Newspaper Page Text
(Etuoniclc anH jgfrntiml.
WEI )NEBDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 1877.
The sick Turk fights belter than most
healthy Christians.
Even the New York Journal of Com
tncrcc believes that Tweed is telling the
truth. t
Nathaniel Washburns, of Hartford,
Conn., is the champion shot of the
world.
m —
Blydenburgh, the best shot of th* 5
American Team, graduated at Princeton
last vear.
—
Dudley Selph came out fifth in thf
general scramble for the championship
at Creed moor.
Tnr. equinoctial storm Hooded a large
part of New Orleans and a general over
flow was with difficulty averted.
Emperor William, of Germany, ha 1
graciously informed Minister Kasson
that he approves of “the policy.
The Albany Argue is so indignant
that it spells “rascally” with three “IV'
when treating of the Electoral Commis
sion. u m
.Senator Dennis, of Maryland, is dan
gerously ill. Morton’s absence from
the Benate may bo offset very unexpec
tedly. m
The percentage of killed and wound
ed in the last Nez Perce battle is much
greater among the volunteer* than
among the regulars.
Mr. Evabts is credited with the great
er part of the article in the North Amcr
lean Review, in response to Jeub Black,
fiigDC‘l byi*- ToronTON.
Thirty odd thousand emigrants havi
come to America since January Ist, one
third of whom are Germans. Irish
emigration has largely diminished.
A German critic is of opinion that the
Russians have an army of lions led by
asses. This is hard upon the Grand
Dukes, if not upon the Czar himself.
The balance of exchange is in favor of
the United States. Ilenco the deelii <
in gold. If that sort of thing could be
continued resumption would come of
itself.
Gen. Stewart L. Woodford, said to
be John Sherman’s mouthpiece, is d< -
scribed in one of the Northern dailies
as “an nnrivalled dispenser of fluent
flapdoodle.”
Even ]tho best marksman has hie
streak of bad luck. The poor shooting
of Dudley Selph, at the Inter-State
mutch, caused much talk and created
great surprise.
Contributions “to save Ohio” aro be
ing levied upon the Washington clerks.
Liko Rip Van Winkle’s drink, this
abnso of civil sorvioe reform “don’t
count this'time.”
■ -
It is the general impression that as
the Southern States are returning to
“the homo of our fathers,” the people of
Georgia will remove the capital to “the
■halls of our fathers.”
Morrissey denounces John Kelly as
the instigator of Tweed’s confession ;
but the Hon. John Morrissey can
not put bis finger upon one single dis
honest net of the Hon. John Kelly.
We have hopes of Morton’s recovery.
Ho listened to the whole of Stouoh
ton’s flo-ealled reply to Jerk Black,
the other day. A sick man who could
■survive that, dose is hard to kill indeed.
Hon. Hersohel V. Johnson, of Geor
gia, is undoubtedly the strongest man
who has yet been named in the South
for the vacant place on the Supreme
bench.— Washington National Repub
lican.
Now that it has been established that
Jotin Morris ky and carpet-bag Spen
obr are intimate friends, many people
will unhesitatingly believe that Tweed’s
picture of the ex-pounder is a correct
°ue. _ _
A cousin of H. W. Beecher is re
ported to bo in au imbecile, invalid and
starving condition, somewhere in Ala
bama. The Brooklyn pastor ought at
least to send him his sermon on bread
and water.
Montgomery Blaiis hopes to get to
the Maryland Legislature as a stepping
stone to the Senatorship of that State.
Hon. Montgomery is a chronic aspirant
to office, but we aro of opinion that he
will not boa Senator from Maryland.
It is predicted that when Hon. Roscoe
Conklino finds how popular President
Hayes is with New York Republicans,
lie will, at the State Convention, play Mr.
Blaine’s part of peace-maker. Eoscoe
■will never commit political suicide if he
■can help it.
The unknown problem to be solved in
Ohio is the strength of tho Working
man's movement. Mr. E. V. Smalley,
writing to the Tribune, computes that
the ticket will poll 20,000 votes. The
question now is which party will be hurt
the more by this revolt.
It is now believed that had Earl Bea
consfikld been allowed to have his way,
when the Peace Conference failed, the
Rnsso-Tnrkish war would have been
averted, since Russia knew her weak
ness, and would gladly have escaped kou
orably from a bad entanglement.
Copies of Mr. Groesbeck’s speech on
the currency have been widely circulat
ed among the press. His positions are
that onr Government tried to have silver
and gold in circulation together by
equally free coinage and unlimited ten
der and failed; that onr history of three
quarters of a century is a history of the
alternate driving out of gold and then
of silver, in onr attempts to give them
equal value; that we never had but one
kind of full legal tender coin in the cir
culation at a time, and, therefore, never
had practically but the single standard.
—m e
There is a decided ebb in the tide of
immigration to our shores from the
over-populated countries of Europe.
Nearly 10,000,000 of immigrants—or
9,726,455—arrived in New York from
1819 to 1876, but the full of the tide was
in 1873, when 445.483 landed on our
shores. There was only a slight de-1
crease in 1574, but in 1575 the number
fell off nearly one half, while in 1876 it I
dropped to 187,027, and the first eight |
months of this year show only 33,129
against 71,265, during the correspond
ing period of last year.
The temperance paper published at
Richmond, Va., denounces the bell
punch as an encouragement to crime
and suggests that the Legislature pass a
law to the effect that every grave, the
work of intemperance, from the date of
the bell-punch, be decorated with the ,
following inscription :
Rung to Sleep
by the
Moffett Bell-Punch.
Gave His Life
for the
State Debt.
The people are beginning to take a
deep interest in the capital question,
and we have reason to believe that at
the election in December Millegeville
will carry the day by a handsome ma
jority. Ever since the fraudulent tri
umph of Atlanta in 1868, we have favor
ed a return to the ancient seat of gov
ernment, and we rejoice to know that
this feeliDg is shared by the masses.
The people in Eastern and Middle Geor
gia should vote solidly for Milledgeville.
We do not wish to harm Atlanta, but we
do wish to have the capital of the State
placed where it properly belongs.
GOVERNOR HAMPTON.
The Governor of South Carolina has
certainly becc in as famous a politician
in the time of peace as he was a cavalry
leader, in the time of war. His speeches
during the campaign against Chamber
lain were full of sense, patriotism and
most electric eloquence. Since that time
he has appeared upon eeveial theatres
of action, and always as one of ttje cen
tral, if not the most conspicuous, figures.
He took the North by storm, some
months ago. He has captivated the West
by his manly speech at Rockford, Illi
nois ; and now his voice rings trumpet
tongned over the land and over the seas
as a leader of Southern opinion of whom
all men of good will may be justly
proud. Aliuding to his Nashville speech,
in company with the President, the ed
itor of the American says : “In his
manly utterances yesterday, he did not
mince matters in his approval. Policy,
said he, is a misnomer. What we call
‘the policy’ is a sound statesmanship.
In his course in South Carolina during
his canvass, in the perils of that con
flict, in the anomalous and difficult posi
tion after the election, and as a national
man, whose local career assumed na- j
tional dimensions, Gov. Hampton has
not made a mistake. Those who knew
him as a dashing and gallant cavalry
officer, a brilliant soldier, no doubt little
expected that he would bo found equal
to all emergencies, familiar with the fun
damental law of tho land, able to steer
through the most perplexing difficulties,
involving difficult legal points and intri
cate constitutional problems, besides
the extremely delicate and critical rela
tions of the people of his State. Through
them all he looked to the end with the
unerring eye of a statesman, and went
forward by a direct and plain road,
never swerving or mistaking his way.
In his approval he has not been effusive
or crowded to the front with compli
ment. It was unnecessary. When the
occasion arises he makes his approval
emphatic and pronounces upon its effi
ciency, fullness and sincerity, when he
says it is not ‘policy, but statesman
ship. Such an expression by such a
man—marked for prudence and caution
—means a great deal.”
Praise from Sir Hubert Stanley is
praise indeed. Gov. Hampton is now id
what would so?m to be a regular flood
tide of good fortune. If be continues to
make no mistakes, it it difficult to mark
the boundary of his ambition. He lias
but to preserve amid so much dazzling
flattery that “level head” for which he
has been credited, and prizes, yet un
dreamed of, may be within his grasp.
the president gone south.
