Newspaper Page Text
9,
THE ATLANTA WEEKLY SUN-
THE DAILY
Wednesday, December
The Strides of Empire.
SUN. lament In point of fact that (Jonven-j THE CAPITOLi. K
tion merely prepared the draft of an in-
6. -1871. strument, which had no force or validity j The House passed a resolution by
= until ratified by the separate States, j a n overwhelming vote, requesting the
■ each of which was just as free to reject j p resen fc State School Commissioner to
as to adopt it. If only eight of thethir- 1 . „ , T
- -- -- - ° 'General Lewis
Do the people feel any fear that Gen. I ~ bad'ratified i^it would kavefciilen! resi S n at once-
Grant will try to establish un Empire, i still-born. The consent of nine States " ’
and try to make himself a Dictator with J made necessary to the organization
a successor in the person of his oldest j ^ if^only nine
son ?
According to promise made in The
Sun of yesterday, we lay before our read
ers to-day an article from the New York
World, which ought to attract thee ireful
attention and solemn consideration of
all persons who love Liberty:
had adopted it, the remaining four would
have been . ,.
INDEPENDENT SOVEREIGNTIES.
But according to Mr. Moiton’s new im
perial theory, the Convention of 1787
had power to bind the whole thirteen
States, and grant to them, or withhold
from them, whatever rights it pleased l
A theory which is in such glaring conflict
tucuiy wuiutia xu ouuu Kiuuug uuuuxub
with history must have been invented for
Senator Morton Smoothing His
Way to imperialism.
Mr. Morton delivered a lecture in
Providence last Saturday evening. It
was an insidious argument, by President
Grant’s chief counsellor and champion,
for breaking down all barriers to the es
tablishment of a centralized imperial
despotism in the United States.
The title given by Senator Morton to
his address is
“the national idea,”
and its professed object is to combat the
doctrine of “State sovereignty.” This
was a singular choice of a subject. The
events of the last ten or twelve years
have identified State sovereignty in the
popular mind with nullification, seces
sion, and rebellion, and have covered it
with so much odium that rational and
temperate defeuders of State rights
shrink from going beyond the printed
text of the Constitution for arguments.
To argue against the old Southern doc
trine at present would seem as needless
as to thrust the body of a dead soldier
with bayonets. But the confidential
champion of Ulysses the First knows
what he is about. Entertaining no doubt
of Grant’s re-election, ho thinks this oc
casion opportune for taking advantage
of the settled hostility of our people to
secession, and pushing the doctrine of
Federal supremacy to its utmost extreme,
with a view to electing Grant for a third
term, and finally reconciling the people
to
A CENTRAL DESPOTISM.
Except for the purpose of stretching the
anti-State sentiment to extravagant
lengths, there can be no explanation of
Mr. Morton’s choice of a subject and bis
overstrained invectives against State sov
ereignty. The following extract from his
lecture gives the gist of the new theory :
The States have their rights by the agreement of the
nation. That Deems to be the important truth that
is go often overlooked, that the rights of the States,
sacred and unapproachable, are sacred by tbe agree
ment of the nation, as much so as are the powers
that are conferred upon the government of the
United States, that the Stales derive their powers from
the same source, viz., the Constitution of the United
States. That Constitution says that the government
shall have one class of powers, and that other
powers shall bo gained by the States, to be enjoyed
by them or reserved to tlio people. .In the consid
eration of this question, tee must reflect that the nation
had assembled in convention in 1787 and there formed a
government, there declared what rights should be
given to the national government, and what rights
should be resorved.to the States, and that in either
cast the grant and the guarantee is an act of national
sovereignty by the psopie in convention assembled.—
Whon we shall embrace this idea fully, all the danger
of centralization willpass away, though we discard
the idea of State sovereignty.
I do not differ so much with many gentlemen in
regard to what tho rights of the States are. 1 differ
with them in regard to the titles by which they hold them.
