F 291 
 .F24 
 
 ) THE STATUS OF GEORGIA. 
 
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 LETTER. 
 
 HON. JOHN H.VdICKEY, 
 
 6'cna(or Forty-First Senatorial District, 
 
 THE STj^TtJS OF C3-EOK.GIA, 
 
 HON. HENRY V. FARRO\\, 
 
 Attorney General of Gcorfjia. 
 
 WASHINGTON CITY: -4 
 
 W'ijH.1. k WITIIKKOW, PlilNTKIiS AM> STK.RKOTTl'KOS. 
 
 1800. 
 

,^- HENRY P. FARROW, 
 
 k>^ JJFCDJSr THE ST.A-TTJS 0:F (3-E0I?;C3-I^. 
 
 Washington, D. C, ^jon7 13, 1869. 
 
 To Hon. John B. Dickey, 
 
 Senator from 4:1st DisL, Morganton, Fannin Co.., Ga. 
 
 Dear Sir : Your letter of the 3d instant came duly to hand, 
 and would have been answered sooner but for want of time. 
 I have received a frreat number of similar letters from all 
 portions of our State, from both white and coloreil friends, 
 And as the multiplicity of them renders it out of my power to 
 answer them all with my pen, I have thought proper to issue 
 this circular letter, rather than leave the inquiries made by 
 yourself and others unanswered. The anxiety alluded to as 
 existing in your community to know what will ultimately be 
 done with reference to Georgia prevails universally through- 
 out the State; and not only do our friends inquire by letter, 
 but for several days last week I was hourly in receipt of tele- 
 grams of like character. That my friends and the Republi- 
 cans generally may be in possession of the facts relative to 
 the status of Georgia before Congress, I shall not confine 
 myself to the points inquired of in any one letter, but will be 
 more general in the presentation of my views. 
 
 It will therefore be necessary to allude to some of the evils 
 -existing in Georgia, the manner in which we seek to remedy 
 those evils, and the prospect of success in our efforts. In 
 alluding to these evils, it will not be my purpose to attempt, 
 in this letter, to show their origin, or to show who is respon- 
 sible for them; but I will say, however, that when I came here 
 last May, bearing to the President of the United States the 
 constitution of Georgia, I made known, during my two months' 
 stay in this city urging upon Congress the acceptance of that 
 <3onstitution, my fears that Union men in Georgia, though 
 victorious in the elections before the people, would be de- 
 prived by General Meade of the fruits of that victory, and 
 gave my reasons for that belief. 
 
 With a view to preventing the enemies of reconstruction 
 from taking control of our new government, it was provided, 
 while I was here, by a law which was passed by Congress on 
 the 25th of June, that no person should be eligible to a seat 
 in either house of our General Assembly who would be in- 
 eligible under the "3d section of the proposed amendment 
 
to the Constitution of the United States." x\t the time of 
 the passage of this law, 25th of June last, the amendment had 
 not become a pai't of the Constitution, hence the necessity of 
 special legislation bj Congress to prevent such' persons from 
 sitting in our General Assembly, as it was feared the test 
 oath would not be administered. When our Legislature met 
 on the 4th day of July last, within nine days after the passage 
 of that law by Congress, it was organized in open disregard 
 of, and in violation of that latv ! Yes, within ten days after 
 Congress by solemn act declared, as a condition upon which 
 we were to be restored to the Union, that such persons should 
 not sit in our GeneralAssembly, we find a large number of 
 these ineligible persons, in defiance of Congress, usurping the 
 privileges and powers of legislators. » 
 
 The true friends of Congress, and of the Republican party, 
 met this usurpation with proper spirit, and would have crushed 
 it in its incipient stage but for the treachery of a few so-called 
 Republicans, whose thirst for office is stronger than their at- 
 tachment to principle, and who "cringed the suppliant knee, 
 that thrift might follow fawning." 
 
