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OLD SE LI I EH, VOL. LXXVI.
(Chronicle & icutinrl.
11 i:>ir v' moobe,
a. It. UllKillT.
PATRICK IV.VI.sH, Associate Krtltor.
TIK 'I- «>1 -I liM KJI’TION.
\ t res CHITA,' GTA :
KKl»fthim MOK.MNb, AIM.'SI ■>.
Scott k Magazine.—We have received
the August number of this valuable South
ern Monthly. In addition to the usual va
riety, the present number contains seve
ral very able and interesting articles, which
will Well repay perusal. The Magazine is
published by Phillips & Crew, Atlanta, Ga.,
at the low price of $4 00 a year.
Free Baiuiecue.—We have been re
quested to state that a Democratic Free
Barbecue will be given on the Georgia
Railroad, at the 21 mile post, in Columbia
county, on the Bth of August. Generals
Toombs, Cobh and Wright and lion. B.
11. Hill have been invited to address the
people, and have signified their acceptance
of the invitation. Lot there be a grand
rally of the Democracy of Columbia and
the adjoining counties.
Crop Phompeots in Screven County.
—-The following extract from a private
letter to agentlcrpar, in this eity and dated
the 2,5 th inst., gives rather an encourag
i»g account of the crops in Scriven :
"We have suffered some from drought,
but we arc having rain now. crops are im
proving. There is much lew Cotton plant
ed this year and it looks better than
usual. Corn is very low generally but
-hoots pretty well. I think crops will turn
out hotter than farmers think. The people
her • are satisfied with the Democratic
candidate fur the I’residency.”
Revolt in Jail.—lt seems that the
Chain Gang do not relish the new uniform
wl lich a recent decree of the Military
Council of this city requires them to wear.
On Sunday morning last, when it was at
tenipted to put it upon them, the entire
gang resisted, and attempted to get out of
the jail. They have wrecked the rooms in
which they were confined, bending some
of the iron bars ol one of the doors ; hut
they were soon subdued by the jailor, Mr.
S. S. f’arduc, and his assistant Mr. A. B.
Crump, who finally succeeded in getting
all hut four of thorn to put on the uniform.
These latter were being put through a
course of sprouts, yesterday morning, and
will havo to give iu.no doubt,as the others
have done.
The (party went out to work yesterday
morning with their prison uniform, utter
ing imprecations upon the heads of the
Scalawags,as they said,who hail forced this
insult upon them !
lien. Hill’s (ifcat Speech.
We present to our readers this morning
a rich treat, in the great speech delivered
in Atlanta by the lion. B. 11. Hill, on the
2.'id instant. Wo need not invoke for it a
careful perusal. Wo know that it will
be read with interest and delight by all true
Southern men.
This is the only authorized copy of that
great-effort, and we have t pared neither
pains or expensoto secure it for the grati
fication of our readers.
W r u shall print several thousand copies
of this great speech, as the best campaign
document which has yet been issued from
the press. We invite orders from the
different Democratic Clubs in the State,
and will supply all who may desire it at a
price bnroly covering the cost of printing.
Send along your orders at once, as the
first to order will bo the first served.
Tlie Affray on Monday Night.
Wo have but little to add to the par
ticulars of the bloody affray of Monday
night last, which we save iu our issue of
yeiterday. Those particulars are sub
stantially correct, and Rive the very best
evidence of the unprotected oondition of
our unfortunate city, and the necessity of
taking sueb action as will place our muni
cipal affairs in the hands of those who
havo the right to conduct them.
The Police officers had no more right
to interfere in this affair than wo had;
and when they fired upon citizens, who
were not engaged in the commission of any
crime, they been tno at once liable to the
severest penalties of the law, and will, no
doubt, be prosecuted to its farthest ex
tent.
(’apt. f’icquet, a gentleman with one
leg, w:,s arrested and kept in Jail all night.
Hail was offered and refused! Yesterday
morning he was brought before 8. Levy,
acting as Mayor and Recorder, and charged
with a violation of the 21st Section of the
General Ordinance, a bailable offence!
lie fore ho could plead guilty or not guilty,
Mr. Levy announced that the case would
bo continued, on amount ol’tho absence of
material witnesses. Upon consultation
between the counsel, the investigation was
fixed for Monday week,
Mr. Redd died about seven o'clock last
evening. The other parties are all doing
well.
We have no doubt that the entire affair
will undergo judicial investigation and
proper punishment be meted out where
deserved.
| COMMUNICATE.] f
BaXDKRSVIt.t.f, Ga., July 25, 1868.
Eiiitors (')ironicle & Sentinel: Permit a
Dutchman the privilege of occupying a ■
small space in your columns. He claims !
it on the score of “ having done the Btate j
some service iu times that tried meu’s I
fin sneeiul Telegram from Atlanta, in 1
last Friday's issue of your valuable paper,
contains extracts from the s’leieh made
1 y Judge Wm. Gibson at Atlanta, before 1
i Radical crowd, which outherods Joe
Brown in his advocacy of Radicalism. j
Your reporter says: ‘'that the Ex-Col- !
onel of the -Gth Georgia instituted an i
elaborate parallel between the negroes and
foreigners and ended by declaring that he ;
“would rather entrust negroes with the 1
ballot than Irish and Dutch.
1 could hardly believe my senses, when I
l read i\ that such sentiments were ex- .
pressed by Judge Gibson, who presided in
I See ov er the Senate and was subsequent- ]
ly elected to t*-» Judgeship of the Middle ■
Circuit, upon his war record, over the head j
of as pure a man as ever drew breath; that |
this is the identical Judge Gibson ut>on j
whom (in the fullsome language of a
Washington County Grand Jury) the 1
mantle of the lamented Judge Holt has !
so worthily fallen ; that this is the same j
Judge Gil -on who remarked to Sheriff
Mayo, of this County, at the last March!
Term: “That whenever it would be made i
his (the Sheriff’s) duty to summon negro i
jurors, he (the Judge) would not want to
sit on tlic l K'iieh any longer;’’ that this is
the same Judge Gibson who, when about
to come in contact with Gen. Pope’s negro
Jury order at the close of the last Septem
ber Term of Washington County Court,
did shi t the responsibility of drawing a
Jury, for the March Term, upon the In
ferior Court, by requesting said Court not
t> do the drawing until after the Ist of
January.
It is deplorable, indeed, to witness a mau
occupying the exalted position Judge Gib
s n does, to drag the judicial erinin ‘ in the
mire of politics, and Radical polities at
that.
The negro vote certainly trust be much
larger than that of the Irish and Dutch,
when the Judge duds it necessary “to
ere >k the pliant hinges of the knee, that
thrift may follow fawning.” Dutch.
Th* Coi.umuus Prisoners. —We un
derstand thoA: gentlemen will be sent to
Columbus to-day, under a sort of formal
guard, where they will be turned over to
the Commander of the Post—Captain
Mills. They will, upou furnishing bouds
in the sum of twenty thousand dollars
each, be set at liberty. This !*>nd is in
tended to secure their appearance should
any charge be brought against them in the
future. We doo’t know that we thank
anybody for this act of grace, but we must
congratulate the base sctuudrels by whom
the cheat was instituted, upon their un
fortunate failure. Who’ll gel the reward?
— All'in la Jntclliymcer , 25rt.
Terrible Tragedy.
A serious and bloody difficulty occurred
I in this city last night, the particulars of
which we gather as follows :
Las teveniDg, about nine o'clock, a party
of gentlemen were in a restaurant on Jack
son street, near the corner of Broad, when
a gentleman drove up in a carriage and
called somewhat loudly for his friends to
come out and join him in a ride. A Police
man standing near ordered the gentleman,
in a very offensive tone and manner, not
to make so much noise. This brought
from the party a sharp retort, when the
Policeman rapped for aid, and immediate
ly Chief of Police Dillon and Evans, Po- |
lioeman. with others, appeared upon the j
scene of conflict.
I Dillon, without inquiry into the cause of
I the trouble, ordered Capt. Lewis Picquet
to be arrested and taken to the Guard
i House. A few sharp words ensued be-
I tween the parties, when Capt. Alexander
j-Philip interposed to prevent Picquet from
being shot, Dillon presented his pistol to
Philip’s left breast and fired, the ball
entering a little to the left of the left nip
ple, ranging across the body and making
its exit a few inches to the right of the
right nipple.
Capt. Philip fell, when Evans, police
man, fired two shots at him while down
and then struck him a severe blow with
his pistol on the head, giving him a severe
cut on the scalp.
