THE SECOND WHEELING CONVENTION THE RESTORED GOVERNMENT. On the 23d day of May, 1861, the vote was taken on the ordinance of secession. The result showed the sentiment of the people west of the Alleghanies. Out of about 44,000 votes polled in the counties now comprising West Virginia, 40,000 were recorded against secession. Delegates were elected on the 4th of June, and what is known as the second Wheeling convention met on the 11th of the same month at Washington Hall, in that city. Seventy-seven delegates, representing thirt-yfive counties, were present. The committee on permanent organization reported the names of Arthur J. Boreman, of Wood county, for president, and G. L. Cranmer, of Ohio county, for secretary. A committee consisting of thirteen members was appointed, to report business to the convention. The members of that committee, the report of which became the foundation for the new State, were as follows: Carlisle, of Harrison; Lamb, of Ohio; Pierpont, of Marion; Hagans, of Preston; Van Winkle, of Wood; Berkshire, of Monongalia; Polsley, of Mason; Boreman, of Wood; Caldwell, of Marshall; Frost, of Jackson; Porter, of Hancock; Farnsworth, of Upshur; and Copley, of Wayne. On the third day they submitted a report entitled "A Declaration of the People of Virginia, represented in convention at the city of Wheeling, Thursday, June 13, 1861." Among many other things set forth, it was declared that "the preservation of the dearest rights and liberties, and security in person and property, imperatively demand the reorganization of the government of the commonwealth." * * * "And that the offices of all who adhere to the said convention [that of Richmond], whether legislative, executive or judicial, are vacated." The report was adopted on the 17th, and the convention at once proceeded to reorganize the government of Virginia. On the 19th, an ordinance for the reorganization of the State government was passed, as follows: "The people of the State of Virginia, by their delegates assembled in convention at Wheeling, do ordain as follows: "1. A governor, lieutenant-governor and attorney-general for the State of Virginia, shall be appointed by this convention to discharge the duties and exercise the powers which pertain to their respective offices by the existing laws of the State, and to continue in office for six months, or until their successors be elected and qualified; and the general assembly is required to provide by law for an election of governor and lieutenant-governor by the people as soon as in their judgment such an election can be properly held." * * * * The following oath was prescribed to be taken by the various officers elected by the convention before entering upon the discharge of the duties of their respective offices: "I solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the laws made in pursuance thereof, as the supreme law of the land, anything in the constitution and laws of the State of Virginia, or in the ordinances of the convention which assembled at Richmond on the 13th of February, 1861, to the contrary notwithstanding; and that I will uphold and defend the government of Virginia as vindicated and restored by the convention which assembled at Wheeling on the 11th of June, 1861." In compliance with the first clause of the ordinance, the convention, onthe 20th of June, proceeded to the election of officers. Francis H. Pierpont, of Marion, was chosen governor of Virginia, and Daniel Polsley, of Mason, lieutenant-governor. On the 24th, James S. Wheat, of Ohio county, was chosen attorney-general. The convention, having thus restored the government, elected a chief executive and provided for the election of all other officers pertaining to the State government, adjourned to meet again on the first Tuesday in August ensuing. MEETING OF THE PROVISIONAL LEGISLATURE. The third clause of the ordinance passed June the 19th, provided for the meeting of the General Assembly on the 1st day of July, the members of which had been duly chosen at the general election on the 23d day of May, and in pursuance of the ordinance that body convened at Wheeling on the day appointed. The session was held in the custom-house, in which the offices of the governor and other State officers had been located. Upon calling the roll, it was ascertained that there were thirty-one members present. A speaker and clerk were chosen, after which the governor's message was received. In it he reviewed, at considerable length, the action of the Richmond convention, the history of the movements which led to the reorganization of the State governments and his own election. He informed the house that he had entered into a correspondence with the President of the United States, and informed him of the circumstances surrounding the loyal government of Virginia, and had received from him, through the secretary of war, assurances that all constitutional aid would be promptly rendered. Accompanying the message were copies of communications received from the Secretary of the Interior certifying to the apportionment of representation to which Virginia was entitled in the Thirty-eighth Congress, according to the census of 1860. The attention of the Assembly was called to the fact that the President, in a proclamation issued on the 4th inst., had declared vacant the seats of all