ons to be proposed,
for the registrars. Their effect in substance was to disqualify all
persons who, having acted, prior to January 26, 1861, as _United-States
senators and representatives, electors, officers of the Army and Navy,
civil officers of the United States_, and State officers provided for
by the Constitution of the State, had afterwards engaged in the
Rebellion; and also all those who in 1862 and 1864 claimed the
protection of foreign powers. General Hancock set aside this action,
declaring that he dissented from the construction given to the
Reconstruction laws therein, and ordered the registrars to be guided
by their own interpretation of the laws and of the Fourteenth
Amendment. It was the popular understanding that General Hancock, in
these successive steps, was acting in full sympathy with the wishes
and designs of the Administration, in all of which he readily concurred
as a Democrat.

The appointment of General Pope for the District of Georgia, Alabama,
and Florida, had not been agreeable to the President. General Pope's
political convictions were of a very positive character, and they were
not at all in sympathy with the National Administration. He
administered the Reconstruction laws, therefore, in their full spirit
and with an entire belief in their justice and equity. He insisted on
fair dealing, and suppressed all interference with voters by violence
or threats of violence on the part of the late rebels. He would not
permit the menace of military organizations, and expressly refused to
allow any parading of armed men, except of United-States troops. It
was General Pope's opinion that the South had seen quite enough of
men in arms within the past four years, and he believed that safety
and order would be best maintained by having no uniform worn except
that of the Army of the United States, and no other flag shown than
the flag of the Union. Holding these pronounced views, aggressively
loyal in every thought and action, General Pope was naturally in
antagonism with the policy of the President. Towards the close of the
year he was relieved of his command and General Meade ordered to take
his place.

General Sickles, of the District of North Carolina and South Carolina,
was relieved of his command early in September (1867), and General
E. R. S. Canby appointed as his successor. General Sickles had been
very energetic in the administration of affairs in his department, and
had shown rema