368 



GEORGIA. 



entire assurance to the people of Georgia as they 

 have a right to demand in the premises. To a man 

 who values his good name far more than life, it would 

 be an act of supreiuest injustice to deny the most plen- 

 arv vindication, rendered in the most august and au- 

 thoritative form known to the laws or to public opin- 

 ion. To the people of this great commonwealth it is 

 of the last consequence that they should know be- 

 yond all peradventure that the man who fills, at their 

 call, the chief seat of authority is above reproach or 

 suspicion. 



My denunciations of an awful and stupendous slan- 

 der," forged and uttered to dishonor me, will now 

 be enough. The General Assembly of this State, a 

 coordinate power, is appealed to for that justice which 

 while it will, I know full well, exonerate me as a 

 man, will also vindicate the fair fame of Georgia as- 

 sailed by cruel slanders on her Chief Executive. 

 ALFRED H. COLQUITT. 



In his message to the Legislature the Gov- 

 ernor thus states the reasons for his action : 



In January of the present year I gave the State's 

 endorsement upon the first mortgage bonds of the 

 Northeastern Kailroad to the amount of $260,000, 

 this being $6.500 per mile for forty miles. By act 

 of the General Assembly, approved October 27, 1870, 

 the State's guarantee was pledged to this road upon 

 the completion of each continuous twenty miles, to 

 the amount of $15,000 per mile. The act of the 

 General Assembly, ap'proved February 25, 1874, re- 

 pealing the acts granting the right to such guaran- 

 tees as this, excepted all cases where the right had 

 vested. The same General Assembly that passed 

 this repealing act by express resolution, approved 

 March 3, 1874, declared that the said repealing act 

 did not apply to the Northeastern Railroad, its right 

 having vested. A board of skilled railroad commis- 

 sioners, consisting of John H. Powers, John A. Grant, 

 and Charles B. Wallace, was appointed by Governor 

 Smith, on application or the railroad company, to in- 

 spect the road, and reported January 9, 1877, that over 

 forty miles of said road were completed, equipped. 

 and in running order, and the cost of said road 

 was $541,200, more than half of which amount was 

 the investment of private capital. They also report- 

 ed the road free from legal encumbrances that would 

 endanger the security of the State. 



Upon my installation in office, the company ap- 

 plied to me for my endorsement of the bonds of the 

 road in conformity with the law. While the com- 

 pany presented a strong case for endorsement, in 

 view of the disasters connected with similar enter- 

 prises where State aid was granted, and of my own 

 opposition to the policy of State aid, I used great de- 

 liberation in my action. I advised the company to 

 bring the subject before the General Assembly then 

 in session, but the session was too near its close to 

 permit it* decisive action. In the repealing act of 

 374, section 2 has this provision, viz.: "Should 

 any of said companies claim that they have a vested 

 right to such aid, and apply for the same to the Gov- 



lor, any citizen of the State may interpose by bill 

 to restrain the company, and the question of wheth- 

 er said vested right exists shall be for the courts to 

 determine." I suggested to the company to have 

 the rights of the company tested under this provi- 

 i in the courts, and in consequence a bill of in- 

 junct.on was filed by William s! Morris to restrain 

 -npany, the proceedings being instigated by 

 company The Attorney-General was instructed 

 to support the injunction. The Supreme Court de- 

 cided that it had no jurisdiction in the case, and re- 

 ferred the matter to the Governor 



The subject thus finally falling to my decision, I 



. 5 it thorough i consideration. TThe statements ot 

 TiT^ 'l adln memh ers of the General As- 

 H 3 4 ' f hat Pa88ed the State aid ^pealing 

 t ' ie ., dec ] arut ry resolution that the North- 

 Railroad was excepted from the repeal, 



were obtained and referred to me. They declared 

 that it was the express and general intention of the 

 Legislature not to apply the provisions of the repeal 

 of State aid to the Northeastern Railroad. Among 

 those who thus wrote were the Hon. L. N. Tram- 

 mell, President of the Senate ; the Hon. A. O. Ba- 

 con, Speaker of the House ; the Hon. T. J. Simmons 

 Chairman of Finance Committee of the House ; the 

 Hon. George F. Pierce, Jr., Chairman of the House 

 Judiciary Committee ; the Hon. George A. Mercer, 

 pro tern. Chairman of the same Committee ; and the 

 Hon. Henry D. McDauiel, of the Finance Committee. 

 In addition to this, the opinions of some of the ablest 

 lawyers were given the Governor, notably among 

 them the Hon. Robert Toombs, General A. R. Law- 

 ton, and ex-Chief-Justice Joseph E. Brown, arguing 

 the endorsement of the bonds as a legal duty. 



Even then, in the exercise of caution, 1 determined 

 to defer action on the matter until the meeting of the 

 present General Assembly, if it could be done with- 

 out a serious sacrifice to the interests involved. It 

 was represented to me that, upon the pledge of the 

 endorsement of its bonds by the State, the company 

 had incurred an indebtedness of $237,632.97. It was 

 further exhibited to me, by a transcript of the record 

 of Clarke Superior Court, that this amount of claims 

 was already in suit against the rotid, and that judg- 

 ment therefor would be entered up at the February 

 term, 1878, of said court. I endeavored to impress 

 upon the attorneys and officers of the company that 

 they must not look to the State for relief from their 

 present _ embarrassment, but that they should, by 

 negotiating a loan, or raising the money by some 

 other means, tide over their trouble until the Legis- 

 lature could meet and consider the matter. It was 

 not until I had become fully satisfied that all hope of 

 relief from other sources was abandoned, and that 

 the whole property of the company would inevitably 

 be sacrificed under the sheriff's hammer, that I de- 

 cided, within two weeks of the judgment term of the 

 court, to interfere. 



A special committee was appointed by both 

 Houses to make the investigation of the Gov- 

 ernor's conduct in signing the ahove-mentioned 

 bonds, with instructions to report the testimo- 

 ny upon which their conclusions in the case 

 may be reached. The Governor, on appearing 

 before the Committee upon their invitation, 

 was asked to give the reason that induced him 

 to send the special message to the General As- 

 sembly. He stated his reasons fully, and said 

 also that innuendoes and hints had been made 

 in some newspapers, and that damaging facts 

 would be developed in connection with the 

 signing of the Northeastern bonds, etc. It 

 also appears that on October 29th U. S. Sena- 

 tor B. F. Hill had sent forth a circular letter 

 addressed to the public, but subsequently re- 

 quested the papers not to print it. In it he 

 expresses his regret that " the scandal touch 

 ing the endorsement of the Northeastern bondo 

 has gotten into the papers " ; declares it to be 

 the imperative duty of the Legislature "to 

 make a searching investigation " ; asserts that 

 he has no more interest in the matter than any 

 other citizen ; and states the real issues for the 

 Legislature to consider and decide, as follows: 

 1; .The first question made will be whether it is 

 legitimate and proper for subordinate officers and 

 employees in the Executive department to practice 

 for fees or profits on the official duties of the Gov- 

 ernor. 



_ 2. The second question for the Legislature to con- 

 sider and determine will be what action the Governor 



