USA > Georgia > The history of the State of Georgia from 1850 to 1881, embracing the three important epochs: the decade before the war of 1861-5; the war; the period of Reconstruction, v. 1 > Part 13
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LETTER OF GOVERNOR BROWN.
pling to the northern democracy, unsound in constitutional principle, carrying the dangerous right to strike down slavery, and unavailing. He urged a convention and sending delegates to Baltimore, regardless of the Charleston action, to harmonize the party.
The letter of Joseph E. Brown was just such a cool, clear, practical common-sense, conclusive view of the perplexing subject as might have been expected from the man. It embodied a simple solution of the problem in his plain business way. Ascribing the discord to the per- sonal ambition and animosity of leaders, and claiming that the masses of the Democracy were true to the constitution, both North and South, he proceeded to discuss the situation. Making no reflection upon the Georgia delegates who seceded or those that remained in the conven- tion, he ascribed good motives to both, and believed that the difference properly used could be turned to benefit. As an abstract question, he believed in the right to protection of slave property in the Territories. The wisdom and utility of making an issue on it was another question, and it would seem to be wise to wait until an occasion rises, which might never happen, before making such an issue. The Democratic doctrine heretofore had been non-intervention by Congress. The trouble now was over an attempt to put a new plank in the platform of the party. Men might honestly differ on the expediency of such an innovation. It had been said that the Democratic construction, North and South, was different on the Cincinnati platform. The answer to this was that the Supreme Court in. the Dred Scott case had decided the principle, and the Northern wing of the party was willing to recognize the decision of the Supreme Court as the correct exposition. This should be a satisfactory settlement of the issue. He urged a State Con- vention of men of age and experience, to discuss and decide the matter without passion or crimination. Let delegates be sent to Baltimore and accept the Cincinnati platform with the additional resolution that the Northern Democracy was willing to offer, recognizing the binding force and correct exposition of the Supreme Court decision, or something similar, and the trouble would be healed. The Democratic party alone presented any hope for the South in the contest with the Black Repub- lican party, and we should cling to it. It will be time enough for the Richmond Convention when harmony at Baltimore on the ground indi- cated fails.
These were a masterly vivid group of letters, and strangely variant. There were some curious changes indicated by them, the most notable being that Howell Cobb and Herschell V. Johnson, who had been in
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119
THE STATE CONSTITUTIONAL UNION CONVENTION.
1850 so opposed, Cobb being the Union representative and Johnson the pronounced Southern Rights champion, had completely reversed posi- tions. Cobb was the Southern Rights advocate, and squarely defending the seceders from the Charleston Convention; while Johnson con- demned them and stood the Conservative exponent. Douglas and Buchanan were very hostile, and Cobb, as a member of Buchanan's Cabinet, naturally antagonized Douglas and his platform. It was at the time charged that the Presidential aspirations of both Cobb and Johnson somewhat controlled them in that exciting crisis.
The conflict of opinion among the leaders was the outcome of tlie popular agitation. The State was convulsed over this great political issue. In many localities there was a fiery feeling. A duel occurred between Dr. Holmes and Mr. Nelms about the burning of the staying delegates in effigy, in which Mr. Nelms was wounded.
The opposition had been for some time showing activity. The party was disorganized, but still vital. The Chronicle and Sentinel made a suggestion that met with favor and was soon adopted, of rebaptizing the party under the name of the "CONSTITUTIONAL UNION PARTY." A Convention was called and held in Milledgeville on the 2d of May, 1860. Gen. John W. A. Sanford was made President, and John Mil- ledge and Dr. R. A. T. Ridley, Vice-Presidents; C. R. Hanleiter, L. F. W. Andrews and C. H. C. Willingham were Secretaries. Forty-four counties only were represented by 111 delegates. Among the leading members were A. H. Kenan, R. M. Orme, Clifford Anderson, M. W. Lewis, R. L. Me Whorter, D. W. Lewis, R. P. Trippe, C. H. Hopkins, G. E. Thomas, P. Reynolds, John Milledge, Ranse Wright, C. A. Evans * and B. H. Bigham.
