GEORGIA. 



393 



relieve the sufferings of the people, yet vast destitu- 

 tion prevails among them. 



An order has recently been issued by Gen. Thomas, 

 ordering that several thousand bushels of corn be 

 distributed among these poor people, which will 

 prove of great benefit. Still, the evil increases day 

 by day, by the arrival of hundreds of poor refugees 

 from points north of here, especially from Indiana. 



Another account from Atlanta, Ga., gives 

 these details : 



To get an idea of the immensity of the feeding es- 

 tablishments in this city I will give you some items. 

 During the month of June, mere were issued to 

 about fifteen thousand recipients : ninety-five thou- 

 sand pounds of breadstuff, and the same amount of 

 meat, together with the proper proportion of salt, 

 coffee, sugar, soap, candles, and other articles. 

 Since the 1st of July, the increase of recipients has 

 been very large. A large number of refugees, who 

 are returning to their homes on Government trans- 

 portation, also receive their subsistence here ; and 

 this addition has assisted very much to increase the 

 amount of issue. Captain Seaton estimates the issue 

 up to this date, nearly the amount issued the last 

 month. By my own close observation the issue is 

 daily twice as large as it was last month at the same 

 dates. There are employed in the issuing house 

 about ten clerks, who are kept on the run all day, 

 and often at night ; about twenty negroes, who as- 

 suredly do not find the work of this commissary de- 

 partment as easy a business as working in a corn- 

 field, especially when they are caught stealing a 

 piece of waggery which you know the "institution" 

 is very fond of perpetrating. A large number of 

 Confederate soldiers, lately discharged from North- 

 ern prisons, continue to arrive here daily, and they, 

 too, are furnished with rations. Taking as an entire 

 affair the business of this commissary post, it is the 

 biggest thing I have met with in a long time. I am 

 certain that, if what is done so patiently by Capt. 

 Seaton and his hard-working assistants had been re- 

 quired of a like number of our Confeds, a few months 

 ago, there is not a building in the South large or 

 strong enough to have held the disbursing parties, 



for they would have enough to have levelled the 



walls and blown the roof away. Discipline, and 

 some other little peculiarities of human nature, make 

 the difference. I was too stubborn a Southern sol- 

 dier, however, to make any insidious remarks now, 

 however much my maw may have suffered in the 

 hungry times gone by, and which discomfort was 

 caused by neglectful and selfish commissaries. 



But before I close I cannot help but remark that it 

 must be a matter of gratitude as well as surprise, for 

 our people to see a Government which was lately 

 fighting us with fire, and sword, and shell, now gen- 

 erously feeding our poor and distressed. In the im- 

 mense crowds which throng the distributing house, 

 I notice the mothers, and fathers, and widows, and 

 orphans of our soldiers, who fought nobly and how 

 sadly too often to the death, for our loved South. 

 Again, the Confederate soldier, with' one leg or one 

 arm, the crippled, maimed, and broken, and the 

 worn and destitute men, who fought bravely their 

 enemies then, their benefactors now, have their sacks 

 filled and are fed. 



There is much in this that takes away the bitter 

 sting and sorrow of the past. There is more than 

 humanity in it, on the part of the provider ; and the 

 generous conduct will go farther to heal the wounds 

 of the nation, than all the diplomacy and political 

 policy of tricksters and office-seekers during centu- 

 ries to come. 



On the lYth of June, James Johnson, a cit- 

 izen of Georgia, was appointed the Provisional 

 Governor, to conduct the reorganization of the 

 State. The proclamation of the President mak- 



ing the appointment was similar in all respects, 

 except the name of the State and Governor, 

 and date, to that issued in the case of Alabama. 

 (See ALABAMA.) 



After his appointment, the Govgrnor proceed- 

 ed to address the citizens in various parts of the 

 State, instructing them in the system of meas- 

 ures which it was proposed to adopt in order to 

 reorganize the State Government, and asking 

 their cooperation. He said that he had been 

 appointed for the single purpose of enabling 

 them to form a government, and that he was 

 not authorized to appoint civil magistrates, and 

 should not. He advised the people to take the 

 amnesty oath, and thus prepare themselves to 

 become citizens. They would be required to 

 recognize, as an accomplished fact, that slavery 

 had ceased to exist, and that its restoration 

 under any form was out of the question. He 

 said : " I do not propose, in this connection, to 

 enter upon a lengthy argument to prove it. I 

 simply state what is universally acknowledged 

 by all writers on national law, that belligerents 

 have the right to make captures of persons and 

 property, and that they may make what dispo- 

 sition they please of the property captured. 

 The vanquished are at the disposition of the 

 conquerors, and may be disposed of as they 

 think proper. Such is war, and it is a sin 

 against God and humanity that it should be 

 waged. We must submit to the result of the 

 war. Congress, by the Constitution of the 

 United States, has the power to give to the 

 President the regulation of captures by sea and 

 land, and the President, in the exercise of this 

 power given him by the Constitution and by 

 Congress, issued his proclamation disposing of 

 their captures, declaring that all the negroes 

 who were slaves in the revolted States should, 

 by virtue of that proclamation, become emanci- 

 pated. Such is my judgment of the law, and I 

 believe the Supreme Court will so decide. The 

 Constitution now to be adopted must recognize 

 this fact, and the Convention soon to meet will 

 be required to agree to the anti-slavery amend- 

 ment of the Federal Constitution." 



He then answered the various objections 

 urged to the amnesty oath, and drew a bright and 

 glowing picture of the future prosperity which 

 awaited the State. The late Confederate Gov- 

 ernor Brown, who now withdrew from all offi- 

 cial duty, also issued an address to the people, 

 urging them to accept the fate thrust upon them 

 by the fortunes of war, to support not only the 

 Government of the United States but the ad- 

 ministration of the Chief Magistrate, to take 

 the amnesty oath and return to the Union in 

 good faith, and do all in their power, as good 

 citizens, to relieve the distressed, repair the 

 damages which had resulted from the contest, 

 and aid to restore permanent peace and pros- 

 perity to the whole country under the old flag, 

 to which all must again look for protection 

 from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The prom- 

 inent men throughout the State, as also in other 

 Southern States, expressed similar views, and 



