National Republican., 1876-02-03

they would bear true allegiance
to their Government. They had become
with State Rights. They had
been promised wealth. and experienced
poverty; they expected liberty, but were
rewarded by tyranny. They had horror
of Confederate conscription, the needless
suspension of the writ of habeas corpus,
imprisonment for debt, &c. Foremost
among this class were Messrs. Orr, Brown,
Longstreet and others. Not so, however,
with Hill and other Southern leaders Of the
ultra stripe. They knew that when the
masses accepted restoration in good faith.
their hold upon them would thence
forth cease, and it was with a view
to escaping from the direful results of their
folly that they persisted in muddYing the
waters-c cuttlefish like. Their only hope
was in drawing the color line. Race must
be arrsyed against race, and the doctrine
that 'this is white mans Government"
was loudly preached in the South every
where, and by no one more forcibly than
by Mr.. Hill. His "Notes on the Situa-
tion," which appeared in the spring of
1868, and written with view to defeating
the Reconstruction Acts in Georgia, teemed
with vilification and abuse of the loyal
people Of the country. 1t was in one of
those letters that Hill declared he would
rather see his name on the list of the
Georgia penitentiary than subscribed to an
application for amnesty. In December.
1870. banquet was given Hon. Columbus
Delano, at the Kimball house, in Atlanta.
Hill was an invited guest, and in response
to toast he declared that Gov. Bullock
was ''model Governor" the "regenera-
tor of Georgia" and that under his admin
istration the State was making rapid
strides. Four months after Hill had sue
ceeded in getting slice of the State road.
which was leased by exGov. Brown &
Co., he renewed his abuse of the Georgia
Republicans, and when twitted with his
banquet speech" he unscrupulously de-
clsred that he was only endeavoring to
''get into Bullock's secrets. with view to
laid In driving him from the State"
Ifhe would, Ex-Governor Bullock could
q tale unfold about Hill which would rem
der him fully worthy of the confidence re-
posed in him by the unterrified Democracy
of the South. In 1870 Hill was not eau
didste for office, but busted himself in per-
fectlng party arrangement and in drawing
the color line closely. He Joined with
Toombs in addressing the election managers
a circular, urging them to disregard the
acts of the NEGRO Legislature, and allow
no negro to vote unless he could produce
tax receipt for the previous year. Intim-
idation was openly advised and freely re-
sorted to men were denied the ballot
some because they were too young and
others because they were too old.(2) Ruff
fans in paint and in disguise infested nearly
every election precinct in the State, and
Georgia, which in 1868 had given II, 900
majority against the domination of the
Gordons, Hills and Teombs, was thus in
1870 converted to the base uses of the White
Liners. Mr.. Gordon received the applause
of ex-r rebels, and was rewarded by seat in
the Senate for the valuable aid he rendered
in disconfiting the loyalists of Georgia,
who should have enjoyed the protecting
power of the Government. Mr.. Hill was
mifed. because he was not elected Senator,
and declared in a letter to New York
Democrat that he was the author of the
policy whereby intimidation and the free
"use Of half dollars had given the victory
"to the whites. and yet Gordon had robbed
"him of his labors and all its fruits
Such are few of the antecedents of the
man who has been sent by the people of
Georgia to represent them in Congress. and
as the exponent Of their feelings toward
the General Government.