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A CARD.

Fellow-citizens of Prince William Co.:

I have the honor to announce myself as a Union Republican Candidate for the constitutional convention of Virginia at the pending election to be called by the military commander of the State, and I respectfully solicit your votes on the following grounds: That I am, and always have been loyal to the Government of the United States; that I fought for the true interests of Virginia during the late war; and that I am in favor of bringing the State of Virginia into harmonious relations with the Government of the United States, by conforming her constitution and laws to the just and magnanimous requirements of that government as now definitely, authoritatively, and finally set forth by the great national law-making power. By a mad rebellion, that whirled into its fatal vortex a great majority of the people of the South, that would heave destroyed the greatest and freest government of the earth, and that did destroy thousands of lives, and millions of property, Virginia has been placed as a State under certain temporary disabilities, and to resume her wonted prosperity and happiness as a people, and her wonted dignity as a State among the Commonwealths of the Republic, every consideration of safety, independence and honor, requires her complete and harmonious re-union with the General Government. She can thrive in no other condition. How is this to be accomplished? Two years of instructive experience, earnest discussion, unparalleled agitation and serious apprehension have culminated in a plan triumphant for Liberty and Union, which comes to us as law, and with such vast and increasing power of popular support that to attempt its evasion is madness, akin to that which struck at the life of the nation in '61. It will not do to say that it is the mere scheme of a Radical Party. I appeal to that honest manhood which has been sufficiently injured by heeding such delusive cries, to consider the real state of the case. Be not again deceived. A vast majority of the earnest thinking American people, who saved the Union, have seriously determined, as they had a right to determine, upon the terms of restoration now extended to the South. These terms are, in substance, as follows:
1st. To provide for good order until loyal State Governments can be established, the rebel States are divided into five military districts, and a General is assigned to the command of each, with all the powers of Government and with troops to enforce his authority. He may permit the civil authorities to act so far as he chooses, but at all times subject to his commands.
2nd. All men twenty-one years old may vote, with out regard to color, who have resided in the State one year previous to election, except felons and persons described in the third section of the Constitution Amendment
3d. The voters may elect from among their number, delegates to a convention to form a State Constitution which must permit all men to vote (as above) except those disfranchised for rebellion or felony, and must be approved by Congress and ratified by the voters of the State When the Legislation elected under the constitution shall have ratified the Constitutional Amendment, and it shall have become a part of the Constitution of the Union States, members may be admitted to seats in Congress upon taking an oath that they never voluntarily participated in the rebellion, known as the "Iron-clad" oath of 1862. Then military rule is to cease. to carry out this law it is provided that there shall be a registration of voters, that the voting shall be by ballot, and that Congress shall be satisfied that all registered voters voted freely, without fear of restraint, or the influence of fraud. All voters shall subscribe an oath that they are qualified to vote under the law, to which oath, the penalties of perjury are attached if falsely taken.

This is our situation and as a citizen of Virginia, I am in favor of accepting it at once, and of fulfilling the requirements of the law in good faith. We must come in in a loyal and friendly attitude, or stay out. We must have military rule or civil government on these terms.No people can thrive under military government long continued. Still it is better than a proscriptive disloyal domination, and has been so decided once for all by the American people. The government has come to the aid of its friends in the South, strengthening their hands for self-protection, but doing at the same time no unnecessary injury to its enemies. The fact is recognized that with many men rebellion was a mistake; but that with those who plotted it, it was not only a mistake but the crime of treason. It will be seen that the only persons engaged in the rebellion who are to suffer any punishment except the common casualties of war which fell like the rain "upon the just and upon the unjust," are the few conscious designing leaders who, holding office under the government under a solemn oath to support its fundamental law, renounced that oath and that law and became traitors to their country. The only punishment of these men is merely that they are not to be trusted in future, unless pardoned by Congress. While I rejoice that our Government is so great and strong that it can afford to be thus lenient and forgiving, I know of no example in history of a people in like circumstances willing to be so. It will be seen, also, that negro suffrage is no longer a disturbing question. It is an established fact. The vote is given the black man not because he is qualified in all cases to cast it judiciously, but because it is a means of protection to him. He needs this protection and it is right that he should have it. The good old Virginia doctrine that all men have "certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is, by the irresistible logic of events, fully extended to the colored man. The fiat has gone forth that ALL MEN not guilty of crime, shall be free, and shall have equal political and civil rights. The day is not far distant when men will wonder why they ever opposed this doctrine.

FELLOW-CITIZENS--acceding to the request of friends, and knowing the desire for a candidate of unqualified Union antecedents and opinions, I offer my name for the votes of the citizens of the county who think with the great mass of loyal and liberty loving American people upon the questions of the day, including the freedmen who may desire to vote for a union man, and as may other Citizens as are unwilling to follow the spirit of the rebellion any deeper into disappointment and humiliation and error, and are ready now to join the great national party of Freedom. My friends, united, we have strength in Prince William. I appeal to the friends of our common cause, the Union, to give me their support, not merely for present success but for the good that may be done hereafter when events shall prove to all men the justice and truth of our ideas, and we shall be made strong out of the conscience and good sense of our enemies. 
Let us be of good cheer.  There is a prosperity and a glory for Virginia that she has not yet known. The same free institutions and moral forces that have made such mighty empires of the Norther and Western States set at work in Virginia with her superior agricultural, mineral, and manufacturing resources and commercial advantages will build her up like magic. It needs no prophet to foretell that we shall see immigration turn hither; that we shall see a system of free schools established by which the State shall give to every child the rudiments of an education; that we shall see a new life take possession of every department of business and all classes of people, and moral growth keeping pace with material advancement. The wonderful results of our country's revolution are not accidents.
FELLOW-CITIZENS--with no ill will against any man for political causes, I am from first to last an enemy of the ideas of slavery, secession and rebellion, and of the bitter and dangerous prejudices and animosities that have sprung from those ideas. I say seriously, and in no unfriendly spirit to those to whom this letter will be most objectionable, I feel certain that your best interests require your prompt and unreserved acceptance of the terms now offered by Congress. These terms are not of the nature of a permanent contract. They are merely laws for the time being, subject to be changed or repealed at any time. There is no prospect that they will ever be made better for you. They might be made worse. It depends very much upon yourselves whether they shall be or not. I trust there may be no necessity for it. Let us renew that love for the old flag, once common to all, and cherish that pride in the destiny of our great country which is a distinctive feature of American character throughout the world and with "malice toward none and charity for all" let us move along with the events of our time, remembering the past only for the wisdom of its lessons.
Most Respectfully, your fellow-citizen,
and Obedient Servant,
MARCUS S. HOPKINS
Manassas, VA., June 1, 1867
 

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