Yale University Library

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YALE UNIVERSrrY
LIBRARY

ORIGI.N' OF THE OUIRIGES AT YICKSBUUrx.

SPBECH

OF

HON CHAS. E. FURLONG

SEX.VTOR PROM WARREN COUNTY,

SENATE OF MISSISSIPPI,

DECEMBER, IS, 1S7-.1-.

VICKSBITRG:
vr(;KsptTi;o iiKR.vLn ruixr
1874.

SPEElCH

OF

HON. CHAS. E. FURLONG,
SENATOE FROM WARREN COUNTY,
DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF MISSISSIPPI, AT THE
CALLED SESSION OF THE LEGISLATURE, ON
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1874.

The Senate having under consideration the majority and minority Re
ports of the Joint Committee of both Houses, to ¦which had been referred
the subject of the Governor's Message in regard to Warren county aflfairs,
Senator FURLONG arose in his place to address the Senate, when he ¦was
interrupted by a Senator, ¦who said : Now we shall have some poetry.
Senator FURLONG : Yes Sir. But a great deal more of truth.
Senator FURLONG proceeded :
Mr. President : I propose to respon-J to so much of his Excellency's
official communication to the Legislature as asks
"WHAT IS THE RRAL OR PRETENDED CAUSE FOE THE RBCENT DIKli'ICULTIES IK
WARREN COUNTY ?
And in doing so, shall perhaps make occasional and incidental reference to
such other topics as shall be necessary to a correct understanding of recent,
existing, and prospective disorders and dangers, not merely in the District
which 1 have the honor to represent, but also elsewhere and in many places,
throughout the ¦whole State.
Sir, the official incompetency, corruption,, fraud, and outrages that have
undoubtedly been practised, exhibited and proved in that county, and which
from their lon^continuance, their frequency, and their unparalled perfidy
and atrocity, have become ¦widely known, notorious, and confessed, were
only the instances that immediately preceded and precipitated the unhappy
troubles that have occurred there. But the first great cause of all our diffi
culties exists here, at
THE YERY DOOR OF THIS ADMINISTRATION, )
and are to be found in the crimes and treasons, illegal, or corruptly legal-
ized,, which have been for the past twelve months systematically perpetra
ted or attempted, and are now being perpetrated or attempted by Governor
Ames and his immediate political household.
Let us, then, in the flrst instance, look at a few of the numerous exam
ples of both ' ILLEGAL AND LEGALIZED EXTRAVAGANCE
which this State Government is indulging and practicing, as a part of its
ordinary system of operations. Some ot these, it istrue, grew out of the
inexperience and want of care which was manifested by the framers of the
Oonstltution itself; blit thev -im not on that acoount any the Jess oppresstvo

to the people at home, who bear all the burdens, and receive none of the
honors of the Government, and I submit that it was in the power, and was
the duty of every Legislature that has assembled, and is in the power, and
is the duty of this Legislature to pave the way and provide the opportunity
to amend even that instrument, remove all temptation to profligacy, and
lay the foundations of the State deep and strong upon a basis of strict and
honest economy. The Constitutional difficulties to which I refer now, and
there are many others, are in the first place, the system of Re^sti'ation
which was copied from the reconstruction acts of Congress, and is not only a
failure in its intention to exclude illegal and fraudulent votes, but is an ex
pensive and useless encumbrance upon the sacred privilege of the citizen to
exercise the elective franchise. EVERY GENERAL ELECTION
in the State costs the people at the very lowest estimate, $100,000, to say
nothing of the loss of time by all the voters ; and at least one-half of this
sum is to pay for the idle and ridiculous ceremony of allowing worthless
local politicians and, in many instances, some lazy and worthless vaga
bond and ballot-box«stuflFer, to administer to every voter an unheeded"
and unnecessary oiith, and then write the amazed and bewil
dered voter's name — for not one-half of them can write — on a list
kept for that purpose. The names of thousands of persons, who are
not entitled to vote get upon this list, and thousands of others who
are entitled to vote are omitted at every election. In this manner,
thousands of nameless frauds are successfuUy practiced by one party or
the other in the preparation of these lists. It afibrds no practical protec
tion to the purity of elections ; but on the contrary, is itself an instrument
of fraud, corruption and oppression. And yet, its preparation and enforce
ment costs at every election vastly more than the election itself. Still
we are always informed that nobody can go behind the registra
tion books. All who are registered can vote whether entitled to do
so or not; and none who are not registered shall vote, no matter
how just and righteous their claims may be. Let this be changed,
sir! and let all the bona fide inhabitants ofthe State who are oth
erwise entitled to vote, stay at home if they choose to do so, till the election
itself begins, and then let them go at once to the polls, unsworn and vnreg-
istered, and vote theii- choice," "just once and no oftener," and then return
to their homes.
Again, sir : • THE LEGISLATUIUS
is authorized and required to meet here every winter, stay till the spring
and sometimes till the summer, and then the Governor, if he chooses, as'
was done once before, and is now done for the second time in four years
can assemble it again in the faU. And for what? Do these frequent and
protracted sessions ofthe Legislature conduce — ^havethey ever conduced^— to
any substantial public benefit ? No, sir. Very little good to the great
masses of the people of Mississippi has ever resulted from any -work per
formed by the Legislature beyond what could and ought to have been done
in one-fifth of the time. But on the contrary, I may confidefltly appeal to
aU who hear me, and to the people of either party or either race tlu-ougliout
the State, if these numerous and long continued sessions have not as a re
sult, only increased, magnified, multipUed and, so far, perpetuated the reign
and rule of shame ; the opportunities and temptations to corrupt practiws
in office ; and the numerous outrages and wrongs upon the people, of which
I ShaU speak before I am through. Yes, sir, the practice has been fruitful
of little else than evil. It has flooded the State witli corrupt
RINGS AND COMBINATIONS,
some of them composed of men of extremely opposite antecedents and pre
tensions in politics, and all of them tending, if not designed, to rifle and sack
the public coflTers, swindle the State of her public domain, impoverish thc
property holders and laboring classes and corrupt and demoralize the peo
ple. Let this also be changed by a change in the Constitution if need-be'
though I think that for this purpose that will not be necessary ; and. letus have
in future only o»e session of the Legislature every two yesa-s, andlet tlw,*

