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 9
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Among the leading papers in the state at this time were the Savannah News, W. T. Thompson, editor; Savannah Republican, J. R. Sneed; Macon Telegraph, J. Clisby; Augusta Chronicle and Sentinel, Wm. Smythe; Augusta Constitutionalist, James Gardner; Columbus Times und Sentinel, P. H. Colquitt and James W. Warren; Federal Union, S. M. Boughton; Southern Recorder, R. M. Orme; Atlanta Intelli- gencer, A. A. Gaulding; Griffin Empire State, J. II. Steele; Macon State Press; Calhoun Georgia Platform; Cartersville Express; Cass- ville Standard; Griffin Independent South; Wire Grass Reporter; Columbus Enquirer, John II. Martin; Savannah Georgian, A. R. Lamar; Athens Watchman; Newnan Banner and Sentind; Albany Patriot; Columbus Corner Stone, Gen. J. N. Bethune; Bainbridge Argus; Lagrange Reporter, C. H. C. Willingham: Madison Family Visitor; Bainbridge Southern Georgian; Dalton Tunes, T. R. Chris- tian; South- West Nors; Lumpkin Palladium, Dr. J. C. C. Blackburn; Temperance Crusader; Athens Banner; Sumter Republican, C. W. Hancock. Of the editors then ruling the Georgia press there are liv.
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THE GEORGIA PRESS IN 1858.
ing, W. T. Thompson, still in charge of the Savannah News; J. Clisby, yet at the head of the Macon Telegraph; James W. Warren is Sec- retary in the Executive Department and a most polished writer; J. H. Martin, A. R. Lamar and Gen. J. N. Bethune are out of journalism; Dr. J. C. C. Blackburn is editing the Madisonian at Madison; J. R. Sneed is in the city of Washington, filling the place of Assistant Post- master of the Senate. Col. Thompson won an enduring fame as a natural humorist by the publication of that inimitable book, "Major Jones' Courtship." But he had more than humorous power. A gen- tleman of strong convictions and decided views, he was an able polit- ical editor. Jos. Clisby of the Telegraph is one of the most versatile and graceful writers of the Georgia press. Some of his writings have been marked by a remarkable grace and a vein of delicate humor. A. R. Lamar was one of the purest writers of English that we have ever had on the Georgia papers. J. H. Martin has wielded a simple but vig- vorous style, and been noted for a judicial sort of conservatism in polit- ical commentary. Dr. Blackburn was a facile writer, and flourishes a ready sparkling pen to this day. C. W. Hancock is still publishing the Sumter Republican, one of the best papers in the state, and is a vigor- ous and versatile editor. Mr. C. H. C. Willingham is now editing the Cartersville Frce Press, and is to-day as he was twenty-five years ago one of the boldest and most graceful writers in our state journalism.
Of the deceased editors, Jas. Gardner, Wm. Smythe, S. M. Boughtou, R. M. Orme and J. H. Steele were all editors of state repute as experi- enced, aggressive and capable political controversialists,-men that bore themselves gallantly in the memorable campaigns of those days, giving hard blows and upholding their respective sides with bright capacity and rare vigor. The Milledgeville papers, though weeklies, were powers then, having large and general state circulation, and wielding great influence. Both Mr. Boughton of the Union and Mr. Orme of the Recorder were editors of unusual ability, and their bouts were marked by incisive force and a fine grasp of political argument.
The session of the General Assembly of 1858 has been touched upon in connection with the bank matter. Among the changes that had taken place in the body, Mr. Cumbie, the representative of Baker county, had been cut off in the formation of the new county of Mitchell, and. Alfred H. Colquitt, the present Executive of Georgia, was elected as the representative from Baker. In the middle of the session, Mr. John E. Ward, the senator from Chatham county, and the president of the senate was appointed the United States minister to China, and re-
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S1
RELIGION ON THE STATE ROAD.
signed his place. Mr. T. L. Guerry was elected president, and Mr. Wm. H. Stiles was returned from Chatham county, as its senator. The new counties of Banks, Brooks, Johnson, Echols and Quitman were created at this session, making thirteen new counties formed by this General Assembly. A bill was introduced and excitedly discussed to lease the state road. It is a curious coincidence that in his mes- sage, Gov. Brown, in discussing the state road, maintained its great value and remunerativeness, and avowed that as a private citizen, he would be ready to lease the road and bind himself to pay $25,000 a month to the state for a long term of years. This very arrangement he afterwards consummated and is now executing. In spite of Gov. Brown's successful management of the road, the opposition press fought him savagely upon it. He persisted in his policy, cutting down every ex- pense, keeping the road in good order, and paying monthly into the treasury large sums, until the opposition were silenced, and reluctant enmity was obliged to accord to him a great practical triumph of rail- road government.