I say that so far as Stato rights are concerned, and
the rights of the government, that we are not to go
back beyond tho period of 1787, when the Constitu
tion was formed. The rights of the order States, and
of llhode Island as she has them now, are to be dated
*rom the formation of Vie' Constitution. Then they
caino into convention. They had the right to
make any sort Of government they pleased,
and they did. And in that government they
guaranteed and secured to the States the great body
orights in regard to local and domestic govern
ment, but it was the agreement of tho notion at that
time. So far as the new States are concerned, they
#ro to come in on an equality. They are to have.the
same rights with the old; an i this theory would be
xmpassible of execution except upon the idea that the
rights of the States curl (hi national government are to
be determined from the action that was taken at that
time. Thii difficulty had been in regard to this the
ory of State cover eights; and the assumed right of
secession and of -nullification was the result. They
assumed that these States existed as nations sepa
rate and distinct before that time, and that they only
loaned a portion of their rights fbr a particular pur
pose. That is the base of that theory.
When we sift this sophistry we find its
fundamental idea to be, that the States de
rive their rights solely from the- national au
thority, and not from their unborrowed
and original powers as States. The
necessary iuierence is, that what the
national authority granted, it can, at its
pleasure resume: that the States have no
rights of which tho National Govern
ment may not freely deprive them when
ever it thinks fit. This was never the
dootriue of Webster, nor of any former
statesman who undertook to refute the
heresies of Calhoun. It was reserved for
Senator Morton to discover that the
States did not come into the Union in
the possession of any antecedent righ- s,
and that they hold all their lights by
mere grace and favor of the
CENTRAL AUTHORITY.
He, at least, made an odd selection of a
place for promulgating this new gospel of
centralism. It so happens that Rhode
Island affords a decisive test of the
soundness of his doctrine. For a period
of fifteen months alter the organization
of tho Federal Government and the
inauguration . of, Washington, Khode
Island stood outsido of the Union and
acted as an independent nation. Both
Khode Island and North Carolina were
treated as such in the early legislation of
Congress; as witness, for example, the
following section of an act passed Sep
tember 16, 1789:
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted. That all rum, loaf
sugar and chocolate, manufactured or made in tho
States of north Carolina or Rhode Island and Provi
dence Plantations, and imported isito the United
' States, shall be deemed and taken to be subject to
like duties 03 goods of tho like kinds imported from
any foreign state, kingdom or country.
Not even Mr. Morton will maintain
that the Federal Government had any
authority or jurisdiction over Khode Is
land, until she at least came, by her own
voluntary consent, into the Union. Dur
ing the period while she stood outside,
she was an independent, sovereign na
tion, treated as 6uch by the Federal gov
ernment, From whence did she derive
her sovereign rights? Not from the Fed
eral Constitution, which she took no part
in framing and declined to ratify, but
from a tilt «jf
ORIGINAL INHERITANCE
through the Declaration of Indepen
dence. If anybody disputes that the
States were originally sovereign, the his-
toryof Khode Island is a conclusive ref
utation. She was treated as a sovereign,
independent nation by tho Federal Gov
ernment itself. That State is a beautiful
spot for promulgating the new doctrine
that the States were not originally sov
ereign! She furnishes the very example
by which original State sovereignty is
most unanswerably proved.
. Morton asset ts that the Conven
tion of 1787 farmed the national gov-
some sinister purpose. Its object is to
take advantage of tbe prevailing public
sentiment against secession for absorb
ing all political power into tbe national
government.
Mr. Morton says:
It is not enough for a party to deny the right of
nullification. They mutt go farther. They must
deny the doctrine of State sovereignty; for aa long
as that docrlne is admitted, these other things will
spring up spontaneously from it, and whenever the
occasion allows it. If we were to admit that the
Staton were sovereign, then we would be bound to
Eay that Webster did not answer Hayne.
We stand by the doctrine of Web
ster; but Mr. Morton repudiates it. Un-
lik Morton, Webster did not question
that the States were originally sovereign.
Nay, he admitted and maintained that
they preserved under the Federal Con
stitution all that part of their sovereign
ty which they did not formally and spe
cifically surrender. Webster’s theory
was just the reverse of Morton’s. Instead
of making State rights a grant from the
national authority, as Morton does,.
Webster made the Federal powers a grant
by the people out of the previous sov
ereignty of the States. In that very
speech against Hayne, to which Morton
has the assurance to allude, Mr. Webster
said:
The Slates are unquestionably sovereign so far
aa their sovereignty is not affected by this supreme
law.
The national government possesses those powers
which it can be shown the people have conferred
upon it. and no more. All the rest belong to the
State governments, or to the people themselves. So
far as the people have bestkained Stale sovereignty,
by the expression of their will, in the Constitution
of the United States, to fax, it must be admitted,
State sovereignty Is effectually controlled. I do not
contend that it is, or ought' to be, controlled
farther.
