r 
 
OF IKS- 
 
 Legislature of the Free State of .ii'kansas 
 
 t — ■ 
 
 TO CO>\'G-H-]ESS. 
 
 akd 
 
 LETTER FROM W. D 
 
 SEWATOK ELECT. TO XnE 
 
 O, i"^ 
 
 ■SHOWnST'c 
 
 THE ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE REORGANIZED GOVERN- 
 MENT OF ARKANSAS— THE LOYALTY OF THE STATE— 
 THE VOTE, AND THE PRESENT LEGISLATIVE 
 
 REPRESENTATION IN THE STATS. 
 
 / 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 
 iCHRQiMICUE PRINT. 
 
 1865. 
 
• At 
 
WILL A ED'S HOTEL, 
 
 WASBiNeTON, Feb. 11, 1865. 
 
 HON. S. C. POxMEROY : 
 Dkab §ib : 
 
 Havirg read with satisfaction the 
 able sta'etnent, which your generous advo 
 cacy of the cause of Arkansas baa plac d be- 
 Ibre the Judiciary CoiBmittee of the Senate ; 
 as the accredited representative of the State, 
 seeking a seat npoii the floor of that body, 1 
 desire, in the name of a patriotic but suffer- 
 ing and neglected people, to thank you alike 
 for your sympathies as a citiztu and your 
 labors as a statesman, iu their behalf. 
 
 Gratefully acknowledging the complete- 
 ness of your argument as founded upon facts 
 so abundantly furnished by distinguished 
 gentlemen of Arkansas, that you have beei 
 obliged to condense them ; wdl you pardon 
 me if, through you," I seek to present to the 
 Senate a Memorial to Congress from the Le- 
 gislature of oar State, of which I am the 
 bearer, and if I offer you some new co'n- 
 sideratious, illustrating the subject of reor- 
 ganization in Arkansas, to which your atten- 
 tion, herwise mullifarionsly engaged, has 
 not been called. 
 
 Tbe Memorial which T have the honor 
 herewith to transmit, gives a brief hiis^ory of 
 the origin and progress of the reorganization 
 of the State. The limited nature of a Me- 
 morial, however, did not permit the Legisla 
 ture to go into that extended notice which a 
 proper understanding of the diffused and 
 spontaneous character of this important 
 movement iu the State of Arkansas dem_ands. 
 
 It has been mistakenly charged by the sin 
 cere friends of t>e Government, that the re- 
 organized States are the creatures of milita- 
 ry creation. Against this, so far as Arkaa- 
 3-18 ii concerned, I most sol»muly protest. 
 An iutimate knowledge of the progress of 
 events, iu relation to which, using the lan- 
 guage of ^nias, if the adjective were omit- 
 ted, I could ti-uly say, " ti quorum magna 
 pars faif^ enables me to aver that the gre>»t 
 bulk of the then existing papulation; the 
 slaveholders as a class having emigraied to 
 Texas, and the turbulent secession element 
 having volunteered, welcomed the advent of 
 our arms wiih a deep and heartfelt satisfac- 
 tion. That it was not always obtrusively de- 
 monstrative I admit, but that it was any the 
 less universal and sine re, I deny. 
 
 A profound ignorance of the designs of 
 our commanders in the eatablishment of per- 
 
 tnanent posts, and the sad recurrence of re- 
 peated disappointments, had rendered a peo- 
 ple who, in the first few montiss of the war. 
 would have made the Heavens ting with their 
 glad acclaim, eautieus, but not dislojal. 
 
 The Confederate version of the news of 
 Oak Hill fell upon their ears like a thunder- 
 c'Hp. Thf^ roar of the victorious artillery at 
 Elkhorn March, 1SG2, reverberated through 
 the mountains, and swept over our vallies like 
 a 'oit-e ( f prophecy. Rumors of tbe advance 
 Curtis, spread by exalting lips fUr in his tan, 
 .-eeemed bke a fulhllment of the promise, and 
 they rejoiced : but the inexorable necefsities 
 of war, forced, after an advance to within 
 forty- five miles of the Capitol, the evacua- 
 tion of the section of country covered by bim, 
 and the blackened ruins of loyal homes ; the 
 suspended bodies of scores of those whom 
 ireasonab'e malignity had marked as affiliat- 
 ing with the army, warned the friends of tbe 
 Government to be thoughtful. 
 
