Copy 
 
 ; EX-GOVERNOR BROWN 
 
 REPLIES 
 
 TO 
 
 1 L L' S NOTES 
 
 ON THE 
 
 ^^ cr^ -r-r 
 
 SITXJ^TIOISr/' 
 
 AUaeiSTA: 
 
 GEORGIA PRINTING COMPANY, 190 BROAD STREET. 
 
 1867. 
 
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EX-GOV. BROWN REPLIES 
 
 TO 
 
 B. 11. HILL'S NOTES ON THE "SITUATION." 
 
 Number I. 
 
 [fkom the chronicle a sentinel.] 
 You have lately published a scries of 
 "Notes on the Situation," by B. 11. 
 Hill, in which he has thought proper to 
 make an attack upon me by name, 
 which makes it proper that I notice 
 them appropriately. As the attack was 
 published in your paper, I rely upon 
 your sense of justice when I ask per- 
 mission to reply through the same 
 medium. I also most respectfully 
 recjuest all other editors who have 
 published Mr. Hill's Notes to publish 
 
 my reply. I think I can safely promise, 
 in advance, to occupy less space than 
 he has done. If any of my articles 
 should be longer than his, they shall be 
 less numerous. In No. 14 of Mr. Hill's 
 Notes I find the following language : 
 
 ''Sumner and Stevens, and Brown 
 and Rolden, are not accidents — nor 
 fire they oriyinal characters. They 
 have figured in all mad revolutions, 
 from the fall of Greece and the destruc- 
 tion of Jerusalem to the present day. 
 Such men have ever been treacherous 
 to principle — faitiiless to trust, and 
 deceitful in professions, but always 
 consistent in the common end of de- 
 struction to government. And as these 
 Military Bills have no character but 
 opposition to all the provisions and 
 principles of the Constitution, and can 
 have no end but its utter and final de- 
 struction — such men and all their ilk, in 
 both sections, will unite in their sup- 
 port." 
 
 Whether all the persons named sup- 
 port the Military Bills or not, Mr. Hill's 
 intention is plain, to denounce all who 
 support or advocate a settlement of 
 our unfortunate politital ditfieulties, 
 under the Military Bills, as freacherovs, 
 faithless, and deceitful. Coming from 
 a source eutitled to respect, this would 
 be a serious charge. As it is intended, 
 however, as a political document, and 
 was written for political effect, to 
 deceive and mislead, before attaching 
 importance to it, I consider it not 
 inappropriate to inquire into the politi- 
 cal respectability of the author. 
 
 If I am correctly informed, Mr. Hill 
 started his political life professing to be 
 a Democrat. In 1855 he was the Know 
 Nothing candidate for Congress in his 
 District and was defeated In 1856 he 
 was on the Electoral ticket, supported 
 by the Know Nothing party of Georgia, 
 and was defeated. In 1857 he was the 
 Know Nothing candidate for Governor, 
 and was defeated. As I was the 
 Democratic candidate, probably the 
 latter defeat had not been forgotten by 
 him when he prepared his "Notes on 
 the Situation." In 1859 he took posi- 
 tion in advance for war, without wait- 
 ing for an overt act of oppression by 
 the Federal Government, in case the 
 Republican party should elect their 
 candidate for President the next year. 
 In the fall of 1859 he was elected State 
 Senator from Troup county, for two 
 years, the most distinguished honor 
 evf^ conferred upon him by poindar 
 vote. After Mr. Lincoln was elected 
 President, he backed down from his 
 position for war, and was a candidate 
 
in the winter of 1860 for the Convention 
 on the Union or Cooperation ticket. 
 He was elected and took his seat in the 
 Secession Convention. He at first 
 opposed secession. Before the passage 
 of the Ordinance of Secession, after it 
 was known that a majority of the Con- 
 vention favored it, it began to be dis- 
 cussed in private circles who should be 
 elected to the Provisional Congress in 
 case the State seceded. The Ordinance 
 was put upon its final passage and Mr. 
 Hill voted for it and signed it. A few 
 days afterward he was elected to 
 Congress by the Convention. Whether 
 by voting fjr the Ordinance he betrayed 
 the people of Troup county, v/hose 
 voice was against secession for the 
 causes then existing, I do not pretend 
 to inquire. At any rate he was not 
 elected as a Secessionist, for the then 
 existing causes ; he voted for the 
 Ordinance, and was elected to Congress 
 by a niajority of Secessionists. What 
 important measures or practical states- 
 manship he inaugurated, or carried 
 through Congress by his ability or 
 iniluence during his whole term of 
 service, I have never been able to 
 learn. 
 
 While the Secession Convention was 
 in session at Savannah, Mr. Hill, then a 
 member of both the Convention and the 
 Provisional Congress, made a speech to 
 the peo[)le, in which he said, '"the North 
 would not fight. There looiild he no 
 war. But if the North should be so 
 foolish as to go into the contest, there 
 never was a people on the face of the 
 earth so well prepared for it as we were. 
 Jl should be ail aggrtasice loar. The 
 war should bo carried into Alrica ; and 
 when the cities of the North were laid 
 in ashes, arid the country devastated 
 and bid waste, then we should find that 
 the people ot the North were the ones 
 to a.-)U for terms and sue for peace." 
 ]\v. pictured the rising glory ol ths new 
 Conlederacy, and went on to say, that 
 while this becam« more compact and 
 secure, disintegratiou would come as 
 
 sure as fiite upon the old Union, and 
 they would seek entrance into this. 
 And he very graciously added that "if 
 they came humbly enough as 'hewers of 
 wood and drawers of water,' they might 
 come." 
 
 When the next Legishiture met, there 
 were in it a majority ot the old Know 
 Nothing party, and Mr. Hill was elected 
 to the Confederate Senate over General 
 Toombs. 
 
 While in the Senate he voted, under 
 oath, against the first Conscript Bill. 
 As is well known, I opposed the measure, 
 when made public, as unconstitutional. 
 Not long after this was known, Mr. Hill 
 made a speech in Milledgeville, in 
 which he intended to be very severe on 
 me for my opposition to a measure 
 against which he had cast his vote 
 under oath 5 and said the country would 
 have been ruined if it had not passed. 
 After that time he became the zealous 
 advocate of the conscription policy and 
 denounced all who opposed it. 
 
 During the war, when a call was made 
 upon the people, not subject to conscrip- 
 tion, to volunteer and organize for home 
 defense, when it was doubtful whether 
 they would be called out for active ser- 
 vice, Mr. Hill made a speech in La 
 Grange and encouraged all to volunteer; 
 and as a means of giving force to his 
 appeals, and of showing his own patri- 
 otic devotion to the cause, he enrolled, 
 or authorized his name to be enrolled, 
 as a private in one of the companies 
 being formed, and pledged himself to 
 go if they were called out. Soon after- 
 ward, upon the advance of the Federal 
 army, the company was ordered to the 
 field for active service, and Mr. Hill not 
 being one of the *'dupes who showed a 
 will to lose blood," backed out and re- 
 fused to go. The reason reported at the 
 time, as given by him lor his refusal, 
 was, that he was a Confederate Senator 
 drawing a salary, and that while in his 
 condition it would be unconstitutional 
 for him to draw the "(tixy oi o. private sol- 
 dier. So it appears that the present is 
 
5 
 
 not the only occasion when Mr. Hill's 
 motto has been to stand by the Consti- 
 tution as his only safety. As he would 
 certainly have been entitled xo i\\e pay 
 of a private shoulder if he had shoul- 
 dered his gun and gone with the com- 
 pany, and as it was wrong for a Senator 
 to violate the Constitution, he was not 
 arrested and compelled to serve. 
 
 All true Confederates are expected 
 by him to admit, that Mr. Hill's 
 denunciation of those who wilfully 
 encouraged desertion or evasion of 
 service, by any who could enter the 
 bullet department without a violation of 
 the Constitution, is most just and 
 proper. But no one is expected to 
 blame a Senator for refusing to shoulder 
 a musket as a private soldier, in 
 violation of the Constitution, after 
 getting ''our people," whose "intelli- 
 gence and virtue," he says he has 
 '' often overrated," into the service, any 
 more than the world was expected to 
 blame the lame captain for starting in 
 the retreat in advance of his men. It 
 may be, in view of the above incident 
 in his life, that Mr. Hill exclaims in 
 No. 14 of his notes, " I never felt I 
 made war on the Union." 
 
 Mr. Hill now says, '* I was willing 
 every hour of the struggle to stop the 
 fight and negotiate." When and to 
 whom did he proclaim that willingness 
 during the struggle? All remember 
 in Georgia thftt he was stumping 
 the State when General Lee sur- 
 rendered, assuring our people that 
 there was no possible danger of sub- 
 ju-ration, and exhorting them to accept 
 nothing but "independence or exter- 
 mination." 
 
 While ladmit that our position as a 
 conquered people is not consistent with 
 our lormer position ; and that the sword 
 having settled the construction of the 
 Constitution against us, the position of 
 individuals who adopted the State 
 lliijlit^ theory prior to the Avar, and the 
 
 one they now occupy under the amnesty 
 oath, by which they are sworn to 
 support the ''Union of the States," are 
 not con.sistent ; I have felt justified, 
 as the assailed party, in I'ecurring to 
 ihis outline — before and duiing tiie 
 war — of the political character of this 
 reckless calumniator, who denounces 
 the Congress of the United States again 
 and again, till the tautology is fatigue- 
 ing, as a "fragmentary conclave," and 
 its members, without exception, as 
 perjured tiaitors and " libellers ;" 
 who charges the President of the 
 United States with having committed 
 "the most , fatal and dangerous error 
 of this generation, not excepting seces^ 
 sion nor coercion, or even fanaticism 
 itself," because he has agreed that it is 
 his duty to execute laws passed over 
 his veto by two thirds of Congress, 
 which have not been declared void 
 by the Supreme Court ; who boldly 
 proclaims that it is the duty of the 
 President to suppress Congress ; who 
 arraigns the Supreme Court of the 
 United States for having in a late 
 decision, as ho says, ^^ simply a/Jirmed 
 what is called the ultra State rights 
 doctrine of South Carolina ;" who 
 asserts that Generals Beauregard, 
 Longstreet, and Hampton, are far 
 more to be despised than a burglar, 
 because they " counsel submission to 
 the military acts;" and who denounces 
 General Lee, General Johnston, Gene- 
 ral Gordon, and almost all other of 
 the Generals of the Confederate 
 armies, each, as an ^'■enemy to the Con 
 stitution," and '' an enemy of every 
 citizen whose rights arc protected by 
 the Constitution,'' because they ''pas- 
 sively submit '^ to the same acts of 
 Congress. 
 
 Doubtless these great men, if they 
 should read Mr. Hill's bombastic ful- 
 niiuations and aspersions, would be 
 " exceedingly filled with contempt," 
 
6 
 
 Number II. 
 
 Jn Mr. Hill's Atlanta speech, he says, 
 as he had before said in substance in 
 his Notes, that all who vote for a 
 Convention and encourae^e others to do 
 so, are "w/)r«Z/// and legally perjured 
 traitors." This is a very sweepino^ and 
 Unjust denunciation of a large majority 
 of the people of Georgia who will vote. 
 Why are they jierjured traitors ? Be- 
 cause the Convention is called under 
 the Military Bills, which, he says, vio- 
 lates the Constitution, which he and 
 all others who took the Amnesty Oath, 
 and all who take the voters' oath have 
 sworn to support. In other words, no 
 man who has sworn to support the 
 Constitution can vote for a Convention, 
 called by an act which Mr. Hill 
 assumes to be unconstitutional, without 
 being guilty of perjury. 
 
 And why is he perjured? Certainly 
 not because he votes for a Convention 
 to alter the State Constitution. This is 
 the right of the citizens of the States at 
 any time, and has been repeatedly ex- 
 ercised bv the people of the different 
 States. Not because he votes for a 
 Convention to chatige the basis of suf 
 frage. That has been done repeatedly 
 by State Conventions and Legislatures. 
 Then why is it perjury to vote for the 
 Convention ? The substance of Mr. 
 Hill's reply to this is : The act of 
 Congress that provides for holding the 
 Convention is unconstitutional, and any 
 one who has sworn to support the Con- 
 stitution commits perjury if he acts 
 under an unconstitutional act of Con- 
 gress. All viho register do certainly act 
 under this same unconstitutional law of 
 Congress. The first action (which the 
 Military Bill proposes) that the citizen 
 takes is to register. 
 
 The second is to vote for or against a 
 Convention. The one is as much 
 under the niilitury law as the other. 
 And strainje as is the inconsistency. 
 Mr. Hill advises him to do the first act 
 required, and denounces him as a per- 
 
 jured traitor if he does the second, and 
 votes for the Convention. Before fur- 
 ther noticing this very extraordinary 
 position, let us apply Mr. Hill's rule to 
 Mr. Hill himself. When he was re- 
 leased from prison and took the Am- 
 nesty Oath, he swore to support the 
 Constitution of the United States, and 
 in the sanie breath he swore to support 
 the Proclamations of the President, 
 abolishinir slavery in the States, in- 
 cluding Georgia. At that time, Geor- 
 gia had not held a Convention and 
 agreed to abolish slavery. The Consti- 
 tution protected it. The President s 
 Proclamation had declared it abolished, 
 and at the same time Mr. Hill swore to 
 support both the Constitution and the 
 Proclamation. 
 
