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VIRGINIA'S DEVOTION TO THE UNION

establishing the position and power of that tribunal, and in welding in more indissoluble bonds the Union itself.

Under President Tyler, the empire of Texas was brought into the Union. Scott and Taylor led the armies of the Republic in the war with Mexico, while associated with them was a brilliant group of younger Virginians,—Lee, Jackson, Johnston, Thomas, and others who, by their bravery and leadership, added fresh lustre to American

arms.

Where shall we look for the ideals of the Republic if not to the Declaration of Independence, the Ordinance of 1787, and the Constitution, great canons of liberty and union— with which the names of Virginia statesmen are preeminently associated? To these may be added Virginia's epoch-making Statute for Religious Freedom and her Bill of Rights, which latter is declared by Mr. Bancroft to be, "the groundwork of American institutions."

While many of her sister states had surpassed Virginia in contributions to art, literature, and science, in commercial and industrial development, her triumphs had been in the realm of statecraft and jurisprudence, on the field of battle, and amid the dangers of the frontier. The achievements of her statesmen, jurists, soldiers and pioneers marked the measure of her pride and the summit of her fame. The making of the Union, maintaining its ideals, and extending its limits, were the noblest monuments of their labors. By statues and memorials, by song and story, by the lawmaker's work and the orator's appeal, Virginians of every generation were stimulated to revere the principles and safeguard the achievements of these illustrious men.

'History of United States, Bancroft, Vol. IV, p. 416.

VIRGINIA'S DEVOTION TO THE UNION

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With such a past, and with such a part in making the Union, will it be supposed that the Virginians of 1861 pressed forward with wanton hands to destroy the fabric of the Republic and thwart the ideals of its founders? May we not believe that the true sentiments of the dominant element of the state were voiced in the words of John Janney, who, on assuming the Presidency of the Virginia Convention, in 1861, said:

"Causes which have passed, and are daily passing into history, which will set its seal upon them, but which I do not mean to review, have brought the constitution and the Union into imminent 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 interest as well as her honor, called upon her with an emphasis she could not disregard to save the monuments of her own glory."

Journal of Virginia Convention of 1861, p. 8.

EFFORTS TO PROMOTE RECONCILIATION AND UNION!

As Virginia had borne a conspicuous part in founding the Union, so, when civil dissensions arose and its integrity was threatened, she was foremost in mediation. At no time were her efforts more earnest than in the troublous days of 1860-61. James Ford Rhodes says: "Virginia, whose share in forming the Union had been greater than that of any other one state, was loath to see that great work shattered, and now made a supreme effort to save it.”

Following the announcement of Mr. Lincoln's election, South Carolina seceded and in all the other Cotton States the manifestations of popular sentiment foreshadowed like action. The people of Virginia, though profoundly moved by the considerations which influenced their brethren of the far South, were yet opposed to secession, and proceeded to put forth every effort to avert war, and bring back the Cotton States to their former allegiance.

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On the 7th of January, 1861, her General Assembly was called in extra session. Governor Letcher's message set forth the dangers and problems which confronted the state and nation. "The condition of our country at this time, he declared, “excites the most serious fears for the perpetuation of the Union. . . . Surely no people have been blessed as we have been, and it is melancholy to think that all is now about to be sacrificed on the Altar of Passion. If the judgments of men were consulted, if the admonitions 'History of United States, Rhodes, Vol. III, p. 290.

GOVERNOR LETCHER'S MESSAGE, 1861

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of their consciences were respected, the Union would yet be saved from overthrow."

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While thus expressing devotion to the Union, he yet proclaimed his belief in the legal right of secession. He deplored the precipitate action of South Carolina, declaring that in a movement "involving consequences so serious to all the slaveholding states, no one state should have ventured to move without first having given timely notice to the others of her purpose. He reviewed at length the action of that great element of the Northern people, which, for years, had been unceasing in their assaults upon the constitutional rights of the South on the questions growing out of the existence of slavery. He alluded to the recent messages of the Governors of South Carolina and Mississippi in which the Border States were referred to in no overfriendly terms, and with suggestions of legislative enactments hostile to their interests. "While disavowing," he declared, "any unkind feeling toward South Carolina and Mississippi, I must still say that I will resist the coercion of Virginia in the adoption of a line of policy whenever the attempt is made by Northern or Southern States." He expressed his opposition to the plan for calling a state convention at that time, suggesting that instead the General Assembly should appoint commissioners to visit the Legislatures of such Northern States as had passed laws repugnant to the Federal Constitution, and respectfully urge their immediate repeal; and that in like manner commissioners be sent to the Legislatures of the slaveholding states to ascertain the extent and character of their demands and the action deemed necessary for the protection of their rights and interests.1

Journal of Virginia House of Delegates, Extra Session, 1861, Document No. 1.

250 ACTION OF VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE, 1861

The General Assembly thereupon adopted a series of resolutions inviting all such states of the Union “as are willing to unite with Virginia in an earnest effort to adjust the present unhappy controversies . . . to appoint commissioners to meet on the fourth day of February next, in the City of Washington, similar commissioners appointed by Virginia." The resolutions also provided for the immediate appointment of Ex-President John Tyler as a Commissioner to the President of the United States, and Judge John Robertson as a Commissioner to the State of South Carolina and to any other state that had seceded or might secede, to urge upon them to abstain from any and all acts calculated to produce a collision of arms between such states and the government of the United States, pending the proceedings contemplated by the General Assembly of Virginia.

Ex-President John Tyler, William C. Rives, Judge John W. Brokenbrough, George W. Summers and James A. Seddon were appointed Commissioners from Virginia to the Washington Conference-which became known in history as the Peace Conference.

The sentiments which prompted this movement are doubtless truly expressed in the preamble to the resolutions which declares:

"Whereas, it is the deliberate opinion of the General Assembly of Virginia that unless the unhappy controversy which now divides the states of this Confederacy shall be satisfactorily adjusted, a permanent dissolution of the Union is inevitable, and the General Assembly is desirous of employing every reasonable means to avert so dire a calamity," etc.

Both Houses of the General Assembly, however, adopted by practically unanimous votes resolutions declaring that

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