate 
 a war which will have no end, save in the utter destruction of each, 
 or in their consolidation into one government; and such a consol- 
 idated government, would, most probably, be a military despotism. 
 Let West Virginia, therefore, be attached to a Southern Confed- 
 eracy, and we would be the prey and the sport of hostile nelghborsi; 
 or if any attempt were made to protect us, we should be the mere 
 
of West Virginia. 167 
 
 battle ground of the opposing powers, and be crusihed beneath the 
 iron heel of war. In this event, frowning forts would cast their 
 dark shadows from either shore upon the peaceful bosom of the 
 beautiful Ohio, where hitherto we have only been rivals in trade 
 and commerce and good fellowship. Standing armies would line 
 these shores from Ceredo to New Cumberland, and from New Cum- 
 berland to the Fairfax stone; and we migiht as reasonably expect 
 luxuriant verdure where the blasts of the sirocco sweep across the 
 Arabian deserts, as that the arts and pursuits of peace should flour- 
 ish in West Virginia, under such malign influences. Sir, how long 
 would it be before frowning battlements would crown those Ohio 
 hills, yonder in sight commanding your city? How long before 
 your city would be in ruins, and your wives and children homeless 
 and houseless? We should but reproduce the history of the wars 
 and desolations of the Scottish border^happy, if at last, after cen- 
 turies of rapine and murder, and the unceasing conflict of armies, 
 we should acknowledge the folly of our unnatural separation, by 
 again "joining together" as did Great Britain and Scotland, that 
 which GrOd and nature had ordained should never "be put asunder." 
 
 Mr. President, I feel that I have trespassed too long on the pa- 
 tience of the Convention. Other topics suggest themselves for con- 
 sideration; but I forbear to discuss them. I beg leave to suhmlt a 
 few remarks of a general character, and then I shall have done. 
 
 The adroit opponents of this great measure, despairing, per- 
 haps, of the success of their arguments, are bestirring themselves 
 to enlist in their behalf the passions and prejudices of party poli- 
 tics. 
 
 Sir, what have party politics to do with the division of the 
 State? Will any man be less a Democrat, a Whig or Republican 
 after the admission of the new State into the Union than he was 
 before? Will not all offices. Federal, State and county, be precisely 
 under the same control after admission as they were before? Do 
 you, or do I condemn the President's emancipation proclamation? 
 Or his suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus? 
 Are we dissatisfied with ihis policy in reference to slavery? Surely 
 the admission of the new State cannot be construed into an ap- 
 proval or disapproval of any of these things. It has no con- 
 nection with them wihatever. We shall be as free to approve 
 or condemn in the new State as in the old. It will not 
 change our relations in the slightest degree, towards the Pres- 
 
168 The Formation 
 
 ident or his policy, or towards any party or policy. Let the 
 question, therefore, stand or fall upon its own merits. Let not the 
 people be deceived by the clamor of artful political leaders, who, 
 under the guise of party fealty, are seeking to defeat a measure 
 having no connection with party politics, but which is of vital im- 
 portance to the interests of all. I trust, therefore, that we will not 
 suffer ourselves to be betrayed by any such mischievous devices; 
 but shutting our ears to all these false suggestions, and turning 
 our eyes away from the dreary scenes of the past, we will listen 
 to the voice of duty alone, and fix our eyes only upon the bright 
 prospects awaiting us in the future, if we do but accept the rich 
 boon of proffered independence before us. Sir, I do feel that the 
 long and chilly night of western destitution and demoralization is 
 passing away forever; and that a new era is dawning upon us — an 
 era of light and life which shall quicken the long dormant energies 
 of our people, reveal and develop the abounding treasures every- 
 where hidden beneath our mountains and valleys, attract labor and 
 capital and skill from every quarter of the land, and elevate us to 
 that condition of moral, intellectual and physical prosperity and 
 happiness which we have a right to enjoy. 
 
 But we still hear it said in certain quarters — "Walt for the 
 proper time." Sir, now is the proper time. This same objection 
 has been urged from the beginning; and it was in reply to it that 
 Mr. Carlile in August, 1861, in the Convention then held in this 
 city, so forcibly said: 
 
 "Why, sir, I was surprised to hear gentlemen enumerate diffi- 
 culty after diJHculty, all of which, as was said on yesterday by my 
 friend from this city, (Mr. Paxton,) have existed and Will continue 
 to exist throughout all time with the exception of embarrassment 
 to the administration in this struggle. The reasons are assigned 
 by gentlemen who tell us they are in favor of a division at a proper 
 time, and that proper time Is when all Virginia is represented in 
 the Legislature, and that time will be when you never can get the 
 consent of the Legislature. Now, sir, I have my own views about 
 the position of gentlemen when they tell me they are in favor of a 
 division of the State and say they intend to postpone it until they 
 never can get the consent of the Legislature." 
 
 Has anything occurred since that time to render the admoni- 
 tion of Mr. Carlile less necessary now than it was then? No, sir. 
 Let us, therefore, not be deceived by this clamor for delay. Why 
 
of West Virginia. 169 
 
 should we hesitate to accept the great advantages before us? We 
 have compiled with every requisition of the law. We have fulfilled 
 every constitutional obligation. And now wealth, and popular edu- 
 cation, and material and moral progress and development, and polit- 
 ical equality, and prosperity in every department of political econ- 
 omy, so long withheld from us, are all within our grasp. Tlie 
 "golden moment" has come at last. If we fall to improve it we 
 shall deserve the degradation in which our folly will have forever 
 involved us." 
 
 Many tho^usand copies of the foregoing address were print- 
 ed in both English and German and distributed broadcast 
 throughout the territory of the new State, and doubtless had 
 much to do in moulding public sentiment on the issues. 
 
 The Convention itself had not much difficulty in agreeing 
 to the amendment. It was almost unanimously adopted, and 
 after issuing an address to the people, and providing for taking 
 the vote of the people, it adjourned. 
 
 The vote on the amendment was taken on the 26th of 
 March, 1863, as provided for by the Convention. The result, as 
 certified by the Convention Executive Committee, was as fol- 
 lows : 
 
 Total vote cast in 38 counties 
 Soldiers' vote, taken out of State 
 
 For. 
 
 Against. 
 
 26,632 
 
 534 
 
 1,689 
 
 38 
 
 Totals 28,321 572 
 
 572 
 
 Majority in favor 27,749 
 
 The result as above stated was certified to the President of 
 the United States, in accordance with the Act of Congress. And 
 thus the last step, but one, toward the consummation of the long 
 contest for a new State, had been successfully taken. The State 
 of West Virginia was about to blaze forth as a fixed star. 
 
CHAPTEK XV. 
 
 THE STATE OF WEST VIKGINIA AN INDEPENDENT SOVEREIGNTY. 
 
 The battle had now been fought and won. Henceforth the 
 State of West Virginia was to be an additional Star in the 
 galaxy of the United States. 
 
 "After having passed the discussion of Congressional halls, 
 the Cabinet chamber and on the hustings with as much zeal and 
 ability as perhaps any other question ever was, it had received 
 the recognition of the several departments of the National (Jov- 
 ernment. It had also been tried at the grand assize of poptdar 
 suffrage, and a true verdict rendered by the American people. 
 And last, but not least, it had been tried by the wager of battle.'' 
 
 But one step more to a full consummation : The Act of 
 Congress provided, 
 
 "Tliat whenever the people of West Virginia shall, through 
 their said Convention, and by a vote to be taken at an election to be 
 held within the limits of the said State, at such time as the Con- 
 vention may provide, make, and ratify the change aforesaid, and 
 properly certify the same under the hand of the president of the 
 Convention, it shall be lawful for the President of the United 
 States to issue his proclamation stating the fact, and thereupon 
 this act shall take effect and be in force on and after sixty days 
 from the date of said proclamation." 
 
 Every requirement of the Act had been fulfilled on the part 
 
of West Virginia. 171 
 
 of the people of Western Virginia. The forces of opposition 
 had been withdrawn and only the formal declaration of the 
 President was necessary to usher in the new State. Senator 
 Carlile, about this time, had introduced a bill in the Senate, 
 enacting: 
 
 "Tbat said proclamation shall not be Issued unless the condi- 
 tions of said Act shall have been ratified by the people, after an 
 opportunity to vote upon the same has been afforded to the voters 
 in each of the counties named in the said Act — nor shall it be 
 issued if it shall be made to appear to the President by satisfactory 
 evidence that the people have been prevented from having the 
 same freely canvassed before them, or that they have been deterred 
 from voting by the presence of military force, it being the intention 
 of Congress to secure to the voters of every county named therein 
 the free exercise of the right of suffrage thereon." 
 
 This was the last note of opposition. It was referred to the 
 Judiciary Committee, which reported adversely, and when it 
 was moved to take it up for consideration, the Senate refused 
 by a vote of 13 to 28. 
 
 On the 30th day of April, 1863, President Lincoln, acting 
 under authority of the Act of Congress, issued and published 
 the following proclamation: 
 
 OFFICIAL: 
 By the President of the United States of America. 
 A PROCLAMATION. 
 Whereas, by the Act of Congress approved the 31st day of 
 December last, the State of West Virginia was declared to be one 
 of the United States of America, and was admitted into the Union 
 on an equal footing with tihe original States in all respects what- 
 ever, upon the condition that certain changes should be duly made 
 in the proposed Constitution for that State; 
 
 And whereas, proof of a compliance with that condition, as re- 
 quired by the second section of the Act aforesaid, has been sub- 
 mitted to me; 
 
 Now, therefore, be it known, that I, Abraham Lincoln, Presi- 
 
172 The Formation 
 
 dent of the United States, do hereby, in pursuance of the Act of 
 Congress aforesaid, declare and proclaim that the said Act shall 
 take effect and be In force from and after sixty days from the date 
 hereof. 
 
 In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused 
 the seal of the United States to be affixed. 
 
 Done at the city of Washington this 20th day of April, in the 
 year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and 
 of the independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. 
 
 By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State. 
 
 Thus on the 20th day of June, 1863, the State of West 
 Yirginia became a legal entit]'. It needed only to be organized 
 and have its governmental machinery set in motion. And it 
 was not long about it. 
 
 The Convention which framed the Constitution had pro- 
 vided that if a majority of the votes were in favor of the adop- 
 tion of the Constitution, an election should be held on the 
 fourth Thursday of May following, for members of both 
 branches of the State Legislature, and all the State and county 
 officers provided by the Constitution. Accordingly this election 
 had been held in nearly all the counties, and at the time when 
 the proclamation of the President was made, these oflB.cials 
 were ready to take their places. The following was the first 
 corps of State officers, elected without opposition; 
 
 Governor, A. I. Boreman, of Wood county; Auditor, Sam- 
 uel Crane, of Eandolph county; Treasurer, Campbell Tarr, of 
 Brooke county; Secretar}^ of State, J. E. Boyers, of Tyler 
 county; Attorney General, A. B. Caldwell, of Ohio county; 
 Judges of the Supreme Court, E. L. Berkshire, of Monongalia 
 county; W. A. Harrison, of Harrison county; J. H. Brown, of 
 Kanawha county. 
 
 These officers met at Wheeling, which had been designated 
 as the seat of government of the new State until permanently 
 
of Wesi Virginia. 173 
 
 located by the Legislature, on the 30th of June and organized 
 the new government. 
 
 The Legislature also assembled on the same date, and con- 
 tinued in session until the 11th of December following. As the 
 first Legislature of the new State, a vast amount of important 
 and difficult legislation devolved upon it. In fact it organized 
 the new State on an original basis, passing many new and far- 
 reaching measures. It employed Daniel Lamb, a leading law- 
 yer of Wheeling, to codify the laws of the new State, which he 
 did with much ability and satisfaction; taking the old and 
 admirable Code of Virginia, and adapting it to the new order 
 of things. 
 
 The Legislature also elected two Senators to represent the 
 new State in the United States Senate. Senators Willey and 
 Carlile represented this section so long as it was a part of the 
 old Commonwealth, and were elected by the restored govern- 
 ment of Virginia. But now that Northwestern Virginia had 
 become an independent State, while that fact did not vacate 
 the seats of the Virginia Senators, it entitled West Virginia to 
 have two Senators in her own right. 
 
 Senators Waitman T. Willey and Hon. P. G. Van Winkle, 
 of Wood county, were elected the first U. S. Senators from the 
 new State. They repaired to Washington with their creden- 
 tials, and although their appearance at the bar of the Senate 
 was the occasion for formal objection to their admission by 
 those who had opposed the admission of the State, and held that 
 it had no legal existence, this was only a form of graceful sub- 
 mission to the inevitable. They were duly admitted and the 
 Congress of the United States thus gave its full and final recog- 
 nition and endorsement to the State of West Virginia. 
 
 The Legislature of the restored government had provided 
 that the new State should not be without revenue. It had 
 enacted that the proceeds of all fines, forfeitures, confiscations, 
 and all uncollected taxes accruing or to accrue within the coun- 
 
174 The Formation 
 
 ties embraced within the boundaries of the new State, should 
 belong to it; and in addition had generouslj' appropriated the 
 sum of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars io meet its im- 
 mediate necessities. It was the ease of friends dividing with 
 friends. The power that was parting with its territory was 
 showing solicitude for the well being of the power that was 
 receiving it. The same men that were administering the gov- 
 ernment of the State that was being dismembered, were coming 
 into possession of the new government they were setting up. 
 They were naturally disposed to be generous to "our friends 
 the enemy.'' 
 
 In the meantime Governor Pierpont had quietly and 
 gracefully retired from the new State Capitol, and taken the 
 government of Virginia over to Alexandria, leaving his parting 
 blessing with the new bom child. At Alexandria he continued 
 to administer the government of Virginia in the interest of the 
 Federal authority, while Governor Letcher, at Richmond, con- 
 tinued to administer it in the interest of the Confederate au- 
 thority. 
 
 The new State of West Virginia has come up out of the 
 storm to rest peacefully and permanently, as an independent 
 sovereignty, upon the rock of the Union of States. Who will 
 say that the pioneers of this conception and consummation 
 have not builded better than they knew ? She has lost nothing 
 and gained everything by the severance. She has not even lost 
 that to which she so tenaciously clung — the institution of slav- 
 ery — because the war wiped that from the continent. She has 
 freed herself from the odious discriminations and inequalities 
 of the parent Commonwealth. She has a government admin- 
 istered in the exclusive interest of her own territory. She has 
 a homogeneous population with a common ambition and con- 
 genial tastes. She has a Constitution in harmony with the 
 most progressive ideas of the time. She has developed, and is 
 developing her natural resources to great profit. She has un- 
 
of West Virginia. IT'S 
 
 measured deposits of coal and oil and ores ; she has great forests 
 of valuable timber; she has fertile valleys and beautiful hills 
 that are productive to their very crests ; she is celebrated for her 
 beautiful landscapes her salubrious and healthful climate; her 
 people are intelligent industrious thrifty and happy; and this 
 little Mountain State is big with the promise of all that makes 
 a great and growing Commonwealth. 
 
 THE END. 
 
James Claek McGrew. 
 