representatives from Virginia in the Congress of the United States by reason of their active participation in the effort to overthrow the Federal government, and he recommended that the house proceed at once to fill such vacancies by the election of members who should at once apply for seats in the national Congress as representatives of Virginia under the restored government. The General Assembly, on the 9th of July, went into an election, and on joint ballot elected L. A. Hagans, of Preston county, secretary of the commonwealth; Samuel Crane, of Randolph, auditor of public accounts, and Campbell Tarr, of Brooke, treasurer. They then proceeded to ballot for United States Senators, which resulted in the election of John S. Carlisle, of Harrison, and W. T. Willey, of Monongalia. They, together with the representatives from the three congressional districts west of the mountains, who had been elected at the same time the members of the General Assembly were chosen, at once proceeded to Washington, where "they were admitted to seats in the respective houses as senators and representatives from Virginia." On the 24th of July, the Assembly, having finished the business before it, adjourned. Thus the machinery of the restored government was in complete working order; but this did not satisfy the people, many of whom had for years entertained the fond hope that at some time their relations with the east should be severed, and a new State, independent of Virginia, should rise west of the Alleghanies. All felt that the auspicious moment had now come, and it was impressed upon the THIRD WHEELING CONVENTION, Which convened on the 6th of August, 1861, that there was but one duty to perform, and that was to perfect the organization of a new State. At this meeting a number of delegates from the. Kanawha Valley counties, who had not attended the second convention, were present, and took an active part in the labor now to be performed, which was none other than the partition of the old State and the formation of a new one. On the 20th an ordinance was passed, with the following preamble: "Whereas, it is represented to be the desire of the people inhabiting the counties hereinafter mentioned, to be separated from this commonwealth, and to be erected into a separate State, and admitted into the Union of States, and become a member of the government of the United States." The new State was to be called "Kanawha," the boundaries of which were to include the following counties, viz: Logan, Wyoming, Raleigh, Fayette, Nicholas, Webster, Randolph, Tucker, Preston, Monongalia, Marion, Taylor, Barbour, Upshur, Harrison, Lewis, Braxton, Clay, Kanawha, Boone, Wayne, Cabell, Putnam, Mason, Jackson, Roane, Calhoun, Wirt, Gilmer, Ritchie, Wood, Pleasants, Tyler, Doddridge, Wetzel, Marshall, Ohio, Brooke and Hancock. It was also provided that the boundaries might be so changed as to include within the boundaries of the proposed State the counties of Greenbrier, Pocahontas, Hampshire, Hardy, Morgan, Berkeley, and Jefferson, or either of them, or any other contiguous counties, in case a majority of the votes cast at an election to be held for the purpose, should declare their wish to become a part of the new State; and at the same time elect delegates to the proposed constitutional convention, which was to meet at Wheeling on the 26th of November, should a majority of the votes cast at an election to be held on the fourth Thurs day in October be in favor of the formation of the new State. The convention, after submitting the question of the organization of the State to the people, adjourned on the 21st of August. THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION. The October election was held in nearly every county of the proposed State; 19,189 votes were polled, of which 18,408 were in favor of the new State, and 781 against it. Delegates to the constitutional convention were chosen at the same time, and on the 26th of November, 1861, that body convened in the Federal court room at Wheeling, all the counties then within the limits of the proposed State being represented except Jefferson, Berkeley, Webster and Monroe. The session continued eighty-two days, during which time a constitution was framed and submitted to the people, to be voted upon on the 3d day of April, 1862. The convention adjourned on the 18th of February. it. The constitution thus submitted was voted upon, on the day appointed, and resulted in its adoption by a vote of 18,862 for it, and 514 against By the census of 1860 it will be seen that the counties voting had a population of 334,921 whites, and 12,771 colored. The reader will have noticed the decrease in the number of votes polled at the above election, from that polled at the time of the vote polled upon the ordinance of secession, which was more than 54,000; but we must remember that up to this time 10,000 men from Western Virginia were enrolled in the Federal army, and several thousand had gone South, and were fighting the battles of the Confederacy. Hence the difference in the number of votes polled at the two elections. THE NEW CONSTITUTION-THE WORK COMPLETED. The General Assembly of the reorganized government convened on the 6th of May, 1862, and gave its formal assent to the formation of the new State of West Virginia within the territory of the State of Vir |