 The General Assembly of Georgia, controlled by a large 
 number of usurpers, among other things proceeded to elect 
 United States Senators, and Mr. Hill and Mr. Miller were 
 elected. Against these gentlemen, personally, I have nothing 
 to say, but I must protest against their recognition as duly 
 elected Senators from Georgia, because they were not elected 
 by a duly organized legislative body. And, moreover, I have 
 used whatever of influence or power I possess to prevent the 
 appointment to office under the new administration of those 
 persons who sold themselves out to the Democracy, and foisted 
 upon the people of Georgia a General Assembly composed so 
 largely of usurpers. And I am happy to be. able to say to 
 the Republicans of Georgia, that when Mr. HilTs credentials 
 were referred to the Judiciary Committee of the Senate, com- 
 posed of the ablest lawyers of that body, every Republican 
 upon that committee agreed, and the report of the committee 
 declared, "that Joshua Hill, claiming to be a Senator elect 
 from Georgia, ought not now to be permitted to take a seat 
 in this body. And I am glad to be able to say, furthermore, 
 that the whole Georgia case was involved in the question as to 
 whether or not Mr. Hill should be seated, and the prompt re- 
 jection of his claims to a seat in the Senate removes all doubt 
 as to the purpose of the Senate. 
 
 The above alluded to report of the Judiciary Committee 
 discusses the composition and organization of pur General 
 
8 
 
 Assembly, and declares most emphatically, '■'■that Georgia is 
 not entitled to representation in Congress.'' This action of the 
 Senate -was based both upon the illegal organization of the 
 General Assembly, and its subsequent unparalleled outrage 
 upon republican principles in expelling the colored members. 
 Had its original organization been due and legal. Congress 
 •would still have found ample cause, in the expulsion of the 
 colored members, for declaring the State not entitled to rep- 
 resentation. There is nothing in all the history of republican 
 government that equnls the injustice or folly of that outrage 
 upon one half the citizens of Georgia. 
 
 Constitutions and laws, which stand paramount to the stat- 
 utes of Georgia, have conferred citizenship upon our colored 
 people. Colored people having become citizens, they are en- 
 titled to all the rights of citizens under section 1648 of Irwin's 
 Revised Code, which reads as follows: 
 
 " Amona: the rights of citizens are, the enjovment of per- 
 sonal security, of personal liberty, private property, and the 
 disposition thereof, the elective franchise, the right to hold 
 office, to appeal to the courts, to testify as a witness, to per- 
 form any civil function, and to keep and bear arms." 
 Section 1649 of said Code reads as follows: 
 '■'■All citizens are entitled to exercise all their rights as such, 
 unless speciallg prohibited by law." 
 
 In the succeeding sections of the Code, females, minors, 
 convicis, persons non compos mentis, &c., are "specially pro- 
 hibited by law" from holding office or performing any civil 
 function, '-unless specially authorized bylaw." But there 
 is no special prohibition of the colored man. It is as clear as 
 the noon-day sun, that the colored man, since becoming a citi- 
 zen, has the right, under the constitution and laws of Georgia, 
 to hold office; and no man, possessed of any legal learning, 
 will honestly deny the proposition, unless his judgment is 
 warped by passion or prejudice. 
 
 The open violation of, and bold defiance of a law of Con- 
 oress, before it had been even for the brief period of ten days 
 upon the statute books of the nation, and the subsequent ex- 
 pulsion from the General Assembly of a large number of its 
 duly and legally-elected members, without cause, /or the accom- 
 plishment of political purposes, are the two great evils of which 
 we complain, and for the correction of which we ask congress- 
 ional intervention ; but we do not ask for military government. 
 The antagonism to republican principles Avhich prompted 
 reckless men to spring forth under the connivance of General 
 Meade, at the very moment of the birth of our government, 
 
