high public trust in the civil department, others to re-enter the field of bloody strife, there to maintain by their own strong arms, if not with their hearts' warmest blood, those great principles which were so nobly asserted here. Others, still, will retire to their homes, there to bathe their wearied souls in the pure stream of domestic felicity. Whatever may be your future lot, I pray God to defend and protect and bless you all.

I will now perform my last office by pronouncing this Convention adjourned sine die.

Section 1 of Article III. of the proposed Constitution.-Provided that every white male citizen of the age of twenty-one years who has been a resident of the State for two years, and of the county, city, or town for twelve months next preceding an election, shall have the right to vote. But the convention submitted an amendment to this section, to be passed on by the people, along with the Constitution, and which, if ratified, was to take the place of Section 1 of Article III. The amendment was as follows: "Every white male citizen of the commonwealth, of the age of twenty-one years, who has been a resident of the State for two years, and of the county, city or town wherein he offers to vote, for twelve months next preceding an election, and who, if assessed in such county, city or town, with a part of the revenue of the commonwealth, county or corporation levies or poor rates, for the year next preceding, shall have actually paid the same, and no other person, shall be qualified to vote for members of the General Assembly and all officers elected by the people," etc.

The Schedule provided that the Constitution and Schedule, and also the above amendment, should be submitted to the people for their ratification or rejection on the 13th of March, 1862.

Very few persons of to-day have any recollection that the people ever voted on the Constitution and Schedule or the amendment above mentioned, but the fact is they were voted on and rejected by the people.

The Richmond Dispatch of March 14, 1862, reminds the people that the new Constitution is being voted on, and that only two days remain in which to cast their votes.

The Dispatch of March 17, 1862, says: "The Amended Constitution. The returns so far as received, indicate that the Amended Constitution of Virginia, and the clause requiring the payment of a poll tax as a condition of suffrage, have been carried by a large majority."

The Dispatch of April 1, 1862, says: "The new Constitution of Virginia, which has probably been rejected, was a step in the right direction." No further mention is made in the Dispatch, and it is conclusive that the above statement was the announcement of its rejection. This view is corroborated by the recollections of General Eppa Hunton, a survivor of the Convention of 1861.

CONVENTION OF 1864.

The General Assembly of dismembered Virginia which met at Wheeling in 1863 provided for the election of delegates to a convention to assemble in the city of Alexandria on the 13th of February, 1864. The delegates to this convention were elected on the 21st of January, 1864.

Accordingly, the convention met in the city of Alexandria on the date already named. In the meantime Governor Pierpont, so-called, removed the seat of government from Wheeling to Alexandria, and the Legislature first assembled there on the 7th of December, 1863.

The convention elected LeRoy G. Edwards President and W. J. Cowing Secretary.

The following list of delegates is copied from the Journal of the convention:

DELEGATES.

MET FEBRUARY 13, 1864. ADJOURNED sine die, APRIL 11, 1864.

John W. Stone, of Princess Anne county.

George R. Boush and Philip G. Thomas, of Norfolk county.

Warren W. Wing, of Norfolk Senatorial District.

John J. Henshaw, James M. Downey, and E. R. Gover, of Loudoun county. LeRoy G. Edwards, of the Senatorial District of the counties of Princess Anne and Norfolk and city of Portsmouth.

William H. Dix, of Accomac county.

Arthur Watson, of Accomac and Northampton counties.

Lewis W. Webb, of Norfolk city.

Robert B. Wood, of Elizabeth City.

T. S. Tennis, of Elizabeth City, York, Warwick, Charles City and New Kent counties, James City and city of Williamsburg.

William P. Moore, of Northampton county.

John Hawxhurst, of Fairfax county.

S. Ferguson Beach, of Alexandria and Fairfax counties.

Walter L. Penn, of Alexandria county.

It will be seen from the insignificant number of delegates to this convention that few counties in the State participated in the election, the greater portion of the State, after West Virginia was taken off, being within the Confederate lines. The convention, on the 14th of March, 1864, adopted the Bill of Rights, as contained in the Constitution of 1850-'51.