SKETCHES OF PIONEERS IN THE 
 
 FORMATION OF THE 
 
 STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA. 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 There are a few men whose lives were so closely linked 
 with the work of erecting the new State of West Virginia that 
 any history which did not associate their names intimately with 
 the events of that period would be open to the criticism of in- 
 gratitude and incompleteness. 
 
 To the people of our State who still survive that period of 
 our history, the names of these old pioneers in that movement, 
 are household words. They have almost all passed to their 
 final reward, but their memory deserves to be handed down to 
 succeeding generations and perpetuated in the gratitude and 
 homage of their children's children. 
 
 Whatever West Virginia is, and is to be; whatever benefits 
 and benefactions have come to us from being an independent 
 State; whatever calamities we escaped in being rescued from 
 alliance with the fortunes of the South; whatever of desolation 
 and devastation to our homes and our possessions were averted 
 by being saved from becoming the theater and battleground 
 of the most destructive war of modem times; whatever of hap- 
 piness, and prosperity, and pride, and promise of the future 
 this Mountain State now enjoys, is due to the heroism, and 
 courage, and consecrated patriotism of these men who imperiled 
 their lives and property to build for us a State government 
 
180 The Formation 
 
 where all these blessings might be made possible and perma- 
 nent. 
 
 To those only who lived through that trying period can the 
 sacrifices and struggle that these men made be appreciated. It 
 required genuine courage. It required manhood of a high 
 order, in those times, to take a position and maintain it openly 
 and boldly. Men were divided along lines of bitterness and 
 intensity of feeling that is not conceivable in times of peace. 
 Human life was held at a cheap estimate. A spirit of hate and 
 revenge ran rife through the whole population and no man's 
 life was safe who essayed to lead any faction of his fellow citi- 
 zens. It was under such conditions that these pioneers of the 
 new State project did their work and fought their battle to a 
 successful result. 
 
 It is not designed that these sketches which follow, shall 
 assume the dignity of biographies, but rather of brief character 
 sketches that will give the reader simply an impression of the 
 personality of the men to which he is introduced. To get a, 
 true picture of the inner life and character of these men, resort 
 has been made to members of their families, by whom some of 
 the sketches have been written. The author has, by permission, 
 also drawn upon the well-known work entitled "Prominent Men 
 of West Virginia," prepared largely by Governor George W. 
 Atkinson, who wrote from personal acquaintance, and whose 
 pen pictures are well drawn and true to life. Other names 
 than those in this list might very properly be included, but none 
 who are included could be properly omitted from a group of the 
 PioNEBES OF West Vikginia. 
 
WAITMAN T. WILLEY. 
 
 Waitman T. Willey was a man of very marked personality. 
 
 Nobody ever knew him who forgot him. Nobody ever 
 came under his influence who was not conscious of the force 
 of a strong character. No opponent ever heard his speech who 
 was not shaken in his convictions, if not entirely converted. 
 There are men living who heard his oratory as children who 
 carry the impression in old age. There are men whose lives 
 have been changed and the whole current of their career con- 
 trolled by the effect of a single address' or word of his advice. 
 
 He was one of those men whose spirit diffuses itself as 
 the fragrance of the flower is diffused through the atmosphere 
 about it. It was not his disposition or habit to cultivate 
 friends, but men were dra'mi to him spontaneously. His out- 
 ward manner was not effusive but formal, yet he was greeted 
 warmly by his most casual acquaintances, and those who had 
 simply seen him and knew his face presumed on acquaintance- 
 ship. Probably no man ever made friends more unconsciously 
 or met with more surprises in the warm greetings of those who, 
 to him, were entire strangers. It was the recognition in him 
 of that genuine manhood, that kindly spirit, that unassumed 
 and unassuming fellowship which makes us all akin. Human 
 nature, however depraved, reverences that which is good. The 
 basis of all genuine friendship is goodness. We may admire 
 
182 The Formation 
 
 but we never love a character that has not its roots in the moral 
 virtues. 
 
 This confidence in his integrity, these manifestations of 
 affection for him, the reverence he inspired, were a matter of 
 character. They were the spontaneous responses of the human 
 heart to the genuine. They came not only from his intimate 
 associates and friends, but from the casual acquaintance and 
 stranger among all classes. A short time before his death, 
 while going to the railroad station, he stepped from his carriage 
 to the pavement where an humble woman was sweeping. She 
 ceased her work, looking earnestly into his face. He bade her 
 "good morning," and extended his hand. She shook hands, 
 broke down in weeping, and walked into her house without 
 uttering a word. This silent influence of his personality was 
 manifested not only among people of humble station in life but 
 the higher classes. A distinguished man of afEairs, occupying 
 a high public position, on coming to his home town, said, "I 
 have often heard of Senator Willey, but never saw him, and 
 would like to meet him." His friend, to whom this was spoken, 
 volunteered to call with him and introduce him. This was 
 dumg the last year of Senator Willey's life and his health was 
 very frail. Their call was less than a half hour's duration. 
 But so impressed was the visitor with his new acquaintance, that 
 he continued to declare with much enthusiasm that he believed 
 Senator Willey was the greatest man he ever met. Evidently 
 this estimate by a man who was associated with the great men 
 of the nation, was not formed from any words of wisdom that 
 made up the conversation of a half hour's call. It was the 
 effect of a great character which needed not to be voiced in 
 speech, but diffused itself as a magnetic influence that was felt 
 by all who came into his presence. 
 
 Senator Willey had such a precise and methodical manner 
 of speech; his mental processes were so analytical and perspicu- 
 ous, that when he stated a proposition there seemed to be loth- 
 
of West Virginia. 183 
 
 ing wanting to make it conclusive and comprehensive. It stood 
 out as a picture thrown upon canvas by the skilled artist. This 
 was true not only in matters of moment but in the statement of 
 an ordinary fact in conversation. The exact word to convey 
 every shade of meaning was dropped smoothly into its .ilace 
 with a nice discrimination. Asked about his health by his phy- 
 sician, he would state his condition with more exactness and 
 clearness than the physician himself could frame a professional 
 diagnosis. While there was never the appearance of a studied 
 or stilted effort at expression, there was the evidence of perfec- 
 tion in culture. He never made a grammatical blunder; he 
 never misspelled a word in his written expressions; he was 
 never awkward in phraseology; he was scholarly without ped- 
 antry; wise without self conceit; and manifested a broad cult- 
 ure without any effort to do so. It would seem to be a contra- 
 diction in so serious a character as his, dealing during a life 
 time with matters of serious moment, and delving in the prosy 
 labarynths of the law, to find associated with this any pro- 
 nounced sense of humor. Yet few men possess a keener sense 
 of humor than his. At times it took complete possession §f 
 him and he was earned away by the ridiculous phase of a matter. 
 He was a good mimic, and could tell an anecdote — of which he 
 had an inexhaustible supply — with striking effect. 
 
 It was just as easy for him to associate with, and meet on 
 the same floor, plain, uneducated men, farmers and manual 
 laborers, as it was the men of culture and large ability. He 
 had a strong, unaffected interest in farms, and crops, and weath- 
 ers, and the common incidents of rural life. He was fond of 
 trees, and birds, and attentive to their manners and habits; 
 enjoyed beautiful landscapes: loved to observe the clouds; and 
 there was no phase of the natural that did not give him genuine 
 pleasure, and which he did not observe with a keen and scru- 
 tinizing eye. What he knew he knew perfectly, down to the 
 minutest details. His habit of thoroughness was formed as a 
 
184 The Formation 
 
 boy in college over his text-books, and the same pains-taking 
 methods wBre followed through life. He could not be super- 
 ficial; he could not simulate; he could not be careless; he 
 scorned to seem, and not be. 
 
 It was his loyalty to truth in speech, in act, in all his im- 
 pulses, that distinguished the man. He had a clear perception 
 of justice and a perfect obedience thereto under all conditions. 
 There are men who love justice and believe themselves just, but 
 when they attempt to balance the scales with self interest on one 
 side and justice on the other, their judgment is inaccurate. They 
 are prone to compromise and pervert the issue and give them- 
 selves the benefit of the doubt. But Senator Willey could be 
 depended upon in such case to "avoid the appearance of evil." 
 If he erred it was on the right side. It was, with him, not what 
 the world would say, or how it would interpret an act; it was 
 what was just and right. His morality was not measured by 
 the limitations of the law, or by the chances of covering up and 
 concealing a course of conduct, but he could be trusted to "hew 
 as close to the line" in the dark as in the open. His innermost 
 sense of integrity was more sacred to him than the approval of 
 all mankind. He carried no secrets. There were no conceal- 
 ments in his life. There was no "skeleton in his closet." If 
 ever a man passed through the blandishments and allurements 
 to evil that line the pathway of a long, and varied, and trying 
 career, with immaculate garments, it was Senator Willey. To 
 those nearest him was this belief in the absolute integrity of his 
 life, most pronounced. "No man," it is said, "is a hero to Ms 
 valet ;" but it was in the every-day contact with his life that the 
 sublimity of his Christian manhood grew and expanded, so that 
 it was impossible not to believe in him. 
 
 His character made him the "conscience of the community 
 in which he lived." For many years' his conscience and judg- 
 ment were a kind of meter to determine the course of the com- 
 munity upon any matter that engaged the public attention. In 
 
of West Virginia. 185 
 
 polities, in public enterprises, on any public question about 
 ■which men differed, it was common to hear the inquiry, "What 
 does Senator Willey think ?" His advice was sought on all man- 
 ner of questions, not only relating to the law, but to private 
 individual concerns, to social and religious affairs, as well as to 
 business and public matters of every phase and character. Men 
 went to liirn with the abs<:ilute assurance that they would obtain 
 an opinion sound in judgment and based upon the soundest 
 principles of truth and justice. 
 
 He carried this same loyalty to truth and right into his 
 practice as a lawyer in dealing with his clients. His counsel 
 and his conduct in a case could not be influenced by the size of 
 the fee. He would not take a case in which he did not believe 
 his client had a right and a remedy under the law. The writer 
 has heard him say to a client, when solicited to accept a retainer 
 in a doubtful case, after probing him on all sides to get at the 
 truth : "Now, Mr. A., I will take your ease, and do the best I 
 can for you; but I now give you notice, that if, on the trial, it 
 develops that certain facts cannot be established by the evidence, 
 I will be at liberty to withdraw from the case at any point." 
 He believed that it was as much, or more, of a lawyer's duty to 
 keep a client out of difficulty, as to get him out after he was in. 
 This course gave him a standing and character in his profession 
 that made his very personality a power in a case. The impres- 
 sion he made on judge and jury was honorable to him and them. 
 
 One of the marked characteristics of Senator Willey was 
 his broad generosity. He was open-handed to every public 
 claim that had any show of reason in it. Though not a wealthy 
 man, yet the extent of his liberality toward any worthy cause 
 would lead to the assumption that he was always in easy circum- 
 stances. Although his talents and industry and position always 
 commanded a good income, and the amount of money he earned 
 during his long career would have made most men wealthy, he 
 saved but little. He gave away more than one fortune during 
 
186 . The Formation 
 
 his life. Among his assets were found a bundle of promissory 
 notes that represented money that he had lent to persons in 
 straitened circumstances, which he had never attempted to col- 
 lect and doubtless never intended to collect, either as to princi- 
 pal or interest. But in his acts of charity his left hand did not 
 know what his right hand was doing. Senator Willey had none 
 of the arts of self-advertisement. His natural disposition 
 shrank from a pharisaical display of one's virtues. To him a 
 virtuous act was its own sufficient reward. He never posed for 
 the praise of men. He never sought preferment or official posi- 
 tion. The public positions which he filled sought him. He 
 never made a speech for show or acclaim. He was a modest 
 man, conspicuous only because his character and talents brought 
 him to the front. In manhood and in old age, after dealing all 
 his life with weighty public interests, he united the strength of 
 a chief to the modesty of a child. He returned from courts or 
 congresses to sit down, with unaltered humility, in the church or 
 in the store, on the plain wooden bench where "honor came and 
 sat down beside him." 
 
 But Senator Willey's uprightness of life and conduct was 
 not the mere cold and superficial prompting of a sense of pro- 
 priety. He was a profoundly religious man. His character 
 had its roots in a deep-seated reverence for God and his truth. 
 He had a sublime faith in, and devotion to, the tenets of the 
 Bible, which he made the rule and guide of his life. He had 
 studied the Word as few men have outside of the ministry. He 
 had absorbed not only the letter but the spirit of that book. He 
 practiced its precepts not as commands, but because he believed 
 in them, and loved them, and made them the life-springs of his 
 being. His life was the best exemplification of that charity 
 which "suffereth long and is kind; which envieth not; which 
 vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; which doth not behave 
 itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, 
 thinketh no evil ; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoieeth in the 
 
of West Virginia. 187 
 
 truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, endureth all 
 things." He loved the simple and spontaneous usages of Ms 
 adopted church — the Methodist Episcopal — and was always an 
 honored and active member ; possessing the genuine affection 
 of its members and especially of its clergy. He carried no jeal- 
 ousies, no resentments, no vindietiveness even toward those who 
 had done him a wrong. He had that native temperance and 
 charity which enabled him to meet every man with a free cour- 
 tesy that had no memory in it 
 
 "of wrong and outrage with which earth is filled." 
 
 An estimate of Senator Willey's character by those who 
 knew him best may be fairly gained from a short sketch written 
 by Governor George W. Atkinson after Mr. Willey's death. 
 Governor Atkinson had known him quite intimately all his life, 
 and may be assumed to be a competent judge of men. He 
 wrote : 
 
 "The crossing of Ex-United States Senator Waitman T. 
 Willey marked the passage of, in my judgment, the greatest 
 Virginian who was born and brought up west of the Blue Eidge. 
 I make this statement thoughtfully, and without intentional 
 disparagement to the galaxy of great men who were contem- 
 poraneous with him. There were the two Summers', Philip 
 Doddridge, Bishop Morris, the McComases, the Jacksons, Sena- 
 tor Carlile, and still others, all of whom were men of unusual 
 abilities and attainments. Indeed, they were really great men, 
 and all of them left their impress upon the times in which they 
 lived. But with due respect to their memories — they have all 
 crossed the deep, dark river of death into the other life beyond — 
 I am candid when I say, that in the elements which go to make 
 up a great character, Mr. Willey outranked them all. 
 
 "Great learning, large attainments and proud achievements, 
 in and of themselves, do not necessarily make the greatest char- 
 
188 The Formation 
 
 acter in men. The achievements oi the orator, the statesman, 
 the legislator, the soldier, do not always alone bring to men 
 enduring fame. There is still something in the make up of an 
 individual that is more lasting, and that is humility of life and 
 conduct, 'charity, which vaunteth not itself and is not puffed 
 up,' and love and sympathy for one's fellows, — these make one's 
 record as enduring as the sun. These qualities Mr. Willey pos- 
 sessed to a greater extent, perhaps, than any other of his asso- 
 ciates in the early history of our State. Ko history of West 
 Virginia can ever be written, covering the generation beginning 
 with the late Civil War, without noting, in almost every chapter, 
 the acts, the utterances, the deeds, and the achievements of 
 Waitman T. Willey, who for a score of years preceding, was 
 invariably referred to as 'The Whig Wheel-horse of the West.' 
 For more than a half century prior to his death, he was a tower- 
 ing figure in the public affairs of his native State. 
 
