Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-12-12

stitutiOn, and do the WofK III
safe and reliable manner, Now, when
there are ono bayonets to direct the way
in which they should vote, he distrusts
the people, simply because they are moi
Radicals. -
ssTHE DISTRICT OF GEORGIA.
Maj. Gen. Alfred H. Terry, command
ing the District of Georgia, in August
last made report upon ''the situation IN
Georgia, which has just been published.
1t reads very much ike the editorials OF
the Tennessee Radical newspapers of last
spring. It is full of the outrages upon
the freedmen" of the doings of the Ku-
Klux, of the inability or indisposition of
the civil officers to do justice to the lately
emancipated, and of the escape of crimi-
mails. He concludes that there is but one
way to restore order. Upon that subject
he expresses himself thus:
elm conclusion, desire TO express my
COuflCtlOu tlld0 buC OulJ way W ltStOiC
good order In the State is to resume mill
tsry control over it for the time being,
and ultimately to provide by law that the
Legislature shall re-sssemble as Pro-
visional Legislature, from whicls all in
eligible persons shall be excluded, and to
which all eligible persons elected to it,
whether white or black, shall be admitted
Such Legislature would, l believe, enact
such laws, and invest their Executive
with such powers as would enable him to
keep the peace, protect life and property,
and punish crime. The process of re-
Stunning military control would, it ap-
pears to me, be a very simple one. All
that would be required is an order from
the President countermanding General
Orders No. 55, At jutant-G Generals Office,
July %, 1868, and Orders No. 103, head
quarters Third Military District, July %,
1868, and assigning an officer to the COM
mand of the district, excepting the States
of Florida and Alabama. This action l
respectfully recommend.
To the honor of Gen. Halleck, the com
mander of the Military Division of the
South, he refused to concur in the views
of Gen. Terry. Yet he seems to have
acted in awe of Congress. His indorse-
ment is as follows:
81 cannot concur entirely in the views
of Gen. Terry. After the recognition for
so long time of the State government of
Georgia by the President and highest
military authorities, for these officers 10
retrace their steps and declare their own
acts illegal and void, would not only seem
inconsistent but might produce much
harm.
Should Congress, however, decide to
return the State to the condition Of a
military district, under the reconstruction
laws, on the ground that it had not been
fully reconstructed, the case would be
very different. | therefore respectfully
recommend that the matter be left foI
action of Congress"
To what base uses has our government
come at last, if Congress can at its pleas
ure ''rcturn" Southern State 'tO the
condition of a military district under the
reconstruction laws" 1t would seem
that thepeople of the North, who have not
the faint of rebellion upon them, should
have the independence, the patriotism,
the love Of constitutional government suf-
ficiently, to rise as one man, throw off all
party shackles, and consign to an infa-
nous retiracy the Radical officials who
are playing such fantastic tricks in the
face Of high heaven.