 Again, the volleyed musketry of Prairie 
 Springs, December, 1862, awakened the 
 last Spring's echoes of Elkhorn. »' d 
 as Hindman's tatterdam aliens rushed 
 frantically from one disastrous field 
 iu the uorthwebt to the Post of Arkansas, 
 equally disastrous iu the southeast, the 
 hearts of tbe whole country behind them 
 rose with a bo'nid to welcome the array of 
 deliverance. A second time the exigencies 
 of the nation changed the apparent direction 
 of our troops, and they came not ; but in 
 their stead returned the infuriated bands of 
 the Confederacy, with maledictions on their 
 lips and vengence as their purpose. 
 
 At the first intimation of the change, con- 
 scious from th« history of the previous year 
 of his impending fate, the hardy loyalist 
 mouiited hia horse and sped to the border. 
 Every mountain path was fi'led with fugi- 
 tives. Refugee trains groaned along all the 
 unfrequented roads ; their terror-stricken oc- 
 cupants deprived at a moment's notice of 
 home and its c mforts, goading their tired 
 cat'le to escape an actual and remorseless 
 pursuit. 
 
 Maddened by the condition of things which 
 h<»d been revea'ed, tbe commanding general, 
 without even i retended law or authority, le- 
 vied a wholesale conscription. Hisouicers vis- 
 ited every house, and with sabres at his back, 
 every man capable of bearing arms, irrespec- 
 tive of age, was dragged to the army. De- 
 sertions became frequent. A reign of torror 
 was inaugurated. Tbe forage and edibles — 
 already scarce — of whole neighborhoods was 
 impressed, without even the poor compensa- 
 
t'cn of rcbi'l scr'p, the only currency 
 the peoiple tad. Oppression, practiced to 
 'ifi utmost verge, forced the mutterings of 
 despair. Men v,e\'e shot, six at a tioae, at 
 the will of the commander, witbout even the 
 form of a (lOiut martial, uotil at last Confed 
 •'rate veo^reaoc-- was satiated, and the mon- 
 ster was renaoved. 
 
 Is it to be wondered at, af er an experl- 
 PDce Faeh as this, loysilf.y was no' always 
 loudly demous'rative at the first approach oC 
 the Federal Army? It had learned prudeoce ; 
 but that it still pulsated as warmly in the 
 bosomaofthe loass of the people as when, 
 i ; a vot'« of forty t'lousiiud they gave 
 ele.ven thousand majority to memb8?c= 
 o*' the Cooveutioii who weie pledged to tho 
 UuioiT), Lec-ime imtrsedistely apparent on the 
 cieeupiiicy of the Cfjp'tol. Gereral Steele 
 h^d taken pos-esaion of his hf adquaiters at 
 L'ttle Rock but twenfy-f jur hours, when the 
 loyal people of the city where I reside, fifty 
 n)ile8 distant, gatheied together and appoint- 
 ed a committee, of wliici't the writer was oep, 
 to visit him, and, infonnirg bitii of the large 
 UaioQ ffentimeut among us, to a«k a garri- 
 8oa and the p'Oteciion of the flag of our 
 choice. Wiihiu ten fJay.s at er his arrival at 
 Liu'e Rock a Uoion Club was formed, wbieU 
 held public rafetuig;?.r>oce or twice a week, 
 KKid S5 earnestly carried forward the work <if 
 stSiuriog the people of ihe permaneEcy of the 
 ■(.'cupatiou, tba>. th'-y were ii'ially eornpe'Ud 
 ' bold th^if me-etings io. *he open air for 
 :^r>t i f sufficitut accommfidafion ia doorSo 
 To C'awford a.nd Sebastian counties, and 
 'bft people of northwei-tern Arkansas, two 
 haadred miles away from he&dquarters; 
 properly belongs the credit of setting in ope- 
 ration, Pcarcely one moath after the capture 
 of thici Capitol, the movement which finally 
 resttl'ed in the assembling of the State Cou- 
 Vf ntion, the est;*blisbment rf the Fiee Con- 
 sti'.ution, and the reorganization of the Stat?. 
 Taii occurred i I Oeteber, 1863. Owing to 
 the very recsnt 'occupation of our army at 
 t'tjMit time, means of intercftmrnuaioation 
 «>=re tii^dj and inadequate. The people of 
 ;,'.'■ centra! and southeastern portions, ani- 
 '>j*»t,i::d by the sam'% unshaked loyalty, in No- 
 vetiber, a^ yet uuinformed of th« movement 
 in the norihxvrtet, dispatched a delegation of 
 tiicir modl proruiuenf. citizens to Washington, 
 '0 confer wic'i ihe President as t» the best 
 method of re-es'ablishing civil govi-rnmeat 
 Udder the authority of the United States. 
 Thsy were lung delayed upon th^ way, and it 
 was to thii deegaion that the authority con- 
 ta-ned in a letter to Gecieral Steele, dated 
 Ja lUiiry 20 h, 1864, to hold an election in 
 Ackanas, quoted in your letter, page 13, 
 was handed. Another delay occurred at 
 
