None of these elements, separately, spoke the sentiments of the
majority, nor represented the controlling force in her citizenship. We
shall accept as the true expression of the dominant element the returns
from the ballot box, the enactments of her legislative and
constitutional assemblies, and the deliverances of her great sons. Tried
by these criteria, it may be truthfully declared that the institution of
slavery was regarded with disfavor by a majority of her people; that
they tolerated its existence as a _modus vivendi_ to meet the dangers
and difficulties of the hour, but looking forward to the time when the
increase of her white population from within and without, and the
decrease of her blacks by emigration and colonization would render
feasible its abolition, with a maximum of benefit to the slaves and
their owners, and a minimum of danger to society and the state; that
while cherishing an almost romantic love for their commonwealth, they
felt genuine loyalty to the Union, and contemplated with profound sorrow
the suggested withdrawal therefrom of any group of states; and, finally,
that they carried their state out of the Union and into the Southern
Confederacy because the authorities of the former sought by force of
arms to defeat the latter in their efforts to achieve independence, and
demanded of Virginia her quota of men to accomplish the deed.