The President left Cincinnati yester
day on his tour of the South. We hope
that before he returns he and the people
of all the Southern capitals and large
cities will have seen and known and
liked each other. Since tho President
commenced his Summer travels he has
spoken a hundred times kind words of
the South and her population and her
interests. These have been the burden
of his reinaks, and at Cincinnati, on the
Southern States, were repeated with
more than his usual earnestness. The
President’s sineerity in these expres
sions cannot bo mistaken. Any linger
ing doubt about it would be dispelled by
a review of his policy and appointments
so far. As ho said in his Cincinnati
speech— reiterating phrases old but
never tiresome: “I wish to see the day
within the next three or four years when
all causes of dissension will, like slavery,
be removed forever, and when onee more
tho ancient concord and friendship will
be restored. This is my hope, this is
my ambition,” elc. The South bus no
reason to bo suspicions of the genuine
ness of such hopes and promises, when
confirmed by many proofs. Therefore,
sho is preparing to give President Hayes
a welcome as hearty as that ho met with
in New England, New York, Ohio and
elsewhere in tho North. Both parties
will join in testifying their respect for
the office aud the man. Whatever op
position or coldness he may encounter
in any part of tho South will come less
from the Conservative than the carpet
baggers. Tho latter aro tho persons who
have most cause to complain of
Presidential neglect and the least
to expect from Mr. Hayes, if he stands
by his pledges. He is doubtless willing
that they should give him the cold
shoulder at the South, if that would
only more plainly emphasize tho Con
servative support upon whi,oh he may
count jn his relations with Cong*'.es p -
While one object of his Southern tour
is to see nud len/u things for himself,
and he prepared to speak and act in
telligently hereafter, audii'* object is
to make friends and votes for an a d‘
ministration policy. Wo wish the Presi
dent every success in this, if the policy
: ho wants to execute is that announced
in his speeches tho past few weeks.
The Southern trip is an unspoken
tribute to the power the Southern Con
servatives will have in the next Con
gress. If it can be won to the Presi
dent’s side on vital issues, ho can, with
! it and the supporters still to be relied
j oti from his own party, control that
! body. This would boa very desirable
! combination, if ho better union of the
parties could be effected- As to Civil
I Service reform and general retrench-
I ment and economy there can be no
1 doubt of the favor extended to such
i measures by the conservative South.
I But we ere not sure of the soundness of
! the South on subsidy questions. It
would be reassuring to bear from her
I orators during the President’s progress
! that she cares far less for Pacific rail
roads, levees aud canals made by Gov
i ernment money than for the welfaro of
j the whole people (which is inconsistent
with such expenditures) and the rcetera
' tiou of prosperity by slower, surer and
more legitimate means.— N. Y. Journal
of Commerce.
A correspondent of the New York
Sun, writing from Ohio, predicts that
; the Democratic majority will not be less
than 18,000, and that Stanley Mat
thews' place will be filled by a political
| opponent.
Some of the moralists of the press de
clare that Morrissey never had such a
knock-down as that given him by
Tweed, and hencef rth the ruin of
thousands of young men will lie heavily
upon his soul.
Hon. Louis V. Bogy, the deceased
Senator from Missouri, was of French
extraction. He spoke with great ability
on all subjects that came np before the
Senate. He characterized J ndge Brad
ley as the American Norbury. His
latter days were clouded by the pecuni
ary misfortunes of his son.
The Baltimore Gazette chimes in with
the rest of mankind in observing that it
is desirable for Mr. Hayes to appoint
some Southern man of great learning
and exalted character, who will com
mand the respect and veneration of the
country, upon the Supreme Bench.
Judge Herschel V. Johnson is the man
of all men who tilts that trne bill.
That was a badly sold New Yorker.
A friend told him that the Boss in his
confession had mentioned liis name,
whereupon the indignant, honest trades
man wrote to the papers, declaring that
what Tweed had said about him was
maliciously false. Then he investigated
the subject further, and found oat that
what Mr. Tweed had said was that this
particular honest tradesman was not
concerned in the frauds at all.
The New Orleans Picayune settles
the whole thing thus: “Who, then,
saved the Union ? The North ? No.
The South ? No. Secession would have
triumphed with the South ; centralism
would have triumphed with the North.
Both have been defeated ; both have
been victorious. Between the two the
Union has been saved." This is the
nearest approach to Titmouse’s proposi
tion of “giviig everything to every
body,” on record. Now, let ns have
music by the band.
REVELLING AMONG REBELS.
PRESIDENT AND POSTMASTER
ARRIVE IN TENNESSEE.
Th<- “Time*” Wklp* Araund on the Sonthern
Policy—The N#rth and the Sanch Under
stand Each Other—Hampton and Unye* a*
( omp:i|non>i do Yorajre.
London, September 20. —The limes,
editorially commenting on Hayes’
Southern tour, says: “In little more
than half a year, the President has suc
ceeded in beating down a compact mass
of prejudices ,in allaying a host of con
flicting passions. The visible triumph
of his policy is now being assured. He
has this week begun a journey through
the Southern States which is intended
to show that the work of pacification is
not far from completion. The Federal
Government has no intention of inter
fering in the local administration of the
Southern States. The Southern States
have no desire to dis.nrb the great
achievements of the civil war which
have been embodied in the constitu
tional amendments. The removal of
the objects of contention makes it easy
to establish friendly relations between
people who respect each other, and the
sympathetic meeting of the President
and General Hampton is an omen of the
coming time when the North and the
South will ne longer be separated by
the lines of divisions which the civil
war had traced.”
Arriral in Chattanooga—Decorations and De
monstrations.
En route President and Mrs. Hayes
occupied the rear platform, and admired
the scenery, and seemed equally inter
ested in the battle fields, whether the
Yankees had the better or worse. At
Chattanooga, on Market street, a large
monogramatic arch, consisting of the
letters “R. B. H.,” had been erected,
from the centre of which a large floral
key was suspended.
Patriotic Speeches by Hampton and Key—
. Magnanimity on the Major Key.
Chattannoga, September 20.—After
addresses of welcome and elaborate
speeches by the President and Secretary
of State, Key said : “My Friends— l
am quite hoarse to-day, aud could not
make a speech if I wanted to, and I am
sure you would not want me to make one
if I could, for yon have heard me here
and everywhere on all sorts of ques
tions. There is one thing I can say to
you to-day, and I can say it to the peo
ple of the'United States, that when the
President did me the very groat and
distinguished honor to place me in his
Cabinet, the colored people of Chattanoo
ga were nut afraid of that act. They knew
me and knew I was their friend. They
did not suppose that that old Democrat
would hurt them very much I am sure.
[Applause.] It may be that the white
people were more afraid of me, but I
don’t know how that was. [Laughter.]
lam glad to stand before you. All that
I am I owe to Chattanooga and to the
people of East Tennessee. They have
been my friends, and while I am not
unmindful of the groat honor the Presi
dent did mo in the appointment, while I
am proud of the administration to which
I have, in my feeble way, given my ear
nest support, I remember with still more
pride and gratitado the fact that when
in your Legislature I was candidate for
the Senate of the United States, every
man in East Tennessee, white and black’
Democrat and Republican, Union men
and Confederates, was for my election.
Now my friends to a crowd like this what
can I say ? If I were to talk too much
I might say something that somebody
would not like and I like you all, there
is no people on earth that I love as well
as I do the people of Chattanooga. [Ap
plause.] Judge Key,
liCading Forward Mrs. Ilayes,
Said : “Here is the best speech that I
think lia3 been made. They abuse all
the other members of the Administra
tion, but nobody abuses her.” Mrs.
Hayes was greeted with loud and con
tinued applauso.
' IliiiiiptoiiN Speech.
“I scarcely feel that I am authorized
to detain for one moment those of yon
out there standing in the rain, but
I will nt least have the comfort of know
ing, if I do so, that my speech will not be
a “dry” one. I come to you, my
friends, having met the President
of the United States when ho first
came upon Southern soil. The au
thorities in Louisville did me the
honor to invite me to join him there, and
that gentleman himself added to that
honor by expressing the wish that I
should come." I went there expecting to
remain only a fsw hours to greet him on
Southern soil, as a Southern man, aud I
recognize in him a man higher th n a
party man. [Applause.] A man who
had forgotten party as he rose to be a
patriot, and it has been my additional
good fortune to accompany as he jour
neyed southward, and I think we may
say to-dav that he has struck the solid
South. He is here in Chattanooga,
standing upon your battle-scarred
plains, looking and seeing every
hillside crowded with evidences of
war. Remembering that your soil
has been stained by precious blood
poured out by brave men who were
fighting honestly for their convictions
on each side, I am glad to come here
with him aud see the motto that you
have written there of peace and har
mony once more restored in our
beloved country. My friends, in the few
remarks I have had tho honor of making
as 1 have been iu this triumphaut pro
cession of the President I have studi
ously avoided any allusion to politics. I
have tried fo subordinate them entirely
to a feeling of patriotism, and I urge
upon you now, men of the South, as far
as possible, to forget past differences
between our people, to devote your
selves to developing and opening up the
best resources of this country. I want
to urge upon you this thing, and we will
have power and peace and happiness
evermore. . .