 Washington before the delegation started to 
 return. In the interim the people of the 
 central and e&sxern part of the State — better 
 means of <j.< mrnunication, iucluding a tele- 
 graph nearly across the State — having been 
 established, haded with satisfaction the p'an 
 proposed ia Sebastian and Crawford coun- 
 ties, and acted upon it. Delegates had been 
 elected to the State Convention; that body 
 Lad assembled, formed a Constitution abol- 
 ishing slavery, referred it to the people, ap- 
 appointed that sterling patriot Isaac Mur- 
 phy, Pfoviftional Gosemor, and tlien ad- 
 jourmd. Communication wiih Washirgton 
 by telegraph haviog been opened, the sub- 
 stance of the Presideut'b authority, quoted 
 by you, was Cdmrnunicated to Gov. Murphy: 
 the PreaideDt was informed of the ae ion of 
 the Convemion, and a reply immediately re- 
 ceived, of which the following is a copy : 
 
 '' WAaHijv'GTON, Feb. 8th, 1864. 
 •'TO I MDRPHY: 
 
 " My order to Geueral Steele about an 
 election was made in ignorance of the action 
 your Convention had taken or would take. 
 A subsequent letter directs Gen. Steele to 
 aid you in your own plans, and not to thwatl 
 or hifjder you. Show this to him. 
 
 " A. LINCOLN." 
 
 li- is a noticeable fcatare in the history ' f 
 Arkansas, tkstamid ths? exc temeut through- 
 out the fouutry coustquent upon ihe agit* 
 tion of the Ka,nsas-Nebi'a ka bill, while se- 
 cession was openly lauvassed in many of the 
 Southern States, that it never appeared a^* 
 an issue upon the surf.ice of her polilic?, and 
 so decidedly loyal was the volume of public 
 opinion, the slawocrAiic conspirators were 
 compelled to cloak their discordant desigrs 
 whecever an slhision ivaa made to a possible 
 difliculty in case of failure, under the spe- 
 cious pretext, of fightiog for their rights in 
 the Utiion. That this preponderating loyal- 
 ty existed then and maintained itself tcrough 
 the terrovf!, exactions and persecutions of 
 three years cf rebel authority, is directly n - 
 ferrabie to the converse of the material causes 
 which blTord a solution of the rebellion. 
 Arkansas as a *ho'e was not ^vedded to 
 slavery. 
 
 Originally settled by the poor whites of the 
 South who had fled from competition with 
 that institution, evefl as late as 1860; though 
 the slave popalation had doubled in ten 
 leatis; fiii* counties, Chicot, Jefferson, Phi'ips, 
 Union and Hempstead, contained more than 
 thirty per cent, of iLe slaves ot the whole 
 State. A very great proportion of the coun- 
 ties had less than oiie thousand — Newton, 
 for in.stance, with a population of 3,393 hav- 
 ing bu"; 24 ; Searcy, with a popula- 
 
tion of 5,271, prese'cting but S3; FultoE, 
 with a popuHat'on of 4,024 exhibiting but 
 83, and so on adjinem. 
 
 Of Ler area of 52,188 square miles, liot 
 mi re than twenty per cent, is adapted to tlie 
 profitab'e cu'tivation of cotton. These lands, 
 corisistirig exclusively of the narrow Tallies 
 ■s»hi('h follow the course of the streaiios and 
 the Mis-iss'ppi ; through a shaujelefs aystcm 
 of class legislation, early became the piey, at 
 a notnioat price, of the slaveholders «8 a 
 body, and the hardy pioneer looked with a 
 natural jealousy upon that system, v.hich, 
 having exiled him from the State of his na- 
 Hvity, followed him with io-saiiable rapacity 
 to the bordt-r, aiid depriving him of the rich 
 Jiiluvioiis of the bottoms, drove him to the 
 less product ve soils of the hills. 
 
 If powerless, the non slaveholders of Ar- 
 kansas, most of thetu the more enterpritiug 
 emigrants from ihe old Slave S atea, were 
 ritiU conscious of their wrongs. 
 
 Constituti'g by far the greater portion of 
 the peop'e, and driven to the cultiva.tiou of 
 the cereals ; a puisuir. in the southwest nat- 
 urally incompa'able with profitab'e slavery : 
 when called upon by every appeal which 
 mendacity could devise rr effrontery present, 
 at the only opportunity with the ballot which 
 was ever permitted, in large nsajority they 
 protested against the coutemplattd treason. 
 Afterwards, though insulted, distressed, 
 htiiited and proscribed, with the memory of 
 the martyrdom of many whose names av'i 
 now on every loyal I'p. 
 