 "Senator Willey entered upon a public career educationally 
 equipped, having had the best college training then given west 
 of the Alleghenies. With honesty of purpose as his unfaltering 
 guide, he forged his way to the front. Modest and retiring, he 
 never pushed himself, but the people soon learned that within 
 him was every essential element of a man, and they chose him 
 as a leader and stood by him to the last. In every public act he 
 was guided invariably by the stars of faith and right. Thought- 
 ful, conscientious, conservative, just in all things, and helpful 
 to all who sought his counsel, they found in him no ins and outs. 
 His every public act- — and this statement will not be questioned 
 — was measured wholly and always by the plumb line of duty 
 and the right. 
 
 "At the Bar, in the Legislative halls of both Virginias, in 
 Constitutional Conventions, upon the platform and the hustings, 
 and in the Senate of the United States, he measures up to the 
 stature of real greatness ; and none of his opponents have ever 
 essayed to charge that he was anything but a model of excellence 
 
of West Virginia. 189 
 
 and a model of goodness in them all. Of all the prominent 
 public men I ever knew, Senator Willey was the cleanest, 
 squarest, truest and the best. His promises were regarded by 
 him with as much sacredness as his life; and to the day of his 
 death, one could point to his tall, straight figure and say, there 
 is one man who spent more than fifty years in public places, and 
 yet never told a lie. Can this much be truthfully said of any 
 really prominent public servant in this, or any other State? 
 
 "As an orator Mr. Willey had no peer among all the public 
 men I ever knew. In the gift which actors call 'heart,' he stood 
 supreme. He could move an audience at his will. In discus- 
 sions and debates, he was an antagonist dangerous to meet. He 
 was as resistless as a whirlwind, and yet was as gentle as a 
 woman and as tender-hearted as a child. His power of utter- 
 ance on the rostrum or before a jury was rarely found in man. 
 His rhetoric was as chaste as violets. His climaxes were over- 
 whelming. His sentiments sublime. 
 
 "Gone from the throng of the living, his long and useful 
 career stands out boldly as a model, and no one can err by fol- 
 lowing in his footsteps. Eeligious, sympathetic in every fiber 
 of his makeup, and generous to a fault, he leaves behind him 
 as a heritage to the people of his State, a character as spotless 
 as a maiden's and as unsullied as a ray of light. Such men are 
 rare. Such men are truly great. 
 
 'He was a man of form and mein imposing. 
 And courteous; as kindly courts suggest ; 
 
 While friends all confidence in him reposing. 
 Did oft among the good, esteem him best. 
 
 " 'He was a man who was honored justly, 
 
 A statesman skilled in all tradition's lore; 
 In law or usage he was never rusty, 
 And counted his followers by the score. 
 
190 The Formation 
 
 " 'He taught the truths of love and duty. 
 By precept and by example, one by one, 
 And showed by his sincerity their beauty — 
 In dignity and force, excelled by none. 
 
 " 'Upright and honest and unostentatious. 
 And kind and generous to friend or foe. 
 He ne'er was so surprised that word ungracious 
 Pell from his lips to wound, as with a blow. 
 
 " 'Such was our friend who has gone before us. 
 Whose memory revered, and worth we tell; 
 But I AM THAT I AM will some day restore us. 
 Our revered and lost, with him for aye to dwell.' " 
 
 In a previous sketch Governor Atkinson sums up Ms life- 
 work in the following terse and comprehensive maimer: 
 
 "For a full half century Mr. Willey stood forth in Western 
 Virginia not only as a leader of men, but in all respects, both 
 in public and in home life, a cultured, honorable, model citizen. 
 It can rarely be said of any one that everybody who knows him 
 has confidence in and respect for him, but of Waitman T. Wil- 
 ley, of Monongalia, all this and more can be truthfully T^Titten. 
 
 "Mr. Willey was bom on Buffalo creek, Monongalia county 
 (now Marion county), October 18, 1811. He was reared on a 
 farm until he reached his seventeenth year, when he entered 
 Madison College (now Allegheny College), Pennsylvania, from 
 which he graduated in June, 1831. Commenced the study of 
 law at Wellsburg, Va., under the distinguished Philip Dodd- 
 ridge, in the spring of 1833, and was admitted to the bar in 
 September, 1833. He immediately settled at Morgantown, in 
 his native county, where he has ever since resided. In 1834 
 he married Miss Elizabeth Eay, daughter of Patrick Hay, of 
 Wheeling, with whom he lived in happy wedlock until her death, 
 which occurred a few years ago ; was an elector on the Harrison 
 and Tyler ticket in 1840: was clerk of Monongalia county from 
 
of West Virginia. 191 
 
 1841 to 1852; was a member of the Constitutional Convention 
 of Virginia in 1850-51; was the Whig candidate from his dis- 
 trict for Congress in 1853 : was the Whig candidate for Lieuten- 
 ant Governor of Virginia in 1859. In 1860 he was a delegate 
 to the Convention that nominated Bell and Everett for Presi- 
 dent and Vice-President; was a member of the Virginia Con- 
 vention of 1861, and voted against the ordinance of secession; 
 was elected by the Legislature of what was called the "Eestored 
 Government of Virginia at Wheeling" to a seat in the Senate 
 of the United States to take the place of James M. Mason, who 
 seceded with the mother State; was a member of the Consti- 
 tutional Convention at Wheeling which framed the first Con- 
 stitution for West Virginia, but being at the same time a United 
 States Senator he did not take an active part in the proceed- 
 ings of the Convention; was a member of the second Constitu- 
 tional Convention at Charleston in 1873, that framed the pres- 
 ent Constitution of the State; was elected one of the first 
 United States Senators from West Virginia in 1863, and drew 
 the short term of two years. At the expiration of the term he 
 was re-elected to the same position for the full term of six 
 years, which expired March 4, 1871. 
 
 "For more than sixty years Senator Willey has been a con- 
 spicuous member of the M. E. Church. In 1873 he was elected 
 the first lay-delegate from the West Virginia Conference to the 
 General Conference of that denomination, but owing to pres- 
 sure of business declined to serve. In 1880 he was again elected 
 to that responsible position and took an active part in the pro- 
 .eeedings of the General Conference; was a delegate-at-large to 
 the ISTational Eepublican Convention at Cincinnati in 1876. In 
 November, 1883, he was appointed clerk of the County Court 
 of Monongalia county to fill a vacancy occasioned by the death 
 of the then incumbent. In October, 1884, he was elected by 
 the people to said ofiice for the term of six years, which oflBce 
 he is now efficiently filling. 
 
192 The Formation 
 
 'TVIadison College, from which Mr. Willey graduated, was 
 merged into Allegheny College, Meadville, Pa., and the latter 
 conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts. Some years 
 later the honorary degree of Master of Arts was conferred upon 
 him by Augusta College. While Mr. Willey was a Senator in 
 Congress, Allegheny College conferred upon him the honorary 
 degree of Doctor of Laws. A few years ago the West Virginia 
 University conferred upon him the same degree. 
 
 "It is impossible in the limited space at my command to 
 more than allude to the life work of such a man as ex-Senator 
 Willey. For a quarter of a century before the late civil war, 
 he and the late George W. Summers, of Kanawha county, were 
 universally regarded as the Whig wheel-horses of Western Vir- 
 ginia. In a majority of the counties that now compose West 
 Virginia, Mr. Willey, during his entire public career, was the 
 acknowledged champion of his party. He was a man. of great 
 industry. But few public men delivered a greater number of 
 addresses and lectures on subjects of general interest. Besides, 
 he wrote much for newspapers and periodicals on both political 
 and religious subjects. He was for half a century almost con- 
 stantly 'on the go.' He was a great orator. The writer has 
 heard him in his prime when the sweep of his power was utterly 
 irresistible. Rising to the magnitude of his subject, the electric 
 current could almost be seen to scintillate from the ends of his 
 long, bony fingers, as his high genius illumined his kindling 
 eyes. His great oratorical triumphs on the platform, in the 
 halls of Congress, and at the bar are scattered over a period of 
 more than fifty years, and alone would furnish material for a 
 large and interesting volume. At his home in Morgantown, 
 the seat of the West Virginia University, and now nearly eighty 
 years old, he is kindly spoken of as 'the old-man-eloquent,' and 
 all classes admire him with that degree of esteem that reaches 
 absolute reverence. 
 
 "But better than a reputation for oratory, statesmanship 
 
William Erskine Stevenson". 
 
of West Virginia. 193 
 
 and legal attainments, is a character for honesty, sobriety and 
 sterling integrity. Mr. Willey's reputation for probity in pub- 
 lic and private life is as spotless as a maiden's and as unsullied 
 as a ray of light. Through his church relations his name has 
 become familiar to thoubands of the homes of the land as the 
 synonym for purity and exalted Christian character. His 
 memory will be perpetuated signally and with lasting certainty 
 through the influence of a lofty example, in which are exhib- 
 ited all the noble qualities that enter into the composition of a 
 character which combines a just pride without ostentation, can- 
 dor without dissimulation, humility without affectation, learn- 
 ing without vanity, generusity without selfishness, truth with- 
 out fear. All of ihese elements are the environments of Mr. 
 "Willey's daily existence and are the leading lessons of his blame- 
 less life." 
 
 Governor Atkinson refers to Mr. Willey's power as an 
 orator; and this power was probably the most pronounced qual- 
 ity of a character that was marked by many strong features. 
 The contemporary comments of the public press, and their esti- 
 mate of his ability in the field of oratory would fill a volume, 
 and show that few public men of our nation have achieved 
 greater conquests and a higher reputation upon the platform, 
 the hustiags, and the legal forum, as an orator, than did he. 
 A single selection from these press comments will indicate 
 their general character. The following is taken from the 
 Wheeling Daily Register of September 38, 1882: 
 
 "Mr. Willey has a tall, lithe figure, fully six feet high, 
 broad shoulders, large bones, lean but muscular, and possessed 
 of a store of physical energy and endurance that few men of 
 his age can boast. He is now in his seventy-first year, but 
 he is springy, his mental faculties unimpaired, and the sources 
 of vitality seem as full and vigorous as in a man of forty. His 
 penetrating eyes look out from under overhanging arches of 
 silvered brows; his features are regular and harmonious, and 
 
194 The Formation 
 
 his whole appearance and bearing impress the stranger as a 
 man of sagacity, refined sensibilities and stem integrity of life 
 and character. As a citizen of his town was heard to remark: 
 'He is the ripest man I ever met.' 
 
 "It requires but a few moments' conversation with the ex- 
 Senator to discover the elements of that power as an orator 
 which has long been recognized as his commanding faculty, and 
 the distinguishing feature of his public career in this and 
 other States. 
 
 "Mr. Willey is one of the old time orators — one of the kind 
 that was bom rather than made. There are fewer men of this 
 stamp than we suppose. Those non' living may be counted on 
 the fingers of one hand. Those who have lived are so few that 
 we easily recall their names. 
 
 "Those who have heard only the great declaimers, do not 
 readily appreciate the difference between the declaimer and the 
 genuine orator. The world is full of declaimers. They abound 
 in every State and community — in every public meeting and 
 legislative hall — men who are knovrn for their power of diction, 
 their great culture and achievements in the art of speech, and 
 the world of to-day recognizes them as model orators; but be- 
 cause these men, when heard by the multitude, fail of the 
 effect that some orators of other times have produced, we are 
 accustomed to say that the infliuace of the orator is on the 
 decline. 
 
 "It is the orator himself, that is lacking. The power of 
 the genuine orator is no more on the decline than the power of 
 the musician. Human nature is just as susceptible to the influ- 
 ences of oratory or music to-day as a hundred years ago. 
 
 "The trouble is, we mistake the declaimer for the orator. 
 We probably have better declaimers than, we ever bad. 
 Any man who has a fact and can state it clearly can be eloquent, 
 but all the precision and elegance that culture can give to his 
 speech cannot make him an orator in that other and higher 
 
of West Virginia. 195 
 
 sense. There is a nameless something behind his speech — 
 an intangible personality in the genuine orator that diffuses 
 itself among his auditors, and gets hold not only of the intel- 
 lect, but of the heartstrings of his hearers with a power that 
 cannot be resisted. We need to feel the influence once before 
 we appreciate it, and once felt we never forget it, though never 
 able to define it. 
 
 We have seen staid old men, whose pulse usually ran less 
 than fifty beats to the minute, jump up and shout like school- 
 boys, or weep and blubber like women under the efEeet of a 
 speech by Mr. Willey on the most common political topics of 
 the day. On one occasion when addressing a large audience in 
 the city of Philadelphia, he shot out one of his master strokes 
 at the audience, and an old grey headed man jumped clear 
 above the seats with a shout like the war-whoop of an Indian. 
 Then suddenly turning in his tragic manner to the auditors 
 behind him, Mr. Willey seemed to turn an electric current upon 
 them, and fifty men, seated on the stage, involuntarily jumped 
 to their feet. 
 
 "Many similar instances might be cited as illustrations in 
 the long career of Mr. Willey as a public speaker, showing the 
 peculiar power which a genuine oratory, as distinguished from 
 mere declamation, can have over an audience. It is not in any 
 sense an acquired quality, but an innate personality, stronger 
 than speech, which reaches and stirs the fountains of human 
 feeling and takes complete possession of the auditor." 
 
 Senator Willey retained to the last somewhat of this power 
 in public speech. Even when bending under the weight o" 
 more than four score years he was in demand as a pubhe 
 speaker and never failed to manifest flashes of this old time 
 eloquence. His last appearance before an audience was at the 
 funeral ceremonies of Governor Pierpont, when he was in the 
 eighty-eighth year of his age. He had to be assisted to mount 
 the platform, but when brought face to face with the large 
 
 ,-f 
 
196 The Formation 
 
 congregation something of his youth seemed to return, and 
 with the body of his old friend lying at bis feet, he delivered 
 one of the most pathetic and impressive addresses ever heard on 
 an occasion of that kind. 
 
 But the time came when this busy life, so full of labors, 
 so full of unremitting zeal in public and private affairs, must 
 rest. He had never rested before. He was- a man of no vaca- 
 tions. Prom early childhood he had known nothing but the 
 daily round of ceaseless activity. How could such a man rest? 
 
 Two years before his death he realized that he had reached 
 the "parting of the ways." Against every inclination of his 
 nature his judgment told him that he must throw off and finally 
 relinquish the cares and responsibilities of active life. He re- 
 tired to the peace and seclusion of his quiet home, and sat him- 
 self down in his library among his books. "If I could only 
 quit thinking," he said, "I could rest." His mind was as clear 
 and unimpaired as in the vigor of manhood. He retained his 
 interest in all the affairs of the time — in politics, in matters 
 of home and foreign policy, in public enterprises, in the prog- 
 ress of the world. He was on the alert for every movement of 
 the State or National government, and forecasting the result 
 with the prescience of a prophet. 
 
