AEKANSAS. 



listed a lengthy address to tlie people, explain- 

 ing the importance of the political questions 

 implied in the measures proposed for their 

 State, and the manner in which they should 

 meet and decide them. 



Outside of these matters, immediately con- 

 nected with the State Convention and its 

 work, some occurrences of interest took place. 

 The military commander appointed for Little 

 Kock, the capital of Arkansas, another mayor 

 and other aldermen in the place of those who 

 were actually in charge of the said offices con- 

 fided to them by the people. The following 

 correspondence took place February 12, 1868, 

 between the heads of the old and new boards : 



LITTLE KOCK, ARKANSAS, February 12, 1868. 

 To the Honorable John, W, Hopkins, Mayor of the 

 City of Little Rode : 



SIB : The undersigned would respectfully commu- 

 nicate to your honor, and through you to the board of 

 aldermen over which you preside, the information 

 that they have been appointed by the commanding 

 general to relieve you and your associates from any 

 further duties as mayor and aldermen of this city. 



Our commissions, and authority for making this 

 communication and request to you and your board, 

 are subject to your inspection. 



Be good enough to inform us at what time it will 

 best suit your convenience, and that of the board, to 

 transfer and deliver to us, your successors in office, 

 the books, seals, records, city bonds, money, or other 

 property that may belong to the corporation of said 

 city. Very respectfully, 



JOHN WASSELL, Mayor. 



John Donohue, E. A. Edgerton, Albert Adams, 

 H. T. Gibb, Kufus S. Sayward, J. G. Botsford 

 George E. Weeks, E. L. Dodge, Aldermen. 



MATOB'S OFFICE, ) 



LITTLE EOOK, ARKANSAS, February 12, 1868, f 

 Messrs. John, Wassell, Sayward, Botsford, Weeks, 

 Do Age, Donohue, Edgerton, Adams, and Gills: 

 GENTLEMEN : I am in receipt of yours, dated Feb- 

 ruary 12th, in which you are pleased to communicate 

 to me, and through me to the board of aldermen of 

 the city- of Little Eock, the information that you have 

 been appointed by the commanding general to re- 

 lieve us and our associates of any further duties, as 

 the mayor and aldermen of said city. To which I 

 beg leave, on behalf of myself and the board of 

 aldermen, to reply that we are in no manner engaged 

 in the military service, and were elected to our several 

 positions in accordance with the charter of the city, 

 to hold during our term of service, and until our suc- 

 cessors should be elected and qualified. That we are 

 not aware that your fitness for the several places into 

 which you would seek a forcible intrusion has ever 

 been submitted to the people, whose affairs you pro- 

 pose to administer, in the formal manner required by 

 the charter of the city. That upon our qualifying for 

 our several offices, we were required to take an oath 

 to support the Constitution of the United States, and 

 the State of Arkansas, a conspicuous feature in which 

 is, that the military authorities shall always be kept 

 in strict subordination to the civil, a remembrance of 

 which makes it as difficult to us to approve the steps . 

 which you suggest, as it might be found embarrass- 

 ing to you, under the circumstances, to take a simi- 

 lar oath on your proposed inauguration. We are 

 pleased, however, to recognize the only semblance of 

 right which you pretend to claim, and whose vir- 

 tues are included in mere physical force, which suf- 

 fices to excuse us from the further performance of 

 duties which we are no longer able to discharge. 

 Upon satisfactory evidence being presented, there- 

 fore, that you have been commissioned to subvert 

 the rights of the city and her people, freely given, 



exercised, we believe, with equity and firmness for 

 many years, and resisting the destructive influences of 

 violent times, not from any force of its own, but from 

 that of the law, and the sense of .justice and pro- 



city will be transferred to you by such titles as you 

 have been commanded to assume, or may choose to 

 adopt. Very respectfully, your obd't serv't, 

 J. W. HOPKINS, 



Mayor of the City of Little Eock. 



On the day next preceding his expulsion 

 from office, Mayor Hopkins issued an ordinance, 

 forbidding, under penalty of ten to twenty- 

 five dollars, the practice of ringing bells and 

 beating drums through the streets of Little 

 Eock, " to attract custom ; " as this could not 

 be but of great disturbance, perhaps, actual in- 

 jury to quiet people, and, especially, the sick. 

 He limited to auctioneers the liberty of mak- 

 ing such noise, and this only " for five min- 

 utes, before the door of the place of auction." 



By an order dated March 31, 1868, the mili- 

 tary commander of the Sub-District of Arkan- 

 sas, the better to insure tranquillity and safety, 

 during the impending election for the ratifica- 

 tion or rejection of the new State constitu- 

 tion, provided for the disposition of troops, 

 throughout the State, as follows : 

 General Orders, No. 5. 



HEADQUARTERS SUB-DISTRICT OF ABKANSAS, ) 

 LITTLE EOCK, ARKANSAS, March 3, 1868. J 



During the period of the approaching election, com- 

 mencing the 13th instant, post-commanders will dis- 

 tribute their troops, by small detachments, at such 

 places within their respective jurisdictions as their 

 services may be most needed for the purpose of as- 

 sisting the commissioners of election and deputy 

 sheriffs in preserving order, also for the purpose of 

 protecting every voter in the exercise of his right to 

 go to and return from the polls without restraint or 

 molestation. Parties guilty of unlawful interference 

 with the rights of voters at the polls, or elsewhere, 

 will be promptly arrested and reported. 



Post-commanders will notify the boards of regis- 

 trars of their several counties, at once, for their in- 

 formation, what disposition of troops they propose 

 to make, and immediately after the election will for- 

 ward a full report of action, taken under this order, 

 to these headquarters. The mounted troops will be 

 sent to remote stations, while dismounted detach- 

 ments will be sent to places of less distance. A 

 commissioned officer will accompany each detach- 

 ment when practicable. 



By command of 

 Brevet Brigadier-General C. H. SMITH, U. S. A., 



SAMUEL M. MILLS, A. A. A. G. 



The polls at this election were kept open 

 unusually long, from the 13th day of March 

 till the beginning of April ; and when they had 

 been finally closed, loud complaints were made 

 by the Democrats against the Eepublicans of 

 illegal and fraudulent voting, practised in sev- 

 eral counties, but especially in two, to the ex- 

 tent of above 2,000 ballots. 



A petition, signed on April 13th, by several 

 prominent persons, was addressed to the mili- 

 tary commander, requesting him to inquire into 

 these frauds, of which the petitioners gave 

 him some specimens and promised to furnish 

 others, if time were allowed. General Gillem 