The resolutions adopted pledged the party to co-operate with all men who believed in the duty of the government to protect slave property in the territories, and that any legislation to defeat the fugitive slave law was unconstitutional. An Executive Committee was made of J. W. A. Sandford, C. H. Hopkins, H. Holt, L. F. W. Andrews, R. A. T. Ridley, Dr. H. V. M. Miller, Dr. S. H. Freeman, D. W. Lewis and John Miller. Delegates were appointed to a National Constitutional Union Conven- tion at Baltimore, of whom those for the state at large were Dr. R. A. T. Ridley, Joshua Hill, A. R. Wright and J. C. S. Lee. The Chairman in his speech of thanks declared that the Democratic party that had controlled the country so long with a blundering policy was discordant, and could not even be held together by the cohesive power of public plunder. Good men must now rally to save the country. The resolu-
120
THE STATE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION OF JUNE, 1861.
tions of this convention were ignored by the Constitutional Union Con- vention of Baltimore, which nominated the Hon. John Bell of Tennes- see, and Edward Everett of Massachusetts, as its Presidential ticket. The Republican party had also nominated at Chicago Abe Lincoln of Illinois for President, and Hannibal Hamlin of Maine for Vice-President, upon a platform that declared the territories free, and denied the right of Congress or any other power to give legal existence to slavery in any . territory. The issue thus made was clear and distinct. It was more,- it was defiant and aggressive.
The Democratic Convention of June the 4th, 1860, was looked to with profound interest. One hundred and twelve counties were represented by three hundred and forty delegates. It was a large body and in point of ability a strong cne. Among the delegates were L. H. Briscoe, P. Tracy, J. Hartridge, W. H. Stiles, H. R. Jackson, S. Cohen, Howell Cobb, N. Tift, J. H. Lumpkin, B. C. Yancey, T. C. Howard, Thos. Butler King, W. H. Dabney, W. E. Simmons, Herschell V. Jolmson, Saml. Hall, Hiram Warner, T. P. Saffold, A. H. Chappell, J. Wingfield, T. L. Guerry, A. Hood, Jas. Gardner, Julian Cumming, W. W. Montgomery, W. A. Hawkins, T. M. Furlow, H. K. McCoy, J. C. Maund, J. L. Seward, George Hillyer, C. W. Styles, J. S. Hook, R. L. Warthen, B. D. Evans, J. C. Nichols, I. T. Irwin.
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The President was T. L. Guerry. The chairman of the Business Committee was Wm. H. Stiles. On this committee were both Howell Cobb and Herschell V. Johnson. A majority and minority report were both made, the latter signed by H. V. Johnson, Thos. P. Saffold, H. K. McCoy, and A. Colvard. The majority report took imperative ground . for the protection of slavery in the territories, endorsed the seceders from the Charleston Convention and reappointed the entire delegation to the Charleston Convention, to represent the State in the Baltimore Convention, and if the slavery programme was not adopted there to go into the. Richmond Convention. The minority report reaffirmed the Cincinnati platform with an additional resolution declaring that slave property was entitled to the same legal recognition in the territories as any other property, and the right could not be impaired by Congress or a territorial government. The minority report further provided for a new delegation to Baltimore.
The session of the convention continued two days. The discussion upon the reports was intense and elaborate. T. P. Saffold, Howell Cobb, J. L. Seward, Dr. J. Branham, B. C. Yancey, James Gardner, H. V. Johnson and Henry R. Jackson all spoke. Several of the speeches
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121
THE CONVENTION SPLITS UP.
were very able. Ex-Gov. Johnson began his speech before the noon adjournment of the second day, and concluded it after dinner. His speech was powerfully begun and a master-piece of argument and elo- quence. Even his opponents acknowledged its magnificent power. But what slight causes can affect human effort. Wearied at the close of the morning session, and unable from the strain upon him to eat any dinner, he took a glass of wine upon an empty stomach to strengthen himself, and it sickened him, rendering the continuation of his speech so difficult that its diminution of vigor was marked. Jackson and Cobb both made strong efforts for the majority report. The Convention was nearly one-sided. The majority report was adopted by a vote of 2983 yeas to 41} nays.
The minority of the Convention then entered a protest against the majority report thus adopted on the grounds that it asserted proposi- tions that were in violation of the established Democratic doctrine of non-intervention, and that would disrupt the National Convention; that it by implication condemned the delegates who did not secede at Charleston; and that its appointment of delegates to Richmond de- tached this Convention practically from the National Democracy. Among others this protest was signed by James Gardner, George W. Lamar, T. P. Saffold, J. L. Seward, Hiram Warner and Jas. S. Hook.
The minority of the convention, also, immediately organized what they called " A National Democratic State Convention," of which Hiramn Warner was made president. Twenty-four counties with 63 delegates were represented. In addition to the delegates above mentioned as protesting against the majority report there were H. V. Johnson, Jas.
A. Nisbet, Jas. T. Nisbet, A. E. Cochrane, J. W. Duncan, A. II. Chappell, Julian Cumming, W. W. Montgomery and others. A full set of dele- gates were appointed to the Baltimore convention, and the minority report was unanimously adopted. The delegates selected were:
State at large .- H. V. Johnson, James Gardner, Absalom H. Chappell and Hiram Warner.