I have not spoken of politics. It was
my misfortune, perhaps, to differ in
politics from the President of the United
States, but Democrat as I am, Democrat,
as I have been, there is no man in
America to whom I more cheerfully,
cordially and willipgly do honor than
the Republican president of the United
States. Ido that, my friends, because
he is showing that he is the Presidat of
tho whole United States. I do that be
cause he, in the very first gpt of his ad
ministration, lifted that great prppsure
which was upon the neck of myowu peo
ple. Many of them who said that he
but did his duty kau never smelt pow
der. Show me tpo man wild will do his
duty without fear aud without favor “nd
who will not do more than bis fluty,
and I will clasp hands with him and
will stand upon the same platform,
f Applause.] He has brought back peace
to our people; be has shown that the
nit u who fought other can meet iu
peace and fraternity, without any loss
of respect. We could not do it when the
Stale was pinned down by bayonets, and
my right arm should have dropped from
my shoulder before I would have given
my hand jn peace while my State was
pinned down by bayonets. [Applause.]
When we felt that every State was the
equal of every other; that every JBSU in
every State was equal, white and black;
when the great Republican party, the
dominant party, the representative of
men whom we fought, came forward and
said, “We respect yon as men who
fought for your convictions as meu who
fought bravely,and as long as you could;’
when thev came forward and said that
to us of* the South, and extended the
hand of peace aud said: “We were oul.v
fighting to restore the Union, come back
into the household of States, come back
to the hearthstones of your fathers,” I
felt that better things would bo accom
plished. I felt as a Southern man, as a
Southern soldier, as a rebel, if you
choose, I could come back. [Applause.]
I told the men in Illinois that I had
fought them as long and as hard as I
could, and I would have been fighting
them new if I had been ordered to do so.
They honored and respected me for it,
and thal is the way for ns io meet, as
brave men should meet; if not forgetting
the past, at least drawing a curtain
over it, looking not at the bloody past,
which is full of sorrows to all of ns, but
looking forward to a brighter and
higher future, when all of as can march i
bravely, honestly aud truthfully, each '
one doing his dptv to the whole country, •
leaving the consequences to God. [LoDg 1
and continued applause.]
THE PRESIDENTIAL, PARTY.
From to Atlanta anti Thence Back
Via l.> nt bhurs—Will They t'ome to Au
gusta f
Washington, September 21.-—The
Presidential party is at Knoxville to
day, and go thence to Atlanta. Gov.
Wade Hampton left the party for home
last night.
Knoxville, September 21.—Tlie Pres
idential party arrived here at 10:30, a.
m. The reception was very fine. The
streets were densely jammed with peo
ple.
Lynchburg. September 21.—Postmas
ter-Geuero 1 Key telegraphs from Knox
ville that the President will go to At
lanta to-night, and return to Knoxville
on Saturday night, and that Tie expects
to be in Lynchburg about 2, p. m., on
Monday.
Knoxville, September 21.—The Presi
dential par.y left on the 10 o’clock train
for Atlantal and will return Saturday
night to Knoxville and pass the Sab
bath.
Atlanta, September 21.—Governor
Hampton arrived in this city this morn
ing, and made a speech to a large and
enthusiastic crowd to-night in the Capi
tol. Extensive preparations have been
made for the reception of the President
to-morrow.
NOTES ON THE NEW CONSTITUTION.^
A Hevirw of t!** Instrument Proposed for
Ratification—The First of the Serien—The
Hood in the Convention—The Sections Re
lating to Railroads.
Editors Chronicle and Constitutionalist:
I have thought about, aud prepared
the following notes on the new Consti
tution. Not without trepidation do I
accept your invitation and give them to
the public. For while my church, in
her solemn ritual, is ever sending np to
the throne of mercy, the fervent prayer,
“From bfttle and murder, and from
sudden death, Good Lord, deliver us ! ”
—Mr. Hill tells us—the man that op
poses this Constitution will die so fast
that he won’t know what hnrt him. But
when I reflected, that our eloquent Sen
ator may be indulging in those fignres
of speech with which a rich imagination
has so copiously endowed him, and
by allowance of metaphor had used
“ political life ” in the sense of “ politi
cal livelihood” —that the orator did not
mean a civil demise, but an extinction
of official existence only—l again took
heart.
I could wish that the instrument had
received more investigation and less
laudation. It is an irvidious du
ty to discover flaws where eveiyoody is
inventing praises, and amid the clamor
that cries “off with the old, and on with
the new,” to question the grounds of
the load hurrah.
In doing so, however, I promise that
if I nothing extenuate, I have naught set
down in malice.
Very respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
Jos. Ganahl.
Augusta, September 14th, 1877.
The Hood In the Instrument.
Mr. Toombs says, in bis Atlanta
speech, that one thing is certain, that
the Constitution elect will do no harm.
And there is some truth in the remark,
for compared with the evil the Conven
tion threatened, the wrong actually done
is wonderfully small; nay, it has done
some good.
The wild scheme of equalizing rail
road freights, which would have driven
all through business out of tho State,
and the robber device of armiDg every
blackguard* informer with a quo war
ranto, to hack at, and levy blackmail
from every corporation iu the land were,
thank God, for the honor of our State,
iu this Convention of our people, voted
down.
And in its place I see a provision,
thanks to Hammond, of Fulton, which
heartily commends itself to my re
gard. I refer to the clause which in
hibits the Legislature from revoking
a charter, except in such manner as to
work no injustice to the corporators, or
the creditors of the incoiporutiou. As the
law now stands, the General Assembly
may revoke a franchise unless the power
be negatived in the grant. This new lim
itation upon the Legislature is eminent
ly wise. It secures all rights of prop
erty acquired under a charter, and gives
to corporations and their creditors the
protection of the Courts.
Again, I like the provision by which it
is made the duty of the Legislature, to
enact laws for the punishment of fraud
and for reaching the property of the debt
or concealed from the creditor. All think
ing men will agree with me, that the chief
concern of government, under our insti
tutions at least, is the protection of
property. Liberty and person are se
cure enough, but property, so long as it
rests in contract rights, does not, under
the present Constitution, nor the law,
receive due protection. The rights of
creditors are the last thing subserved
under our system. To relieve the mis
fortunes of the debtor when they are
often his misdeeds, engages the atten
tion of the Constitution, consumes the
time of the Legislature, and exercises
the ingenuity of our Courts.
Regulation of Railroads.
Some of the harm, and much of the
merit attributed to the new Constitu
tion fail to challenge my regard. Mak
ing it the duty of the Legislature to
regulate railroad freight and passenger
tariffs looks at first frightful enough,
but when we reflect how the Courts will
expound the provision, we shall find that
this, too, as Mr. Toombs says, “will do
no harm.” Properly construed, and
held within the limits that contracts re
main unimpaired, it is no new grant of
power, but is only a part of the inhe
rent duty of sovereignty to police its
own institutions, and to regulate them,
that they do not infringe upon the rights
of individuals or tho well being of the
State.
It is clear that when the State has
once by charter prescribed the limits
within which a corporation may charge
for freights and passengers, its super
vision thereafter extends only to seeing
that the terms are kept. There is not, I
apprehend, a railroad in tho State whose
charter does not provide for this matter-
The right, once granted, is protected
against the intervention of the Leg
islature. It becomes a contract,
which no subsequent law may impair—
the grant of a special privilege, which
cannot be revoked for the obvious rea
son that the revocation would work in
justice to the corporation or its credit
ors.
Perhaps the only exception to the
above is tho company holding a lease of
the Western and Atlantic Railroad. But
this corporation is under the protecting
care of Governor Joseph E. Brown. I
doubt not he will be equal to the occa
sion. He has met Mr. Toombs on other
fields and came out with pluck and hon
or, and here, too, doubtless, he will
prove an over-match for the author of
Constitutional war on the railroads of
his State. You may be sure, “It will
do no harm.”
While we admit that tho mischief here
may—fhanks to the Courts !—be not
great, it is not possible to pass by the
subject without reprehending the spirit
that incorporated this species of legis
lation in the organic law. It is the ves
tige of a crusade made in the Conven
tion against the railroads of the State—
where the people were arrayed against
their institutions, and all tho troubles
in the laud laid at the door of these, the
indispensable common carriers of all
civilized mankind. One orator —to
goad the passi jns—soared to the limit
of calling them, the tax gatherers, the
perpetuities, the monopolists and
I robbers of the land assembling
i their magistrates from time to time
at the Kimball House to make
laws, and' to determine how pinch
and what of the peoples means
they should take— striding like a Colos
sus over the country, destroying the
mills of Wilkes county, appropriating
ev -.rv discovery of science, every inven
tion* of a* 4 until they had even dared
with stuirjiegeous It and to rob the light
ing from us’koMuS JSth® Havens .
