Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1865-08-11
9iAf6FellanFQNs.
ADDRESS OF GOVERNOR JOHNSON
or GEORGIA.

Gov. johnson of Georgia has issued a
proclamation calling upon the people of the
State to elect delegates to a convention to be
held on the fourth Wednesday of October,
next He also delivered an address in the
City Hall at Macon, on Saturday evening,
July 18th, in which he said he had been APP
pointed for the single purpose OF enabling
the State to form Government. He adj
vised the people to receive the amnesty oath
and thus prepare themselves to become citi-
zens. He expressed his ideas on the slave-
ry question in the following pertinent man
ner:
| now feel bound to declare to you one
thing which YOU must recognize as accom-
pGshed and the sooner you know 1t, and
conform to it. the sooner you will be relieved
from military rule Slavery exists no more
This is decreed It's restoration under any
form, is utterly out Of the question. Sla-
very has been extinguished by the operations
of the late war | do not propose, in this
connection, to enter upon lengthy argument
to prove it. simply state what is unlver-
sally acknowledged by all writers on national
law, that belligerents have the right to make
captures of persons and property, and that
they may make what disposition they please
of the property captured. The vanquished
are at the disposition of the conquerOrs, and
may be disposed Of as they think proper.
Such is war, and it Is sin against God and
humanity that it should be waged We
must submit to the result Of the war Com
gress, BY the Constitution of the United
States, has the power to give to the Presl-
dent the regulations Of captures by sea and
land and the President in the exercise Of
this power given to him by the Constitution
and bv CONGRESS. issued his proclamation
dispcsing Of their captures, declaring that all.
the 'nearoes who we're slaves in the revolted
States. should, BY virtue OF that proclama-
ton. become emancipated Such IS, IN my
Judgment, the law, and / believe the Su-
preme Court viii so decide.
come to another point The ConsGtu-
ton which the people of Georgia shall adopt
in convention viii be required to recognize
/ this fact. The convention will be called up
on to agree to this amendment to the Con-
Stitution. that slavery shall no longer exist
in these states. They will beealled upon to
decide this before their restoration to the
! Union, in order that this quarrel about sla-
very, which has existed since the beginning
Of the government to the present time, shall
never be revived and in order that there
! shall be no dispute among the people of this
State on the subject They must provide
! forits extinction now, and so ! tell you to-
/ day. if you wish to be admitted into the
! Union, this convention of the people OF
= Georgia must be composed of such material
I as will recognize the fact of the extinction OF
4 slavery in Georgia, and agree to the amend
ment to the Constitution Of the United
States, which win extinguish slavery
/ throughout the country.
/ Tt is claimed By some that the negroes will
! not work / know that those who have
been driven off the farms do not work, bo-
cause they have no opportunity Of working,
/ and some ofthem viii not work where they
4 have not been driven off For this latter
! class, the Legislature must make laws de-
i claling them vagrants, and Furnishing them
! as such. The negro will not work How
I do YOU know they viii not ] saw them
| working very well in New York and other
/ places where have been 1t is true, they
1 sometimes commit crimes IN those places
and they are punished for it. They must
work-thev can work-they must either
work or perish. What is the difficulty !?
i Do not the people have to work 10 Germany
! in France, in New York in Ohio " hat is
the reason they viii not work | tell you
they viii work; and / must say that under
| the peculiar circumstances by which they are
| surrounded, no people ever behaved Dettef
! than they have done Those who tell you
they viii not work. have hopes Of contin-
uing their control and dominion over them:
1 They viii work under contracts Of hire; and
and If they fail, they become vagrants, and
may be punished or exiled, as the laws of
/ the State may direct Let the Legislature
meet and pass the Reedful laws for their reg
ulation. and everything viii move smoothly
on. Let them be employed by men of hui
manifY. and have fair compensation given
i them, and, IN Judgment, no difficulty viii
/ lie III the way.