Representatives from Georgia had been admitted to seats in Congress in July, 1868, under the Act of June 25th of that year; but the subsequent action of her Legislature in expelling its colored members and filling their places with whites, and the continued outrages upon loyalists, had the effect of preventing the admission of her Senators, and in the next Congress of excluding her from representation altogether,--involving the necessity of measures for her reconstruction and admission anew. The first of these was the Act of December 22, 1869, providing, among other things, for the reorganization of the State Legislature, by reinstating its colored members in their seats and purging it of its disloyal elements. To this succeeded a bill in the same terms with the Acts for the admission of Virginia and Mississippi, which was passed in the House with the following amendment, moved by Mr. Bingham, of Ohio:-- “_Provided_, That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to vacate any of the offices now filled in the State of Georgia, either by the election of the people or by the appointment of the Governor thereof by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of said State; neither shall this Act be construed to extend the official term of any officer of said State beyond the term limited by the Constitution thereof, dating from the election or appointment of such officer, nor to deprive the people of Georgia of the right under their Constitution to elect Senators and Representatives of the State of Georgia in the year 1870; but said election shall be held in the year 1870, either on the day named in the Constitution of said State or such other day as the present Legislature may designate by law.” In the Senate, after several days’ discussion of this proviso, as in Committee of the Whole, Mr. Wilson, of Massachusetts, moved a substitute of opposite character, as follows:--