and strangle it in its first moments, is not likely to become more 
 tolerant of such principles in administering a government 
 which is the offspring of usurpation, but will most surely, if 
 permitted, seek step by step to accomplish the extinction of 
 every republican sentiment. When the question of the ex- 
 pulsion of the colored members was being agitated, I attended 
 a meeting of Republican legislators, and advised moderation 
 and prudence, when there were some apprehensions of violence 
 and rashness. I then assured my Republican friends, in a 
 speech to that meeting, that Congress wouhl reorganize our 
 General Assembly, and restore the colored men to their seats 
 if they should be expelled. It was well knoAvn to our people 
 that such were my views; and when our party met soon there- 
 after in convention to nominate an electoral ticket, and placed 
 my name at the head of the ticket as first elector for the State 
 at large, without a single dissenting voice, I was proud of the 
 honor conferred upon me, chiefly because it was considered 
 an endorsement of the Republican principles 1 entertained. 
 Being requested by the State Central Committee to canvass 
 upper Georgia, I did so ; and on all occasions I upheld the 
 constitutional amendment and reconstruction laws, and de- 
 nounced the manner in which the General Assembly had been 
 organized in violation of the constitution and the laws. 
 
 On all occasions I nroclaimed and defended the ri^ht of the 
 colored man to hold office in Georgia, and assured the people 
 that Congress would restore them to their seats in the General 
 Assembly. I canvassed about thirty counties, embracing all 
 of northern Georgia, it being the portion of the State where 
 we were strongest among the whites. I did not deceive the 
 people, but on all occasions told them the colored man was 
 eligible to office, and ought to he ; and with the true principles 
 of our party thus presented to our white friends of northern 
 Georgia in the Presidential campaign, I watched with anxiety 
 the result at the polls. The result was truly gratifying, as 
 President Grant received in the aggregate in those counties, 
 notwithstanding in some of them there were not ten colored 
 voters, within about one hundred votes of the number cast the 
 previous spring for Governor R. B. Bullock. When in the 
 remaining three-fourths of the State there nearly fifty thou- 
 sand votes less for President Grant than had been cast for 
 Governor Bullock. The result in northern Georgia was 
 gratifying, not because I bad canvassed those counties, but 
 because our friends stood nobly to their principles, when tlius 
 authoritatively expounded to them, with assurances that the 
 colored members would be restored to their seats in the Gen- 
 
«ral Assembly, You will remember, Mr. Senator, thnt such 
 was tlie exposition of our principles in each of the counties of 
 your district, and that the Republican majorities were in- 
 creased in two out of three of those counties. I allude to 
 these thinsis to show that our colored citizens in middle and 
 southern Georgia need have no fears of being abandoned by 
 our white friends in upper Georgia, but may confidently rely 
 upon their continued fitlelitv to principle in seeking to relieve 
 the people of the present illegally-organized and revolutionary 
 Legislature. 
 
 I cannot and will not admit that our General Assembly was 
 duly and legally organized, or that the expulsion of a large 
 number of its legal members without cause was any thing else 
 than revolutionary in its character. The principles which I 
 conscientiously entertain, and my sense of right and justice, 
 dictate to me that it is my duty to seek in every honorable 
 way to correct those evils; and, at whatever sacrifice, ^^ duty 
 shall he the monitor that directs." What intelligent man will 
 deny that there are many persons in our General Assembly 
 whom the Constitution and laws of the United States declare 
 shall not occupy seats in that body ? Who but those who seek 
 every opportunity for perpetuating the power of the former 
 slave oligarchy of the South defend or apologize for the expul- 
 sion of the colored legislators? Yet the Republicans of Geor- 
 gia, who merely ask the United States Government to vindicate 
 its Constitution and laws by arresting usurpation and revolu- 
 tion, are denounced as common enemies of the country. 
 