The firing was rapid for some moments,
and Cornelius Rod received two severe
wounds, one of the balls passing through
both legs, breaking and crushing the bone ß
of one and completely disabling him.
Another ball entered and passed through
the lower abdomen. Red fell and exclaim
ed “I am killed,” when Dillon ran up
and fired upon him again while down and
disabled. Dillon’s hall entered one side of
his breast and, passing through the body,
entered and crushed the bones of one arm.
This is a mortal wound.
It was reported that Evans was slightly
hurt in the head, but could get nothing
authentic on this point.
All accounts agree that the difficulty
was commenced by the Police without
reason or just cause, and that they re
sorted to the use of firearms before there
was any necessity for such violence.
From what we could learn from the by
standers, Dillon and Evans, and especially
the latter, are particularly to blame for
this lamentable occurrence. The sworn
conservators of the peace of the city and
by law supposed to be the protectors of
our citizens, they voluntarily and cause
lessly instigated and in the most cowardly
manner cousunimated this terrible tragedy.
Dillon was shot in the melee, and dan
gerously if uot mortally wounded. He
received a severe contused wouud from a
spent ball in the right side of the abdo
men, and another ball entered his left side
a little in front and, passing through the
body, was lodged under the skin in the
back a few inches to the right of the back
hone. 11 is Surgeon does not think Ins
wouud necessarily fatal.
Captain Philip’s wound is serious and
painful but not dangerous. The ball did
not enter the cavity, but passed along un
der the skin and muscles outside of the
sternum.
Mr. Red’s wounds are mortal and, at the
timeof our going to press, he was reported
as gradually sinking. He states that Dil
lon shot him last while he was down and
unable further to defend himself. This
account is corroborated by several other
witnesses of the bloody scone;
This shameful and fatal tragedy is one
of the legitimate results of Radical misrule.
These l 'elieemen ate the pets and pimps
of Bryant, Blodgett and Cos. —were elected
by the Military Oounil of which Blodgett
is the head, and selected on frlio
ground alone of their Radical partisan
ship. An efficient, active, honest and in
telligent gentleman was displaced to make
room for Dillon, who was and is confessed
ly incompetent.
There was great indignation in the
breasts of our people last night, and some
feared that they would avenge upon the
authois of this bloody drama the foul in
juries inflicted upon peaceful citizens.
Capt. Picquet was arrested and confined
in prison, while Evans was permitted to
rauge the city at large and enjoy, with his
scalawag friends, the fruits of his bloody
rencontre. This is a fair sample of Radical
justice and fairness.
It must be borne in miml that these
pretended officials have no authority now
to act as policemen. If their appointment
and subsequent acting as such were legal
even under the Military Bills, they have
ceased to he such since the order of Gen.
Meade was issued directing all military ap
pointees to cease their functions.
Forewarned! Forearmed.
We desire to call the attention ot our
leading citizens and tax-payers to the fact
that a plan is being concocted at Atlanta
by Bullock, Blodgett, Conley and compa
ny, whoreby the city government is to be
turned over by Legislative enactment to
the tender mercies of Bullock and his
thieving gang.
Confident as these fellows are that they
cannot maintain their supremacy in the
city government if the matter is left to
the voters thereof, although there is a
small majority of registered negro voters,
they seek, by the passage of a bill by the
Legislature, to place the whole power and
patronage of the city government in the
hands of Bullock.
This is to be done somewhat after the
fashion by which the Radical Legislature
of New York took the coutrol of the affairs
of New York city from the hands of the
Democratic voters there, and placed the
entire municipal power in the hands of
commissioners appointed by the Legisla
ture.
We need not predict the ruin and dis
tress and disgrace which would befall our
beautiful city were the power of appointing !
the Police, Chief of Fire Department, 1
Street Commissioner and other city offi- j
ciais, placed in the hands of Blodgett, Bul
lock & Cos. Every man and woman in the |
city knows that life, property and reputa- i
tion would be unsafe in such hands, and .
that the commercial prosperity of the place
would receive a blow from which it would
take long years to recover.
Lot our merchants and other leading
citizens take steps at once to defeat these
nefarious projects of the Augusta ring.
Let them send a committee of their best
and most experienced men to Atlanta to
lay before the members ot the Legislature
the results which would follow this eontern
’■ plated legislation. No time, is to be lost in
i regard to this matter. It will be too late,
i perhaps, to act after Conley. Bullock and
Blodgett have perfected their scheme, and
i warped the minds of legislators. If any
' action is taken let it be done promptly and
j before it is too late.
The Sucking lKne--Torquemada Meade.
These officers .General Meade and his
suUmlmales have discharged their duty
in a v ise, liberal, humane and kind mau
ner. No mau can say to-day that he was
wantonly oppressed—that he has suffered
outrage at the hands of the military au
thorities. — Sen: Era.
The above extract from the Radical ne
gro paper in Atlanta shows to what
depths of infamy white men descend when
they attempt to bolster up the military
despotisms which the Jacobin Congress
have fastened upon the people of the
Southern States. To say that Torquemada
Meade has ever shown, either by word or
deed, the least evidence of kindness or even
of naked justice toward the people of
Georgia, is to deliberately falsify every’
official act aud word which has emanated
from him during his reign over the State.
Does not the Era mau know that the
1 Columbus prisoners Were "wantonly op
pressed” and most vilely persecuted?
' Does he not know that young Cody, of
I Warren county, was waDtonly oppressed
and cruelly tortured by Torquemada Meade
—arrested without warrant placed in
' irons without legal process—hurried to
trial without time or opportunity to prepare
for his defence— tried by an illegal tribunal
far from the place where the alleged offence
was committed—tortured and harassed
during the pretended trial—confronted
alone by witnesses raked up from the 1
vilest purlieus of the negro population of
Warren ton—and, finally, after untold suf
ferings and outrages, acquitted for want of
the slightest evidence to convict? Is it not I
openly and notoriously advertised now by
a Radical negro paper that the murderer of
the man, on account of whose killing Cody
was thuAutraged, has been discovered—
that he is a negro —and that this negro
has not been arrested by Torquemada or
any of his minions ? Can Cody say that
ho has not been wantonly oppressed—-that
he has not “suffered outrage at the hands
of Meade and his subordinates ?”
Is it not known throughout the land that
Torquemada ordered the arrest and solitary
confinement in a military dungeon, of four
teen respectable white citizens of'Jefferson
county, who were charged witli having
assisted in lynching a buck negro who
had outraged the person of a respectable
and lovely young girl, the dauehter of OBe
of the bestcitizens Os Jefferson county, and
who confessed the commission of the ’hell
ish deed and boasted it was not the first
of a similar character? Is it not known that
Meade's military arrest was made some
months after the tragedy was committed,
and long after all the parties implicated
had given bond with heavy security to ap
pear at the next succeeding term of the
Superior Court,to answer according to law
for whatever offence had been committed?
Is it not also known that after keeping those
citizens in filthy dungeons for several weeks
they were discharged without trial and
sent back to Jefferson for trial by the civil
courts ? But, worse than all, is it not
known that only .the white people who
were charged with complicity in the lynch
ing were arrested, when it was notorious
that a large number of negroes were
present aiding and assisting in the terrible
tragedy, not one of whom were ever arrest
ed by the military ?
Is it not known that about the time
young Cody was arrested by order of
Meade for the alleged shooting of a Federal
soldier in Warrenton, a most cowardly
and brutal attack was made upon a Feder
al soldier in this city by an infuriated
negro, who inflicted ghastly and horrible
wounds with a razor on the unoffending
soldier, and that to this day no military
arrest or notice whatever has been taken
of this brutal deed f Is it not true that the
civil authorities issued warrants for the
arrest of this felon, and that but for them
he would now be at large and unmolested ?
Is it not true that when the brute Hop
kins, of Savannah (since killed by Rus
sell), was arrested by the civil authorities
of that eity by a legal warrant issued upon
a lawful affidavit, charging him with hav
ing in cold blood murdered a colored girl,
the too eoufiding victim of his lust, that
he was forcibly taken from the possession
and control of the oourts, aod ordered to
be tried by a military tribunal which was
never convened , and this on the ostensible
ground that he could not got justice from
the hands of'a jury of his own race when
he was charged with killing a negress.
Is it not true that after the exposure of
the subornation of the perjured witnesses
fixed up by Whitley and Joe Brown for
the conviction of the Columbus prisoners,
they were sent away under military escort
to prevent their being legally punished for
the diabolical attempt to swear away the
lives of innocent men ? .
Do all these and hundreds of other like
transactions of Meade and his minions
show that they “have discharged their
duty in a wise, liberal, humane, and kind
manner ?” Let the free voice of a deeply
injured and grossly outraged people an.
swer.