It was sad to purs gjj asseid mage
statesmen, that failed to recognize the
tact so well realized by these corpora
tions themselves, that the prosperity of
railroads depends upon the prosperity
of their customer, the people—that the
welfare of the pne is bound up with the
welfare of the other—that if the people
be poor the railroads must get poorer.
Yet at one time in this Convention, a
looker on might have supposed, that it
had assembled for the special purpose
of adjusting a quarrel of the village of
Americas wffk fcjae Central Railroad
and Banking Gompany of Georgia, be
cause with but one railroad famished to
this settlement, it had to pay heavier
freight than its neighbor, Albany, that
happened to be supplied with three.
It may not be in Magna charta, but
the spirit in the English heart that
exacted these birth-rights of liberty
from a tyrant is the same that cries
shame upon the man who strikes another
on the ground. We have all suffered,
individuals and corporations, especially
have railroads suffered. But when out
of sixty millions, forty njiljions of their
money have shrunk and gone, eaten up
byffieree competition, to the sufferance of
many a widow and orphan, and to the
gain of the people at large, there
was neither valor nor justice, because
they lay thus prostrate and broken, in
stamping them under foot and villifying
them with every epithet known to the
vocabulary of denunciation.
Oh ! That, as iu the days of old Repub
; lican Rome, some Meneuiua Agrippa had
; arisen to rebuke this cry of havoc, and
! point t|ie moral of sop’s familiar fable
: of how uu, 5-hole body must languish
1 when its members undertake to quarrel
with and fight each other.
What effect this clamor, when con
strued with the duty imposed of regu
lating railroad freights, may have upon
a Legislature—which the new Constitu
tion has retained from the present sys
tem, and degraded with every mark of
suspicion, so that its most illustrious
buckler swells with pride in the an
nouncement that the people’s treasury j
is forever locked and Darted against the |
peop’e’s representatives—it is Hard to.
say. What folly may not be attempted
by a General Assembly, that (according
to the propaunders of this Constitution)
is incompetent or unworthy of fixing
their own pay and cleat hue— yben it
cornea to use this apparent license to
pirate on rixty millions of private prop
erty it is impossible to conjecture.
Retroactive Laws— Unconditional Contracts
—The Bill ol Hlghts—Lobbying—General
Slovenliness—Municipal Debts.
Another provision in the Constitu
tion that looks harmful is not
difficult of remedy. I refer to the
clause prohibiting the passage of retro
active laws. These acts when not inju
riously affecting vested rights, are high
ly salutaiy, and are designated in the
books witn the complimentary term of
healing statutes. The’r only function
is to cure defects, and carry out the
true intent of parties, when it can be
done without impairment of right.
Their prohibition will make it necessary
for the Legislature (as was done in Ohio)
to provide jn9t and- equitable means by
which the Conrts may oure omissions,
defects and errors, in proceedings aris
ing from uon-oonformity with the laws.
So the harm ianot very great, and won’t,
it is hoped, last veiy long. Litigation
will be increased, and doubtless will be
extended. Bat a Constitution which
proposes a supply of cheap Jrdges, two
trials and two jnries in every case, has
sown a large crop of this artiole. This
is only an average specimen of the re
trenchment and economy so copiously
administered in this Constitution.
There are some absurd things in the
instrument of which the best that can
be said of them is that perhaps “they
will do no harm.” There is the provis
ion that the Judge of the Superior Court
shall give jndgment on unconditional
contracts in writing. An unconditional
contract is unconditional nonsense, be
cause there can exist no such thing. The
framers meant, I suppose, an uncondi
tional obligation. I don’t know and
can’t say. Where lawyers differ the
Courts must decide. And so beyond
the lawyers’ fees and the law’s delay, “it
will do no harm.”
In the first article of the Constitution
an article which assumes to declare the
objects of free government and the
principles that are to subserve ard per
petuate it—iu the Bill of Rights—where
the people are supposed to set out an
itemized bill of the rights which they
refuse to surrender to government, bat
reserve to themselves forever—we are
fetched up with the announcement that
lobbying shall be deemed a crime. This
is an odd place enough to find a penal
law. In a statute the capt ; on must in
dicate the subject matter of the enact
ment, or the Courts, as instructed by
this Constitution, will declare the law
void. No such rule obtains for the Con
stitution itself, and the incongruity
will, I suppose, “do no harm.” But the
evidences of bungling does not end with
seasoning a body of stale truisms with a
spice from the penal code. This clause
of the Constitution, with pragmatical
solemnity, denounces a crime which it
does not define. What the fathers in
tend by the term “lobbying,” which is
formally pronounced a public wrong, is
known only to the great Searcher of all
hearts, who will jndgd in mercy, and
distinguish the motives from the acts of
men. But here below, where we consti
tute human tribunals to expound its
meaning, it will remain secret for all
time.
Attendance by the citizens upon the
Legislature to procure redress of griev
ances or otherwise to solicit the action
of that body, may not only be inno
cent and meritorious, but is often the
only mode by which justice may bo at
tained. The right of the people to
petition government on all matters is a
principle whose denial would negative
the doctrine that all government is
made by aud for them. If the citizen
have the right to ask, tho obligation is
upon the legislator to hear and heed
him. Surely the discoverers of this
novel crime did not design to deprive
the citizen of this right, nor rolieve the
legislator of this duty. It is true, that
in the exercise of this right and the per
formance of this duty corrupt practices
may arise, which are proper subjects of
punitive legislation. And though this
undeniable proposition applies to every
human institution, still we hazard the
conjecture, that it was against these
evils, the authors of this provision in
tended to guard. But the language is
too loose to venture more than a guess.
As it stands it is senseless, and what is
senseless “will do no harm.”
Another curiosity I notice in this 3ill
of Rights. I refer to the provision for
ever forbidding suspension of habeas
corpus. The writ has never, to my
knowledge, been suspended by this
State, and likely enough never will be.
But I can conceive a condition of things
where its suspension, in case of wide
spread insurrection would be as neces
sary for the preservation of liberty as in
quieter times, the operation of the writ
securing this boon to the citizen. There
are exigencies in the history of States,
where to use the language of Blaokstone,
the people should surrender their liber
ty for a time in order to maintain it for
ever. May they never come unto us !
But if we ever do get into suoh a scrape
“it will do no harm." The United States
will help us out with the bayonet. That
Constitution guarantees to us a republi
can form of government, and though I
had rather not be indebted to it for fa
vors, still if my own State won’t provide
for my liberty, 1 must even take it where
I can get it.
This sort of slovenliness marks the
whole production. Under the same
“Bill of Rights” we find a regulation
about Court costs, and a scrap from the
law of libel, in company with the eter
nal interdiction of lotteries. As these
detachments from the Code fitted no de
partment of fundamental law, and were
too essential to be left with the Legisla
ture, it was due to their importance and
the requirements of symmetry that a
separate chapter had been furnished to
domicile the strangers. They would
have felt at home in an article entitled,
“Novel and miscellaneous enactments.’’
But it is too late for suggestions, and
we prooeed. Under the head of “Edu
cation” we find most important addi
tions to the power of the General As
sembly over taxation, and under the
head “of the power of the General As
sembly over taxation” only one para
graph out of peven treats on the subject
at all. Another paragraph of the ar
ticle asserts tho right of eminent do
main and the police power of the State,
the rest are devoted to corporations
iu general, and railroads in par
ticular. It is here we stumble
over those thundering injunctions that
that the Legislature take no stock in
corporations, or help them under any
circumstances; that it never remit the
forfeiture of charters, until the company
bo put on terms; that it regulate freight
charges and passenger tariff's for rail
roads; that it prevent them from help
ing each other or working together; and
that it puish them should they dare al
low a rebate, or accord a bonus. But
this jumble is a small matter. Some
body will find profit in analyzing, clas
sifying and digesting the mass. Then
will our Constitution be read, and then,
too, will come the Court. “ His fan is
in hi3 hand, and he will thoroughly
purge his floor, aud burn the chaff with
fire unquenchable.” This winnowing
process may take time, make litigation
and cost money; but it is too neatly
hidden for the people to see the tax —
and if they do, where’s the harm ?
Bar not the money been provided out
of the stricken wages iff onr public
servants?
ffje crowning merit claimed for the
Constitution of stopping the loan of
State credit and restricting municipal
debts is more apparent than real. It
was an evil that had cured itself, and
i ceasC' 1 before tho inhibition came. Had
—Gitution provided efficient
this Uou*.. -'"tment of munici
remedies to enforce i riven
pal debts already contracted—am* 0
confidence in this species of property—
I had found much to admire. But to
prohibit cities from borrowing money
after their credit is gone is vain and
idle enongh. If vain and idle, of course
“it will do no harm.”