 These matters have been properly and truthfully presented 
 to the executive and legislative departments of the Govern- 
 ment, and will be in due time thoroughly remedied. The 
 action of the Senate, in refusing to recognize Mr. Hill and 
 seat him as Senator, upon the ground that Georgia is not en- 
 titled to representation because of the illegal and revolutionary 
 character of the body by which he claims to have been elected, 
 and their further refusal, at the end of the session, to allow 
 him the pay usually allowed persons claiming to be elected, is 
 a sufficient declaration of the well-settled purpose of the Sen- 
 ate to see that Georgia shall be duly and legally reconstructed. 
 The House of Representatives has also refused to admit the 
 members elect from Georgia until the State is duly recon- 
 structed. Both Houses of Congress are determined to see that 
 Georgia is required to comply with and conform to tlic letter 
 and the spirit of the reconstruction laws before we are repre- 
 sented in either House. 
 
 The Reconstruction Committee of the House of Representa- 
 
6 
 
 tives have thoroughly examined into the whole suhject, and 
 have agreed upon and reported a bill enforcing the Constitu- 
 tion and laws in Georgia. That bill has not been acted upon 
 yet, though it has been partialh'' discussed, and would have 
 been passed, with some modifications, by a large majority in 
 each House, could it have been reached before adjournment. 
 The Fortieth Congress expired, and the Forty-First Congress 
 convened on the 4th of March with the expectation of continu- 
 ino- in session until certain important measures, and among them 
 the Georgia bill, could be disposed of. Indeed, there was a 
 caucus of the Republican Senators about the 4th of March, 
 which passed a resolution that they would remain in session 
 until, among other things, they could pass a law concerning 
 Georgia; but, since the inauguration of President Grant, the 
 city has been so completely flooded with ofBce seekers, that it 
 has been impossible for Congress to progress with business as 
 was expected. It is impossible for any one who has not been 
 here to conceive of the multitude of ofiice seekers, from all 
 parts of the Union, who have infested the city and "hounded" 
 down the Congressmen for office. On no former occasion was 
 there ever such a rush for office under an incoming administra- 
 tion. The Congressmen were pursued night and <lay, in season 
 and out of season, until, from exhaustion, they were compelled 
 to seek refuge by adjourning and going home. Finding that 
 it would be impossible to devote to the Georgia bill as mOch 
 time as would be necessary for its full discussion, it became 
 necessary, either to call the previous question, and pass it 
 without allowing those opposed to it an opportunity of being 
 heard, or postpone action until next December. A motion 
 was made the last week of the session for the previous ques- 
 tion, by those of our friends who preferred to close the discus- 
 sion and pass the bill now, rather than wait until December, 
 that the opposition might have a fair chance to be heard, wliich 
 motion was not approved of or sustained by a large number 
 of our friends, who, though determined to vote for the bill, 
 were unwilling to choke off the opposition and refuse to hear 
 them upon it. On the vote for the previous question and 
 immediate passage of the bill, it came within six votes of pass- 
 ing, notwithstanding a large number of our friends voted 
 against sustaining the previous question, who then and after- 
 wards declared their intention to vote for the bill at the proper 
 time. The subject was then discussed until the hour of ad- 
 journment arrived, and as there were but two more days before 
 the time fixed for Congress to adjourn, it was not again taken 
 up, but, like many other important bills, was compelled to lay 
 over until next December. 
 
The friends of the constitution and the reconstruction laws 
 in Georgia may rest assured that both Congress and President 
 Orant are firmly resolved that American citizens shall be pro- 
 tected wherever the American Hag floats, and that upon the 
 reassembling of Congress, all needful legislation ivill he enacted. 
 In the meanwhile the people of Georgia are placed, as it were, 
 upon their good behavior, and it is to be hoped they will ap- 
 preciate the situation, and do nothing that will give additional 
 severity and harshness to legislation which is inevitable, and 
 which will, in any event, be sufficiently rigid. 
 
