THE FINAL CRISIS IN OUR STRUGGLE FOR STATEHOOD.
By the late Waitman T. Willey, L.L. D.
From The West Virginia School Journal, by courtesy of Mr. Trotter.
In compliance with a request from the editor to write an article for the West Virginia School Journal having reference to some phase of our struggle for statehood, I submit the following reminiscences relating to the approval, by the President of the United States, of the act of Congress whereby the State of West Virginia was admitted into the Union. These reminiscences are confined to the ten days during which the President had the said act under his consideration.
The members of the United States House of Representatives, at the time, from the territory embraced within the boundries of the proposed new State, were Hon. Win. G. Brown, of Preston county: Hon. J. B. Blair, of Wood county; and Hon. K. V. Whaley, of Mason county. Hon. John S. Carlisle and I were in the Senate.
Mr. Whaley, I think, had gone home; and Mr. Carlisle, for some reason never yet explained, had become opposed to the creation of the new State, and was making strenuous efforts to defeat it, thus leaving only Mr. Brown, Mr. Blair, and myself present as friends of the measure.
It soon became known that Mr. Lincoln was seriously perplexed as to his duty in the premises, and had asked for the advice in writing, of the members of his cabinet. This filled us with great anxiety; and so Mr. Blair and myself resolved that we would undertake the rather delicate adventure of calling upon the several members of the cabinet, personally, and of explaining to them the reasons for the new State movement.
We first went to the Treasury Department to see Mr. Chase. To our great delight, he received us kindly; and, to our surprise, stated unreservedly that he was in favor of the measure, and had so advised the President. Learning from us that we were on our way to see the Secretary of War in relation to the same subject, Mr. Chase remarked, that, if that were the only business we had with the Secretary of War, it were hardly necessary to trouble him or ourselves about it for lie and Mr. Stanton had conferred on the subject and were agreed in their advice to the President. We found Mr. Seward busily engaged in preparing foreign dispatches which he wished to get ready to send by a vessel which was to leave New York the next day. He was more reticent than Mr. Chase. He stated that his advice had already been given; that it was now too late to discuss the matter even if he had time to do so; and with an air and a smile, which meant more than his words disclosed, dismissed us by saying that any further discussion would not redound to our advantage. We did not call upon the Secretary of the Navy, nor upon the Attorney-General. I heir opposition was so flagrant and pronounced that we supposed that an interview with them would be unavailing. The office of the Secretary of the Interior was, I think, at that time vacant. It only remained to see Mr. Blair, the Postmaster-General. We found him irreconcilably opposed to our wishes.
The bill still remained in the hands of the President until the last day of grace, under the Constitution, when we became so apprehensive of a veto that we determined to wait on him and make a last appeal for mercy. We found him busily engaged with public men and public affairs. But he said he was glad to see us, and greatly desired to have a full and free conference with us about the new State, and that lie would be obliged to us of we would call at his office that evening at seven o’clock, when and where we could discuss the matter at leisure and without interruption.
Promptly at the time appointed, Mr. Brown, Mr. Blair, and myself were at the White House. The President received us in his usual genial and familiar way, Our conference had not proceeded very far until he said that he had received the written opinion of each member of his cabinet, and that inasmuch as they were brief he would read them to us without disclosing any names. He did so. We had no difficulty, however, in assigning to each paper the author thereof. Mr. Seward. Secretary of State, Mr. Chase, Secretory of the Treasury, and Mr. Stanton, Secretory of War – mighty men – were for the approval of the act. Mr. Wells, Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Pates, Attorney-General, and Mr. Blair. Postmaster General, were opposed to it – three for, and three against. Pausing awhile, the President said he had another paper front which he would read a little, and taking from the drawer of the desk by which he was sitting several sheets of manuscript, he began to read from them very deliberately, stopping quite frequently to make comment on the propositions. Of course we knew that he had written this paper himself, and, therefore, supposing that it would reveal his final purpose, our interest in it was intense. But before he had read it all through, and before reaching an ultimate conclusion, if, indeed, he had yet reached any such conclusion, he laid it aside. Mr. Brown at this point, remarked that he considered this paper by far the ablest of all. “Yes.” said Mr. Lincoln, with that quizzical expression of face and voice which usually came to him when anything amused him, “yes, Mr. Brown, I suppose you think this is the odd trick.” Whereupon Mr. Blair rejoined. “And that is the trick we want.” And I, not being an expert in that kind of nomenclature, held my peace, lest I should disclose my ignorance.