Let these facts bo presenlcd to the in
telligent mind of the North, and let the
people there auswer whether Meade has
not far surpassed, in diabolical cruelty and
ingenious torture, his great model and
prototype of the 15th century.
Relief Tor Thieves, Scalawags anil Car
pet-Daggers.
“Tn view of the great poverty of curpoo
pleand of tlio present effect of setting apart !
Homesteads, the Executive might, with j
the assistance of the Treasurer and Comp- I
trotter, be authorized to exercise a discre- I
tion as t.o the kind and character of bond I
to bo given by persons elected to county
offices to the end that, if for the above
reasons, the officer elect may not be able !
to secure the character of bond heretofore 1
required, the choice of the people shall not i
be denied the exercise of the duties of his
office.” — Bullock's Message.
Bullock has shown in his first abortive
attempt at writing a State paper at least
one excellence heretofore esteemed very
highly by thieves and highwaymen—he in
sists upon taking care of, and promoting
the interests of his Scalawag clan, even
though it should have to be done at the
risk of having the taxes wrung from the
impoverished people of the State, stolen
and squandered by the incompetent and,
in many instances, dishonest officials placed
in power by the negro and scalawag vote.
£ In very many counties, Sheriffs, Ordina- i
ries, Tax Receivers and Collectors have
been elected who cannot give bond for the
faithful performance of their respective
’duties in any secure or satisfactory
amount. The Express agent is ful- j
ly alive to this fact, and hence his 1
commendation is not that official Bonds j
should be reduced 10,20, 30, 50 or 80 per
cent., hut that the whole matter shall be
left with the discretion of the Executive,
assisted by the Treasurer and Comptroller.
Not only does he propose that he shall be
permitted to fix the amount of the bond,
but he asks to be invested with the right
to decide upon the character of the bond
and the ability of the bondsman to respond
for any loss*s which may be sustained.
This shameless attempt to take control
of all the offices in the State is justified cn
the ground of the poverty of our people and
the effect of the large homestead exemption
fixed by the negro constitution. The people
of the were urged to vote for the
ratification of the constitution because it
secured to the heads of families a large
homestead exemption, and now the Legis
lature is solicited to give the Express Agent
the power to fill commissions and install im
portant public functionaries in power with
| out bonds, because by the effect of the
! homestead provisions scalawags ate not
I able to give satisfactory security for the
; faithful execution of their trusts.
But this is not all. If the partisans of
the “Agent” in the so-called Legislature
\ should dothe him with the power he asks
for is it not apparent to the most careless
j observer that he will use this discretion in
I such a way as to permit ail the ignorant,
i incompetent and dishonest of his own
i party to exercise the functions of their
offices without bonds—or at best with
straw bonds, while every competent
Democratic official will be required to give
exorbitant and extraordinary security.
This is the object—the prime moving
i cause of this silly and dishonest recom
-1 mendation.
Let us see if there is-even plausibility
in the pretext that the impoverished con
dition of the people render the bonds
heretolore required by law too heavy and
oppressive. The most important of these
State officials, as fax as the mere question
of dollars and cents is concerned, are the
several tax-receivers and collectors in the
different counties.
We admit that it would hardly-be fair to
require of these officials the same amount
of Bond as was required when the tax
payers were more wealthy and the amount
of Taxes assessed and collected much lar
ger than is now brought into the public
treasury. But the Law as it now stands
ami as it hat existed for several years pro
vides expressly for this fluctuation in the
amount of Taxes tg be raised and regulates
the Tax Receivers and Collectors' Bonds,
in proportion to the amount of Taxes to be
collectedfor each year.
Section 842 of the Code, provides tha
the Tax Receivers and Collectors “shall
“give Bonii and Security in double the
{ “amount ot the Taxes due the State in
; “their County, taking the Tax of the pre
[ “vionsyearas a,*basis,subject to be increased
“or diminished according to the rate pert
“cent of taxation and the directions of the
“Comptroller General.” Now it* the im
poverishment of our people has. been as
great as fifty per cent of their previous
wealth, it will be seen that the tax is re
duced in the same proportion and that the
Receiver and Collectors’ Bonds are by law
reduced also one-half.
The truth is, as we have just hinted,
Bullock finds that nearly or quite all of the
scalawags and negroes elected to fill offices
under the so-called State Government are
so destitute'of character, position, virtue
and hoDestv as to be utterly unable to give
hpnds for any amount for the honest per
formance of their official duties, and hence
lie asks the Legislature to clothe him with
the extraordinary power of deciding
whether these men who do not have the con
fidence and support of their own friends
and acquaintances, shall held these impor
tant offices without the least check or
security for their good behavior and honest
discharge of duty. The “agent” knows
that the men elected to the offices of
Sheriff, County Treasurer, Tax-Collector
and Tax-Receiver in Richmond county
cannot give bond in' one-tenth of the
amount which is now required by law for
the security of the tax-payer. For the pur
pose of rewarding these poor wretches, who
have sold themselves to Bullock and his
Radical crew, they were elected to offices
which every honest man in the county,black
and white, knew they were incompetent to
fill, and now the so-called Governor confesses
this much by asking the Legislature to
permit him to have them installed into
office without bond or security.
We cannot believe that the Legislature,
Radical though it is said to be, will lend
themselves to such an unblushing attempt
to rob and plunder the impoverished and
overburdened people of the State. If the
unprincipled and characterless Radical
crew, who have been in many counties
elected by the artful contrivances of the
capet-baggers and scalawags, cannot give
sufficient bonds to secure the protection of
the public interests, let another election
be held and honest, competent men select
ed to fill their places.
Is this one of the “Agent’s” recommen
dations which the Macon Telegraph thinks
“sensible and judicious?”
FKOII ATLANTA.
[SPECIAL CORnE3PuNDENCE of t;lz chronicle a sentinel.
Uprising of the Masses —The Skies Bright
ening— The Senatorial Contest—Radical
and Democratic Caucuses—Brown and
Blodgett— How they were Nominated —
The Radioed Slate —Democratic Can
didates, etc.
Atlanta, July 27,1868.
Messrs. Editors: —The events of the
last few days at this great centre of attrac
tion, so far as Georgia politics arc concern
ed, are a part of the history of tho times.
So gCberal have the outside political events
been chronicled Jay tho press that they
have been “known and read of all men.”
It does the patriot’s heart good to see the
upheaving and uprising of the masses.
The wool'hat boys, not the wOolly heads,
have taken counsel together, and “do or
die” is the watchword. Never, since the
days - “lang syne,” has there been suehau
upheaving, such a spontaneous outburst of
honest indignation against the wicked and
infamous plotters against the integrity of
the Government. “There is life in the
old land yet;” “there is balm in Gilead,
there is a physician there”—that halm is
Democracy—that pbysicianis Horatio Sey
mour.
The political cauldron still seethes and
boils —the Senatorial prize still beckons on
all minor appointments and offices sink
into insignificance, or are only spoken of as
adjuncts to the great Senatorial contest.
Tlie Radicals have led out their horses,
and invite to the contest. Last night, or
rather yesterday afternoon, both parties
held caucuses. The Democrats failed to
arrive at a conclusion. Not so the Rads—
Bullock and Brown met them in caucus,
Blodgett was also there. The schedule
was written out beforehand, and must be !
run, notwithstanding other trains were on
the track. N o signal flag was displayed at
the masthead of the fast time train, and,
though some feeble efforts were made,
yet the schedule was run, small
obstacles were ignored, and the lesser
trains were unceremoniously run off the I
track. In the caucus there were present
eighty-one Radicals, sixty of whom voted
for Brown, as one candidate; and your
Captain and quondam Postmaster was
barely nominated. Nevertheless he was.
Lt took, though, all the tact of Brown and
Bullock to bring the Rads to his support.
The negro members seem to be the espe
cial friends of Blodgett, and “may be” will
vote for Brown if Brown’s friends wil I
vote for Blodgett. Governor Brown seems
to have a due appreciation of the situation,
for his attention to this element in the
Legislature is assiduous, obsequious aud
persistent.