On the 7th of April ensuing the Constitution was adopted in convention.
This Constitution was not submitted to the people for their ratification.
On the 11th of April, 1864, the convention adjourned sine die.

CONVENTION OF 1867-'68.

This convention assembled at the Capitol, in the city of Richmond, on Tuesday, December 3, 1867.

After the adoption of the Constitution of 1864 Pierpont, claiming to be the legally constituted Governor of Virginia, remained at Alexandria until the evacuation of Richmond, because Alexandria was one of the few places in dismembered Virginia where it was safe for him to make his headquarters. During that time the seat of the legally constituted government of Virginia was at Richmond.

Pierpont was endeavoring to administer the laws enacted by less than onefourth of the General Assembly in conformity to the Alexandria Constitution, which had been framed and adopted by a convention of seventeen delegates. During the same period Governor Letcher and his successor, Governor Smith, recognized none but the laws enacted under the Constitution of 1851. There was but little conflict, however, between these two governments, since the administration at Alexandria controlled little more territory than that occupied by the seat of its government.

After the evacuation of Richmond Pierpont moved the seat of his government to Richmond.

President Johnson issued executive orders on the 9th of May, from which the following is an extract:

"Ordered, First, that all acts and proceedings of the political, military, and civil organizations which have been in a state of insurrection and rebellion within the State of Virginia, against the authority and laws of the United States, and of which Jefferson Davis, John Letcher, and William Smith were the late respective chiefs, are declared null and void. All persons who shall exercise, claim, pretend or attempt to exercise any political, military or civil power, authority, jurisdiction or right, by, through or under Jefferson Davis, late of the city of Richmond, and his confederates, or under John Letcher or William Smith, or civil commission or authority issued by them or either of them, since the 17th day of April, 1861, shall be deemed and taken as in rebellion against the United States, and shall be dealt with accordingly."

From this time on Governor Pierpont was recognized as the chief executive of the State, and he proceeded to administer the laws of the Commonwealth under the Constitution of 1864, adopted at Alexandria.

Virginia was now under military rule, Governor Pierpont being subject to military orders.

President Johnson's proclamation of April 2, 1866, concluded with, "therefore 1, Andrew Johnson, president, &c., do hereby proclaim and declare that the insurrection which heretofore existed in the states of Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Florida, is at an end, and is henceforth to be so regarded."

However, in face of this an act was passed by Congress on the 2d of March,

1867, "to provide for the more efficient government of the rebel states." * By authority of this act Virginia became Military District, No. 1.

The records at Washington show that the following commanding generals were successively stationed at Richmond from April 3, 1865, to January 28, 1870, when military rule ended and the civil government was resumed: Godfrey Weitzel, April 3, 1865, to April 13, 1865; E. O. C. Ord, April 13, 1865, to June 14, 1865; Alfred H. Terry, June 14, 1865, to August 16, 1866; John M. Schofield, August 16, 1866, to June 2, 1868; George Stoneman, June 2, 1868, to April 2, 1869; Alexander S. Webb, April 2, 1869, to April 20, 1869; R. S. Canby, April 20, 1869, to January 28, 1870.

Below will be found extracts from "General Orders" showing how the convention of 1867-'68 was brought about without any action on the part of the people. General Order No. 65, issued September 12, 1867, by Brigadier and Brevet Major-General J. M. Schofield from Headquarters First Military District, State of Virginia, Richmond, Va., states that "In pursuance of the Act of Congress of March 23, 1867, an election will be held for delegates to a State Convention, and to take the sense of the registered voters upon the question whether such Convention shall be held, for the purpose of establishing a constitution and civil government for the State of Virginia, loyal to the Union." It provides that the number of delegates to be elected shall be 105, gives the apportionment among the various counties and cities, and fixes Tuesday, October 22, 1867, as the date for the holding of such election.