 He came home and favored the 
 incorporation of a provision into the 
 constitution of the State forever abolish- 
 ing slavery, which was protected by the 
 Constitution of the United States ; and 
 when the Legislature met, he favored 
 the adoption, by them, of an amend- 
 ment of the Constitution of the United 
 States declaring it forever abolished. 
 The Presiilent required the first, and 
 Congress had proposed the second to 
 the States, which the President also 
 required the Southern States to adojtt. 
 Mr. Hill swore both tc support the 
 Constitution and to cany into effect 
 the Proclamation of the President, 
 which abolished or declared it abolished, 
 over or ^'outside'' of the Constitution. 
 We were then acting under the reqiiire- 
 ments of the President. Now, compare 
 that with the present requirement. 
 The President then required us to do 
 two things : 
 
 First, to amend our State Constitu- 
 tions so as to destroy some three 
 hundred millions of dollars of our 
 property, which the Constitution of the 
 United States protected ; and, second, 
 to ratify an amendment of the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States putting it 
 
forever out oftlie power of the State to 
 restore our property to us. The present 
 requirements of Congress also exact 
 two things of us: One to alter the 
 Cfjnstitution of the State so as to ^ive 
 suffraf^e to the African rare, and the 
 other to ratify an amendment of the 
 Constitution of the United States dis- 
 franchising certain officers (Mr. Hill 
 among the number) who engaged in 
 the rebellion, as our amnesty oath 
 compelled us to call it, not forever, as 
 in the case of the abolition of slavery, 
 but till they may be relieved by a 
 vote of two thirds of Congress; and to 
 do certain other acts, which were also 
 required by the President— as the 
 repudiation of the State war debt, etc. 
 Now, if it is a violation of the Con- 
 stitution for Congress to make a voter, 
 upon which Mr. Hill puts so much 
 stress, and to require us, as a condition 
 precedent to re-admission, to incorpo- 
 rate it into our State Constitution that 
 he shall be a voter, was it not as much 
 a violation of the Constitution for the 
 President, by proclamation, to abolish 
 slavery and require us to incorporate 
 that into our State Constitution ? And, 
 if it is unconstitutional for Congress to 
 require us to ratify an amendment of 
 theConstitution of the United States, 
 taking from certain officers who engaged 
 in the war the right to hold office, was. 
 it not equally a violation of the Con- 
 stitution for the President to require 
 us to ratify a similar amendment, 
 taking from us hundreds of millions of 
 dollars worth of property, without a 
 dollar of compensation ? Is Mr. Hill's 
 right to hold office any more protected 
 by the Constitution than the citizen's 
 right to hold property? If it is a 
 violation of the Constitution to require 
 the State to deprive him of the one, is 
 it notequally a violation of the same 
 Constitution to require us to deprive 
 the citizen of the other ? If he had 
 sworn to support the Constitution of 
 the United States he favored the one, 
 and he now denounces as a perjured 
 
 traitor any man who supports the 
 other. 
 
 He says he "shall never get done 
 shuddering, and horrors will never 
 cease to rise up in his mind, when he 
 sees men taking an (»ath to support the 
 Constitution and then iei/iatating to 
 put in force mcasntes which aie on/side 
 of it." He also says, " I shall dis- 
 charge the obligation of the amnesty 
 oath. _ It requires me to support the 
 Constitution and the emancijtation of 
 the negro, ^ and I do." The military 
 bills require an oath to support the 
 Constitution and the enfranchinement 
 of the negro. Where is the difference 
 in principle? Mr. Hill swallowed the 
 one without gagging, and saw the 
 measure put in force ''outside'' of the 
 Constitution without shuddering. But 
 when his inordinate ambition for office 
 is about to be interfered with, "horrors 
 constantly rise before him." And I 
 regret to see that he is not the only 
 one of the former leaders and office 
 holders in Georgia who, after having 
 aided in, and even presided over, the 
 doing of acts quite as humiliating and 
 as violative of principle and of consti- 
 tutional guarantees, seems willing now 
 to have the country plunged into 
 irretrievable ruin, rather than submit 
 to the disfranchisement which the 
 conqueror requires on account of his 
 acts of disloyalty. Rather than have 
 their unholy ambition for office 
 thwarted, such men seem determined 
 to drag down with them those who 
 have been their followers and heed 
 their advice, and to subject them also 
 to disfranchisement, and their families 
 to want by confiscation. 
 
 Again, in his Notes, and in his 
 Atlanta speech, Mr. Hill says, he 
 "earnestly begged and urged" Georgia 
 and the South not to secede. He also 
 says you are alreadi/ in the Union, 
 "and always were." And in his Notes 
 he says, "I never felt I made war on 
 the Union." 
 
 It seems but one inference can be 
 
8 
 
 justly drawn from these expressions, 
 which is, that Mr. Hill advised and 
 ur;2[ed Oeortria not to secede, and that 
 ho never believed Georgia was out of 
 the Union, and consequently that he 
 never made war on it. If Mr. Hill's 
 hmijuaoe means anythinn^, this is his 
 position. Let us con^pare these pro- 
 i'essions with his acts. 
 
 In 18;")!), in his Dudley lettor,]of which 
 I have no copy, and speak from memory, 
 the sul)stance of which I am satisfied I 
 t^ive correctly (if I err its publication 
 will correct m^), Mr. Hill, in answer to 
 the question, what the people of Georgia 
 should do in the event the Republican 
 party elected its candidate for the 
 Presidency the next year, most em- 
 phatically advised "«'«?', war, war. in 
 every sense in which the term is defined 
 or definable.''^ And in the event that 
 Douglas was elected, or any one holding 
 his opinions, the same course is recom- 
 mended in most earnest terms- I think 
 no word in the letter indicated the 
 desire or intention of the writer to await 
 an overt act of oppression by the Federal 
 Government, or the cooperation of all 
 the Southern States, as a contingency 
 on which hostilities should depend. To 
 this position of timr, loar, war, he com- 
 mitted his party, his friends, and his 
 honor, and defended and justified it in 
 his speeches that Fall> whenever he 
 alluded to it. 
 
 After the election of Mr. Lincoln he 
 had not the moral courage to stand by 
 his position, but backed down from it, 
 and as he now says, in 1860 "earncstli/ 
 begged'^ and urged Georgia not to 
 secede. In January, 18G1, he again 
 changed and voted for and signed the 
 ordinance of secession. He now saj^s 
 he told the people that secession would 
 produce war. Of course he predicted 
 all the evils that have befallen us, none 
 of which would have happened if his 
 advice had been taken. 
 
 Prior to 18G0 he had taken the oath 
 to support the Constitution of the United 
 States. As a member of the Confede- 
 
 rate Congress he aided in the forma- 
 tion of the Confederate States, and 
 afterward swore to support it. He also 
 voted for a virtual declaration of war 
 against the United States. He voted 
 to raise and support armies, and equip 
 them to be hurled against the forces of 
 the United States, to set up by force an 
 independent government within the 
 territory of the United States. He now 
 denounces those who told the 
 people that secession would be a peace- 
 able remedy, and says in the teeth of 
 his Savannah speech, he always pre- 
 dicted it would produce the state of 
 things that followed. Then, according 
 to his own statement, when he voted for 
 secession, he knowingly and wilfidly 
 voted for bloody war, and in the Con- 
 federate Congress voted to sustain 
 bloody war, against the Government of 
 the United States, whose Constitution 
 he had sworn to support. When Mr. 
 Hill did all this, if he believed, as he 
 now says, that we ^^always were'' in the 
 Union, he sinned against conscience, 
 light, and knowledge, and is ^^legally 
 and morally a perjured traitor.'' 
 
 If the State had no riL-'ht to secede, 
 and did not secede, the conclusion is 
 inevitable that all who believed secession 
 would produce war, and ought not to 
 be attempted, and so believing voted 
 for or voluntarily aided secession, are 
 traitors against the government which 
 they believed had rightful jurisdiction 
 over them ; and all who so believing 
 took an oath to support the Constitution 
 of the United States, and afterward 
 aided the rebellion, as it is called, are 
 perjured traitors. 
 
 There is but one mode of escape 
 from the legal ^n^ mom7 guilt oHreason 
 &i\d perjtay left to Mr. Hill, or any other 
 man, who took the oath to support the 
 Constitution of the United States and 
 afterward aided in the war against the 
 United States. That escape is found 
 in the position occupied by the Seces- 
 sionists and those who honestly believed 
 that the State of Georgia had, under 
 
the compact, the right to secede and 
 did secede. What, then, follows? 
 After we seceded we were a State 
 fureij^ii to the United 8tat(,\s. 
 
 We had war with the United States 
 as a foreiu;n power. After a gallant 
 struggle we were conquered by the 
 United States, and became a conquered 
 people out of the Union. We then 
 ceased to have any Consiitutional rights 
 till re-admitted, except such as the 
 conqueror chose to recognize. We had 
 only the rights which, by the hiws of 
 nations and the laws of war, beknig 
 to tlie conquered. What we term 
 Coiistiiutlonat rigJits in this country 
 are not among the rights of the 
 conquered by the law of nations. The 
 amnesty oath administered to our 
 people at the dictation of the conqueror, 
 in which each persf)n is sworn to sup- 
 port the Constitution of the United 
 States, neither restores the seceded 
 States to the Union, nor imposes the 
 duty on each individual in the con- 
 quered Territory to resist " the laws" 
 passed by the Congress of the con- 
 queror, which no judicial tribu- 
 nal has declared unconstitutional. — 
 It simply means that we, as indi- 
 viduals, will obey all laws passed by 
 Congress according to the forms of 
 legislation prescribed by the Constitu- 
 tion, till they are repealed or declared 
 void by the proper Constitutional tribu- 
 nal. In or out ol ihe Union, the oath 
 of the private citizen to support the 
 Constitution means no more than this : 
 When a law is passed by a majority of 
 Congress, with the approval of the 
 President, or by two thirds o( Congress 
 over the veto of the President, every 
 citizen and subject is bound to obey it 
 till it is repealed or the proper Court 
 has pronounced it unconstitutional and 
 void. The Military Bills were so 
 passed, and they have never been 
 declared void by the proper Constitu- 
 tional tribunal. Till this is done, or 
 they are repealed, every citizen of the 
 United States, and every conquered 
 
 subject of a foreign State, held by the 
 United States, is bonnd to submit to 
 them. He supports the Constitution by 
 submission to the laws passed according 
 to the forms of the Conslitntion, till 
 they are re|)ealed or set aside by the 
 proper Constitutional tribunal. 
 
 Every man of common sense must 
 see that any other construction of the 
 oath would lead to endless confusion, 
 bloodshed, and anarchy. Our people 
 often differ about the constitutionality 
 of acts passed by Congress. Courts of 
 high authority difler. If Mr. Hill's 
 position is right, each citizen is sworn 
 to act upon his own construction, and 
 resist every law which he deems uncon- 
 stitutional, and defend all rights which 
 he believes he has under the Constitu- 
 tion ; and in his own language, "Talk 
 for them, and if need be, before God 
 and the country, Jight and die for them.'' 
 Adopt this construction, that each citi- 
 zen is bound to resist all laws which he 
 deems unconstitutional, and we must 
 have constant fighting and constant 
 dying. In other words, anarchy and 
 confusion must supersede all law and 
 all order, whenever we differ about 
 the constitutionality of acts of Con- 
 gress. 
 
 In his Atlanta speech, Mr. Hill 
 exclaims: "O, how sorry a creature is 
 the man who cannot stand up for the 
 truth when the country is in danger. 
 There never was such an opportunity 
 as now exists for a man to show of what 
 stuff he is made." How unfortunate 
 for Mr. HilFs position that this did not 
 occur to him in 1861, when he voted 
 for secession, after having sworn to 
 support the Constitution of the United 
 States, and after having predicted hor- 
 rible bloody war in case of secession, 
 and after having urged and begged 
 Georgia not to secede. What an op- 
 portunity he then had to show the stuff 
 of which he was made. Why did he 
 not then "■stand hy the Constitution, 
 our only hope, and fight for it, and, 
 if need be, die for it, in his eflbrt to 
 
10 
 
 avoid perjury, and put down rampant, 
 bloody treason, which, if his present 
 position is right, the Convention 
 seemed determined to commit? How 
 unfortunate it was for the country, and 
 for the reputation of Mr. Hill, if he be 
 now right, when he wrote his Dudley 
 letter, and when he made his Savannah 
 speech during the session of the Con- 
 vention, and threatened the invasion 
 of the North with fire and sword if 
 the people of the North attempted to 
 prevent our peaceable secession, and 
 when he voted for and signed the 
 Ordinance of Secession after having 
 sworn to support the Constitution ; that 
 the guardian angel of liberty did not 
 sound in his ears louder than seven 
 thunders, the elegant! chaste! language 
 of Mr. Hill, marked in the quotations 
 l)elow from No. 10 of his Notes. 
 
 (), Mr. Hill, patriotic, political prophet, 
 foreseeing great events after they 
 occur, friend of liberty ! remember your 
 oath ! ! 
 
