266 



FLORIDA. 



1867, calling by name the delegates returned 

 in the lists of said election, and enjoining them 

 to assemble in that capacity at Tallahassee, 

 on January 20, 1868. 



Ten days before the 20th, however, a lengthy 

 remonstrance, signed by a number of prominent 

 citizens of Florida, was laid before General 

 Meade, who had succeeded General Pope in 

 that command, stating that his predecessor, by 

 whose order the said election was conducted 

 and closed, had prescribed for it a mode of 

 apportioning representation which was indirect 

 and open violation of that prescribed by Con- 

 gress in the reconstruction acts themselves; 

 besides that, both in the registration of voters, 

 and in the voting, manifest frauds had been 

 practised to a large extent. On these grounds, 

 which rendered the election null in its begin- 

 ning as well as in its process and final result, 

 the petitioners "invoked his interposition to 

 stay the assembling of said delegates in their 

 capacity of a Constitutional Convention," as 

 44 with the universal conviction prevailing that 

 frauds were committed in the registration and 

 in the election that the vote on the question 

 of a convention was actually against it and 

 that the law of Congress was unquestionably 

 and clearly departed from in apportioning rep- 

 resentation, the people can regard it in no ' 

 other light than as an illegal body." The cor- 

 respondence hereupon reported in the public 

 papers of January 21 and 23, 1868, makes it 

 appear that General Meade, considering the 

 importance of the facts stated, and the gravity 

 of the matter, applied to the army headquar- 

 ters at Washington for instructions concerning 

 a postponement of the day appointed for the 

 meeting of said convention, and that, the an- 

 swer from Washington having left the matter 

 to his own discretion, he replied to the peti- 

 tioners " that he had no authority to undo what 

 had been done," and so the thing was allowed 

 to take its course. Complaints having been 

 made to the district headquarters of criminal 

 acts frequently perpetrated, and information 

 given ^ by competent persons that the civil au- 

 thorities took no proper steps for proceeding 

 against the offenders to bring them to trial and 

 condign punishment if found guilty, General 

 Meade, intending to sustain the power of the 

 State courts in cases pertaining to them, and 

 being determined at the same time to comply 

 with his own duty, to see justice rightly admin- 

 istered within the district under his command, 

 if they failed to perform theirs, issued on Jan- 

 uary 15th the following order : 



General Orders, No. 10. 

 HEADQUARTERS THIRD MILITARY DISTRICT ) 

 DEPARTMENT OF GEORGIA, FLORIDA, AND ALABAMA, V 

 ATLANTA, GA., January 15, 1868, ) 

 The frequency of reported outrages, and the accom- 

 panying expression of opinion of subordinate officers, 

 that no justice is to be expected from the civil author- 

 ities, require notice and action on the part of the 

 major-general cpmmanding. 



I. The commanding general desires it to "be un- 

 derstood that the trial and punishment of criminals 



is to be left to the civil authorities, so long as the said 

 authorities are energetic, active, and do justice to the 

 rights of person and property without distinction of 

 race or color. Whenever the major-general com- 

 manding is satisfied from evidence produced that the 

 civil authorities fail to do their duty then prompt 

 action will be taken by him both for the punishment 

 of criminals and the removal from office of derelict 

 civil officers. 



m II. The military are to cooperate with and aid the 

 civil authorities in the detection, capture, and custody 

 of criminals, and they are further authorized, in cases 

 where they have reason to believe the civil authori- 

 ties are not disposed to do their duty, to retain crimi- 

 nals in custody until the fact becomes evident whether 

 the civil authorities will or will not perform their 

 duty immediately reporting their action on all such 

 cases to these headquarters. 



III. Writs of habeas corpus issued against criminals 

 in the custody of the military will be obeyed so far 

 as to produce the body of the prisoner in court, and 

 the making of a respectful return setting forth, the 

 grounds and authority by which the prisoner is held 

 should the court fail to respect the authority under 

 which the prisoner is held the custody of the crimi- 

 nal will not be transferred to the court without a 

 reference to these headquarters. 



IV. The major-general desires to impress on the 

 officers under his command, the exercise of a sound 

 discretion and good judgment. It is his determina- 

 tion to afford the civil authorities every opportunity 

 to discharge their duties untrammelled by any action 

 on the part of the military but such as they, the civil 

 authorities, may invite and desire. He makes this 

 public notice to the civil authorities that they may be 

 governed thereby assuring them they shall be re- 

 spected in the exercise of their powers so long as im- 

 partial justice is meted out to all ; but the command- 

 ing-general is determined to exercise to the fullest 

 extent the plenary powers with which he is intrusted, 

 to secure protection of persons and property in the 

 district he commands. 



By order of Major-General MEADE. 

 E. C. DRUM, Assistant Adjutant-General, A. D. C. 



On January 20th, the delegates met at Talla- 

 hassee, and organized the convention. Of the 

 46 returned in the lists of election, and named 

 in General Pope's order, 41 answered the call 

 and took their official oath, some twenty of 

 them being negroes. Belonging generally to 

 the Eepublican party, they disagreed amongst 

 themselves on most weighty points, even the 

 right of four of their number to sit in conven- 

 tion. These and their adherents asserted 

 that the fact of their being elected by large 

 majorities, and individually recognized as dele- 

 gates by General Pope in his order enjoining 

 the meeting of the convention, firmly secured 

 their right to seats and rendered it unquestion- 

 able; while the others, who were a majority, 

 affirmed that General Pope, before whom their 

 claims had been contested, had left the deci- 

 sion to the convention, which was the proper 

 judge of the qualifications of its own members, 

 and pointing to the undisputed fact that the 

 former were non-residents of Florida, they 

 contended that the law of both the State and 

 Congress in the reconstruction acts excluded 

 them in express words from the possibility of 

 being voted for, as of their voting for others. 



This brought out and nourished a steadily- 

 increasing discord in the convention, as the 

 debates, under cover of discussing a point of 