Why is not Mr. Morton content to rest
in this sound and tenable doctrine of the
greatest of our constitutional lawyers?
Is it only because he wishes to remove all
obstacles to the establishment of a great,
overshadowing, central imperialism on
the ruins oi the political system which
Mr. Webster expounded and defended.
Nothing else can explain either the un
timeliness of this strange discourse, or
the
WILD EXTRAVAGANCE
of its positions. Even if it were true
that the States have no rights wlncfi the
general government may not withdraw,
what occasion is there for prqaching this
doctrine at present, if not to lay the foun
dation and prepare the way ’ for the ex
tinction of State rights ?
We will copy a few specimens Of the
fustian and folly which abound in this
address:
• t • ' i'!' I; 1 . .. ;
The man who believes that there is no God, no
immortality, and thut when he dies he will melt into
the earth to be seen no more, like tho snow-flakes
sinning into the ocean,certainly wants one of the most
powerful stimulants to intellectual an 1 moral ad
vancement. [Beautiful sentiments in tho mouth of
a notorious libertine!] The man who has no coun
try has been presented as the most conspicuous ex
ample of human isolation and desolation. The sol
dier who feels that there is an army behind Uim
rushing on to his support is mada stro g and bold
by that consciousness, and the sentiment of nation
ally is an element of individual and of personal
powor. Tne man who does not possess that senti
ment is intellectually and morally weak in many of.
the great positions and trials of life. It is an element
of strength and courage to feel that you .belong to’o
-reat nation, and especially to a nafion that loves
iberty better thau any otherand is not surpassed
in wealth and power and Valor by any other nation.
WE MUST HAVE A. NATION.
It is a necessity of onr political existence, and we
find the countries of the Old .World now aspiring
for nationality. Italy, after a lODg absence has re
turned. Rome has again become the centre and
capital of a great nation. [Ruled by a king.] The
bleeding - Iragnients of a beautifnl land have been
bound up together, and Itaty .again resumes her
place among the nations. And we find the great
Germanic family has been sighing for a nationality
[Under an Emperor.] That race, whose overmast
ering civilization is acknowledged by all the world,
has hitherto been divided, into petty principalities
and States, such as Virginia and SoutlfCarolina as
pire to be, but now are coming together and assert
ing their unity, their national existence, and are
now able to dominate all the nations of Europe.—
[By an irresponsible one-man power.]
■ The States are but subordinate ports of one great
nation, and the nation is overall even as God-is over
Ihtfuniversc. (Applause.)
OUgllfc
to have avoided tlrs by resigning some
time ago. He ought to have discretion
enough to know that his services in this
position are not acceptable to the people.
He is a stranger among us. He came
here as an army officer. He stepped out
of the army into this very important and
responsible position. He may possess
the qualifications necessary to fit him for
the posit ton; but the very fact that he
is a stranger among—a stranger to— onr
society, and does not understand the
wants and wishes of the people, makes
him an unwelcome incumbent of
the office which he holds. Unless
he does resign he will be re
garded as an interloper, and his
position will become an unpleas
ant one for him to hold. It is hop
ed, however, that he will accede to the
wishes of the people, expressed through
an almost unanimous vote of their Rep
resentatives, and avoid further unpleas
antness by returning his commission to
the Executive Department, from which it
emanated. '
SUN-STROKES.
Harris, the poet-wit of the Savan
nah Morning News, very warmly and
conciliatorily invites Alexis to come down
and see him. It is difficult to see how
the <mb of the Russian Bear can resist
the invitation:
Sayaimah to Alexis.
The random thought that vexes
Is the coming of Alexis— ,, a
Spobisky span de spikelhoff—
‘ With his accent sllghUy Russian,
That sounds like a percussion
Cap, as Mosyiskymichaeloff.
We will learn the Russian manner,
Should he pat up at Savannah—
Obelyikinajnihunch—
If the usual beer don’t suit him,
We will take him out and shoot him,
With some of Mikesartillerypunch.
Ah, Dearest Duke Alexis!
’Tis not your coming vexes,
Nor your highness that perplexes—
Nor the fact that your royalty is young:
We have the bend called Grecian,
And the greenness that’s Venetian-
All these, dear Alex, to repletion,
But we lack the twist called Russian to our
tongue. !)