In the same caucus, of which I have
spoken above, Hon. A. 11. Stephens receiv
ed sms votes. One of the men who voted for
him said that he and five others who
voted for Stephens would never vote for
Brown and Blodget?— that he should
dodge or vote for Mr. Stephens when the
election came on. Messrs. Seward, Hill,
Hopkins and Andrews are still here, and
someone or more of their names will be vo
ted for when the time comes. Certain it is.
there are from twenty-five to forty Radi -
cals *who will not support Brown and
Blodgett. Their absence from the caucus
pjainly indicates this. The same caucus
nominated Angier for State Treasurer ;
Cotting for Secretary of State, and
Bell, of Banks,' f'or Comptroller
General. Nothing was said by
them as to Surveyor General. It
seems to be a foregone conclusion that the
offices of Surveyor General and Secretary
of State will be consolidated. The Demo
i crats have not yet settled on any candi
i date for U. S. Senator. It is generally
| thought that if they will compromise and
take Seward or Hill, the disaffected Rads
would unite with them and be satisfied
; to vote for any Democrat that may be
i agreed upon. Negotiations looking to an
arrangement of this kind have been ten
i dered, but no signs would indicate the
j adoption of such a policy. Hon. \\ m.
I Dougherty, Dr. Miller, Gen. W offord, and
i Col. Calhoun, of this city, arc spoken of by
l the Democrats as probable candidates. I
i mean these, of course, in addition to the
I names heretofore spoken of.
We are now in the 23d day ol the ses
; sion, and nothing has been done. This is
| not fairly chargeable to the members, who
i are willing enough to go to work and traos-
I act the business of the country, but such
extraordinary hindrances have never ffeset
i any Legislature. Some fifteen or eighteen
t bills have been introduced into the two
j Houses, ail of which have been read a
I second time. If the two Houses do not
j hasten up. there will be no end of this ses
sion till frost. The daily expenses of run-
I nine the Legislative machine is about
| $2,500. _ .
In the House, yesterday, it was virtually
settled that members are to have $0 per
diem. This may or may not be extrava
gant. One thing is certain, every negro
member was either “present (and voting
for this per diem) or accounted tor.
j We had a heavy rain yesterday, and all
day long at short intervals the “'clouds
| have been dropping their garnered tallness
I down.” Constitution.
The Columbus prisoners went to their
homes on fast Saturday morning. Ihe
order is tor them to be sent to Capt. Mills
at that place, who will take a bond of
$2,000 for their appearance before the
Supreme Court to answer such charges as
may be brought against them.
An attempt was made Thursday night,
in New York, to assassinate Police officer
Irving by stabbing.
Oq the 15th an attempt was made to
assassinate Mr. Sliields, a respected fann
er, living near Seymour, Ind.
AUGUSTA, GA., WEDNESDAY MORNING, AUGUST 5, 1868
THE ATLANTA MASS MEETING.
SPEECH OF HO 'I. B. H. HILL.
REPOSTED FOB TILE CHRONICLE & SENTINEL.
When General Cobb had concluded his
address, several bands of music struck up
various popular airs, in different parts of
the arbor, improvised for the accommoda
tion of the audience.
The Hon. B. 11. Hill then came forward
and said: Mr. President and fellow-citi
zens—l especially requfest entire quiet
while I attempt to address you to-day. In
addition to the fact that I have to follow
two gentlemen who have no superiors on
this continent, I am, Unfortunately, labor
ing under considerable physical disability,
the extent of which is not even known to
myself. *
I greet you to-day, my countrymen,
with a joy and gladness that no language
can express.
; One year ago I came, in my humble way,
I to this same city, to speak to 'the people
i what I believe to be words of truth and
i soberness. There has been quite a change
I since then. On that occasion I met, iu a
quiet, retired room, some half dozen gen
tlemen, who had made up their minds to
brave tfie storm that was coming upon us
at all hazards. That little band of half a
dozen in that private room has swelled to
day to thousands of freemen, in the open
air of this once more to be redeemed coun
try. I must confess that the history of the
past year is one to me full of cheer and
rejoicing. 1 may differ with most of
you, but I fed * that J during the past
twelve months the white race of the
Southern States has done more to
manifest heroism, endurance and cour
age than any other people had ever mani
fested on a hundred battle-fields. [Cheers.]
It is not uncommon for a people to lose
their property; it is nothing new in the
history of nations’for a people to be defeat
ed in battle; it is not oven altogether new,
unfortunately, that a people should lose
their cities and bury their dead, that they
should be cowed in their spirits, and should
be made almost hopeless of the future.
Rut there is something else which is pos
sessed by every people far more valuable
than property, far-more to be desired than
cities, far more to be coveted than the vic
tories of war, and that thing you s(till pos
sess, notwithstanding your enemies sought
to destroy it —1 mean yotir honor as a
people. There were two propositions
made to you, which I would briefly state,
so that you can see clearly what I mean:
The first proposition which afiected your
honor was, that a Congress in which you
were not represented—a band of foreigners,
not one of whom hns ever lived or expects
to live upon your soil—nay, men who have
avowed that they hate you, claimed the
right to destroy the government you had
formed, and to dictate to you the formation
of anew government.
This was done, too, right in the teeth of
the Declaration of Independence, which
says that all government derives its au
thority from the consent of the governed.
You are asked to forfeit your honor be
cause a band of foreigners—men among
whom you had no representatives—
among whom you were denied representa
tion who confess their Rate of you—
these men claimed the right to destroy
the government which you had formed,
and to dictate the formation of another in
its stead. None but slaves would haVo ac
ceded to such a donjand, and none could
have been other than slaves who would
consent to it.
The second reason why your honor, as a
people, was so seriously involved, is this :
That in the formation of the new govern
ment which this foreign power dictated it
was prescribed, as a necessary condition,
that the intelligent and virtuous of your
people—those whom you had all your life
deemed worthy of tjre highest trust—
should be forbidden to participate, while
those who had been your slaves should
be at liberty, without discrimination, to
participate. You were to form a Govern
ment, under the dictation and by
the direction of a foreign power,
and you, in the formation of the govern
ment, were to be deprived of the services
of the intelligence and virtue of your
country, simply because you had trusted
them, and you had to submit to tho gov
ernment being formed by those who had
rooently been your slaves, ignorant and de
based as they were. You will remember
now that these are the - reasons why your
honor was involved. The base Congress—
the uuprecedentedly'traitorous Congress
who got their own consent thus to attempt,
in the day of their power, to dishonor an
unarmed people—this Congress, I say,,
had a vague, lingering suspicion of the
dishonor of their scheme, and therefore
provided a plan by which the infamy
should seem to spring from your own con
sent. Well, I confess truly, that when I
looked at the picture; when I saw the is
sue and remembered that no people had
ever grown great who suffered tlieir honor
to be sullied—no people had recovered
from misfortune who had yielded their
honor to the enemy—when I remembered
all these things and saw the condition of
our people, saw all the dangers that sur
rounded them and the power that dictated
these terms, Oh God, thou and thou only,
knowest the anxiety of my spirit! When
the smoke of our burning cities went up to
heaven, and our brave men fell in battle I
was grieved exceedingly; but when a
whole people—millions of freemen—
were asked— by
power to sacrifice their honor at the
bidding of hate, and there were found those
who whispered that the sacrifice would be
made, my heart did sink within me ; and
when I remember now the means and ap
pliances brought to bear to compel you to
yield, I do rejoice in knowing that you
refused [cheers], I have had only one point
to accomplish in this struggle ; some have
troubled themselves about offices, others
about votes, others yet about carrying the
election against the convention and still
others about the defeat of the constitution.
For all of this l care nothing ; the great
and only point which I had ever felt to be
of serious consequence in this struggle was
to induce and persuade the white people of
the South never to consent to this infamy.
I knew that elections would be declared
successful; I knew that, right or wrong,
they would say that the elections were
carried.' They came for that purpose.
That was not the point with me. I wanted
your women and children to see; I wanted
posterity to know ; I wanted a record made
so that it could be read by all men, now
and forever, that the white people of the
South refused to give their consent to this
iniquity. [Cheers.] That is why I wrote
and spoke ; that is why I despised the in
famous and defied the powerful. Still, fel
low citizens, it was a time to fear. If I
doubted and trembled on that occasion
do not blame me; if I feared you would not
be equal to the great crisis, don't chide me.
Remember the powerful influence brought
to bear. The Congress claimed to be all
‘ powerful, and they avowed their purpose •
qf carrying out this infamy, and if you did
not aftcept it, of making you accept a worse.
First of all these in oarying out that plan,
they sent the military here ; they sent an
army of bayonets to make’ war upon a
helpless people as another means of ac
complishing this infamy and securing the
form of your consent; they came to some
of your own public men—natives of Geor
gia and of the South—men whom you
had honored of old, and they bought them
upasco-adjutorsin the work. [Cries of Joe
Brown.] No, I don’t allude to that man. I
tell you, my friends, his name forms a sub
ject that is becoming too vulgar for refer
ence in decent company. [Cheers and laugh
ter, and cries of “that so.”] I speak of a
i class, and I affirm fearlessly, and I want
the people of the country to know it, that
there was not a single Southern public
I man wh'o advocated the acceptance of this
Reconstruction scheme who was not
i bought, and bought with a price by your
; enemies. [Cheers]. The price has partially
been paid, and you are to pay the balance.