 "I ask you again and again, and I 
 beseech all men" *'to ask," it is the 
 earnest anxious piercing "appeal" of 
 the dying hope of liberty ! Mr. Hill 
 are you willing to violate the Const itU' 
 
 Hon ? Are you willing first to swear to 
 support it, with the intent, at the same 
 time of swearing to violate it ? Then I 
 proclaim, your hell-mortj^aged con- 
 science will never cease to proclaim : 
 yoQ are perjured, and perjury is not /lalf 
 your crime; you commit perjury in 
 order to become a traitor. 
 
 0, Mr. Hill, think I think ! discard 
 ambition ! and turn a deaf ear to the 
 allurements of office 1 stand by the 
 Constitution ! vote against secession! 
 and thereby avert the bloody war you 
 have predicted, liemembcr your oath 
 to support the Constitution ! ! " If 
 you do not the hell hounds which Death 
 by rape begot of Sin, when Heaven's 
 Almighty hurled down to Hell those 
 who by deceit and force sought to 
 destroy His supremacy, these very 
 pretences which hate begets of hypoc- 
 risy in this attempt to destroy the 
 Constitution will become ' yelping 
 monsters in the political hell into 
 which the genius of constitutional lib- 
 erty will cast you, and will * kennel' in 
 the womb that bud them, and ' howl 
 and gnaw,' and vex with conscious 
 terrors forever." Shades of Milton ! I ! 
 
 Number III. 
 
 Mr. Hill in No. 7, in discussing the 
 " law ot peace" between the Northern 
 and Southern States, lays down the 
 claims of both at the commencement 
 of the war. He says : the Southern 
 States insisted, 1st, '* That the Federal 
 Constitution was a compact to which the 
 States were parties as separate and 
 independent States, and, therefore, were 
 parties with the right by virtue ot their 
 separate sovereignty of withdrawal 
 from the compact, when in the judg- 
 ment of the State withdrawing her 
 interest or safety required withdrawal." 
 
 2d. "That the administration of the 
 common government by a sectional 
 party — sectional because organized on a 
 
 principle of avowed hostility to a right 
 of property held by the citizens of the 
 Southern States, and recognized by the 
 Constitution — would endanger the inter- 
 est and safety of such States, and 
 therefore justified the exercise of the 
 right claimed to withdraw." This is 
 laid down as the whole claim made by 
 the Southern States. He then says in 
 a note : " The reader will observe that 
 I do not claim the doctrines and pur- 
 poses of the Confederate States as 
 constituting any of the terms of peace. 
 These were all defeated in the fght and 
 abandoned by the surrender." 
 
 We then. Mr. Hill being the judge, 
 ''abandoned by the surrender" as one 
 
11 
 
 of the "terms of peace *' the right of 
 withdrawal on account of the common 
 Government beinc^ administered by a 
 sectional parti/, "organized on pi-inci- 
 ples of avoived hoslility to a rhflit of 
 property held by citizens of the Sonth- 
 ern States and recoynized by the Con- 
 stitution-'''' 
 
 After having admitted tiiat these are 
 the "terms of peace,'' all that Mr. Hill 
 says about the Conslitutioti, and its 
 trnarantees, and our equality in the 
 Union, and about our rights, for which 
 we are iojiglit and die, is simple empty 
 school boy declamation. 
 
 If a sectional party — organized on 
 principles of avowed hostility to a right 
 of property held by us, and recognized 
 by the Constitution — -claimed the right 
 to administer the common Government, 
 and we yielded that right by the sur- 
 render, as part of the "terms of peace," 
 and absolutely and unconditionally 
 gave up and abandoned that very right 
 ofjyyoperty, amounting to thousands of 
 millions of dollars in value, and con- 
 sented to meet in convention at the dic- 
 tation of the conqueror, and incorporate 
 into our State Constitution a clause aban- 
 doning and destroying the very property, 
 in "avowed hostility" to which, the sec- 
 tional party was organized ; which 
 property was recognized and protected 
 by the Constitution ; and if at the like 
 dictation of the conqueror we consented 
 to, and ratified an amendment of the 
 Constitution of the United States, for 
 ever denying to the States, or the Con- 
 gress, the power to restore this property 
 to us, what is the value of the remain- 
 ing rights of person or property left us 
 by the "terms of peace," if we attempt 
 to hold them in defiance of the will of 
 the conqueror? It we were unable to 
 , sustain our cause in the field, and were 
 I compelled to abandon and give up, 
 i without compensation, thousands of 
 millions of dollars worth of property 
 ^^recognized by the Constitution," for 
 the sake of peace, with what possible 
 hope of success can we now, impover- 
 
 ished and disarmed, reenter the field, 
 to fight for Mr. Hill's right to hold 
 office ! 
 
 If there were no dishonor in the acts 
 by which the Southern States incorpo- 
 rated into their Constitutions clauses 
 abolit^hing slavery, and thereby 
 destroying thousands of millions of 
 dollars worth of property, and we 
 consented to its incorporation into the 
 Constitution of the United States, at 
 the dictation of the conqueror, what 
 dishonor is there in incorporating into 
 the same Constitutions a like provision 
 enfranchising the freedmen, and dis- 
 enfranchising officers who engaged in 
 the war against the United States ? If 
 the first did not violate the Constitution, 
 and was not, " by legislation," the 
 adoption of measures " outside of the 
 Constitution," how does the last violate 
 it? If he who voted for the Conven- 
 tion, called at the dictation of the 
 conqueror, to do the first, did not 
 violate his oath to support the Consti- 
 tution, how does he who votes for the 
 Convention in the second case, at the 
 like dictation, become a perjured 
 traitor f 
 
 Mr. Hill's statement in reference to 
 the abolition of slavery presents a 
 ■ strange medley of confused jargon ; as 
 will be seen by the following extracts. 
 He says : "Mr, Lincoln's proclamation 
 abolishing slavery was declared to be a 
 war measure only." "There was an 
 agreement on our part to emancipate." 
 "Therefore, the abolition of slaver}^ 
 may, in fact, though not in legal strict- 
 ness, be counted as one of the things 
 decided by the war, and as being part 
 of the law of peace." "But the States 
 had not ratified it (the Constitutional 
 Amendment). It was, therefore, only 
 a proposition nndetermined at the time 
 of the surrender." "Neither he (Mr. 
 Lincoln) nor General Grant, nor any 
 other power, alluded to this (emancipa- 
 tion) as part of the terms during the 
 negotiations for, nor at the time of, the 
 acceptance of the surrender J* 
 
12 
 
 "I have shown, from the official re- 
 cords of each and all, that the only 
 conditions demanded of the Southern 
 peo|)le, in laying down their arms, 
 were the preserviition of the Union 
 under the Constitution, with the single 
 change of the abolition of slavery, 
 which single change was very douht- 
 fuUy and imperfeciJtj demanded, but 
 was very promplJy and clieerfidhj 
 yielded/' 
 
 Why, certainhj, it was very douhiful 
 whether the conqueror demanded the 
 abolition of slavery as part of the 
 terms of peace ! But the slaveholders 
 of Georgia, to remove all doubt on that 
 subject, \Qvy prompt! ij, yes, and most 
 clieerfidhj, yielded it ; and gave up 
 three hundred millions of dollars as an 
 evidence of the cordiality with which 
 they accepted the terms, and adopted 
 the Constitutional Amendment, which 
 was simply a "proposition undeter- 
 mined at the time of the surrender. '^ 
 
 The present propositions made by 
 Congress are also undetermined since 
 tlie surrender, and it Mr. Hill and all 
 others in his condition will accept Lbein 
 and surrender their right to hold office, 
 as promptly and cheerfully as he says 
 the slave holders of (leorgia surrendered 
 their property, our ditlicnlties will soon 
 be settled, and we shall have peace and 
 returning prosperity. We shall see 
 capitiil come in and develop the country. 
 We shall have peace and plenty ior the 
 farmer, business for the merchants, em- 
 ployment fur the mechanic, and bre.id 
 lor the poor. We shall then begin to 
 receive part of the benefits of the com- 
 mon <2:overnnient as well as its burdens. 
 We shall have re})resentation with a 
 voice in legislation, and share in the 
 appropriations made out of the fund to 
 whieh we, in common with the people 
 of the North, are contributors. 
 
 liut who can tell, from the above 
 quotations from "Mr. Hill's Notes," 
 whether the abolition of slavery was 
 cue of the ''terms ot peace ?" I quote a 
 
 little further. He says, while discussing 
 the terms of peace : 
 
 "I repeat, the only demaiul made by 
 the United States in the beginning was 
 that the people of the Confederate 
 States should lay dov/n their arms, and 
 return to their homes and obey the 
 laws." Again, ''The question is, did 
 the United States during the war a\id 
 btfore the surrender make any other 
 demands, or avow additional purposes 
 and make them known to the Confede- 
 rates ?" 
 
 ''I have been unable to find any 
 other, and believe no other man is able 
 to find any other legitimate or official 
 demand or declared nurposes." 
 
 After all this, Mr. Hill says : "Of all 
 the delusions of the revolution, the 
 fireatest was that of supposing that 
 either party to the late conflict was 
 fighting to preserve the Union under 
 the Constitution." And again, "TJje 
 result is the preservation of a territorial 
 Union, but the utter destruction of the 
 constitulional Union. Consent was the 
 beauty of the old Union — force is the 
 power ot the new." 
 
 From all these contradictory state- 
 ments, who can gather from Mr. Hill's 
 notes what are the issues settled by the 
 war, and what the law of peace ? In 
 one breath the war was waged by the 
 United States to preserve the Union 
 under the Constitution, and in the next 
 the greatest delusion of the revolution 
 was that of supposing that either party 
 was fighting to preserve the Union 
 under the Constitution. In one number 
 the Constitution is destroyed and a 
 union of force substituted for the 
 Constitutional Union; and in another 
 we are told to stand by the Constitution 
 as our only hope; and that we are 
 still in the Union and ''always were" 
 in it. 
 
 It seems, however, from all Mr. Hill 
 says ou the subject, that he does not 
 insist that the abolition of slavery was 
 part of the terms of the surrender, nor 
 
13 
 
 was it part of the law or terms of peace. 
 Yet Mr. Hill most cheerfully yielded it, 
 and in violation of the Constitution, if 
 his present position be correct, favored 
 a Convention to make the sacrifice of 
 this vast amount of property which was 
 protected by the Constitution, all to be 
 done by legislation " outside of the 
 Constitution." But there was no per- 
 jury in that, for while the legislation 
 destroyed the people's property, it did 
 not interfere with the rif^ht of ambitious 
 men to hold office- 
 Mr. Hill pretends to quote from a 
 writer on the law of nations to show 
 that no terms of peace can be enforced 
 by the conqueror that are not made 
 known to the conquered before they 
 lay down their arms. He is careful 
 not to give the section, page or edition 
 of the work from which he quotes on 
 this or other points. But what if the 
 conqueror should impose other terms ? 
 What is the penalty for so doing ? Mr. 
 Hill says it makes him infamous, and 
 is a just cause of war. How does this 
 help us ? Mr. Hill tells us again and 
 again that the government of our con- 
 querors is noic infamous ; that they 
 who control it are perjured traitors, 
 wicked traitors, libellous, etc. Then 
 the penalty of becoming infamous, 
 according to Mr. Hill, has no terrors 
 for them, and will not relieve us. But 
 
 it is just c<i«56 of irar if they impose 
 new terms. This may be, but how 
 does this relieve us? What do we 
 gain by another declaration of war ? 
 We are disarmed, with no means of 
 supporting the war. 
 
 The Government has its vast armies, 
 and navies, and boundless armaments, 
 and resources at command. Why, then, 
 advise us of our ri^ijht to declare war 
 again ? Is Mr. Hill not yet satisfied 
 with the shedding of blood ? It is simply 
 worse than madness, as any man of 
 sense well knows, to attempt further 
 redress of our grievances by war. If 
 our means are exhausted, and we have 
 no further ability to maintain war, what 
 is left to us but submission ? This 
 disposes, without further notice, of all 
 Mr. Hiirs subtle argument to prove 
 that we are not a conquered people, sub- 
 ject to the will of the conquerors. If 
 we have laid down our arms and sur- 
 rendered at discretion, and have no 
 further ability to resist, why are we not 
 subject to the will of the conqueror ? 
 Neither subtle ingenuity, nor human 
 reason, can change this plain, undeni- 
 able fact. However much we may 
 deplore it, candor compels us to admit 
 that it is a stern reality. We arc a 
 conquered people, unable to make fur- 
 ther successful resistance, and are sub- 
 ject to the will of our conquerors. 
 
 Number IV. 
 
 The writer of the Notes of Mr. 
 Hill soeiiis to have in view these ob- 
 jects : 
 
 1. To abuse and denounce all who 
 ditter from him in opinion, as dis- 
 honest traitors, and those whom he 
 most dislikes, because they may have 
 been in the way of the gratification of 
 his ambition, as the most dishonest 
 and the greatest tiaitors. 
 