■ aoi
JGSS* Edwards Pierpont is now the man
who is to succeed Fish.
■J8§5 = ‘ The man who said something
about the supper-stition of dreams was
wiser than he knew.
Miss Muloch has published a new
novel entitled “Hannah.” It is tj be
hoped that it effectually and finally an
swers a question with which the public
has long been bored.
J!!©*' “The Debatable Land Between
this World and theN ext” is the title of a
neW book by Robert Dale Owen. The
sooner the author gets entirely through
his subject the better it will be for public
and literary morals.
The Tallahassee Sentinel an
nounces • its firm resolve to be without
cohsojlatiou until “For President—Uly-
ses S. Grant; for Vice-President—Wil
liam H. Seward,” floats authc itatively
at. the head of the
second page.
first Column of its
The purpose of this bombastic stuff is
to impress the people of the United States
with the idea that the States are as sub-
or/linate to the nation as counties are to
the State governments, or, as this liber
tine profanely expresses it, as the uni
verse is to God. If the people can be
brought to admit the absolute, unlimited
supremacy of the Central Government, it
will be but a short and easy step to the
personal embodiment of that,idea in a
national sovereign with Ulysses’ the First
on the throne.
The Accounts of Henry Clews
' j Co.
The biggest King or combination that
ever was formed in America to operate
upon a single State, was that of Kimball,
Bollock, Blodgett, Henry Clews & Co,,
and those interested in the Brunswick
and Albany, and Cartersville and Van
Wert Railroad swindles. Clews’ impu
dent chum deserves the severest rebuke,
and Clews himself deserves punishment
for a conspiracy to defraud the people.
And we are sorry to find that some
persons in Georgia are trying to manu
facture public opinion, and manipulate
the Legislature into an allowance of this
claim, and further to give him all the ad
vantages which the unlawful and fraudu
lent acts of the last Legislature were in
tended to confer upon Kimball; and the
same of the Cartersville and Van Wert
Railroad.
Wo rejoice that the day has come when
the people of Georgia will no longer tol
erate corrupt’ Rings, nor any body con
nected with or benefitted by them.
We shall hereafter give special consid
eration to these Rings, and the persons
connected with them or benefitted by
them.
■ r .*iit
“Akerman retires very early” is
an announcement from Washington. It
seems very hard to call in the blood
hound at the very moment when the
scent of the prey is strongest.
. The Great Cotton Case of Garsed vs.
the Bealls in the Federal C -ft Court,
for .Georgia, has been assigfiLd tor a heart
ing, on Monday, the 11th instant,'at Sa
vannah Counsel for Garsed—Hon. Lin
ton, Stephens, Hon. Herschel V. John
son, Colonel W. W. Montgomery, and
Gen. Robert Toombs. Counsel for the
Bealls, Hon. B. H. Hill and Hon. W. T.
Gould.
Georgia Western Railroad.—The
preliminary survey of this road has been
completed. The entire engineering corps
arrived in the city on Friday last, .in
good, health and fine spirits. They found
it unnecessary to proceed any farther,
than Talladega, because there they ob
tained the original notes made on a sur
vey between that point and Elyton,
which were altogether sufficient dato upon
which to make an accurate estimate of
the expense of the enterprise. Captain
Grant will open an office in a few days,
and proceed immediately to make the
necessary calculations, plans, designs
and approximate estimates.
Mayor’s Court.—His -Honor moored
into Court yesterday morning as cold and
chill as the “icicles that hang onDiana’3
temple.” His retinue was no less pre
possessing, for they crawled in after him
like sullen icebergs in a dark Arctic sea.
MISS EATiTNDA RET.t.
was a colored girl who prided herself on
her snuff and her “spunk.” She was a
plucky piece of humanity. Her spunk
was not to be questioned, nor her snuff
stolen, so when
ANNA DILLARD,
a lady of thievish propensities, trespassed
on her pets, she let fly at her to the tune
“Wool, Blood and Thunder.”
“Now, Anna Dillard, you may QiItiV
Iloves your dandy Sam, y
But I’m Goll domed ’f I care for w™
A solitary cent!’*
That wicked travesy of “Old Hundred”
destroyed the sacred music of an adjoin
ing church, so His Honor raised another
tune, entitled “Ten Dollars and Costs.”
some modest individual,
who had been taking some recreation by
dropping into stores and shaking his fists
at some unoffending, unbelligerent Is
raelites, telegraphed $10 and costs.