[Laughter.] What arguments did they
use ? Did they appeal to your pride,
your honor or your interests?
Not at all. They came among you and
travelled from the seaboard to the moun
tains, and they told an impoverished people
“It you don't accept this infamy the little
property that you have left shall be confis
cated, and every man of you shall be
disfranchised !” Congress, claiming to be
all-powerful, installed an army iu your
midst, and found citizans ready and willing
to urge, to persuade, to intimidate and to
threaten a starving and almost helpless
; people.
Oh, my countrymen, proud as I know
Southern blood to be, don't chide me if in
this dark hour, I felt uneasy. I confess
that I did. I watched the first election —
the election for the Convention—with
tense interest. I happened to be in New
York city when the first election in the
South came off, and I shall neve» forget
ffiow my hopes were lifted and my desires
fulfilled on receipt of the first telegram
from the South, giving, as one of the facts
| connected with the first day of the election,
that the whites refused to have anything to
do with it. I waited anxiously for the
second day, thinking that perhaps the
“superior race” hajJ crowded in, an< l the
whites were, on that account, unable to
get to the polls. [Laughter. J Thesecond
i day came, and brought the news that the
whites had, almost to a man, remained
away from the polls—only a few
carpet-baggers and office-seekers
voting, thus the elections went on to the
last. I tell you, fellow-citizens, I moved
among the inhabitants of the great com
mercial metropolis prouder that day than
ever before. I shall never forget meeting
some of the prominent men of that city,
one of whom said to me, ‘ ‘We had been
taught to believe that the people of the
South would endorse this measure, and
they have had nothing to do with it. Why,
added he,“your people are more honorable
than we gave them credit for.” Well, the
power with the bayonet said that a Con
vention was ordered. All knew, however,
that it was ordered by negroes not by
whites—though,in truth, nobody did order
it but the bayonet and certain scoundrels.
The negroes never ordered it. I exonerate
thenegroes. ILaughter.J I affirm to day
another great fact, which I want to be re
membered, and which, whenever the occa
sion may demand,l stand prepared to sup
port : The Convention in Georgia was
defeated by thirty thousand votes! [Wild
cheering.] Ah, my friends, there is noth
ing like it in history ! You were poor,
you were betrayed, tempted, threatened—
you were told that every man that did’nt
vote for the Convention, must have his
little remaing property confiscated, besides
being disfranchised, and that the list of
voters was to be used to ascertain who you
were.
Miserable threat 1 Proud people—noble
people! The verdict you gave was that,
though many of our gallant spirits were
sleeping under the sod, there was heroism
still left in the South. [Enthusiastic
cheers. ] Well, the false convention as
sembled and a thing called a constitution
was framed. It haa to be ratified, and a
Governor and officers had to he chosen, and
what was the appeal then ? Os course, if
the Southern white people approved the
constitution, this dishonor was complete.
Tly;y had exhausted appeals to your fears
—you could not be frightened from your
Honor—and the next thing was to buy you
up. So they put in the Constitution
something called relief. The few men in
the South (who, unfortunately, were South
ern men from accident or other cause)
who had sold themselves to engage iu this
work, being entirely conscious that they
were bought up for the purpose, thought,
of course, that the same means would
answer for the balance of the people. They,
therefore, sought to buy you, and they
promised you relief. I came here to this
very city and I took occasion to notify you
that this promise was put in the new Con
stitution for no other purpose than to cheat
you, and that the rogues and hyprocrites
who put it in, did so with the distinct
knowledge that it would be stricken out
after the election. They used it well. They
bid high. The question was this: how
many men in Georgia are willing to confess
themselves no better than negroes if they
could thereby get rid of their debts ? how
many ot you would be willing to bo ne
groes, if by being negroes you could
be excused from paying your debts? Well,
I came to this city in March to inaugurate
the fight on that question, and some of
you, my friends, were weak-kneed. You
didn’t do right. A good many of you came
to me then and said, “Don’t you say any
thing against the Constitution; everybody
is going to vote for it, everybody was going
to be sold.” It was a great wound to
inflict upon me. I was struggling for
nothing on this earth but to preserve the
honor of the people of Georgia, and, know
ing that they could not be frightened, I
hoped they could not be bought. We
made the fight and let tho whole world
know it, the white people of Georgia, by
an overwhelming majority, refused to be
bought.
Some few men, I apprehend, are about
in the category of the poor negroes who
voted for a Convention to get “forty acres
and a mule.” Ah, you poor victims of a
wily hypocricy; of men to whom God gave
a white skin by mistake. [Laughter.]
You who went upon the public block, be
fore your countrymen and the world, and
publicly proclaimed that you were willing
to be a negro, if, by being a negro, you
could be excused from paying your debts,
how do you feci to-day, after agreeing to
be ainegro and having to pay your debts,
too? [Laughter.]
My friends, General Cobb made a re
quest of the military ; I shan't make
any—pever intended to; but I ad
vise you, poor fellows, to make one.
The only evidence of how you voted is in
the possession of the military. Go then be
fore they leave and ask them to burn up
the record. The great majority of the
white people spurned the bribe and de
spised the bribers, and let it be forever re
membered, to your pride and honor, that
the people of Georgia, under the throat of
the bayonet, with the temptations of
treachery all round and in the very ashes
of their poverty, have said to all mankind:
“We can neither be frightened nor bought
from our honor.” [Great Cheering.]
I have said" the Military declared a
Convention had been ordered, when there
was thirty thousand majority against it.
They also declared that Gordon was de
feated, and that the Radical party had
succeeded, when, in truth, Gordon was
elected by nearly ten thousand vores.
[Tremendous Cheers.] I say that it is so,
counting the correctly registered votebs
and correcting the frauds of the ballot. I
repeat, counting the honest registered
voters, I say that this Express agent was
largely defeated for Governor, and he
knows it, and they know ic.
We won two victories, and we won them
against the bayonet, against force, against
fraud, against treachery and against the
negroes. The white people of this country
are not goin#to consent to this thing; they
never have and never will. If the lladicals
have been unable thus far to get the consent
of the white people to this scheme of infamy
will they be able to do it hereafter ? How
can they ? They have appealed to your
fears and your avarice and taken advantage
of your poverty, but they have been disap
pointed ; they have failed in their schemes
Wind I tell you that there is no argument or
appliance which they can use in the future
more powerful than these they have used
in the past. Any people who can with
stand such appliances of force and pressure
as have been brought to bear upon you
within the past twelve months, can never
be seduced or driven from their honor.
I am proud of Georgia, and J pray that
when God takes me hence my bones may
be laid iu her honored old soil. [A voice,
, “you’ll go to Heaven.”]
My friends, I wish to pass now to another
subject. The issue hassoipewhat changed. I
have told you what the is-ue has been the
last twelve months, and I wish to state here,
in a few brief words, the main points in
issue now. Some who consented to be
bought for the purpose of inducing the
people of the South to accept this infamy
offered this excuse: They said,they were
not going to be Radicals, they were not
going to consent to negro government, but
they said “let us seem togointo this thing,
let us get back into the Union, and then
we’ll turn it all over, and do as we please.”
That was an argument based upon # treach
ery. They had betrayed you, and they
were justifying their treachery to you by
proving that they were going to betray the
Radicals. That suggestion deceived a
great many people for a time. For myeelf,
I had nothing to do with it, because I could
not consent to join traitors. I don’t be
lieve in treachery—no people ever saved
themselves by it. Where the honor of a
people is involved they cannot swerve from
principle for the sake of policy. The only
line of honor is a direct one. But what is
the,result ? Those manipulators at ’Wash
ington who bought these Southern
men had more sense than the men they
bought. They were not going to be caught
in any such trap as that, and in
this respect my prophecy has turned out
to be correct. The issue mow, then, is this :
I Shall this infamy which has been thrust
upon the people of Georgia and of the
other Southern States, be valid and per
petual? That is the first point to which I
wbh to direct your attention. In order
that it may be perpetual, the Chicago
platform says that the rights of the North
ern States to regulate the franchise and to
change and modify their own Constitutions '
shall not be infringed, but the Southern
people shall not have the right to change
their Constitutions at will. Now, if any
thing in American history never was dis
puted before it is this, that the States were
members of the Union on an equal footine:
and there is no man, from George Wash- I
ington down, whether high or low, wise or j
| simple, black or white, who ever had any !
