314 



FLOKIDA. 



same time, by their official patronage, supporting 

 and encouraging newspapers which are, almost with- 

 out exception, opposing reconstruction, and obstruct- 

 ing and embarrassing civil officers, appointed by the 

 military district commander, in the performance of 

 their duties by denunciation and threats of future 

 penalties for their official acts. 



2. Such use of the patronage of their offices is 

 simply an evasion (perhaps unintentional) of the 

 provisions of the General Order above referred to, 

 and is, in fact, an employment of the machinery of 

 the provisional State governments to defeat the exe- 

 cution of the reconstruction acts. 



3. It is therefore ordered, That all advertise- 

 ments or other official publications, heretofore or to 

 be hereafter provided for by State or municipal laws 

 or ordinances, be given, by the proper civil officers 

 whose duty it is to have such publication made in 

 such newspapers, and such only, as have not op- 

 posed and do not oppose reconstruction under the 

 acts of Congress, nor attempt to obstruct, in any 

 manner, the civil officers, appointed by the military 

 authorities in this district, in the discharge of their 

 duties by threats of violence or prosecution or any 

 other penalty, as soon as the military protection is 

 withdrawn, for acts performed in their official ca- 

 pacity. 



4. All officers in this military district, and all 

 officers of the Freedmen's Bureau, and all Boards of 

 Registration, or other persons in the employment of 

 the United States under its military jurisdiction, are 

 directed to give prompt attention to the enforcement 

 of this order, and to make immediate report at these 

 headquarters of any civil officer who violates its pro- 

 visions. 



By command of Brevet Major-General POPE : 

 G. K. SANDERSON, Capt. 33d U. S. Inf. & A. A. A. G. 



The measures for the Organization of a Con- 

 servative Party were continued in various coun- 

 ties. In Leon County, the convention proposed 

 a State Convention to be held on September 

 25th, by the "union of all classes, without 

 reference to national politics, in order to estab- 

 lish our local government on a foundation just 

 to all." This Convention assembled at Talla- 

 hassee on Sept. 25tb, organized, appointed a 

 State Committee, adopted resolutions, and 

 issued an address to the people of Florida. In 

 this paper they say : 



As members of the Constitutional Union party, 

 we proclaim that our fundamental principles are the 

 union, equal rights, under the Constitution, to all 

 classes, colors, and conditions, whereby every polit- 

 ical franchise appertaining to the citizens, whether 

 white or colored, shall be fully, clearly, and distinctly 

 guaranteed ; and of this we assure the colored popu- 

 lation, fully confident that they will place that con- 

 fidence in the white citizens among whom they have 

 lived, and which has never been abused, rather than 

 on those people who are strangers to them, aliens to 

 the country, seeking a pitiful and ignominious live- 

 lihood out of the colored man's honest labor, and 

 when he becomes pauperized by their perfidy, leav- 

 ing him, his wife and children, to starve or seek a 

 support from the present white citizens of the 

 country. 



Ask our colored fellow-citizen what he wishes to 

 obtain from the government and under the adminis- 

 tration of its laws. We tell him we cordially accord 

 him every thing that will enure to the white citizens ; 

 we mingle our interest with his, and the law that 

 protects the one will necessarily protect the other. 



The registration of voters in the State upon 

 closing the books presented the following re- 

 sults: 



On October 5th General Pope issued his order 

 relative to an election in Florida. It was the 

 same as the order issued in Alabama (see page 

 27), except as to dates and the name of the 

 State. The apportionment provided for forty- 

 eight delegates to the convention. 



On October 12th the following instructions 

 were issued for revising the registration lists, and 

 for conducting an election on November 14th, 

 15th, and 16th, for or against holding a State 

 convention, and for the choice of delegates 

 to such convention : 



Circular JVo. 8. 



HEADQUARTERS, DISTRICT OF FLORIDA. j 



OFFICE SUPERINTENDENT OF REGISTRATION, > 



JACKSONVILLE, FLA., Oct. 12, 1867. \ 



I. General Order No. 74, headquarters Third Mili- 

 tary District, Atlanta, Ga., October 5, 1867, is here- 

 with transmitted for your information and guidance. 



The following detailed Instructions for Boards of 

 Registration in this State are issued in compliance 

 with Par. VIII. of the above-named General Order. 



II. The Boards of Registration will meet at the 

 county seat of their respective counties at 10 A. M. 

 oft the 31st day of October, and will remain in session 

 for five days (Sunday excepted), for the purpose 

 of revising the Registration list, in accordance with 

 Par. III., General Orders No. 74, and the Act of July 

 19, 1867. The revision will be made in the " Regis- 

 tration Record" retained by each Board. The blank 

 pages left at the end of each precinct will be used 

 for recording all names added during the five days, 

 and each new name will be numbered as in the pre- 