General Order No. 68, October 4, 1867, gives in detail the regulations to be observed in conducting the election and making returns, and concludes: "The Commanding General confidently hopes that the people of the State will unite in securing for each other the full and free exercise of the elective franchise, but if this should not be the case in any district or ward, or if, from accident, fraud, or otherwise, the ballot-boxes or poll-books should be lost or destroyed, a new election will be ordered in such district or ward."

General Order No. 77, issued November 2, 1867, says that "At the election held in the State of Virginia on the 22nd day of October, 1867, and following days, for delegates to a State Convention, and to take the sense of the registered voters upon the question whether such convention should be held for the purpose of establishing a constitution and civil government for the State, loyal to the Union, 169,229 votes were cast upon the question of holding a convention, of which number 107,342 votes were cast For a Convention,' and 61,887 votes 'Against a Convention.' The whole number of votes cast upon that question being a majority of the whole number of registered voters in the State, and the number of votes cast 'For a Convention' being a majority of all the votes cast upon that question, the Convention will be held as provided by the Act of Congress of March 23, 1867. The Hall of the House of Delegates in the City of Richmond, and 10 oclock A. M. on Tuesday the 3rd day of December, 1867, are designated as the place and time for the meeting of the Convention."

Official list of the delegates chosen is given in this order with the statement that "Each delegate will be furnished with an official copy of this order, which will constitute his certificate of election."

The Journal of the convention records as follows: "In accordance with the

*U. S. Stat., Vol. 14, p. 428.

order of General J. M. Schofield, commanding first military district, calling the delegates-elect to assemble in Convention to frame a Constitution for the government of the State of Virginia, the delegates assembled at 10 o'clock A. M. and temporarily organized," etc.

In order that the reader may form some idea of the personnel of this convention an extract from an address issued to the people of Virginia by the Conservative members of the convention and printed in The Richmond Dispatch of April 20, 1868, three days after the adjournment of the convention, is here appended, as follows:

"The Convention consisted of one hundred and five members, of whom some thirty-five were Conservatives, some sixty-five were Radicals, and the remainder doubtful. The Radicals were composed of twenty-four negroes, fourteen nativeborn white Virginians, thirteen New Yorkers, one Pennsylvanian, one member from Ohio, one from Maine, one from Vermont, one from Connecticut, one from South Carolina, one from Maryland, one from the District of Columbia, two from England, one from Ireland, one from Scotland, one from Nova Scotia, and one from Canada. Of the fourteen white Virginians belonging to this party, some had voted for secession, others had been in the Confederate service, others are old men whose sons had been in the Confederate army; hardly one had a Union record. A large proportion of the Northern men and foreigners were drifted here in some non-combatant capacity by the war.

"The Convention organized by electing a New Yorker president. A native of Maryland was elected secretary. A Marylander was elected sergeant-at-arms. An Irishman, resident of Baltimore, was elected stenographer. The assistant clerk was from New Jersey. Two negroes were appointed doorkeepers. A clergyman from Illinois was appointed chaplain. Even the boys appointed as pages, with one exception, were negroes, or sons of Northern men or foreigners; while the clerks of the twenty standing committees, with two or three exceptions, were also Northern men or negroes."

The address concludes as follows:

mare,

"It is difficult to realize the situation which we have reached in the South. The mind is stupefied at the initiation of negro domination. It is a waking nightwhose horrible shadow cannot be pierced by the struggling faculties—a spell that neither the senses nor the reason can dissolve. The only escape from such a fact is that which the stout and the resolute always discover from the storms and floods of an unpropitious fortune. Resolved to swim, they breast the tempestuous waves with heroic hearts and sinewy arms, unterrified and undiscouraged, confident, that if but true to themselves, they were not born to be drowned. In such a spirit, should the white people of Virginia buffet with the rude surges that break over them in this moment of adversity; in such a spirit should they beat down the heaving bosom of the dark flood in which they struggle; in such a spirit should they wrestle with the swift and swollen current of this revolutionary period, which has submerged all the ancient landmarks, has subverted the foundations of the Federal Government, has swept away the sentiment of constitutional liberty at the North, and is now raging like a howling waste of waters over the lately fair and lovely vistas of the South."