be limited to only such number of days as shaU be absolutely required for
the transaction of the necessary duties of promoting the pubUc welfare as
prescribed in the Constitution.
Now, sir, another perfectly legal and yet palpably useless and injurious
feature of our present system is the so-caUed Department of Immigration
and Agriculture as at. present constituted. I leave out of -view the flagrant
violation ofthe Constitution which was pei-petrated by the joint convention
of the two Houses, selecting one of their own body to fill an office which,
and the salarj'^ of which they
HAD THEMSELVES CREATED.
1 leave out of view the equally flagrant act of defiance to the Constitution,
of which the Commissioner wste guUty when he appointed another member
of the same body to fiJil the office and draw the salary of Secretary to that
Department. I leave out of view the feet that a certain Circuit Judge has
given judicial approbation to these unconstitutional proceedings, and that
the Supreme Court of the State has, for political purposes, dodged a decision
upon them. I let aU these notorious facts pass for the present, and I come
directly to the matter in hand ; and that is the useless and worse than use
less, the utterly injurious and pernicious expenditure of many thousands
of doUars every year "merely to keep two or three almost entirely unlettered
colored men set up in one of the rooms of this Capitol, under the false and
exceedingly thin and transparent pretense that they are engaged in Immi
gration and agricultural enterprises ! Far be it from me to detract aught
trom the unpretending and inqflensive colored man who for nearly two
years past has borne the title and drawn the pay of "Commissioner," or
"from any of the corps of salaried attaches of his exalted "department."
Much less, sir, would I say one word to the prejudice or disparagement of
that worthy, patient and useful Race, whose four hundred years of enslave
ment has but recently terminated on this continent, and of whom our
•'Commissioner" is only an average and full-blooded specimen. But, sir, it
is patent to every man possessing a grain of common sense, and cannot be
denied by any one claiming the least modicum of candor, that if any office
has or can be created for which a man of color is less fitted than for aU
others, that office is the

•

HEAD OF THE IMMIGRATION BUREAU.

Let it be conceded, if you please, that it is desirable to stiU further increase
the already great disproportion between the white and colored races in the
State, and that for this purpose the immigration of none but blacks to this State
would be •wise and beneficial to aU concerned. Still, sir, it is a self-evident
fact that an iUiterate colored man cannot obtain or induce the immigration
of even his o^wn race to this or any other State with one-hundredth part
of the success and facUity that Would attend the eflbrts in that direction of
a competent and capable citizen of the white race. But, sir, the migration
of colored people to Mississippi is not now a wise or a humane policy, as
regards either immigrants or the population white and colored already
here. I believe that the salvation of the lately emancipated people of the
Stoutii depends and wUl continue to depend upon that people being scattered
and diflused over the vast area of this entire Nation, so that they may be
come eye-witnesses and partakers of the government, the arts, the religion
and the civUization of the Anglo-Saxon race. I would not, with the lights
before me, get clear of any portion of our colored population, nor discour
age a singR indi-vidual of that race proposing to settle here. On the con
trary, I have always felt that the whites of the South and of the whole
country owe to that unhappy people
A DEBT OF FRIENDSHIP,
protection and encouragement which should be acknowledged and paid to
the remotest generations. But, sir, it cannot be doubted that what Missis
sippi- now needs more than all else is the pouring into her borders of the
inteUigence, industry, enterprise and capital of white men, women' and
children from the flourishing States of the North and of Europe. Their
presence here, with their money and industry, would do much to soothe the
asperities and obliterate the bitter memories which, though even now pass
ing away, stUl linger in thc mind? and feelings of some of the old residenf:

of both rae«s. But it is manifest that the repulsion of white immigration
and the increase of the colored has an opposite effect. Happily, our first
"Commissioner," now in office, has not endangered us in any way, so far
as any results are concerned ; for it is not probable that he has induced, or
that if he were to remain in office a century, he ever would induce one hun
dred persons, white or colored, to turn their faces in this direction.
But, sir, you and I, and every gentleman on this floor, and the whole
world, knows that placing aU the immigration interests' of the State in the
hands of colored men alone, as has been done, is no in^vitation to white im
migration. Indeed, it is as much as to say to all the world, "Stay away
from Mississippi I We want no immigration except such as is represented
in the person and department of our Commissioner !" For these and many
other reasons, sir, I submit that our present "Immigration Department,^'
though constitutional and legal, is a needless, unprofitable, and most mis
chievous expenditure of a vast amount of money every year ; and if it can
not be promptly and completely regenerated, and placed upon a totally
different footing, it should be promptly and completely abolislied. And for
this purpose also, the Constitution should, if necessary, be amended. And
in this connection, I wish to observe, en passant, that the best Bureau of
Immigration any State can have is a system of sound and wholesome laws,
faithfuUy, economiCaUy and impartiaUy enforced, by honest and capable
public servants.
The topics I now approach are infinitely and inexpressibly worse than
any 1 have named, and yet, I can now only touch upon them, and leave their
discussion for others, or atleast, for another occasion. I will flrst allude to our
present Judiciary system. It was believed by the framers of the Constitu
tion that a Judiciary elected by the people would be at least, to some extent,
a partisan Judiciary, and they sought to obtain a purer administration of
justice by removing the matter of their selection to higher ground. Hence
they required that all the JudgeSj Supreme and nisi prius as weU as Chancel-
•lors, should be appointed by the Governor, by and with
THE ADVICE AND CONSENT
of this body. This was a most worthy conception ; but, alas, what a failure !
Go, sir, and search the musty annals of the dark ages. Read, through and
through, the lives of the most besotted and tyrannical of the English Sover
eigns, from William of Normandy to Charles the Second and their Obse
quious courtiers, and you will find no such melancholy instances of igno
rance, imbecUity, corruption and servility as those which disgrace the
epoch upon which we have lately entered in Mississippi. Sir, when the present
Governor of Mississippi was inaugurated in January last and Ufted his hand
and swore in the presence of God and an anxious audience here assembled
that he would support and faithfully obey the Constitution of the State, he,
by that self-same act, virtually swore that he would not install any man into
any judicial office, without first consulting
THE SENATE,
and obtaining the deliberate "advice and consent" of these representatives
of the people. I repeat, without first obtaining the advice and consent of
this body, to each and every appointment. That is the plain and undoubted
requirement of the Constitution to which he had thus solemnly pledged his
obedience. And yet, sir, we find to-day that he has refused to confer with
the Senate at all, and has selected, commissioned and installed the Chancel
lors in utter defiance of the people who pay aU their salaries, in palpable
contempt of the Senate, in flagrant disobedience to the Constitution, and in
wicked forgetfulness of his oath of office. Indeed, sir, the articulate words
of that oath and the plaudits of that audience had scarcely died away along
the corridors of this Capitol before the Governor had begun to lay out that
system of cunning and selfish devices through which he and his immediate
associates have practically broken down the Constitution, debauched otie
entire department of the . Government, cormpted the Republican press,
trampled under foot the most revered theories and principles of the party
which elected him, opened wide the doore of the county and Stote treasur
ies to the robber hands of a "ring" of which he is the acknowledged leader,
and oansed this people to be offlciaUy plundered and impoverished to an ex- '