 He had thought much of death and the deep problems of 
 the beyond. He was now conscious that he was but a short 
 step removed from entering into those experiences toward which 
 every thoughtful life travels with serious contemplation. "One 
 of the most gratifying things in heaven," he said, "will be to 
 have some things explained which are inexplicable in earth." 
 Serenely he awaited the hidden approach of the messenger, 
 whom he knew was almost in sight, to summon him to that new 
 experience about which he had thought so deeply. "I have 
 only one disease," he was accustomed to say, "but that is incur- 
 able. It is old age." The tired machinery was simply run- 
 ning down. There is something inexpressibly sa^, as well as 
 
of West Virginia. ISV 
 
 inscrutable by us, to see a man so ripe in experience, so accom- 
 plished in all that qualifies for usefulness^, so -wise, so scholarly, 
 so fully equipped for life's encounters, slowly carrying all these 
 acquisitions toward the grave. 
 
 But no man ever stood at this point in human experience 
 who could look backward with less remorse or forward with 
 calmiCr confidence than Senator Willey. Search his whole life 
 and no one can lay his finger on an act that, at such a time, 
 would seem to disturb the repose of the last sleep. "There 
 were no infirmities k^aving a permanent stain behind them. 
 There were no fallacies to be apologized for; no vices to be 
 blushed at; no rash outbreakings of passionate resentment to 
 be regretted; no dark deeds, disturbing the peace of families, 
 or leaving them wretched by its desolations." A short time 
 before his death he called the writer to his bedside, and said : 
 "I am not going to be here long, and there is one thing I have 
 a desire to say, and it is this: There is not a human beii)g 
 upon the face of the earth toward whom I have any feeling of 
 enmity. There are men whose characters I do not respect or 
 admire, but I have no feeling of enmity toward them — I would 
 not lay a straw in their way to injure them. I thought I would 
 like to say this." 
 
 Thus died a man who was at peace with all the world ; at 
 peace with his conscience; at peace with his God. No man 
 ever had a loftier standard of Christian manhood. No man 
 ever left the world a finer example of Christian excellence in 
 public amd private life. 
 
 On the night of the second of May, 1900, having reached 
 the point where the eighteenth century, over the greater part 
 of which he had lived, had passed away and he had been per- 
 mitted to see the beginning of a new century, he went peace- 
 fully to sleep, and was not, for God had taken him. 
 
 No enemy exulted over his death — for there was none. 
 But his native town went intoi mourning. Business houses 
 
198 
 
 The Formation 
 
 closed their doors, and a great host followed him to his last 
 resting place with a show of reverence and respect which only 
 a good man inspires. "A great integrity makes a man im- 
 mortal." 
 
*JACOB BEESON BLAIR. 
 
 Some of the men who did most to establish the new State 
 of West Virginia, and who are still living, have transferred 
 their energies to other promising sections of the National Com- 
 monwealth. Among these is Hon. Jacob B. Blair, once a Eep- 
 resentative of Virginia and of West Virginia in State and Na- 
 tional councils, and for three full terms an Associate Justice of 
 the Supreme Court of the growing territory of Wyoming. 
 
 Jacob B. Blair was born at Parkersburg, Wood county, 
 Virginia, April 11, 1831. He had the benefit of a common 
 school education, studied law, and was admitted to the Bar of 
 that county in 1844. At the time he was admitted to practice, 
 the list of lawyers in that vicinity included a good many prom- 
 inent attorneys, and it required shrewdness and force, as well as 
 industry and close application in a beginner to establish himself 
 in the profession ; but young Blair had the qualifications which 
 insure success, and pushed his way steadily forward. He ex- 
 tended his acquaintance and reputation in neighboring counties, 
 and at the beginning of the civil war was generally and favor- 
 ably known throughout his Congressional District. He was a 
 Union man, pronounced and positive, and threw his whole 
 weight and influence into the movement to prevent the western 
 
 *The above sketch is taken, by permission, from "Promin- 
 ent Men of West Virginia." 
 
300 The Formation 
 
 section of Virginia from being carried into secession and rebel- 
 lion. When Hon. John S. Carlile resigned his seat in the 37th 
 Congress from that District, Judge Blair was chosen to fill the 
 vacancy, in 1861, and was subsequently re-elected to the 38th 
 Congress, in 1863. 
 
 During his service in Congress, the bill to admit West Vir- 
 ginia into the Union was passed by Congress, and it is not giv- 
 ing undue credit to say that no one contributed more efficient 
 aid to its passage than Judge Blair. When, after a hard-fought 
 battle in the two Houses of Congress, the victory was won by 
 the friends of the new State, the fate of the bill in the hands of 
 the President was thought to be threatened with an adverse de- 
 cision, and again Judge Blair brought every power of his earn- 
 est and patriotic nature into active use to dispel from the Exec- 
 utive mind the doubts as to the constitutionality of the bill 
 which some members of the Cabinet would have implanted 
 there. Fortunately for West Virginia, Mr. Lincoln inclined to 
 the views advocated by the friends of the bill, and, on the 1st 
 day of January, 1863, he gave Judge Blair the notice of his 
 approval of it, as a ISTew Year's gift to the new Commonwealth. 
 
 At the close of his Congressional service. Judge Blair was 
 elected a member of the Legislature of West Virginia from 
 Wood county; and in 1868 was appointed Minister Eesident to 
 Costa Eiea, remaining in the diplomatic service of the Govern- 
 ment until 1873. In that year he was appointed Associate Jus- 
 tice of the Supreme Court of Wyoming Territory, and, by suc- 
 cessive appointments, he served continuously and acceptably in 
 that position until the change of Administration under Mr. 
 Cleveland. 
 
 Judge Blair's present residence is at Laramie City, and, 
 although retaining a warm interest in the New Commonwealth 
 he helped to create, he is an enthusiastic admirer of that vigor- 
 our and prosperous section of the West, with which he is now 
 identified. The portrait which accompanies this sketch, taken 
 
of West Virginia. 201 
 
 from a recent photograph, is an admirable likeness of him. Al- 
 though approaching the three-score-and-ten limit, of physical 
 strength, he still retains his vigor, both of mind and body, and 
 has every prospect of enjoying a useful and honorable old age 
 in his new field of labor. 
 
*HON. ARCHIBALD W. CAMPBELL. 
 
 I remember when Mr. Campbell began, now more than 
 forty-two years ago, to disseminate Republican doctrine in Vir- 
 ginia. Virginia was not then a hospitable territory for such 
 doctrines. In the very year when Mr. Campbell's connection 
 with the Intelligencer began, two citizens of the adjacent 
 county of Harrison were indicted, under instructions of the 
 Circuit Judge, for circulating the New York Tribune, adjudged 
 an "incendiary" sheet under the Virginia statute, and Horace- 
 Greeley also was indicted for its publication. Mr. Campbell 
 was then a young man fresh from Bethany college, founded by 
 his uncle, Alexander Campbell, who also founded the so-called 
 Campbellite Church. He was still fresher from the political 
 inspiration of the great New York apostle of Republicanism,. 
 William H. Seward, having attended his law instruction at 
 Auburn. All of Alexander Campbell's family were virile- 
 Southern Democrats, as was also the son-in-law, Prof. Pendle- 
 ton, on whim the presidency of the college fell after its found- 
 er's death. 
 
 When young "Archie" Campbell came into control of the- 
 Intelligeneer he succeeded a brother of Prof. Pendleton, a law- 
 
 *The above character sketch was written by G-ranville D. 
 Hall, who was at one time associated with Mr. Campbell as^ 
 editor of the Wheeling Intelligencer. 
 
of West Virginia. 303 
 
 yer and a Southern Democrat. The young editor, wiser than 
 his years, began by slow but steady approaches a campaign of 
 aggression against slavery. Prom that day until the institu- 
 tion was overthrown he never looked back; he held every inch 
 of ground as he conquered it in Northwestern Virginia, until 
 when the rebellion culminated, enough people in that part of 
 Virginia had been educated in loyalty to the Federal Union to 
 constitute a breakwater against which the Confederacy beat in 
 their vain efforts to attack Ohio and Pennsylvania, and the 
 value of which in determining the result of the conflict baS' yet 
 to be fully appreciated. 
 
 Throughout the war Mr. Campbell's paper was the White 
 Plume of Navarre, around which the loyalists of Western Vir- 
 ginia and the neighboring counties of Ohio rallied, and the 
 authorities, military as well as civil, leaned heavily on him and 
 continually drew fresh supplies of hopefulness and confidence 
 from his indomitable courage. During that time the writer 
 was associate editor and reporter on Mr. Campbell's paper, and 
 had the best opportunity to know the infliience on the local 
 public opinion of his unwearied pen, always enforcing in the 
 most convincing, resolute way the duty of unreserved loyalty 
 to the Government ; and, even more efEective, his personal influ- 
 ence on the little corps of patriots who were the soul of the 
 movement and organization that saved Western Virginia to the 
 Union and cut it loose forever from that "body of death," as 
 Governor Pierpont used to say, of the nest of treason that had 
 its head at Richmond. 
 
 Mr. Campbell lived to see, as Pierpont has, the seed of 
 Eepublieanism planted by them in that unpromising soil grown 
 into a great tree. West Virginia is not yet a very great State, 
 but it seems now safely Republican and has a future that no- 
 body would have felt like predicting when the first mass mee- 
 ting met in the old Washington Hall, in Wheeling, in the stir- 
 ring May of 1861, when some of the most eminent public men 
 
204 The Formation 
 
 of that section in that body were in doubt whether they were 
 not committing treason against Governor John Letcher and the 
 Southern Confederacy with which he had allied the outraged 
 Old Dominion. 
 
 But I want to speak about the man more than of his career. 
 In politics, as such, he was never a trimmer with his party asso- 
 ciates for preferment. He never worked quite obediently in 
 the merely party harness; never sanctioned doubtful schemes 
 of expediency or methods that could compromise a man's per- 
 sonal honor or dignity. But when a principle was to be assert- 
 ed or defended he was its unhesitating champion — a true Chev- 
 alier Bayard, without fear and without reproach. I recall that 
 when Fred Douglass lectured in Wheeling, soon after the war, 
 for the public library, the committee had difficulty in finding 
 some suitable person to introduce the lecturer. Governor Bore- 
 man, among others, was invited, and, like them, he asked to be 
 excused. When "Archie" Campbell was solicited he consented 
 promptly. He presented Mr. Douglass to as fine an audience 
 as the city ever got together, who listened to a masterly address 
 on the dangers that lurked behind the Vice Presidency (of 
 which Andrew Johnson was Just then giving the country an 
 object lesson). Not only was Mr. Campbell warmly applauded 
 for introducing Douglass, but Douglass' address was also 
 cheered to the echo. I mention the incident simply as illus- 
 trating the kind of man Mr. Campbell was. 
 
 Another little episode may be mentioned that will be famil- 
 iar to many Intelligencer readers. It is the tilt with Eoscoe 
 Conkling in the convention in 1880 that nominated Garfield 
 for the Presidency. It will be recalled that Mr. Conkling had 
 ofi'ered a resolution pledging to support the nominee of the 
 convention whoever it might be. Mr. Conkling then believed 
 the "old guard" was able to nominate Grant for a third term. 
 Not content with the resolution, he expressed the opinion that 
 any delegates who refused to vote for it ought to be expelled 
 
of Wesi Virginia. 305 
 
 from their seats. Mr. Campbell, as one of the West Virginia 
 delegates, took fire at this, and he gave the New York Adonis 
 such a drubbing as he never before had since Blaine had re- 
 ferred to him in the House as a "turkey cock." Campbell 
 referred to his own record as a Republican editor in Virginia 
 from the time of John Brown's Harper's Ferry raid down to 
 recent times, and declared that it did not discredit him in com- 
 parison even with the distinguished Eepublican Senator from 
 New York; that he did not recognize the gentleman's right to 
 question his seat in a Republican convention. He never would 
 surrender his prerogative of independent judgment. He car- 
 ried his sovereignty under his hat, and asked nobody's per- 
 mission. 
 
 These incidents show the fibre of the man. He had moral 
 courage. He was not afraid to do unpopular things when he 
 believed them to be right. An instance of this was when, some 
 time after the war, he headed a movement in West Virginia 
 to do away with the test oaths, by which all ex-Confederates 
 were then excluded not only from political privileges, but from 
 the practice of the professions and from teaching in the public 
 schools. The movement was known as the "let-up." Mr. 
 Campbell thought it was time to let these people up, in har- 
 mony with policies adopted by the party in National matters, 
 and said so in the plainest English, believing the occasion for 
 the exclusion had passed. 
 
 Mr. Campbell's Republicanism was of a high type. He 
 was for principles, not expediency ; it was nearer a religion with 
 him than politics. He would not compromise his principles for 
 the sake of success any more than he would his personal sense 
 of dignity. He always carried into his political life a lofty 
 ideal of integrity in connection with his public career. I be- 
 lieve he would have been one of the first United States Senators 
 elected in 1863, after the formation of the new State of West 
 Virginia, if he had been willing to trim a little — to flatter the 
 
206 The Formation 
 
 Legislature a little beyond what he thought that body merited. 
 He could not stoop even to conquer, and knowing him as I did, 
 I believe he always felt more satisfaction in the result than if 
 it had been different, but costing him the sacrifice of what he 
 valued more than success. He always deserved more at the 
 hands of his party than he would accept. 
 
 Mr. Campbell was a man not only of education, as college 
 educations go, but he was much more. He was broadened and 
 educated first by his profession; next by his wide acquaintance 
 with public men and public affairs, by diligent study in many 
 directions, and, not least, by extensive travel in his own and 
 foreign countries. In addition to this he had a talent for 
 affairs. He knew the iron business, in which for many years 
 he had extensive interests, better than many of the profession- 
 als; was a student of markets and of political economy, and 
 knew more of that science than many who have wasted reams 
 of paper in writing books that only befog the question and the 
 student. 
 
 He had a life-long and intimate friendship with "Cash" 
 Clay, of Kentucliy. During the Fremont campaign, or about 
 that time. Clay visited Wheeling on his invitation and made a 
 public speech on political issues. The city was overwhelmingly 
 Democratic and pro-slavery to the core. There was consider- 
 able talk among the rougher set that Mr. Clay would not be 
 allowed to make a "Black Eepublican" speech. But he was 
 allowed. When he rose to speak Clay took from his pocket a 
 big revolver and laid it on the desk before him. He had his 
 say. He was not disturbed. Clay was a man after Campbell's 
 own heart. 
 
*HON. JOHN" S. CAELILE. 
 
