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While the people of Atlanta were working out their own salvation, commercially, they were not allowed to do so politically. The hopeful spirit immediately following the war was shortly replaced by a spirit of distrust, gloom and positive alarm. The sentiment to "make treason odious" by treating the South governmentally as a conquered province, undoubtedly prevailed in congress, and the leaders of public thought in Atlanta were not slow to sound the alarm, however loth they may have been to array themselves against Federal public policy. That the best people of Atlanta had shown a disposition to meet their late enemies halfway in the cultivation of fraternity and peace, and had manfully accepted "the inevitable," was evidenced by the resolutions adopted at their public meetings, some of which are quoted in the preceding chapter. Indeed, the spirit of reconciliation and good-will manifested by them was remarkable, under the circumstances. But in accepting the conditions imposed by defeat in a noble spirit, they had not forfeited their self-respect, and did not propose to do so. The action of the National Union Convention held in Philadelphia on the 14th of August, 1866, was received with silent disapproval in Atlanta. The local newspapers refrained from making any comment calculated to excite prejudice on either side, but the convention's resolutions were generally taken as earnest of worse things in store. Then came the session of congress made memorable, and, to the South, infamous, by proscriptive measures against a vanquished and defenseless people. "Rebel"-haters like Thad Stevens were in control at Washington, and President Johnson was hated by a majority of his fellow-citizens in the North, seemingly, because of his desire to see even-hand justice dealt out to the South. The conservatives and advocates of peace with honor were not able to check the storm of radicalism that burst upon the Southern States. The "Sherman Reconstruction Bible" was passed. Atlanta, in common with the South, held her peace no longer. Her papers denounced the oppressive legislation in unmeasured terms, and public speakers inveighed against it as more infamous and tyrannical than any act of England against her American colonies before the revolution. The bill in question afflicted the South with military rule and negro enfranchisement, practically nullifying constitutional guarantees, and in the "black belts" of the former slave states, then more numerous than now, left the superior race utterly at the mercy of the negro, so far as political domination was concerned. In most quarters South the Sherman law was considered a deliberate attempt to degrade the citizens of the late Confederacy — to add to the injury of a terrible war the insult of a revengeful conqueror. The moral sense of the Southern people was shocked. They had expected to take a back seat in the councils of the nation, and to be, for years, a nonentity in the shaping of governmental policies — but they had not thought this thing possible in a Christian republic. While resistance promised nothing, it was the only course consistent with decency and honor, and a very large majority of the people exerted a strong moral opposition to such a species of "reconstruction." They meant that at least history should record their protest.

Avery's "History of Georgia" says of the feeling of the Southern people anent the "Sherman Reconstruction Bill": "It was an amazing piece of statesmanship to disfranchise our intelligence, and make the hereditary slaves of two centuries rulers of our political destiny. It degraded, alarmed and exasperated our people. We had the whole argument of the case on our side. They had the might. Our reconstructors had excelled themselves in this last fantastic of national restoration. Our people were angered to white heat, and they entered upon an uncompromising fight against the astounding project. In this crisis ex-Governor Brown, with that cool method that distinguished him, went North to look into the matter, and see just how earnest the North was, and what hope there was of resistance to these most odious measures . . . . Judge Dawson A. Walker accompanied him. These gentlemen went to Washington early in February, 1867, while the reconstruction measures were pending, and thoroughly gauged public sentiment upon reconstruction. Governor Brown probed the subject to the bottom. He conversed with the most influential men on both sides. From President Johnson, down, he conferred with leaders of every shade of opinion. The impeachment crusade against President Johnson had begun. Against the Sherman bill he had fired a noble but ineffectual veto, and on the last day of the old congress it went through. The new congress passed the supplemental reconstruction bill, providing for a registration of loyal voters, the calling of a convention by a vote of the people, and the ratification of the constitution made by such convention by a popular vote, all under military guidance. Mr. Johnson struck this measure with another spirited veto, but it was promptly passed, and the revengeful malignancy of impeachment gathered force from the incident."

Public sentiment on the reconstruction question was in some respects divided in Atlanta. There were various opinions, and, broadly speaking, the citizens may be said to have been divided into three factions — one favoring unprotesting submission to the inevitable; another was inclined to take no position on the question, preferring to wait developments while professing to support the policy of Andrew Johnson; the third was unalterably against the whole scheme of reconstruction and advised agitation to the end.