His Honor had tarried in court (port)
fully three minutes, and in the perils of
frantic icebergs he was towed out in the
moon’s pale light.
Shooting Affair.—A difficulty occur
red yesterday at tho Kimball House be
tween Mr. T. D. Cushman, a brother-in-
law of one of the Kimballs, and a Mr.
Hall, Mr. Crittenden’s hostler, in which
Mr. Cushman was shot. The ball, which
failed to penetrate to the vitals, entered
the breast and glanced, aronnd one of the
ribs without serious injury. Mr. Hall
was arrested. The altercation was occa
sioned, we learn, by some old grudge
and a misunderstanding about some har
ness.
Euphonious.—They have a thriving
village in Robeson county, N.‘ C., known
by the name of Shoe HeeL It has good
buildings, several stores, some manufac
tures, and is in a flourishing condition—
so the papers say.
Arctic Explorations.—At one period
during the day yesterday the Thermome
ter was twenty-two degreesFahrenheit be
low freezing. It was at 20o F. last eve
ning at dark, with a rapid downward
tendency.
The Superior Court was employed
all day yesterday in trying the case of
Wm. H. JRazors, charged with shaving
Archer and Taylor, or in legal vernacular
“Larceny after Trust.” He was accused
of failing to m»ke return of sales of
horses entrusted to him.
The Elective Franchise has a wide
liberty in Chattanooga; In municipal
elections, any man who owns real estate
in the city, can vote—no matter where
his residence may be.
Two citizens of Atlanta were in that
town on the day of their election for
Mayor, a few days ago, and voted in the
election, the same rs citizens there, be
cause they happened to own property
there.
GEORGIA MATTERS.
Harry Seymour enables the Savannah
people to see more of the drama during
the present week.
A gun-powder pile-driver is getting
ready to play upon the credulity of the
Savannah people.
The Bibb County Agricultural Associa
tion is advancing toward the establish
ment of an agricultural museum.
A pistol fell from a Macon mantel, on
Sunday, and was discharged. The ball
passed through the hand of one negro
boy and lodged in the head of another.
Tbe latter died instantly.
Rascals amuse themselves by firing into
the trains on the Brunswick and Albany
Railroad.’ No one hurt as yet;
The Brunswick Appeal of Saturday, has
the following: The counsel for the. com
plainants in the application on the part
of the Governor and others for an In
junction restraining the lien creditors of
the-B. & A. Railroad, from selling the
property levied on, asked, ou Wednes
day last, to amend their bill by inserting
allegations that a number of the claims
upon which lien executions had been is
sued, were for work done for H. L Kim-
ball„& Co., and not for the Brunswick
and Albany Railroad Company, and that
the road had never been delivered into
the possession of the Company, and the
.appointment of a Master in Chancery to
investigate the claims and report thereon
to the Court, at some future day to which
the hearing should be continued. Messrs.
Hood, Basinger, Hines, and John
L. Harris were heard in favor of the Ap
plication, and Messrs. B. • F. Harris,'
Belford and Smith conti'a. His Honor,
Judge Sessions granted the application,
and appointed Col. John D. Rumph,
Master in Chancery, and the secohcl
Monday in next for the hearing.
“A hotel we must have,” shouts the
Brun8wick"Appeal. ■ '
The Bainbridge Argus, that was, is now
tfie Bainbridge Democrat.
Columbus is heroically moving toward
an ice factory. Iff such weather as this?
The Savannah News of Monday has the
following account of a brave effort made
in that city to rob the Southern Express
Company: One of the boldest attempts
to rob the Southern Express Company
took place on last Friday night about 6£
o’clock during the heavy rain storm
which prevailed at the time. It appears
that while one of the large wagons was
waiting at the door on Bay street for the
freight for the Central Railroad'depot,
and the messenger and driver were in
side, the former getting his way bills,&c.
ready to start, and the latter making his
return of goods delivered during the day,
some unknown parties jumped into the
wagon and succeeded in driving off unob
served, owing to the noise, on the street
and the rain storm. Fortunately no
packages were in the wagon, and, of
course, the money safe was still in charge
of the messenger and in the office, and
the would-be robbers got nothing for
their trouble. As soon as the theft was
discovered, notice was given to the police
authorities, and employees of the com
pany sent in search of the missing vehi
cle; but no trace of it could be found
anywhere. About nine o’clock, however,
the colored hostler at the Express stables
on Congress street saw the wagon stop
near the corner of Drayton street, and a
white man jnmp off the seat. On ques
tioning the party he stated that he found
the wagon up the street and had been
driving about town looking for the stables.