 — "Who lived unknown tiU persecution 
 
 Chased them up to fame, "and oa to heaven," 
 they kept the tires of loyalty aglow 
 in their bosoms, and almost ere th^ 
 first bugle biasfs of fr. edom had sounded 
 along tbe frail line of posts that protected 
 them from the enemy, they came forward 
 voluntarily, without military ins'igatiou, nay, 
 agains'; military interference, and legallyxand 
 orderly dt^posited their vo'ea for Liberty, 
 Civil Government, and iha Union. 
 
 I come now to speak of the vote. An 
 earuest member of your body, distinguished 
 alike for his legal learning and his devotion 
 to the interests of tbe Goverotnent, remarked 
 tw me th;it he tever would support tbe "one- 
 tenth" piiociple. biitthat whenever one-half 
 of the voters of the rebellious States signitied 
 their desire for the resumption of Federal 
 relations, he would adait them. Without 
 celling his attention to tbe gUiing injustice 
 cf so ordering things, that a rebel in arms, 
 who has llTtVitt'd alt his rights; by tbe mere 
 )act oi his esi'tence, shall have equal weijjht 
 in dttterrnininfir the it-alienab'e rights of felf- 
 governmeuf. of 'he loytl man who is himself 
 present ar.d active, and determined in the 
 support of the Government; or without show- 
 
 ing the equally gross violation of equity, 
 which would follow the establishment of a 
 principle that would en&b'e the oath purged 
 rebe's by their mere refusal to enter into an 
 election, to perp&tuate the confusions of the 
 re-occupied States, nnd defeat the will of an 
 equal number of Union men, wbote heaiis 
 ar« burning for the cause ot the Government 
 and whoss arms are ready fur the defense of 
 the State. Without, iufhort, going into the 
 metaphys'cs of politics, eircumsta ces since 
 I saw him have placed it in my power to dt;\ 
 monstrate that Arkansas, at least, mfets the 
 conditiois of the " one half " princ'ple. 
 
 A rebel paper re ently published — as lam 
 ini'ormed by letter — the oiiicial vote at the late 
 election ior members of tbe rebel Congress 
 from Arkansas, which shows a total rebel vote 
 in the State of 3,732. A Little Rock corres- 
 pondent of a New York paper confirms tbe 
 statement of the letter under date of Little 
 Rock, January 23d, 1865; while I myselt saw 
 the returns of tbe vote in the Second Dis- 
 trict, as published with the repaark *' that tbe 
 returns in the other Districts were not yet 
 received," in tbe Wasldngion Telegraph, a 
 rebel paper issued beyond the lines, in wbich 
 the vote was £tat> d for tbat District at about 
 ,1,100. Having mislaid the paper I cannot 
 HOW be exact, but it did not exceed 1,125. 
 In the District alluded to, the organization 
 under wbich we seek recognition, received 
 Sfvmethmg over 3,000 votes, and in tbe whole 
 State 12,403 were cast; the majority for tbe 
 Constitution being 12,177. 
 
 Assuming tbe statement of the letter aud 
 newspaper correspondent to be correct, and 
 that it is so I am convinced from ihe relative 
 proportion of the whole vote repi^rted by 
 them, and tbat of the Second District which 
 fell under my own observation, an analysis 
 of the whole resident vote of the State in 
 1864, counting tbe entire rebel vote as 
 afiainft re-t rganization, shows a proportion 
 of one against to more than three in favor 
 of the present State government. 
 
 That the entire vo e of a State so recently 
 as 1860, voting 54,060 ballots, should, in 
 the short spacs of four jears, fall off to 16,- 
 135, may strike some northern minds as sin- 
 gular. When, however, it is remembered 
 that the able-bodied secession element speed- 
 ily volunt-eered, dragging with it many ot the 
 more easily intimidated and less decided 
 Unionists, autil Arkansas was representsdiQ 
 tbe Confederate army by nineteen so called 
 voluntersT regiments, of at least the minimum 
 strength, and that immediately thereafter the 
 several consciiptions were more than rigidly 
 enforced, taking, not a certain ponion, but 
 all within the ages of eighteen and for y five, 
 it will be seen that on the basis of 171,541 
 
males of all ages iu Arkansas in 1860, (Cen- 
 sus 1860, page 246,) there could not possi- 
 bly, makiog ail due allowance for the leturo 
 of discharged soldiers and persoos arriviug 
 at matunty,be over ly.OOO or 20,000 voters in 
 the State. The differeuceof4000 between these 
 numbers and the actual vote, is accounted 
 iot by emigration South and refugeeism 
 North, and that element which refused to 
 vote on 4-ither side of the then existing line. 
 