Nothing else was talked about. Men stood in groups on the street corners and grew excited in discussing the political outlook. Some of the hot-heads declared they would raise the stars and bars again and fight all Yankeedom to extermination before they would suffer the degradation of their manhood. It was noticeable that the wildest talkers were, as a rule, not confederate veterans. The condition of public feeling made it desirable that a mass meeting be held, and accordingly a call was issued, setting the meeting for March 4, at the city hall. This notice was given great publicity in the local press and by hand-bills and posters, and was signed by the following well-known citizens: Ira R. Foster, Joseph Winship, E. E. Hulbert, Lemuel Dean, J. H. Flynn, A. Austell, George Hillyer, H. Sells, D. F. Hammond, P. L. Mynatt, Richard Peters. E. E. Rawson, S. P. Richards, P. P. Pease, R. P. Zimmerman, Clark Howell, E. P. Howell, W. F. Meador, J. W. Simmons, F. M. Richardson, J. R. Wallace, H. C. Barrow, W. A. Fuller, W. M. Butts, J. D. Pope, W. C. Moore, R. M. Farrar, C. A. Pitts, J. J. Morrison, John Silvey, T. W. J. Hill, Henry P. Farrow, J. A. Hayden, T. G. Healy, J. W. Loyd, J. Lemmons, E. F. Hoge, H. Muhlenbrink, L. S. Salmons, J. B. Campbell, J. E. Gullatt, A. A. Gaulding, J. A. Doane, A. K. Seago, Vines Fish, H. C. Hornady, J. C. Hendrix and C. C. Green

The papers advised caution in the action of the meeting, laying stress upon the helplessness of the South and the Herculean effort Atlanta was making to rehabilitate herself. They said the fire-eaters should be kept in the background, and men of prudence left to formulate a wise course of action. The people were asked to remember that the Sherman bill was law, and that the part of good citizenship (particularly under the circumstances) was to obey the law. The radicals in the South, the Intelligencer declared, had had much to do with the hard terms being inflicted by the North, because of their intemperate and rebellious utterances after the surrender.

A large crowd assembled in accordance with the call, standing room being at a premium. Upon motion, Richard Peters was called to preside, and W. L. Scruggs made secretary. The following committee on resolutions was appointed immediately after the meeting was organized: Colonel H. P. Farrow, V. A. Gaskill, E. E. Rawson, J. O. Harris, I. G. Mitchell, C. P. Cassin, E. E. Hulbert, T. W. J. Hill, and Colonel J. J. Morrison.

Pending the report of the committee on resolutions, a number of speeches were made upon the clamorous call of the audience. J. L. Dunning, who was known as an ultra-conservative, spoke in such a strain, deprecating the blunders and the malice which had led the South to her present unfortunate condition, and counseling patience and optimism. He declared that Governor Jenkins had exceeded his authority in convening the state legislature in accordance with ex-Governor Brown's recommendation. Although repeatedly called for, George W. Adair said he preferred not to speak until the resolutions had been presented to the meeting. The chairman was asked to define the object of the meeting. He replied that, as he understood it, the people had assembled to take into consideration the duty of the people of Georgia as to the formation of a state government, under postbellum conditions, agreeably to the provisions of the Sherman bill, or, in the event of non-action, to see a military government established over them. The chairman explained the object of the meeting in some detail, and at the conclusion of his remarks, the committee on resolutions brought in the following report:

Resolved, That it is the sense of this meeting that the people of Georgia should promptly, and without the least hesitation, accept the plan of restoration recently proposed by congress.

Resolved, That in the opinion of this meeting there are persons in each and every county within this State sufficient in numbers and sufficient in integrity and ability, who are not debarred from voting and holding office by the provisions of this law, to perform all the functions of government.

Resolved, That we earnestly hope that as soon as practicable, all those who have the right to do so, will, in good faith, enter upon the duty of instituting for Georgia a legal State government.

Resolved, That we. citizens of Fulton county, do hereby proclaim to our fellow-citizens throughout the entire Union, a sincere purpose, on our part, to heal the wounds inflicted by the unhappy past, and we take this method of extending to our fellow citizens of every State a cordial and hearty invitation to come and settle in our midst, assuring them in the name of everything that is sacred that they shall be received and treated as friends, and as citizens of a common country.

Resolved, That a copy of the proceedings of this meeting be forwarded to Governor Jenkins, and a copy to the chairman of the Reconstruction Committee at Washington.

Colonel Farrow, chairman of the committee, made a strong, terse speech in support of the resolutions, saying they proposed to acknowledge the fact that the people of Georgia, by going to war against the government of the United States, had, in the estimation of the law-making power of the Federal government, forfeited their right to legal government; that the same power had decreed the equality of all men not affected by war, in their relations to the government; that the bill just passed by congress, by a constitutional majority, provided a way to escape from onerous military government, and that the time had come when men should ' lay aside their prejudices and improve the opportunity thus offered them for a final settlement of the difficulties that then beset them, etc.

Colonel J. M. Calhoun then moved the adoption of the resolutions as reported by the committee. He said that although they were not couched in language that suited him. he was nevertheless strongly in favor of their adoption, believing that under the Sherman bill, the provisional governments as they then existed .would be permitted to continue to exercise authority, but that the military authority would have power over the civil government. He also believed that the true interests of the people of the South lay in compliance with the constitutional amendment. Had the people adopted the former constitutional amendment they would have been better off than they were at that time. There was danger in delay. He was not of the "wait and see" kind: he was for immediate action in accordance with the bill.

Luther J. Glenn, always a leader in local affairs and a man whose opinions had much weight, said he wished to offer a series of resolutions as a substitute for the report of the committee. He asked permission to read his resolutions, which was accorded, and after he had concluded the reading, the audience broke into loud cheers, seeming to favor the substitute almost as one man. Colonel Glenn's resolutions follow:

"Resolved, I. That in view of the present condition of the Southern States, and the passage of the military bill by the House of Representatives over the President's veto, we think it the duty of the people of Georgia to remain quiet and thereby preserve at least their self-respect, their manhood and their honor.