t«nt to wliich even tlie most opulent and profligate amiali of tiiSs ualieppy
State can fumish no parallel !
Let me specify only for a moment. §ir, for three months, last -winter
and spring, after the inauguration, this Senate protracted its session and its
members invited, solicited, desired and urged the Governor to
SEND IN THE NAMES
of his proposed Chancellors, that they might be considered and their char
acters, clairas and fitness for the high office for which they were proposed
might if desired, be discussed. The interests at stake were Immense
and the choice in every case difficult. No person can doubt that
Senators, coming upon this floor, fresh from their accustomed inter
course with the people at home, among -whom they belong, in every
portion of the State, and who having been sent here by the people
to perform this great constitutional duty are, in their aggregate
capacity better prepared to judge, of the wants and wishes of the
people, and of the moral aud professional worth aud merits of aspi
rants to judicial honors, than any Governor can be, however long that
Governor may have resided in the State, and however intimate may have
been his identification with the people. And, sir, it would not have been
an unreasonable regulation, even if it were not required by the Constitu
tion, for Crovernor Ames, situated as he was, to have taken the advice of the
Senate as to the selection of all those nineteen men, into
whose hands he proposed to entrust the Equity and Probate juris
diction and power of this Commonwealth, ilis acquaintance with
the Bar of Mississippi was very limited and very recent. His
pecuniary and property interests in the State were very small
and very doubtful, if indeed he had any, beyond the salary and "glean
ings" of his office. If ever a One-man power needed the advice and
consent of the senior branch of the Legislature, it was needed by Governor
Ames in the exercise and bestowal of ttiese great powers. Every coasider-
a.tion of courtesy, of respect for the Senate and for the proprieties of official
life required such a consultation. A nd, sir, if there had been no other reason
lor it, it should have been enough that the Constitution requires it, and that
the Governor was sworn to obey and enforce that Constitution. But what
did the Governor do ? He turned a deaf ear alike to the people, to the legal
profession and to this body. He first concealed his intentions, then delayed
and flnaUy refused altogether to seek either the advice or consent of the
Senate, or of anybody else. He knew that the individuals whom he
designed appointing to the Wool-sack had in several in.stances no profes
sional character or reputation, and %
NO FITNESS FOR THE OFFICE.
He knew that some of them had no claims on the Republican party,
and did not reside in the districts to which he proposed to send them. He
kn4w that these were not recommended or wanted by the Bar or
by the people over whom they were to be placed, and that as a whole, the list
would have been rejected by the Senate. And he, therefore, Waited tiU the
Senate had adjourned and gone home, and then took the whole appointing
power, which the Constitution intends shall be divided between the Execu
tive and the Senate, into his own hands.
But not the appointing power alone has he usurped, but the Impeafihing
and removingTiower also, has been wrested from the hands in which
the Constitution placed it, and has been twice exercised by Governor Ame-i
in the REMOVAL OP CHANCELLORS
who were already in office and exercising the duties and functions pre
scribed in the Constitution and laws. Witness the cases of Hon. W. A.
Drennan, of the Ilth District, and the Hon. J. R. Galtney, of the 18th Dis-
trict. And, sir, this is only the opening of our Governor's career and policy
in tespect to our entire judicial system. It has so far been exemplifled in the
selection of ChanceUors alone. But, if he is permitted to succeed in respect
to them this year, we shall have the same plan carried out n^xt year in the
casesof Circuit and Supreme Judges. They aU stand in pari materia, in the
Constitution ; they are aU required to be appointed by the Governor, " by and