Local Laws—NoLocal Legislation Until 1880
-lion- It Tui Bv Oblninnl Then—A Re
striction That Is, In Effect, Prohibition.
I should like to give in my adhesion
to one part pf the Constitution that has
received the commendation of gentle
men whose judgment I prize. I refer
to the numerous restrictions put by
the instrument on the passing of local
and special laws. Some of these are
onerons, some indifferent, while the
operation of some appear to balk and de
feat this claes of legislation altogether.
The restrictions are, in Bnbstance, as fol
lows :
Ist. Notice of the proposed law must
be published in the locality to be effect
ed thirty days before introduction, in a
manner to be prescribed by the Legisla
ture.
2d. Evidence of the publication mast
be exhibited to both Houses of the
Legislature.
3d. The bill can originate in the
Lower, and least intelligent body of the
General Assembly only.
4th. The bill mußt first be submit
ted to a select committee of the House
appointed by the Speaker, embrac
ing one trom each Congressional Dis
trict; and this council of nine are to con
sider, consolidate and report upon it.
5. If this committee shall fail to re
port or £ee fit to report adversely, the
bill is not to be heard at all, unless two
thirds of the House 'determine otherwise.
6th. This special committee is to be
appointed within five days after organi
zation of the General Assembly, and
within fifteen days after organization
every bill must be before it.
7th, If the bill fail to reach the com
mittee within the appointed time, two
thirds ugain of the whole House is re
quired to gei it there,
The statement of many of these con
ditions carry their own comment, borne
of them are yet to be determined by act
of the Legialatnre, and as the required
enactment ‘•annot be madetill 1878, the
door against ary inckl legislation what
ever is shut until The meeting of the
second Legislature, under themew in
strument, in }BBO. We think the same
result is practically accomplished for all
time. We call at-ention to the character
and functions of this choice ooinmittee
into whose hands all local legislation is
so confidently committed. As to these
lawg this committee of nine is virtually
a third House—not selected by, not
known by the people,(but born after five
days gestation of the Mr. Speaker—
springing perfect, like Minerva, from
the head of Jove, full panoplied, with
legislative and veto power.
The Constitution is fermenting every
where with bitter suspicions against tlio
other two branches of the legislative
body. It refuses to trnst them with
their per diem and mileage, with
the pay of their presiding officers or the
wages of their clerks. They are guarded
even against the obscure persuasions of
champagne and oysters. This seducer
is renounced to the penitentiary; lobby
ing is decreed a crime). They are close
ly watched at every step in the progress
of every act. Their proceedings are in
public, and the text of every bill must
be promulgated three separate times, on
three separate days. And not even
when the bill has become a law are
these doubts hushed. Every statute
must be tested by the evidence of the
record. The journals of each House are
invoked to prove that what the Legisla
ture has pronounced a law, has really
received the due number of their votes.
But these dark shadows are only cast
upon the representatives seat up by the
people. A joyous confidence beams
upon the new daughter of the Constitu
tion—so wise and so fair—who shall
wield the sceptre of local legislation 1
Her deliberations are in private, her
presence chamber is closed from public
intrusion, her counsels are shrouded
from vulgar scrutiny. None may ques
tion her motives, no one ask her rea
sons, and no power—save two-thirds of
the whole House—may gainsay her
judgments.
Bui, to leave metaphor, let us see how/
this monopoly will practically work.
From the very nature of its composition,
eight of this committee do not live in,
and are not presumed to know the
wants of the community to be effect
ed by the proposed law. The ninth mem
ber may reside hundreds of miles away
and be delegated from a section whose
interests are as variant as the differences
of industries, pursuits and environment
can make them. For instance, the mem
ber of this select committee, from the
First Congressional District, would
likely enough be a gentleman from Sa
vannah, sent up from Chatham, from
his peculiar fitness to represent the in
terests of a commercial emporium.—
Ware county ou the opposite borders of
the State, but in the same District,
plants corn, raises wire grass, cuts tim
ber, and holds sway over much of the
Okefoaokeo Swamp. Because a remote
and poor section is the greater reason
why she may suffer a particular griev
ance, demanding particular relief. To
this end, her intelligent son, McDonald,
is elected to the House—delegated to
explain the wrong and obtain the reme
dy. No! Says the Constitution, in
general matters, Mr. McDonald, you
have an equal voice, but matters which
exclusively concern your particular con
stituents are under the espionage of
the commercial deputy of the seaport,
who with eight other strangers, will
regul'.te your neighborhood troubles.
Un’ess the privy council of nine shall
see fit to consider your bill, or consoli
date it with other matter in hand, or if
for some reason known only to them
selves, this close communion fail to re
port or report adversely, you get not the
ear of the Legislature. A forlorn hope
is left. You can try and muster one hun
dred and seventeen men out of one hun
dred and seventy-five to let you in. But
here you will hardly succeed; one hun
dred and seventeen men rarely under
take a business committed to somebody
else.
Another peculiarity in these restric
tions deserves notice. I’refer to the
fifteen days limited for the reception of
these bills. The first business that will
engross the time of the Legislature is
the elections. In addition to United
States Senators, all the Judges and
Solicitors-General are to be elected by
joint ballot of the House and Senate.
Those who within the present year
have had occasion to see this same Leg
islature elect a Senator, when but one
office, and fairly but two candidates
were before them—and have witnessed
the excitement, the feeling, the con
fusion, not to speak of the coaching,
the wire-pulling, and log-rolling, that
beset this electoral body, may form a
slight conception of the scene, when,
from every part of the State, any num
ber of candidates —for offices high and
and low—with armies of friends and
backers—shall throng and press the
Capitol for the votes of the General As
sembly—
Then will the cauldron teem and seetho—
And with
Double, double, toil and trouble.
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble!
if it took a week last Winter for the
Legislature to settle down from the
election of Mr. Hill to the Senate of
the United States, two weeks and one
day is a short allowance for the new
work of the same kind imposed by the
new Constitution. Yet it is exactly
within theso fifteen days, so utterly
absorbed in matters foreign to legisla
tion that the new Constitution selects
exclusively for the digestion and presen
tation of all local and special bills to
this select committee of nine.
The result is that, in many cases at
least, these provisions will not restrict
but proscribe local and special laws.
How the aocount will stand between
too much and practically none of this
kind of legislature I am not prepared
to say, but in this aspect only can
these provisions of the new Constitu
tion be said that—“lt. will do no harm.”
In avoiding one rock the Constitution
has split upon'another.
This part of our garden was over
grown with noxious plants. A prudent
husbandry would have given it careful
weeding. Does the Constitution per
form this duty ? It is easy to demolish,
it is difficult to construct; but to make
a waste and call it peace gives title to the
freebooter, not the statesman. To con
serve the precious while he destroys the
baneful; to burn the tares whilo he gar
ners the wheat— hie labor, hoc opns
est ! To this toil, to this work, is the
statesman called.
VVlmt Done Willi the Executive—Wliat is the
Legislature and What Huh Been Done to
It ?—The SyNtem of Representation.
That the new Constitution will do
no harm is not an answer to the inquiry
of those who are invoked to vote for
and ratify it. The question is, Has it
responded to its call ? Does it perform
its trust ? Will it do any good ? The
province of a Constitution is to dis
tribute the sovereign powers into their
three departments—to determine the
limits of and organize the executive,
legislative and judicial branches of gov
ernment. What has the new instrument
done with these ?
With the executive department it
has done much. As to the propriety of
taking from it all patronage and turning
the Legislature into an electoral body,
we shall speak hereafter. At present
we notp that the Constitution has left
our Governor in a palace furnished with
damask and supplied with gas. But
as indemnity for this display, it re
stricts his salary to the stipend allowed
to a first class dry goods olerk. As the
instrument has not gone back on the
term or the salary of the present incum
bent recently voted to him with his of-
t yl aa nobody liere
fioe by tne Chief Mag ; s .
after will apply for
tracy of this great State without lum.-'
tice that the style and hospitalities befit
ting the exalted station must be met
out of his own pocket, we may again
say, “It will do no harm.” The Guber
natorial Chair is only another monopoly
for the rich. But this is the last of this
refrain. Let us inquire, What has the
Constitution done with the legislative
department of our government ?
