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January 31, 1870.

To the Senate of the United States:

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of a copy of the Resolution of the Senate, of the 31st of January, 1870, in the words:

"Resolved, That the Attorney General be, and he is hereby, requested to communicate to the Senate copies of any communication sent by him to any of the United States military authorities, since the passage of the last act relative to the re-admission of Georgia to representation in Congress, and particularly any opinion given by him touching the eligibility of members of the Legislature of Georgia."

I have given no official opinion in writing relating to the affairs of Georgia, and have not in my possession a copy of any communication such as is referred to by the Resolution. The questions arising in relation to the reconstruction of Georgia have sometimes been a subject of conversation between the President, the Secretary of War, the General of the Army, and myself, and I have expressed opinions upon some of the questions—but not in such a formal and official manner that I understood they were to be the subject of action. On one occasion, in conversation with the President, the General of the Army was present, and I intimated to him the views I took upon one or two questions, and at his request made a short memorandum of them in writing, which he took, of which I retained no copy, and am therefore unable to furnish one. I am not aware of any other fact material to the request contained in the resolution of your Honorable Body, and have only mentioned the foregoing from an uncertainty whether the President and the Secretary of War were considered as "military authorities" within its meaning.

Very respectfully,

E. R. Hoar,

Attorney General.