 2. To oppose universal suffrage, as 
 well of white as of black men. 
 
 3. To give vent to his indignation 
 at his own disfranchisement. 
 
 He evidently has a very poor opinion 
 not only of the black race, but also of 
 that part of the white race who have 
 * been too iguorant or stupid to ap- 
 preciate his merits, and have not, 
 therefore, been his followers. He 
 says : "I frankly admit my opinions 
 heretofore have not been accepted by 
 a majority of the people." "My 
 political life has been a struggle 
 agamst prevailing opinions and poll- 
 
14 
 
 cios." The same will again be true. 
 His opinions will not be accepted, 
 because they are imjnacLicalle and 
 productive of still greater misfortunes 
 and miseries to our afflicted people. 
 And he is again making an imprudent 
 and mischievous assault upon opin- 
 ions and theories that must prevail. 
 
 In his Number 5 he uses the follow- 
 ing language : 
 
 I admit I have often overrated the in- 
 telligence, and virtue and endurance of our 
 people. Everything they have done fr(>m 
 the suicidal repeal of the Missouri com- 
 promise, to the criminal and factious de- 
 mor.alization which compelled our surren- 
 der, has been contrary to my wishes, and 
 against my protest. 
 
 How unfortunate for Mr. Hill that 
 his lot has been cast among such a 
 wicked and perverse ireneration, pos- 
 sessing so little intelligence, and so 
 little virtue. Dining the whole period 
 from the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
 promise to the surrender, they have 
 never done right in a single instance ! 
 '^EceryOiing they have done'^ from the 
 one event to the other has been ''con- 
 trary to his ivishes and against his 
 protest.^' How unfortunate for the 
 people, as well as for Mr. Hill, when 
 they have a political prophet, and an 
 oracle of wisdom among them, that 
 they should never lake his advice, und 
 never do riirht in a single instance! Is 
 it not enough to make Mr. Hill lose his 
 temper, and denounce them as pc';;//«/e'i 
 traitors, when he finds they are deter- 
 mined to disregard his advice and go 
 wrono- a":ain ? Wiiat better could he 
 say of a people who, having had the 
 benefit of his teachings for years, dis- 
 regard his wisdom and never go right? 
 Truly is a severe trial of his patience. 
 
 Again, it is very provoking to a pure 
 patriot like Mr. Hill to see by what 
 agencies the people have been misled 
 and ruined. These are, as he says : 
 
 1st. " Demagogueism or thirst for office." 
 
 2d. " Fanaticism or the bigotry of ex- 
 treme opinions." 
 
 Now all the world must know the 
 preat contempt Mr. Hill has for the 
 demagoyne or any act ot demagogy eisni 
 and his entire freedom from anything 
 like thirst for office. His constant 
 political consistency, the elevation and 
 beauty of his style in debate, the 
 chasteness and elegance of his lan^ruagc, 
 his aversion to the style of those wlio 
 garble Milton and other poets, and 
 present disjointed figures of hideous 
 monsters and horrid nonsense, which 
 are ludicrous and inappropriate ; and 
 above ail, his dislike of sophistry, 
 and his effort never to deceive or mis- 
 lead the people, must certainly acquit 
 him of all demagogueism and of all 
 sympathy with demagogves ; while his 
 past modest, retiring disposition, and 
 the assiduity with which he has avoided 
 public trusts or positions, must convince 
 all that he has no ^^ thirst for ofice'.'^'' 
 It cannot be necessary to say anything 
 to acquit him of the charge of lanat- 
 ism or bigotry of extreme opinions. 
 A fanatic is delined to be a person 
 affected In* excessive enthusiasu), par- 
 tieularly on religious subjects. I 
 believe no one ever accused Mr. Hill of 
 this. 
 
 After having stated the agencies by 
 which the people are misled, he says : 
 "Ignorance, credulil}'. and want of 
 virliie among the peoi)l<', have been 
 the food for both agencies." Again he 
 says : '-Therefore, the people of Ame- 
 rica have been made to do, with energy 
 and great sacrifice, those very things 
 which of all others they most Jiale.'"' 
 Of course, the demagoones and fa- 
 natics, who are so much abhorred by 
 Mr. Hill, mislead them, or they never 
 would have done it. 
 
 After having reviewed all this de- 
 pravity and corruption of the white 
 race, and the bad agencies by which 
 they have been misled, Mr. Hill ex- 
 claims, Avith grent warmth, ''Univer- 
 sal, indiscriminate, ignorant, vicious 
 white suffrage has buried a million of 
 
15 
 
 victims, slain by each other's hands, 
 destroyed t!ie peace and prosperity of 
 tlie country, and saddled an innocent 
 and unborn posterity with burdens too 
 grievous to be borne. Will it be wise 
 to extend the sacred but desexraied 
 trust of suffrage to more ignorance, 
 more vice, and at the same time with- 
 draw those trusts from intelligence 
 and worth ?" 
 
 lieinernber it, ye uneducated while 
 men of Georgia, when you go to vote, 
 Mr. Hill, the self-extolled })atriot and 
 political prophet, not only opposes the 
 extension of ihe right of suffrage to 
 the freedmen, but he is in favor of 
 taking "this sacred but desecrated 
 trust of suffrage'^ from you and limit- 
 ing it to men oiiiUcUigcncc and worLli 
 like hijiisolf. His intiignation knows 
 no bounds, when it is proposed by the 
 Government to take from him tlie 
 right to vote and hold othce, on ac- 
 count of his course in trying to de- 
 stroy the Government. But while he 
 is venting his spleen on account of the 
 
 act of the Government in disfran- 
 chising inteUigent gentlemen of worth, 
 who wish office, he denounces ''uni- 
 versal, indiscriminate, ignorant, vi- 
 cious, white svffrage.^^ And this is 
 the political teacher who is writing 
 and speaking against reconstruction 
 under the Military Acts, and denoun- 
 cing all who vote for the Convention 
 under ihema^ lyerjured traitors. 
 
 Whatever may have been our pre- 
 conceived opinions or prejudices upon 
 this svihject, under the slavery system, 
 we are obliged to yield theic. The 
 tendency of the age in all free govern- 
 ments is toward universal sutFrage, and 
 the sooner we sacrifice our prejudices 
 jind, if need be, our consistency, on this 
 subject and adopt it, the sooner the 
 agitation will cease. Till then I aui 
 satisfied it never will. Work as it may, 
 Vt^e shall be obliged to make the 
 experiment. Let us all hope for the 
 bcHt, and 3Meld to the inevitable logic of 
 events. 
 
 Number Y. 
 
 The following language is found in 
 No. 8 of the "Notes" of Mr- Hill : "No 
 surrendering people ever did more 
 promptly, more absolutely, more sub- 
 missively, or with one tenth of the 
 sacrifice of property, and hope, and 
 pride, and feeling, comply with all the 
 terms demanded on their part, than did 
 the ^Southern States and people. They 
 laid down their anus; they gave up the 
 great principles of government which 
 liieir fathers taught them never to yield ; 
 and to maintain which they fought so 
 long and endured so much; though 
 already impoverished, they gave up four 
 billions more of property — the dest^ended 
 patrimony of centuries," etc. 
 
 Now, it Mr. Hill's statement is true 
 that the people of the South, in the 
 surrender, consented to so much sacri- 
 fice of hope, and pride, and feeling, and 
 
 after they were impoverished, gave up 
 four billions more of property ; and in 
 addition to all this, laid down their 
 arms and gave up the great principles 
 of government which their fathers 
 taught them never to yield, what did 
 they have left that they could hold 
 independently of the will of the con- 
 queror ? I had always understood the 
 Constitution to be the embodiment of 
 the "great principles of government" 
 transmitted to us by our fathers. After 
 we gave up these great principles of 
 government, which our "fathers taught 
 us never to yield," what constitutional 
 rights did we have left? What equali- 
 ty in the Union did we retain when we 
 surrendered the great principles of 
 government? What right to regulate 
 suffrage contrary to the will of the 
 conqueror, does a State retain when 
 
16 
 
 she has surrendered these great princi- 
 ples ? 
 
 Why has not the conqueror, to whom 
 these great principles have been sur- 
 rendered, as much right to regulate 
 suffrage and disfranchise persons who 
 have incurred his displeasure, as he has 
 to dictate the destruction of "four billions 
 more of their property" after he has 
 "already impoverished" them ? Thus 
 impoverished and perfectly powerless, 
 Mr. Hill advises us still to resist, fight 
 for our rights, and stand by the Consti- 
 tution. What part of the Constitution 
 is left for us to stand by, after we have 
 surrendered the great principles of gov- 
 ernment embodied in the Constitution ? 
 What rights have we left to fight for 
 that were not protected by those great 
 principles, and which were not lost by 
 their surrender? How can we claim 
 equality with the conqueror after we 
 have surrendered both our property and 
 the great principles of government at 
 his dictation ? 
 
 Mr. Hill denies the power of the 
 Federal Government to destroy the 
 government of a State, or even to regu- 
 late the suffrage in a State, and urges 
 to stand by our present State Govern- 
 ment; and at the same time tells us 
 that we are, and alivays were, in the 
 Union. This involves a strange ab- 
 surdity. H' the Federal Government 
 has no right to destroy the government 
 of a State, or to regulate suffrage in a 
 State in the Union, and if we always 
 were in the Union, it necessarily follows 
 that the present State Government is 
 illegal, because it was formed at the 
 dictation of the President, upon the 
 ruins of the old government of the 
 State, which he had set aside by the 
 arrest and imprisonment of its Execu- 
 tive, by the refusal to allow its Legisla- 
 ture to meet, and by its disbandment by 
 military force. If, then, Mr. Hill be 
 right, the government of the State, as it 
 existed prior to the surrender, is its 
 only legal government ; and the Con- 
 stitution, as it then existed, is its only 
 
 rightful Constitution ; and both the 
 present State Constitution and the pres- 
 ent State Government are founded in 
 usurpation, and are necessarily illegal 
 and void- 
 
 The admission that the President had 
 a right to establish the present State 
 Government, is an admission that the 
 conqueror had a right, after our surren- 
 der, to set aside our then existing gov- 
 ernment, and dictate to us another 
 government in its place. 
 
 If the Constitution did not protect 
 our right to retain our State govern- 
 ment as it existed prior to the surren- 
 der, what other right did it protect ? If 
 the conqueror had the right to give us a 
 new Constitution and a new Stkte 
 government, abolishing our old one, 
 why did he not have the right to regu- 
 late suffrage in the new ? And if he 
 had the right to arrest and imprison, 
 and depose the officers of the then 
 State government, why has he not the 
 ri^ht to disfranchise them ? Is it any 
 more a violation of the Constitution to 
 declare that the Governor of a State, or 
 a Judge of her Supreme Court, shall 
 not hold office in future, than it is to 
 arrest, imprison and, depose him when 
 found in office? Mr. Hill admits the 
 , right to do the latter when he defends 
 the present State government, which 
 was founded in the exercise by the 
 conqueror (the President acting as 
 such) of his right to destroy the old. 
 And when he has made this admission 
 he has no escape from the position that I 
 a conqueror, possessing the right to set * 
 aside the State government which he 
 finds in existence, and set up a new 
 government in its stead, has a right to 
 regulate suffrage in the new govern- 
 ment set up by him. 
 
 This being the right of the conqueror, 
 as admitted by Mr. Hill himself, the 
 only remaining question is, what depart- 
 ment of the conqueror's government 
 has the right to exercise this power? 
 Admit that the government of the 
 conqueror has this power over us, and , 
 
17 
 
 you admit that we have no c:)iistitutional 
 rights except such as the conqueror 
 chooses to allow. Then it matters very 
 littU^ which ue{>artment of the i^overn- 
 mont exercises the power over us. The 
 President undertooii to exercise it, and 
 destroyed our old government, and set 
 aside our old Constitution, and dictated 
 the terms upon whicli we were to torm 
 new ones. 
 
 After this, Cono^ress, whicli is tlie war 
 making power, denied the power of th(^ 
 President to make peace with us, 
 regulate the terms of the peace, and 
 form governments for us, without the 
 consent of Con^/ress, which must make 
 all necessary ap[)ropriations, and pass 
 all necessary laws for the restoration of 
 the States, and without even consulting 
 the Senate, which is part of the treaty- 
 making power. 
 
 All know the unfortunate contro- 
 versy (very unfortunate for us) wiiich 
 has grown out of the question between 
 the President and Couiiress. And all 
 
 Icnow the result. The people of the 
 North in the last elections endorsed 
 Congress. There is now a majority of 
 over two thirds in each House, and the 
 power ol Conprress is beyond the con- 
 trol of the President. It follows, as we 
 arc subject to the will of the conqueror, 
 and Congress wields the p»wer of the 
 conqueror, that we are sul)ject to the 
 will of Congress. And it also follows, 
 if the conqueror had a right to abolish 
 our old State government and give us 
 a new one, that the conqueror has the 
 right to change the new one till its 
 provisions have been approved by all 
 the departments of the concjueror's 
 Government, or by the supreuui power 
 in that Government. And as Congress 
 has shown itself supreme in that Gov- 
 ernment, we, as the conquered, are 
 oldiged to submit to any changes made 
 by Congress, till the State govei-n- 
 ment has been approved and rutltied 
 by them. 
 
 Number VI. 
 