He said he was a stranger in the city, but
would not give his name to tlie hostler,
and made off as quick as possible. This
was, undoubtedly a bold venture on the
part of some of the thieves who have
been attracted to this city by the crowd
of the last two weeks, and who, suppo
sing that the messenger’s safe, with
money packages in it, was in the wagon,
made a well planned effort to rob it.
GEORGIA .LEGISLATURE.
TWENTY-NINTH DAY’S PROCEEDINGS.
SENATE.
Tuesday, December 5.
Senate met, President Trammell in the
chair. Prayer’ by Rev. Mr. Ketchum.
The roll call was dispensed with. Journal
approved. Ui
Mr. Nicholls moved to reconsider a bill
to equalize taxation lost on yesterday,
providing for the appointment by the
Ordinary of a board of three tax asses
sors for each county, passed on yester
day; carried.
Mr. Cone moved to reconsider a hill to
create the Oconee Judicial Circuit out of
the counties composing the Southern,
Macon and Middle Circuits. The motion
was lost by: Ayes 12; nays 19. - I
A report of B. B. Woodruff, Architect,
appointed by the Committee on Public
Buildings to inspect the State House,
with various recommendations attached
thereto, was read. The report contained
a thorough analysis of the construction
of the building, and recommended the
removal of the State Library, as produ
cing an undue and dangerous pressure
upon that portion.
A inessage from the Governor, trans
mitting the report of the Board of Vis
itors to the Atlanta University, and rec
ommending a liberal appropriation there
for; also, a message transmitting the
report of Trustees, Superintendent and
Physician of the Lunatic Asylum; read
and referred.
Mr. Erwin offered a resolution that the
Governor be requested to have removed
a portion of the Library books to other
rooms in-the Capitol; adopted.
On mo.tion of Mr. Nicholls the rules
were suspended to take up a bill t > in
corporate the Land Grant Board, and for
other purposes.
Mr. Nicholls offered a substitute ap
pointing the Executive Board of the Ag
ricultural Society to receive the Agricul
tural College Scrip, donated to the State;
to locate the lands under the same, and
report to the next General Assembly.
Mr. Jones offered a substitute to create
a board of Trustees to receive said scrip,
and locate said lands, composed of the
Governor, President of the Senate,
Speaker of the House, Chairman of the
Joint Committee on Agriculture and Man
ufactures, the President of the Agricul
tural Society—or their successors in of
fice; and to give the benefit of pne-fourth
of said donation to the colored popula
tion. Lost by: Ayes 16; nays 20.
Mr. Bruton' offered an amendment to
the substitute of Mr. Nicholls, 1 that the
benefit of : one-third of said lands, when
sectored, shall be allowed to the Atlanta
University.
Mr. Hinton hoped that the amend
ment would not be adopted—nor any
amendment which looks to the distribu
tion of this fund until it is secured. Up
on the policy of securing the fund all are
agreed, and after that has received due
attention, the distribution can be satis
factorily effected.
Messrs. Brown and Nunnally were op
posed to the amendment, because they
considered no provision of that sorb nec
essary until the fund is secured.
Mr. Jones was willing to allow that
portion to the colored population, but
not to the Atlanta University exclu
sively.
By permission, Mr. Bruton substi
tuted colored people-for Atlanta Univer
sity.
The amendment was lost by—
Ayes—Messrs. Anderson, Brock, Bru
ton, Jones, Jordan, Reese, Smith and
Steadman—8. «
Nays—Messrs. Black, Burns, Brown,
Campbell, Clark, Colman, Cone, De-
veaux, Estes, Erwin, Griffin, Hicks,
Hillyer, Hinton, Hoyle, Jones, Kirkland,
Kibbee, Lester, Matthews, Nicholls,
Nunnally, Peddy, Richardson, Simmons,
Wallace, Wellborn and Welch—28.
The substitute proposed by Mr. Nich
olls was adopted by: Ayes 23; nays 14.