District Delegates .- 1st, J. L. Seward, Wm. B. Gaulden; 2d, R. Whitely, B. Y. Martin; 3d, N. Bass, S. W. Burney; 4th, J. P. Hamble- ton, S. C. Candler; 5th, A. R. Wright, H. P. Farrow; 6th, R. McMillan, J. P. Simmons; 4th, T. P. Saffold, J. Thomas; 8th, L. A. Nelms, A. C. Walker.
A committee of three, consisting of H. V. Johnson, Jas. A. Nisbet and Nathan Bass, was appointed to issue an address to the people of Georgia, explaining their action. The address evidently emanated from
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122
THE BALTIMORE CONVENTION OF 1860.
the brain of Gov. Johnson. It was a compact, vigorous, polished paper, blending force and finish. The minority report, it said, was admitted by the majority to be sound in principle, and only differed from the majority in not demanding the undemocratic doctrine of intervention. It also refused to recognize the sectional convention at Richmond. The majority report denationalized the Georgia democracy and made it a probable conclusion that the State would not be received in the national convention. The minority had appointed delegates upon a sound unob- jectionable platform, and if the majority delegates were rejected the minority delegates would attempt to prevent Georgia from being unrep- resented. The address made no censures upon any one, but candidly declared that it believed, that the urging of the doctrine of intervention was unwise, and fraught with danger to the national democracy and to the best interests of the South.
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It will be seen how every step of events in Georgia during this year was inarked by unhealed and growing divisions. The spirit of discord was rife, and the drift to disunion was steady and irresistible. Men- either could not or would not harmonize, though harmony was so easy. Looking at the differences at this long distance, out of the fever of those days, one wonders, with the terrific contingency of a disruption of the party and its certain and immeasurable results of evil, that as sensible men as there were in control of matters, did not fix a settlement of the party divisions. There can be but one explanation. There were enough disunionists to drive party disintegration as the sure agency of national dissolution. The abolitionists of the north were equally resolved to extirpate slavery, and furnished the needed stimulus of a biting and incessant provocation. Conservative men were powerless, and a moderate policy impossible in the heated temper of the era.
The Richmond convention met and adjourned until the 21st of June, 1860. The Baltimore convention assembled. Both Georgia delegations applied for admission. The committee of credentials finally made majority and minority reports. The majority report favored the admis- sion of both delegations with a division of Georgia's vote, and the admission of contesting delegations in place of seceders from the other Southern states. The minority report favored the admission of all the seceding delegations. The convention admitted the seceding Georgia delegation headed by H. L. Benning, and rejected the national demo- cratie delegation headed by James Gardner. The seceding delegations from the other states were rejected and new ones admitted. Delegations from Alabama and Louisiana were not admitted at all. Upon this
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THE NATIONAL DEMOCRACY RIVEN.
action the Georgia delegation refused to go in, and the majority of the delegations from Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, California and Oregon withdrew from the convention, and Delaware declined to take any part for the present. Missouri alone was entirely represented from the south, and a few delegates remained from Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee. The party rupture was complete. There was no hope of reconciliation. The disintegration proceeded. Kentucky withdrew. The majority of the Massachusetts delegation went out. Hon. Caleb Cushing, the president of the convention, resigned, because his state of Massachusetts was thus unrepresented. One hundred and ninety dele- gates were left, a new chairman was chosen, and Stephen A. Douglas nominated for President, and. Gov. Fitzpatrick of Alabama for Vice President. Fitzpatrick wisely declined. In Washington on the 25th, the Douglas delegates selected Herschell V. Johnson of Georgia in his place, who accepted.
The seceders immediately organized a National State Rights Conven- tion. IIon. Caleb Cushing was made president. Two hundred and ten delegates, representing twenty-one states, and 284 votes, constituted the convention. The states were Vermont, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Louisiania, Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, California and Oregon. The majority report of the Charleston convention was adopted, and Jolin C. Breckenridge of Kentucky was nominated for President, and Joseph Lane of Oregon for Vice-President.
The fatal work was done. The democratic party in the very height of its power was stricken down by its own hand. The only constitution- loving political organization in the country that had the popular confidence deliberately enacted its own disintegration, and turned the government over to a sectional party. The result was a foregone conclusion. Split into warring fragments, the otherwise irresistible strength of the democ- racy was wasted, and a minority party, the Black Republican, regardless of constitutions, but battling against slavery on grounds of humanity, had an easy victory. In the light of common sense the democratic division was a mad piece of policy, useless and destructive. In the illumination of a Providential purpose, it was the means to a great end, to be worked out through a travail, which, if it could have been foreseen, would have frightened back the consummation. The democratic rupture at Baltimore was the practical inception of the revolution.