 General Terry, who has been ordered to Atlanta to com- 
 mand our department, and with whom I have had the honor 
 of becoming acquainted, is a noble specimen of the soldier 
 and the gentleman. lie will arrive and take command about 
 the middle of May. With a consciousness of the fact that 
 General Terry is coming to Georgia to make good the inau- 
 gural address of President Grant with reference to the pro- 
 tection of American citizens wheresover our flag floats, the 
 most humble citizen of Georgia may feel safe in the enjoy- 
 ment of that dearest of all the rights of American citizens — 
 freedom of speech. 
 
 There may be those who seek to discourage the true 
 friends of republican governments and lead them into the 
 error of attempting to establish a new political party in 
 Georgia, based upon the principle that the colored citizen 
 should be entitled to vote, but not to hold office. If so, I beseech 
 my friends to turn their backs upon such principles and upon 
 such a party, and to be true to their principles, their party, 
 their government, and themselves. The day has passed for a 
 " White 3Ians Party ^" or a " Black Mans Party." There are 
 but two, and can be but two, great political parties in our 
 country, and they are the Republican and Democratic parties, 
 and their new party will be without root, stem, or branch, and 
 therefore cannot exist. And those men who are now attempt- 
 ing to organize a new political party in Georgia are men who 
 have been discarded by the two great political parties, because 
 they are unworthy of the confidence of any political party or 
 of any people. Those men would beguile tlie people if pos- 
 sible into opposition to our Government, and our great chieftain 
 President Grant, because honesty and capacity — not color — 
 being regarded the essential qualifications for office, we find 
 among the list of our foreign ministers the black man as well 
 as the white man ; because in the list of important revenue 
 officers we find the colored man; because in the list of im- 
 portant postmasters we find the colored man. 
 
8 
 
 There may be a few disappointed-office-seehing Republicans 
 Tvho may attempt to aid the discarded Democracy in organiz- 
 ing a new party in Georgia to oppose President Grant's Ad- 
 ministration because of iiis recognition of the great cardinal 
 principle of our party, that the colored citizen is entitled to 
 all the rights of citizenship ; because he has appointed Mr. 
 l^asset and Mr. Clay, two colored citizens, as ministers to 
 foreign countries ; because he has appointed Mr. Joubert, a 
 colored citizen of New Orleans, assessor of internal revenue 
 in that metropolis: because he has appointed Mr. Wilder, a 
 freedman, postmaster of Columbia, the capital of South 
 Carolina; because he has appointed two colored citizens mag- 
 istrates of the District of Columbia. If so, let them go ; but 
 I have an abiding confidence that the true Republicans, white 
 and colored, in Georgia, will be true to their principles and! 
 their party, and will rally around President Grant and uphold' 
 his Administration. AVe will never abandon the Republican 
 party to organize a white man's or a colored man's party, nor 
 will we ever abandon the contest in Georgia until every citi- 
 zen, white or colored, enjoys equally under the law all the 
 rights of citizens; and, with Ulysses S. Grant as our chieftain, 
 we can well afford to "fight it out on this line." 
 
 And in this connection I must say, that the firm, decided,, 
 bold stand taken and maintained by his excellency Governor 
 R. B. Bullock in opposition to usurpation and revolution \n 
 our State, in opposition to the daring effort to strike down 
 with one fell swoop half of the citizens of our State and de- 
 prive them of their dearest rights as citizens^ must not only 
 endear him to all Republicans everywhere, but must command 
 the respect and admiration of his most bitter political op- 
 ponents. 
 
 In conclusion, I have only to add, that if we will but be true- 
 to our principles and ourselves, a victory, and a triumphant 
 victory, will crown our efforts for the establishment of repub- 
 lican government in Georgia, based upon principles of justice 
 and of truth. Very truly, yours, &c. 
 
 HENRY P. FARROW. 
 
 P. S. I am happy to say that the Radical war-horse, Hon. 
 James L. Dunning, has triumphed over the combined forces of 
 the Democracy and their allies the advocates of the " ?iew 
 party,'' and has been made postmaster at Atlanta. 
 
 H. P. F. 
 
1 TRRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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 014 418 loi. -3 1 
 
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