issued or ready for sale under the contract with the Comptroller of the State," etc.

Its

Both of these assertions I deny most positively. The third paragraph of the agreement made by your Excellency and my. self with Bayne & Co. gives them no control of the bonds. only force is a moral obligation resting on Bayne & Co. to aid and assist us in selling the State bonds, and by reference to Mr. Bayne's letter to me of October 27, it will be seen that there is no claim on his part that he was acting for the State; on the contrary, he asserts that secrecy was an essential part of the agreement between General Varnum and their firm, that the transaction was not to be made known to me, and of course not to the State. Who ever before heard of any one purchasing from an agent and making it a condition of the sale that the agent should not inform his principal of what had been done?

Again, Mr. Bayne did not have in his possession all the bonds that were for sale. He had only the "bonds" sold to him. If General Varnum had read article 3 of the agreement referred to, before he purchased the bonds, he would have seen that if Bayne & Co. sold any bonds for the State they must be paid for in Tallahassee before delivery, and a glance at the numbers of the bonds delivered to him in June by Bayne & Co., being 1 to 5 and 126 to 170, must have shown that they were part of the two hundred and fifty bonds sold to Bayne & Co.

A circular is presented by General Varnum as part of his report and called by him "the circular of Bayne & Co. as State Agents for sale of bonds."

This circular is not dated (perhaps purposely), and contains no assertion that it was issued by Bayne & Co. as State Agents. I knew nothing of it until a copy was sent to me in August or September, two or three months after the purchase of Bayne & Co.'s own bonds by the Trustees.

Mr. Bloxham says in his report to the Trustees detailing the sale of the Land Scrip, "one-half of the money, the first payment, amounting to 40, 500, was paid down and deposited to the order of the Trustees." This being the case, the reason of the difficulty in collecting this money in June spoken of by General Varnum is not apparent, and it appears strange that General Varnum did not collect it himself when in Cleveland for that purpose.

Mr. Bloxham has told me there was no necessity that General Varnum should have gone to New York to collect it, as his check sent through our bankers in Tallahassee would have brought the money here, where the bonds of 1873, belonging to the State, could have been obtained.

Even in October, the last instalment of $40,000 might have

been given to the State, for there was not the slightest necessity to give Bayne & Co. the money and a large bonus in addition in order to save it, as the financial panic could not affect the land scrip belonging to the College, which had not passed out of the control of the Trustees, for Mr. Bloxham says in his report that the "scrip unpaid for is deposited in the name of the Trustees in the Merchants National Bank of Cleveland, a government depository, and to be delivered to Mr. Lewis only upon his paying the purchase money for the same. In other words, we hold possession of the property, the very best security."

The facts thus stated force me to the conclusion that the agent of the Trustees never intended to purchase the bonds from the State, and if the Trustees desired to do so, it is difficult to understand why they passed a vote of thanks for the faithful and efficient manner in which he had carried out the instructions of the Board."

66

"I do not consider that the report of the Trustees of the Agricultural College to the Governor contains full and satisfactory answers to my communications."

CHAPTER XVI.

The Meeting of the Legislature of 1873. An Extract from Gov. Hart's Message. His Cabinet. The Election of United States Senator, and Acts of Bribery. The Exposure of the Littlefield Fraud by Attorney-General Cocke. The State's Ungrate

Both branches of the Legislature met Tuesday, January 7, 1873. In the Senate there were twenty-three of the twenty-four members present-ten Democrats and thirteen Republicans, one Republican coming in next day, which made the Senate ten Democrats and fourteen Republicans. The Senate, after swearing in the newly elected Senators, adjourned until the next day. The next morning the Senate elected its officers, who were all Republicans, and notified the House of its organization. The great struggle for the supremacy of the ring was made in the House, where they resorted to every artifice imaginable to secure the Speakership. Colored men were brought from counties where the ring had great influence, for the purpose of exciting the masses of the freedmen around Tallahassee, and they were actually advised to commit violence on any member of the Legislature who would not abide by the caucus nominee. Notwithstanding the threatened violence, five Republican members refused to attend the caucus. These members were Bush, of Columbia, white; Lee, of Sumter, white; both Southern Republicans; Wallace and Proctor, of Leon, colored, and Thompson, of Columbia, colored. The ring men began to see danger ahead, and word was sent to the freedmen in the surrounding country that the Leon county delegation had sold out to the Democrats. The freedmen were at the State-house next morning in large numbers denouncing the delegation if they should dare vote against a colored man for Speaker, and caused one of the members of the delegation, Mr. W. G. Stewart, colored, to hesitate and vote for John R. Scott. The House was called to order by W. H. Gleason, ex-Lieutenant-Governor, and now a member from Dade. The Assembly consisted of