And now the President required us to state to him the reasons, in full, upon which we justified the creation of this new State. We did so to the best of our ability. We assured him that the desire for a division of the State of Virginia was not a sudden, recent impulse, excited by the rebellion then raging, but was an inveterate sentiment of half a century’s growth among the people of the State, having its origin in geographical, social, economical, and political antagonisms, which could never be reconciled, at least while slavery existed : that the great majority of the slaves were held in the eastern section of this State, whilst there were very few slaves in the trans-Alleghany section out of which the new State was to be taken ; that this condition must necessarily, remain so. because the climate, sod, and staple productions of the latter were not adapted to slave labor, and, especially because its interjection between the State of Ohio on the one side, and the State of Pennsylvania on the other side of it, afforded such ready and convenient facilities for escape that few slaves would ever be brought there; that thus, “the inevitable conflict,” which was then deluging the nation with blood would be perpetuated in Virginia as long as slavery continued; that under the apprehension that if ever Western Virginia obtained a numerical majority in the Legislature, their “peculiar institution” would be endangered, the eastern slaveocracy had, by the most arbitrary and despotic proceedings, persistently withheld from our western people their rightful and equal participation in governmental affair^: that the public revenues had been mainly expended in the eastern sections of the State; that the development of the rich natural resources of wealth in our section of country had been designedly hindered and delayed lest its increase in wealth and population should become so overwhelming that our claim for a just and equal share of the political power of the State could be no longer resisted; that there was, in fact, no homogeneity of social, industrial, political, or geographical relations between the two sections and under the then existing circumstances could not be.
Mr. Lincoln listened to us patiently, and not without apparent interest in what we said. We also described the anomalous and perilous condition of the people living within the boundaries of the proposed new State ; that they were subjected to the conflicting claims to their fealty and service of the Confederate States government and of the United States and were especially annoyed by the Confederate States government at Richmond. Virginia, which had been making provisions tor the establishment of a regular police in every county who might arrest and carry away from the vicinage, to be tried in any other county in the State, all persons suspected of disloyalty to the Confederate authorities; that large parts of said territory were frequently overrun by marauders and guerrillas, harassing, robbing, and sometimes murdering the people, under pretense of military warrants to do so. We suggested that our organization as a State duly recognized by the United States would go far toward arresting these disorders, would encourage, consolidate and strengthen the friends of the Union, intimidate their adversaries, and be a potent factor in a military point of view of suppressing the rebellion. And so we discussed the question pro and con for three hours or more.
The evident drift and tendency of the President, remarkable through the description, and especially in so much of his own manuscript as he read to us, were in the direction of approval. It was very apparent that he would like to rind satisfactory reasons for giving his assent, and his significant references to the Act as a judicious “war measure.” gave us assurance, that in this view of it, if from no other consideration, he was finding a sufficient justification of approval.
It was after ten o’clock, when this, to me, ever memorable interview was concluded. We retired with high hopes – hopes, well founded indeed; for the act of Congress, whereby, “The State of West Virginia was declared to be one of the United States of America/’ upon certain conditions which were subsequently duly complied with was approved and signed by the President within less than two hours afterwards. It is difficult for me to realize that this occurred more than thirty-four years ago.
Abraham Lincoln! Admirable personage! Like Abraham Davenport in Whittiers imagination,
“There he stands, in memory, to this day
Erect, self-poised, with rugged face.
A witness to ages as they pass.
That simple duty hath no place for fear.”
Morgantown. W. Va.
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