 My father was denied the advantage of a scholastic educa- 
 tion. When he was fourteen years of age he became a clerk 
 in a store to assist in the support of his widowed mother. As 
 he grew to manhood he had as his text books Milton's "Paradise 
 Lost/' Eobinson's "America" and Plutarch's "Lives," all of 
 which he thoroughly memorized. It seemed that this was his 
 library up to the age of twenty-one. He often said that he 
 could not remember the time when he was not able to read and 
 write. Aside from the books named, he derived instruction 
 solely from his mother, who was a woman of great force of 
 character and of sterling virtues. My father's handwriting 
 was both bold, legible and perfect, and he was never known to 
 have misspelled a word. At twenty-one years of age he became 
 a merchant upon his own account, and at the same time began 
 the study of law. In about three years he failed in business 
 and was admitted to the bar, at which time he entered upon 
 his career as lawyer, orator and statesman. Long after much 
 of his mercantile indebtedness had become outlawed he paid 
 every farthing of it, fully recognizing, aa he did all throni;' 
 his life, the superiority of a moral obligation over a legal one. 
 He was a man of great magnetic power in manner and conver- 
 
 *The above sketch was prepared by W. D. Carlile, the son 
 of Hon. John S. Carlile, by request, for this publication. 
 
208 The Formation 
 
 sation; he was generous in disposition, sincere in his friend- 
 ships and attachments, benevolent to a fault, devoted to the 
 institutions of his country, and possessed a very ■warm feeling 
 for mankind in general. He was of a very sunny disposition; 
 he was absolutely free from prejudices of all kinds, and I never 
 heard him express or show a feeling of hatred toward any liv- 
 ing being. I never heard him speak ill or unkindly of any one, 
 although he had a great many bitter enemies. He would es- 
 pouse what he considered to be a principle or the proper cause 
 and he would throw the whole force of his intellect and zeal 
 into the advocacy of it — uncaring for personal consequences. 
 Neither malice, nor fear, nor personal glory, nor personal dis- 
 aster seemed to influence him in the least. His course and 
 his demeanor indicated that he was separated from such influ- 
 ences. In 1861 he espoused the Union cause. A rabid seces- 
 sionist was then editing a paper at Clarksburg. He was a vio- 
 lent enemy of my father's. He left a large family in destitu- 
 tion and Joined the Confederacy. He was at the head of a band 
 who sought the life of my father during the four years of the 
 war. After he left, my father, hearing of the impoverished 
 condition of his family, put them in a little store building 
 which he owned in Clarksburg and provided them with the 
 necessaries of life until after the war closed. This incident 
 is a fair illustration of the treatment of my father of his ene- 
 mies — he "returned good for evil" in every instance. 
 
 Conscience was his guide, love of home, country and the 
 people were the dominating and controlling influences of his 
 life. The sudden realization that Frederick county, Va., the 
 county of his birth, was not included in the geographical boun- 
 daries of West Virginia, and his natural impulse to embrace 
 it within the Union lines, caused him to arise from his seat in 
 the United States Senate and move an amendment to the bill 
 creating the new State including the county of Frederick. 
 Owing to the delay that the moving of an amendment at that 
 
James Heney Brown. 
 
of West Virginia. 209 
 
 time would have occasioned in the passage of the bill, Charles 
 Sumner, the Senator from Massachusetts, and several others 
 of his kind were disposed from that to charge my father with 
 dislo3'alty to the Union cause, which was in no sense the fact, 
 but which had the effect of ending his political career. Presi- 
 dent Grant afterwards nominated him as Minister to Sweden, 
 but Charles Sumner's vote defeated his confirmation. My 
 father lived for thirteen years after that and was always iden- 
 tified with the Eepublican party. His political views were 
 purely intellectual and not partisan, and his most distinguish- 
 ing personal characteristic, as I now recall it, was a total ab- 
 sence of both personal and political partisanship. He would 
 have fared better and his character and services would have been 
 more highly appreciated had he lived in this day of toleration 
 and intellectual achievement, rather than in that day of pas- 
 sion, bitter partisanship and war. -i 
 That portion of my father's public record upon which hi® 
 fame will likely endure the longest consists in his devotion to- 
 the Union, to his opposition to secession and to his zeal in the 
 organization of the State of West Virginia. He was a natural 
 orator of superior magnetism and power, and his speech in the 
 Eiehmond Convention opposing secession in 1861 created such 
 furore and intense feeling that a mob gathered to assassinate 
 him and it was necessary that his friends should guard his 
 person to a place of safety beyond the city limits. His ancestry 
 were of Scotch-Irish origin, but for several generations were 
 Virginians. He possessed all the characteristics of a South- 
 erner and had no interest not identified with the South and its 
 people, yet his intellectual vision was so correct and just that he 
 could easily foresee the wisdom of maintaining the Union and 
 the consequent National blessings that followed. 
 
 The foUovring additional data, relating specially to 
 his public career, is obtained from the sketch contained in 
 "Prominent Men of West Virginia" : 
 
210 The Formation 
 
 At an early age, having a decided taste for the profession, 
 he began the study of law, was admitted to the bar in 1840, set- 
 tled at Beverly, Eandolph county, and began practice. He was 
 elected to the Senate of Virginia in 1847, and ser/ed until 1851. 
 His associates were not long in finding in Mr. Carlile a man 
 of untiring energy, a close student, a diligent legislator, and 
 a ready and forceful debater. He took a leading rank in the 
 Senate, which was filled with the ablest men of Virginia. In 
 1850 he was elected a delegate from Randolph county to the 
 Constitutional Convention to revise the Constitution of the 
 State. In this body of learned and distinguished Virginians, 
 Mr. Carlile's splendid natural abilities added to his experience 
 of four years in the Senate made him influential, and placed 
 him alongside of the ablest men in that body. The people by 
 this time recognized Mr. Carlile's commanding abilities, and in 
 1856 nominated him as a candidate for Congress and elected 
 him in one of the most spirited campaigns, peculiar to that day. 
 He served one term and returned to the practice of his profes- 
 sion, which had become large and lucrative. 
 
 To secure better opportunities for the display of his supe- 
 rior legal attainments, Mr. Carlile removed his residence to 
 Clarksburg, Harrison county. He was employed in all the im- 
 portant cases in ligation in County, Circuit, Federal and Su- 
 preme Courts in that portion of the State, and accordingly 
 achieved great distinction as a member of the bar. At the 
 breaking out of the war he was an avowed Unionist, and threw 
 all of his great powers on the side of the Government. He was 
 a member of the Wheeling Convention that established the Ee- 
 stored Govemment of Virginia, and was one of the leading 
 spirits in all of its councils. He was elected to the Thirty- 
 seventh Congress from the Wheeling District in 1861, and 
 remained a member until his promotion to the Senate of the 
 United States. 
 
♦ARTHUR INGRAHAM BORBMAN. 
 
 Among the distinguished men of this State, who were lead- 
 ers in the period from 1860 to 1870, the subject of this sketch 
 stands at the head and front. The qualities that command the 
 largest measure of success are a clearness of understanding that 
 brings into view from the beginning the definite end and the 
 most available process by which it is to be reached, together with 
 that force of will which is tireless in its persistence and that 
 quickness of decision which utilizes instantly the commanding 
 points in every crisis, that never leaves an enterprise waiting 
 upon doubts until the tide that might have borne it on to for- 
 tune has receded and left the nascent victory a helpless wreck. 
 Men with such abilities become the founders or saviors of States 
 and systems and policies; and they are the leaders of men — not 
 from the intrigues of craft and cunning, or the power of wealth 
 or rank or the traditions of a family, but from an innate and 
 rightful sovereignty in human nature. 
 
 When the war cloud gathered in 1861, and the pulse of the 
 Nation beat at fever heat, there were others in Western Virginia 
 the equal in reputation and learning of Arthur I. Boreman, yet 
 there were none, seemingly, who possessed that untiring energy, 
 sleepless industry and indomitable will, peculiar to him, and 
 which were in that crisis essential to safe and successful leader- 
 
 *By permission from "Prominent Men of West Virginia." 
 
312 The Formation 
 
 ship. He had the grit that men admire. His backbone was as 
 stiff as Bunker Hill monument. He believed he was right in 
 standing by the flag. His position was the Unity of the Na- 
 tion ; and there he stood as firmly as the eternal rocks that based 
 the hills around him. The people saw that there were in his 
 make-up those essentials that mark the leadership of men, so 
 they called him to the front and placed him upon the pedestal 
 of commanding position. 
 
 Governor Boreman was a man of positive convictions, and 
 was, as a natural consequence, a devoted partisan. He had no 
 faith in that philosophy of government imputed to Louis Napo- 
 leon when President of France, which led him to suppose that 
 he could dominate all parties by taking ministers for his Cabi- 
 net that represented none. He did not believe that the security 
 or permanent peace of the country could be obtained without 
 enacting and enforcing measures of legislation that, if properly 
 observed, should make the liberties we then enjoyed as great a 
 beneficence as without such protection they would be to the 
 poor and downcast a mockery and a snare. So believing and 
 so acting, he was consistently conspicuous in his devotion to the 
 ends he had in view. 
 
 Viewing Governor Boreman as a partisan leader in "those 
 times that tried men's souls" even his opponents in after years 
 conceded that he possessed many high and generous qualities of 
 both head and heart. If he struck hard blows, he did not 
 shrink from receiving hard blows in return; and when the strife 
 was ended he was ever ready to extend a hand, and to sink, if 
 not forget the past. And while he never gave up a partisan 
 advantage, he was ever ready to perform a personal act of kind- 
 ness and friendship to a political adversary as well as to a polit- 
 ical friend ; and the admiration, love and affection of those who 
 stood nearest to him in those dark days of the past could then 
 as now attest the warmth and strength of his own affections. 
 His record is before the people of the State. From it no fair- 
 
of West Virginia. 313 
 
 meaning man would blot out a single page. It is easily imder- 
 stood — ^bold, fearless, direct, distinct. There is no evasion or 
 darkness in the definitions of his principles of policies. As the 
 bold, fearless, loyal President of the Wheeling Convention that 
 reorganized the Government of Virginia, and as the first Gov- 
 ernor of the new State of West Virginia, his heroic, manly 
 conduct gave him a place in the affections of the Union people 
 of the State that will not soon be forgotten. 
 
 Arthur I. Boreman was bom in Waynesburg, Pennsylva- 
 nia, July 34, 1833. In his childhood he came to Tyler county, 
 this State, where, after receiving a common school education, he 
 engaged in the study of law with his brother and brother-in- 
 law at Middleboume. He was admitted to the bar in May, 
 1843. In November following he commenced the practice of 
 his profession in Parkersburg, Wood county, soon attaining a 
 high reputation as a jurist and an able advocate. He has ever 
 since continued the practice of his profession in that city. In 
 1855 he was elected to the Virginia House of Delegates from 
 Wood county and was successively re-elected until 1860. He 
 was a member of the Virginia Legislature which, amid the in- 
 tense popular excitement of the hour, held an extra session, in 
 1861, to discuss the propriety of seceding, and his efforts against 
 that movement were very conspicuous. During the same year 
 he presided over the Convention assembled at Wheeling to reor- 
 ganize the State Government; and, in the ensuing October, 
 was elected Judge of the Circuit Court, exercising the functions 
 of that office until his unanimous election in 1863 as first Gov- 
 ernor of the new State. He was re-elected in 1864 and 1866, 
 and wielded the executive power with a rare conception of the 
 urgent needs of that trying period. In 1868 he declined to be 
 a candidate for the same high office, and was then honored in 
 the Legislature by an election to the United States Senate, 
 taking his seat March 4th, 1869. He served with great effi- 
 ciency on the Committees on Manufactures, Territories and 
 
314 The Formation 
 
 Political Disabilities, and, during the Forty-third Congress was 
 chairman of the Committee on Territories, as well as a member 
 of the Committee on Claims. 
 
 When his six years' term as Senator had ended, the State 
 having become Democratic, he resumed the practice of law in 
 the city of Parkersburg, and was not long in building up a 
 large and lucrative practice. He applied himself to his profes- 
 sion with a zeal that surpassed a young man just starting out 
 in business. His explanation was that twelve years of public 
 life and absence from his law office, threw him out of the line 
 of the later decisions, and unless he became familiar with the 
 decisions and the newest methods of practice, he could not 
 command that position at the bar of the State to which his 
 abilities and reputation entitled him. 
 
 Without solicitation, or even intimation on his part, the 
 distinguished ex- Senator was nominated and elected by his 
 party admirers as Judge of the judicial circuit over which he 
 had presided, with dignity, ability and fairness, nearly thirty 
 years before. In this capacity he is now acceptably serving the 
 term to which he was elected, being eight years from January 
 1, 1889. 
 
 Ex-Grovernor Boreman has for many years been a member 
 of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and was honored by the 
 West Virginia Conference, in 1888, by an election as a lay- 
 delegate to the General Conference which held its quadrennial 
 session in New York that year. 
 
*WILLIAM ERSKINE STEVENSON. 
 
 In no State of our honored Republic could the Executive 
 chair have been filled more conscientiously or with a nobler 
 manhood than in West Virginia during the difficult period from 
 March 4, 1869, to 3d March, 1871. In the simplicity of his 
 character, the sincerity of his purpose, the kindliness of his 
 heart-impulses and an unflinching integrity and fearlessness, 
 there was deep similarity with the immortal Lincoln. Through 
 the door of suffering and discipline, beyond the reach of praise 
 or censure, both have gone from mortal duty, and left as the 
 heritage of their fellow men, sincere respect, honored memories, 
 examples worth imitation to the end of time. 
 
 He was bom in Warren, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, 
 March 18, 1830, of Scotch-Irish parentage, the next eldest of 
 nine children. In 1829 he removed to Pittsburg, and was 
 apprenticed to the cabinet-maker's trade, wliich he thoroughly 
 mastered, as he did everything he attempted, and was soon re- 
 puted to be one of the best and most skillful workmen in that 
 city. In 1843 he wedded Sarah Clotworthy, a native of Phila- 
 helphia. He was a member of all the local debating clubs, and 
 his talents therein displayed first drew to him public attention. 
 In 1856 he was elected to the Legislature and took part in that 
 memorable session which resulted in the election of Simon Cam- 
 
 *By permission from "Prominent Men of West Virginia." 
 
216 The Formation 
 
 eron to the Senate of the United States, at a time when the 
 Democrats had a majority of one on joint ballot. Before the 
 expiration of his legislative term, in the spring of 1857, he re- 
 moved to Valley Mills, Wood county, Virginia, vrhere he pur- 
 chased a small but beautiful farm and there resided until 1880, 
 when for convenience in business affairs he moved into Par- 
 kersburg. 
 
 During his residence in Pittsburg he took an active and 
 prominent part in the politics of the city and State, and was 
 frequently made the recipient of honors by his party. He was 
 also prominent in working circles there, zealously defending the 
 interests of the workingmen, and at the same time exerting his 
 influence in behalf of moderation and good order. During his 
 entire career, on the stump, in the halls of legislation and as 
 journalist, the workingman never had a more faithful friend or 
 an abler or more eloquent advocate. When honors had come 
 to him he did not forget his former associations and would fre- 
 quently refer to his early life and the struggles that sur- 
 rounded it. Whether in the shop, on the farm or in the Exec- 
 utive chair, Governor Stevenson was a worker and possessed a 
 nature so constituted that the glittering honors of the entire 
 world could not cause him to falsify any act, record or vocation 
 of his past career. 
 
