The Savannah morning news., 1901-10-24

or the Governor had had power
to order change of venue when it be-
came apparent that there was danger
from the mob, the prisoners would have
had as fair trials and the state would
have saved this great expense. AS
the constitution now is, the Governor
cannot order a change of venue at all,
and the judge can do so only on motion
of counsel for the accused when he is
satisfied that an impartial jury cannot
be had in the county. Power ought to
be lodged in both the Governor and the
Judge TO order a change of venue on
his own motion, not only when in the
opinion of either an impartial jury
cannot be had in the county, but when
either thinks there is danger of mob
violence. This would be better and
cheaper than to conduct trial with a
company or battalion of armed soldiers
surrounding the court house.
Conditional Pardons and ParoIs.
1t often occurs that petitions for the
pardon of convicts confined in the peni-
tertiary or the chain-gangs are pre-
sented which appear to both the Board
of Pardons and the executive, to have
in them some merit, and yet not suf-
iicient to warrant an unconditional
pardon. After careful study of the
lIdllEI IIe DOaIu dIl OplIllOll
that under our constitution power to
grant conditional pardons is vested III
the Governor. I made a thorough inves-
tigation of the subject, examining the
authorities cited by the board and all
others within my reach, and came TO
the conclusion that the board was right
and that ehe constitution does give the
Governor the same power to grant con-
ditional pardons that it gives him to
grant absolute pardons, to commute
sentences and grant reprieves. The
power to do the greater act carries
with it the power to do the less. But
since the Legislature had enacted no
rules by which the Governor may carry
this power vested in him by the con-
stitution into effect, and since none of
my predecessors in Office have ever ex-
ercised it, l did not feel warranted in
assuming the responsibility without
first having legislative authority to
do so.
In their further investigations of the
subject the Board of Pardons arrived
at the conclusion that instead of con-
ditional pardons a system of paroling
convicts of this character under which
they, while not in confinement, are al
ways in the custody of the Prison Com
mission and liable to be put back into
close confinement whenever they vio-
late the conditions of their parole or
furloughs. would be better.
The commission have fully elaborat
ed their views on this subject in their
annual report which is before you, and
to this report / desire to call the at
tention of the members of the General
Assembly, and especially to their rec
ommendation on this subject. The
Ohio law to which the board refers,
seems to me to be we'll adapted to our
condition. and I earnestly advise the
adoption of it or something like it as
an amendment to our prison system.
Preservation of the State Archives.
There are pending before your honor
able bodies two bills which look to the
of the Colonial, Revolu-
and Confederate records of our
state, which are fast going to decay.
One of these bills should become a law.
The cost of the work would be tri1lng
in comparison with its importance.
There seems to be a misrepresentation
as to the scope of the proposed work.
1t is not contemplated, as some per-
sons suppose, to send to England after
records which are there. This would
involve more expense than we can at
this time afford. All that is asked now
is authority to preserve the rapidly de-
CdYlnR mere III Jul OMh NdPi~
toll. No one of the old thirteen states
is richer in unpublished material for
the future historian than Georgia, and
no state has been more Indifferent to
its preservation. AS an excuse for this
it has been said that Geor-
gia and Georgians have been in the
past too busy in making history to take
time to preserve it. This is no suffi-
cient excuse. 1t is our sacred duty to
posterity to preserve the records OF the
achievements of our ancestors because
they will be an inspiration to those who
come after us. In the archive rooms
of your Capitol and in it's damp base
ment are priceless records of our revo-
lutionary history. mildewed and rot
ting from the neglect of. more than
hundred years. 1t will be little less
than a crime in us not to preserve
them, while the records of the
part Georgia bore in the war
between the states which were not de-
stroyed when our capital was taken an
occupied by the enemy, are uncompiled.
scattered and fast going to decay, and
unless they are at once compiled and
put in a more enduring form II will not
be long till even the names of many
of the gallant men who followed Lee
and LongstTeet and Jackson, and
Bragg, and johnson, will be lost. In
deed it is true than already no record,
even of the names of some of these
men, is to be found anywhere except on
the muster rolls captured when the
Confederate capital fell, and carried
to Washington where they have lain
I'm the War Department ever since. In
1855 the General Assembly directed the
adjutant general to have copies of
these rolls made and filed in his Office,
and the work was begun, but the ap-
propriatio gave out and ii was never
finished. Complete rolls were made Of
the officers and men In sixty infantry
five battalions of sharp
shooters, eight battalions of infantry.
eight unattached companies. and seven
OF artillery. But we have
no rolls Of quite a number Of other or
ganizstions.
The late Adjutant General Kell, In his
report for 1880, says: Rosters yet to
be made: regiments Of infantry. IS
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