CHAPTER XV.
THE MOMENTOUS CLOSE OF THE LAST YEAR OF PEACE, 1860.
A. Matchless State Prosperity .- Brown's Growth in Public Esteem .- The Gallagher Rifle .- D. A. Walker .- H. V. Johnson's Up-hill Campaign .- Electoral Tickets for Breckenridge .- Douglas and Bell .- The State convulsed .- Francis S. Bartow and his flaming Speech .- An Era of Delirium .- An Epoch of Eloquence .- Georgia's Galaxy of Orators .- Varney Gaskill's Expulsion .- No Popular Election in Georgia. -The Legislature .-- Gov. Brown's Message .- A Bold Paper .- Preparation for War Urged .- Retaliatory Legislation recommended .- A Convention advised .- The Leg- islature elected the Breckenridge Ticket .- The Secession Convention called .- Ten Thousand Troops authorized .- Money Alarmed .- Business Shocked .- Brown's Bit. ter Battle with the Legislature over the Bank Question .- Gov. Brown opposed Sus- pension .- Bill Passed .- Veto .- Bill Passed over Veto .- House Attacked Governor. -Unquailing Message in Reply .- Resolutions of Censure by House .- A Universal Fighting Time .- Brown an Unyielding Foe .- He Denounced the Censure and Scathed the House .- The Electoral Ticket call for Gov. Brown's Views on the Crisis .- A Strong Reply.
AMID all this trouble in Georgia over Federal politics, the state con- tinued to progress in prosperity under the matchless administration of Gov. Brown. He took no active part in national matters, but devoted himself with his accustomed zeal and vigilance, to the details of state government. He steadily grew in popular esteem, and daily widened his reputation and influence. He continued to deal with state questions, promptly and masterfully. The state road was made to pay increasing monthly installments into the state treasury. The pardon power was rarely exercised. The surplus in the treasury, placed there by his superb management, was devoted to taking up bonds not due, and thus diminishing the public debt and taxation.
While he was not an active participant in the political tumult of the day, he was a close observer of events, and had a keen, practical eye to the future and held in consideration the needs of the state. He foresaw the coming confliet, and was for preparing for it. Some Savannah gen- tlemen, Dr. M. J. Gallagher and W. H. Gladding, had invented a rifle. Gov. Brown had it tested with a view to its mannfacture and distribu- tion in the state. Mr. Eli McConnell and John Jones made a competi- tive trial with it, upon twelve inch planks an inch apart. This rifle beat
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125
HI. V. JOHNSON FOR VICE-PRESIDENT.
both the Sharpe and Minie weapons. Gov. Brown wrote as follows about it to Dr. Gallagher and Mr. J. D. Delannoy.
" Recent events have, I think, satisfied the southern people that it is wise for them to arm. I have but little confidence in high-sounding speeches and resolutions. We must meet aggression in future by energetic preparation and prompt action. The legislature which places your " Georgia Rifle " or some other first rate arm in the hand of every person in the state, qualified to do military duty, will have done more to protect the South against aggression than has been done by all the resolutions of its predecessors. The argument is already 'exhausted.' Let us have no more compromiscs, and if the full measure of our rights is denied in future, let us stand by our arms."
The resignation of L. W. Crook as judge of the Cherokee Circuit was the occasion of Gov. Brown appointing in his place a gentleman who afterwards became quite a marked person. Judge Dawson A. Walker was a Tennesseean by birth. A self-made man and very plain in man- ners and habits, he was a lawyer of uncommon ability and energy, and a citizen of integrity and pure character. He became a Judge of the Supreme Court, defeating Henry L. Benning before the legislature for that office by the aid of William Dougherty. He was the Republi- can candidate for Governor against Gov. Smith. He has recently died enjoying general esteem.
The nomination of Breckenridge and Lane was generally endorsed in Georgia. The only leaders who supported Douglas and Johnson were Alex. H. Stephens, Ranse Wright, Eugenius A. Nesbit, Hiram Warner, B. Y. Martin, J. L. Seward and Absalom H. Chappell. There were a few in favor of Bell and Everett, but the mass of the public men, in- cluding both the Democrats and the Opposition, were for Breckenridge and Lane. But three papers advocated Douglas and Johnson, the Augusta Constitutionalist, Rome Southerner and Atlanta Confederacy. Gov. Joseph E. Brown gave the Breckenridge ticket a hearty support. While deeply regretting the division of the Democratic party, and think- ing that no sufficient cause existed for a split, as the division was made, he stood as he had always stood, with the South. Gov. Johnson, who had been so widely popular, experienced the vicissitudes of political favor. In Macon he was hung in effigy, but the act was severely condemned by the Breckenridge press. He spoke a number of times. In Savannah he was hissed, and defiantly declared that he repeated his views in spite of the hisses of "serpents and geese," meeting the indignity differently from Mr. Toombs, who, when hissed in Boston during his famous speech there, good-naturedly told the people that he had no objection to their hissing if they preferred that method of expressing their feelings ; and again, when at some reference to the fugitive slave law they hissed, he
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THREE ELECTORAL TICKETS IN GEORGIA.