 I am often asked what proportion of the 
 State is repr«=sented in the Free State Legis- 
 iature. In i860, by the census, the forty- 
 fiiur counties out of fifty-four represented in 
 the present Legislature, contained a white 
 populat'ou of 273,o20. lij aa we may rea- 
 sonably suppose, all portions of the State 
 have been equally or nearly equally afiected 
 by the depletions of the war, whatever may 
 be the existing population, they represent 
 now, as they did then, a fraction over eight- 
 tenths of the entire vvbite inhabitant'*, the 
 total in 1860 being 332, 1533. Owing to 
 causes I ha'i'e hereinbefoe recited, the rela- 
 tive represealatiuu of the black popula'ion 
 would be le38 iu these counties, yet taking 
 all the people of both colors together, oa the 
 name basis, the proportion of representation 
 in the present Government, to the entire 
 present population, would be as seven and a 
 fraction is to ten. 
 
 To this plain and palpable history of af- 
 f-iirs, I am sometimes met with the ad cc.p- 
 tan'JiMn objection, "the logic of events is 
 againt-t you " If your view is correct; if the 
 great body of the people of Arkansas weie 
 loyal before the war: if they were in a major- 
 ity duiing the war, and tbeir patriotism was 
 of that stubborn and unshaken character that 
 it can.e cbeerfu'ly forward without prompt- 
 ing and re-asserted its rights in such large 
 numbers, how was it possible for Arkansas 
 to ''go out?" Den}ing the possibility of a 
 State's accomplishing what is so readily con- 
 ceded in the objection, and denying further, 
 that by any fair and legitimate construction 
 of the acts of the people of Arkansas, they 
 can be regarded, as a body, of having sanc- 
 tioned secession, I yet reply for explana'ion 
 that liberty in Arkansas found her home 
 chiefly, as she has done everywhere in all 
 ages, in the free and untr^mmeled air of the 
 country, among the honest and unsuspecting 
 tillers of the upland soils; that the influential 
 slaveholders, in w^hoseha'^ds the government 
 of the State bai reposed from the beginning, 
 were comparatively compact along the bot- 
 toms of the ditferent streams; the State Cap- 
 itol being situated in the middle of the 
 wealthiest and most popnloas ot these v«llies 
 — that acting in concert they soon subsidized 
 a press, already prostituted, to the purposes 
 
 of slavery, and infesting and getting control 
 of the ostensible public sentiment of the few 
 towns, in a State which stood the twenty- 
 eiglitli in density of population, and the mean 
 ra'io of which was but eightand thirty four one 
 huHdredths persons to the square mile; from 
 tbeir organized centres they soon obtained 
 apparent political and real military control 
 of the whole. The method is not new; it is 
 almost as old as civilization itself. 
 
 A few more words and I have finished. 
 Under the circumstances which I have en- 
 endeavored to portray, the free loyal State of 
 Arkansas demands recognition at the hands 
 of Congres". 
 
 That the just indignation of abetrayed i/a- 
 tion should hold to a strict accountability the 
 conspirators against its peace, the loyal peo- 
 ple of Arkansas appreciate and approve ; 
 but that the Confederate juggleof a pretend- 
 ed State action should be interposed between 
 them and the constitutional rights of self-gov- 
 ernment, which they have been taught t> be- 
 lieve inalienable, except by treason, it will 
 be hard to make them understand. 
 
 Look at it. Four years ago the State, 
 of which these loyal men, then as now, were 
 the majority, though iu ditFerent numbers, 
 stood the peer of any. Plenty rustled in her 
 cornfields; peace brooded over her house- 
 holds, and success dropped golden guerdon 
 in the coffers of her enterprises. Between 
 1850 and 1860, in the ratio of increase of 
 I'opulation, she was the fifth State ; in it!- 
 crease of the cereals and their products the 
 Iburth : in real and personal estate and in 
 the value of her farms, she stood before 
 eleven; in value of farming implements slie 
 struck her foot upward and ascended above 
 twelve; in wealth of live stock she out-ranked 
 sixteen; of cotton she raised 367,000 bales; 
 of grain, 19,293,332 bushels; of tobacco, in 
 the infancy of its cultivation, 999,757 pounds. 
 From this proud position has rebellion 
 dragged her, and her loyal men ask recogni- 
 tiou,ihat they may set deep in the records of the 
 t^mes, through a unanimous Legislature, the 
 broad seal of their condemnation of slavery, 
 whose viras festering in the bosom of the 
 State pata'yzad them until they were deliv- 
 ered, bound hand and foot, unwilling victims 
 on the altar of its treasonable ambition ! 
 