 I pass by much the larger part of 
 Mr. Jlill's ''Notes on the Situation," 
 which consists of vituperation, defama- 
 tion, denunciation, and egotism, without 
 further notice. 1 also forbear to com- 
 ment upon the appropriateness and 
 beauty of his expressions, such as "the 
 fiery Uames of sulphurious hell," ''which 
 seems determined with an adulterous 
 mania to multiply its hell-visaged 
 brood," "even this hitter cup of hellish 
 ingredients might be drunk but for the 
 nausea which makes us vomit," "that 
 devilish spirit of treason," "the lowest 
 of the damned spirits which now inhabit 
 your labyrinths," "devilish prompter," 
 "hellish brood of honors," and other 
 like elegances of diction — not orii^inal, 
 bye the bye — and proceed to notice the 
 1-etnedif proposed in his Notes, by which 
 we are promised relief. 
 
 Now, if the remedy is ^'co7isiliu 
 tionaV an^ practical, Mr. Hill's labors 
 
 may prove to bo of some benefit ; but 
 if Mr. Hill's olijoct lias simply been to 
 tear the scab from the healing Avound, 
 to appeal to tlie bitterest prejudices 
 and worst passions of our people, to 
 keep alive sectional animosity, hate 
 and malice, and to alienate, as much 
 as possible, those who are compelled to 
 live together under the same govern"- 
 ment in the future — then lie has ai^coni- 
 plished his object without offering any 
 sensible or practical remedy — he has 
 done infinite harm ; and the people of 
 his own section, who are the weaker 
 and the conquered people, must be the 
 greatest sufferers. In that case his 
 labor has been the labor of an enemy 
 who comes in the garb of a friend, de- 
 ceiving them to their injury, and be- 
 traying them with delusive hope. He 
 cannot be your friend who advises 3M)u 
 to do that which must result in your 
 injury, and in entailing upon you still 
 
18 
 
 greater miseries, without the possibility 
 of practical benefit. 
 
 Piissino; by all the fustian, and pas- 
 sion, and self laudatioa, and assumed 
 wisdom and statesmanship of the 
 writer of the '* Notes on the Situation," 
 let us look at the proposed remedy, 
 strii)ped ol all its bombast and ver- 
 bosity, and see if it contains a sin<,'Ie 
 supf'jestion that is practical or even 
 possible. If not it is simply the recur- 
 rence of a similar convulsion recorded 
 hundreds of years a^^o, when the moun- 
 tain labored and a ridiculous mouse 
 was brouj^ht forth. What, then, is the 
 r'iliel which our political pro^diet pro- 
 poses, as a deliverence for our people, 
 airainst the Military Bills and the power 
 of the conqueror, in the present emer- 
 gency ? 
 
 A country clerf;^yinan is said to liave 
 announced the <li vision of his sermon 
 under three heads. I propose, said he, 
 under the first head to show what the 
 Apostle did not mtan ; under the second 
 head to show what he did mean, and 
 under the third head to <;'et up a ruiise- 
 'nieiit gencralhj' Now it seems that 
 Mr. HilTs notes were all written under 
 the third head, and his remedy han^^s 
 upon the following advice under that 
 ItcwL lie says, *'I, therefore, beg every 
 citizen, black and white, even the hum- 
 blest of the ten millions who inhabit 
 these ten t'-tates, to remember — never 
 iorget — that it is his right — his glorious, 
 unpunishable, unimpeachable right, to 
 resist eccrij inferftrence hy any ofKcer, 
 high or ii)w, with his property or his 
 person, or his liberty under tbese Mili- 
 tary Hills." And in the Atlanta speech 
 he advises them, beiore (rod and the 
 ccmntry, \oJii/ht for and, if need be, die 
 for their rights. 
 
 Is there anything practical in this? 
 Alter four years of galhmt resistance, 
 when we have surrendered and given 
 up our arms, when we are ''impover- 
 ished," and have, as Mr. Hill says, 
 given up "four billions more of proper- 
 ty" '"after w.*^ were impoverished" — 
 
 when the Government, with vast re- 
 sources, can bring a million of armed 
 men in the field against us, is it 
 sensible or practical to attempt to find 
 a remedy in the renewal of the ^fight ? 
 Will Mr. Hill lay aside his senatorial 
 robes and dignity this time, and shoul- 
 der a musket and go to the front and 
 engage in the fight recommended by 
 him ? We have not even his pledge 
 that he will. Then I dismiss that 
 part of the reniedy as itnpracticable 
 nonsense, intended to fall under the 
 third head. 
 
 But he proposes two other modes of 
 resistance. Ijet us see under which 
 head they fall. He again says : " Every 
 officer, liigh or low, who seizes the 
 property of a citizen, under these Mili- 
 tary Bills, is a trespasser, subject to 
 indictment and suits for damages as 
 indiciduals. 'J hat every such ofHcer 
 who arrests a citizen, under these bills, 
 is guilty of false imprisonment, and 
 subject likewise as an individual ; and 
 is amenable to the \\v\ioi habeas corpus 
 before any court, State or Federal, 
 having jurisdiction to issue the writ." 
 He then advises all citizens, who are 
 arrested or their property interfered 
 with, to avail themselves of these 
 remedies by suit, habeas corpi/s or 
 indictment. 
 
 Mr. Hill, whose '' client is the written 
 Constitution," by which, under all cir- 
 cumstances, he stan<ls so r(!Solui,ely and 
 firmly, promises to aid tliem without 
 fee or reward whenever they see hint, 
 at a court ! Is this practicable ? 
 
 The act of Congress expressly pro- 
 hibits any Judge of the United Stales 
 Courts to interfere, or to entertain 
 jurisdiction in any case arising under 
 the execution of the Military Bills. 
 And the Supreme Court of the United 
 States has, in the Georgia and Missis- 
 sippi cases, refused to entertain juris- 
 diction, and thwart the execution of 
 these laws, because the question is 
 political and belongs to the other de- 
 partments of the government. Then 
 
19 
 
 the United States Courts would ueither 
 entertain the suit nor the indictment, or 
 grant the liabeas corpus. Nothing 
 practical yet. The act of Congress 
 declares the present governments of the 
 ten States illegal, and authorizes the 
 Commanding General to set aside the 
 Judges or other officers at any moment 
 of their pleasure. 
 
 Suppose Gen. Pope orders the arrest 
 of John Smith, in Atlanta, and John 
 adopts Mr. HilFs advice, and sues the 
 General for damages, and indicts him 
 for false imprisonment. Tlic Hon. 
 John Collier, Judge of the Circuit, 
 now holds his office at the will of Gen. 
 Pope, and the grand jur}'- sit only at 
 his pleasure. The act of Congress ex- 
 pressly denies to Judge Collier and the 
 grand jury any jurisdiction in such 
 case. General Pope is ])laced here to 
 execute this act of Congress. Conse- 
 quently it is made his duty to see that 
 Judge Collier, who is subject to re- 
 moval at his will, entertains jurisdic- 
 tion of no such case. Now, suppose 
 the General should order the suit and 
 the indictment dismissed ; or suppose 
 the Judge should grant a writ of liabeas 
 corpus for the release of John from 
 imprisonment, and the General should 
 refuse to obey it. 
 
 The GeJieral, with an act of Congress 
 in his fivor, has the army of the United 
 States at his bidding to execute his 
 orders. The Judge has the Sheriff with 
 whom to resist this army, who also holds 
 his office at the pleasure of the General. 
 Who must prevail, the Judge or the 
 General ? Unless Mr. Hill, whose 
 client is the written Constitution, should 
 be there to represent John, it would 
 seem that the General must be the 
 victor. 
 
 And it should not be overlooked 
 by John, when he institutes his 
 proceedings, that Mr. Hill's promise 
 to represent him is subject to the 
 condition that he sees Mr. Hill in 
 Court at the time. Now it is at 
 least possible, that here would be an ' 
 
 insuperable obstacle in the way of 
 John's success. Mr. Hill would, of 
 course, have to exnmine the written 
 Constitution very carefully before he 
 appeared in Conrt on ihat occasion ; and 
 might conclude it to be as nnconslitu,- 
 tional for him to be there as it was for 
 him to shoulder his gun and go to the 
 front with the Troup county company, 
 after he had volunteered and pledged 
 himself to go. What practical efficacy, 
 then, is to be found in this part of the 
 remedy? 
 
 .The only remaining point in the 
 remedy is summed up in Mr. Hill's own 
 language in the following quotation : 
 
 I eartiostly hope the pooplo of each of 
 the ten States will go boldly forward, ami 
 preserve and contiuue their existing State 
 governments, and hold all elections in the 
 manner and at the time prescribed by 
 existing State Constitutions, will choose 
 officers qualified according to existing State 
 Constitiitions and laws. If any citizen or 
 ofhcer shall be interfered with in exercising 
 his rights under these laws, or in discharg- 
 ing the duties of any office to which he 
 may be chosen, let him make the issue 
 fearlcHsly, 
 
 The law of Congress, as already re- 
 marked, declares the existing State 
 governments illegal, and gives the 
 military coinnian<h:r jiower to set them 
 aside at pleasure. 
 
 It also confers sullVa<fC on the freed- 
 men, aiul allows no election to be held 
 till they, with the white men not dis- 
 franchised, ;>re registered. The law also 
 makes it the duty of the Commander of 
 each Military District to see that its 
 provisions are executed, and gives him 
 all the military force necessary to that 
 purpose. Now, suppose on the first 
 Wednesday in Octolter next, the [teoftle 
 of Atlanta, or those wiihin the I'each 
 of any other military force within the 
 State, deluded by Mr. Hill's advice, 
 should open the polls atid proceed to 
 hold an election for Goverm)r, Mem- 
 bers of the Legislature, etc., and should 
 allow none but w/i-te men, who are 
 qualified under existing State laws, to 
 vote. How long would the polls be 
 
20 
 
 open before all engaged in the election 
 would be under arrest and on tlieir way 
 to prison ? They would, however, have 
 this sinsrle consolation, in their misfor- 
 tune, Mr. Hill advised them "to make 
 the issue fearlessly-''' 
 
 Again, suppose the elections were 
 held in different parts of the State, 
 without the knowledge of the military, 
 and the Legislature elected should 
 assemble and attempt to inaugurate 
 the Governor elect. What does any 
 man, not blinded with passion, nor de- 
 mented with prejudice, suppose would 
 be the result? 
 
 They would be treated as President 
 Johnson treated the existing govern- 
 ment of the State at the time of the 
 surrender. The Legislature would be 
 forbidden to sit, and the Governor 
 would be arrested and imprisoned. 
 And Mr. Hill, should he attempt either 
 to vote or hold office, in accordance 
 with his advice to the people, would 
 share the same fate. All who know 
 
 him arc doubtless satisfied that he 
 would not dare attem|>t to practice 
 upon the advice which he gives others 
 on this subject. Like the other points 
 in the proposed remedy, this, too, is 
 utterly impracticable, delusive, decep- 
 tive, and hopeless. 
 
 If Mr. Hill is sincere in this advice 
 let him '•'make the issue fearlessly.''^ 
 Let him have an election held under 
 "existincr Slate Constitution and laws," 
 and let him go and vote at it, or accept 
 office under it. This will test the 
 question, and as he advises it, let him 
 come forward and take the responsibility, 
 and lead his followers. Don't be afraid. 
 Try it. You say there is no ConsLitu- 
 iioiial difficulty in the way. Come up 
 to it like a man, "make the issue fear- 
 lessly," yes, fearlessly and independently. 
 That is the way to decide the contro 
 versy. If you succeed we will soon be 
 rid of military government and negro 
 suffrage. If you fail your followers will 
 see your remedy is a humbug. 
 
 NuIViBER VII . 
 
 To recapitulate in a few Avords the 
 remedy discussed in my last : Mr. Hill 
 advises the people — 
 
 1. If need be, before God and the 
 country, to renew thojighl and die for 
 their lost rights. 
 
 2. To sue or indict General Pope, 
 and all acting under the authority of 
 Congress, in case they, or any of them, 
 arrest any citizen or seize his property. 
 
 8. To maintain the existing State 
 Government independently of the act 
 of Congress, and in defiance of the 
 power of Gen. Pope, who is sustained 
 l)y the act of Congress and the army of 
 the United States. 
 
 People of Georgia, this is the rem- 
 edy, the whole remedy, and every part 
 of the remedy, that can be found in, or 
 extracted from, the fourteen numbers 
 of "Notes on the Situation by B. H. 
 Hill/' and in his Atlanta, speech. It is 
 
 the only grain of supposed wheat to be 
 found in the entire bushel of chaff, 
 and when examined it is found to be a 
 defective grain of cheat. 
 
