rim: "no lc:. r al State, governments or 

 adequate pro tec! inn t',>i- life or property now 

 - in .\rkan-a-." etc. The net then made 

 provision fur tlii- enforcement " of peace :iinl 

 : order in tin- State until a loyal and repub- 

 lican State government" could bo legally i-ta! i- 

 li-hcd. For this purpose, Arkansas, with Mis- 

 ;>i, was constituted the- "Fourth Military 

 !>i-trict," and made subject to the military 

 authority of tin- I'nited States. Major-General 

 K. ii. ('. Onl was appointed hy the President 

 to the command of thU district, and furnished 

 with a sufficient military force to enable him 

 to perform his duties and enforce his authority. 

 The civil government of the State, like that 

 of each of the other nine, was deemed provi- 

 sional only, and in all respects subject to the 

 paramount authority of the United States at 

 any time to abolish, modify, control, or super- 

 sede the same. 



One of the earliest acts of Major-General 

 Ord, after assuming command of the Fourth Dis- 

 trict, was the issue of an order on April loth, 

 directing Governor Murphy to inform the mem- 

 1'cr- of the State Legislature that their recon- 

 vening would be incompatible with the recent 

 Ileconst ruction Act of Congress, and that in 

 July, to which time they had adjourned, they 

 should not assemble. This led to the publica- 

 tion of an order by the Governor dissolving the 

 at ure. The members of that body then 

 united in a protest in which they declared that 

 they should obey the order of Major-General 

 Ord, and not attempt to meet again as a Legis- 

 lature, and said : " Yet we respectfully but ear- 

 nestly protest against any legal right or power 

 in (leneral Ord to prevent the meeting of such 

 Legislature, and that his order to that effect 

 we claim to be unconstitutional and illegal, as 

 also do we claim the order of Isaac Murphy, 

 ha-ed on the request or direction of General 

 Ord as aforesaid. We claim and insist such Le- 

 gislature, wa-i and is in no sense provisional: 

 but the Legislature of the State of Arkansasj 

 created and elected according to the forms of 

 law and the Constitution, an'd as such had a 

 right to meet at the time to which it adjourned 

 in July next. And we respectfully request 

 (icneral Ord to tile this with the papers of his 

 office, to bo preserved among them by the 

 proper department of the Government." 



(u-iieral Ord, in explanation of this proceed- 

 ing, to the Secretary of War, at a subsequent 

 date. Mated that he issued and enforced the 

 order because the Legislature proposed then to 

 sit as a court of impeachment for trying two 

 of their State judges, and "he did not think 

 it would conduce to good order to allow that. 

 Legislature to take jurisdiction and try the ac- 

 cused, on.' of whom ho believed to be a loyal 

 man, who would be tried mainly for the reason 

 that he had attempted, in his judicial capacity, 

 to protect loyal men from being tried by dis- 

 loyal men." 



Major-General Ord also directed the removal 

 or suspension from office of the State Treasurer, 

 VOL. vn; 4 



49 



on the ground that ho was not eligible, under 

 the third section of the proposed conMituiional 

 amendment known as section 14, and !. 

 he had been informed that t lie Treasurer would 

 improperly dispose of the State fund-. 



At the same time, an order wag issued divid- 

 ing the State into eleven registration district*, 

 and providing for the appointment of a Board 

 of Registration similar to the order issued by 

 Major-General Pope in Alabama. (See ALA- 

 BAMA.) The division of the State into eh-vea 

 districts included five and six counties in each 

 district. The order further stipulated that the 

 board of each county should consist of three 

 persons, and that two should be officers of the 

 Union army, and the remaining one a respect- 

 able citizen. 



On May 13th memoranda of instructions 

 for the use and guidance of Boards of lie.iris- 

 tration were issued by Major-General Ord, 

 of which the most important were the fol- 

 lowing: 



llKAUQr ARTKP.9 FOURTH MILITARY DISTRICT 1 



(MISSISSIPPI AND ARKANSAS), V 



VICKSBURO, Miss., May 18, 1S67. ) 



1. After forwarding their oaths of office, duly 

 signed and attested, the first duty of the members of 

 the board is to meet and to determine the number 

 of precincts required in the county to enable all 

 legal voters to register and vote without having to 

 go far from their homes and work to do so. Immedi- 

 ately after determining the number of precincts re- 

 quired in the county, the board will inform the 

 assistant adjutant-general of the district of the num- 

 ber (by telegraph if practicable), in order that blank 

 registering BOOKS, prepared for the purpose for each 

 precinct, may be furnished as soon as practicable. 

 The board can increase or decrease the number of 

 precincts as now established, but it is thought that 

 generally the present arrangement will be found to 

 meet all the wants of the community. Any change 

 the board may think advisable in this respect will be 

 reported at once to the headquarters of the district 

 with reasons therefor. 



2. It is thought the best system for registering in 

 each county is to commence with the more remote 

 precincts and close with the central or county-seat 

 precinct, in order that those whose registering is 

 suspended, pending the decision of the attorney- 

 general, and who may be authorized to register 

 under that decision, may have an opportunity of 

 doing so at the most convenient point for the whole 

 county. In each registration the applicants will be 

 registered to vote in the precincts in which they 

 would have been registered had their cases not been 

 considered doubtful and suspended accordingly. 



3. After determining the number of precincts re- 

 quired and the order in which they will be regis- 

 tered, the board will have hand-bills struck off and 

 thoroughly circulated, informing the citizens of the 

 county of its appointment to the duty of registering 

 under the law, and giving notice of the dates at 

 which it will visit the various precincts for that pur- 

 pose, the length of stay in each precinct, and the place 

 whore the office will be opened in each. In case the 

 geographical limits of the election precincts are not 

 well defined or known, the board will define in the 

 hand-bills, as exactly as practicable, the limits 

 thereof. 



4. Any person who li;i< lu-1.1 an office under the 

 General Government prior to entering upon the 

 duties, of which be was required to take the oath of 

 allegiance to the United States, and who afterward 

 engaged in, or gave aid and comfort to, rebellion or 

 secession, is disqualified as a voter. Any person 