with the advice and cohseht of tJie Senate." 11 lie cati.appoint tiie Ohahcel'.
loi-s without the advice or consent of the Senate; and if he can remove them
at pleasure, he certainly wiU have the same power over aU the other Judg^.
What, then ? Why, sir, w« shall have an entire judiciary absolutely depend
ent upon Executive power for obtaining and then for retammg their
offices. A more despotic power was never claimed by the bultan ot
Turkey, or by any Autocrat of Oriental fable. WeU may it be asked, what
practical difference is there between submitting aU the is.sues of property, of
Hberty, and of Ufe itself, directly to the Governor himself, and m submitting
the same issues, as this programme, if permitted, wiU compel us to do, to a
sot of dependent, servile hirelings, who are thus to be the mere creatures
.and pensioners upon Executive power and caprice.
And, Mr. President, foul and corrupt as is this fountain of corruption
and outrage, the stream which it sends forth is, if possible, stUl more foul
and corrupt. Look, now, for a moment to another selfish and villianous device
immediately connected with this, flowing directly from it, and indeed a part of
the same general plan, in which the Governor and some of his henchmen
are engaged for the purpose of enriching themselves at the public expense,
and perpetuating their power by unfair and trcason-able means. I allude
now to the Governor'.s DISTRICT PRINTING LAW,
by which it proposed to chain the constitutionaUy free Press of this Com
monwealth to this Executive Juggernaut. The Chancellors and Circuit
Judges so arbitrarily selected, instaUed and kept in office by Executive
pleasure and caprice, are required to select one or more newspapers in each
district which shall do all the public printing for all the courts and counties
in each district, and all advertising is rendered by law invalid and void
if hot done by the concern so selected, and the concern so selected is to be
commissioned by the Governor and removable at the pleasure of the Gov
ernor, upon the request of the Chancellor and Judge. Under this arrange
ment spurious newspapers, having in reality no editor or publisher, nomi
nally or otherwise, with no printing office, press or type, and without a sin
gle bona fide subscriber in tlie worid, are being gotten up, "edited" and
printed in the Pilot office here in Jackson, and sent out into various parts of
the State, into other and distant districts, for the sole purpose of catching
and carrying this patronage, making formal proof of publication, and thus
through the instrumentality of base miscreants so installed as ChanceUors
and Judges, and with the connivance of the Governor, exacting from the
people large amounts of printer's fees lor services never performed. I have
one of these FALSE AND SPURIOUS.
district printer's sheets; a portion of which is printed and issued in the Pilot
office in this city, and the other portion printed in the North, and
patronized and supported exclusively by one Hill, a spurious Chan
cellor at Vicksburg, without the. advice or consent of anybody but
the Governor. This one is devoted exclusively to Hill, and Hill is
devoted exclusively to it. It has, of course, no subscribers whatever, in thi-
district, and I presume none anywhere else, and though it were to do Hill
and Ames' printing at Vicksburg for four years it probably would never
have a dozen bona fide subscribers in that district. This offleiiil sheet, I am
fredibly informed by its former business manager, Mr. A. A||. Dorsey, and by
some of its so-called stockholders, is edited by an individual who claims to bf
partnegro, bythe name of Cardoso, and who is Governor Ames' State Super
intendent of Educa'tion. He was indicted for larceny in Brooklyn, New
York, before he came to Mississippi, and is now indicted at Vicksburg for
several forgeries and embezzlements, and has lately figured rather conspic
uously, though at a safe distance in the very unfortunate troubles at Vicks
burg. So lar as editorials are concerned, his paper contains little else but
falsehood, personal eulogies of "Hon. T. W. Cardozo," and personal inso
lence and abuse of white men, especially white Republicans — all writt&n by
T. W. Gavdozo himself. Other official district printing organs of like char
acter are printed outside the districts which they pretend to serve, some in
Jackson and some beyond Mason and Dixon's line. But there is one fea
ture common to them all, and that is, they all, without exception, chant Te

^^i? ^^^ everla-stiug wisdom, genius, and glory of Uoverii(Ji' iiuss abd
aU Ws Chancellors who, together with the Governor, appointed them to this
monopoly of patronage, and endorse and magnify, without stint or discrim
ination, all that these masters of
tEGAL ADVERTISING
have done, all that they are doing, and all that they or any of them
ever shall do, world -without end ! Now sir, mark my assertion : you
can find no newspaper in the State that approves this vUlainohs com
bination between Ames and his Chancelloi-s and Judges, and their
pubUc printers, except those that have or expect Ames' and his Chan
ceUors' and Judges' patronage, and these aU approve it. This is only a ful
fillment of the saying of the Prophet of old, "The Ox knoweth his owner,
and the Ass his master's crib."
To whom, then, under the laws and Constitution, are the people of the
State to tum for sympathy and succor, for remedy and redress ? To whom
and to what tribunal can they bring- the- story of their wrongs ? Sir, all thc
principles and traditions of free government point us to what should be a
¦wise and fearless Judiciary, and to a free and enlightened Press — the one as
the great source and standard of justice and power, and the other the chief
agent of enlightenment and intelligence. In any other State neither of
these grand instrumentalities could scarcely faU to afford to an injUred and
outraged people a fair and early hearing and a certain and ultimate retnedy-
But bere,*sir, the judiciary and the press both feel themselves already in
the grasp of Executive power, exercised in this instance by a foreign and
totaUy unfriendly hand. Our so-called Chancellors hold only temporary and
precarious seats, dependent upon their continued servility and obedience to
a man iSrho chose them in defiance of the Senate and in defiance of the Con
stitution, Isolely because he supposed that they would be the slaves and
piinps of his unhaUowed lust for power, and in like defiance of the Consti
tution wiU remove them from office the moment they assert the Constitu
tional independence of their Courts. The Judges of the Circuit Courts
have only about one more year to serve, and then it is expected that their
offices -will bo PARCELLED OUT ON THE SAME TERMS.
They are not yet condemned, it is true ; but sir, they are "hair-hung and
breeze-shaken." There is reason to believe that many of the best of the
Circuit and at least one of the Supreme Judges are already slated fbr re
moval. True, some of them who have attempted to serve the Governor at
the expense of their oaths will probably be, for that reason alone, retained
in office. Some of them have .entailed upon the State much of the foolish,
unnecessary and unconstitutional expense under which the people are now
sufffering. In one notable instance acting under the fear of thc
EXECUTIVE LASH,
and the hope of Executive favor, two of our Supreme Judges recanted their
honestly entertained and frequently expressed convictions and entailed
upon Mississippi the hardship and expense of a system of annual registra
tions and elections, instead of allowing them to be, as the Constitution re
quires, only once every two years ; and there is reason to believe that several
of that august tribunal of last resort are already pledged to sustain
StiU other iniquitous measures of this same usurping Governor, including,
the pilnting infamy to which I have already aUuded, and another to
which I shaU presently pay my respects. But sir, not only is the Judi
ciary in process of rapid decay and corruption, but, through the same
combination, the Republican Press of the State, with only two or three ex
ceptions, is already prone and wallowing in the lowest sinks of this perni
cious influence. Would any man in Mississippi, Democrat or Republican,
desire to submit a fair and dignified argument, or an earnest and respectful
protest against any feature of these infamous frauds and usurpations, or any
other abuse committed by the Governor, or by any of his brainless and un
principled supporters ? If he would, he must go either to a Democratic pa-
ixsr, or to a Republican paper beyond the borders of Mississippi. For the
pretended Republican papers of this State are forced to publish nothing but

