The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-01-16

| the resolution to the table, under the
10th rule of the House, the General of
committee reporting, and the message
coming in shortly after, no action was
/ taken on the resolution.
The committee appinted to wait upon
the Governor reported that His Excel
lency would transmit his message i'm.
mediately, and shortly thereafter the
message was presented within the bar
of the House by the Secretary of the
State, and was laid before the House
by the Speaker, and read by the clerk
/ as follows, and laid on the table:
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
Gentlemen of the Senate and of
the House of Delegates:
The people of our State have great rea.
son to be thankful to an oyer-ruling Prov
idence for the blessings of the year that
is past. While pestilence has been abroad
in the land, we have enjoyed health in an
unusual degree; the earth has yielded
plentiful harvests; the evidence of the
devastations of the war is fast dis
appearing before the renewed ener-
gy and enterprise of our people ;
business of all kinds seems to be
prosperiug; and the indications of i'm
proyement and progress are manifest in
=
While the condition of the State as a
whole is very gratifying, l am compelled
to repeat, what l said to your predeces-
sors year ago, that in some localities,
chiefly in four or five counties Sor-
dering on the States of Virginia and Ken
lucky, a spirit of insubordination still
continues to be manifested. That por-
ton of the population of these localities
who participated in the rebellion, instead
of pursuing course promotive of the
peace and good order of society, continue
to evince their discomfort and dissatisfac-
ton by denouncing and disregarding the
laws and constitution of the State,
and by menacing and interrupting the of.
ficers in the discharge of their duties.
Means are used for the purpose of intim-
idating the courts, sheriffs, jurors, wit
nesses, supervisors, free school superin-
officers of registration and election, and
of deterring them from the execution of
the laws. The judge of the ninth circuit
has received anonymous letters threaten
ing his life if he persists in holding his
courts: and while he was holding a term
of his court in the town of Lewisburg,
Greenbrier county, during the last Fall,
these malcontents held a public meeting
in the town, in which they resolved to
mob the judge and the prosecuting attor-
ney of his court, and were only induced
to desist from executing their purpose by
the interposition of more considerate
friends. By this course of conduct the
business of the courts and officers gener-
ally is embarrassed and the due execu-
ton of the laws greatly obstructed. In
fact, it has been entirely impracticable,
so far, to secure a full and complete exc
fnf nf tho trua nd ala lat
the disafected regions. At some voting
places no elections at all were held last
Fall, for fear of violence at others great
numbers of illegal votes were received,
which has given the boards of supervisors
much trouble-their duties on this subject
not being clearly defined in the law.
Another instance of utter disregard of the
laws IS that in one or two counties, as |
am informed, persons who aided and abet-
ted the rebellion are performing the du-
ties of county and township officers, and
this, of course, without taking the oaths
required by law, and yet they are not in
dicted by the grand juries-in some cases
probably from sympathy ofthe jurors with
the rebellion, and in other cases through
intimidation
In this aspect of affairs it became ap-
parent that the laws could not be enforc-
ed by the civil authorities and that militia
ry aid was necessary for that purpose;
and on application to General Grant, a
small detachment of United States troops
has been stationed at Union, in Monroe
county, where they will remain, no doubt,
until order and security are restored; in
deed my information is that their presence
is already having a salutary effect in that
portion of the State. l may ada that 1
have assurances that military assistance
will be furnished whenever necessary to
enable the State authorities to enforce
the laws: and, while Ideprecate the state
of things that renders such assistance me-
cessary, yet have determined, if the pur-
pose, heretofore manifested, to disturb
the peace and set the authorities at def
auce, is persisted in, that l will not hesi
tate, when duty requires, to avail myself
of the support of the stronger arm of the
government l have come to this deter
mination with great reluctance but after
mature reflection.
The leading spirits amongst those that
are defying the laws and disturbing the
good order of society are men of superior
intelhgence,-some of them learned in
the law,-and are therefore the more cul
pable. 1t has now been more than eigh-
teen months since they returned from the
rebellion. The authorities, as well as the
to hope that they would cease their disor-
gauizing and wicked course, so that we
might have return of peace and order
again throughout the entire State and it
was also desirable that their conduct
would be such that some of the restric-
tive measures which it was heretofore
deemed necessary to adopt might be mod
fled, and others repealed and with
view to this, and to avoid all cause of ir-
ritation, every possible effort has been
made to administer the laws through civil
officers alone. But this forbearance, in
stead of being accepted and appreciated
in the spirit in which it was extended, has
been enormously regarded and treated as
a yielding on the part of the authorities
and loyal people to the superciious man
ifestations and pretensions of these law
less men; and instead of returning to
respectful and proper obedience to the
laws, they have grown more and more au-
dacious and violent, until it has became
absolutely necessary to call on the militia
ry to aid and protect the civil authorities
in the performance of their duties.
l exceedingly regret this state of things,
and especially to publish it to the country
yet have deemed it my duty to say thus
much in obedience to that provision of
the constitution which requires the Cover
ernor to communicate to the legislature
at each session thereof the condition of
the State" regret 1t not only because
order and tranquility In the community
are desirable In themselves, but, more
over, because they are necessary to the
Development and prosperity of the State;