"Resolved, 2. That in the event said bill has or does become a law, we trust Governor Jenkins, either alone or in connection with the governors of other Southern States, will at once take the necessary steps to have the constitutionality of the law tested before the Supreme Court of the United States.

"Resolved, 3. That we hereby tender to his excellency. President Johnson, our heartfelt thanks for the patriotic efforts he has made to protect the constitution of the United States and the liberties of the people."

Colonel T. C. Howard offered an amendment to the Glenn resolutions, which he was proceeding to read when Mr. Dunning urged in objection that he was not a citizen of Fulton county. The meeting demanded that Colonel Howard's resolutions be heard, and they were read as follows:

"We, the citizens of Fulton county and vicinity, having been convoked, and now being in convention for the purpose of considering the state of the country, and particularly the bill just passed by congress, popularly known as the Sherman Military Bill, do solemnly

"Resolve, That said bill is unjust, as it needlessly discriminates against the Southern State's, which are without exception abiding all public laws, and are in profound peace; it is harsh and cruel, as it surrenders life, liberty and estate to the arbitrary and despotic will of the military power; it is in positive conflict with the better spirit and genius of the constitution and American liberty; degrading to the bitterest and last degree, as it sinks us below the legal status of our former slaves, surrenders the control and polity of the Southern States to the blacks, and by our own hands stigmatizes, disfranchises and disavows the men who have periled life, fortune and all worldly ambition for our sakes.

"Resolved, 2. That by our assent to the principles and provisions of said bill, the Southern people commit political suicide by arraying themselves against the President of the United States, who, with sublime courage, has resisted the combined energies of the enemies of the government and constitution, by adopting and ratifying outrages on our liberties that would not be tolerated an instant by that tribunal while a vestige of that constitution remained.

"Resolved, 3. That we do now solemnly asseverate, and call God to witness the sincerity of our hearts, in doing so, that as a people we meditate no illegal opposition to the laws, no violation of private rights, whether of the North man or the South man, the black or the white: no denial of sympathy, justice or legal rights of the colored portion of our population, and that all we ask is quiet, and the enjoyment of what little we hope for from the soil of our devastated, afflicted and poverty stricken country.

"Resolved, lastly. That we are conscious of having done all that mortal power could do to secure the happiness and liberties of our people, but in God's afflictive providence we have been overwhelmed; we meekly submit ourselves to His Almighty power, patiently awaiting His good time to deliver us, and confidently trusting that the day will soon come when the sense of honor, justice and magnanimity of the Northern people will, in our persons, vindicate the dignity, rights and liberties of the American people."

Colonel Howard spoke eloquently for the adoption of the foregoing resolutions. He declared that he appreciated and fully accepted the situation resulting from the war; that he had abided honestly by the results, but was not willing by any voluntary act of his own to place his neck under the yoke before the yoke was forced upon him. He had surrendered his revolutionary arms, but not his manhood, and never would. As for the negro, he was willing to accord equal protection to all men, regardless of color.

V. A. Gaskill made a motion to table the Glenn resolutions and the Howard amendment. There were loud cries of dissent, and the chairman's voice was lost while attempting to put the question to a vote. A babel of confusion ensued, and while it was at its height. Colonel R. J. Cowart shouted above the din a motion to adjourn, which seemed to carry by common consent, as many were already leaving the hall. General L. J. Gartrell called on all who favored the Glenn resolution to remain, and some half of the people present did so. General Gartrell was chosen as chairman of this impromptu meeting, and John G. Whitner, secretary. Colonel J. J. Morrison inquired of the chair whether the participants in the meeting were limited to the friends of the Glenn resolutions, and upon being answered in the negative, earnestly opposed the resolutions in question and deplored the failure of the meeting to adopt the resolutions brought in by the committee.

Colonel Adair expressed himself in favor of the first resolutions, also, and urged upon his hearers the importance of taking immediate action along the lines laid down by congress. He declared there was nothing to gain and everything to lose by delay.

Colonel R. A. Alston next spoke, saying he was decidedly opposed to Governor Brown's conciliatory plan, for the reason that it was capitulating to the Radicals and would aid them in building up a party in opposition to the President and the Supreme Court of the United States; "because it will tend to strengthen and encourage the Radicals to further outrages and unconstitutional legislation, and relieves them of the responsibilities which would otherwise rest upon them; because we then surrender the last claim to sovereignty, and give validity to what would otherwise be decided by the United States Supreme Court as unconstitutional; because it is already a law and no action of ours can make it more or less efficacious; because, so far from saving us from any further outrages or worse inflictions of radical hate, it will only stimulate them to further oppression, and we thus, by our own free will, surrender the only power that is left us — the virtue of patient endurance and the honor which arises from a rigid adherence to principle and duty." After the close of Colonel Alston's earnest speech, the question was put on the passage of the Glenn resolutions, which were adopted almost unanimously.

