THE PEACE CONFERENCE AT WASHINGTON 251 the Union, having been formed by the consent of the states, it was repugnant to Republican institutions to maintain it by force; that the government of the Union had no right to make war upon "any of the states which had been its constituent members"; and that with respect to states which have withdrawn or may withdraw from the Union, we are unalterably opposed to any attempt on the part of the Federal Government to coerce the same into reunion or submission and that we will resist the same by all means in our power. To the call of Virginia, twenty states responded;" and their representatives met on the 4th day of February, 1861, in the City of Washington. It was a notable gathering. Among the prominent members were William P. Fessenden and Lot M. Morrill, of Maine; George S. Boutwell and Charles Allen, of Massachusetts; David Dudley Field, Erastus Corning, William E. Dodge and General John E. Wool, of New York; Robert F. Stockton and Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey; David Wilmot and A. W. Loomis of Pennsylvania; Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland; Thomas Ruffin and J. M. Morehead, of North Carolina; James Guthrie and Charles A. Wicliffe, of Kentucky; Salmon P. Chase, William S. Groesbeck and Thomas Ewing, of Ohio; Caleb B. Smith, of Indiana, and James Harlan, of Iowa. Mr. Rhodes says: "The historical significance of the Peace Convention consists in the evidence it affords of the attachment of the Border Slave States to the Union." 'These resolutions were adopted in the House of Delegates by a vote of one hundred and twelve ayes to five noes. See Journal Virginia House of Delegates, Extra Session, 1861, p. 10. In the Senate only one vote was recorded against their adoption. "History of United States, Rhodes, Vol. III, p. 307. 252 VIEWS OF TYLER AND RIVES Some evidence of the spirit which animated the people of Virginia may be gathered from the speeches of her delegates. John Tyler, on assuming the Presidency of the body, spoke in part as follows: "The voice of Virginia has invited her co-states to meet her in council. In the initiation of this Government that same voice was heard and complied with, and the resulting seventy-odd years have fully attested the wisdom of the decision then adopted. Is the urgency of her call less great than it was then? Our God-like fathers created! We have to preserve. They have built up through their wisdom and patriotism monuments which have eternized their names. You have before you, gentlemen, a task equally grand, equally sublime, quite as full of glory and immortality; you have to snatch from ruin a grand and glorious Confederation, to preserve the Government and to renew and invigorate the constitution. If you reach the height of this great occasion your children's children will rise up and call you blessed." In the course of one of his speeches, Ex-Senator Rives said: "Mr. President, the position of Virginia must be understood and appreciated. She is just now the neutral ground between two embattled legions-between two angry, excited and hostile portions of the Union. Something must be done to save the country, to allay these apprehensions, to restore a broken confidence. Virginia steps in to arrest the progress of the country on its way to ruin. . . . Sir, I have had some experience in revolutions in another hemisphere, in revolutions produced by the same causes that are now operating among us. . . . I have seen the pavements of Paris covered and the gutters running with fraternal blood. God forbid I should see 'Proceedings of Peace Convention, Crittenden, p. 14. OPPOSITION TO PEACE CONFERENCE 253 this horrid picture repeated in my own country—and yet it will be, sir! if we listen to the counsel urged here."1 George W. Summers, another of the Virginia delegates, opened his speech to the conference in these words: "Mr. President! my heart is full! I cannot approach the great issues with which we are dealing, with becoming coolness and deliberation! Sir! I love this Union. The man does not live who entertains a higher respect for this government than I do. I know its history-I know how it was established. There is not an incident in its history that is not precious to me. I do not wish to survive its dissolution." In contrast to these pathetic appeals of Virginia's representatives were expressions coming from many of her sister states North and South. None of the seven Cotton States sent delegates to the convention. South Carolina declared that "the separation of that state was final and that she had no further interest in the constitution of the United States." The well-known letter of Senator Zachariah Chandler, of Michigan, written from Washington during the session of the convention to the Governor of his state, is representative of the spirit which dominated one element of the Northern people. My dear Governor: Washington, February 11, 1861. Governor Bingham and myself telegraphed you on Saturday, at the request of Massachusetts and New York, to send delegates to the Peace, or Compromise Congress. They admit that we were right and that they were wrong; 1Proceedings of Peace Convention, Crittenden, p. 135. 'Causes of Civil War, Chadwick, p. 270. 254 OPPOSITION TO PEACE CONFERENCE that no Republican state should have sent delegates; but they are here and cannot get away. Ohio, Indiana, Rhode Island are caving in and there is danger of Illinois; and now they beg us, for God's sake, to come to their rescue and save the Republican Party from rupture. The whole thing was gotten up against my judgment and advice and will end in thin smoke. Still, I hope as a matter of courtesy to some of our erring brethren that you will send the delegates. Truly your friend, His Excellency, Austin Blair. Z. CHANDLER. P. S. Some of the manufacturing states think that a fight would be awful. Without a little blood-letting this Union will not, in my estimation, be worth a rush." The fact that the deliberations of the Peace Conference proved unavailing to arrest the movement towards disunion and civil war is no indication that the motives which impelled the people of Virginia to call their countrymen to council were not those of the highest patriotism. 'Proceedings of Peace Convention, 1861, p. 468, Crittenden. THE PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA DECLARE FOR UNION THE General Assembly which issued the call for the Peace Conference also adopted a joint resolution providing for a convention in Virginia to take under consideration the problems and dangers of the hour. By the terms of this act, the people of Virginia were to select delegates to the convention, and were to declare by a separate vote whether the action of that body should be binding upon the commonwealth, or whether it should be referred back to them for ratification or rejection. Under this call, the people of Virginia repaired to the polls on the 4th of February, 1861. Seldom, if ever, in her history had they been summoned to an election so fraught with importance to the state and the Union. The seven Cotton States had already seceded, and in not one where the question had been formally acted upon had there been a decision against secession. Only two days before, February 2d, the great State of Texas had withdrawn from the Union. Had Virginia at that critical moment declared for a like policy, it is almost certain that the remaining Southern States would have followed her example. In such an event, President Lincoln would on the day of his inauguration have found the Capital of the Union encompassed by the States of Virginia and Maryland, both members of the new Confederation. With results so important and far reaching to the Union dependent upon her action, the election in Virginia was |