ALABAMA. 



17 



domestic violence." And wherons, peace and order 



MI>W ('ivviiil throughout the borders of the State of 



Altihaiiia; mid wlnTvii:*, H military force belonging 



.iriuy of tlio United Rtutos has been quartered 



within the capitol of this State during the present 



u of the General Assembly, without the applica- 



ti"ii, kiiowlr.L'c, or consent, o'f the General Asaem- 



l>ly : therefore bo it 



JtetolveJ, That, the Senate concurring, a commit- 

 too, consisting or three of the Senate and three of the 

 he appointed to ascertain without delay upon 

 whoso application, by whose order, and for what pur- 

 pose, the said military force was quartered in this 

 eupitol ; and that the General Assembly desist from 

 all further proceedings until the report of said com- 

 mit too be received and acted upon. 



A warm debate ensued, Republican members 

 opposing the resolution, which they perhaps 

 suspected to conceal some further object to 

 their prejudice. They held a consultation among 

 themselves on the subject during a short re- 

 cess, which seems to have cleared their sus- 

 picions. The resolution having been taken up 

 again after the recess, and put to the vote, it 

 was almost unanimously adopted yeas 83, 

 nays 2. 



The course pursued by Mr. Smith, who was 

 joined in it by Mr. Bingham, the State Treas- 

 urer, created intense excitement throughout 

 the State, not without serious apprehensions 

 of public disturbances. It was generally con- 

 demned by all parties. Men conversant with 

 the law also made formal arguments on the 

 subject, either in speeches delivered at meet- 

 ings held for the purpose, or in letters ad- 

 dressed to Mr. Smith in the newspapers. They 

 said that the law furnished him with ready 

 means of redress, if he thought himself wronged 

 at the result of the election ; but, instead of 

 using them, he had recourse to a Court of 

 Chancery, which has nothing to do in the 

 premises; besides that, his bill of complaint, 

 so far as it appeared from the injunction issued 

 on it, did not make the only interested person 

 a party in the case, but aimed at a third party, a 

 stranger, and its avowed object was to prevent 

 the counting of the vote, which yet was the 

 very first, if not the only, thing necessary to 

 be done for trying and ascertaining the truth 

 in the case, as if the intention of Mr. Smith, 

 by hindering the count of the vote, had been 

 to shut up the very door to a trial, and keep 

 himself indefinitely in office. 



On November 29th Mr. Lindsay sent his mes- 

 sage to the General Assembly, which was read 

 in the Lower House, the Senate being then 

 adjourned, it was said, on that account. He 

 referred to "the remarkable and anomalous 

 condition of public affairs, occasioned by the 

 untoward events of the past few days," yet 

 hoped that the present " embarrassing circum- 

 stances would soon yield to the combined ef- 

 forts of patriotism and reason." Pointing to 

 the hard condition of tax-payers, especially 

 small farmers, he nrged the Legislature to 

 relieve them " to the utmost extent possible to 

 the government," and recommended a suspen- 

 sion of the penalty incurred by delinquents, 

 VOL. x. 2 A 



to save them from the necessity of an imme- 

 diate sale of their cotton-crop at great sacri- 

 fice. He also invited them to a review and 

 modification of the entire system of taxation, 

 which he characterized " as offensive and bnr- 

 densomo to the masses, and the mode of its 

 enforcement oppressive." He concluded by 

 saying that ho would at a future time call their 

 attention to other important matters, which 

 ho deemed then " proper to withhold." This 

 message was sent by Mr. Lindsay to the Senate 

 also on December 5th. 



On this day Mr. Smith sent a short message 

 to the Senate, saying : " At the time fixed by 

 law for the commencement of your session, I 

 had satisfied myself that, at the late election in 

 this State, I received a majority of votes cast 

 for Governor. Actuated by this belief, I de- 

 termined to adopt a legal and peaceful mode 

 to have a fair and impartial count of the vote 

 thus cast. After consulting gentlemen who 

 are recognized as among the ablest attorneys 

 in the State, I was advised, and now believe, 

 that the injunction obtained was a legal and 

 proper remedy." Not doubting that the in- 

 junction would be obeyed by all concerned, 

 he had withheld his annual message, that he 

 might state in it the reasons of his action. But 

 now that the vote had been counted in disre- 

 gard of the injunction, and Mr. Lindsay recog- 

 nized as Governor by the House of Represent- 

 atives, he could not send the annual message 

 in the usual way ; yet proffering himself ready 

 " to submit to either House any information 

 called for by resolution." On the same day, 

 and by the same person,- however, he sent to 

 the Senate and House of Representatives the 

 other message also, submitting such informa- 

 tion as he "deemed sufficient to show the con- 

 dition of the State government." 



The present bonded indebtedness of the 

 State is $5,382,800, the interest on which has 

 been paid as soon as matured, and her credit 

 fully maintained. 



Under the general act authorizing the en- 

 dorsement of first-mortgage bonds to railroads 

 in the State, passed at the session of the Legis- 

 lature adjourned on March 3, 1870, Mr. Smith 

 had endorsed bonds of five railroad companies 

 for the aggregate length of 465 miles, 250 of 

 which belong to the Alabama and Chattanooga 

 road. In accordance with special acts passed 

 at the same session for particular roads, he had 

 also issued bonds to several roads, as follows : 

 Alabama and Chattanooga, $2,000,000 ; Mont- 

 gomery and Mobile, for the section extending 

 from Montgomery to Texas, $1,500,000; Mont- 

 gomery and Euphania, $300,000; Selma and 

 Gulf, $40,000. 



Concerning charitable institutions, he com- 

 mends the management and efficient working 

 of the Insane Hospital at Tuscaloosa, and the 

 Alabama Institution for the Deaf and Dumb 

 and Blind at Talladega. He mentions also the 

 Freedmen's Hospital near Talladega. It had 

 been established since the war and conducted 



