Reed, till adjourned by the limitations of the State Constitution, to-wit: Till the end of 60 days. Mr. Purman offered the following order: Ordered, That the Senate sitting in High Court of Impeachment do now adjourn. The yeas and nays were called for with the following result: Messrs. Adams, Dennis, Ginn, Hill, Jenkins, Kendrick, Locke, Meacham, Purman and Wentworth-10. Those voting in the negative were: Messrs. Atkins, Crawford, Eagan, McKinnon, McCaskill and Pearce--6. So the order was adopted. The Chief Justice then declared the court adjourned in pursuance of the order of the Senate, and ordered the Sergeant-atArms to make the following proclamation : Hear ye! Hear ye! Hear ye! The Senate of the State of Florida, sitting as a high Court of Impeachment, now stands adjourned. God save the State of Florida and this honorable court. The Osborn conspirators made no hesitation in openly declaring, after the Governor had been impeached, that they did not intend to give him a trial. They only desired to get him suspended so that there would be no hindrance to the commission of fraud at the ensuing election, and the nomination and counting in of M. L. Stearns for Governor, while Day, the acting Governor, was to be nominated and counted in for Congress. Our next chapter will show how Governor Reed broke this slate and conspiracy. ture. CHAPTER XIII. The Banquet of the Conspirators and the Handwriting on the Wall. Day's Proclamation and the Meeting of the LegislaExtracts from Day's Proclamation. The Decision of the Supreme Court. The Conspirators Again Jubilant. The Conspirators Driven Into Court. Governor Reed Before The High Court of Impeachment. The Famous Argument of Judge Emmons. The Reply of the Managers. The Conspir ators See Danger Ahead, and are Wrathy With Day. Honest Cessna Exposed. The Triumph of Governor Reed. Scenes Around the State House when Governor Reed was Discharged. The Osborn conspirators having now deposed Governor Reed and, as they thought, buried him with his face downward, were jubilant and defiant. The strongest friends of the Governor grew weak, while the doubtful and faint-hearted of the conspirators grew strong. No one in the Republican party dared to utter a word in defense of Harrison Reed, under penalty of being read out of the party as a traitor. James W. Johnson, white carpet-bagger, one of the leading conspirators and a member of the board of managers of impeachment, was made private secretary of Governor Day, at a salary of $750 per annum. Not a speck of cloud could be seen by them in the political horizon to disturb their peaceful ten month's sail in the great ship of state to the verdant fields of plunder, which they so eagerly anticipated would be fully ripe and ready for wholesale harvest in the nomination, counting in and inauguration of M. L. Stearns, the Bureau agent, as Governor. Governor Reed, in the meantime, unassumingly contended that the adjournment of the court after issue had been joined and the Senators sworn to try the Articles of Impeachment, and the adjournment, after his arraignment without his consent and against his protest, operated as an acquittal. The Governor, in order to have the matter amicably settled as to who was the legal Governor, proceeded to the executive office and had an interview with Governor Day, and requested him to join with him, Reed, and ask the opinion of the Supreme Court as to the legal effect of the adjournment of the Senate without giving him a trial. Day, fearing that the court might decide that Reed was Governor, stubbornly refused to even countenance Reed's request, and laughed him to scorn. Judge Emmous, Reed's counsel, thought that he could get the matter before the court by a motion; but in this proposition Governor Reed showed himself to be a better lawyer than his counsel, for Reed contended that this could not be done without notice, if at all, which Emmons finally acknowledged was true. The conspirators had called a State convention to assemble in the city of Jacksonville, which met shortly after the adjournment of the Legislature. The convention being in session and Reed out of the way, no one dared to mar the occasion by opposing anything the conspirators attempted to put through. They elected a State Central Committee, which was in full accord with the conspirators. The convention was considered as a grand banquet given by them in honor of the overthrow of Governor Reed, and Cessna and Johnson figured as the great heroes. Day had left the seat of government at Tallahassee and was now in attendance at the banquet, partarking of its sweet felicities, and mirth and thanksgiving filled the hall. As C. H. Pearce, the great leader of the freedmen of the State, and more especially of Leon County, had fallen a victim to the persecutions of the conspirators because he had stood by the administration of Governor Reed, was losing his grip upon the freedmen by reason of such persecution; and the conspirators desiring a colored leader who could bring the freedmen to their support, the author of this work, who had heretofore been Pearce's leading lieutenant, was counseled by Day to take his place. As Governor Reed was supposed to be dead and buried, this proposition was gladly