Nothing that can be said will add to
the reprobation denounced in the Con
vention against the Legislature. The
slight, early in its session, put upon the
people’s Executive, is lost to yiew when
we witness the contempt lavished upon
the people’s representatives. Indeed,
after the fatigue of distant and foreign
excursions from the province of general
legislation, abuse of the Legislature was
the favorite diversion of many members
of the Conventioa. Jn their eyes, the
only legislative act thatsav.ute4 virtue
was that which had called them togeth
er, All else was wrong. The deficits
reckoned sp in these accounts against
our law jojakere furnished the fathers
with a convenient pretext to stretch
their commission, and besides a Consti-
tution, to make laws for the people. But
censure of the Legislature was not
measured by its failure to frame the
laws, which the Conventioners were un
der the urgent necessity to ordain, The
net was cast wide and deep, and not a
minnow, not a grub, not a small fry of
detraction escaped the meshes. The
science at figures was invoked to fix with
mathematical precision ths exact extent
of the ignominy. One gentleman, a
member of the Convention, and likewise
of the Legislature, and who appeared
to speak with the authority of an ex
pert, was at the pains to apply to the
subject the analysis of arithmetic. By
th’s process he reduced the collective
capacity of the General Assembly com
posed of two hundred and nineteen head
to the actual count of forty-five men.
Not being present ourself, we do not
vouch for the statement, but Mr. Ham
ilton, of Floyd, is reported by the news
papers to have declared on {be floor of
the Convention that only forty-nve
good men, who tried to do their duty,
could be found in the present Legisla
ture. The figures are appalling—only
bne-fifth of the people’s representatives
worthy of their trust. We are thank
ful there were just enough to call the
yeas and nays before a bill could be
carried on division.
If the Convention or any body else
mean to charge corruption or vice upon
the Legislature of Georgia, I must differ
with them. They are aa honest and as
well minded as any average body of two
hnndred and nineteen men, and did the
best that they knew how. They are not
bad, but iguorant. Their shortcomings
are not due to sloth or indifference, but
to ignorance, :.nd their transgressions
not to depravity of heart, but to the
same ignorance combined with an ambi
tion that aspired to do good.
The historian of civilization, to whom
we owe so many truths, has revealed one
in stronger light than any other. It is,
that mankind owes more suffering to the
follies of ignorance than to the orimes
and vices of their rulers. For the moral
sense, the same in all ages, revo’ts at
crime, and sooner or later is aroused to
punish the evil doer ; and by inevitable
law vice brings its own wages of suffer
ing and death. But nothing can pierce
the obtuse armor of ignorance. The
more sincere and devoted the subject,
the more impenetrable this coat of mail
—and then to fearless bigotry are added
the horrors of fanaticism. The blun
ders of ignorance are bad enough, but
God save His creatures from tho calami
ties that arise from zeal without knowl
edge. It is through these (Buckle has
shown) that the best and purest of men
have wrought more woe than the com
bined achievements of ambition, tyranny
and lust.
These are all sufficient to explain the
trouble and tell: How, after the cut
purses of the realm were driven out and
the Legislature changed its color and
its politics, evils still remained ; because
fraud and ignorance were followed only
by ignorance and fidelity. How reckless
| and wicked appropriation of the State’s
credit was succeeded by reckless and
indiscriminate repudiation of the State’s
obligations. How the collection laws of
the State of Georgia have become a by
word and reproach—where a solveut
debtor may put his property in his
pocket and scout his creditor to the
face—where a man may die insolvent
and leave his widow and family rich.
How three successive Legislatures re
fused relief to a citizen who had bought
bonds on the faith of the legislative
declaration of their binding obligation
upon the State, only because they could
not understand the merit of the claim
and the dishonor of its repudiation.
How general laws were drawn so loose
that the Courts could not expound
them, and, so soon as made intelligible,
amended and thrown back into confu
sion. How local and special laws were
passed without number and object, and
were changed faster than they could be
read or heeded. How tax laws were en
aoted, that after years of litigation were
returned by the Supreme Court of the
United States marked “ unconstitu
tional nnd void.” How, finally, those
unfortunate beings, the convicts of the
State, entrusted to civilized society for
punishment and for reform, have been
knocked down to the accepted bidder,
farmed out for revenue, and the
spectacle presented of the State of Geor
gia banking ou her own crime ! All
this, too, in the name of, for, and in be
half of the people. Never ! My people,
tho people of Georgia, could never
weigh money against dishonor ! could
never measure a breach of trust at twen
ty-five thousand dollars per annum !
But these abuses were to come to an
end. Another sort of representation
would be given to the people. For this
was the Convention called. For this
did it meet. For this did it organize,
and for this was an illustrious gentle
man, whom the youth call tho “Great
Commoner,” more recently characterized
as “the keystone of the intellectual
arch, the immortal Toombs” made
chairman of the legislative committee.
What was done? More in sorrow than in
aDger —with disappointment and with
shame, we answer—nothing !
The vice in the present Constitution
was flagrant; the remedy was clear. The
Convention neither destroyed the one
nor applied the other. The taint at the
vitals is left untouched. The Conven
tion did not skin or film the ulcerous
place, whilst rank corruption mining all
within infects unseen. It was called to
revise and amend the organic law. Had
it performed the duty of revision, it
would have found that all the ills of the
body fetch their head and spring from
this one source. Had it performed the
duty of amendment it would have ap
plied knife and cautery. In place of a
running sore, it would have planted a
system by which the General Assembly
had borne the image and superscription
of their Cseuir, had approved itself the
true coin and pure gold from the miut
of the people.
To verify the above charges, lot us
briefly refer to the first principles of
free government and contrast them with
a few facts and figures from the rep
resentative system of our State.
It is clear—that if the theory of re
publican government be true—if gov
ernment be made by and for the peo
ple—if their will be indeed the law—
this will can only be clearly defined and
truly expressed whon everywhere, but
especially in the law working depart
ment of tho State, this people are
clearly and truly represented. Exact
representation would make republican
government as perfect in practice as it
is perfect in theory. Every departure
from this exact representation is prac
tically a lapse from the intent and pur
pose of free government. But to ignore
and to antogonize the principle, is noth
ing short of usurpation—whatever other
government be left, it can neither be re
publican nor free. Let us pause for a
moment, and inquire what are these
people whose will should be law. They
are not a herd to be counted by the
head. Besides numbers, they own
property, pay taxes, and live in com
munities. Aggregate these and you
have that political sovereign entity,
known as “the people.” Give to each
of these factors—to population, prop
erty, taxation, and community interest—
their just and due authority in the coun
cils of State, and the aim of republican
government will have been reached. The
people are enthroned. Failing in this,
no contrivance of State craft, no limita
tion upon power, no check upon wrong
will avail. They are vain expedients,
the makeshifts, and quicksands, for the
rock upon which free government is
founded. This attained, all other
troubles are light and transient, for the
sovereign is there. His will prevades—
his faithful guardsmen garrison the
Commonwealth.
This absolute excellence is, of course,
unattainable where imperfection is inci
dent to humanity. But the complaint
is that those fundamental principles are
not only disregarded, but opposed and
annulled. That our Legislature is not
apportioned on these durable bases of
free government., nor upon any basis,
principle, rule or warrant whatever;
that it is an arbitrary selection from the
body of tho people, and that, represent
ing nothing, it is responsible to nobody.
These charges we proceed to make true.
Legislative Appointment The Evil Made
Perpetual—The People At*k* for llread 9 the
ConNtitution (ilves a Tomb-Stone.
To present the abominations in our
prc-Eont representative system—a sys
tem to which the new Constitution
clings with every letter—we must refer
to a few dry figures, and contrast two
divisions of the State, differing vastly
in population, property and taxation,
and show their relative representation
in the House. The result will demon
strate that every constituent and doc
trine oi ”f nr esentati -n is disregarded
ana ;'J verPec *- We draw ,rnin the cen
sus of 1870 : • . t
Chatham county has a population P 1
41,279. Colquitt county of 1,064. The
population of Chatham is twenty-four
times and a fraction over that of Col
quitt. Chatham sends three Represen
tatives to the Home; Colquitt sends
one. Three into twenty-four goes oight
times. Result: Proper representation
in Colquitt is eight times greater than
in Chatham.
Again, property in Chatham amounts
to $25,257,940. property in Colquitt
amounts to $284,047? ’The property of
Chatham is one hundred and twenty
times and a fraotion over that of Col
quitt. Chatham has three ltepresenta
tives in the House, Colquitt one. Three
into one hnndred and twenty-three goes
forty-one times. Besult: Property rep
resentation in Colquitt is forty-one
times greater than in Chatham. Again,
Chatham pay* to the . State a tax of
$96,415. Colquitt pays tq the State a
tax of $547. The tak paid by Chatham
is one hundred and seventy-six times
and a fraction over that paid by Col
quitt. Chatham furnishes three Repre
sentatives' to the Souse, Colquitt fur
nishes one. Three into onp
and seventy-six goes fifty-three times.