 They ask it, that, they may extend the pro- 
 tection of laws which will be rrspectod over 
 the desolated homes and vacant glebes of 
 thousands who are vagrant, outragfld, way 
 layed and murdered, only for their fa thful- 
 ness to tbe Government of their fathers. 
 
 They ask it that, continuing an organiza- 
 tion, the beneficence of which is already 
 felt, they may retread tbe paths of their an- 
 cient prosperity, unchoked by the obstacles 
 
of slavery, and build up a polity which, har- 
 monizing with that of the whole, in identity 
 of interest and equality of rights, shall tend 
 to perpetuate the Republic for which thpy 
 have cheerfully sacrificed all ! 
 
 Will Congress deny us ? If sa, upon theoa 
 must rest the grave responsibility of exhib- 
 iting to the world a suffering people, to whom, 
 by their direct action, loyalty has been made 
 a misfortune and fidelity a curse I 
 
 Thanking yon again in the name of this 
 people for the interest you have manifested; 
 
 and hoping I have plactd you in possf ssion 
 of;Buch facts as will make easier ihe gener- 
 ous task you have uudertaben, I annex the 
 MeHDorial to which I referred, and callicg 
 your attention to that portion oi it which 
 speaks particularly of military indifference, 
 nay, of military prevention, 
 
 I remain, 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 W. D. SNOW. 
 
In the Senate, on the 22d day of December, 1864, Dr. White, Irora ihe 
 Select Committee, to whom was referred the duty of prcparino-' u suitable 
 Memorial to the Congress of the United States, praying for Recognition 
 etc.. submitted the following Memorial, for the adoption of the Generai 
 Assembly oi Arkansas, to the Congress of the United States, which 
 Memorial was read and adopted; yeas 12, noes 5, and on the 30th Decem- 
 ber reported back from the House of Representatives as having passed 
 that body unsnimously : 
 
 MEMORI^^I. 
 
 A. litlle more tlian one year ago, the loyal 
 people of the State of Arkansas, after nearly 
 three years of sujcction to, and suffering 
 from an illegal tyrannical and sanguinary 
 government, and Avben they had been to a 
 very great extent relieved therefrom, by the 
 aid of the Union armies in virtue of a pro- 
 vision of the Constitution of the United 
 States, -which not only secures to each State 
 a republican form of government, but also 
 its aid in suppressing insurrections and 
 domestic violence, re-organized their State 
 Government, and re-uffirmed their loyalty 
 and devotion to the Constitution and gov- 
 ernment of the United States. They also 
 in accoi'dance with their wishes, as -well as 
 the spirit and demand of the times, annulled 
 and abrogated the law recognizing the in- 
 stitution of African slavery, tlien existing in 
 their midst. Havin-- accomplished thus 
 much, they deem tlial they had restored the 
 Federal relations of the Siate to their sfalus 
 quo ante helium. 
 
 As the representatives of the loyal people 
 of Arkansas in Legislature asseiiibled, Ave 
 l)Cg leave herewith, most respectfully, to 
 Kobinit to your Honornblebody, a few facts 
 bearing upon our re-organiztion, as well as 
 ttie status and condition of our people and 
 th.?ir claims for presoit consideration. 
 
 In October, 1863, the loyal citizens of the 
 counties of Crawfoid and Sabastian, con- 
 jointly, in Mass Meeting very fully attended 
 recommended, that a State Convention of 
 tlie people, by their delegates, should assem- 
 ble at Little Rock, the Capital of the State, 
 on the fourth day of January then follow- 
 ing. Other counties took action immediate- 
 ly in hke manner, and threughout the State, 
 where proceedings could be had, the utmost 
 tiarmony and enthusiasm prevailed ; and 
 when, on the 8th of December, the President 
 issued his Proclamation, or 'plan' for the re- 
 organization of States, which were, or had 
 been, in insurrection, a majority of the 
 ti:anties of th-^' Stat*- hr.d called meetings 
 
 for the election of their delegates. The 
 Proclamation legalized our proceedings as 
 we thought, and the loyal heart of Arkansas 
 took courage, and its pulses beat full and 
 strong. The movement, it is hardly nec- 
 essary to say, was a spontaneous one. It was 
 the movement of the people, and for them 
 and he who says it was otherwise, or that 
 the people, or any portion of them, were 
 instigated to action by letters from Washing- 
 ton, or by Military Officers here or else- 
 where, says that which he not only does not 
 know to be true, but which is positively 
 untrue, and without the shadow of founda- 
 tion in fact. No outside influence was 
 sought to be extended by any one except- 
 ing as against us. 
 