Colonel Farrow announced that the adjourned meeting would meet again that evening, in the city hall, at 7 o'clock. The friends of the Farrow resolutions met, accordingly, and after being re-read, the resolutions were amended, the last resolution being changed to read as follows:

Resolved, That a copy of the proceedings of this meeting be forwarded to the reconstruction committee of congress, and to Governor Jenkins, with the request that he convene the legislature immediately, with a view of calling a convention to comply fully with the terms prescribed by the Sherman act, lately passed by congress.

On motion of Colonel Calhoun the resolutions were adopted, and the meeting adjourned. As the audience was dispersing, ex-Governor Brown came into the hall, and was invited to address the people on the momentous issues of the day. Governor Brown said he would not intentionally wound the feelings of anyone. He thought it was time to pour oil on the troubled waters, rather than to excite the flames of passion and attempt to divide the people by angry strife. Congress had already taken action which placed the people all under a military government. The President would undoubtedly, in a few days, appoint a commander for this district, Georgia, Alabama and Florida, whose will would be the law of the land; it would be a matter of discretion with that commander whether he would allow any one charged with an offense to be tried by a civil tribunal, or before a military tribunal, where the punishment and its mode of infliction would alike be determined upon according to military laws.

"Gentlemen," he said, "this is no child's play. It is a serious matter. It is such a state of things as you and I have never seen. In view of our responsibilities, then, is it becoming in us to quarrel with each other, or to indulge in a spirit of fault-finding, or of crimination and recrimination? Is this a time to stir up angry strife among ourselves, or to take each other by the throat?

"The great trouble with our people seems to be that they do not seem to recognize the fact that they are a conquered people, and that they must submit to whatever terms the conqueror may impose upon them. They forget that they no longer have any power of resistance. The struggle has ended by the triumph of the United States government. The controversy which commenced with the different theories of Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson raged with more or less fury from their day until it culminated in the breaking out of the civil war in 1861, and the appeal to the arbitrament of the sword has been decided against the South. Congress claims that both the war-making and the peace-making power has been confided to it, and Congress has maintained the supremacy in the contest with the president by passing the Sherman bill over the veto of the President. What good could come of an appeal to the Supreme Court? Do you not remember that a short time ago Governor Pierpont, of Virginia, made a requisition on Governor Fenton, of New York, for the surrender of a violator of the laws of Virginia? Governor Fenton refused to comply with the requisition upon the ground that Virginia was not a State. The case was carried to the Supreme Court and dismissed because the question was a political one. As the issues involved in the Sherman bills are political ones, how could anyone expect relief from an appeal to the Supreme Court?" etc.

Governor Brown's speech was a masterly argument, from his viewpoint, and his opinions met with sympathetic hearers on this occasion. He urged in eloquent terms submission to the terms of the Sherman bill.

In a letter addressed to William K. De Graffenried, of Macon, Senator John Sherman, under date of March 12, 1867, expressed the opinion that the sixth section of the bill bearing his name was too harsh, but declared it was put in in the house as the result of opposition from both extremes, and at the request of large numbers of Southerners. The objection to the bill was so strong, in the North as well as the South, that congress was induced to pass a supplementary reconstruction bill, by the provisions of which the commanding general in each military district of the South should cause to be made a registration of all male citizens of the United States, of the age of twenty-one or more, resident in each county or parish in the state or states included in the district, which registration should include only those who were qualified to vote for delegates by the Sherman bill, and who should have taken and subscribed to an oath that they had not been disfranchised for participating in rebellion and civil war against the United States, nor for felony committed against the laws of any state, or of the United States. Section 2 provided that an election should be provided for by the generals commanding the several districts, for delegates to a convention for the purpose of establishing a constitution and civil government for the state, loyal to the Union, etc.

The memorable controversy between President Andrew Johnson and congress, which nearly resulted in the impeachment of the president, was watched with the deepest anxiety by the South, where the hopes and prayers of the people were with the nation's chief executive. President Johnson supposed it was a prerogative of his office to regulate the machinery of reconstruction in accordance with his own ideas, and he set about the task without specific instructions from the law-making body. The plan of the president was wise and conservative, and he was not disposed to make a political Pariah of the South. The terms he proposed were acceded to by the Southern people generally in a good spirit, and the inauguration of his policy was attended with gratifying results. But congress was not at all inclined to give President Johnson free rein. Although a strong Unionist and one of the pioneers of Republicanism, he was nevertheless a Southerner and regarded with suspicion by the more radical element in the North. Congress denied the right of the executive branch of the government to formulate and enforce a line of public policy that came within the province of legislation, and the result was the Sherman Reconstruction Act, which in fact overturned President Johnson's plans and undid what he had thus far accomplished. The South supported the president, and hoped for his success and vindication against the radical cabal, but in vain. He vetoed the obnoxious bill, but it was passed over his veto. The last hope was gone. The more conservative and sagacious leaders in the South then yielded all opposition to the harsh and unrepublican measures imposed by the Federal lawmakers, preferring peace even at the sacrifice of what they considered their constitutional rights. This feeling prevailed more generally after President Johnson declared his determination to enforce the Sherman law with the most rigid fidelity, the more so because he had expressed his disapproval of the act by the exercise of the veto power.