Every species of detraction was employed against him. He had ap- pointed as solicitor general of the Cherokee Circuit, in the place of J. C. Longstreet, deceased, Col. J. A. R. Hanks, who belonged to the Bap- tists and sometimes preached. A howl was raised against Gov. Brown, on the ground that he was giving a monopoly of his official patronage to his Baptist brethren, and the charge was made that he had stocked the state road with this favored persuasion. Some statistical employés of the state road undertook to vindicate the Governor from this accusa- tion, and published a table showing the religious complexion of the road force. There were 7 Lutherans, 60 Missionary Baptists, 12 Primitive Baptists, 5 Campbellite Baptists, 31 Presbyterians, 57 Methodists, 8 Episcopalians, and 15 Catholics. This exploded the charge. There were many personal inducements for opposition to the Governor, in his administration of the road. He had made an entire change of manage- ment in the force from superintendent down, thus creating an intense enmity in the discharged employés. The public complaint because the road had paid so little money into the treasury, under previous admin- istrations had been so great, that the Governor deemed it best to estab- lish a new régime. Again, the leading politicians of the state had enjoyed the privilege of free passes upon the road, and Gov. Brown cut off this, to the great dissatisfaction of the favored gentlemen. In se- lecting officers to run the road, he appointed men solely on his knowledge of their qualifications, and without regard to application or 6
S2
SPEECH OF GEN. HENRY R. JACKSON.
endorsement, frequently tendering places to men who had not applied. The clamor of disappointed applicants thus added volume to the oppo- sition. But the Governor had resolved to make the road a paying in- stitution, and he pushed this purpose to completion, with his accustomed judgment and decision. The petty fuss against his reform, was soon lost in the great current of popular appreciation of his genuine public service. "Nothing succeeds like success " has a profound truth in it. A state income from the road of $200,000 the first year, and $300,000 the second, and $400,000 the third, was an argument well calculated to silence grumblers and please the people.
The Governor in every matter that came under his control had an eye to promoting the State's interest. There was a large amount of the state school fund lying idle in the treasury. He deposited it with the Bank of Savannah until the time came to pay it out under the law, under an arrangement that brought the nice little sum of $6,000 interest into the treasury. Under previous administrations, beginning with Gov. Geo. W. Crawford, a Whig executive, some twelve years before, who set the prec- edent, the practice was to publish executive proclamations in only one of the papers at the seat of government, selecting the organ of the party in power. Gov. Brown broke this custom, giving the proclama- tions to both papers.
It was during the year 1858 that a gentleman of very considerable repute, John A. Tucker, of Terrell county, committed suicide. He was a man of strong natural talent, without culture, of great local influence and state prominence. He took his own life in one of the moods of melancholy superinduced by occasional dissipation to which he was addicted. It was also during this year that a very general cattle dis- ease prevailed, a sort of sore tongue among cows, that seized every- thing, but was not very fatal.
This year saw a distinguished Georgian, Hon. John E. Ward, selected as the United States minister to China, while another equally distin- guished Georgian, Hon. Henry R. Jackson, had returned to his home in Savannah, after brilliant service as United States minister to Austria. Mr. Jackson was invited to address the Legislature on public matters, and did so on the evening of the 23d of November, 1858, in a speech of remarkable cloquence and power, on the theme of the " Extension of American Empire, and its Effect on Southern Institutions." It was a masterly vindication of the idea of territorial expansion, and abounded in passages of impassioned and beautiful rhetoric. The Federal Union in speaking of the address, said, "that golden thread of poesy, which
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83
SPEECH OF GEN. HENRY R. JACKSON.
in other days linked his soul to the beautiful and the good of earth, still shines through the inner, and sways the sweet influences of the outer man." The following passage will give an idea of the exquisite eloquence of this address :
"First and foremost among men, Washington, declining to place a crown upon his own brow, immaterialized the principle of government, taking it out of material forms and placing it in the abstract law. There it stands, cold yet pure, unsympathizing yet incorruptible, a crowned abstraction, holding the scepter of empire in its pulseless hand, the constitution of these United States. (Cheers.) Sublime reflection ! that the American citizen is the subject only of thought. Exalting prerogative! that wherever or whoever he may be, whether seated in the executive mansion, the nation's chief, or following his plow in the broad blaze of the noon-day sun in the solitude of the Western wilderness, he recognizes no material medium between himself and the soul of all thought, of all law, of all truth, and that when he kneels he kneels alone to his God ! (Cheers.)"
