CHAPTER XIII

Acquaintance with Ex-Governor James McDowell-Governor Joseph Johnson emphatically a man of the people-Personally acquainted with all Governors since his day-Incidents of Governor Wise's administration-"Honest John" Letcher-"Extra Billy" SmithPrivate John Allen's anecdote.

While attending the law school of Judge Brockenbrough at Lexington, Virginia, I had the pleasure of meeting ExGovernor James McDowell, who at that time represented his district in the Congress of the United States. He was a courtly, elegant gentleman, and enjoyed the reputation of a scholarly and accomplished orator. It is said that the canvass between himself and Hon. A. H. H. Stuart for a seat in the House of Representatives will long be remembered by those who had the privilege of listening to their chaste and eloquent addresses, and witnessing their high-toned, chivalrous bearing toward each other.

The next Governor of Virginia whom I had the pleasure of knowing personally was Hon. Joseph Johnson, who was elected by the people under the Constitution of 1851, in opposition to Hon. George W. Summers of Kanawha, one of the most powerful and gifted speakers of his day. Governor Johnson was emphatically a man of the people, and was regarded as a tower of strength in the northwestern counties of Virginia, now composing the State of West Virginia. While he was acting as Governor, a mob of infuriated citizens met in the Capitol Square at Richmond, gathered around the Executive Mansion, and heaped opprobrious epithets upon him because, in the exercise of his prerogative as Governor, he had thought proper to pardon a colored man who had been convicted of manslaughter. When the Governor was urged by his friends to order out the public. guard and disperse the rioters, he peremptorily declined, and exhibited extraordinary patience and self-control under the most exasperating circumstances.

I have personally known all the Governors of Virginia from that day to the present: Wise, Letcher, Smith, Walker, Kemper, Holladay, Cameron, Lee, McKinney, O'Ferrall, Tyler, Montague, and Swanson. The office is one of great dignity and honor. Any citizen of the State might be pardoned for indulging an honorable ambition to fill the place once dignified and adorned by Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Nelson, and a long line of illustrious worthies who by their genius, talent, and virtues have illustrated and adorned the annals of their State.

During the administration of Governor Wise, John Brown, fired by the zeal of a fanatic, came into the State to incite servile insurrection, destroy the homes of our people, and murder their helpless women and children. The excitement that prevailed throughout all our borders was intense. The citizen soldiery sprang to arms and everywhere the busy note of preparation for the impending conflict was heard. This was, in reality, the beginning of the war between the States-the greatest civil war ever known in the history of mankind, in which millions of lives were sacrificed and billions of treasure expended.

John Letcher was elected Governor in 1859. He had served for several terms in the House of Representatives with great distinction. He was called "Honest John," and was universally recognized during his term of service as the "Watch-dog of the Treasury." He had been conspicuous for his opposition to secession and his ardent devotion to the Constitutional Union of 1789, but when President Lincoln issued his famous proclamation calling for 75,000 troops to coerce the seceding States of the South, he promptly espoused the cause of Southern independence and devoted all his energies to the defense of his State and people. As war Governor of Virginia, in the most critical period of her history, he exhibited qualities of the highest order and made a name of which his family and friends may be justly proud.

Governor Letcher was succeeded by William Smith, affectionately called "Extra Billy" by his admiring countrymen. He was a noble old Roman who served his State most accept

ably in peace and in war, and made his impress upon the times in which he lived as patriot, statesman, and soldier. He represented his district for several terms in the House of Representatives, and was twice elected as Governor of the State. He was a born leader of men and was irresistible as a popular orator. When our sectional trouble finally culminated in war, he promptly tendered his sword to his country, and although not favored with any military training, he attained high rank as a commander and was complimented by General Beauregard in his official report of the first battle of Manassas for his cool, cheerful courage. In the purer and better days of our fathers, it was not customary for the candidates for Governor to make a domiciliary canvass and go about the State advertising their own merits and proclaiming their own superior qualifications and fitness for the high office. The people met together in public assemblies and called upon the man of their choice to serve them. In other words, the office sought the man and not the man the office. Tempora mutantur et nos mutamur cum illis.