twenty-eight Republicans and twenty-five Democrats, with two Democrats and one Republican absent. The ring members, now reeling and tottering for fear, nominated John R. Scott, of Duval, colored, for the Speakership. The author of this work, amid hisses and threats of violence, nominated S. B. Conover as against Scott. Conover received twenty-eight votes-the solid Democratic vote being cast for him and the five Republican votes who refused to attend the caucus. Scott received twenty votes, and Conover was therefore declared elected. The scene in the House, among the members of the ring, and anti-ring members, was almost indescribable. The members of the ring were swearing and denouncing the Leon delegation while with bowed heads they carried the news of the disaster to their chief. The anti-ring members and the Democrats, both in and outside the Legislature, were jubilant, and stood around in little knots defying the misguided freedmen, who wanted nothing but the blood of the Leon county delegation. In fact, the author of this work was menaced by a mob of the freedmen, who had been taught that they had been sold out by him, and but for his having been armed and ready for this, his life would have been taken. The Assembly adjourned until next day, and then perfected its organization by electing a full Republican set of officers. The ring being satisfied that the election of Conover Speaker meant to turn no member out of the Legislature who had been legally elected, held a consultation to have the Committee on Privileges and Elections elected by the Assembly in place of by appointment of the Speaker, but the expediency of this proposition was doubted by Osborn, as it would only exasperate the anti-ring element and probably cause them to vote for a Democrat for the Senate rather than for him. So this proposition was abandoned, and Osborn proposed to await the appointment of the Committee on Privileges and Elections, and then capture it by money. Before the committee was appointed several petitions giving notice of contests were presented in favor of Republicans, looking to unseat Democratic members. Conover, who, knowing that great pressure would be brought to bear on the Republican members of the committee to unseat Democrats, and that the unseating of Democratic members

would defeat himself for the Senate, and elect Osborn, was much perplexed as to whom to rely upon among the Republicans who would withstand Osborn's money and vote with the Democratic minority of the committee. He finally approached the author of this work, and said to him that he had made up his mind to appoint him chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections, and that he hoped he would not vote to unseat any member of the Legislature who had been honestly elected. The author gave him to understand that neither money nor promises would cause him to swerve from the path of duty. Poor Conover gave a long sigh and departed On the 10th of January the Assembly met at its usual hour, and the standing committees were announced by the speaker. The Committee on Privileges and Elections was Wallace, of Leon, chairman; Montgomery, of Madison; McKinnon, of Washington; Hannah and Elijah-three Republicans and two Democrats. The Democrats were well pleased with the appointment of the committees, they having the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee-H. L. Mitchell, of Hillsborough. The ring now saw that there was work ahead to be done, and they went about it with a will. Nothing of interest was done for several days, the Legislature awaiting the message from the Governor.

The message of Governor Hart was received eight days after the meeting of the Legislature, and every one looked for a very able paper, more especially on account of such delay. The message, when received, to the utter astonishment of those who believed Hart to be an able man, was the poorest and most sickly State paper that had ever been delivered to the Legislature by any Governor of Florida. The most important subject in the message was his reference to the scrip that a former Legislature had ordered to be destroyed, some of which found its way back into the State treasury and was again paid. said: "I am informed that there is an uncertain amount of old State scrip out that has been paid, but is being brought in and paid again. Why it was not cancelled, when paid, how it got out of the treasury again, and how much there is of it out— whether $10,000, or $300,000, or $400,000-is uncertain. It is known that some old scrip that was in the office has been

He