The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1867-05-03
NATIONAL HOTEL,

J. NATIONAL HOTEL, I
It ATLANTA, Ga, April 90 1867.
4 Breret MAJ Gen. John Pope, Commander!
etc.
y SR-On yesterday evening communities
@ tion from you to me at Milledgeville, on tn
18th Inst was handed to me In this hote
With that communication was transmitte
4 q copy of your General Order No. i, issue
from Montgomery Ala, and my attention
Q being called to paragraph III of that order
! You inquire whether, when issued my ad
dress to the People of Georgia, dated Wash
: ingion, d. c., April 10th, 1867, had seen o
n had knowledge of your order above men
: tioned9 answer that at that time l ha(
r neither seen nor had knowledge of it.
q Isupposed was exercising such freedom
in the public expression of opinion, relatiy,
G to public matters, as seems still to be &C
). corded to the citizens OF this Republic, mo-
imagining that it was abridged by the acct
: dent of The, speaker or writer holding office
So much for the past, General, and will
only add, that in the future shall do anC
say what may believe is required of me by
the duty to which my oath at office binds
me, and this trust will not involve either
: conflict or controversy between us in the ex
ecution of our respective trusts, as l think
it need not; everything of this character
certainly desire TO AVOID.
am, sir, very respectfully
Your obedient servant,
Signed CHARLES j. JENKINS,
Governor of Georgia.
HEAD'QRs THIRD MILITARY DISTRICT, }
Georgia, Alabama and Florida,)
ATLANTA, GA, April %.
Governor-I have the honor to acknowl.
edge the receipt of your letter of the goth
Is 4 II 4
1t gives me pleasure to say that your ex-
PLANTATION is satisfactory, so far as the past
is concerned, and 1 cordially concur with
you in the hope that our relations in the flu
| ture may be harmonious and agreeable
/ would content myself with this answer
to your letter but for the following remark
which it contains. You say, II supposed |
was using such freedom in the public ex-
preston of opinion relative to public mat
tiers as seems still to be accorded to the citi-
zens of this Republic, not imagining that it
was abridged by the accident OF the speaker
or writer holding office.
| This expression seems to indicate that you
think that in some manner, either personally
or officially, you have been wronged by that
paragraph of my order which has occasioned
this correspondence, and that l am seeking
! to abridge the liberty Ofspeech, in this State
in an unnecessary and oppressive manner.
trust that may be able to disabuse your
mind of this idea. 1t is scarcely necessary
to tell you that the late acts of Congress,
which am sent here to execute, recognize
the existing State Government of Georgia as
merely Provisional and that the object of
recognizing it at all was only that the ordi-
nary course of business in the civil tribunals
and the administration of the laws of the
State by the customary agencies, might not
be interrupted further than was necessary
for the strict execution of the laws of the
United States. 1t is not doubted that
Congress might have legisated the present
State Government of Georgia out of exis-
tence as easily as they have recognized it as
Provisional and it is as little to be doubted |
that Congress would have done SO, could it |
have been foreseen that the entire machine
ry of the Provisional State Government |
would be used to defeat the execution of the |
very law by whose sufferance alone it has |
any existence at all. 1t is very clear that |
Congress did not intend to recognize or
permit to exist, by these Reconstruction
Acts, a powerful organization to be used
against their execution, nor can such Sc be
made of the State Government of Georgia
without greatly Obstructing, if not, indeed,
entirely frustrating the performance of the
duty required of me by these acts.
The existing State Government was per-
mitted to stand for the convenience of thed
people of Georgia, in the ordinary admins
tration of the local civil laws, and to that
end it should be carefully confined
1t was in this view that paragraph three
Of my Order assuming command was con-
sidered, and it is not easy to see how it can
be regarded as oppressive or unjust.
Holding your office by permission of the
United States Government, you are debar-
red, as l am, from expressing opinions, or
using influences to defeat the execution of
the laws of the United States, or to excite
and opposition to the General
Government which is executing these Acts
Of Congress.
With your personal opinions or those of
any citizens of Georgia, or their expression
within the limits of the law, l have nothing
to do; but the distinction between personal
opinion openly expressed in an official capa-
,ity, and official opinion, is too nice for the
understanding.
The influence of your opinions, openly
vowed, must of necessity be very great
with the civil officers of the State in all its
departments, when the tenure of Office is de- ,,
PENDENT upon your pleasure. Your opinions ,,
Is private citizen, without official station, !,
md the same opinions whilst Governor of !
Georgia, have very different significance,
Ind produce very different effect. !
only require that the civil machinery of 4.
he State of Georgia be not perverted so as !
% Illustrate the execution of the laws of the =,
United States, and for that reason, exact :
rom the civil officers, that whilst they retain
heir offices they confine themselves strictly 7
% the performance of their official duties, !
md do not use their influence to prevent 7
he people of the State from submitting to =
md carrying out the laws of the United !;
states.
In your address to the people of Georgia, :
which occasioned this correspondence, you .
enounce the acts of Congress which / am =
ent here to execute, as 'palpably unconsti- =
and "gievously oppressive" and 4
dYise the people, whatever may be the de- !,
ision of the Supreme Court of the United =
tates TO take no action under those laws. =
Whilst you counsel them not to resist by vi =
lence, you at the same time, by open official v
of the law, invite the very L
ction which you seem to deprecate. :
1t is manifestly impossible for me to per-
,rm the duties required of me by the Acts
Congress, while the Provisional Governor
the State is openly denouncing them and I.
living advice to the public in his official ca b
acity, the result of which will be to excite
and,to array the whole army Of 7
in the State in opposition TO :
leir execution, unless, indeed, the whole u
ivil Government of the State is overthrow, q
~ tue buootbuANAs SUN al
change would be as distasteful to the peo- :,
e Of Georgia as it would be to me, and yet =
the civil officers of the State follow the m
,ample which your Excellency has set in
lem, there will be no escape from such Q n,
suit. 7.
The third paragraph Of my order imposes y
restrictions ON you to which am not my W
If subject; you hold your Office by permis- OF
IN Of the United States Government; l en-
Id mine. az do thousands of others, both :,
vii aud military, by substantially the same -
nure Custom old enough to be law itself m
stricts us in conversation and seton, pre- m
ely a. paragraph three Of my order re- iii
nets You. he
There is very simple mode Of freeing "
rselves from such restrictions when they vi
come too oppressive. Lex
In conclusion, Governor, it seems neces- W.
y for me to say in general reply 10 the e.
ter potion ofy0ur letter, that the para ~
aph Of my order 10 which you object was an
y carefully considered that Il means Pc
sciaaIv What IL aara and that n the full -.