Doc.
108.-rebel retaliation.
In the
Virginia State Senate on March tenth,
Mr. Grice offered the following:
Whereas, The General Assembly of
Virginia have learned that
the Reverend George M. Bain,
Cashier of the
Portsmouth Savings Bank Society, and
William H. H. Hodges,
Cashier of the Merchants and Mechanics' Savings Bank, citizens of
Portsmouth, Virginia, the first-named being over sixty years of age, and the other a cripple, have been arrested and sentenced to hard labor at
Hatteras, North-Carolina, by order of
Major-General Butler, or some other officer of the
Federal Government, for alleged fraudulent disposal of the funds of their banks; and that
the Reverend John I. Ringfield,
Rector of
Trinity Episcopal Church,
Portsmouth, had been put to hard labor in the public streets of that city, with a ball and chain to his leg, because he refused to renounce his allegiance to his native State; therefore,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That the
Governor of the
Commonwealth be, and he is hereby requested to invite the attention of the confederate government to the arrest and sentence of these three worthy citizens of this State, and to respectfully ask that the facts may be investigated; and, if found as stated and believed, that three citizens of the
Federal States (if there be such in the hands of the confederate authorities) be held at hard labor, one with ball and chain, on the public streets, as hostages for
Messrs. Bain,
Hodges, and
Wingfield.
The rules having been suspended, the preamble and resolution were unanimously passed and ordered to be communicated to the
House.