 Soon after he located in this State the stirring scenes that 
 preceded the war began. His temperament would not pemut 
 him to remain an idle spectator, and he took an active and 
 prominent part in the politics of the State. At that time dis- 
 trust and suspicion hovered over every house. Union men 
 hardly knew who were friends and who were not. But about 
 Governor Stevenson there was no uncertainty ; his voice sounded 
 for the Union with no ambiguous tone. At that time every 
 Northern man was treated with suspicion; the editor of the 
 New York Tribune had just been indicted at Clarksburg, and 
 subscribers of that paper were compelled to go stealthily across 
 
of West Virginia. 217 
 
 the Ohio river to receive their papers, and had to conceal them 
 even from their own neighbors to prevent being indicted. 
 About this time the charge was made against the Governor 
 that he was circulating an incendiary document, "Helpers' Im- 
 pending Ctisis," a copy of which he had in his library and had 
 loaned to neighbors by request. The charge was brought to the 
 attention of the Grand Jury and he was indicted in the County 
 Court at Parkersburg. The excitement was intense. His life 
 was threatened and he was advised to leave the State until the 
 excitement abated. But the Governor did not know fear. His 
 only question was "Is it right?" He promptly went to Par- 
 kersburg, accompanied by a large crowd of his neighbors, many 
 of whom were opposed to him politically, but were prompted 
 by the ties of strong friendship, and demanded a trial. Amid 
 the confusion that attended such excitements the trial was post- 
 poned, and it remains postponed to this day. 
 
 In the canvass of 1860, upon the question of secession, the 
 Governor took an active part, speaking in Wood and surround- 
 ing counties, and laboring with untiring zeal for the Union 
 cause. There are three men whose eloquence and ceaseless la- 
 bors contributed largely to the vote which that section of the 
 State gave against secession; two of them are now gone and 
 one remains, Governors Stevenson and Boreman, and the late 
 General John Jay Jackson. 
 
 In the formation of the new State he took an active and 
 conspicuous part, being a member of the Convention of Novem- 
 ber 26, 1861, to frame a Constitution for the then proposed 
 State. This body, sitting under the shadow of Virginia's his- 
 toric name and by her restored existence, held its sessions with- 
 in the echoes of the war's din and the clash of not distant arms. 
 Delegate Stevenson, by his excellent sense and sagacious judg- 
 ment contributed materially to the success of that Convention 
 and afterwards to the ratiiication of the Constitution by the 
 people. He was next elected a member of the State Senate, 
 
218 The Formation 
 
 serving therein from July, 1863, to the close of 1868. During 
 the last three years of his legislative term he was President of 
 the Senate. 
 
 In 1868 he was elected Governor of the State for the term 
 beginning March 4, 1869, and occupied that position upon the 
 first removal of the Capital to Charleston, serving half his term 
 in Wheeling and half in Charleston. He was re-nominated in 
 1870 but was defeated in the election by the Hon. John J. Ja- 
 cob. He was the third and last Eepublican Governor of the 
 State, being preceded by Governors Boreman and Famsworth. 
 In June, 1871, he became associated with 0. G. Sehofleld in 
 the publication of the State Journal, at Parkersburg, and con- 
 tinued in that connection until its sale to its present proprietors 
 in January, 1882. 
 
 He was made receiver of the West Virginia Oil and Oil 
 Land Company in 1881, and held the position until twelve days 
 before his death, discharging his duties with marked fidelity and 
 ability. 
 
 In the local politics of his county the Governor was always 
 sought after, and spent his time in some representative position, 
 called by his fellow citizens and generally much against his 
 wishes. He took an active part in political affairs and was con- 
 sidered one of the most effective and eloquent political speakers 
 in the State. He was always in demand, abroad as well as at 
 home, and has freqiiently declined well paid invitations from 
 Maine, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and other 
 States, in the interest of his own State, which he loved with a 
 patriotism sincere, unselfish and devoted. 
 
 The prominent characteristics of the Governor were a 
 strong will, unerring judgment, a large fund of humor, keen 
 knowledge of human nature, rigid devotion to what he believed 
 to be right, and an integrity of character that riches dared not 
 attempt to bribe and power could not corrupt. In all our inter- 
 course with men we have never met with a character more beau- 
 
of West Virginia. 319 
 
 tiful in simplicity and gentleness and more thoroughly honest 
 than his. It can be said of him, what can be included in the 
 obituary of few persons, no living man can bring against him 
 the charge of a dishonest business transaction in his whole ca- 
 reer. Byron's panegyric upon Sheridan, with a slight varia- 
 tion, is applicable here: 
 
 "Nature formed but one such man, 
 And broke the die — in moulding Stevenson." 
 
 In the hot political excitement of those days in our section, 
 aggravated by the fearful conflict of internecine strife, the Gov- 
 ernor was frequently charged with being a bitter partisan. 
 Nothing is farther from the truth. He was not a partisan in 
 the common acceptation of that term, which implies bigotry 
 and perverseness. He was earnest and sincere in promulgating 
 his opinions, but bigotry was as foreign to his nature as it could 
 be to any man who knew no such sentiment as hate. Very few 
 men who have attained prominence had more liberal and en- 
 larged views on all subjects than Governor Stevenson, and very 
 few men were more considerate of the opinions of others than 
 he. His mind was a peculiar one; unbumished by a classical 
 iinish, but founded in a thorough academic course, it had a 
 deep understanding, broad comprehension and a tenacity that 
 would never let go until the subject of its study was thorough' 
 mastered. It was a mind that was slow but was laborious, and 
 it only ceased its action upon a theme or subject when it was 
 thoroughly mastered and perfectly understood. He was one of 
 the best informed men on all subjects the writer ever met. 
 "Whether upon the best mode of farming, the principles of law 
 and government or upon the abstruse principles of science, lit- 
 erature and art, he was always at home and entirely familiar 
 •with his theme. He acquired these traits by a thorough and 
 systematic course of reading, aided by a strong and retentive 
 
220 The Formation 
 
 memor}'. As a writer he was forcible, truthful, systematic, hu- 
 morous, sure of his points and never wandered from his theme. 
 His fund of humor was largely developed, and he seldom made 
 a speech on any subject without unfolding the humorous side of 
 his topic. 
 
 Governor Stevenson knew no such sentiment as hate; it 
 was foreign to his nature. In all the long years of our inter- 
 course with him, and some of them covered with political strifes 
 that were noted for their acrimony and malignity, I never heard 
 him, with a single exception, utter an unkind word against any 
 man. That exception was when he had been attacked in a pa- 
 per with uncommon severity ; as he read it he exclaimed : "What 
 a villain," but immediately checked himself and retracted his 
 words. 
 
 The Governor was not a member of any evangelical church, 
 but the religious element in his nature was strong and fervent. 
 He was reared in the Calvinistic faith, his parents being mem- 
 bers of the old Scotch Covenanters. He had an encouraging 
 word and an open purse for all denominations, and was an un- 
 yielding advocate of the primal tenets of Christianity. He was a 
 Sunday School worker all his life, and for twenty years was 
 Superintendent of the Sabbath School in his neighborhood, sup- 
 porting it with faithful services and liberal donations. No 
 taint ever rested upon his private life; so pure was it the whis- 
 per of scandal was never raised against it. He possessed the 
 confidence, esteem and love of all who knew him, and outside of 
 the influence of political strife I do not believe that Governor 
 Stevenson had an enemy in the world. 
 
 Some fifteen months before death he was attacked by a 
 disease that defied the skill of physicians and resisted all treat- 
 ment. It finally developed into a cancerous afEection that ter- 
 minated his life on Thanksgiving day, November 39th, 1883. 
 His last days were days of great suffering, but no murmur es- 
 caped him. His mind was clear, and he arranged the prelimni- 
 
of West Virginia. 331 
 
 ariet of his funeral obsequies with the same calvo., methodical 
 system that characterized his life. 
 
 Nine days before, November 30, 1883, he commissioned a 
 personal friend to read at his funeral a carefully prepared state- 
 ment of his religious convictions. This synopsis of his Chris- 
 tian faith not only does his intellect and heart credit, but shows 
 the mainspring of his life, so devoted to the uplifting of his 
 fellow men. He left a widow, who since followed him through 
 the impenetrable veil, and a son, Orlando, who was his private 
 secretary in Executive days, and who is in mercantile life at 
 Parkersburg. On his monument, in Riverview cemetery, where 
 his ashes now repose, might appropriately be inscribed: "He 
 loved the masses, and they revere his memory." 
 
*JAMES HENEY BROWN. 
 
 For nearly half a century, the subject of this sketch has 
 been a well-known character in the Great Kanawha Valle}-, 
 He was born in Cabell county, Virginia, December 25, 1818, 
 and was educated at Marietta College, Ohio, and at Augusta 
 College, Kentucky, from the latter of which he was graduated 
 in 1840. He studied law in the office of John Laidley, of 
 Cabell county, and in 1842 was licensed as an attorney. His 
 practice covers a period of fifty years in the Circuit Courts of 
 Cabell, Lincoln and Kanawha counties, and in the United 
 States District Court, the Court of Appeals of Virginia and 
 West Virginia, and in the Supreme Court of the United States. 
 
 In 1848, he located at Charleston, Kanawha county, where 
 he has since resided. In the winter of 1854-5, he was a dele- 
 gate to the Democratic State Convention, at Staunton, that 
 nominated Henry A. Wise for Governor; and in 1855, he was a 
 candidate for the State Senate, but was defeated. In 1856, he 
 was a delegate from Kanawha county to the Democratic Con- 
 vention at Parkersburg which nominated Albert G. Jenkins, of 
 Cabell county, for Congress. 
 
 Schooled in the doctrines of the fathers of the Constitution, 
 he repudiated the modem heresy of secession. While he main- 
 tained the just rights and reserved powers of the States and 
 
 *By permission from "Prominent Men of West Virginia." 
 
of West Virginia. 223 
 
 people, on the one hand, he defended with equal firmness the 
 constitutional powers of the National Government on the other. 
 He, therefore, denounced secession as tending inevitably to dis- 
 integration and the ultimate destruction of all government. In 
 the spring of 1861, while the Convention at Eichmond was 
 passing the ordinance of secession, he was a delegate to the 
 Union Convention, at Parkersburg that nominated Hon. John 
 S. Carlile for Congress. No man in the southern section of the 
 State took a more determined stand for the Union than did 
 James H. Brown. He was a delegate to the Wheeling Conven- 
 tion in 1861 that rescued the western portion of Virginia from 
 the vortex of secession and rebellion, and was also a member of 
 the Legislature of the Eestored Government of Virginia. He 
 was a leading spirit in both these bodies, which were practi- 
 cally in session at one and the same time. 
 
 He was elected Judge of the' 18th Judicial Circuit of Vir- 
 ginia in the winter of 1861-2, and it is a remarkable fact that 
 not one of his decisions was ever appealed to a higher court. In 
 1863 he was elected to the Convention that framed a Constitu- 
 tion for the new State of West Virginia. May 28, 1863, he was 
 elected a Judge of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Vir- 
 ginia, which office he filled with conspicuous ability for the full 
 term of eight years. After the expiration of his term as a Su- 
 preme Judge, he resumed the practice of his profession at 
 Charleston. He was again twice renominated by his party (he 
 became a Eepublican in 1861) for the office of a Supreme 
 Judge, and he was defeated along with the rest of the ticket. 
 In 1882 he was nominated and elected by the Eepublicans a 
 member of the House of Delegates of West Virginia from Ka- 
 nawha county, and was the acknowledged leader of his party in 
 that assembly. Judge Brown was twice his party's candidate 
 for Congress in the Third West Virginia district, first in 1883, 
 at a special election to fill a vacancy occasioned by the resigna- 
 tion of John E. Kenna, and again in 1886. He was both times 
 
224 The Formation 
 
 defeated, but reduced the majority from several thousand to a 
 mere nominal figure. 
 
 Judge Brown is a man of marked ability. He is fluent in 
 speech, logical in thought, pleasant in manner. In matters of 
 religion, he favors the largest liberty of conscience. He is a 
 member of the Presbyterian Church, and for many years has 
 been a Ruling Elder. 
 
*H01sr. FEANCIS HAREISON PIEEPONT. 
 
 Francis Harrison Pierpont, the loyal war Governor of Vir- 
 ginia, was the chosen leader of that brave little band of patriots, 
 who, refusing to take up arms against the old flag, by their 
 splendid courage and wise statesmanship made the new State,, 
 born in such troublous times, a bulwark of defense for the whole 
 Union. He was a man whose greatness was not that of circum- 
 stances or place, but o<f character. He was not a mere politi- 
 cian. He was one of the men whom God raises up at a special 
 time to do special work ; and when that work was done, bravely, 
 conscientiously and wisely, he was content to leave the arena of 
 public life, and take up the quiet occupation of the private citi- 
 zen, finding his greatest happiness in his home, his church and 
 the upbuilding and development of his State. 
 
 Born in the woods of Virginia, where educational advan- 
 tages were unknown, the blood of generations of educated Puri- 
 tan ancestors asserted itself, and the boy of twenty-one shoul- 
 dered his pack and set ofE on foot for college. Here his wonder- 
 ful gift of choosing friends stood him in good stead, and the 
 wise friendship of such men as Gordon Battelle, Bishop Simp- 
 son, and others of like mind, helped to mold and develop a 
 character already rich in elements of greatness. This gift of 
 instinctively reading men aided him again in the days between 
 
 *By his daughter, Mrs. W. H. Siviter, of Pittsburg. 
 
226 The Formation 
 
 1860 and 1868, when he had to choose so carefully whom to 
 trust. How well he succeeded only those familiar with the 
 history of West Virginia and the reconstruction of old Virginia 
 can know. One fact attests this. It is acknowledged that Gov. 
 Pierpont gave Virginia the best judiciary the State ever had. 
 And no shadow rests on the money transactions of either the 
 new or old State, at a time when such great opportunities were 
 offered to dishonest men for money-making. How great was 
 the confidence and reliance that the leaders of the Union placed 
 in him is shown in President Lincoln's tribute, and by the influ- 
 ence he exerted in Washington during the war of the rebellion. 
 But those who know him best think oftenest, not of his splendid 
 ability as a speaker, not of his wisdom as a statesman, not of 
 his unselfish patriotism, but of the joyousness and sympathy 
 of his nature. It was this characteristic that made him the 
 loving chum of his children from babyhood to manhood, and the 
 friend of every child and young person who knew him. An 
 interesting example of this sympathy may be found in his one 
 day laying aside the cares of his office when Governor, and 
 taking a little child to President Lincoln, that she might plead 
 with him for the pardon of her brother, who had been unjustly 
 sentenced to the Albany penitentiary. Even after the death of 
 his wife — ^that beautiful and talented woman he loved so dearly 
 that ever after her departure he, too, was ready to go — ^his love 
 and care for those about him kept Mm cheerful and serene. 
 
