long ago in Alexandria, there were in session—
I do not know where the place of meeting was
—some eight or nine men, one or two of them
scraped up in Norfolk, and Portsmouth, one or
two in Accomac, and the rest from the pur-
lieus of Alexandria, a majority of them never
heard of before, assembled in some cockloft,
and actually sitting there and calling them-
selves a Constitutional Convention, and actu-
ally in the process of forming a constitution for
the great old commonwealth. What has ever
become of the proceedings of that body I know
not; but they were certainly arrogating to
themselves the power to represent the com-
monwealth of Virginia, all that part of it not
included in the limits of West Virginia, so
called.
Now, where is the Legislature of Virginia?
Where is the authority which is to give the
consent of that State to this cession? Are
we to be satisfied to accept a cession of that
character, coming from a few men scraped to-
gether from these outlying counties of the
State, reduced to absolute desolation by the
war, needy adventurers, having no stake in
the State of Virginia and no interest there,
brought there to prey upon the followers of
the army—from these men, constituting them-
selves into a body to be called the Legislature
of Virginia, and undertaking to cede to
Maryland a portion of her territory? Will
Maryland lose her dignity so far as to be will-
ing to accept it?
If it be desirable that we should have an-
nexed to the Eastern Shore the territories of
Northampton and Accomac, which I very
much doubt, or any other portion of the State
of Virginia; the ancient relations of amity
existing between her and Maryland have been
always such in peace, that we ought to blush
to bewilling, when she is torn by war, when
nobody can locate that government which the
federal Government recognizes, in such a
state of confusion and anarchy; it ought to
bring the blush of shame to our cheeks to be
willing to take advantage of her situation, to
have this grossly fraudulent transfer of her
territory made to us.
Mr. SANDS. I have no knowledge of the
place of meeting of the Convention of East
Virginia, whether in a cockloft or not. But
I have some knowledge of some of the men
who composed that Convention. I know some
of the men who went there to Alexandria
and instead of being needy adventurers, they
were owners of estates in Virginia, from which
they had been driven by certain partics. I
know that, and I rise in my place to say it.
What portion of the State of Virginia do
we propose to accept? What is it likely will
be offered to us? It is a question that I have
heard spoken of much at length by some of
Maryland's ablest men, and some of Virginia's
ablest men, for years past. It has always
been a favorite idea of the West Virginians
that by a union with Maryland they would |
form one of the grandest States of this con-
federation, having in their sole control the
entire iron belt which binds the Ohio to the
Chesapeake. They are identical in soil, in
climate, in production, and over and above
all in the character of their people—West
Virginia and the larger part, numerically, far
the larger part of the State of Maryland.
There has been for many long years before
the outbreak of this rebellion, as my friends
of course know, between East and West Vir-
ginia, the very strongest antagonism. The
antagonism lies in the radical difference of
their population. West Virginia was in
her feelings infinitely stronger in her anti-
slavery antipathies than Maryland. That is
a fact notorious to everybody. It was told
to the men of East Virginia before this rehel-
lion, that in case they moved a single inch in
the direction of dissolution, just so sure they
moved in the direction of a dissolution be-
tween Bast and West Virginia. It was urged
constantly. I did it myself, in speaking to
the people along the BORDER=0s before the out-
break of this rebellion. I told them that if
the time ever came when the people of West
Virginia were free to act their own will and
wishes, they would dissever their political
connection with East Virginia.
They did it, sir, not in a cockloft; not by
some six or eight needy adventurers, but they
have done it through a sovereign convention
of the State, in the well known city of Wheel-
ing; and they have backed it up by twenty-
five thousand good and true Soldiers in the
army of the Union. It is overwhelmingly
the sovereign will of the people of West Vir-
ginia to dissolve their political connection
with the people of Bast Virginia. It is a will
growing out of the radical differences of the
people, and in the character of their institu-
tions.
As to Accomac and Northampton, what
shall become of them, or what shall be done
with them, is a question, which excepting upon
the question of principle, I do not moot. But
I say that for many long years the aspirations
of the people of Maryland, and the aspira-
tions of the people of West Virginia have
been in the direction of a more intimate
union between themselves. I have heard this
from the ablest and best statesmen of both
sections long ago.
Upon what ground do gentlemen pretend
to oppose the acceptance by Maryland of West
Virginia if she proposes a political union
with Maryland? Virginia, acting as a State,
took upon herself the full consequences of the
entire doctrine of political secession. I put
it to gentlemen, whether, if a State had a
right to secede from the Federal Union, and
dissolve her connection with the General Gov-
ernment, any portion of the State, under the
operation of the game rule and principle, has
not a perfect right to dissolve its political
connection with the people of another section ? |
