vote was almost unanimous in favor of the amendment. The legislature met in December; the constitution was amended, and the last finishing stroke, so far as the Union men were concerned, was given to an act which for its magnanimity stands to-day upon the page of history with scarcely one, if any, parallel. We believe that beside it stands an ingratitude upon the part of the late insurgents, exemplified by legislative and judicial acts, by political and social persecutions, by the envenomed hatred vomited forth by their rebellious press, which will remain forever upon the page of history, destitute of a parallel, and as a witness against the honor, integrity, and political morality of the secessionists of Virginia. Your honorable body, from this statement of facts, will perceive that our error has been that of magnanimity, and their crime that of unparalled, base ingratitude. Such are the facts in connection with the causes of our present grievances, and since it is a fact that the maguanimity which has marked our almost every act has been met with persecutions, political and social ostracism, we are forced by these lamentable circumstances to conclude that endurance has ceased to be a virtue. To refuse to use such means as are within our reach to make loyalty honorable and treason odious in all time to come; to preserve our own and the liberties of posterity inviolate, within the bounds of our commonwealth, would, in our humble opinion, be an act of treason in itself, a cowardice which belongs alone to slaves, and a lasting disgrace to ourselves and posterity. The only means within our reach is an appeal to your honorable body, the Congress of the United States. Knowing that, by the providence of an Allwise God and the wisdom of Congress, the present so-called government of Virginia and its constitution have not been recognized by the law-making power of the United States-knowing that the work of reconstruction has been placed in your hands by the Constitution and the suffrages of the loyal millions of the United States-we still have strong hopes for the future. Believing that the great object to be attained is respect and reverence for the Constitution and laws of our common country, and having been taught by the history of the past and our present condition that there is but one way by which this great object can be attained, we, in view of these facts and these teachings, humbly and earnestly petition your honorable body to exert the power which is vested in Congress by the Constitution in giving to the people of Virginia a government which, in all its legislative and judicial branches, can be respected for its loyalty and justice to Union men. In short, we petition your honorable body to remove the present government of Virginia, because of its illegitimacy and well-known disloyalty, and, in its stead, give us a government with none but loyalists as voters and administrators of law and justice. We beg leave to impress upon your minds, in this our petition, the absolute necessity of such action upon the part of Congress as will give respectability to the cause of humanity, justice, and loyalty in Virginia. It must be readily perceived by your honorable body, from the facts which we herewith lay before you, that unless we can have our social and political problem as unionists guarded by local, magisterial, judicial, and legislative power, loyalty to the general government will remain, as at present, a work of dishonor, against which legislators, jurors, and judges, as well as a degenerate press, can hurl their shafts of hatred, in the shape of bad laws, unjust judicial decisions, and public scorn, with impunity. The teachings of the history of all nations goes to prove that no people, unprotected by power, can long withstand the terrible pressure thus brought to bear upon them. The weak will readily become victims to a principle which, in all its material, social, and political operations, proves unionism a folly and Mason and Dixon's line a wall of eternal hatred, which the weak humanity of Union men has thus far tended to perpetuate; while, on the other hand, the strong, given up to social and political persecutions and to despair, will of necessity become hermits among men—a doom more to be dreaded than the Dry Tortugas-or have to emigrate to a more congenial clime. Feeling as we do, as Union men of Virginia, the crushing weight of this terrible social and political problem resting upon us with all its force, and having endured the opprobrium and persecutions heaped upon loyalty, we feel ourselves justified in pleading our cause and that of the Union with more than common zeal and earnestness. With us it is more than life! It is respectability for ourselves and children! It is liberty applied in its most comprehensive meaning to the down-trodden masses of Virginia! And in the name of these; in the name of liberty, the heritage left us by our fathers, and lately wrested from the hands of traitors; in the name of down-trodden loyalty and outraged humanity; in the name of that Union for which so much precious blood has been spilled and treasure expended, we earnestly petition your honorable body, the Congress of the United States, to interpose, and give to Virginia a government based upon republican principles and tried loyalty. Peter Appenzeller. John Appenzeller. W. H. Barry, clerk United States dis- George W. Wright. trict and circuit court. W. T. Bell, commissioner of revenue. J. W. Smith, late major United States army. Isaac L. Purnell. J. Holden Foster. Stevenson T. Hannah. O. E. Johnson. E. T. Jackson. H. E. Havey. Samuel R. Mann. John T. Dunbar, assistant United George T. Vanscoton. States inspector. William Brown, mechanic. RECONSTRUCTION IN VIRGINIA, Henry H. Hopler, late private United Willard Johnson, late major United States army. William H. Brooks, sr. G. M. Dawley. William Turner. Jacob Bornio. Joseph Mackey. Frederick W. Wams. Joseph Jones. Moses Williams. Thomas Parker. William Fooks. John Givings. Willis Bowzer. Isham Cowling. Granison Randolph. Solomon Bright. Henry West. Robert Jones. States cavalry. William Mackey. Ralph Williams. Frank Hendly. James Grant. William H. Houston." Smallwood Ackes. Allen Smith. Maurice Painter. George Sparrow. Dennis Bains. James Culvert. Henry May. M. Campe. S. G. Daniels. W. H. Burghardt. O. N. Osborn. Harmon Ostrander. W. W. Hinchman. Edward Marshall. Nathan T. Tharson. P. R. Parker. C. C. King. Andrew Moorehead. S. S. Beard. S. C. Webb. Cornelius W. Watson. J. J. Porter. M. E. Good. T. T. Gibbin. G. N. Allen. A. G. Wellington. M. Madery. S. S. Barnes. F. Short. B. Chesman. G. H. Garrison. L. L. Robinson. A. Jefferson. H. W. Brickhouse. Z. Asp. G. Williams. B. Williams. Henry Johnston. F. F. Brock. C. C. Elliott. T. D. Thompson. Thomas Nicholson. N. J. Ives. S. D. Sparrow. J. S. Kinney. P. D. David. L. White. M. Treagle. J. Woodis. W. W. Richards. F. Wright. P. Brightman. Henry Nonell. |