 It was known, indeed, that many, very 
 many, niilitary men opposed us, persistently, 
 and until afier the reception of tlie Presi- 
 dent's Proclamation, or lather after the 
 reception of his instructions issued subse- 
 vuently thereto. It is a fact also, that num - 
 hers of the delegates elect, were prevented 
 from attending the sitting of the convention 
 bj^ the orders of a niilitary commander in 
 the North West, even after the receipt of- 
 the President's instructions, which were to 
 the effect that the people should not be inter- 
 fered with in their public or local assemblies. 
 
 General Steele himself only tolerated the 
 presence of the people's delegates at Little 
 Rock, but he did not oppose their action. 
 j\Iilitary interference prevented a quorum of 
 the people's delegates from assembling for 
 a long time. Military apathy has been a 
 bane, the loyal people of Arkansas never 
 will cease to remember, and 'whatever of 
 censure or praise attaches to the success of 
 the proceedings in the inoipiency or pro- 
 gress of restoring the State Government, at- 
 taches to the loyal people of Arkansas, and 
 to them alone. Justice as well as gratitude 
 requires it to be said, however, that the 
 loyal people had from, the lj.rs!, a few valua- 
 ble friends in the army. Prominent amone 
 
10 
 
 such were Biigadier General Kimball, com- 
 manding district of Little Rock, Brigadier 
 General Andrews, commandiug Post of 
 Little Rock, Ca:>tain Henry. A. Q. M., Col- 
 onel, now Judge Caldwell, of the U. b. 
 District Court of Arkansas, Colonel Bowen, 
 13th Kansas Volunteers, commandiag at 
 Van Buren, and Brigadier General Buford, 
 commanding Eastern District of Arkansas 
 at Helena. 
 
 The new or amended Constitution was 
 ratified b}" a very large majority of the vot- 
 ers, (rebels were excluded,) and by a num- 
 ber exceeding 13,000, and nearly three-fifths 
 of the vote of the State before the war, 
 nearly all of the loyal citizens of the State 
 having an opportunity to vote for or 
 against the Constitution, as they might 
 desire. 
 
 It was almost the unanimous expression 
 of our loyal people, who thought loyal ac- 
 tion to be not only expedient and proper, 
 but of the highest necessity and importance! 
 
 We were without money or patronage, 
 but honest and devoted to the Government, 
 and had not the remotest idea that our ad- 
 vance would be repelled. The disloyal and 
 wealthy portion of our former population 
 were either in tlie rebel army or within its 
 lines ; wc were rid of theui and controlling 
 the largest portion, say four-fiiths of the 
 territory of the State. ' It was our right as 
 well as our duty to act, and we did so. 
 
 We have asked deferentially, yet. aa a 
 matter of justice, that Congress should re- 
 cognize our efforts in the only proper and 
 suitable manner, to wit : The admission of 
 our Representatives to seats in the Congress 
 of the U. S. as an admission that Arkansas 
 is a State in the Union. 
 
 Shall we longer be neglected by the only 
 Government we love, and for "which we 
 have been ready to die, and shall we be 
 further discouraged from loyal efforts ? 
 
 The bones of hundreds, yes, thousands of 
 our sons and brothers lie bleaching upon the 
 many battle-fields of the West. The people 
 we represent have been true to the traditions 
 of their fathers, and worshiped no rebel gods. 
 Twelve thousand Arkansians to-day swell 
 the number of the armies of the Union, 
 while scarcely one-half that number remain 
 in the rebel army by enlistment and con- 
 scription. 
 
 The Amnesty proclamation itself, although 
 begotten through sound motives, has work- 
 ed harm to the loyal people and their cause. 
 Rebels and their families have been protect- 
 ed at the expense of radical Union men. 
 
 Positions lucrative in their character, have 
 been given to persons of known rebel pro- 
 clivities when Union men every way worthy 
 could have been substituted, who were 
 suffering for want of cmploj^ment, Nor is 
 this all. Rebels obtained permits to trade 
 
 in preference to loyal Union men. Buck is the 
 doctrine of conciliation practically carried 
 out. 
 
 Although, as a general thing in this war, 
 the innocent must, to a great degree, suffer 
 with the guilty. Yet, changing tlie proposi- 
 tion, the innocent have suffered more than 
 the guilty, as applied to us. 
 
