18 



ALABAMA. 



State in the full enjoyment of all their rights 

 of person and property, and to guard them and 

 the State against any evil that may arise from 

 their sudden emancipation." - 



Inspecting the proceedings of the Conven- 

 tion he said : 



Recognizing the fact that slavery and the right of 

 secession had been destroyed by the result of the 

 war, without consuming precious time in useless re- 

 grets, or worse than useless criminations, they de- 

 clared the one forever prohibited, except as a pun- 

 ishment for crime, and quietly yielded the other, not- 

 withstanding one-half of the entire property of the 

 State was invested in the former, and many of them 

 had been educated in the belief that "State Rights" 

 included the latter. 



Let us indulge the hope that the wisdom of their 

 action may be more and more apparent as each suc- 

 cessive year rolls round, and that our children's 

 children for many generations to come will sit in 

 this pleasant land of ours beneath their own roof 

 trees, around their own firesides, in the midst of un- 

 numbered blessings, and call them blessed who had 

 the wisdom and firmness under such trying circum- 

 stances, while surrounded by the ruin which attends, 

 and the exhaustion which follows four years of fierce 

 and relentless war, to lay anew the foundations of 

 government, and upon the broadest principles of 

 liberty to all consistent with public good. 



He stated that the corn and small grain crops 

 throughout the State were not more than one- 

 fifth of the usual amount, and that by his esti- 

 mates there were 250,000 inhabitants in the 

 State who must be furnished with food until 

 they could raise it for themselves. The causes 

 of the small crop were a want of the necessary 

 labor and a severe drouth which prevailed over 

 most of the productive lands. 



The entire debt of the State is as follows, ex- 

 cept the interest on the University and Com- 

 mon School funds. This the State has as- 

 sumed in perpetuity, and the annual interest is 

 $184,367.80 : 



Outstanding State Bonds issued for the capi- 

 tal of the State Bank and hranches, viz. : 



Due in New York in 1863 $1,889,000 00 



Five per cent interest payable May 1st and 

 November 1st, due in New York in 1865. . . . 52,000 00 



Five per cent interest payable May 1st and 

 November 1st, due in New York in 1872 168,000 00 



Five per cent Interest _payable May 1st and 

 November 1st, due in London in 1866 648,000 00 



Five per cent interest payable January 1st and 

 July 1st, due in London in 1870 683,00000 



Six per cent, interest payable June 1st 



Total $3,445,000 00 



The annual interest on the bonds payable in New 

 York is $105,450 00 



The annual interest on the bonds payable in 

 London is 80,87018 



The interest on the bonds due in New York .was 

 paid up to and including the dividend due No- 

 vember 1st, 1861 ; and there has since accrued 

 instalments of interest, in all amounting to. . 121,800 00 



Of which there has been paid at Bank of Mobile, 53,400 00 



Leaving due and unpaid S 8 ^ 400 . . 



The bonds due in New York in 1863 won- 

 authorized to be extended by an act passed at 

 the culled session of 1861. The new bonds 

 wore issued, and some of them given in ex- 

 change for those in 1863. 



Thq interest on the bonds due- in London 

 was paid up to and including the dividend due 



January 1, 1865, and there has since accrued 

 as follows : 



On June 1, 1865. . . . . $45,023 24 

 On July 1, 1866 17,670 96 



Due and unpaid in London $26,699 17 



And there will be due on January 1, 1866. .. 17,670 96 



BECAPITTTLATlOJf. 



Due and unpaid on bonds in New York $868,400 00 



Due and unpaid on bonds in London 62,699 17 



$431,099 17 

 Due in London on January 1, 1866 17,670 96 



Totalamonnt $448,770 13 



Measures to preserve and increase the effi- 

 ciency of the school system were recommended. 

 The institutions for deaf mutes and the insane 

 have continued in successful operation. The 

 battle flags of the volunteer regiments were 

 deposited in the capitol, and when Montgomery 

 was occupied by Federal troops they were un- 

 disturbed^ The Governor recommended their 

 preservation, saying : 



" "We should preserve these sacred souvenirs 

 of the courage and endurance of those who 

 went forth to battle under their folds, and 

 who manfully upheld them with their life-blood. 

 They were our sons and brothers. Alas ! that 

 so many of them shall never return to us again. 

 Shall we ever forget them ? "We cannot. "We 

 must be more or less than men if we could. 



" The brave and generous people with whom 

 they fought do not expect it. They do not wish 

 us to return to the Union emasculated, divested 

 of all manhood and natural feeling. They are 

 proud to know that the survivors of the bloody 

 fields on which they fought are willing, as true 

 knights and brave men, to accept the result of 

 the battle, and to rally once more round the 

 Flag of our Fathers. They feel it will not be 

 less secure in the future because our hands and 

 ,hearts are united with theirs in its support." 



Among the officers chosen by the Legislature 

 at this session, were three judges of the Supreme 

 Court, A. J. Walker, "Win. M. Byrd, and 

 Thomas J. Judge ; JohnW. A. Sanford, Attorney- 

 General ; S. K. McSpadden, Chancellor Northern 

 Division ; N. "W. Cocke, Southern Division ; J. 

 Q. Loomis, Middle Division. The Provisional 

 Governor, Lewis E. Parsons, and George S. 

 Houston were elected Senators to the Federal 

 Congress. 



The amendment to the Federal Constitution 

 prohibiting the existence of slavery was adopted 

 in the House by a large vote. The principal 

 resolution was as follows : 



Resolved, Bv the Senate and House of Represent- 

 atives of the State of Alabama in General Assembly 

 convened, That the foregoing amendment to the Con- 

 stitution of the United States be, and the same is 

 hereby ratified, to all intents and purposes, as a part 

 of the Constitution of the United States. 



To this joint resolution, Mr. Williams, of 

 Jackson County, offered the following amend- 

 ment: 



Resolved further, That any attempt by Congress to 

 legislate upon the political status of the former slaves 

 or their civil relations, would be contrary to the Con- 