Result;
That in the United Staten of America
—a cornin' :nity of Ilepuulics horn of
the principle—that taxation is the price
of protection and the measure of repre
sentation, there exists a Commonwealth
that in this regard taxes one portion of
its people fifty-five times more than an
other. 1 ' r
If it be said that this Is an extreme I
and exceptional case, let ns 1 try one at!
our doors—pertainly not' very much
above the average—let ps compare Rich
mond with its neighbor, Glascock. It
will bo found that Richmond haß nine
and a quarter times the population,
thirty-six and a quarter times the prop
erty, and pays thirty-six times the tax of
Glascock. In population Glascock has
three times, and in property and taxa
tion twelve times the representation of
Ricfamon.4-
The Senatorial representation does
not exhibit solecisms quite so extrava
gant. Bat the discrepancy is only less
preposterous, and the trifling gain here
is fully counterbalanced by two consid
erations: First, the Senatorial Districts
have no common interest or association
with one another, but are linked togeth
er from mere accident of contiguity. A
mercantile and manufacturing communi
ty is bound up with others whose inter
ests are purely agricultural. Second,
resulting from this absence of commu
nity relations, the practice called rota
tion has sprung up throughout the State.
Each county of the district in turn lays
olaim to and is awarded the Senalorship
as a special right and perquisite. In
this way the Senate has become hardly
more than another liouso to represent
the political divisions of the State, call
ed counties.
These anomalies in representation
have been the development of sixty
years, and commenced with the habit so
industriously exhibited within this pe
riod of creating new counties, without
modifying the legislative appointment
to fit the new order. Since 1817 the
counties of the State have grown from
39 to 137 in number.
It is obvious that the political divis
ions of the State might well he the con
trolling basis of representation in 1817,
when the thirty-nine counties varied but
little in population and property. It.
is just as obvious that nothing could
work more injustice than to make the
political divisions of the State the con
trolling basis of representatron, when
the 137 counties differed from each
other in population and property an
hundred fold. A rule —reasonable and
jnstin its origin—has continued for sixty
years after its reason had ceased. And
what in 1817 effected a just and reason
able representation, produced a mon
strous and fantastic misrepresentation
in 1877.
Just here the problem arose in the
Convention. Every county must have
representation. How to preserve this
and equalize the representation of pop
ulation and property, when these coun
ties differ so immensely in these regards,
was a question too great for its solutiou.
If the county with the least of these
have one member, equalization would
swell tho House into the proportions of
an army. If one member bo apportioned
to Colquitt, twenty-four, at the least,
must bo awarded to Chatham. At this
rate, tho members will count up a round
one thousand. This, too, in the face of
the cry for reduction which rang
throughout tho State. What was to he
done, the Convention did not know.
“Aud like tho rnaidon that lost her oar-rings in
the well,
Oh ! what to say to Masa ! Alas sho could not
tell.”
It will be observed that incident to
population aud wealth are education and
enlightenment. It is exactly, therefore,
in these qualities that a legislature must
be deficient, when the sparser tho popu
lation and smaller the means, the larger
relatively tho representation. No more
ingenious scheme; no premium on ignor
ance, could have- succeeded better in
securing its predominance among the
law makers of the State. Aud thus it
happened that an intelligent aud in the
main an accomplished people evolved a
benighted Legislature.
We have said the Constitution did
nothing. We beg pardon ! It saw the
whole mischief and traced it to tho
source. It did not remedy the evil—
this was to last forever—but it stopped
its increase. The Constitution interdict
ed the creation of new coun'ies. Thanks !
But to reform tho system, to abate the
nuisance, to root out an usurpation, to
give the people of a groat State a repre
sentation worthy of their material and
intellectual nature—these were beyond
the powers of a body, that had assumed
as their mission to tear down salaries
and upraid corporations.
The people asked for a government
republican in substance as in form; they
called for measures by which trusty
public servants servants worthy of
their confidence, with capacity to know
aud intelligence to execute their will
should fill the councils of State. They
asked for bread, the Convention gave
them a stone !
And what a stone ! On it the Con
stitution has written : “A represeuta
“ tion of the people in their collective
“ capacities of population, property and
“ intelligence cannot bo awarded them,
“ but instead thereof the body that now
“ usurps this function shall be shorn of
“ power, that it do no harm. The
“ liberty of the subject shall in no
“event be entrusted to them. Habeas
“ corpus shall never be suspended. The
“individual hardships that may flow
“ from non-compliance with the letter
“of a statute arc small when compared
“ with risking the remedy in un
“ worthy hands. Retroactive laws are
“foibiddeD. The right of taxation is
“sovereign and inalienable, a jewel too
“ precious for their touch. The Legisla
“ ture may classify property, and assess
“ the tax, but this Constitution alone
“ declares the law. It is true that it is
“ the State’s duty to nurture infant in
“ dustries—that grown prosperous may
“return tribute a hundred fold; tha
“ the crop, not the seed corn shouldt
“be taxed. But it is better to be
“guided by a law thataltereth not, than
“ to give discretion where it is sure to
“bo absurd. It is better that all prop
“ erly be taxed according to value, and
“ uniformly according to clasH, than a
“ benighted Legislature tamper with an
“ inalienable right. If it be hard that the
“ liquor that is compounded in medicine
“ should be taxod uniformly with the li
“ quor that is compounded into a dram.
“ If it be unwise to exact the same tribute
“ from private libraries and museums
“that are held to dispense "light and
“ exalt the taste, as from the like prop
“ errty held for profit and for gain, it
“is still harder, it is still unwiser, to
“ intrust distinctions to a body incapa
“ ble of perceiving differences. The
“ lash of the Constitution is easier borne
“than the scorpion of the Legislature.
“ Besides, wo make amends. In the
“ place and stead of ordinary functions
“ of legislation, we transform the Legis
“ lature into an electoral body to select
“ Judges for the people, and with confi
“ dence commit to their keeping the
“ regulation of railroad lreights and
“ passenger tariff.”
This is the Tomb-stone over the grave
of a just, free and equal representation,
tendered to the people by the Constitu
tion.
The Remedy—-Mr. Stephen*’ Elan—'The Jndi
clary—Finale.
Our argument has proceeded to show
that tho two main propositions upon
which the new Constitution rests for
public favor : First. That it will do no
harm. Second. That it has forever
barred the people’s Treasury against the
people’s representatives; are, instoad of
a defence and a distinction, the reproach
and the shame of that instrument. For
when summoned to do good, it is an
answer to say: “See I have done no
harm.” And tho dilemma is patent; if
it be p, glory to bar tho door agaiDst a
Representative, it tnqst be a shame that
such a Representative exist. If a ser
vant be unfaithful we dispiisp hipa, bpt
to retain him in service, aud deprive
him of the means of service, carries con
tradiction and folly cn its face. The
conclusion was inexorable that the peo
ple were not in Geoigia represented;
that this it was the duty of the Consti
tution to award; and that this duty had
not been performed.
Just here a friend, friendly to the
Constitution, makes the following criti
cism; “Your strictures are good, but it
is easy to find fault; you admit the evil
to be of long growth, |t is certainly dif
ficult of remedy; you have exposed the
poison, suggest tho cure.” To which
answering I said: “ This I cannot of
“ myself essay, but I may point you to
“ the statesman —a sure and ripe one—
“ who solved the problem, and whose
“counsels Intel (*2 mv humble
a juofiaent'i been heeded would, have
“ redeemed'the (lomPlQnffftW}.”
Early in the session ot the Conven
tion, when every heart beat buoyant—
exulting at a work so full and bright
with promise; when the last monument
of our defeat and shame should tumble
to the dust; when a Constitution made
hv Federal hands at the point of Federal
, - , ‘ and a free
bayonets was io pass
Eeople were once again to make and to
old their ofn tfSo government, Mr.
Alexander H. Stephens, in his invalid
chair, ws rolled into No. 46 Kimball
House,
I remember it was the day the Con
vention was arguing the propriety of
fixing the salaries of county officers, re
quiring them by bond and security to
return the overplus of their earnings
into the Treasury—that I paid my re
spects to the distinguished leader. The
weakness of body and physical ailments
of this martyr to disease were not more
apparent than the vigor of’ his under
standing and the ardor of his patriot
ism. Without the limbs that might bear
an enfeebled body, his mind was borne
away, transported at the political rege
neration that awaited the people he
loved ao well. It was not long before
the vital question of reforming the pres
ent representative apportionment was
asked. Mr. Stephens gratified me by
giving me his views. I do not under
take to impart them with the light and
terseness that belongs to their author,
and trust that I may not do his scheme
or his reasons injustice. They were, as
I remember them, substantially as fol
lows:
The political divisiops of the State
should have the fullest representation.
