CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



137 





that tho State is admitted. Tho previous oloc- 



:!ir previous formation of the constitu- 



aro all more acts of preparation, 



.ttv all tilings preliminary, wiiioli amount 



hin^ nnd go for nothing unless the State 



"tequently admitted. And so with regard 



tn tliis work of reconstruction ; if these States 



:ire imt sulisequently actually admitted to rep- 



:ation, up to that time all that they have 



ilniu- goes for nothing. All that was done 



was simply a matter of preparation, 



pri'i'arin^ tln-iu for subsequently coming in 



junl hoing restored to their places in the Union. 



" Therefore the State government, the tenure 

 of the officers, does not date from tho time tho 

 i-Kviioii was held, but dates from the time of 

 the restoration of the State, when the military 

 commander no longer has power to remove 

 them, when they are no longer under his con- 

 trol. But when the State government goes 

 into operation, and the State is completely re- 

 stored, then the tenure begins. Any other 

 conclusion is illogical, and is in conflict with 

 tin- facts and the practice of the Government. 



" I think tho objection that has been taken 

 to the reorganization of the Legislature of Geor- 

 gia is entirely swept away. There is nothing 

 left of it. It is a mere prejudice that has been 

 sought to be arrayed against the organization 

 of this loyal Legislature, without a single par- 

 ticle of foundation in law or in fact ; and yet 

 this is tho burden of the cry all over tho land 

 to-day, in the mouth of every Democratic ora- 

 tor, upon the page of every Democratic news- 

 paper, and in the mouth of every man who is 

 in favor of the Bingham amendment, that this 

 Legislature was illegally organized, because 

 twenty-three or twenty-four persons were ad- 

 mitted in place of those who were held to be 

 ineligible, because they had the next highest 

 number of votes. I say it was legal, it was 

 right, it was proper, and it was in pursuance 

 of the law. 



" Then, Mr. President, taking all these clauses 

 of the constitution of Georgia together, I state 

 the true doctrine to be this: in the first place, 

 it was not in contemplation of law that these 

 terms should begin until the State takes her 

 place in the Union and the government goes 

 into full operation ; that Governor Bullock 

 does not become the Governor of Georgia until 

 the State is restored, and that he is now re- 

 garded and treated as the provisional Governor 

 of that State, and that every officer of that 

 State is regarded as provisional until, in the 

 language of tho act of 1867, tho Senators and 

 Representatives of Georgia have taken the 

 oath of office in both branches of Congress. 



" I now come to another point ; and, talking 

 about republican governments, I should like to 

 ask any candid mind if it can be regarded as 

 entirely republican that officers who have been 

 elected, and a State government that has been 

 formed, which has been virtually deposed for 

 nearly two years, has been overcome by fraud 

 and violence I ask if it is republicanism, and 



I ask if it is just to have tho time while they 

 have been virtually deposed, overcome by vio- 

 lence and fraud, taken out of their term ? 



"Shall men take advantage of their own 

 wrong? That is tho great question. These 

 parties now propose to take advantage of their 

 own wrong. Having held this government 

 until within a few weeks past by force and 

 fraud, they ask that tho term shall be allowed 

 to run all the time ; that they shall have the 

 1 cm-tit of it ; and that an election shall bo 

 hurried on while they have all the advantages, 

 and which would result in putting out of 

 power the Union men of Georgia, down- 

 trodden, oppressed, suffering every outrage 

 that men can suffer in a land that claims to bo 

 civilized. Shall they bo turned over bound 

 into the hands of their enemies t No, sir; 

 there is no justice, there is no republicanism, in 

 the claim." 



Mr. Schurz, of Missouri, said : " Mr. Presi- 

 dent, it appears that tho issue at the present 

 moment before tho Senate is not whether the 

 State of Georgia shall be admitted, for it seems 

 we are all in favor of that; but it is whether 

 the so-called Binghara amendment, prohibiting 

 the State government to continue in office be- 

 yond this year, shall be preserved or stricken 

 out from the bill. 



" I hesitate a little to go again over that old 

 story of the progress of reconstruction in 

 Georgia; but a few words on that point will 

 be sufficient for the purpose of completing my 

 argument. 



" The first steps of legal reconstruction were 

 taken by the people of Georgia in pursuance 

 of the act of March 2, 1867. A constitutional 

 convention was elected from the 29th of Octo- 

 ber to the 2d of November of that year. The 

 convention met on the 4th of December, 1867, 

 and it adjourned the llth of March,1868. The 

 constitution was ratified by the people of Geor- 

 gia at an election held from the 20th to the 

 23d of April, 1868. By tho act of June 25, 

 1868, Congress provided that certain States 

 should be admitted upon their compliance with 

 certain fundamental conditions precedent to 

 their admission. As to Georgia, three con- 

 ditions were imposed: first, the ratification 

 of the fourteenth amendment ; second, the ex- 

 purgation of certain articles from her constitu- 

 tion, which I need not name in detail here ; 

 and third, the exclusion from office of those 

 who were disqualified by the third section of 

 the fourteenth amendment. 



" The first two of these fundamental condi- 

 tions were faithfully complied with ; the four- 

 teenth amendment was ratified, and the consti- 

 tution of Georgia was expurgated by the Le- 

 gislature in July, 1868. But the third of those 

 conditions was evaded. Those who were dis- 

 qualified by the third section of tho fourteenth 

 amendment were not ejected from the Legis- 

 lature ; but, on the contrary, loyal men were 

 expelled and others were admitted who had 

 received only a minority of tho votes. How- 