He thus concluded in a storm of applause :
"Not yours the yast commercial emporium with its countless temptations to corrup- tion and crime; not yours the ancient capitol, enriched by the accumulated hoards of lapsed ages of enervating time ; not yours the luxurious palace, adorned with the works of semi-sensual art ; but yours at last is THE STATE, in the simple words, but sublime thought of the poet :
' What constitutes a State ? Not high-raised battlement, nor labored mound,
Huge walls nor moated gate,
Nor cities proud with spire, and turret-crowned ;
Nor starred and spangled courts
Where low-born baseness wafts perfume to pride,
But men, strong minded men,
Men who their duties know, but know their rights, And knowing, dare maintain. These constitute a State !'"
CHAPTER XI. GOVERNOR BROWN'S SUPERB PUBLIC ENDORSEMENT AND RENOMINATION.
The Codification of Georgia Law .- Thomas R. R. Cobb .- The Universal Demand for Gov. Brown's Re-election .- The Unknown Gaddistowner, the Master of the State in Twelve Months .- The Unparalleled Torrent of Popular Praise .- Some of the Royal Voicings of Press and People .-- Wonderful and Unprecedented Tributes. -A Monotony of Encomium .- The Democratic Nominating Convention .- Its Personelle .- John B. Walker's Flashing Speech .- Formalities Dispensed with. -- Brown Renominated in a Unanimous Whirlwind .- The Exquisite Impromptu Speech of Henry R. Jackson .- A Gem of Eloquence .- Brown Brought In-A Re- markable Acceptance .- Resolves to make no Canvass.
IT was at this time that the important work of the codification of our laws began. The General Assembly elected as Codifiers, ex-Gov. Herschell V. Johnson, ex-Judge David Irwin, and Judge Iverson L. Harris, at that time presiding over the Ocmulgee Circuit. Judge Har- ris was a citizen of Milledgeville, a lawyer of great ability and high character, who was afterwards elevated to the Supreme Bench. He was a gentleman of purity of nature and very positive and conscientious. He and ex-Gov. Johnson declined the duty, and Gov. Brown with ad- mirable judgment appointed Judge Richard H. Clark and Thomas R. R. Cobb in their places. Mr. Cobb was the brother of Hon. Howell Cobb and one of the leading lawyers of the state. He possessed both high order of intellect and an elegant culture. He was also a man of herculean capacity for work. His industry was tireless. He had been for years reporter of the Supreme Court, was author of a Digest of Georgia law, and an erudite work on the Law of Slavery. He was a man of deep religious feeling and an elder in the Presbyterian church. He was also a professor in the Lumpkin law school at Athens. The Code was finished and adopted in 1860, to go into effect on the 1st day of January, 1862. A legislative committee consisting of Hines Holt, Dan'l S. Printup and W. W. Paine of the Senate, and Geo. N. Lester, Isham S. Fannin, W. G. Delony, M. W. Lewis, C. N. Broyles and C. J. Williams of the House examined and reported in favor of the code. The work was an extensive, original and unprecedented accomplish- ment, embodying in concise and symmetrical form the vast body of
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THE GUBERNATORIAL SUCCESSION.
common and statutory law in force in the state with the judicial expo- ition of the same. In 1863 the Code was remodeled to conform to the Confederate Constitution. In 1867 a revision of the Code was made by David Irwin, covering the changes made since the surrender, including the Constitution of 1865, and this revised Code was examined and re- ported upon by a committee of citizens, appointed by Gov. Jenkins un- der a resolution of the General Assembly, composed of Gen. Andrew J. Hansell, Col. Logan E. Bleckley and Col. Nathaniel J. Hammond. This has been known as the Code of 1868. The last revision of the Code was in 1873, by David Irwin, Geo. N. Lester and Walter B. Hill, and the examination of it was done by the Attorney General of the state, Hon. N. J. Hammond, under direction of a resolution of the Gen- eral Assembly of 1872. This revision contained the Constitution of 1868, and the supreme court decisions and the statute laws up to 1873.