FULSOME BULOGV
of all the Governor, his ChanceUors and his press have done or said, or els<*
their patronage and their very existence wlU be the forfeit. The words of
the Irish bard, applied to his own country, may weU be applied to the Re
publican party of Mississippi as at present organized :
' 'Unprized are her sons, till they leam to betray,
Undistinguished they live if they shame i»ot their sires,
And the torch that would light them to dignity's way^
Must be caught from the pile Where their country expires . ' '
[Here the speaker was interrupted bv a Senator, who objected, that his
tirae was up. Senator WARNER insisted that the speaker, be aUowed to
finish his speech, and said that if necessary he would make a motion for that
purpose. By general consent, the speaker, thanking the Senate, proceeded :]
Now sir, as to the BOARD OF EQUALIZATION.
I shall not now stop to discuss the plain infraction ot the Constitution, (ar
ticle 3, sections one and two.) which this act perpetrates in directing that the
Attofney-General,who is a Judicial officer, shall perform the purely Executive
functions mentioned in the body of the act. This objection alone would
have insured to this bill, the veto of any Executive having a proper appre
ciation of the obligations of his oath of fidelity to the Constitution. But
Governor Ames seems totally indiflferent, in this case as in all others, to the
Constitution, and to all other considerations of duty, and blinded by his in
satiate lust for un'^onstitutional jiower. The real enormity of the 1)111, how
ever, lies in the fact that seven individuals sitting at the Capitol, and pos
sessing, in the average, only a very ordinary amount of inteUect or charac
ter, are allowed to raise or diminish as they please, all the assessments of all
the taxable property in any or all the counties in the whole State, the only
limitation upon this extraordinary power being the requirement that they
shall not in any case reduce its aggregate value as assessed by the several
Assessors. There is no prohibition against raising these assessment", how
ever high they may already be. There; is no requirement or authority that
the "Board" or any member of it shall or may take any testimony as to the
real value of land or personal property, and no means aflforded to allow
them to ascertain the existence of any inadequacy or excess in the assess
ments already made by the Assessors who are presumed to have valued the
property on the spot, after a careful examination and inspection of it. The
owner of the property, who is ordinarily presumed to be the best prepared to
judge and estimate its value, is not allowed any voice in the matter. He is not
even allowed his oath as to the value of his own land, horse, wagon or mule.
But this unconstitutional Board is allowed exclusive and absolute sway over
the whole matter, and is required to fix the value of all the property in the
State, whether they .ever saw or heard of It or not, in the language of the
act "as they believe that right and justice require." But the paramount
feature ofthe act is that this tribunal of "Seven Wise Men" shaU not, under
any possible state of case, reduce the amount of taxes which have once
been charged up against this oppressed and impoverished people. Now,
sir, I ask in all candor, what can this Septemvirate of bolons know or "be
lieve" about the value of lands and cattle, goods, wares and merchandize,
watehes, jewelry and piano fortes, scattered as the?e articles of property
are among some eight hundred thousand people all over the forty-seveii
thousand square miles of territory, which corapose the area of our State !
Verily, these Equalizers will have to rival the Hog Merchant of whom some
of us have heard, whose wonderful sagacity enabled him to smell of a pio--
sty in Cincinnati, and tell the price of sugar-cured hams the ensuing sea -
son in Texas ! And yet such is reaUy the law, the Legislature has passed it,
and the Governor signed it.
Sir, it is known and admitted that thc people of this devoted State were
never blessed with an economical administration of their government. The
extravagance and profligacy of the
DEMOCRATIC DYNASTIES
which flourished here in the grand old days which preceded- the war of
Secession, still remain a by-word and reproach upon the State wherever in
poUtical and financial circles the name of Mississippi is spol^en. But the