 As the champion of words in Georgia 
 can suggest no practical relief against 
 "those Military Bills," and as your 
 rejection of the terras proposed by them 
 will again bring down the power of the 
 conqueror upon you, and entail upon 
 yo7i, the same distranchisement and 
 disability under which Mr. Hill chafes, 
 with confiscation of your property to 
 pay the war debt added, what is best 
 ibr you to do? Will you renew the 
 /if/hi with a certainty of being whipped, 
 and defy the Government, which has 
 the control over you, and therel)y pro- 
 voke it to make your burdens still more 
 grievous? If you do this in the hope 
 of maintainincr the ri^^ht of Mr. Hill and 
 others who are disfranchised, to hold 
 
21 
 
 office, you will find it a vain hope. You 
 may cause yourselves to be disfran- 
 chised when Congress again meets, but 
 you can relieve none who are now- 
 disfranchised till it is the pleasure of 
 Congress to grant the relief. Those 
 who accept the terms prescribed by 
 Congress, and support them in good 
 faith, if they have not held high politi- 
 cal position in connection with the 
 rebellion, will, I have no doubt, be 
 relieved very soon after reconstruc- 
 tion is completed. Those who do not, 
 cannot expect relief. 
 
 You who have never held office have 
 doubtless observed that the former office 
 holders are, as a general rule, the most 
 bitter of all others against the present 
 plan of reconstruction. -As all men are 
 more or less ambitious for power, this is 
 not unnatural. They have had the 
 benefits in the past, and as the fortunes 
 of war have been against them, they 
 must now stand aside for a time at 
 least, and live as you have always lived 
 — without office. And while they are 
 excluded, such of you as may be se- 
 lected from your own number, must 
 come forward and till the positions ot 
 honor and trust in their places. 
 
 As society would still have existed, 
 and prosperity and happiness might 
 still have been hoped for, if all of us 
 who are now disfranchised had died 
 when these acts of Conf^ress were 
 passed, we may still expect the country 
 to exist, and the offices to be filled 
 after we are disfranchised. 
 
 Judging from the past, it is natural 
 to conclude that if Congress had re- 
 quired a further sacrifice of the 2)eople's 
 property, without interfering with the 
 rujhts of the leaders to hold ojjiee, as 
 the terms of settlement, it would have 
 been as "promptly and cheerfully" 
 yielded as they yielded slavery, liut 
 when Congress required the leaders to 
 yield this right to settle the question, 
 and save to the people the balance left 
 them, how few have been willing to 
 make this sacrifice for the public good. 
 
 Those who have been accustomed to 
 occupy the positions of honor and profit 
 seem to think the country is ruined 
 beyond, redemption, if they are de- 
 prived of this right. Doubtless other 
 men will rise up in the places of many 
 of them, as honest and as capable as 
 they were, and the country will still 
 prosper after they are forgotten. 
 
 It is much to be regretted that many 
 of our former leaders seem to employ all 
 their powers in widening the breach, 
 and stirring up our prejudices against 
 the people of the North, When the war 
 raged this was natural. But when 
 hostilities ceased it became unnatural. 
 Enemies in war should in peace be 
 friends, is the precept of high authority. 
 Suppose the leaders of the North had 
 all been as active in arousing the 
 bitter prejudices of the masses against 
 us, what would have been the result? 
 Before this time our whole property 
 would have been confiscated to pay the 
 war debt, ».nd all who voluntarily aided 
 in the rebellion would have been fc^ 
 ever disfranchised. If we had been 
 the conquerors, and the people of 
 the North the conquered, do you not 
 believe the same Southern leaders who 
 now labor so faithfully to keep alive 
 our passions and our prejudices 
 against the people of the North, would 
 have favored the dictation of as 
 hard, nay, harder terms to them than 
 they now prescribe to us? Mr. Uill, in 
 his Savannah speech, above referred to, 
 before the war began, laid down the 
 terms upon which we were to allow 
 them to come into the Union or Con- 
 federacy : after we had "burned their 
 cities and devastated their country." 
 If they ''came humbly enough as hew- 
 ers of wood and drawers of water they 
 might come." These are the terms 
 u|)on which he and others, as Radical 
 Southern leaders, proposed to allow 
 them to come back into the Union after 
 we conquered them. And raanv of the 
 same men, who then entertained this 
 revengeful spirit, are now the men who 
 
22 
 
 denounce the governing men of the 
 North as perjured traitors for proposing 
 milder terms to us ; and all our people 
 as perjured traitors who accept milder 
 terms. 
 
 Again, the masses of the Northern 
 people have shown none of this re- 
 lentless spirit toward us since the war. 
 Our cities were burned and our conntrj'" 
 devastated by the war. This was 
 followed by drought and a very short 
 crop. Thousands of our people were 
 on the very verge of starvation. AVe 
 had not the means of relief among 
 ourselves. We appealed to the hu- 
 manity of the people of the North, and 
 they responded with noble and gener- 
 ous sympathy. Our agents who went 
 among them to represent our destitu^ 
 tion, distress and suffering, were not 
 turned empty away. The people of 
 the North lent a listening ear, and they 
 opened their hearts, their houses, their 
 granaries, and their purses, and contri- 
 buted hundreds of thousands of dollars 
 in value to the relief of our poor — to 
 feed the hungry and clothe the naked, 
 who, but a short time previous, were 
 enemies in arms against them. Even 
 the Congress — that "fragmentary con- 
 clave of perjured traitors," as Mr. Hill 
 calls them, appropriated a large sura to 
 the relief of the suffering poor of the 
 South as well those who had been 
 rebels as those who were Union men 
 In view of these considerations, I most 
 respectfully submit that all these mis- 
 chievous, malignant efforts of such 
 leaders as Mr. Hill, and others actu- 
 ated by like motives, to arouse passion 
 and influence prejudice against the 
 people who have acted in this spirit 
 toward us since the war, is in bad 
 taste, unjust, unreasonable, and un- 
 grateful. It is true the people of the 
 North claim to dictate the terms of 
 peace, and it is equally true that if we 
 had been the conquerors we should 
 have maintained the same position. 
 The question has been submitted to the 
 arbitrament of the sword. The decision 
 
 is against us in this high court of our 
 own selection, and we are bound by 
 the judgment and compelled to submit. 
 
 Then, why all this fustian, and rant, 
 and nonsense, after we are whipped and 
 are at the feet of the conqueror, per- 
 fectly powerless? Why whimper, and 
 whine, and snarl continually about 
 what we have lost? Why not yield to 
 our fate, hard as it is, like men, and go 
 to work, and try to build up again ? 
 Why continue to irritate those who have 
 absolute power over us, and provoke 
 them to become more exactins' ? Why 
 should leaders so obstinately resist 
 their own disfranchisement, when their 
 success in the defeat of the Convention 
 will not, in the end, relieve a single one 
 of them, but will terminate in the 
 general disfranchisement of the people 
 who are their deluded followers? 
 
 Leaders now say they had rather 
 remain under military government 
 the requirements of 
 will not be allowed 
 it, the fortieth Con- 
 finally adjourn till 
 these States are all reconstructed 
 upon some teruis, and readmitted 
 to representation. The people of the 
 North demand this, and it will be 
 done. If we reconstruct upon the 
 present terms, about nine tenths of 
 the white men will remain voters. 
 If we reject and vote down the Con- 
 vention, when Congress again meets 
 in December it will pass an act 
 extending the dislranchisement to 
 every man who votes against the 
 Convention, whether white or black, 
 and probably to all others who volun- 
 tarily aided in the rebellion. 
 
 But it may be asked, why disfran- 
 chise a man because he votes against 
 the Convention ? The reply is, Con- 
 gress, representing the conqueror, has 
 submitted its plan for reconstruction 
 and restoration of the Union, and the 
 vote of each man, white or black, will 
 be looked to as a test of his loyalty 
 and willingness to see the Union re- 
 
 than submit to 
 Congress. This 
 us. Rely upon 
 gress will not 
 
23 
 
 stored and peace once more estab- 
 lished. The tickets of all, black and 
 white, will, no doubt, be numbered, 
 and it will be an easy matter for the 
 Government to see h<nv each voted. 
 The question is not M'hother we will 
 allow the freed men to vote. That is 
 already esta1)lished beyond revocation. 
 He is already rgpiistered, and the army 
 stands nt his back to see that lie is not 
 deprived of this right conferred by 
 Congress. When they have once ex- 
 ercised this right, who is so blind 
 as not to see that we cannot take it 
 from them without a war of races. 
 Having once exercised it they will 
 fight for it, or continue to exercise it ; 
 and they will have the sympathy and 
 support of a large majority of the 
 people of the North. 
 
 It is not wise to deceive ourselves on 
 this point. Universal manhood suffrau;e 
 is a fixed fact, however much we may 
 deplore it. The whole question, then, 
 is in a nutshell. It is not whether the 
 freedmen shall vote, but it is how many 
 of the white men shall vote? It may be 
 said this will fasten negro government 
 upon us, and we shall, therefore, vote 
 down the Convention to avoid it. How 
 does this help us ? If we vote for a 
 Convention, about nine tenths of the 
 white men of Georgia will still be 
 voters. If we vote down the Conven- 
 tion, Congress will extend the disfran- 
 chisement till probably not exceeding 
 one tenth will be voters. Which will 
 be the worst government for us, that 
 in which nine tenths of our own race 
 retain the right to vote or that in 
 which only one tenth have that right? 
 Take Tennessee as an instance. Her 
 government was set up before the war 
 ended, and by her Constitution none but 
 test-oath men, and a few other favorites 
 of the powers that then ruled her, are 
 allowed to vote. Of about 150,000 
 white citizens, only a little over 20,000 
 are V-Oters. How gladly would the 
 white people of Tennessee acce[)t the 
 terms tendered to us by the Military 
 
 Bills, which would put the ballot box 
 into the hands of nine tenths of the 
 white men, when, at present, ahf>ut one 
 seventh are voters. What .sen.sihle man 
 desires to oxchan<re position with them ? 
 And still Mr. Hill and other leaders 
 advocate a tnad policy that must, if 
 successful, place Georgia in a worse 
 condition than Tennessee now occupies ; 
 as our rejection of the lerins will c;iuse 
 the distranchisemont of probably a 
 larger proportion of our white peo[)le 
 than the proportion now disfrani-hised 
 in Tennessee. 
 
 It was with a view of doing all in my 
 power to save our people from this 
 alternative that I took position in 
 advance for the acceptance, in good 
 faith, of the terms prescribed by Con- 
 gress. I very well knew the advantage 
 which an unscrupulous opponent would 
 have by appeals to the passions and 
 prejudices of our people who have just 
 passed through the war, with but little 
 time for reason to resume its control. 
 1 was well aware of the ease with 
 which the wounds could be reopened 
 by inflammatory appeals and denun- 
 ciations. The detraction and abuse 
 which have been heaped upon me was 
 not unexpected. But whatever may 
 have been our errors in the past, I 
 entertain no doubt that our best interest 
 in the future requires the prompt ac- 
 ceptance of the plan dictated by the 
 conqueror. Having taken my posi- 
 tion in fivor of the acceptance of the 
 terms, after mature consideration — 
 despising the vile slanderer whose 
 delight is detraction and abuse, and 
 defying the surging, resistless tide 
 of passions and prejudices which 
 designing men are attempting to lash 
 into fury for selfish ends, I shall stand 
 immovably by my position. And I 
 warn the people to beware how thej^ 
 subordinate their reason to their preju- 
 dices, which, if persisted in, will bring 
 utter ruin upon themselves and their 
 children. If you vote down the Con^ 
 vention, preferring military govern^ 
 
24 
 
 ment, how long may it be before 
 Congress will direct the military com- 
 mander to assess a tax upon yon, in 
 addition to your present burdens, to 
 support this military government, which 
 seems at present to command your 
 admiration ? What guarantee have 
 you that General Pop 3, who has shown 
 himself a wise, humane ruler, possess- 
 ing the qualities of the statesman as 
 well as the General, will be continued 
 as your commander ? He may die, or 
 be called to some other field of labor, 
 and his successor may be destitute of 
 the high qualities of head and heart 
 possessed by him. 
 
 But, however this may be, mark it — 
 be not deceived. If you vote down the 
 Convention, in less than two years 
 Georgia will be reconstructed with a 
 representation in Congress ; the great 
 mass of white men in Georgia, including 
 all who vote against the Convention, 
 will be disfranchised ; and there will be 
 a general confiscation of property to 
 pay the war debt and pension of the 
 Union soldiers who were disabled in the 
 war. Tell me not that this will be no 
 worse than the present state of things. 
 It will be infinitely worse than every 
 candid man, controlled by reason and 
 common sense, is obliged to admit. 
 
 It is no escape to say, as Mr. Hill 
 antl others have said, that Congress 
 has no power to pass a confiscation act 
 after the war is over, or that confisca- 
 tion is a war measure only. There is 
 an act now on the statute book, passed 
 in July, 1862, while the war was 
 raging, that confiscated almost the 
 entire property of Georgia. This act 
 has never l)ccn rei)ealcd. Mr. Stevens 
 
 arraigns the President for having failed 
 to execute it. Continue to show a 
 rebellious spirit, and it is only neces- 
 sary for Congress to pass a resolution, 
 or act, directing that the property 
 already confiscated be seized, and 
 instead of its appropriation by the 
 President to the use of the army, as 
 directed by the origin^il act, that it be 
 applied in payment of the war debt, 
 and to pension wounded soldiers, and 
 the work is done. 
 
