352 



GEORGIA. 



May I be pardoned for a word of warning to the 

 men who fought for the Union ? Six months ago, in 

 Georgia, the mass of the people were acquiescing in 

 the results of the war, and willing to accept those 

 results as being finalities ; but, under the public teach- 

 ing of certain old leaders, who need not be named, 

 the whole situation has changed, and leading gen- 

 tlemen, even in tfie Democratic party, who dared to 

 speak in favor of acquiescence and peace, have been 

 assailed and denounced, and the people so intimi- 

 dated that they dare not follow their advice. These 

 conspirators fear, above all else, the reelection of 

 General Grant. Their insidious efforts to mislead 

 him as to the true situation in the South having ut- 

 terly failed, they now fear that same persistent and 

 irresistible maintenance of the right under civil ad- 

 ministration which so brilliantly marked General 

 Grant's military advance in the overthrow of the first 

 rebellion. 



I am now fully satisfied that these men pur- 

 pose to control the Government and reverse the 

 political results of the past few years by peaceful 

 means if they can, and by foul means if they dare. 

 Failing in this, another attempt at separation will be 

 made. If evidence of this were wanting, we need 

 but point to the public and private utterances of those 

 who were foremost in secession and rebellion, and 

 still maintain that they were right, and denounce 

 and ignore the fundamental law the Constitution 

 of the United States. Will the country take heed in 

 time, and thus avert another war, with its fearful 

 train of disasters ? 



If my action at this emergency had been postponed 

 until after the meeting and organization of the coming 

 body of legislators, the Executive branch of the State 

 government would have been absorbed by the con- 

 spirators in the Legislative branch, and there would 

 have been no check upon the wholesale repeal and 

 destruction of all the great measures of reform and 

 progress that we have labored so hard to establish. 



The free-school system would be abolished, the 

 colored citizen denied even the right guaranteed to 

 hinij and the whole work of internal improvements 

 carried out by Northern capital would be swept away. 

 The growing spirit of lawlessness and proscription 

 for opinion's sake is daily rendering the property 

 and lives of Union men and Eepublicans more and 

 more unsafe, and I fear the worst consequences, if 

 the Executive office should be filled by one not only 

 in sympathy with those who urge on and inflame 

 this feeling, but who is moved and actuated by them. 

 With no one in the Executive office to call upon the 

 General Government for protection and support, its 

 friends and supporters would be handed over without 

 mercy to the assaults of their enemies. 



For these reasons, I have determined on this step, 

 believing that the much good that has already been 

 accomplished can be preserved through the wise and 

 firm check upon revolutionary measures that will be 

 given by Governor Conley in control of the Execu- 

 tive Department, and that thereby the good of the 

 whole people of Georgia will be promoted ; and I 

 shall cheerfully give to Governor Conley all the in- 

 formation in my power that he may desire. 



RUFUS B. BULLOCK. 



The assertions of this letter gave much 

 offence to some of the best citizens of the 

 State, and a reply was published, signed by a 

 large number of residents of Atlanta, who were 

 Northern men by birth. They said that a 

 " solemn sense of duty" called upon them "to 

 bear witness that the statements made in that 

 address, as to the strength of political prejudice 

 in this State, are without foundation in fact, 

 and the spirit manifested by it totally unwar- 

 ranted by any existing cause, political or other- 

 wise." They declared that it was " a notable 



fact that the spirit of tolerance is increasing 

 daily, and there is a stronger disposition now 

 to elect to office men of moderate and con- 

 servative views than existed three years ago." 

 They continue : "Men who, three years ago, 

 were most violent in opposition to the recon- 

 struction measures, and in denunciation of 

 those who favored them, have come to think 

 differently, and have joined hands with those 

 whom they once consigned to political and 

 personal infamy and social ostracism, for dar- 

 ing to favor reconstruction, and now unite 

 with them in advising acquiescence in the 

 measures of the Government. These are the 

 changes that have taken place among this 

 people ; and, if the Republican party has been 

 weakened since Governor Bullock's election, 

 it is because of his reckless and ruinous course 

 in financial matters. Instead of there being a 

 'growing spirit of lawlessness' among the 

 people of Georgia, they are, in the aggregate, 

 as much disposed to favor the rigid enforce- 

 ment of the laws as any people we know of, 

 as is evidenced by their general denunciation 

 of the wholesale pardoning business of His ex- 

 Excellency. From close observation and from 

 our own experience in this country, we can 

 assure a cordial welcome and generous treat- 

 ment to all men, of whatever political opinion, 

 who may come here with the intention of en- 

 gaging in honest and legitimate business." 



The constitution of Georgia provides that, 

 in case of the death, resignation, or disability 

 of the Governor, the President of the Senate 

 shall exercise the Executive powers until such 

 disability is removed, or a successor is elected 

 and qualified. Mr. Benjamin Conley, who was 

 President of the Senate at the last preceding 

 session of the Legislature, was notified by the 

 Secretary of State, on the 30th of October, to 

 appear at the capital within ten days, and take 

 the oath of office as Governor. This he did 

 at once, and assumed the Executive functions. 

 On the 1st of November the Legislature as- 

 sembled, and on the following day completed 

 the organization of the two Houses. It was 

 claimed by many that the new President of 

 the Senate, Mr. L. N. Trammell, was legally 

 entitled to hold the position of acting Gov- 

 ernor, and this seems to have been the pre- 

 vailing sentiment. Soon after the organization 

 was completed, the following resolutions were 

 adopted by large majorities in both Houses : 



Resolved, by the General Assembly of the State of 

 Georgia 



1. That Rufus B. Bullock, so-called Governor of 

 this State, who has resigned his office and fled the 

 State, charged with high crimes, in intimating, as he 

 does, in a letter bearing date 23d of October, 1871, 

 addressed to his political friends and the people ot 

 Georgia, that a majority of the House of Repre- 

 sentatives had pledged themselves to vote for arti- 

 cles of impeachment against him without inves- 

 tigation, and that the Senate had _ determined to 

 unseat a sufficient number of Republican Senators to 

 secure his conviction without regard to the truth and 

 validity of the charges, has grossly defamed this 

 General Assembly by charges which are utterly false. 



