Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1867-08-07
LOUDOUN COUNTY.

correspondence of the Richmond Dispatch ]
Reconstruction in this part of District No. !.
is progressing about as it is in other counties;
2.7e6 whites and 992 blacks have been register
ed. 1t is supposed that about $50 Radical
whites will vote with the blacks, and thus
reduce the white majority to 81, mere nomi-
nal number, which may be decreased so much
as to give the county to the Radicals by...a
change in a few political trimmers who always
desire to keep on the popular side.
In looking over the list of registered voters
in one of the magsterial districts OF Loudouu, l
find the name of Mr.. John JaDney amongst
those who we're rejected The following ex-
tract from that document will show the reason
why he was not allowed to register:
John Janney, aged sixtyeight, attorney,
resident of the State sixty eight years, IN the
District forty one, born in Virginia. Challeng.
ed on the ground of having been member Of
the Virginia State Legislature, and since hav-
ing given aid and comfort to the late rebellion
namely. president OF the State con-
yention which passed the ordinance OF seces-
sion, and as such signed the ordinance alter 1t
passed the convention, and afterwards voted
for its ratification. Subscribed to the usual
oath"
/ learn that Mr.. Janney claimed the right
TO register, although be had signed the ordl-
nance of secession, having done so, not simply
because he was member of the convention,
but that he was it's presiding officer, and there
fore required to sign it to give it the effect OF
law. He claimed that this fact did not dis
qualify him, and could not be construed to
come under the offence of ''giving aid and
comfort" to the rebels. append the sentence
of the registration board i'll one OF two other
cases, which will show to what extent the
classes of persons have been disfranchised
by this board:
'E. T. Perkins, aged forty-three, minister,
resident of the State forty three, Of District /,
born in Virginia Challenged by his own re-
quest because some twenty years since, when
student at the Virginia Theological Seminary,
he acted for one or two weeks as sub-deputy
postmaster for the accommodation OF fellow
student, who was the deputy postmaster, and
wanted to take little vacation, and be does
not remember taking any oath, but fears he
may have done so. Admits having given aid
and comfort to the rebellion exclusively In his
capacity as minister of the gospel No oath
taHen."
"Wiiam Cross, physician. Rejected for
refusing to answer the questions of age, resi-
the right of the Board to ask such questions
after he had taken the OATH treating the
officers of the Board contemptuously and deny
ing the power aud the authority OF the Board,
and also the General commanding.
Before the war the number OF slaves had
been very much reduced in this section OF the
State, and at it's close the whites greatly pre-
dominated, as the result of the registration
shows. In the printed list, to which allusion
has been before made, there are only some
half dozen negroes who gave other States than
Virginia as their birth place. In other por--
tions of the State, the result, | think, will
show quite large number who have come in
from other States. Such will inevitably be the
case in the cities, where this class OF new-made
voters ''most do congregate.
Help for the field as we'll as the house IS
very scarce in this county. Some farmers fear
that they will have to abandon their farms en-
tirely unless they can get labor in which they
place entire confidence Many hands have
remained until just as harvest came on, and
then left, without word, to seek other homes
at higher wages This is an evil which may in
time correct itself; but while the transition is
taking place, the farming interests are suffer
ing. Help in the house is even more unrella-
BILE than that Of the field, and is frequently
difficult to obtain. -.
In regard to the labor question, many look
with favor upon the effort of the Catholics to
build up church in Leesburg A reverend
father Of that denomination has been working
assiduousy for several weeks, and has succeed
ed in enhsting an interest there sufficient to
warrant him in promising them church edffce
at no distant day. Should this be accomplish
ed, the question of "hep' in the house within
the circle of the church's influence will be
solved
Real estate in this county maintains the high
figures at which it was held before the war. "A
farm near Leesburg sold few days since tor
eighty six dollars per acre, and one IN the eel
ebrated "Goose Creek neighborhood tor elgh-
ty dollars; the latter had, however, but teW
Improvements on it. There seems to be some
disposition to sell lands in this section OF the
State, and more persons from abroad are seek
ing investments of this kind than IN other por-
tions of the State from which we hear. The
completion of the Alexandria, Loudoun and
Hampshire Railroad to Leesburg, it's present
terminus, has tended somewhat to enhance the
value of these lands and its further construc-
ton to Mercier's. eight miles distant, will have
the same effect in that portion OF the county,
as it will enable the farmers to get their pro-
duee to market at much less price than the
present mode of hauling it to Leesbufg, or
Berlin, or Point of Rocks, over the rough and
stony roads for which this section is proverbial.
There has been levied by the county court
very heavy tax for the improvement of the
roads in the county, and we have paid it; but
have yet to hear Of the good which has been
accomplished under it. .s..
There is base ball club in Leesburg, and
two afternoons in each week are devoted to
amusement in this healthful and invigoratlng
doctor lays aside his pills and his lancet; the
editor drops his quill and scissors, and the boys
leave their play to join in the sport
The lands in the Goose Greek neighborhood,
eight miles west of Leesburg, which are settled
mostly by Friends, are perhaps the best in the
county. The farms ARE mostly small, and cul-