 Most of the rebels left tl-.e cc'-antry in 
 advance of the Union army while Union 
 people remained. The property of the latter 
 has been taken or destroyed w ithout adequate 
 remuneration, and in many cases without any 
 remuneration at all, they have been treated 
 in many instances as rebels, or without regard 
 to the question of whether they were loyal or 
 otherwise. They have thought indeed that 
 the fact of having been loyal to their coun- 
 try, occasioned the contempt and disregard 
 of Federal Authorities. In the city of 
 Little Rock, have been thousands of 
 Union refugees, men, women and children, 
 broken-hearted, naked and starving ; a great 
 number are here now. Thej^ have fled from 
 the wicked and murderous guerrillas, after 
 being robbed of everything which they pos- 
 sessed. They Vive in camps or tents, drag 
 out a miserable existence for a short time, 
 and die. Hundreds suffer from actual want 
 of necessary food, shelter and clothing, 
 while many residences in the city are occu- 
 pied by the families of those who are fight- 
 ing against their country, or, being citizen 
 rebels, have fled within the rebel lines. 
 Their fjimilies are protected, and wield an 
 overruling social influence. Many of them 
 are wealthy and live in ease and comfort. 
 They have' busied themselves in carrying 
 delicacies to the rebel prisoners who have 
 happened to be confined in the Penitentiary 
 for their crimes. And it is stated on the 
 best authority, and the fact is notorious, 
 that they never contributed in the slightest 
 manner to the relief of the poor and dis- 
 tressed Union women and children, or take 
 any interest in the amelioration of their 
 condition. "^ 
 
 It has been said that the men who insti- 
 gate a revolution are seldom the ones to end 
 it, whether it end disastrously or otherwise. 
 And neither the slave owner, the rebel 
 sympathizer, nor the quasi Union man, are 
 the ones to rely upon to end the present re- 
 bellion, and bring peace to the South. 
 
 This task lies with'.he unconditional loyal 
 men of the South. Organization and effort 
 are amongst the more prominent and cer- 
 tain means to secure this result. Organi- 
 zation is our object. But we want the shield 
 o: the Government to protect us, in order 
 that our arms may be nerved for thedefeace 
 of our homes and our firesides, against the 
 merciless guerrilla and marauder, as well as 
 against the more open enemy. 
 
 It is often remarked that slavery is dead ; 
 
11 
 
 but slavery is not yet dead, aad efforts are 
 certainly being made to defeat the M'"iII of 
 those who desire its destruction. 
 
 The pro-slavery party ia Arkansas is not 
 asleep ; its efforts to destroy the present 
 State organization here are persistent and 
 desperate ; .its members have taken the am- 
 nesty oath and are protected ; they have an 
 organization, and control a press — the Little 
 Rock Democrat. They manage shrewdly but 
 determinedly, and will, if they can, defeat 
 the will of the loyal people of the State. 
 Pretending to be with us, they secretly ope- 
 rate against us, and would to-day, if they 
 could, enslave the poor white people of the 
 State. This organ, thus used, has sought to 
 be the organ of the commander of the De- 
 partment of Arkansas. 
 
 How well it has succeeded can be best 
 judged by the amount of patronage be- 
 stowed upon it as against other and more 
 loyal presses. We mean not to assail the 
 late commander of this military department 
 unjustly or unkindly ; he is an honorable, 
 charitable and just man in all his intentions 
 and has many personal friends. 
 
 His object has been, no one doubts, to 
 carry out the instructions of his superiors ; 
 but it is as a military rather than as a polit- 
 
 ical leader that we would commead him. 
 It is not our purpose as legislators to make 
 compromises with rebels in arms, or to lower 
 the standard of national loyalty. Treasou 
 must indeed be punished to the end that it 
 shall lose none of its odium or significance, 
 and loyalty shall not become a by-word 
 and a reproach. 
 
 The fiat of the nation has been pro- 
 nounced, and these States are to be one and 
 indivisible. Slavery, the curse of our coun- 
 try, and the cause of the war, is no longer 
 to be tolerated as an institution upon thei 
 statute books of the South. Such determina- 
 tion, we accept and approve, and the man 
 who is not Tv'ith us in our efforts, is against 
 us. In reference to all the facts connected 
 with the present position of affairs in this 
 State, we think it must be apparent to your 
 honorable body, that an immediate recog- 
 nition of our State by the Federal Govern- 
 ment, will enable us to overcome, to a great 
 extent, at least the difficulties and embarrass- 
 ments with which we are now surrounded. 
 
 We appeal to heaven for the rectitude of 
 our intentions, and implore the Divine 
 Mercy, forgiveness and guidance, for our 
 much suffering and neglected people. 
 
 WILLIAM A. COUNTS, 
 
 Secretary of the Senate. 
 
 A. M. MERRICK, 
 
 GlcT'-c of thx U&use of Bepresent'atmi* 
 
iiir