accepted, and he was mustered in at the banquet with all the honors of one who had been brought up under this great leader and knew how to capture his most formidable political fortifications without injury to the conspirators, and was at once endorsed by the banquet as the next Republican candidate for Congress. This endorsement was never intended by the conspirators to be carried out in good faith, of which the author was well aware at the time, but only to hoodwink him and make him more zealous in bringing the freedmen to their support. Governor Reed, taking advantage of the absence of Day from the seat of government, as well as the gathering of nearly all of the conspirators at the banquet, quietly proceeded from Jacksonville to Tallahassee, held a consultation with his true and tried secretary, Jonathan C. Gibbs, who stood as a wall of fire against the assaults made by the conspirators on the Governor, which consultation resulted in the Governor issuing a proclamation from the executive office declaring himself Chief Executive of the State, and commanding the people to give obedience thereto. The Governor also made several important appointments, among which were General William Birney to be Attorney-General, and F. I. Wheaton to be Judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit. Secretary Gibbs recognized Reed as the legal Governor of Florida, and affixed the great seal of the State to this proclamation, and to the appointments. Reed also addressed a letter to the Judges of the Supreme Court of the State requesting their opinion as to the legal effect of the adjournment of the Senate without giving him a trial, and then returned to Jacksonville without the knowledge of the conspirators. The banquet was in the height of its glory when the handwriting on the wall was discovered by Day in the shape of Reed's proclamation that he had risen from the dead, and was still Governor of Florida. Day, with tremors which he attempted to conceal, cried: "Treason," while he summoned Johnson, his private secretary, to his side, apparently to give him comfort. Johnson obeyed the summons, and although haggard when he appeared, swore that he would go to Tallahassee and hang Governor Reed as high as Haman. Cessna mustered up a smile, which was barren of its usual fervor, and contended that the people would pay no attention to Reed's proclamation. Others suggested the calling of an extra session of the Legislature to impeach Secretary Gibbs for affixing the great seal of the State to Governor Reed's act, while all agreed that Day should call upon the General Government for troops if Reed could not be got rid of otherwise. The leading conspirators now proceeded to Tallahassee to assist Johnson in decapitating Governor Reed, who, having carried his point, had quietly returned to his home at Jacksonville. When the conspirators reached Tallahassee they found nothing to prevent their taking peaceable possession of the citadel; but the question as to who was the legal Governor was squarely placed before the Supreme Court. The intention of Governor Reed was not to take forcible possession of the government, as the conspirators were in hopes he had done, so that they might invoke the aid of the General Government in their behalf, but to get possession by process of law. The appointment of Birney and Wheaton was intended to make a contest as to who was Governor. Day had appointed Judge Gillis of the same circuit as judge, and Reed thought Gillis would resort to the courts to establish his authority, thus involving the question as to the legality of Wheaton's appointment; but the Governor missed his aim in this, as Gillis made no resistance, and Wheaton had no trouble in exercising the duties of his office. The plan of issuing this proclamation and making these appointments, many thought was the work of Judge Emmons, but the judge, as well as Secretary Gibbs, often declared to the author afterwards that it was Reed's own invention. Reed's case now pending before the Supreme Court, the conspirators, like the builders of the tower of Babel, were confused, and no two of them could agree as to the best course to be pursued to prevent him from recapturing the citadel. They seemed to know beforehand what the opinion of Associate Justice Hart would be, but expressed themselves as being afraid of Chief Justice Randall and Associate Justice Westcott. Day insisted on calling a session of the Legislature for the double purpose of getting rid of Gibbs and of re-impeaching Reed if the court should discharge him. Day's proposition eventually prevailed, and the following proclamation was accordingly issued. WHEREAS, The interests of the people of this State require the immediate assembling of the Legislature: NOW, THEREFORE, I, SAMUEL T. DAY, Lieutenant-Governor, and, by virtue of said office, Acting Governor of the State of Florida, do hereby issue this my proclamation, convening the Legislature in Extraordinary Session at Tallahassee, the Capital, on Monday, the 22d day of April, A. D., 1872, at twelve meridian, at which time, in pursuance of the requirements of the Constitution, I will communicate to both branches of the Legislature the purpose for which they have been convened. |