 If, it is said, as has been charged, 
 that ray course is influenced by fear of 
 the confiscation of my property, I 
 reply, as will every honest man who 
 reads this, that I have no wish to lose 
 my property. But if confiscation mutsf 
 come I can bear it as well as otlicis 
 can. I have a good profession by 
 which I can make an ample support. 
 And this is more than can be said by 
 thousands of Georgians. The home of 
 a farmer, if it is his ov/n, is as much to 
 him as what I have is to me, and I can 
 live us comfortably without mine as he 
 can without his. My warning, then, is 
 against a common calamity, iti which I 
 should only be a common sufferer with 
 hundreds of thousands of others. 
 
 In conclusion, I beg the leader to 
 dismiss passion and prejudice, malig- 
 nity and hate, and summon his reason 
 to his support, and think- calmly of 
 what I have said, without reference to 
 his like or dislike of me persoiuilly, and 
 judge for himself, in view of our con- 
 dition as a conquered people, and in the 
 light of all the circumstances by which 
 he is surrounded, what is best for him 
 to do to promote his own interest and 
 the public welfare. 
 
SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. FOSTER BLODGETT, 
 
 BEFORE THE 
 
 UNION CLUB OF AUGUSTA, GA., 
 
 On Monday eyening, Aug. 12, 1867. 
 
SPEECH OF HON. FOSTER BLODGETT 
 
 . BEFORE THE 
 
 UNION CLUB OF ^uausT^,a A^. 
 
 On Moiiclay evening, Aug, 12, 1867. 
 
 Felt-ow-Citizens: In conformity to 
 your desire, I offer j^on a few remarlcs 
 in relation to tlie situation of our affairs, 
 and my opinion concerning- the best and 
 speediest method of extrication from 
 the difticulties which seem to beset the 
 way to a complete and final pacitication 
 of the country. I hope that in the exe- 
 cution of your plans of improvement 
 you will, ere long, have the opportunity 
 of hearing those who are better able to 
 gratif}'^ your expectations than I am; but 
 let me assure you, in all candor, that no 
 one will appear b(;fore you more solicit- 
 ous than I am for the rapid restoration 
 of our State to the condition of peace, 
 and that prosperity by which she was 
 formerly distinguished. 
 
 It is impossible that such a series of 
 events as marked the histoiy of this 
 country during the past six years could 
 occur without leaving behind the traces 
 of violence and discontent. From such 
 a tremendous upheaving of all the po- 
 litical and social elements, a nation must 
 have ycAYS to recover. There must be 
 time for prosperity to repair the ravages 
 of war, and for the sullen and dissatis- 
 fied to comprehend the futility of their 
 opposition and a necessity for a change 
 in their sentiments. 
 
 J take it as true that a majority of the 
 peoi)le of the State of Georgia are sutli- 
 ciently intelligent to listen to the voice 
 of leason, if vmswayed by the clamors 
 of those in whom they have confided, 
 and who have a selfish interest in con- 
 cealing the truth. 1 do sincerely hope 
 that tiie day is approaching when the 
 people will learn to depend upon and 
 think for themselves j when they will 
 
 no longer submit to be led by unpatriotic 
 and designing ambition, but will awake 
 to the importance of political knowl- 
 edge, and determine that the course to 
 be taken shall be the result of their own 
 mature deliberations. The experience 
 of the past has, certainlj^ been a sulti- 
 cient teacher, as it has demonstrated in 
 language that cannot be misunderstood, 
 that a lew men, inspired by the spirit of 
 evil, can lead a trusting nation to the 
 very verge of ruin. But while the peril 
 of the country has been great, and the 
 nations of the earth stood aghast at the 
 magnitude of the intestine convidsion, 
 one fact stands out in grand relief, and 
 that is that the pillars of the Republic 
 are unshaken, and that in our day and 
 generation and for generations to come 
 after us, there need be no apprehension 
 of a repetition of the trial from which 
 we have emerged. Men among our 
 ccnintrymen may disagree as to the best 
 and most proper method of administer- 
 ing the government ; there will be, as 
 there has been, diversity of opinion as 
 to the claims of prominent pubhc ser- 
 vants; the contest for the spoils of ofllce 
 and the honors of power will again 
 occur; but the great Republic of the 
 world will stand firm as the everlasting- 
 rocks that stay the rush of ocean's 
 waves. 
 
 Differing if we must^ let us differ as 
 becomes men of rellection and reason, 
 and not employ our energies and time 
 which we owe to our country, in fruit- 
 less displays ()f bad temper and trifling 
 discussions on generalities and abstrac- 
 tions. It is no time now for us to re- 
 proach each other. Great events have 
 
27 
 
 occurred and are occurring around us. 
 which demand our earnest attention, 
 Time occupied in tlic retrospective con- 
 sideration of the causes that led to the 
 rebellion is wasted. We know the cause ; 
 we know that all the suffering, the de- 
 struction, the so]"row which the country 
 has undergone was brought on by the 
 mad and reckless ambition of designing 
 politicians who saw that there was dan- 
 ger of losing power: who were willing 
 to risk the magnificent prospect of the 
 future for a few lleeting days of personal 
 advantage; who liad "rather rule in hell 
 than serve in heaven." To the men of 
 this class who still exist, it is useless to 
 speak. Tliey see the handwriting on 
 the wall. They realize the momentous 
 fact that they have j^assed off of the 
 stage of action — that tlie people whom 
 they influenced for evil and guided to 
 disaster can dispense with their services 
 — and soured by disappointment, and 
 chagrined by failure, they beat the empty 
 air in despairing gestures,and waste their 
 breath in re[)ining exclamations, and 
 seek to render others as unhapi)y as 
 themselves. A new day has dawned. 
 We have now to gra])ple with the facts. 
 The theories of the past are exploded. 
 The country has passed through a tre- 
 mendous cliange, and he who cannot 
 perceive the necessities of the situation, 
 and bring his mind to acfiuiesccnce in 
 what no chiclaration or act of his can 
 avoid, is doubly blinded, and a lit com- 
 panion ol those who are led by the 
 "bhnd leaders of the blind." 
 
 AVhen the war closed in defeat to the 
 rebellion, the prospect for a speedy and 
 satisfactory settlement of all our ditH- 
 culties seemed excellent. The South 
 then was in a frame of mind which 
 promised tliat in a short time the promi- 
 nent asperities would be removed, and 
 the wliole country be restored to a com- 
 parative peace, I know a very large 
 number of the pcoi)le of Georgia were 
 then disposed to submit with the best 
 possible grace, and foremost among that 
 number were those who had fought 
 with a courage resembling desperation. 
 A considerable portion had been Union 
 men, who had never despaired of the 
 country, even in tlie time ot its sorest 
 need, and who welcomed a return to the 
 
 shelter of the t)ld flag. At that period 
 the people came nearer the comprehen- 
 sion of tlieir true condition than they 
 have done since. They then saw them- 
 selves as they actually were — conciuered, 
 and subject to the will of the conciueror 
 — that conqueror who regarded their 
 rebellion as a gigantic effort to overturn 
 rejjublican government, and worthy ol' 
 the severest punishment. They were 
 then ready to accept such terms as miglit 
 be tendered, and claimed notliing as 
 matter of right. They accei)ted the fact 
 that slavery was dead, and they i^assed 
 their acts of emancipation, surrendering 
 in one breath the whole principle in- 
 vt)lved in the struggle. But time passed 
 on; the prisons remained untenanted 
 except by violators of civil law- no 
 trials for treason occurred ; the people 
 were allowed to pursue, with but slight 
 and occasional interruptions, any path 
 to prosperity tlieir interests miglit dic;- 
 tate. But one cloud remained, and it is 
 that cloud, originally no larger than a 
 man's hand, which has overshadowed 
 and darkened the entire South. That 
 cloud was the probable disfranchisement 
 of the leaders of the rebellion. There 
 is no doubt in my mind that but for the 
 insertion of that clause the Constitu- 
 tional Amendment would have been 
 accepted by the State of Georgia, and 
 jirobably by every other Southern State. 
 These leaders, many of them politicians 
 of half a century, who had fattened 
 upon the spoils of oflice and revelled in 
 the enjoyment of unlimited power, de- 
 termined to uj'ge the peojile to a refusal 
 of any terms by which they themselves 
 might be deprived of the right to hold 
 office. Their own aggrandizement was 
 the paramount consideration. They 
 would not be choked off so long as there 
 remained the remotest possibility of pre- 
 venting the calamity. And it is just 
 this feeling which prompts them to the 
 encouragement of the continuance of 
 the present disorganized state of affairs. 
 The Constitutional Amendment was 
 rejected mainly at their instigation. The 
 right of the peoi)le of the State to regu- 
 late grave questions in their own wa\', 
 Avas therefore lost, and if their advice 
 is taken, will not be regained. And now 
 these same men come again for\\'ard antl 
 
28 
 
 clamor for the rejection of all other [ 
 propositions which may be made by the 
 power which has the country at its 
 merc3^ and advocate a resistance which 
 can oi)ly end in the total and irretrieva- 
 ble ruin of the entire South. Verily, 
 "whom the Gods wish to destroy they 
 first make mad." 
 
 The Congress of the United States, 
 the only authority which has the power 
 to enforce its decrees, has solemnly de- 
 clared that the reconstruction of the 
 Southern States shall be accomplished 
 in a certain way. It is of no service to 
 us to argue the constitutional right of 
 Congress to do such a thing — it is the 
 judge of its own motives and actions, 
 and is not amenable to any other branch 
 of the government. It is sufficient for 
 us to know that it has the power to 
 compel our obedience. The question 
 then for us is, not Avhat we would do if 
 a choice were left us, but in what way 
 can we best comply with the demand V 
 How settle the whole matter in the 
 speediest method ? The countiy is suf- 
 fering by the delays, men's minds are 
 unsettled and drifting into a sea of dread 
 and despair, the industrial energies of 
 the people are becoming paralyzed, and 
 chaos threatens. It may be that Con- 
 gress in the emergency-has gone bej^ond 
 the written Constitution of the past, and 
 acted upon the maxim that "the safety 
 of the people is the supreme law." In 
 whatever light we view the subject, avc 
 must, if we are men of patriotic purpose 
 and intelligent discernment, come to the 
 conclusion that we are inciting the 
 people to a fearful risk if we fail or 
 refuse to counsel acceptance of the terms 
 proposed. 
 
 The first actual step in the progress of 
 reconstruction is registration, "that is 
 already progressing to perfection, and is 
 now beyond debate — the next step is 
 holding a Convention. Congress has 
 specified the method in which delegates 
 to such a Convention shall be chosen, 
 and who shall be entitled to vote. A 
 very large proportion of our population 
 has been enfranchised and will vote. 
 From the fact that this class has never 
 before exercised the franchise, and that 
 a majority of It has been reared in igno- 
 rance, it is frequently argued that great 
 
 evil will result. I do not indulge in such 
 fears. I am willing to give the colored 
 voters of Geoi'gia a fair trial, believing 
 that time and education will shortly 
 enable them to properly exercise this 
 great privilege. And here comes in one 
 of the highest duties we owe to our 
 country. These people of color, among 
 whom we have been reareil, and who 
 are attached to us by all the ties of sym- 
 pathy, association, and interest, are fully 
 entitled to our deepest consideration, 
 and we should gladly take every proper 
 opportunity of instructing them as to 
 the true character of their rights, and 
 let them plainly see by our conduct 
 toward them that we recognize their 
 political status, and are anxious to assist 
 them in the faithful discharge of their 
 new duties. The supreme law has given 
 them an equal right to the suffrage with 
 us — is it not unfair to assume in advance 
 that they will abuse that right ? Has 
 the suffrage never been abused by white 
 men ? Let us do the duty we owe to 
 them, persistently and fearlessly, and 
 leave the consequences to God*, who 
 alone rules over the destinies of indi- 
 viduals and nations. 
 
 The Union Republican Party of Geor- 
 gia accepts the Congressional scheme of 
 restoration, and Avill exert its utmost 
 energies to secure such a convention of 
 the people of the State as will bring 
 about representation in the halls of Con- 
 gress. There, until then, the voice of 
 Georgia is mute — she has not even the 
 privileges of a Territory. Her words 
 are wind — she is excluded from the only 
 place where it is of the first importance 
 to her interests that she should be heard. 
 Powerful opposition to a Convention is 
 manifested in various quarters at the 
 present time, but to what can such op- 
 position amount? As sure as the sun 
 Avill rise to-morrow a Convention will 
 be held in Georgia. Suppose it were 
 possible to vote it down at the coming 
 election, would that defeat the plan? 
 B}'' no means; it would only restrict the 
 number of voters. Is it not infinitely 
 better, then, for all the people who can 
 vote to unite everywhere upon the best 
 men who are acceptable to the Govern- 
 ment, and by facilitating the objects of 
 the Reconstructionists, restore the State 
 
as 
 
 to her proper federal relations? I think 
 so, and I think, also, that the majority 
 of our people will agree with me. 
 