They form communities, and be the
counties great or small, they gradually
chrystalize into unities of interest and
sentiment. This obligation might be
met by giving to every county one del
egate, and the House of Representatives
be thus composed of one hundred and
thirty-seven members. This would make
the lower branch of the General Assem
bly a more wieldy body fo? deliberation
than the one hundred and seventy-five
members it now contains. Any inequal
ity here, arising from disparity between
tne counties, would be compensated by
the counties of greater population and
enlightmeut sending forward the abler
men. All sectional questions in the
counties would cease; as only one more
could be chosen, the best man would
doubtless be elected, independently of
where he happened to make hiß resi
dence. In this way the House would
embody at least a fair sample of the cit
izens of every county in the State.
But in the composition of the Senate,
did Mr, Stephens’ projpet manifest to
our mind,the constructive statesmanship
with which he is endowed, as it was
desirable that the General Assembly
should not be increased in numbers, or
be at additional expense to the State,
the Senate might be composed of the
balance from the total of two hundred
and nineteen, ard consist of seventy-two
in number. Instead of a bulky com
mittee, as now, of forty-four, it would
attain the dimensions of a compact de
liberative body. The State is divided
into nine Congressional Districts, equal
in population and varying but little in
property and taxation. To each of these
he proposed to give the selection of
seven Senators (making sixty-three),
and the nine remaining to be selected
by the State at large. Two classes of
first class men would in this manner fill
the chamber. Seven-eighths of the body
would be men whose reputations had, at
the least, extended to the limits of the
respective Congressional Districts, and
the other eighth, men whose names were
known and honored throughout the ex
tent of the State. A healthy emulation
would arise betweon the districts to
send up strong delegations. The honor
of a seat in such an assembly would
stimulate every lofty ambition, aud mus
ter into the State’s service the choicest
of the State’s sons.
Let us pause for a moment to consider
what demands of the body politic, Mr.
Stephens’ scheme would fill. It would
evolve a just and fair representation of
tho intelligence, integrity, and every
general and local interest of the Com
monwealth. Population, property, taxa
tion, and communities would respective
ly attain their due weight and consid
eration in the law-making department of
the government. Matters of local and
special concern would wisely be awarded
as tho province of the lower House.
Broad, progressive and conservative leg
islation would befit the higher chamber.
To such a Legislature the people might
risk safely, in time of extreme peril en
trust their liberties. No need for a de
cree that habeas corpus shall never be
suspended ! Tho power to enact laws
that repair wrong without impairing
right, though retroactive in form,
might securely be lodged with this
body. No call here for the creation of a
solect committeo to blockade local and
special legislation, for the whole Legis
lature is the select of the people. No
call here for the “Bill of Rights” to or
dain about Court oosts, about libel,
about lotteries; or, iu order that suoh a
body of the people’s representatives be
kept from temptation aud be delivered
from evil, to decree they be unapproach
able by thecitizen, whocomes topetition
fora frauohise or pray redress. A Senate,
one eighth of whom are selected along
with tho Governor and fro>e the State at
large, and with honor and dignity only
record to his own, would prove an all
sufficient check upon abuses in F.xecu
tive patronage, and a sure warrant for
the appointment of the best meu. No
need then for an applicant to engage in
a pandemonium, pressing, begging and
log-rolling with members, who cannot
be acquainted with, and are too ig
norant to judge of the merits of
the candidate. To this body might
safely be committed the subject of taxa
tion; of what and how the taxes should
be levied; of when their remission would
work material advantage, and their exac
tion material detriment to the State,
Such a protectorate would be all compe
tent to determine when aud how a ju
dicious loan of the State’s credit, with
out danger of eventual liability, might
develop the resources of a great empire,
and reap the harvest of wealth that is
only awaiting tho enactment of wise
laws, by wise and good men. Oh ! for
ten lines of reform in tho place of whole
chapters of folly!
But the Convention neither heard nor
heeded the wise mnn. The Legislative
Committee, whose business was of tho
first importance, was the last to make
its report, and when made, failed to
touch the vital point. The subject
reached the Convention when that body
had fatigued the public, and was at last
tired itself. It came, too, in the midst
of the dire excitement—in the clash of
resounding arms ! When that heroic
charge was made on the wicked rail
roads, defended by corrupt corporators
with their hireling officers and subsidi
zed attorneys. Exhausted by this bat
tle, the Convention, shortly after, made
its bow and retired.
Tho remaining department of the gov
ernment, the judiciary, closes these
notes. What has the Constitution done
with this ? It might bo suffio ; ent to add
what has already been indicated that the
Constitution filters tho administrators
of this branch of government through a
Legislature which does not represent
the people, and which the in
strument itself degrades with ig
nominy. It bars the door of the
Treasury upon the very men whom it
designates to appoint the guardians of
the person, the property and liberty of
the people. But this is not all. The
positions of power, of honor, of useful
ness that belong to the learned and
liberal profession of the law should
be the prizes awarded to its
most eminent aud worthy followers.
Among the strong provocatives of Hhaks
pearo’s subtle reasoner to suicide are,
“The pangs of despised love and the
law’s delays not the least among the
rights wrested from King John in Mag
na Charta is that “Justice shall not be
delayed.” When tho salaries attached
to the judgeships are too small to com
mand the best talent, the ripest experi
ence, and tho highest character at the
bar ; when no lawyer ef practice and
ability, without largo means or without
family, can assume the ermine—because
the compensation is inadequate to meet
the wants of ordinary culture—inferior
men must hold theso exalted trusts, and
delay in the law, dolay in the adminis
tration of justicp, is tho result inevi
table.
You may count to the dollar and cent
what is stricken from salaries, but tho
tax paid by a people in tho delay of
justice and in the delay of the law is
simply incalculable.
Again: If we would cherish State
pride aud State love, we must accord its
posts of honor and spheres of usefulness
to the State’s best. sons. If the State
allow but niggard requital for service,
while the central government awards
fair emoluments to its officers, we must
not be surprised if the dignity of the
State become the lower in public esteem.
When lowered sufficiently in publio re
gard}, the transition is easy Rom sov
ereign States of the Union to police dev
partments of the nation called the
“United States of America." It is in
vain that you cry glory to States’ Rights
when you cry down tho State's offices
and fill them cheap.
The eost is not to be counted in dol-
lars—only in danger to republican in
stitutions !
The lowest salary given by the Fed
eral Government to the lowest class of
its Judges is one sixth more than what
the Constitution allows to the highest
infßcjal office of thp fifigte. Judge Era?
sine, of the Distriat Court receives
$3,500, with handsome mileage, per an
num. The Hon. Hiram Warner, Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court ot the
State of Georgia, receives $3,000.
It is no answer to say (as Mr. Toombs
does): There is ro danger, there will
bo plenty of candidates. There is no
gopsp;ipt jaw t° pialfe a man hold offieq
like there wks to’ umke him fight, ‘the
State is as independent as the nigger
who sold short driuks, ajid says to every?
body who complains of short pay, “If
you don’t like it jes pour it hack in de
jug.” Doubtless, there will be plenty
of candidates, for the lower the olEn*
♦ Ua ” •
more tne applicants : the more the
quantity the less in quality,
I had intended to note other features
of this Constitution. How without
changing the character of the Legisla
ture, it turns out one in December next,
that was elected one year before, to
make way for another that will not serve
for a year thereafter. What for ? That
the 219 candidates may carry the Con
stitution before the people along with
themselves into office.
I had some thoughts about the con
stitutional tax law—that cuts a knot but
does not solve a problem. Especially
did I propose to animadvert op the pro
vision that makes amendment to the in-
strument so extremely difficult and
rarely possible—l mean the provision
that a proposed amendment shall be
carried by the majority of the whole
electoral vote of the people. But lam
oppressed by the wealth of my topic.
It is too much for one time and one pen.
tiKNATOR IIOUY DEAD.
Senator Lchlh V. Rogy, of fMNourl, Diet* of
AbtiCcuH of the Ijiver.
St. Louis, September 20.—United
States Senator Lewis V. Bogy died at
eleven o’clock this morning. He had
been afflicted with malarial feyer fo‘r
several months, and lately an abscess of
the liver was discovered, which hasten
ed or perhaps directly caused his death,
llellciouii Cookery.
The lightest, sweetest, most whole
some and delicious Vienna rolls, tea bis
cuits, bread, muffins, flannel cakes,
crullers, and all articles prepared from
flour, are always possible tp every table
by using Dooley’s Yeast Powder. This
celebrated Baking Powder has stood the
critical test of the best housekeepers
and the consuming pnblio generally of
America for twenty years. It is abso
lutely pure, and always of uniform
strength. The genuine is put up in
eans. Most all good grocers sell it.
Husband—“ That beastly dog. I can’t
enter the room withunt his biting my
legs.” Wife, pensively—“ Poor little
creature; he is so intelligent,”