In the beginning of the year 1850 the agitation of the gubernatorial succession commenced. The convention was called for June. The whole drift of democratic preference was for Governor Brown. No Executive in the history of the state has ever made such an impression upon the people. His establishment and maintenance of leadership was something phenomenal. His clutch of the popular heart was a miracle of personal achievement. His fierce strifes of public policy and sturdy championship of the public interest had rooted him deep and fixed in the affections and admiration of the masses. His popu- larity was so pronounced that no democrat allowed his name to be canvassed in opposition to the people's manifest desire for Brown. It must be considered that at this time it was but a little more than a year since he had been sprung, an unknown man, upon the people of the whole state. Yet in this brief time, in spite of inexperience and the drawbacks of his obscurity, he had by his iron force of character, magnificent genius of common-sense, and inborn statesmanship, im- pressed himself upon the commonwealth as a vital, foremost, irresistible public leader, the uncontested and dominant master of the state. It was a proud work.
The spontaneous utterances of the press, and the unprompted resolu- tions of county meetings in all parts of the state testify strikingly to the public estimate placed upon Governor Brown after this one short year of public service as chief magistrate. It was a realization of the ancient fable of the consummate Minerva springing full armed and matured at birth from the brain of Jove. Without the usual appren- ticeship in public life, he had shown himself a full-grown statesman,
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86
PRESS ENDORSEMENTS OF GOV. BROWN. .
handling the great and complicated affairs of state government with unsurpassable ability. Some of the endorsements of him are remark- able. Col. W. A. Lewis of Forsyth Co., who had opposed Brown. wrote to the Lawrenceville News that " he cordially endorsed Gov. Brown's administration of the affairs of the state." Hon. Wm. H. Stiles, who was before the last convention, saw his name mentioned in the "Southern Confederacy," at Atlanta, as a probable candidate for Governor. He published a brief letter, saying, "I have no desire to disturb an administration which, so far at least as the public prints indicate, seems to afford such general satisfaction." In a very strong editorial Dr. Blackburn of the Lumpkin Palladium used these incisive sentences:
" His Excellency, Governor Brown, has, as we predicted in an editorial of May last, when the bank organs of the state were hunting him down with blood-hound ferocity, proven himself fully competent to discharge the duties of Governor of a great and growing commonwealth, and now is entitled to the proud epithet of being the model Governor of this Union. He is a safe custodian of the people's honor, a fearless exponent of correct principles, and a safe keeper of the mighty resources of the Empire state. He has by his fearless course forced his tradueers to acknowledge his adminis- trative capability. He is our only choice for Governor for the next term, and we believe that we but reflect the honest sentiments of four-fifths of the Democracy of South- western Georgia."
The Columbus Times used this forcible language:
" The administration of Joseph E. Brown has been from the period of his inauguration to the present moment, successful and satisfactory to the people. We need not refer to the acts of his administration in proof of what we say-we need not allude to his bold, independent course in displacing officers-adhering to true and correct principles, and his successful management of the state affairs, to vindicate us in awarding to him what justice demands. We mean simply to echo the sentiments of the people in wishing the shafts of malice thrown at him to be broken, and that he will remain another term in the office which he now fills with so much credit to his party and honor to his state."
The Milledgeville Recorder, the uncompromising organ of the oppo- sition, in the following paragraph of bitter sarcasm bore unconscious testimony to the Governor's influence:
"It is known that Gov. Brown has won an enviable reputation as an honest man, especially in a financial point of view, and the knowledge and belief of it was quite visible upon the legislature. For it was a noticeable fact, that whenever a bill or resolu- tion that had for its intention the appropriation or paying out of money, it was immediately suggested that it be referred to the Governor to do as he thought best. In other words, the legislature seemed willing to shift all responsibility, and dodge behind the accredited honesty of the Governor."
The Macon Telegraph stated emphatically:
87
MILLEDGEVILLE'S REMARKABLE TRIBUTE.
" It is universally conceded that the people, or ninety-nine in one hundred, at least, of the democracy are favorable to the re-nomination of Gov. Brown."
