(;!:<>!;<; I A. 



3.37 



into the system of book-keeping in tlo Troas- 

 mvr's office;" and the third, "to inquire into 

 :i:uifi;il condition and operations of the 

 :n and Atlantic Railroad." The charges 

 anil counter-charges of corruption made against 

 other by Governor Bullock and Treasurer 

 r were of long standing, and will bo 

 found noticed at souie length in the ANNUAL 

 P^DIA for 1869. The Western and Atlan- 

 !; U:iilro;id is the property of the State, and 

 t!if (jovernor and his appointees were accused 

 of mismanaging its affairs and applying its rev- 

 enues to improper uses. The investigating com- 

 mit tees, as requested, wore appointed, and the 

 ilature adjourned until the first Monday 

 of July. During the recess a largo amount of 

 testimony was taken in the several investiga- 

 tions and long reports prepared by the com- 

 mittees. These show a good deal of laxity in 

 the management of financial affairs in the 

 State and give ground for the suspicion, to 

 say the least, that public funds and public pa- 

 tronage were employed in various ways to for- 

 ward the political objects of those who had 

 the power in their hands. The matter is not 

 of sufficient general interest to warrant an in- 

 telligible abstract of the proceedings of the 

 committees. 



The condition of affairs in Georgia, and the 

 question of readmitting the State to her place 

 in the Union, occupied the attention of Con- 

 gress from the time of her ratification of the 

 fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, early in 

 February, down to the adjournment of that 

 body in July. The irregular method adopted 

 by Governor Bullock and his followers in 

 organizing the Legislature was first of all 

 brought to the notice of the Senate, and reso- 

 lutions were adopted directing the Judiciary 

 Committee to inquire into the matter, and re- 

 port " whether the Legislature of Georgia has 

 been reorganized in accordance with the pro- 

 visions of the act passed at the present session 

 to promote the reconstruction of that State, 

 and whether further legislation is necessary 

 upon the subject of the organization of the 

 Provisional Legislature in Georgia." 



The committee gave a patient hearing to 

 both parties. Governor Bullock appeared be- 

 fore them to defend the course pursued in or- 

 ganizing the Legislature, and to condemn the 

 conduct of his political opponents ; and Messrs. 

 Bryant and Caldwell, Conservative Republican 

 members of the Lower branch of the Assem- 

 bly, gave their testimony on the other side. 

 The report of the committee was submitted on 

 the 2d of March. After reciting the facts and 

 circumstances as they were brought out in the 

 various statements which had been mode be- 

 fore them, they condemn the action of the Gov- 

 ernor, and declare the course of the military 

 authorities "not authorized by law." They 

 think it due to the general in command, how- 

 ever, to say "that circumstances justify the 

 committee in reporting that his whole conduct 

 in the affair was under the sincere belief that 

 VOL. x. 22 A 



he was acting within the scope of his lawful 

 authority, and that, under the circ-um- 1 

 of much difficulty and delicacy, bo conducted 

 affairs, although outside of the law, in ouch a 

 manner as to command the personal respect 

 and confidence of all parties concerned. Tho 

 committee also believe that the persons ex- 

 cluded who desired to qualify would hare vio- 

 1 it. .1 the act by taking the oath, so that there 

 was no actual injustice done. 1 ' 



Their general conclusions with regard to the 

 organization of the Legislature are that they 

 woro not warranted by law in the following 

 respects : 



1. In the control and direction of its pro- 

 ceedings by Harris. 



2. In the exclusion, from taking the oaths 

 and from seats, of the three mem >crs-elect who 

 offered to swear in. 



3. In the seating of the persons not having 

 a majority of the votes of the election. 



With regard to the necessity for further 

 legislation the report says : " As the represent- 

 atives of those who contended that the pro- 

 ceedings in organizing the Legislature were 

 illegal and irregular had expressed their will- 

 ingness that Congress should refrain from fur- 

 ther interference with the organization and 

 composition of the Legislature, and leave it to 

 proceed in the exercise of its legislative func- 

 tions, and the other party justified what had 

 taken place, and, of course, objected to any 

 action on the subject, and inasmuch as the er- 

 rors of the general in command of the State 

 do not appear to have worked any serious in- 

 justice in point of fact, and as the error in 

 seating the minority candidates was committed 

 by the House of Representatives in the exer- 

 cise of a right ordinarily belonging to it in the 

 first instance ; and inasmuch as it appears cer- 

 tain that the terms of office of the Georgia 

 Legislature, and of its State government, will 

 expire at the same time that they would have 

 done had the State been fully restored to its 

 place in the Union, in July, 1868, and did not 

 commence or run from the date of its future 

 admission to representation, without reference 

 to what might be the legal or literal construc- 

 tion of the last clause of the second subdivi- 

 sion of the first section of the third article of 

 the constitution, the committee feel justified 

 in omitting to recommend any further legisla- 

 tion on' the subject of organizing the Legisla- 

 ture." 



A bill had been reported from the Commit- 

 tee on Reconstruction of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives on the 23d of February, providing 

 for the restoration of Georgia, similar in its 

 terms to that admitting the State of Missis- 

 sippi (see MISSISSIPPI). A long debate fol- 

 lowed, in the course of which an amendment, 

 offered by Mr. Bingham, of Ohio, was adopted 

 and the bill passed. The Bingham amend- 

 ment had reference to the terms of office in 

 the State and the holding of the election, and 

 will bo found incorporated in the bill as finally 