1 idea that the Union formed by the States j
was a Union of unequal States; it was al- j
ways admitted that the States were equal >
; and each retained control of the franchise.
! I state a mere fact and history; since the 1
| acknowledgement of our independence we !
have added twenty-four new States to the j
j Union, and in every act admitting a State j
i as a member of this Union, it is distinctly
stated that she is admitted on an equal
footing with all the other States. But !
this Chicago Convention, with the Georgia
! Radicals in it, for the first time in Ameri
| can his'ory makes the declaration that the
Union shall be a Union of unequal States, j
; I want you all to remember that point. It
is the great aim of the Radicals. Where
«reyou now, my good Union-men? You 1
that wanted to get back into the Union
and were willing to sacrifice everything for ;
! the accomplishment of that object; you j
1 that congratulated the country upon being i
again “in the Union?” [A voice “none.”]
It is a Uuion in which the Southern States
are vassals and the Northern States rulers.
I want you to hear it and to remember it.
That is mere sheer naked disuhion in the
most odious and traitorous form in which
the word was ever spoken. [GreatCheers.]
It cuts the femoral artery—it is a stab to
the very heart and destroys the Union of
equal States which our fathers formed.
I read with shame and mortification—(l
knew the poor fellow did not know much.)
I read, I say, in the papers that this stupid
Express Agent, in the presence and under
the protection offeree and treachery, went,
yesterday, through the farce of being in
augurated a miserable sham Governor of
Georgia. Why, every word he uttered
shows he does not, this day, know tho
difference between a restored Union of
equal States and a constructed new Union
ot unequal States. Take that fact down :
pencil it carefully and take it to your
hearts. If I cart teach you to take home,
with you that single sentence, you will not
have come here to-day in vain. There
never was,in the history of any people, such
a bold, plain, palpable, universally admit
ted cause of war as that simple statement
in that Chicago platform.
And yet that is not all. You, gentle
men,who think you are members ofa Legis
lature—poor, deluded souls, howl pity you!
you who come here and go through the
foun of passing laws, I want you to hear
one thing. Not only is that doctrine of
unequal States in the Chicago platform,
but it is in what you cal! your Omnibus
Admission Bill. That bill prescribes the
manner in which you shall go back, and
every ono-ef-you who voted the other day
to get back, as you say, into the Union,
agreed to the doctrine that Georgia shall
never have the right to do what Ohio can
do; that the Southern States shall never
have the right to do what the Northern
States can do. You agreed to remain for
ever an unequal member of the Union.
You agreed that you would get back into
the Uuion by consenting that Georgia
shall never have the power to modify or to
chango her own State constitution, as to
her own domestic affairs according to her
own will and pleasure. [A voice] “They
didn’t know any better.”] Ah, you rene
gades—you rogues—who tried to steal your
neighbors’ property and could not do it.
Ah, ye men that adopted the Recon
struction measures for the purpose of
getting back into the Union and then
catching the Radicals by changing the
Constitution afterward. Are you not
caught caught by Thad. Stevens—
caught by Charles Sumner ? I don’t know
but one thing that is worse, and that is
agreeing to be a negro, to get rid of your
debts, and then after becoming a negro
having your debts to pay. [Cheers, with
cries of '‘good.”]
Remember, oh, my countrywomen—
mothers, teach it to your children as you
rock them in their cradles and in the nur
sery ditties, by which you send them to
sleep—tell them that men—white mon
Georgians—some of them “to the manor
born”—have come upon this classical old
hill. and have deliberately put upon record
their solemn consent that the proud old
State of Georgia goes back into the Union
on the express condition that she shall
never be equal to other States. Oh, you
renegades from everything that can make
you hope for even a chance of being gen
tlemen. You have buried the sovereignty
of your State; you have sullied the char
acter of your ancestors and agreed to make
vassals of your children. You have agreed
to wear a Radical yoke in order to vote
yourselves eight dollars a day fur a few hot
days in summer. [Cheers ] That is the
Union we have—a Union of unequal States.
Ye cowardly, base, disumonists of the vilest
type, you disgrace humanity by calling
honest men rebels ! That is not all. You
have not only agreed to inequality,'but you
have also agreed to what is called the
equality of races; that is, you have agreed
to equality among the races as a condition
of getting back into the Union, and you
have agreed that that shall never be
changed, but you arc so given to lying that
you could not, tell the truth even whgn you
thought it was to your interest to do it.
[Laughter. ]
You say in your record that you have
agreed to an equality of the races when
you know, you vile hypocrites,that the ver
agreement you make includes the disfran
chisement of the intelligent; virtuous and
educated, and wealthy white men, and
that they. shall not. be allowed to hold
office in this country, or while any scalawag
or negro may. Is that equality ? [Several
cries of “no.” j If a negro has a right to
vote and hold office why not these men
whom you have always trusted ? Oh,
you _ whited sepulchres—ye who are de
grading the poor negro by your example
of fraud and treachery. Ye vile renegades
from every law of God and every right of
humanity, you are deceiving the unfortu
nate negro to his ruin. [A voice “that’s
what’s the matter.”] If the negroes ever
get a permanent right to vote in this
country it must be by the c msent of the
people that live here. If the negroes,
when this infamous proposition was made
to them by more infamous white men to
disfranchise the white people, had come
out and said publicly and openly, “We
are willing to accept the franchise; if there
is any benefit in political equality we want
it, but we will never consent to disfranchise
the intelligent white men of this country.”
If the negroes had come out and said that
they would have furnished an evidence
that they were capable of exercising the
franchise. [A voice “some of them did
it.”] Yes, arid those that did it must for
ever be remembered. You Radicals of the
Legislature have agreed to degrade your
own State and people, and you have agreed
that that degradation shall be perpetual.
The question in this contest is whether
that programme shall be carried out.
That, is where Grant stands, and where
Colfax stands, and where all you vaga
bonds stand. Where do we stand ? Where
do Seymour and Blair stand ? Upon the
glorious ancestral doctrine that the States
are equal, and that white blood is superior.
[Loud applause. ] Now choose ye which
you will vote for. Some of you got seared
last fall for fear of losing your property by
confiscation, others of you were afraid of
being disfranchised, and others still
were bought this spring with relief.
Where is relief now ? Echo answers
where? [Cheers.] Now come, my friends,
I know you feel very badly. I know you
don’t feel like associating with gentlemen ;
come now, go home immediately, tell your
wife to put on you a clean shirt [laugh
ter and cheers], takcagood wash with soap
and warm water, and then come back and
befreeand decent white men Come to,our
side of the question. We will try to for
give you, but you must come quick. I
admit that there are some of you I would
be very sorry to see conic, for the reSsoo
that I know our party would be botrayed
very soon ! Still you who didn’t know
any better, you who wfere sold, if you will
clean up and get on a clean shirt, we will
take- you back. [Cheers and laughter.]
How many wdite men in Geor
gia are going to say by their vote
that Georgia is not an equal member of
this Union with Rhode Island, and that—
Virginia—proud old Virginia—that .State
which has in its bosom the ashes of Wash
ington, and has furnished more Presidents
to this country than any other State, shall
not be the equal of Kansas ! I. want to
know how many men in Georgia are willing
to say that proud old Virginia shall never
be the equal of Kansas. I want to know,
too, how many white men in Georgia are
willing to put upon the record, that pauper
ism shall fix the burdens for property, and
ignorance and vice shall prescribe the law
for intelligence and virtue ? Take this
concern up here—take the Radical wing of
it and tell me how much property in this
State they possess. [A voice “Joe Brown
has a good lot of it but he stole it.”] It is
true there is one man in the whole concern
that represents some property and it is
said he stole it. jChcers and laughter.]
I repeat how much property do the Radical
members of this thing that imagined itself
a Legislature represent? [A voice “eight
dollars a day.”] Yes, but it does not rep
resent taxable property enough to pay
their per diem. And these meu are to make
laws to tax disfranchised property holders
in this enlightened nineteenth century aod
in this Christian country. Shame! Shame !