l>w.>ple were then rich. Now thoy are all poor. Then tlieir taxable «'««aitli
amounted to $1,700,000,000. Now it does not exceed $100,000,000. Then
the ordinary taxes on real estate were about two mUls on the dollar. Now
it is from thirty to ninety mills on the dollar. The cost of the Public Print
ing done for the State averaged for the ten years preceding the war lens than
$8000 per annum. Now it averages more than $100,000 per annum. Then
the elcpenses of the Legislative department were on an average less than
$20,000 per annum. No-w they amount on an average to $240,000 per annum.
Then the expenses of the Judiciary system averaged less than $100,000 per
annum. Now they amount to from $220,000 to $434,000 per annum. And
sir, if tbe expenses of the State Grovemment were reckless and extravagant
then, what sbaU we say of the expenses of the State Government now ?
For the rulers of that day there were some circumstances of excuse and
palliation, if not of justiflcation, none of which will apply to those of the
present. The people were rich enough to afford it, and the Prodigals were
at least their own Sons. It is said that the Greeks, in order that
they might forget the sorrows of their nfitive land, drank the rosy blood of
the Samian grape, and were luUed to repose by the divine numbers of
Anacreon's song. The ambrosial beverage of Mississippians was never, that
I know of, supposed to have been flavored by the gods, but even a Mississip-
pian can look back over the waste of years, and then look around him, and
sav, -with the immortal bard, ' ' Our masters then
Were atill at least our Countri-men . "
But, sir. let me push the contrast a little further, aud apply it to the
.Judiciary. I have already shown that the taxable wealth in this Stat*
BEFORE THE WAR
was many times as great as it is now. The number of law suits was vastly
greater, and the amount involved in each suit was on an average many
times as large.- An overwhelming majority of the civil suits now-a-day.>i
are for sums, or for values, not exceeding $150. All these, as well aa all
cases of misdemeanor, not amounting to felony, under the present system
fall within the jurisdiction of Justices of the Peate. Before the war Justices
of the Peace had no criminal jurisdiction except as mere conservators of
the peace, and their civil jurisdiction was then limited to fifty dollars.
Now, happily, these important functionaries have full cognizance of all
matters of misdemeanor whether arising under the common law or under
statutes, and exclusive jurisdiction in all matters of contract or damages,
where the amount or value does not exceed $150. This, sir, takes away
from the Circuit Judges at least one-half the labor that they had under the
old system. Because an overwhelming majority of the infractions of the
penal laws are and al-ways were mere misdemeanors ; and a- vast majority
of the credits, contracts and civU liabilities of every kind in this State
in these days of poverty, are for less than $150. These all fall
within the jurisdiction of Justices of the Peace. And yet, after
this di-vision of the equity and common law jurisdiction, aU of
which was, under the old system, confided to the Circuit Judges,
we find that the number of Judges has lately been increased from ten to
thirty-three, and the s.alarj' of each increased from $2500 to $3500 per
•annum, thus increasing the aggregate judicial salaries from $-25,000 to $115,-
.'.00 iier annum. Nor is there any set-oft' in favor of the present system on
account of the aboUtion of the Probate Courts. The present increased and
enlarged jurisdiction of Justices of the peace, which greatly lightens the
burdens of the Circuit Courts, is more than an equivalent for the old Pro
bate system, and for the additional sum of $24,850 per annum, which was
paid to the Judges of Probate, under the act of 1SC>7. .^till that judicial
system cost the then opulent people of Mississippi only $49,85tt, againsi
the er.ormous sum of $115,500, which the State now pays. And if to these
we add the aggregate salaries pa|) to the District Attorney.' of both period.s.
we have a system of salaries now costing the State $133,000, against a system
which then cost less than $65,000.
I might go on and show that this extravagant aud profligate sy.stem of
unnecessary officers and these prodigal and redundant salaries have been car
ried into ail the constitutional departments of the Government, and appliwl
ro everv branch of the public service, from C-nnstable to Governor, aijd

