The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1895-02-24
RECONSTRUCTION ASSEMBLY.
"Reminiscences Of That ORGANIZATION aco
Lets Of That Historic Body.
SKETCH OF SOME OF The MEMBERS
Governor Walkers Messages-No'eu io'
the illness Of the Information L VI
ed-RscoIlections OF John
McCaull.

the utlness oil the
ninhed-RscoIlections Of John
McCaull.
on the 5th day of October. 1862 was
held in Richmond, by oiuos the
General Canuye, meeting OF IN
memoers-eiect OF the virginia LeslsldI
tlre The body was not yet chdrseui
with full representative PoN",.e,.S,,,- cen
under decisions from the AttoIh 80
eral OF the United States, their dctS III
10 be confined TO the limited anu p., ;,
fled purposes requisite to recOls. uC,icti,,
These purposes were cons u Us" t,,,.ta,nfh
10 be the ratihcatlon OF inc ~ ned
and Fifteenth Amendments 10 nc iS 49,,
eral Constitution, such acuon hSNlLe 1Ct,'
declared by Congress TO be pl ~ ra,,re-
TO the admission OF senators anu iIPto1
sentatiVcs, ana the SIcSeIO1e mo lower
States senators, members OF tnc In.
house having been already cnoseH' 9it 1
ultaneOusly with the fatllcdtlIm ,er1
Constitution by popular vote july V, i9i
The membership OF inc tmGRiic iife
vas mostly of men new TO puphc ~,
as persons who had previously 10 ,t tnI'i
support Of the Confederacy he!a hiintaiS
or civil office under the Cnlteu Sldteo
Government were not eligible 10 sedtS'
so too the Conservatives, Wheh Hhdh.HS
legislative nominations Had Deeh I6nol
rant of the oaths when Hsht De iffoat','t
and had therefore, as RUE, selecteu
candidates without such political ante
cedents as might void their election. But
of the personnel mention Will be maze
hereafter CT.
the Lieutenant-GoVernor-e John +.
Lewis, presided. Ieph Turner, OF Rap
pahannock, was elected Speaker OF the
House OF Delegates. october ith GOV
ernor Walker submitted message plleI-
~ calling attention 10 the limitations
imposed upon tbs legislative branch Anu
urging prompt adoption OF me coh8'i't I
fflIf y Il
tional amendments. me Ioll0"ins u@S
a select committee, Of which senator
Charles Herndon, of Frederlcksb burg Was
chairman reported bills declaring such
ratification; and during the same al
moon both bills were passed, sent 10 the
House. which concUrred. and received inc
Executive approval. In the senate, lOuI
votes out of the total meHDersnlp ~
forty were cast against the fourleeh
AmGndment-Mess Anderson or kocK-
| bridge. Johnson Of AcCOmac, Isaiah Lyons
| the Straighout Republican, ana bdihuiIa
Pendleton. Against the Fifteenth Aihehu-
ment only Messrs Johnson ana Lyons
were recorded. In the House or Dele
! gates the Fourteenth Amendment was
ratified hv a unanimous vote; the m
! tcentb Amendment received l2G yeas aud
was opposed to fnalitX by, MessIs' rI HaS-
| ericksburg. n. J. Miller, Panamore oil
| Gccomac. $. ). Turner the present con-
! gresham from the Seventh district and
| Winn.
THE FIELD OF CHOICE LIMITED.
Having accomplished this much the
! La .S1Curc adjourned 70 OCTOBER lotl,
| The interval was needed by the majority
| for the harmoniZing OF chQ!ce upon wv
| persons TO bear to the United states
| Senate Virginia's completed ute lot re-
| admission. The field OF choices was
| limited by law. The excepted class
! Included all the men who had held high
| commissions from Virginia in the past
| as statesmen or soldiers. OUTSIDE OF the
! absolute test of legal qualification, there
| was also the question or aFalldDlhty'
| Friends of the administration had more
| than limited that the verdict OF congress
| upon our case would largely depend upon
| the wisdom which should guide this Sc
! lection. That Hon. John +. Lewis
should be chosen for the long term was
a decision promptly arrived at He had
The confidence of all classes Of the ma
| ioritY. A consistent record as a sup
porter of the Union made him persona
grata to the controlling party at Wash
ington, while his OutspOken antagOnislIi
to the prOscriptVe faction in virginia
had been powerful factor in the recent
| success Of the Conservative elements.
| Many considerations joined to dictate h's
recognition and promotion. But agree
ment upon a person for the short term
was not 50 readily reached. n not in
considerable wing of the Conservative
| chung TO the idea that enough had al
ready been conceded, and that the col
League of Mr.. Lewis should be some one
i
new party from the standpoint of those
who constituted its voting Strength-the
ex-Confederates. This view yielded
however, TO the stern logic Of the Fedora
statute book. and the names Of Hunter
Baldwin Goode and Boiling were reluc-
AMY Withdrawn from consideration
| Another faction which was believed &c
| have the sympathy of Governor Walker
drew its inspiration from army circles !
| Washington, and argued in favor of Cen
era Robert Williams. an officer of th'
Federal staff, for whom, it was. said
President Grant held peculiar Trend
ship. but whose claims beyond that were
comprised in his ownership OF some Ian,
I'm Culpeper county, and the fact that h'
had married the widow OF stephen
Douglass. At length the difficulty was
solved by the presentation from South
west Virginia Of the name of Jonn "
Johnston, who belonged to a family dis
tinguished in the annals OF the state
who was a near relative of the grca
Confederate general Of that name, ant
yet for some reason ineXplicable 10 m'
then, as now, regarded by the Federd
authorities with favor which tSey lie
MED to others neither more nor less idon
titled with the old regime; at any rate
the event was fortunate for our STATE
| and people. The nominations of ihi
| Conservative caucus We're ratified IN join
session of the Houses of Assembly Oc
tober 20th, after which an adjournmen
| was effected until the second Tuesda!
after Congress shall approve the actor
| OIL the ptOIlc u ' llSillid, ~
The GENERAL ASSEMBLY CoNyTNEs.
Thereafter the senator's and represen
! tatiVes-elect from Virginia presente
themselves at the doors of Congress 10
| admission. There was some opposition
but il was confined TO small factor
of extremists. mostly representatives o
| other southern States. which had beef
| reconstructed on very different lines
| on January Goth the President alike
| his signature TO an act admitting IN
state of Virginia 10 representation in IN
Congress of the United States" and o.
! the second Tuesday thereafter, Februar
8 1910, the General Assembly convene
| at the Capitol. and was congratulated b.
| Governor Walker on being again clothe
! with all their rishtful powers and IunC
tions. An immense amount of labo
devolved upon this Legislature Tn
| new Constitution Tevolutionized the sys
tenn of county Governments, changed III
judiciary system I'm radical respects, dc
named the institution at an early ia
of elaborate methods of free education
and made innovations upon nearly ever
portion of the machinery of Government
The work of adjusting the statutes I
the new order Of things was added I
that of supplanting the military tenant
by civil servants in nearly every otic
in the Commonwealth. The latter er
| gagged the immediate attention or IN
2 body. The nant-Governorshlp Va
Gated by Senator Lewis, was filled ten
porar1ly by the executive appointment G
Hon. John L. Marye, who was 9ubs'