The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-01-06
THE SITUATION IN GEORGIA.

The newspapers of the country have been dis
cussing, for the last two weeks, the situation Of
affairs in Georgia, consequent upon the passage Of
the bill to promote reconstruction in that State,
which was hurried through Congress just before
adjournment for the holidays Among the vast
amount of opinion launched upon the sea of news
paperdom, we have seen nothing which more ftly
characterzes this sort of legislation than the fol-
lowing article taken from the Harrisburg (Pa.)
Patriot:
The people of Georgia, in token of their degra-
tion, must once more pass beneath the yoke OF re-
construction The bill to turn the State again into
satrapy has passed both Houses of Congress,
and by this time has received the approval of
Grant. Bullock returns to Georgia in triumph,
and is sustained by the army of the United States
instead of meeting conviction as fclon Georgia
refused to ratify the fifteenth amendment, and
had so POOR opinion Of Grant as to vote against
his electors Behold her punishment She is
stripped of NIL rights rs State of the Union, and
remanded to the gentle discipline of federal dra-
goons. To put the case in way that every
blockhead who throws up his hat for radicalism,
and every brutal repeater who trains under Mann
and Kemble may understand it, the people of
Georgia are punished for doing what New York
did at the presidential election, and what Pcnnsyl-
vania should have done. Georgia voted against
the fifteenth amendment, and so did the people of
New York. Georgia refused to aid in making
Grant President, so also did the people of New
York. But Georgia has been stripped of her rights
as u State by an arbitrary power which insoently
and illegally assumed to confer them.
Two leading members of a radical house, Bing-
ham and Farnsworth, found but one follower, in
member named Finkelnburg, to resist this last
80 h. oil fhar iof fhaoa
men have aided in accomplishing, let it be record
ed to their honor that they boldly and eloquently
protested against this outrage against State
They proved that the act was unconstitutional In
every aspect, and they appealed to their fellow
members to stay their reckless hands. Bingham,
in last effort to defeat the bill to srangle Geor-
gin, declared that the sentence in Grants message
which prompted it, did not intend to recommend
such measure But the majority seemed to have
better and moro intimate understanding of
Grants opinions, and passed the bill under the
gag of the previous question. They did not at
tempt to defend the outrage for themselves, nor
dare to listen to the arguments of their democratic
adversaries
And now Georgia has been returned to vassalagc
by that party which boasts of its regard for the
Constitution and the rights of the States She has
been thrust from the Union by those who insisted
that their purpose was to maintain and preserve
the Union. If the people of Georgia never before
had just cause to rebel, they find it in this infa-
nous act. Their ancestors struggled as best they
could against tyranny in the dark days of the rev.
olution. Sherman led his troops through the
State, marking his progress with fearful devasta-
ton, realizing Burke's picture Of the misery
caused by Warren Hastings in India But the
last wrong which has been inflicted on that un-
happy people outdoes all the rest. If there be q
God in history, the outrage will be deeply avenged
on its perpetrators. .