 Those gentlemen who are so clamor- 
 ous for resistance do not very distinctly 
 exnlain in what that resistance is to con- 
 sism Some of the oi^position to us ad- 
 vocate nothing, "'We are against it," is 
 their whole argument. I resi)ect a manVs 
 opinion which differs from my own 
 when he is able to suggest a policy 
 which seems to have the appearance of 
 reason in it. But 1 cannot heed the 
 advice of men who aie against every- 
 thing and in favor of nothing. We 
 w ant practical men now-nien avIio will 
 come up to the exigency, and who will 
 do theliest they can for tlie (country under 
 the circumstances. Now there is hut 
 one course remaining ff)r us, if we would 
 not prove faithless to our highest inter- 
 esta. That course is to throw no obstacle 
 in the path of Congressional restoration. 
 As for armed resistance to the jjowers 
 that rule over us, the idea is absurd. 
 Political differences hereafter, as before 
 the "war, will be settled by tlu; ])anot, a 
 peaceful weapon more potent than all 
 the swords of all the discontented from 
 the centie to the circumference of our 
 Union ! 
 
 " It is a weapon firmer set, 
 And better than the bayonet; 
 A weapon that comes down as still 
 
 As snow-flakes fall upon the sod, 
 But executes a freeman's will 
 
 As lightning doth the will of God 1" 
 
 One grand result of this convulsion 
 will be that hereafter Labor will hold its 
 proper station. It cannot be doubted 
 that slavery tended to degrade labor in 
 tlie South. This was a natural and 
 inevitable result of the system. The 
 owners of slaves were not responsible 
 for it, and it is not charged to them ; but 
 the man who toiled for his support and 
 that of his family, was not held in that 
 estimation which his abilities might 
 entitle him, under different circumslan- 
 ces, to claim and receive. With the 
 abolition of slavery passed aw^ay all 
 semblance of reason for such a pieju- 
 dice, and now the honest, hard-working 
 citizen will tind the opportunity to ele- 
 vate liimself to all the dignity he 
 reasonably merits. He will enter a new 
 tield, where he can compete for any of 
 
 the prizes the world has for honorable 
 conduct, and will no more be dragged 
 downward by the humiliating reflection 
 that he occupies an inferior position. 
 
 And it is this Union Kcpublican Parly 
 which has made this magniticent d«'cla- 
 ration in behalf of the toihng nnllions 
 hitherto d(;privedof their pr(^|>er rewju'd. 
 It is this part V here in Georgia w hich 
 has proclaimed the dignity of labor — 
 which has recognized the grand prin- 
 ciple that labor antl capital are et|ual — 
 and that, any suixMii^iity claimed by one 
 over the oliier is an arrogant assumption. 
 It is this party, whit-h in our uwn State 
 is composed maiidy of men wht) are 
 striving to redeem the country from the 
 horrors of discoril, and to soften the 
 asperities gcuierated by strife, that comes 
 out boldly and bioadly and enunciates 
 the doctrine of cipial riglits. Is there 
 anytliing wrong here — anything to 
 which men not cairied awa}' by the 
 spirit of factious opi)osilion cannot 
 subscribeV 
 
 Another object to which the Recon- 
 structionists of Georgia have deehired 
 their adherence, is the education of the 
 masses. Under a system of republican 
 gov(!rnment men should do theii- own 
 thinking. To enablt! the col(jred race to 
 become bctl(,'r citizens it is indispensable 
 that they should have the advantages 
 nothing but a common school system 
 can confer upon them. They will be 
 called upon to bear their part of the 
 burden — they will be required to con- 
 tribute to the common weal by the pay- 
 ment of taxes. Hence it follows that 
 they will be entitled to a participation 
 in the benefits of education ; such edu- 
 c^ation as will qualify them for a jiist 
 comprehension of their duties as mem- 
 bers of the body politic. The policy of 
 such a course is too evident to need 
 elaboration. It is for the interest of 
 both the Avhite and colored races that 
 they should live in harmou}^ — that they 
 should fully undc^rstand the great fact 
 that there is not the slightest reason for 
 antagonism between them — that all men 
 of all colors are dwelling under one flag 
 and are ecjual before the law. I kntjw 
 how hard it is for men who have been 
 educated in a certain May to give up 
 their most cherished prejudices in a 
 
30 
 
 moment. I know it is liard for those 
 Avlio have lost the comi)eteiice of the 
 future to succumb to events, however 
 inevitable those events may be. But I 
 am glad to see that our people generally, 
 of the white race, are acknowledging 
 the justice of the claim of the new- 
 born citizen to greater knowledge, and 
 in many cases are cheerfully coming 
 forward and inaugurating measures for 
 the benefit of his children and himself. 
 I trust the day will soon come Avhen 
 school houses ^vill flourish in all sections 
 of Georgia- when education shall be as 
 free to aW-tis the bubbling spring at the 
 road side. In other countries, and in 
 other sections of our own Union, tlie 
 most lavish expenditures are made in 
 this cause, and the utmost care is taken 
 to instil in the minds of youth the prin- 
 ciples which are the foundation of free 
 government. There is no reason why 
 this subject should not demand a like 
 attention from us. The money thus 
 spent pr(jduces a richer and more grati- 
 fying return than can l)e realized in any 
 other manner. It elevates and ennobles 
 tlie people; it reduces the record of 
 crime; it builds up and perpetuates a 
 monument to virtue and intelligence 
 that time can never destroy. It is un- 
 fortunate that hitherto we "have been so 
 remiss in a well-defined duly, but Ave 
 should now set forward with a determi- 
 nation that such reproach shall no longer 
 cHng to us. 
 
 It hasljeen, and it is now, persistently 
 urg(;d by maii}^ of the opponents of a 
 Convention, that it is utterly useless to 
 elect sucli a bod}', as it would probably 
 be composi'd of renegades and mercena- 
 ries, who, in the execution of their 
 scUlsh i)urposes, would impose more 
 insufferable burdens upon the peojile 
 than those they now sustain under the 
 ruk; of the military power. Vituperation 
 is exhausted in the effort to cast odium 
 iil)on all who are anxiously working for 
 the inauguration of permanent legal 
 State govermnent, under the Acts "of 
 Congress. The government which we 
 now ha^X' is merely provisional, and 
 though it undoubtedly is legal while it 
 is allowed to exist, it is sub]e(;t at any 
 time to be abolished, modified, con- 
 trolled, or superseded. There is no se- 
 
 curity about it - it is tolerated, and tliat 
 is all. It is absolutely essential to the 
 safety of the peoi)le, sooner or later, 
 that civil government should be rein- 
 stated. An immense majority of the 
 l)eople have a voice in the choiccjof 
 delegates to the proposed Conventmn, 
 for but comparatively a small portion of 
 them are disfranchised, even under the 
 most stringent construction of the Acts 
 of Congress. This Ijeing the fact, it is 
 a violent assumption that unworthy and 
 unpatriotic men will be selected. It is 
 an insidt to the peoi)le to so declare, and 
 I utter the ]^rophecy that such declara- 
 tion Avill not be sustained by the fact. I 
 l)elieve that the good men of all classes, 
 impressed with the momentous conse- 
 quences depending upon their action, 
 Avill see to it that the trust is confided to 
 able hands— hands which, while they 
 are determined to uplKjld the Federal 
 Government and its authorized officials, 
 are yet comiK'tent to the task of con- 
 structing an edifice that, will bring no 
 dishonor U[)on them hereafter when the 
 impartial historian comes to survey their 
 work. The military rule, though it is 
 of the most lenient character — much ■< 
 more so than under the same circum- 
 stances Avould in any other country 
 exist — is not intended to contimie any 
 longer than is necessary to protect the 
 people in the re-establishment of order 
 and the inauguration of civil law. In 
 the preamble of the ]nilitary bill it is 
 expressly declared that '' no legal State 
 government or ade(iuate protection for 
 life or pri)perty now exists in the rebel 
 States," and that ''it is necessary that 
 peace and good order should be enforced 
 in said States until legal and republican 
 State governments can be legally estab- 
 lished." The design is evident that the 
 military government is to be as 
 short of duration as the nature of 
 the . case demands — that as soon as 
 j)ossible the State is to be re- 
 stored to her former position. Under 
 the supplementary bills the machinery of 
 registration has been put in operation; 
 that work is now nearly completed, and 
 it is ])robable that within a few months 
 the election will take place. The change, 
 then, is about to begin, and it behooves 
 all who aspire to the character of good 
 
 \ 
 
31 
 
 citizens to jiid in the speedy, peaceful, 
 and final settlement of our troubles, and 
 the restoration of the friendly relations 
 of all portions of the Union, by an 
 acquiescence in, and supi)ort of, the 
 measures prescribed. 
 
 There is yet another phase in opposi- 
 tion. There is a class, and no insiii;ni1i- 
 cant one in numbers, either, who loudl}' 
 insist that the professions of the Ilej)ul')- 
 lican Party are all false; that the con- 
 firmed intention of the Northern pcoi)le 
 is to humiliate and degrade the South ; 
 that no reliance whatever is to be placed 
 in the language or honor of Congress; 
 that all the pledges hitherto made by 
 Congress, and the .North generally, luive 
 been violated, and that, therefore, it 
 would be base and unmanly in the 
 Southern i)eople to assent to any further 
 demand. If the premises of these 
 noisy agitators were true, there could 
 be nothing done toward ameliorating 
 the situation, and consent or refusal on 
 our part would alike amount to nothing. 
 But, than assertions like these to which 
 I have alluded, nothing could be falsc^r. 
 As 1 have said, and as you all know, tlie 
 Constitutional Amendment \\^'ls oifcrod 
 to the South and was refused. The 
 Sherman and supplementary bills are 
 now proposed, antl it is distinctl}' under- 
 stood by Congress, and by the intelli- 
 gent people of the North, that if the 
 South accept them in the proper sjMrit, 
 and acts in accordance with their i)r()- 
 visions, the entire questions in disi)ute 
 are settled, and linally. Besides, what 
 is the North to gain b}' a contimied 
 agitation ? Her interests are also suffer- 
 ing from the unsettled political slate of 
 the countiy ; her mercantile, manufac- 
 turing and industrial population arv 
 crippled in their I'esources and strug- 
 gling against the tide of adversity which 
 is setting in against them. Th(y are a 
 keen and calculating people, and ai-«! not 
 given wantonly and recklessly' to injuri! 
 their own material prosperity in the 
 etfort to destroy that of their neighbors 
 and countiy m(!n. 1 liave never thought 
 that tlie great majority of them, in their 
 determination to have the grave matters 
 nnder discussion disposed of in their 
 own way, wei'e solely actuated b}- spite 
 and malice toward the South. I give 
 
 them greater credit for devotion to prin- 
 ciple, for I do believe that they con- 
 scientiously look upon the rebellion as a 
 heinous (;rime against the (Tovernment 
 of the United States, which rebellion, 
 if successful, would have accomplished 
 the overthrow of free institutions upon 
 this continent, and disturbed the ]:>eace 
 and retarded the civilization of the 
 world. Let us do justice before we 
 cliiim justice at the hands of others. 
 They regard the factious refusal to com- 
 ply witli what they consider necessary 
 requisitions for future security, as but a 
 continuation of the spirit of the rebel- 
 lion, the i)hysical force of which is so 
 completely, hopelessly, irrecoverably 
 C]ushed. They, the conquerors, claim 
 tlie right to dictate terms to the con- 
 (luered. They have the power to enforce 
 compliance with their behests. What is 
 left for us but to submit V 
 
 In the days that are gone, they, as a 
 people, never manifested any ill feeling 
 toward the South. Our interest was 
 their interest— each to a very great e.vtent 
 was dependent upon the other. The 
 products of our lields went into tlieir 
 looms— the handiwork of "Yankee" 
 ingenuity and skill was scattered broad- 
 cast oxer our section. There was no 
 possible geographical divisi(m that could 
 separate us— Piovidence had designed 
 the whole country for the occupation of 
 (nie brotherhood. Their fathers and our 
 fathers claimed the same origin; they 
 struck hands together in fellowship over 
 the same altars; they toiled side by sid(; 
 for the impro\'um(!nt of humanitv; tliey 
 stood shoulder to shoulder together in 
 thesti-iiggl<i for American Independence, 
 while the blood of their uncovered feet 
 mingled in tin; snow; they formed a 
 system of government which was the 
 beacon-light, of the world; they created 
 an asylum for all the oppressed of the 
 human race. United by all the ties of 
 intcivst, security, ancestry, and liberty, 
 there will Ir; before then- descendants a 
 destiny beyond the jKnver of delineation. 
 It is our laisiness to aid in its realiza- 
 tion. 
 
 Let the past go. There is much to be 
 forgotten— there are many wounds to 
 be healed. Further dissension can but 
 embitter the hearts of the people, now 
 
% 
 
 so o'roatly in need of peace. Let us 
 strive to allay the animosities engen- 
 dered by war, and dispel the gloom that 
 hovers above us. We are to live in the 
 future as one ]ieople, under one govern- 
 ment. Let us endeavor to make that 
 government a just one, imposing its 
 burdens impartially and distributing its 
 blessings equally. Let us unite in the 
 Efreat work of reconstruction and res- 
 
 toration, with the resolution to make 
 sacnfices, if sacrifices are necessary for 
 our country. And on the altar of that 
 country let our first sacrifice be our 
 prejudices. 
 
 " Land of the forest and the rock 
 
 Of dark blue lake and mighty river, 
 Of mountains reared on high to mock 
 The storm's career and lightning's slock. 
 
 My ""'" '»»-'»i" lonrl fnv ovpri" _ 
 
 LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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