The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1870-03-18
OUR POLITICAL STATUS.

From long continued political revolu
ton the people find relief in any sort Of
settlement. Ten years of such excite
ment as we have passed through have
prepared us for an end of the conflict on
any basis which promises peace for the
present and hope Tor the future. In this
spirit our people hail with pleasure the
act of Congress now before the Senate,
relating to Georgia, for the restoration
of the State 10 the Union; especially as
it gives % our people to great extent
and at:an early day, the government of
the State.
AS part of the history of the times,
we copy the following extract Of the
speech of Mr. FARNswoRrH, in the de-
bate on the Georgia Bill in the House:
"Mr. Farnsworth remarked that ac-
cordng to this bill the Georgia Legis!a'-
turc was not only provisional but was IL
legal, and the logic of the bill, as well as
the speech of Mr.. Butler yesterday, was
that everything done by that LeGista-
ture, including the election of United
States Senators, was illegal. Therefore
its ratification of the Fourteenth Amend
ment was also Illegal Why not as well
declare that Bullock shall be Governor
of Georgia for six years or for life !
Why it was monstrous and more non
s:rous still in the face and eyes of the
! fact that this same Governor was charged
by the State Treasurer with stealing and
apppropriating money of the State
The only excuse for the bill was that if
not passed the Republican party would
lose the next election in the State of
New York.
Mr.. Stevenson, of Oho.-IIOw would
! you save 1t =?
Mr.. Farnsworth, ironically-Why, of
course, pass the law installing Rcpubli-
can officers there and providing that
their tenure of Office shall be for life
There is an easier way Of maintaining
our ascendancy in the nation than by
holding elections. That way is by act Of
Congress; that is the way to do it. The
gentleman from Massachusetts, C}utler)
had Yesterday raised a cry of murder IN
the House. Whenever he wanted to pass
one of his reconstruction bills he got mp
in the House and cried murder, murder,
and by a hue and cry OF that sort got
the bill passed. Whenever one of those
bills was to be passed, the Washington
Chronicle published an account of some
great outrages, and immediately the Re
construction Committee was called to-
cether and bill reported to the House.
He remembered that last year gentle
man, very clever fellow, but a man
whose politics we're always those OF the
reisning dynasty, who had sold arms to
the people of Georgia in the winter OF
lS6O--Gl with which to shoot down I'm
ion soldiers, went to Georgia, and, with
the assistance of Gov. Bull OK, manip-
ulatcd the Legislature and got commit
tee appointed to examine his claim for
payment for those arms. The commit
tee was manipulated so as to make ia
vorable report, but the Legislature re-
fused to adopt or pay the claim. There
upon this man came to Washington full
of sorrow his heart wruns to lis depth,
with tears in his eyes over the terrible
persecution of negroes and loyal men of
, Georgia. That man was in favor of the
reconstruction of Georgia at once
What was his touch stone 1t was that
he could get his $4,000 and interest
for arms he had sold in the State Of
Georgia. He (Famsworth) felt that the
: passage of this bill and the prolonging of
the terms of office of the men now con
trolling the State, authorizing Governor
Bullock to commence dc n0ro and put
ting the power of the State into Iris
hands, -$yQuld be most Internal outrage
on the tax payers of the State. He be-
lieved the bill was in the interest of these
people who desired to pcrpetuate Their
reign, so they might put money in their
purses"
The following clause embraces the
conditions of admission prescribed in the
Bill, supplemented with the Bingham
r Amendment as passed:
at is further declared that tho State
of Georg is admitted to representation
in Congress as one Of the States of the
Union upon the following fundamental
e conditions; first, that the Constitution
e of Georgia shall never be so amended or
: changed as to deprive any citizen or
class OF citizens of the United States of
the right to vote who are entitled TO
f vote by the constitution herein recogniz-
e ed, except as punishment for such
] crimes as are now felonies at common
: law, whereof they shall have been duly
convicted under laws equally applicable
/! to all the inhabitants of said State pre-