However, there were strong men in the South — for the most part irreconcilables of the old regime, who raised the banner of moral revolt with all the old Confederate fire. Robert Toombs, Ben Hill and Herschel V. Johnson were a strong anti-reconstruction triumvirate in Georgia. Governor Jenkins remained true to the spirit of the majority of his fellow citizens. He believed congress had transcended the powers delegated to it by the constitution, and determined to make a legal test of the matter in the court of last resort. Accordingly, Georgia's chief executive filed an injunction against the operation of certain of the provisions of the Sherman bill in that state, in the Supreme Court of the United States, on April loth, 1867, a comprehensive extract of which follows:

"And this complainant further shows that there is no adequate remedy in the premises in any court of law, nor in any court of equity, save in this honorable court, and that the threatened injuries to this complainant herein mentioned will be committed and perfected within the next five or six months, and will be consummated, perfected, and absolutely irreparable by any competent power or authority to the entire destruction of the said state and its government, and the proprietary rights aforesaid, unless the execution of the said acts of congress be, as herein prayed for, restrained and prevented by the preliminary order of injunction of this honorable court and its decree in the premises."

The Supreme Court of the United States issued a subpoena in this case, which read:

"The State of Georgia, complainant, vs. Edwin M. Stanton, Ulysses S. Grant and John Pope, greeting: For certain causes offered before the Supreme Court of the United States, holding jurisdiction in equity, you are hereby commanded that, laying all other matters aside, and notwithstanding any excuse, you be and appear before the said Supreme Court, holding jurisdiction in equity, on the first Monday in December next, at the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia, being the present seat of the national government of the United States, to answer unto the bill of complaint of the State of Georgia, in the said court exhibited against you. Thereof you are not to fail at your peril. Witness the Honorable Salmon P. Chase, chief justice of the United States."

General John Pope, one of the three defendants named in the foregoing subpoena, had been designated as commander of the Third Military District, comprising the states of Georgia, Florida and Alabama, as provided in the Sherman Reconstruction Act. The machinery of the new law was rapidly set in motion. On Sunday, March 31, 1867, General Pope reached Atlanta by special train from Chattanooga. Arrangements had been made by a number of citizens to give him a cordial reception, and he was met at the depot by a committee of prominent Atlantans and escorted to the National Hotel, where a reception was held. Hundreds of people called to pay their respects, and the impression left upon them by General Pope was quite an agreeable one. He appeared in civilian dress, and to several of his callers expressed the hope that his future official relations with the people of Atlanta would be pleasant. He left for Montgomery that night, from which place he issued his first general order as follows:

Headquarters Third Military Division,

Montgomery, Ala., April 3, 1867.

General Orders, No. 1.

In compliance with general orders No. 18, dated headquarters of the army, March 15, 1867, the undersigned assumes command of the Third Military District, which comprises the States of Georgia, Alabama and Florida. The districts of Georgia and Alabama will remain as at present constituted, and with their present commanders, except that the headquarters of the district of Georgia will be forthwith removed to Milledgeville. The district of Key West is hereby merged into the district of Florida, which will be commanded by Colonel John T. Sprague, Seventh United States Infantry. The headquarters of the district of Florida are removed to Tallahassee, to which place the district commander will transfer his headquarters without delay.

IL The civil officers at present in office in Georgia, Florida and Alabama, will retain their offices until the expiration of their terms of service, unless otherwise directed in special cases, so long as justice is impartially and faithfully administered. It is hoped that no necessity will arise for the interposition of the military authorities in the civil administration, and the necessity can only arise from the failure of the civil tribunals to protect the people, without distinction, in their rights of person and property.

III. It is to be clearly understood, however, that the civil officers thus retained in office shall confine themselves strictly to the performance of their official duties, and while holding their offices they shall not use any influence to deter or dissuade the people from taking an active part in reconstructing their State government under the act of Congress, to provide for more efficient government of the Rebel States, and the act supplementary thereto.

IV. No elections will be held in any of the States comprising this military district, except such as are provided for in the act of Congress, and in the manner therein established; but all vacancies in civil offices which now exist, or which may occur by the expiration of the terms of office of the present incumbents before the prescribed registration of voters is complete, will be filled by appointment of the general commanding the district.

John Pope. Major General Commanding.

General Pope returned to Atlanta on the 11th of April, and was tendered a public banquet at the National Hotel, upon the evening of the following day. The attendance was large and representative, and the excellent brass band of the Sixteenth Regiment Regular Infantry, stationed at Atlanta, furnished the music for the occasion. The details of the banquet are given by the Intelligencer as follows:

"General Pope made a speech in which he said that he came to this State to perform a duty as distasteful and embarrassing to him as it was disagreeable to the people of Georgia. He expected to be received at least with indifference, if not with positive dislike. Hence the hearty welcome he had received was an assurance of the people's co-operation in the performance of his duties, and was as unexpected as it was grateful, and encouraged the hope that his mission would be both satisfactory and brief. The act of congress prescribed his duties and the means by which they were to be performed; but the manner in which those means would be used would necessarily depend so much on circumstances that he could not lay down any rules at all. He should, however, endeavor to discharge his duties with strict fidelity to the law, and with due regard to the rights of all."