 Governor Pierpont's mind was always intensely active. 
 Nothing was too small or too great to interest him. "The hand 
 of kindness has led me all my life," he vPTote in one of his last 
 letters, "and I am content; but I have such a great curiosity 
 to know about things, I want to get to heaven to see how the 
 worlds are made and the stars are hung. As a public speaker 
 his power was irresistible. What it was in the days of his man- 
 hood's prime, when he was pleading the cause of his country, 
 we can only judge by the results of his speeches, for he always 
 
of West Virginia. 227 
 
 spoke extemporaneously, and none of his addresses has been 
 preserved. Over and over again, in his own State, and when he 
 was stumping New York for Mr. Lincoln in 1864, he faced men 
 who had sworn to take his life, and yet no violence was ever 
 offered him after he appeared on the platform and had fairly 
 faced his foes. His splendid presence, ringing voice, winning 
 smile, and above all, the innate justice, right and power that 
 spoke every time he faced a crowd, held back the passions of 
 men and stood guard over the War Governor. 
 
 What he was in his midday strength and vigor, those who 
 heard him speak in his twilight hour could well imagine, for 
 when the sun of his power departed, its afterglow, mellow and 
 tender and beautiful, stayed with him to the end. One of his 
 speeches, made after his 80th birthday, was delivered in Pitts- 
 burg, at the encampment of the Grand Army of the Eepublic, 
 in the largest Presbyterian Church of that city. Many distin- 
 guished speakers were present, and eloquent speeches were made, 
 but it was Governor Pirpont's talk that caused General Sickles 
 to spring to his feet and interrupt him by calling out: "O 
 boys, how can you stand that ? Give him a cheer, boys, even if 
 it is in a church ! Cheer him." At the close of the meeting 
 Governor Beaver, of Pennsylvania, turning to a friend, re- 
 marked: "What's the use of the rest of us talking when the 
 old Governor is here? We manage to pump up something, but 
 he just knocks in the bung and out it comes." 
 
 Of his last speech to a large audience the Hon. Alston G. 
 Dayton wrote in a private letter: "I shall never forget the 
 last time I saw him, when, at the close of the campaign of 1896, 
 in Fairmont, we sat side by side on the platform, and in turn 
 addressed an audience of thousands. As I looked at his vener- 
 able form, placid and kindly face, heard the old burning 
 thoughts, clothed in his wonted eloquent language, spring to 
 his lips, listened to his joyous, prophetic words outlining the 
 future of our Nation and State, his very presence was a tower 
 
238 The Formation 
 
 of strength. His hand, resting on my shoulder at the time, 
 thrilled me, and every word seemed a benediction of faith and 
 hope. We were all deeply impressed. He was peculiarly bright 
 and happj' — no doubt, no wavering, no fear. He seemed to 
 look beyond us and to pierce the veil between the present and 
 the future, and, as we hung on his words, telling us of the 
 future of the State for which he had done so much, which he 
 had loved so well, 
 
 " 'His voice sounded like a prophet's word, 
 And in its sacred tones were heard 
 The thanks of millions yet to be.' " 
 
 Of Governor Pierpont's right to a place among Virginia's 
 honored sons, Henry Jones Ford, author of "History of Ameri- 
 can Politics," says: "He was a towering figure even among 
 the giants produced -by popular government when all its ener- 
 gies were invoked by the terrible crisis in the life of the Nation 
 brought on by the secession movement. * * * Grovemor 
 Pierpont ranks among the truly great men whose greatness i& 
 the product of their own character, and is in no sense the crea- 
 tion of circumstances. At a time of doubt, dismay and uncer- 
 tainty, his patriotism was unfaltering, active and courageous, 
 his action prompt, decisive and efiBcient, and he won for himself 
 a distinguished place in the history of his country." 
 
JAMES CLARK McGREW, OF PEESTON COUNTY. 
 
 The roots of every man's character lie hidden in the distant 
 past. While the law of heredity has not yet been satisfactorily 
 formulated, the fact of the descent of physical peculiarities and 
 mental aptitudes from remote ancestors, is fully acknowledged 
 by all scientific biographers. 
 
 This fact of heredity lies at the bottom of national ten- 
 dencies and race peculiarities. 
 
 The subject of this sketch was by paternal descent a High- 
 land Scotchman and by maternal extraction a Protestant Irish- 
 man. The typical physical and mental peculiarities of these 
 two branches of the Celtic family appear in him. Physically, 
 he is active rather than muscular. His frame indicates Scotch 
 endurance, rather than Irish vigor. In the make-up of his 
 mind the caution and reserve of the Highlander is coupled with 
 the impetuosity and boldness of the Irishman. 
 
 In the child who was bom while his father was absent from 
 home leading his regiment against the British in 1813, these 
 conflicting tendencies were latent. They unfolded and strength- 
 ened as time passed. How far the patriotic activity of the times 
 during which he came into the world influenced his mental and 
 moral tendencies, is a matter for conjecture ; but it soon became 
 evident that he was to win his way in the world by his head 
 rather than by his hands. 
 
230 The Formation 
 
 Until he was nineteen years of age he lived on his father's 
 farm, doing, during the summer, such work as would naturally 
 fall to his lot, giving no evidence of special aptitude. But in 
 the irregular and primitive schools of the neighborhood which 
 he attended during the winter months, his mental activity 
 found congenial employment, and his superiority above his fel- 
 lows was clearly apparent. When his school life ended, he was 
 an accurate speller, thoroughly conversant with arithmetic, a 
 good grammarian, and excelled in penmanship. Besides these 
 specific acquirements, there had been developed in him the in- 
 stincts of a student and he had determined to push his pursuit 
 of knowledge as far as circumstances would permit. 
 
 The path to competence opened before him in 1833 when 
 he was employed by H. & E. M. Hagans, who had long been 
 established as merchants in the town of BrandonviUe, which 
 adjoined his father's farm. This path he followed with tact 
 and diligence for twenty-seven years. These were years of 
 growth in character as well as fortune. His employers were 
 men of New England extraction, who had inherited convictions 
 which were not congenial to the soil of Virginia, and were 
 familiar with the management of larger interests than were 
 common in Preston county. Their unresting energy led them 
 into many new enterprises which promised returns, but which 
 involved risk and activity to which the natives of Western Vir- 
 ginia were not accustomed. Their mercantile operations cov- 
 ered a wide area in Western Pennsylvania and Virginia, and 
 soon brought the subject of our sketch to Kingwood, where he 
 has ever since resided. In their employ he was first, clerk, then 
 confidential manager, and finally a partner. 
 
 The broadening of his intellectual outlook began in his asso- 
 ciation with these men. The exigencies of business soon took 
 him to Baltimore and Philadelphia, where he was impressed by 
 the intellectual activity and concentrated energy of city life. 
 He entered upon a course of mental improvement which lasted 
 
of West Virginia. 231 
 
 many years. His periodical trips to the East gave Mm the 
 opportunity of securing the best books. Among the earliest of 
 his purchases were small, substantially bound copies of "Locke's 
 Essay on the Conduct of the Human Understanding" and 
 "Bacon's Essays." These were followed by American editions 
 of contemporary English poets; books on travel in the Orient, 
 particularly in Palestine; works on gardening; on mechanical 
 science and architecture. 
 
 His intellectual life was greatly stimulated by the Philo- 
 mathean Literary Society, which was formed in 1843, of whicli 
 he was the first president, and to which through a quarter of a 
 century belonged nearly all the leading men of Kingwood and 
 vicinity. This society tended strongly to promote mental activ- 
 ity in the young men of the town and neighborhood. Various 
 forms of literary exercises appeared on its programmes. But 
 the chief interest centered in the debates. All the great ques- 
 tions in -politics, in science, in religion, which were agitating 
 the thought of the time were discussed with vigor and intelli- 
 gence. In these debates the subject of our sketch bore a con- 
 spicuous part. Preparation for them made reading necessary 
 and tended to crystalize his opinions on many important sub- 
 jects, especially such as related to the public policy of the 
 country. 
 
 A marked love for beauty in form which had early dis- 
 closed itself in his penmanship, now found scope and was de- 
 veloped to a high degree. Bare plants and flowers, the latest 
 products of Eastern green-houses, found their way to his garden 
 and grounds, which were soon known to be the most attractive 
 in the county. 
 
 His taste for architecture was strong and true. It was 
 formed on the best models and inclined to classical simplicity 
 and strength. He disliked deeply what was unnecessary in 
 ornament or whatever tended to divert attention from defects 
 in design or hidden weakness in construction. What he built 
 
232 The Formation 
 
 or advised others to build was plain, symmetrical and durable. 
 His good taste in this direction, diffused through carpenters and 
 builders, made Kingwood in the eighties one of the most attract- 
 ive towns of its size in West Virginia. 
 
 The development of his religious character which went on 
 steadily through this period of his life, was, humanly speaking, 
 the product of both heredity and environment. By birth he 
 was a Presbyterian. But his father was suspected of being a 
 free-thinker in speculative theology. Early in life he himself 
 began to question the truth of some features of the elaborate 
 systems of doctrine which had been accepted by some bodies of 
 Christians who had separated from the Roman Church at the 
 time of the Reformation. In particular, he had reached the 
 conclusion that in determining their eternal destiny men were 
 not mere clay in the hands of the potter; but that each indi- 
 vidual counted for much. Moreover, he had begun to believe 
 that what a man did was of as great importance as what he be- 
 lieved, in determining his future; and that to live earnestly 
 and j'ustly in this life was as much a duty to God as to prepare 
 for the life which is to come. It is believed that these convic- 
 tions were in a large measure an inheritance from his father, 
 whose independent spirit had broken away from the theological 
 nprroflTiess of the times, while holding to all that would now be 
 considered essential truth. 
 
 His earliest religious impressions outside those which came 
 to him at home, were received while attending Quaker meetings. 
 With his entrance upon business life he came into close associa- 
 tion with prominent and pronounced Methodists, whose early 
 training, however, had been in the free atmosphere of New Eng- 
 land Congregationalism. Their connection with Methodism, 
 moreover, is believed to have been due to the fact that it was 
 the only organized form of active Christianity which happened 
 to be found in the community where they resided. He found 
 that these men, like all the early Methodists, laid greater stress 
 
of West Virginia. 333 
 
 upon conduct than upon creed. With the Methodists he ulti- 
 mately connected himself, and for years was active in the work 
 of his local church. His religious reading, which began with 
 such books as "Doddridge's Else and Progress" and "Jay's 
 Morning and Evening Exercises," gradually turned toward the 
 vreekly newspapers and monthly magazines which were pub- 
 lished under Methodist auspices, together with such practical 
 volumes as then issued from Methodist sources. 
 
 His close relations with the Hagans family were cemented 
 by his marriage in 1841 with Persis, the eldest daughter of Har- 
 rison Hagans. This union, which lasted for more than half a 
 century, was to the subject of our sketch the source of the best 
 and highest of many good things which have come to him in life. 
 His wife, to an attractive personality which centered in a mind 
 unusually well cultivated for that time, joined a clear insight 
 into the practical affairs of life and unbounded devotion to the 
 interests of her husband and to their home. 
 
 To her influence he was more open than to that of any other 
 liuman being, and she moulded and directed his conduct more 
 than all others combined. It was the natural outcome of a 
 union between two strong persons who had been acquainted 
 with each other long before marriage and who had loved but 
 once and deeply. Every improvement in fortune was at once 
 reflected in the appointments of their home, and there he found 
 his safest retreat in discomfiture, and his surest reward in, 
 ■success. 
 
 The building of the Baltimore and Ohio Eailway from 
 Cumberland to Grafton brought to Mr. McGrew the opportu- 
 nity for enlarged commercial activity and he was not slow to 
 embrace it. He established himself wherever the end of the 
 road was likely to remain for even a few months. His phys- 
 ical powers were now at their best, and he was constantly em- 
 ployed in passing between his various establishments and iji 
 .supplying them with goods. This physical strain, continued for 
 
234 The Formation 
 
 more than ten years, greatly impaired his health. But disre- 
 garding frequent warnings, he pushed forward. 
 
 His fortunes were advancing steadily when the secession 
 crisis was precipitated upon the country. Up to this time Mr. 
 MeGrew had held no public ofl&ce. His taste for architecture, 
 and his knowledge in kindred matters, caused his services to be 
 frequently called for by the county authorities. The building 
 of a fine county Court House, which was subsequently set flre 
 and burned, and the superintending of the construction of a 
 bridge over Cheat river, a difficult undertaking, constituted 
 some of the work he had done for the public. 
 
 He had been too busy to take a prominent part in the pol- 
 ities of his county or of the State. Besides, he was by inherit- 
 ance, by family connection, and by personal conviction, a Whig ; 
 and his native county was largely Democratic. He was not 
 indifferent to political movements. He had noticed the close 
 connection between national legislation and national prosperity. 
 He had observed the discrimination against his section of the 
 State by the General Assembly of Virginia in the matter of 
 taxation and in the malring of public improvements with public 
 money. The basis of representation in the Legislature of the 
 State and the taxation of slaves had long been burning ques- 
 tions between the Virginians who lived west of the Allegheny 
 ountains and those who occupied the gentler slopes and more 
 fertile valleys east of that range. On these questions he had 
 matured, intelligent and decided opinions in favor if his own 
 section. At the same time he had viewed at short range the 
 mismanagement of affairs in his own county, the unwise use of 
 public money, and the selection through party spirit of unfit 
 men for public office. These facts had resulted in a deep dis- 
 like for politics, and a distrust which fell little short of con- 
 tempt, for politicians. Besides, his independent spirit could 
 hardly brook the attitude of compliant deference toward voters 
 which was customary on the part of aspirants for office. 
 
of West Virginia. 336 
 
 It is doubtful if any crisis less grave than that which was 
 then approaching could have induced him to leave, even tempor- 
 arily, his large and growing business enterprises. But he had 
 watched the gathering storm and felt that the aid of every 
 lover of his countiy would be needed to keep the ship of state 
 from foundering. He had been accustomed to look upon the 
 mountains and those who occupied the gentler slopes and more 
 Union of States as the safeguard of civil liberty. It should not 
 be destroyed if he could do anything to prevent it. Accordingly 
 he allowed himself to be elected a delegate to the Convention of 
 Virginia which assembled in Eichmond in February in 1861, 
 and later passed an ordinance of secession. In this body he 
 found himself associated with some of the oldest and most 
 experienced public men in the State. The great majority of 
 the members had been elected as Union men. Their constit- 
 uents had told them plainly that they did not wish to secede 
 from the Union. But there was a small and determined band 
 of men, headed by ex- Governor Henry A. Wise, who were deter- 
 mined to carry Virginia into the vortex of secession, peaceably 
 if they could, forcibly if they must. In the fierce and pro- 
 longed struggle which took place btween this compact minority 
 and the large but incongruous majority, every spring of hu- 
 man action; fear, hope, vanity. State pride, family connection, 
 self-interest, religion, was touched by skillful fingers to seduce 
 men from the duty which they owed to their constituents, from 
 their hereditary attachment to the Union, from the solemn oaths 
 which many had taken to support the Constitution of the 
 United States; to bind their better judgment as to the true 
 interests of Virginia, and to induce them to vote to array the 
 Old Dominion alongside the cotton States in opposition to the 
 Federal Government. Pew men now living know what a hell 
 of human passions Eichmond was during the late winter and 
 early spring of 1861. The sentiment of the city was against 
 the Union. Many of the inhabitants were outspoken in favor 
 
236 The Formation 
 
 of secession. Union members of the Convention were threat- 
 ened with assassination. Some of them were spit upon as they 
 walked along the streets, and from the gallery in the hall in 
 which the Convention met. Others were compelled to walk 
 under secession flags suddenly flung out over their heads from 
 balconies under which they were passing. This local hostility 
 was encouraged and strengthened by the gathering of a large 
 number of avowed secessionists from all parts of the State who 
 organized a Convention and went into secret session near the 
 Capitol where the Convention was sitting. Through fiery reso- 
 lutions and by personal interviews these men undertook to 
 overawe the Union members of the Convention and to dragoon 
 them into voting for secession. 
 