In this connection I am reminded of an anecdote told by private John Allen of Mississippi, as follows: A fine old gentleman in Tupelo was in the habit of sitting on the goods boxes in the street, chewing tobacco and talking politics. His hobby was that the office should seek the man and not the man the office. He waxed eloquent in the discussion of his chosen theme. Finally, he determined to become a candidate himself and went out upon an electioneering tour. When his friends twitted him about his change of front, he replied, "Oh, yes, the office should seek the man, but the man should be around so that the office may find him." In these latter days, the candidates "are around" and clamoring in season and out of season for the "sweet voices of the people."

CHAPTER XIV

The Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1901-2-The vote for and against it-I am elected a delegate from Bedford County-Organization-Elected president of the convention-Speeches nominating me to the office-My reply-Memorial exercises in honor of the lamented President McKinley-Installation of State officers in hall of convention-The great work accomplished by the convention and high character of debate-Personnel of committees-Summary of benefits of new constitution-The city of Richmond

On March 5th, 1900, the General Assembly of Virginia passed an act entiled "An Act to provide for submitting to the qualified voters of the State the question of calling a Constitutional Convention to be held for the purpose of revising and amending the present Constitution." The question was submitted to the people on the 4th Thursday of May, 1900, and resulted as follows: For a convention, 77,362 votes; against convention, 60,375 votes. Under an act of the General Assembly approved on the 16th of February, 1901, providing for the election of delegates and for other purposes, the number of delegates to be chosen was fixed at one hundred and the election was held on the 4th Thursday of May, 1901. The delegates chosen to the convention were divided politically into eighty-eight Democrats and twelve Republicans.

In the spring of 1901, while practising my profession in the city of Washington, I received a letter from my lifelong and highly esteemed friend, Dr. John S. Mitchell, informing me that some of the good people of Bedford desired that I should become a candidate to represent them in the convention. I replied that I would consider it a very high honor, and if elected would serve them with great pleasure and to the best of my ability. At the primary that was afterwards held for the nominations of the candidates, my friend John Thompson Brown and myself were chosen and were duly elected at the ensuing election. When it is considered that

I had been long absent from the county and had only visited it occasionally, my election, under the circumstances, was certainly a very unusual compliment and I shall never cease to prize it as such. As a matter of course, there were objections made to my election. It was objected by some that I was too old and by others that I did not live in the county and that the people should be represented by a man who went in and out among them every day and thus had an opportunity to know their sentiments and wishes upon the all-important questions of the hour. To the first objection I replied that we are never old while the heart is young; and to the second, that I had been only a temporary sojourner in the city of Washington, that I had always regarded Bedford as my home, had never failed to pay my taxes there, that I was a registered voter in the county, and that although I was compelled by circumstances to be absent for a time, I had always felt like exclaiming, "Carry me back, carry me back to Old Virginia."

The convention met in the Hall of Delegates at Richmond on the 12th day of June, 1901, and organized by the election of myself as president, Joseph Button as secretary, Frank B. Watkins as sergeant-at-arms, and A. O. Sullivan and P. E. Lipscomb as first and second doorkeepers. William A. Anderson of Rockbridge was elected president pro tem. I trust I may be pardoned for introducing here the following extracts from the Journal:

"Mr. Moore, of Fairfax, nominated Mr. John Goode, of the county of Bedford, as follows:

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention:

The very brief but very brilliant list of those who have presided over our Constitutional Conventions can by no possibility lose anything in distinction when we add to it the name of the gentleman I now present, the honorable member from the county of Bedford, Mr. John Goode.

So far as the record shows, it was not considered necessary at the time of their selection to speak in detail of the men who have preceded him in this high station-such men as Edmund Pendleton, Philip Barbour, and John Y. Mason. It is equally unnecessary to-day to speak in detail of Mr. Goode,

His career has run through a period of half a century. The country knows him, the State knows him, and both esteem him. They both give him their entire confidence. He has been much in the public service, and whether discharging official duties in Richmond or at Washington,