The report of the Intelligencer continued:

V. A. Gaskill as chairman of the committee of reception, offered as the first toast of the evening, the following: "Our Pope — may he be as infallible as the law has made him powerful." This toast was followed by applause, indicative, as was thought at the time, more of the high appreciation in which General Pope was held personally, than of the "infelicitous facetiousness of the wording of the toast itself." In response the general said that the legislation which he had been sent to Georgia to execute was conceived in no spirit of hostility or bitterness to the South, but as the most speedy and the most satisfactory means of restoring the Southern States to the Union. It was based upon the theory that the political issues which had led to the late war were dead, and should be buried as soon and deep as possible. The policy of inaction based upon the recollection or revival of those issues could only be destructive of those in whose interest it was inaugurated. The measures proposed by Congress were proposed as a final settlement of the difficulties then existing, and if accepted in the sincere spirit that prompted them the troubles would at once be at an end.

The next toast was as follows: "The President of the United States." It was drunk standing, and in silence, as was thought most appropriate under the circumstances. As applicable to the case the following aphorism was cited: "Speech is silver; silence is golden."

The third toast was, "The Thirty-Ninth Congress," which was responded to by Colonel Farrow under the head of "The National Unity of the States, One and Inseparable."

The next toast was, "Our Country's Flag," which was responded to by Judge Lochrane, in a speech which was considered the inspiration of the evening.

The fifth toast was, "Reconstruction — let it proceed under the Sherman bill without appealing to the Supreme Court of the United States, the arbiter of civil rights, not of political issues." This toast was responded to by Governor Brown, who said that the province of the Supreme Court was not to try political but civil questions, and he had no doubt it would refuse to try the questions raised by Mississippi and Georgia. He thought it unwise to bring that question before that body at that time, because he thought it would tend to embitter the feelings of the North against the South, as it would imply an unwillingness to submit to the terms proposed by Congress as the basis of reconstruction.

"Our Army and Navy — tested in war, we trust them in peace," was the next toast. General Dunn responded to this toast, saying that he was greatly gratified to find a general disposition among the people of Alabama and Georgia, to proceed orderly and in good faith to reconstruct their State governments in accordance with the recent acts of Congress.

The next toast was as follows: "The Press of our City — may it be the intelligencer of this new era, and the Christian index; not a monthly but a daily opinion in our home, and ever have clean proof against any impression that the devil may set up against it."

"The State of Georgia" was the last toast. "May the civil and military authorities act harmoniously together for her early reconstruction, and for the protection of persons and property, without distinction of race or color."

The sentiment in favor of swallowing the bitter reconstruction pill without a wry face seemed to be a growing one, to judge by General Pope's reception; but the nonconformists were many, and either held their peace and kept aloof, or ridiculed the conformists as sycophants and fair-weather patriots. Governor Jenkins was not one of those who "bend the pregnant hinges of the knee that thrift may follow fawning." From Washington, where he was attending to business connected with his injunction suit, he issued a patriotic address to the people of Georgia, in which he freely expressed his opinions concerning reconstruction under the Sherman bill, characterizing the measure as "palpably unconstitutional" and "grievously oppressive," and advising the people to take no action with reference to the registration provision, whatever might be the opinion of the United States Supreme Court. General Pope took no notice of the governor's address, and addressed him a letter, inquiring whether, when he issued the address, he had read his general orders No. 1, and calling the governor's attention particularly to paragraph III, which he declared was clearly violated in the address in question. Governor Jenkins replied, under date of April 20th, 1867, that at the time the offensive address was issued he had not seen the general order referred to, and was ignorant of its existence. He wrote in a conciliatory but manly way, expressing the hope that there would be no conflict or personal friction between them in the discharge of their respective duties. In explanation of his course, he said: "I supposed I was exercising such freedom in the public expression of opinion relative to public matters, as seems still to be accorded to the citizens of this republic, not imagining that it was abridged by the accident of the speaker or writer holding office. So much for the past, general, and I will only add that in future I shall do and say what I believe is required of me by the duty .to which my oath binds me."

General Pope replied to this at some length, saying among other things: "The existing state government was permitted to stand for the convenience of the people of Georgia in the ordinary administration of the local civil law, and to that end it should be carefully confined. You are debarred, as I am, from the expression of opinion, or using influences to prevent the execution of the laws of the United States, or to excite ill feeling in opposition to the general government, which is executing these acts of congress," etc.

General Pope appointed Colonel E. Hulbert supervisor of registration, on May 13, 1867, with his office at Macon, Ga. In his history of Georgia, Avery says of the appointee: "Colonel Hulbert was an uncommon individual, cool, adroit, managing, energetic, bold, personally very clever, and the most useful instrument General Pope had. A large, powerful man, prompt, decisive, and with superior administrative ability, he handled the problem of registration with unvarying success for any measure he championed."