The following bills wer6 read the third
time: / ,
To incorporate the Dahlonega and
Gainesville Railroad Company; ’passed.
To incorporate the Merchants’ Mutual
Insurance Company; passed. •
To incorporate the town of Austin,
Thomas county: passed.
To secure counsel fees in certain cases;
passed. .'
To fix the compensation of Clerks and
Ordinaries on applications for setting
apart of homesteads and exemption of
personalty; passed.
To provide for farming out convicts,
and for other purposes.
Mr. Nunnally moved to make the bill
the special order for Thursday, and that
fifty copies be printed.
Mr. Candler ? spoke in favor of the mo
tion and of the bill. He considered it
one of the most important measures that
hadcGme before the Senate, and all nec
essary time should be devoted to its cou-
si deration. Some suitable provision
must be made, and it behooves tlie Leg
islature to treat it with the importance it
demands.
Mr: Simmons moved that when the
Senate adjourns it shall adjourn to meet
at 3,-p. h.; carried.
Mfcssrs. Burns and Wellborn opposed
the motion, on the ground that the ses
sion is too near its close for. the delay,
arid nothing can. be accomplished by it.
The motion was lost.
Mr. Kibbee moved to take up the hill
by sections; carried.
The first section authorizes the Gover
nor to farm out for a term of years, not
exceeding two years, the convicts, for a
price not to be less than $25 per capita
annually. •’ '
Mr. Jervis moved to strike out $25 and
insert $50 per capita.
The Senate adjourned until 3 o’clock.
afternoon session.
The Senate met, President Trammell
in the chair.
The consideration of the bill to pro
vide for farming out convicts was re
sumed by sections.
The 1st section provides that the min
imum price at which convicts shall be
farmed out shall be 25 per capita.
The amendment of Mr. Jervis proposed
to strike out 25 and insert 50.
Mr. Kibbee stated that that rate was
the result of careful calculation as an av
erage rate in view of the inefficiency of
most of the convicts, and their total
inability for a considerable time after be-
iiu brought out of jail.
The amendment of Mr. Jervis was lost.
Mr. Kibbee offered an amendment al
lowing the Governor to farm out the con
victs in such numbers as he deemed best.
Mr. Nunnally said the reason alleged
for making the number discretionary
with the Governor, to-wit—the increase
of revenue thereby—was the very one
which influenced him in objecting to the
provision, for it would result in having
the convicts farmed out according to their
ability for work to a large and indefinite
number of contractors, and that a large
number of inefficient convicts who could
not be farmed out at any rates, would be
thrown upon the State to be fed and
guarded, and otherwise involve great ex
pense to the State.
Mr. Brown considered the policy of
farming out the convicts in small num
bers decidedly the best, for they would
bring.higher rates, and would probably
be better cared for and more humanely
treated.
Mr. Jones called the previous ques
tion.
The amendment of Mr. Kibbee was
adopted.
Section 1st was then adoptedii—
Mr; Burns called the previous qnes-
ion on the passage of the bill. The call
was sustained and the bill passed.
Bills on third reading:
To amend an act to protect the people
of this State in the sale of kerosene oil-
passed.
/-To amend an act to provide for fur
nishing panels of juries iu certain cases-
passed. ’
To ’ provide for paying off the
public debt of the State; to pro
vide the means therefor, and for
other purposes, providing for paying
the bonded debt of the State from the
earnings of the Western and Atlantic
Railroad.
On motion of Mr. Burns the bill was
made the special order for to-morrow.
To allow the Ordinary;! of Pulaski
county to issue bonds to build a Court
House.
To amend an act to incorporate the
Atlanta and Blue Ridge Railroad Com
pany, and for other purposes; passed.
To change the time of holding the fall
term of the Superior Court; passed.
To prescribe for the payment of insol
vent costs to the county officers of Upson
county; passed.
To amend an act to amend and extend
the charter of the Atlanta and Roswell
Railroad Company; passed.
To change the time of holding the Su
perior Court of Jasper county; passed.
To amend the attachment laws of this
State, and to authorize the issuing of at
tachment against the purchaser, of prop
erty not paid for for the purchase money
of the same; passed.
To make penal the sale of personal
property subject to mortgage; passed.
Senate adjourned until 10-morrow.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
House met, Speaker Smith in the
chair. Prayer by Rev. Mr. Heidt. Jour
nal approved.