 Into this seething cauldron of conflicting views and raging 
 passions the subject of this sketch was plunged. His inexperi- 
 ence as a public speaker prevented him from contributing to 
 the great debates which characterized the earlier sessions of 
 the Convention. His lack of personal acquaintance with the 
 leading public men of the State largely restricted his influence 
 to his immediate associates from the western counties. But 
 he contributed to the contest a firm devotion to the Union and 
 an immovable courage, which were of more value than either 
 eloquence or personal influence. His lack of acquaintance left 
 him free from the entangling alliances of friendship and the 
 unpopularity which grows out of remembered contests. He 
 was under obligation to none; he was personally obnoxious to 
 none. He was free to follow his own convictions and the 
 wishes of his consituents. His very unfamiliarity with polit- 
 ical methods became a source of strength. He could not con- 
 ceive that a representative was at liberty to disregard the ex- 
 pressed wishes of his constituents, to which he had given public 
 assent before his election. Trained in commercial integrity, 
 he did not see that an oath of allegiance to the United States, 
 voluntarily taken, could be rightfullj' repudiated because a 
 
of West Virginia. 337 
 
 majority of those with whom he happened for the time being 
 to be associated, had voted that they would do so. It looked 
 too much like the maker of a promissory note declining to pay, 
 because circumstances had changed since he gave it, and his 
 neighbors had resolved that they would not meet their obliga- 
 tions. His independence of character had, at last, found a 
 field in which it could render far-reaching service. He beheld 
 the Union majority in the Convention crumbling away under 
 the combined assaults of determined foes of the Union with 
 regret, but not with fear. As one Union man after another 
 succumbed to the thfeats or the blandishments of the seces- 
 sionists his courage rose. He was not following men, but 
 principles. In the private consultations of his colleagues from 
 the western counties, his advice was always appreciated, and it 
 always meant unbending opposition to secession. The senti- 
 mental devotion of the Irishman to a cause was supported by 
 the unflinching stubbornness of the Scotchman under difficul- 
 ties. Had he felt less deeply the value of the Union for which 
 his father had fought, he might have been seduced from his 
 allegiance by glowing descriptions of the glories of Virginia 
 as the leading State in the new Confederacy. Had there been 
 in his composition less of that Highland courage which for 
 centuries had shown most conspicuously "during the closing 
 hours of a doubtful day," he might have followed the example 
 of some of his colleagues from the west, and bent before the 
 storm of threat and vituperation which beat pitilessly upon 
 himself and his associates. But the Man and the Hour had met. 
 The crisis for which he had been unconsciously preparing was 
 upon him. His unswerving devotion to the Union was a 
 source of strength to many of his colleagues. Without a mo- 
 ment's vacillation, he voted against secession from first to last, 
 and he was one of the fifty-five whose voices were given in favor 
 of the Union upon the final passage of the ordinance of seces- 
 sion on the 17th of April, 1861. Two months later he and 
 
238 The Formation 
 
 eleven other members were expelled from the Convention for 
 "conspiracy against the Commonwealth of Virginia, and abet- 
 ting its open enemies.'' With true democratic instinct he had 
 returned to his constituents and found them applauding his 
 opposition to secession, and filled with a determination to main- 
 tain the cause of the Union with their last dollar and their 
 last drop of blood. 
 
 In the stirring events which immediately followed he took 
 an active and honorable part. The safe, conservative course, 
 suggested in the Wheeling Convention, and supported with 
 ability and determination by his close friend, Hon. Waitman 
 T. Willey, of first reorganizing and restoring the government of 
 Virginia before attempting a partition of the State, and the 
 formation of a new one. his Judgment fully approved, and he 
 gave to it, and to subsequent measures loking to the same end. 
 such support as his position enabled him to render. 
 
 His brief experience in public life had given 'him a decided 
 distaste for public position, and he preferred to do his duty in 
 the capacity of a private citizen. But the people of his native 
 county would not permit him to retire. He was elected to the 
 House of Delegates in 1863, and helped organize the new State. 
 In this and the following Legislature he occupied a very prom- 
 inent place on the Judiciary and the Taxation and Finance 
 Committees. As a member of these two committees he took an 
 active part in repealing those restrictive laws which had made 
 Virginia an oligarchy. Voting by ballot, the extension of local 
 self-government through the substitution of the New England 
 to'n'nship system for the Old England county system as the 
 unit of administration, the removal of inequalities in taxation, 
 the erection of a system of public schools; these and other im- 
 portant measures felt the impress of his mind in the commit- 
 tee room or on the floor of the House of Delegates. As a leg- 
 islator, he was cautious, conservative and constructive. He 
 possessed peculiar facility in handling questions relating to 
 
of West Virginia. 339 
 
 taxation and finance; and at that time these were especially 
 prominent and pressing. But in public debates he felt embar- 
 rassed by what he deemed his lack of early training in extem- 
 poraneous speaking, and preferred to write out his conclusions 
 and read them from manuscript. 
 
 In reasoning upon these great questions the practical -bent 
 of his mind was always apparent. For abstract principles he 
 cared but little. The immediate effect of a measure upon the 
 public welfare was of paramount importance. His conclusions 
 had been reached not by abstract reasoning but by close obser- 
 vation of the actual working of law and policies. 
 
 With the close of the war Mr. McGrew returned again to 
 the pursuits of private life and engaged in banking in connec- 
 tion with his former colleague in the Eichmond Conventionj 
 the Hon. Wm. G. Brown. In 1868 he was elected to Congress 
 in opposition to his life-long friend and recent business associ- 
 ate, Mr. Brown. After a re-election in ISTO he declined a re- 
 nomination and again sought the retirement which has always 
 been so congenial to his tastes. 
 
 Since the close of his public career he has filled several 
 important representative positions in his church and minor 
 administrative positions in the State; but has chiefly devoted 
 himself to the conduct of his private affairs and those of the 
 banking institution of which he was founder, and with which 
 he has been closely connected for 35 years. 
 
 In 1881 he was a delegate to the First Ecumenical Con- 
 ference of Methodists, which met in London. This gave him 
 the opportunity of carrying out a plan of travel which he had 
 formed long before, and for which he had been preparing him- 
 self by extensive reading for forty years. He traveled during 
 that and the following year in Great Britain, on the Continent, 
 in Turkey, Greece, and Asia Minor, through Palestine, into 
 Egypt, and on to India. He returned with his mind well stored 
 with acute observations upon the countries which he had visited, 
 
240 The Formation 
 
 and with the deepened conviction that America is the freest, the 
 happiest and the most desirable country that he has seen. 
 
 The last eighteen years of his life have been a period of 
 maturity rather than of decay. In 1893 his wife died. She 
 had been the inspiration of his youth, the companion of his 
 manhood, and the sharer of his hopes and disappointments for 
 more than half a century. Within the next six months both 
 his legs were broken by an accident in Florida. From this 
 accident he recovered to a degree which wa& surprising. Now 
 in his eighty-seventh year, he is as active and masterful in 
 business as are most men at sixty; and but for the sadness 
 which follows bereavement and a lameness which makes loco- 
 motion difficult he would enjoy life as keenly as he did fort}- 
 years ago. 
 
 The man and his career are remarkable in several respects 
 His strong will has overcome a long series of difiBculties and 
 conquered at every point. Less muscular than many of hi? 
 contemporaries, through a studied temperance he won back his 
 health which had been impaired by a too close application tr 
 business, and has outlived them all. 
 
 By making the most of the limited opportunities of his 
 youth, he laid the foundation of an intellectual life which has 
 been intense and sustained through three-quarters of a century. 
 On practical matters, his judgment is always sound and in 
 fields with which he is familiar almost always correct. 
 
 Beginning life in surroundings plain almost to bareness, he 
 has added one comfort after another until he finds himself 
 spending his age in the midst of a scene of quiet, simple beauty 
 which it would not be easy to duplicate in his native State. 
 
 Entering public life without experience, at an age when 
 the majority of his countrymen have reached the zenith of 
 their fame, he rose steadily and without reverse, until he w< 
 seated in the Congress of the nation. Then he retired againsi 
 the wishes of many of his constituents, without a pang of re- 
 
of West Virginia. 341 
 
 gret, to his books, his flowers, his business and his friends. Of 
 his public life it can b^ said that he never offered himself for 
 an office, never asked any man to vote for him, and was never 
 defeated in any election. 
 
 The man and his career would not be possible in any land 
 except America. Both are typical products of free institutions 
 and a new country. 
 
HON. CHESTER D. HUBBARD. 
 
 Hon. Chester D. Hubbard was of English ancestry, he 
 being descended from William Hubbard, who landed at Ply- 
 mouth in 1630, and settled at Ipswich, Mass. The subject of this 
 sketch was the eldest son of Dana Hubbard, who came with his 
 family to Pittsburg in 1815, Chester D. Hubbard, bom in Ham- 
 den, Connecticut, November 25, 1814, being then but six months 
 old, and reaching Wheeling in 1819, where he located. Cheater 
 D. Hubbard was but four and one-half j'ears old when his father 
 reached Wheeling, and hence he spent nearly seventy-three years 
 of his life as a resident of that city.- 
 
 In his childhood he attended the local schools until he was 
 thirteen years of age, and then went to work, in mills, brick- 
 yards, etc., until he attained his majority. On his twenty-first 
 birthday he began preparations for acquiring an additional 
 education, and shortly afterwards he entered the Wesleyan 
 University at Middletown, Conn., where he graduated in 1840, 
 standing first in his class. He at once returned to Wheeling 
 and engaged in business, being largely led to that career by his 
 father's failing health. Thus were laid the foundations of a 
 business career which remains a matter for emulation by all. 
 Mr. Hubbard first embarked in the lumber business, which he 
 carried on successfully until 1853, when he, with Mr. D. C. List 
 and others, established the Bank of Wheeling, Mr. Hubbard 
 
of West Virginia. 243 
 
 becoming the Presidenb of the institution. He continued in 
 that enterprise until 1865, later continuing the banking busi- 
 ness through the German Bank, of which institution he was 
 President at the time of his death. 
 
 In 1859 he organized a company which, under the title of 
 C. D. Hubbard & Co., leased the Crescent Iron Mill and engaged 
 in the manufacture of railroad iron for over a year. He was 
 also one of the organizers of the Wheeling Hinge Company and 
 was a director of that company at the time of his death. In 
 1871 he became seeretarjr of the reorganized Wheeling Iron and 
 Nail Company, which he continued to fill. He was also a mem- 
 ber of the firm of Logan & Co. for twenty years and was presi- 
 dent of the Logan Drug Company at the time of his death. 
 
 For years prior to 1873 Mr. Hubbard was active in attempt- 
 ing to secure the building of a railroad from Wheeling nonh 
 along the Ohio river, and in the year named he became one of 
 the incorporators of the Pittsburg, Wheeling and Kentucky 
 Eailroad Company, and in 1874 was chosen its President, which 
 position he filled right along until his death. The suc- 
 cess of that business enterprise is known to all, and much of it 
 is due to the business sagacity and good management of the 
 deceased. Mr. Hubbard was also interested in other business 
 enterprises, and throughout his life was a firm believer in the 
 advantages of Wheeling as a manufacturing and business center. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard was long prominent in public life. He was 
 a member of the Virginia House of Delegates in 1852-3, from 
 Ohio county, and in 1861 he was a member of the Convention 
 which passed the ordinance of secession, strenuously opposing 
 that measure. He left the Convention immediately after the 
 adoption of the ordinance, arriving on Friday, and at once 
 issued a call for mass meetings at the Guards hose house (hook 
 and ladder) and at American hall, on the South Side. By Sun- 
 day, two days after his arrival, he had the satisfaction of seeing 
 two companies of soldiers organized and sworn in. In a week 
 
34i The Formation 
 
 a full regiment had been organized, of which he was elected 
 Colonel. Mr. Hubbard was a member of the Wheeling Conven- 
 tion, which met in May, 1861, and of the Convention which 
 assembled in June of the same year, looking to the establishment 
 of a restored government for the State of Virginia, and the 
 formation of a new State. When West Virginia was formed, 
 Mr. Hubbard was chosen to the State Senate. He was elected 
 to the Thirty-ninth Congress, and was re-elected to the Fortieth 
 Congress. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard was, throughout his life, an earnest friend of 
 education. He was chosen a trustee of the Linsly Institute in 
 1848, and in 1873 was elected treasurer, which office he con- 
 tinued to fill. He was active in founding the \A'Tieeling Female 
 College, was one of the trustees, and was President of the Board 
 from 1865 up to the sale of the property. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard was married September 39, 1842, to Sarah 
 Pallister, an English lady, a step-daughter of the late John List. 
 Five children were the results of this union : William Pallister 
 Hubbard, Dana List Hubbard, Chester Russell Hubbard, Julia 
 A., wife of W. A. Tyler, of Triadelphia, and Anna G., wife of 
 Joseph C. Brady. 
 
 Mr. Hubbard was a member of the Chapline Street Metho- 
 dist Church at Wheeling, and at no time in the history of the 
 society has the church been favored Avith a more warin and 
 earnest worker. 
 
 In 1873 he was a lay delegate to the General Conference of 
 the M. E. Church, which met in Brooklyn. He was a promin- 
 ent official member of the Chapline Street M. E. Church, and 
 that denomination had no member who was truer to its tenets 
 than he. He was a religious man; not only a professor of re- 
 ligion, but a practical Christian, going to his church duties with 
 the same earnestness and the same devotion that he put into 
 everything his hand found to do. He was a liberal man, but 
 conscientious in the extreme, and to his activity and zeal was 
 
of West Virginia. 345 
 
 due in considerable degree the prosperity of the church with 
 which he was united. 
 
 His activity in the varied walks of life which his energy 
 and his versatile talents peculiarly fitted him did not cease until 
 death admitted him to the reward of the just man made perfect. 
 In 1880 he was a delegate to the Republican Convention at 
 Chicago which nominated Garfield and Arthur, and after his 
 return home he made a speech in the Opera House at the mem- 
 orable ratification meting of the Republicans of Wheeling, 
 which had in it more fire and fervor, and which was received 
 with greater enthusiasm than all the speeches made by younger 
 men. 
 
 Four years later he was a decided partisan of Blaine, and 
 took as active a part in the preliminary fight for him as anybody 
 in the State. He was a member of the primary convention and 
 of the State and district conventions, and never missed an op- 
 portunity to strike a blow for his man.