Is there a member of the Legislature who
hears me to-day ? Ah,to your shame be it
said, more than a hundred of yoy have so
recorded j our Dames. Go,my friends, and
take it back, fori charge you this day, in
this bright sun and in this centra! city of
Georgia, that if that record remains as you
have made it, whereby you have cove
nanted and agreed that these Southern
States shall he unequal members of this
Union and that the intelligent men of this
country shall be disfranchised and deprived
of their right to hold ofcfiee.and that pau
perism shall fix the burden of taxation,and
vice and ignoranoe make laws for intelli
gence and virtue, you will go down to
posterity so infamous that when a legiti
mate Legislature shall have assembled
some unfortunate creatures who may be
compelled by Providence to call you fath
er, will apply to the Legislature to have
their names changed. I understand
some of you that voted for that
14th Article, and voted to ex
punge rebel' call yourselves. Democrats.
You are vain .deluded creatures if you
think that the Democratic door will be
ever open to receive you with such a same.
NEW SERIES VOL. XXVII. NO. 31.
Such a vote is directly against the Demo
cratic platform, and directly for the
Radical platform, and must be repented
of and changed.
Are these, then, the terms of the new
Union ? terms of negro dominion, of
pauperism in power and ignorance in leg
islating. I say such terms will never succeed.
The white people have refused to conseht
to them, and I tell you that they will not
consent to them, and you can never estab
lish any government permanently in this
country against the consent of the white
people. The Supreme Court of the United
States made up their minds that the re
construction measures wero unconstitution
al and void, but they were too
cowardly to declare the decision. This is j
a melancholy fact, that the Suprome Ju- !
diciary of this country should have given |
way so cowardly. But it will not always j
be thus—it cannot for ever refuse to pro- J
uoance its decision. It is true, a Radical
Congress has taken away jurisdiction in
the McArdle case, but we shall have anoth- ]
er case. A gentleman, who isthe only real 1
Governor of Georgia, is making a case in ;
which jurisdiction is given by the Consti- j
tution. [Cries of three cheers for Jenkins,
given by the whole audience.] Yes, when !
I mention him, I mention a man who, in |
any age or nation, is worthy to be a Gov- ;
ernor ! I tell you, then, you who trade in j
the respectability of your race —you who :
are vendors of your people’s honor —I toll j
you to-day that this very Court will pro- j
nounce these acts unconstitutional and '
void and everything done under them un- !
constitutional and void.
But we have a party now organized, a
strong and a glorious party, with states
men at its head and with correct principles
for its platform. From Maine to Califor
nia the glorious tramp of the Democracy
is growing more and more distinct, and by
November a verdict will be pronounced by
the great freemen of America that shall
gladden the hearts of patriots now and
forever. [Cheers.] And when the people
shail have pronounced that verdict the
Court will take courage and pronounce
their judgment. Then—ah then, what will
become of you, yo isolated hypocrites; all
power to threaten gone, treachery ex
hausted, Relief measures and Reconstruc
tion measures both dead, the Radical
party out of Congress, how on earth will
you hide your shame thus stripped
naked to the gaze of the world in all your
unhidden infamy ! what will become of
j ou? “Ye generation of vipers, how
will you escape the damnation of hell?”
That’s what is coming. Oh, it’s coming;
th; ik God, it’s coming—coming to the
cheer of patriots, and the dismay of traitors.
Yes,-1 tell you victory is coming. We have
suffered and suffered much; our comrades
are sleeping. Ah, sleeping! many of them
by the streams and in the valleys of Geor
gia. They are sleeping on the banks of the
deep rolling Mississippi; they are sleeping
all over Virginia, grander than the pyra
mids of Egypt and richer than the mines
of India. [Enthusiastic cheers.] Spirit
of our departed braves, we are not dishorn
ored yet! and though the vile, the low,
the corrupt and the perjured are seeking
to be our rulers, and have seized upon our
high places, the noble, the valiant and the
true are still left to us, and through all
our borders arc taking courage and hymn
ing the notes of coming triumph. Ye
miserable spawns of political accideney,
hatched by the putrid growth of revolu
tionary corruption into an ephemeral ex
istence—renegades from evory law of God
and violators of every right of man—tye
serve you with notice this day, that this
victory is coming. Tho men of the South
and the men of the North—patriots every
where—are sending up their vows to heaven
that this is and shall forever be a Union of
equal States, and never a hateful
Union of unequal States- [Wild
cheers, lasting several minutes.] Men of
pride, men of character, women—thank
Ged—without a dissenting voice, and even
children in their play-gr.ounds, are pro
claiming on hill top and in valjey that
those wfioni God made superior shall not
be degraded to the dominion of the infe
rior.
A few more words and I will close. If;
as I now hope and believe, we shall again
have liberty and law under the Constitu
tion, what shall be done wijh those who have
taken advantage of these corrupt times to
insult innocence, trample upon rights, and
oppress helplessness'?. These criminals
will be among us, and must he assigned
appropriate positions. What shall we
do with them ? Ye who have travailed
through the blood and losses and sorrows
of war for asserting nothing but what the
very framers of the Constitution taught
was your right; ye who have been taunted
and reviled as rebels and traitors; yc who
have been disfranchished in thelanu ofyoar
fathers and made exiles iu the homo of your
birth; when this victory shall corno and
we shall once more be free men arid no
longer insulted and oppressed by miserable
vagabonds and renegades, what shall we
do with the criminals? I would not hurt
a hair of their heads, do them no personal
harm, and deprive them of no right. Give
them over—oh, give over the miscreants
to the inextinguishable hell of their own
consciousness of infamy. Rut solne things
you must do for the protection of your
children and of yourselves, and for the
vindication of your honor. I affirm it and
I want it heard. It is going to be the law
of this country and a law more irrepoalable
than the laws of the Medos and Persians.
Not one man that dares reoord his vote for
the inequality and vassalage of the South
ern States and the degradation of his own
race, ought ever to be received into a
decent family in Georgia or in the South
now or hereafter. [Cries of ‘ ‘never. ’’ ] And
this rule we can make now. If we have
not the power to help make the laws for our
Government or for society, thunk God
we can at least pass social laws for our
own homes. I charge you this day, as you
honor your children and your household,
and would preserve your good name for
your posterity, never suffer a single native
renegade who votes for the vassalage of
these States, and the disgrace of your
children and your race, to darken your
doors or to speak to any member of your
family. [Cries of'“good,” “that’s right,”
“hurrah.”] You condemn the poor vic
tim to the Penitentiary who steals a horse
or a hundred dollarg, and yet these mis
erable creatures have sought to* bargain
away everything that you have ;or can
value. You sooni the criminal who has
violated the peual laws of your country.
These miserable renegades are faithless to
every law of Heaven and of earth, and
have used overy means to sell you to those
who hate you, and to place your lives and
your all in the power of the ignorant and de
based. Another thing I insist shall be done:
A people who will not reseat such foul
innovations of thoir right are Dot worthy'
of freedom. [A voice “true. ”,1 i’ou have
been helpless—your great men have been
silenced; you surrendered your arms to
what you thought was a gallant foe ; you
surrendered them under the assurances of
protection, and yet these men, your own
citizens many of them, who hurried you
to war have taken advantage of your pov
erty and helplessness, and of the presence
of the bayonet; they have invaded yonr
households, they have stolen your prop
erty ; they have robbed you of your
goods; they have joined the negro and the
stranger to tax, insult and oppress you;
and they have, contrary to the laws of the 1
land, forced into dungeons and before
military commissions the proud freemen
of this country. You have been powerless
to prevent these things. But my vow is
recorded, and I shall redeem it if
I find the people willing to sns
tain me. Men who have trampled
upon the rights of the citizens of Georgia
at a time when the laws were paraliaed
shall feel the power of that restored law
when liberty is reawaked. Ye vile miscre
ants of the Convention, who stole the
money of the State to pay youryxr diem , 1
give you notice that you shall pay it back.
And there is a good legal principle here
which I want you to remember, and that is
that where a number of men hand them
selves together for the commission of a
common purpose, each one is responsible
for what all the others do or get. [Tre
mendous cheering, j And, therefore, every
man who took a portion of that stolen
money is liable for every oept that negroes
and carpet-baggers received, and we are
going to make them pay it. Ye constitu
tion makers, ye men that sprung at one
bound from the penitentiaries of the
country to frame constitutions for honest
people, ye men who oscillate from grand
jury rooms with charges of perjury upon
you up to legislative halls and other high
places in the land, I serve you with notice
to day that the money shall he repaid with
interest. Aud you who are depriving the
peopleofliborty, threatening and conspir
ing against their lives—(hold mo responsible
for what I say)— J tell you that the day is
coming when the Judges shall be in the
prisoners' box and the persecutors shall be
clamoring for mercy. “Thou shaft not take
the life or liberty or property of a citizen
except according to the laws of the land
and by the judgment of his peers,” is- the
first and great commandment in liberty’s
decalogue, and upon it all the other com
mandments hang. It was given as a con
cession from power to the people more than
six hundredyears ago at the political Horeb
of Anglo Saxon history, and no man from
that day has violated or disregarded it who
was not a tyrant or a traitor, or both.