quietly remarked that they were hissing the Constitution of their coun- try and not him. Gov. Johnson had an uphill business in this campaign. He was a sensitive and not at all a combative man, and illy-suited for a struggle against such odds as he had to fight, and against the preju- dices of his own people. The papers rang with charges against his polit- ical integrity, and these and the personal discourtesy that flamed out in this hot canvass were something he was little fitted to meet.
The Democratic State Convention met on the 8th of August, 1860, and selected a Breckenridge and Lane electoral ticket. A hundred counties were represented by several hundred delegates, including the leading men of the State. Mr. Toombs was a delegate, as also the two brothers, Alfred H. Colquitt and Peyton H. Colquitt from different counties. W. J. Vason was made President. Mr. Toombs was chair- man of the business committee. The resolutions were short and to the point. The following bears unmistakable marks of Mr. Toombs' fiery spirit.
" 5th. Resolved, That we embrace with our whole hearts and trust with our whole counsels those noble patriots in the non-slaveholding States, who, neither disheartened by treachery nor overawed by majorities, maintain the truth and stand by the Consti- tution and the equality of the States, the only bond of everlasting Union."
The electoral ticket was:
Electors at large .- C. J. McDonald, H. R. Jackson.
Alternates .- A. H. Colquitt, Wm. H. Dabney.
District Electors .- 1st, Peter Cone; 2d, Wm. M. Slaughter; 3d, O. C. Gibson; 4th, H. Buchanan; 5th, Lewis Tumlin; 6th, H. Strickland; 7th, W. A. Lofton; Sth, Win. M. McIntosh.
The Douglas and Johnson State Democratic Convention met in Milledgeville on the 14th of August, 1860. A. J. Lawson of Burke, was made President. Sixty-three counties were represented by 190 delegates. The electoral ticket selected was:
Electors at large .- Alex. H. Stephens, Aug. R. Wright, of Floyd. Alternates .- T. P. Safold, Jas. Gardner.
District Electors .- 1st, James L. Seward; 2d, B. Y. Martin; 3d, Nathan Bass; 4th, H. Warner; 5th, J. W. Harris; 6th, J. P. Simmons; ith, J. S. Hook; Sth, J. Cumming.
The resolutions were a simple endorsement of Douglas and Johnson and the platform of the convention that nominated them. A resolution was also passed inviting Mr. Douglas to visit Georgia and deliver an address. Gov. Johnson was invited before the Convention and de- livered a powerful and eloquent speech.
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FRANCIS S. BARTOW.
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The convention of the Bell and Everett party put the following ticket in the field:
State Electors .- William Law, B. H. Hill.
District Electors .- 1st, S. B. Spencer; 2d, M. Douglass; 3d, L. T. Doyal; 4th, W. T. Wright; 5th, J. R. Parrott; 6th, H. P. Bell; 7th, J. E. Dupree; Sth, L. Lamar.
The issue was clearly made up with the three electoral tickets, all composed of the very best men in the State. There was. no personal consideration in the support given. The issue was decided on its merits. The canvass was very active. The state was covered with large gather- ings and swarmed with speakers. Many of the opposition party came over to Breckenridge and Lane, notably such men as Dr. H. V. M. Miller, and Francis S. Bartow. The canvass was aggressive on all sides. Mr. Bell was savagely assaulted for not having endorsed the Dred Scott decision. Mr. Douglas was charged with being ready to ally with the Black Republicans, and one of his strongest and most influential sup- porters, Hon. A. H. Chappell, left him on account of this accusation. The point was fiercely pushed upon Gov. Johnson as to what he would do if Abe Lincoln was elected, and whether he would submit. He thundered back that he would hold the Breckenridge and Lane party responsible. The whole tendency of the intensely heated canvass was to educate and drive the popular will to disunion if the Black Republi- cans succeeded. Said that most brilliant and impetuous spirit, Francis S. Bartow, in a burning`speech in Savannah, with a sad prophetic fore- caste of his heroic death at Manassas in the very beginning of the war:
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