Mr. W. D. Anderson moved to recon
sider the action of the House on yester
day in passing a bill to incorporate the
Atlanta and Tennessee Railroad Compa
ny. < He wanted the reconsideration in
justice to the Marietta and North Geor
gia Railroad Company, which has al
ready been chartered and hindered by
H. I. Kimball, who was a curse to it, as
well as to the country. The Atlanta and
Tennessee Railroad will cover pretty-
much the same line, and there certainly
will be no use for both.
Mr. Simmons, of Gwinnett, opposed
the motion. He was in favor of allowing
a charter to any Road proposed to be
built by private subscription.
Mr. Jackson also opposed the motion
to reconsider, remarking that the charter
asked for now will complete a chain of
railroads through Kentucky, Tennessee
and Georgia. He was willing to charter
any road which private persons propose
to build with their own money.
Mr. Pou thought there was no reason
why fair competition between railroads
should not be allowed, and was in favor
of granting the charter asked for. More
over, $15,000 per mile State aid has been
granted to the road from Marietta, and
yet pot a lick had been struck on it; and
refilling this charter might defeat a road
through that-section of the country. The
motion to reconsider was lost.
Mr. Simmons of Hall moved to recon
sider the passage of a bill to amend the
charter of Gainesville, &c., with a view
to striking out the 14th Section of the
bill,‘which legalizes the subscription of
Gainesville to the Gainesville and Dah
lonega Railroad. He said the people of
Gainesville are almost unanimously op
posed to that feature in the bill. This
motion to reconsider prevailed.
Mr. Hunter moved to reconsider a bill
to create a new judicial circuit, iu order
to substitute a.Senate bill therefor. The
motion prevailed.
Mr. McMillan moved to reconsider the
loss of a bill to establish a system of pub
lic instruction for Lumpkin county. Mo
tion prevailed.
Mr.: McMillan moved to reconsider the
action of this House in laying the report
of the committee in the case of Houston
vs. Blue on tkq table.
Mr. Phillips, Chairman of the Commit
tee on Privileges and. Elections, said
there was only one question in the case,
to-wit: whether'or not the votes of per
sons who had not paid their poll tax were
legal or illegal. He discussed the legal
points involved, and argued that under
tlie : Constitution the votes must be held
illegal.
Mir. Simmons was opposed to recon
sideration, and said, although the Con
stitution requires that persons shall pay
all legal taxes before they are entitled, to
vote, yet the Legislature declared in 1870
that no poll tax should he collected, and
tax collectors were instructed not to re
ceive it; and if the non-payment were
sufficient, a great many Democrats would
go out. He had as gre/lt a contempt for
Republicans and tjieir principles as any
man', but hq was prepared to do justice.
Ofi the motion to reconsider, the yeas
and nays were called, with the following
result: Yeas, 31; nays, 111.
Mr. Jackson moved to take up the bill
to secure to educational purposes the
fund now due to the Educational Depart
ment. He said he thought he could sug
gest an amount to insert in the blank
which would meet general approval. Mo
tion prevailed.
He proposed to insert $327,084, the
amount of poll tax collected and tho
liquor tax collected since 1868.
Mr. Putney said a much larger sum
than the amount proposed was due to the
Educational Fund, and the interest on
$327,084 would not meet the demands
and pay teachers for services already
rendered. The passage of the bill in the
proposed shape would amount to repudi
ation and render the law useless.
Mr. Jackson, also, moved to amend
the bill by ordering the destruction of
all bonds issued by the Legislature in
187U; earned.
The motion to fill the blank with $327,-
084 prevailed.
Mr. Dell moved to further amend by
prohibiting any further issue of bonds
for educational purposes under pre-exist
ing laws. This amendment prevailed,
and the bill as amended was passed.
Mr. Pierce offered the following reso
lution: Whereas, the present State School
Commissioner is a stranger to our people*
and is little acquainted with our wants
and desires; that under his management
the system of Public Instruction is now,
and will always, be a failure.
Therefore be it resolved, That he he
requested to resign at once the office he
how holds. ^
On the motion to adopt, the yeas and
nays were called, with the following re
sult; Yeas, 115; nays, 26.
Mr. Hoge offered a resolution tender
ing the use of this hail to the Democrat-
[CONTINUED ON PAGE 3.]