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These are specimens of the complimentary endorsement that the party press of that day gave Gov. Brown. It was, however, in the resolutions of the county meetings that popular approval seems to have uttered its most ardent expressions. At a democratic meeting held in Milledgeville in March, presided over by Col. D. C. Campbell, a committee composed of Judge I. L. Harris, M. D. McComb, F. G. Grieve, Dr. W. A. Jarratt and D. P. Brown, reported the following extraordinary resolutions, which were unanimously adopted, and constitute as powerful a public tribute as any public man ever received:
" The year 1859 is destined, politically, in Georgia in some respects from appearances to be remarkable. Within the memory of the eldest among us, the high honor of being the Governor of the state has never been won and worn without a severe, and most usually, a bitter party contest. It has not unfrequently, also, been a matter of difficulty to ascertain the choice of the people, and hence the necessity which has hitherto existed for conventions to collect, concentrate and reflect their will.
" In the ranks of the democratic party there is no contest for this high office; if there have been any aspirations for it, they have been hushed in the general voice of the people of Georgia. One name-one person only is thought of-talked of for Governor. It is folly,-it is worse,-it would be madness, to attempt to frustrate that will that makes itself so unmistakably and audibly heard. Of the people-he is emphatically at this time the favorite of the people.
" It will be, we think, the peculiar good fortune of Gov. Brown, though he should again be presented by the democratic party for re-election-to meet with an acceptance from the state at large, which it never was the lot of any of his many distinguished prede- cessors to secure. Such an event-a probability most likely to occur-is strikingly suggestive. Can it be otherwise than that his administration of the executive depart- ment has been singularly wise, prudent, just, vigilant, firm and energetic, and in accordance with the pulsations of the popular heart, to have commanded, as it has done, such an unwonted popular approval.
"Compelled by official duty to reside within our limits, the citizens of Baldwin county cheerfully bear testimony to the modest, affable and unpretending deportinent, and to the plain, simple, republican habits of this distinguished citizen of the Cherokee section of Georgia, by which he has secured our affections and esteem."
This magnificent and spontaneous encomium, unlike the hackneyed formalism of such occasions, coming from the source that it did, extorted as it was by sheer merit and the luster of unembellished deed, giving exalted precedence to the simple man of the people above a long line of aristocratic and brilliant predecessors, was indeed such a grand public recognition as few men deserve and fewer obtain. The Democ- racy of Talbot county resolved, "That the wisdom and unwavering firmness of his excellency Gov. Brown, his upright and judicious admin-
SS
COUNTY ENDORSEMENTS OF GOV. BROWN.
istration of state government, his practical and praiseworthy manage- ment of public property, his guardian protection of the people's every interest in his hands, not only warrant his continuance in office, but command the respect and admiration of every true Georgian." The democrats of the plucky county of Campbell instructed their delegates "To go for Brown first, Brown last, and Brown all the time, and never to surrender ' our choice ' to the factious opposition of a minority having personal injuries to redress and avenge." L. B. Watts was chairman of the meeting, and Dr. T. C. Glover chairman of the committee that reported these pointed words, Butts county declared that "the admin- istration of Gov. Brown meets with unanimous approval." B. F. Ward was chairman, and the committee, A. Taliaferro, C. S. Foster, E. Var- ner, Thomas Mckibben and J. Carmichael. The Wilkinson county democracy said that Gov. Brown's administration had "met with the cor- dial approbation of almost all parties throughout the state." In a Cobb county meeting presided over by Judge Rice, T. H. Moore, chairman of committee, reported resolutions declaring " that Joseph E. Brown is the people's choice, and they will be content with no other," and that a convention was .unnecessary. Cherokee and Stewart counties had rousing meetings. In the Stewart gathering, Judge James Clarke speaking used this slashing language: "Joseph E. Brown at the com- mencement of the last political campaign was called in derision ' the Cherokee cow driver;' he has proved himself the driver out of the plunderers of your country; the driver out of dishonesty in high places; the driver out by his intrepid vetoes of vicious and corrupt legislation; and the driver out of those exclusive privileges by which one set of men are enabled to enslave another." And he added this applauded compli- ment : " Brown has proved himself as thoroughly made of hickory as Old Hickory himself." The Pulaski county democracy resolved to sup- port "Honest Joe Brown." In Washington county a meeting presided over by Gen. T. J. Warthen, with J. N. Gilmore and Evan P. Howell as secretaries, adopted unanimously a graceful and vigorous set of resolu- tions reported by a committee composed of Col. James S. Hook, Thomas O. Wieker, Beverly D. Evans, Jno. Kittrell and W. G. Robson. The resolutions bear the mark of having been written by that writer and speaker of unusual power, Colonel, afterwards Judge Jas. S. Hook, one of the ablest lawyers and purest citizens of the state. The follow- ing resolution is a glowing encomium upon Gov. Brown.
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