But, despite conflicts within and assaults from without, it must not
be concluded that the people of Virginia had entirely abandoned the
right of free discussion in regard to slavery, nor forfeited their
well-earned reputation for conservatism and self-poise. There were
still, as we have seen, many of her foremost men, who were frank to
deplore the existence of the institution and who had never surrendered
the faith of their fathers, that the day of abolition would surely
dawn. Neither did the outrage at Harper's Ferry with all its sinister
circumstances, nor the triumph of sectionalism in the National
elections of 1860, drive the state from its position of sanity and
conservatism. Virginia was one of three commonwealths in that
momentous election to cast her electoral vote for the Union
candidates, Bell and Everett, standing on the simple platform—the
preservation of the Union, the supremacy of the constitution and the
enforcement of the laws.
The foregoing recitals will serve to present the almost insuperable
difficulties with which emancipation in Virginia was invested during
the period just antedating the Civil War. That her people took counsel
of their fears, rather than their hopes, may be admitted. But for this
attitude who shall arraign them?