On the 21st of the month an order was issued by General Pope in which his plan for registering the citizens of Georgia and Alabama was set forth. In each district a board of registration, consisting of two white men and one negro, was appointed, the registrars to be compensated in accordance with the rules applying to taking the census, the fees ranging from fifteen cents per name in the cities, to forty cents per name in the remote country districts.

In the meantime, the opponents of the Sherman law were not inactive. Governor Jenkins continued to exert a quiet influence in line with the sentiments expressed in his famous address, and those old wheel-horses of secession. Hill and Toombs, took the hustings to urge resistance to what they denominated an infraction of civic liberty and a shameless usurpation of the commonwealth's inherent powers. Robert Toombs, who had returned from his exile in Europe, boldly asserted that he was prepared to judicially establish the right of secession. He said Sherman's reconstruction act was the last straw to break the South's overburdened back. Herschel V. Johnson published an open letter in which he advised the people of Georgia to register quietly, but by no means to accept the terms proposed by the Federal power. His advice was "never to embrace their despotism," and he expressed the belief that the calmer reason of the people of the North and West would assert itself in time to prevent the overthrow of constitutional liberty. But the most active of the nonconformists was Benjamin H. Hill. He entered into the fight for a people's rights with all the impassioned zeal of his nature. He was especially bitter in his attacks on the passive, neutral or. toadyish element among Southerners, and severely criticized the course of ex-Governor Joseph E. Brown in lending his support to the reconstruction policy. Mr. Hill made several speeches in Atlanta, all of which were replete with glowing outbursts of eloquence, wit, irony, biting sarcasm, and above all, stern denunciation and argument. The masses were with Mr. Hill, and his influence was tremendous. His agitation did much to make the reconstruction policy farcical, so far as the majority of the citizens were concerned, and he was undoubtedly an element of disturbance to the carpet-bag regime. General Pope was so much disturbed by the powerful opposition of Hill, and his anti-reconstruction compeers, that he wrote a letter explaining the necessity and purposes of the Sherman law. The following extracts are taken from one of Mr. Hill's Atlanta speeches, delivered at Davis Hall during the summer of 1867:

"Human governments, like everything else human, naturally tend to decay. They can only be preserved by constant watchfulness, courage and adherence to correct principles. There is no difficulty whatever in discovering when and how a nation is dying. The great symptom of decay of government is a disregard of the fundamental law of said government. Whenever a people come to treat lightly the fundamental law of their own government, they have arrived at the most dangerous point that is possible, short of entire destruction. Republics, above all forms of government, are maintained by respect for law. If the people of the United States fail to have a sacred regard for their own law — which is not like that of other nations, to be ascertained by argument, by decisions or by searching, but it is a plain written constitution — they will deserve the awful fate that awaits them, and he who disregards its plain language has no excuse to shield himself from the infamies of a traitor.

"I charge before heaven and the American people this day, that every evil by which we have been afflicted is attributable directly to the violation of the constitution. Tinkers may work, quacks may prescribe, and demagogues may deceive, but I declare to you there is no remedy for us, and no hope to escape the threatened evils but in adherence to the constitution.

"A difference of opinion as to the right of a State to secede from the Union, brought on the war, which resulted in the success of the North; but now a new issue is upon us. It is not a difference of opinion as to what the constitution means, but its object is to set aside the constitution and to substitute something else. That tottering, gray-haired candidate of Pennsylvania, for perpetual infamy, who is building for himself a monument of malignity that will overtop the pyramids of Egypt, said the constitution had nothing to do with it. A great many of our own people say the constitution is dead. Now I affirm that these military acts are not only contrary to the constitution, but directly in the face of the amnesty oath which you were required to take after the surrender

"Some of you who favor the acceptance of the military bills, take an oath to this effect, and still intend to vote for a convention which you admit to be contrary to the constitution. How is this? If you have a conscience, I have said enough. If you vote for the convention you are perjured. Oh, I pity the race of the colored people, who have never been taught what an oath is, nor what the constitution means. They are drawn up by a selfish conclave of traitors to inflict a death blow on the life of the republic by swearing them to a falsehood. They are to begin their political life by perjury to accomplish treason. I would not visit the penalty upon them. They are neither legally nor morally responsible, but it is you — educated designing white men — who thus devote yourselves to the unholy work, who are the guilty parties. You prate about your loyalty. I look you in the eye and denounce you. You are, legally and morally perjured traitors. You perjure yourselves and perjure the poor negro to help your treason. You can't escape it. You may boast of it now while passion is rife. But the time will come when every thought will wither your soul, and make you hide from the face of mankind. I shall discharge the obligation of the amnesty oath. It required me to support the constitution and the emancipation of the negro, and I do. I will not bind my soul to a new slavery — to hell, by violating it. I talk plainly, but I simply want to strike the incrustation of hardened consciences and make men feel and realize their true situation. By all you hold dear. I warn you, that by accepting the military bills, you inaugurate a measure that will exterminate the African race. Some of you who have come among us have taken the negro by the arm. telling him that you are his friend, and that you gave him his liberty. Ye hypocrites! Ye whited sepulchers! You mean in your heart to deceive, and to buy up the negro vote for your own benefit. The negroes know no better. But I would ask them, 'If these men are faithless to the constitution of the country, how can they be faithful to you?" They are not fit to be trusted by any animal, dog or man. They are not capable of being the friends of anybody but themselves. I don't pity the whites so much, who are to suffer by these measures. You knew what your duty was. and you did it not. and if you are beaten by many stripes we have the authority of Scripture for saying that your punishment is just. But oh. it is sad to see that constitution trampled underfoot and the country destroyed, only to perpetuate their hellish dynasty, and to see some of our own people join in this unholy work, calling upon us to submit and become the agents of our own dishonor! This is sad. sorrowful, and fills me with shame. Oh. how sorry a creature is the man who cannot stand for the truth when the country is in danger! There never was such an opportunity as now for a man to show of what stuff he is made. How can you go about the streets and say: 'All is wrong, but I cannot help it!" You want courage; you are a coward. You lack courage to tell the truth. You would sell your birthright for a temporary mess of pottage, even for a little bit of a judgeship or a bureau officer's place."

