Secession they deplored because it broke the married calm of a union
which its makers fondly hoped would endure forever, but war upon the
states seeking independence they also deplored, because subversive of
the principles upon which the Union was founded. Could the Federal
Government deny to six millions of people the boon of independence which
they were seeking by orderly and peaceful methods, and still remain true
to the principles of the great Declaration, to maintain which the
Fathers of the Republic had fought and won the battles of the
Revolution? Have people the right to determine for themselves their
political destiny? Are the just powers of governments to be measured by
the consent of the governed? These were the questions which, carrying
their own answers, impelled the Virginian opponents of coercion in 1861
to stand, as they believed, for the political and ethical principles
which the Flag symbolized, rather than for the Flag itself.
That Virginia revered the institution of slavery, and from selfish
motives fought to make more sure the muniments of its existence; that
she desired the destruction of the Union, and the degenerate abandonment
of the inspiring dreams of liberty and progress, which it was designed
to assure,—are propositions unthinkable to men acquainted with her
history and the genius and aspirations of her people. It was for no such
cause that she gave her sons to the sword, and her bosom as the
battleground for the fiercest war of modern times. Her people fought
because they felt the occasion made its imperious demand upon their duty
and their honor. Virginia had persistently declared that the right
asserted by the Cotton States was God-given and inalienable. Thus her
sense of honor, as well as the imperilled right of self-government,
impelled her to battle.
Twenty years after the surrender at Appomattox Lord Wolseley wrote: "The
Right of Self-Government which Washington won, and for which Lee fought,
was no longer to be a watchword to stir men's blood in the United
States."[2]
We need not accept the conclusion of this distinguished soldier that the
cause of self-government no longer commands the allegiance of the
American people, in order to believe that amid the trials and conflicts
of the Civil War Virginia stood faithful for the vindication of that
great principle.
-----
Footnote 2:
_R. E. Lee_, Wolseley, p. 51.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
_PART II_
VIRGINIA DID NOT SECEDE IN ORDER TO EXTEND
SLAVERY INTO THE TERRITORIES,
OR TO PREVENT ITS THREATENED
DESTRUCTION WITHIN HER
OWN BORDERS
------------------------------------------------------------------------