[Great cheers. | No man in English his-
I tory ever trampled upon those sacred
| rights without being called to account.
t Wicked men have the power now; they
1 have bayonets to protect them, aud they feel
; they can insult and oppress with impunity
forever.
| So did Judas feel safe when ho helped
cat the Lord’s supper with the Lord,
i Gataline held power in Rome. Arnold once
held a commission in the American army.
And you—you vile creatures, whose infamy
no epithet can describe and no jireccdent,
parallel—you will find j-our names more
odious than.those of Cataline and Arnold
combined. I Immense applause and long
laughter.] Return then, the day of grace
is almost passed. Reform now and wc
will forgive you. Ido not want a single
man except a carpet-bagger to vote for this
Chicago platform. And you, members ofthe
Legislature. I will talk to you kindly—you
who voted lor this infamy the other day—
the Fourteenth Amendment —mark what I
tell you. At the peril of your respectability,
go and take ic back. It is a record whose
stain will reach your children.
And you who call yourselves Democrats,
and who yet are lying round here seeking
and bargaining to get offioe from a Legis
lature which every line of Democratic
principles declares to be an illegal and ille
gitimate body, shame, shame upon j’ou.
It this usurping Governor and Assembly
had sufficient.regard tor the country’s wel
fare to tender positions to Democrats, even
’the acceptance of such positions would
present a question for serious consideration.
\\ hile'l will not condemn those who differ
with me, I must he permitted to say for
myself that no earthly consideration or
power could induce or force me to so far
j recognize them as to accept an office at
: their hands. Fqr myself, l hold them to
j be nothing but wicked, willful and corrupt
j usurpers of power, by authority of none
hut strangers and deluded negroes, and
wanton conspirators to subvert the lcgiti
tnatc government of our Stale, and as sueli
I shall hold tnj’seJf in readiness to visit
upon them, by proper legal process, the
penalties due to their crimes. I do not,
of course, include in these remarks the
Democratic members. These are there to
prevent the mischiefs I announce. Their
positions are necessarily unpleasant. But
they arc making sacrifices by the votes of
our people, aud are patriots, doing al! the
good they can; or rather preventing all the
evil they can, and merit oar regard. But
those who voluntarily come forward to beg
office of such a body; abov.e all, those who,
cither in the Legislature or out of it, make
bargains with Radical usurpers to got of
fice for themselves or their friends—to al)
such I repeat, shame, shame upon you!
One thing more will be necessary to a
proper expression of the abhorrence of our
people for the infamous attempt to destroy
the Union by destroying the equality of
the States, and for the measures, authors
and advocates of this whole scheme to de
grade the States and people of the South.
When liberty shall return, when the law
shall be again respected, and good men
shall again be our rulers, wc must gather
all the journals, and constitutions, and
enactments, and records of every character
of the conventions and assemblies, thus
forced upon us by force, and (raud, and
usupation, and, catching fire from Heaven,
burn them up forever 1
And right here, my countrymen, 1 want
vou to understand that lam a candidate
but for one office on earth. [Several voices
"name it and you shall have it.”] When
the glorious day shall come and the free
women, and the free men and the laughing
children and the proud youth of Georgia,
shall gather together to fire* the miserable,
hideous reoord of infamy, let the office be
mine to kindle the flames. | Tremendous
cheers lasting several minutes.] That Is
all I want. I would have my children
know, I would have my children's children
to know, if my humble life shall be remem
bered so long, that from first to last,
through thick and through thin, I fought
this attempt to disgrace our people and
that at the sequel I kin,died the fire that
consumed the infamous record of its ex
istence. That will be a proud day, my
, countrymen, that will be a glorious day
when you and I can look each other in the
face and feel as no Grecian ever felt—as
,no Roman ever felt, that we have passed
through iio most trying ordeal in the
annals of humanity , and, as a people, have
come out gold—pure gold. Take courage,
my oountrymen, that happy day shall come,
j '{ be Union of equal States as made by our
! fathers shall be ours again. The disunion
of unequal States which Radical treason
seeks to make shall not be. With the record*
of the vile attempt, we will build the bon
fire of the Constitution’s triumph. By its
light we shall read joy in each other’s faces.
Around the burning pile we shall gather
our wives and little ones and strike up
anew the song of our deliverance, aud as
llic ascending smoke shall rise high in the
skies, it will wake the notes of our heroes
in bliss, and Heaven and earth shall ring
with the universal symphony; “Well done!
Well done ! noble people ! Through sor
rows the most bitter, through trials the
roost severe, through misfortunes mul
tiplied una prolonged, you have passed
with your honor unsullied growing brighter
and brighter. Enter again into the joys
of freedom hero and finally into the realms,
of the good hereafter. ’ ’
Mr. Hill took his seat amidst the most
vociferous applause.
Democratic Meet lux tn Burke.
Dcimcracy Triumphant in Burke — Grand
I tally—Great Enthusiasm—Patriotic
Speech**— Our Colored Friends falling
into Line
[OOBRJ»rOB»KKC» OF TIIS C!ief,SICLK IX HINTIKII..I
Wayneshoro’, Ga., July 27, 1 KGS.
Editors Chronicle & Sentinel .-—An ex
cellent barbecue was given and a most en
thusiastic and successful Democratic meet
ing held at Walker’s Bridge, in this coun
ty, on Saturday last. I have never wit
nessed a more creditable and satisfactory
allair. Our eolored friends generally had
beeu invited to attend, and did so in large
numbers, notwithstanding the Union
League had sent three omissaries from Au
gusta to notify them that it would be a
criminal violation of an order of that or
ganization for any colored man to attend a
Democratic meeting. What think you of
that feature in Radical tactics? Waynes
boro’ sent a large and intelligent delega
tion, who arrived upon the ground with
musio, lfcmocratic badges and the National
flag. They then formed, with their Chair
man, Mr. W. Ward, at their head, and
marched in regular order to the arbor erect
ed for the occasion, whero they were greet
ed with three hearty cheers.
As soon as quiet was restored Mr. W.
Ward moved that the Honorable .Edmund
Palmer be ealled to the Chair, and Capt.
Wm. Henry Dickinson be requested to act
as Secretary. The motion was seconded,
and adopted unanimously.
On motion a Committee of Three, con
sisting of Judge W. W. Hughes, Gen. W.
S. C- Morris, and Col. John D. Ashton,
was appointed to draft suitable resolutions
for the occasion. In due time the Com
mittee, through their Chairman, reported
the following, which, amid the greatest
enthusiasm, were unanimously carried:
WherSas, The present campaign for
President and Vice President of the
United States involve?) principles sacred to
every freeman both black ami white : and
Whereas, Wo sincerely believe that the
Girvation of the great constitutional ami
rights alike of the white aod free
eolored citizens of this country now de
pends upon the triumph of the Democratic
party :
Resolved , That in the nomination of Sey
mour and Blair respectively for President
and Vice President of the United States,
the Democracy have presented to the
American people candidates whose
patriotism and fidelity to the Con
stitution and laws of the land com
mand our confidence, and entitle them to
the support of the lovers of liberty and
free government throughout the entire Re
public.
Resolved, That in our Democratic col
ored friends and fellow-citizens everywhere
we recognize law-abiding, conservative
and i>atriotic co-workers in the great cause
ot peace, law and order; and we honestly
pledge them our sympathy and assistance
in every effort to secure their rights and
promote their prosperity.
Resolved , That for our common good
we hereby invoke their aid and co-opera
tion in the approaching contest, that we
may secure the election of rulers who will
honor neither North nor South, nor black
nor white, but a common country, and one
destiny for us all.
Resolved , That as the Radical party, for
base and corrupt purposes, have charged
the Democracy with desiring the re-en
slavement of our eolored fellow-citizens,
we hereby pronounce said charge utterly
false and groundless; we recognize the
emancipation of our colored friends, as an
accomplished fact, never to he questioned or
disturbed; and we pledge ourselves to.pro
tect and defend them in their personal lib
erty new and forever .
Resolved, That in the noble and pat
riotic delegation of our colored fellow
eitizens from Waynesboro, we recognize
freemen who are worthy of their liberty,
and patriots who are not to be intimidated
by threats, nor seduced by false promises
of forty acres of larit and a mule, which no
scalawags ever possessed.
After the resolutions were adopted, Cos!.
Ashton was called on, but, suffering from
sore throat, was unable to respond. Capt,