By the provisions of a general order issued by General Pope on the 21st of May. 1867. the state senatorial districts were adopted as the election districts, and the counties of Fulton, Cobb and Clayton therefore composed the thirty-fifth election district. The two white registrars appointed for this district were Henry G. Cole, of Marietta, and C. W. Lee. of Jonesboro. The city of Atlanta had a special board composed of Dr. Joseph Thompson and T. M. Robinson. The completed registry in the city was:

First ward — white, 523. colored, 396; second ward — white, 280, colored, 200; third ward — white, 181, colored, 203; fourth ward — white, 343, colored, 521; fifth ward — white, 438, colored, 281; total white registry, 1,765; total colored registry, 1,621; grand total, 3,386. The registry in the district was: Fulton county — white, 2,419, colored, 1,920, total, 4,339. Cobb county — white, 1,648, colored, 573, total 2,221. Clayton county — white, 553, colored, 219, total, 772. The total district registration, therefore, was 7,332. of which number 4,620 were whites and 2,712 blacks.

By virtue of a call of the executive committee of the Conservative Union party, a mass convention was held in Atlanta on the 12th of October, 1867, for the purpose of choosing delegates to the district convention called to convene in the city of Atlanta on the 19th of the same month. After the selection of Charles Latimer as chairman and Dr. Charles Pinckney as secretary, a committee of five was named by the chair, on motion, to nominate delegates to the convention in question. The names of thirty-four delegates were reported. On motion, the following resolution of the Conservative Union executive committee, adopted at a meeting held at Atlanta on the 7th of the same month, was adopted and considered as a part of the proceedings of the meeting:

"Resolved, That the citizens of Clayton, Cobb and Fulton counties, who are opposed to a state convention and the reconstruction of Georgia under the 'Sherman-Shellabarger" bills, and supplements, are invited to send delegates to the district convention, in the city of Atlanta, on Saturday, October 19th, for the purpose of nominating seven candidates to represent said counties in a state convention called by Brevet Major-General Pope, U. S. A."

A supplementary resolution was adopted with enthusiasm, congratulating and sending greeting "To the gallant Democracy of Pennsylvania and Ohio for their great victories and noble defense of the sublime principles of constitutional liberty."

On October 19^th, the district convention met in Atlanta in conformity to the call, and organized by electing Judge Echols, chairman, and Henry Hillyer, secretary. The speeches made were bitterly denunciatory of the Federal reconstruction, and the ticket nominated was designated "the anti-convention, anti-reconstruction, anti-radical ticket." Delegates were nominated as follows to the "so-called" state convention, "should such a body be called by the voice of the people of Georgia to assemble:" J. B. Key, of Clayton county; W. T. Winn and Daniel R. Turner, of Cobb county, and James P. Hambleton, E. M. Taliaferro, T. T. Smith and James E. Gullatt, of Fulton county.

The election began on October 29th, 1867, and continued until sundown on the 30th, when the registrars received an order from General Pope to keep the poles open until 6 o'clock p. m., November 2nd. The general stated in the order that the extension of time was made necessary by the fact that owing to delays in voting, many citizens would be deprived of the privilege of suffrage unless they were given more time to deposit their ballots. He said he took this action upon the recommendation of a majority of the registrars.

General Pope issued his order for the meeting of the state convention to frame a constitution and inaugurate a civil government for Georgia, on the 19th of November, 1867, as provided by the act of congress. When framed by the convention, the constitution was to be submitted to the registered voters for ratification.

In the meantime, the "anti-radicals" were active in their opposition to the reconstruction programme. They called a state convention to meet at Macon, on December 5th, "to save Georgia from negro domination and radical rule." The adherents of the conservative party in Atlanta met in mass meeting at the city hall on the 23rd of November, to nominate delegates to the Macon convention. Judge Jared I. Whittaker was chosen as chairman, and Dr. Charles Pinckney, secretary. A resolution was introduced by Col. T. T. Smith, providing for the appointment of a committee of five to nominate twenty delegates to the Macon convention. The nominating committee, which consisted of John Thomas, John C. Whitner, Dr. James F. Alexander, John M. Clark and Judge Echols, returned thirty names instead of twenty, as provided in the resolution, and their action was approved by the meeting.