i'loiu City i-'olice Lo Clilel' Justioe u£ the .Suj*"aii« t'oiU't. Biit i<*t u.s indujl^e'
lor a few moments in the contemplation of that
COLOSSAL SWINDLE,
commonly caUed the "Public Printing Ring." The amount of warrants
which this concern has drawn out of the State Treasury altoiiej to say ndth-
ing about the still larger aggregate sum "which it has ai*a*n'fr6ili mt sev
eral County a.Tid M^micipal treasuries in the State, in the last thfiele or Saur
years, has amounted to on average of $90,000 peraUnUm. This yi8ariy Mm to
this rotten concerrf' exceeds the total annual amount paid for puWic printing
by any flve of the Western States in the last ten years ! The tbtal atnoUnt paid
to the Public Printers in this State for the entire period Often years hftxt pre
ceding the war foots up the gross sum of $59i548 78. I hazard hdthtnjg in
the assertion that, in order to obtain the exorbitant sums-vVMch the thieves
now in charge of the public printing have received, five times as much has
been done as was needed ; flve times as much has been charged ^nd-paid for
as was done ; and it is believed that many meUiberS of the LegisiatSirie, of
both races, both parties, and in both houses, have been opetated upon by
corrupt influences. One of the State Printers, A. N. Kt^mbatt,lias enscofifced
himself upon the Board of Supervisors of this county, and got to be Presi
dent of that body. In the first nine months of his "presidency," he had voted
to his firm the sum of $6,300 for county printing alone. This sum exceeds
the average sum annually paid to the State printer for aU the work done for
the last fifteen years preceding the war. And yet this is only a smaU side-
.show to the grand caravan of thc State printing now-a-days. Not alone in
Hinds countj^ but in ALL THE COUNTIES
where this ring has been able to extend its operations, the same sort of rob-
berries are being carried on to enrich this coterie of thieves. Another one
of these thieves, John B. Haymond, has been lodged by this administration —
not in the Penitentiary, where he should and will be, if returning Justice
shall ever again "lift aloffcher scale" in Mississippi— but in the State Treas
ury ! Yes, sir, in among the money bags of this impoverished and tax-
ridden people, pretending to be a
"clerk to THE STATE TREASURER,"
at a salary of $1,500 per annum in State warrants ! And that, too, in face
of the fact that he was already and still is receiving upwards of $fl00,000
per annum for doing only about $7,000 worth of State printftig, and a stUl
larger aggregate sum from the several counties for doing or pretending to
do certain jobs for the eounties, Vvbich had better not be done at any price.
Sir, it is a notorious and admitted tact that aU the printing needed by the
State government could and should have been done, and can be done iiow,
and done better and more promptly and faithfully than it is being done by
the ring or than it ever was done, for from $10,000 to $20,000 per annum. All
that is wanting to secure this result is to let out this sort of work, as you do
.ill other mechanical work, TO THE LOWEST BIDDER,
;ind take bond and security for its prompt and faithful performance. And
why, 1 ask, should not this be done? Some gentlemen say, because the
Governor wants to support, by this means, an administration and party or-
yau. True enough, and all the administration measures do stand sadly in
need of defense. But neither of the thieves whom he has now thus cm-
ployed is capable of defending anything. One of them, I am informed
never attempted to set a type in his Ufe. Neither of them is an editor, or able
to write even a grammatical promissory note. They are both thieves and
habitual liars in common conversation. And their newspaper partakes of
the minds and characters of its owners ; Mt misrepresents and disgraces the
Republican party ; and would bo as inoaplblo of defending Governor Ames'
moasui-es as those measures are unworthy of being defended.
This brings me iu thc next place, to speak of the so-called
FUNDING BILL,
pa.ssed at the last session, and which I have now no doubt was introduced
passed and received the Executivp appr©v.Tl solely for the purpose of still

ll
tUftlicr eurlctiiug the priuiijti* Hing, by eiiabliug it *tili fuiliief to rob, (aUfl
tliia time,- by the most ounnin* and speeiou's meAns,) the people of tihis de
voted State. To tho.se who have given this funding act only a cursor}-
reading it has probably revealed nothing especiaUy objectionable. Prima
faci'e, it merely fixes a definite. Instead of in indefinite tipie, for the'pay-
ment of the amount of all outstatuding State warrants issued by the Audi
tor prior to April 1. 1874, andsecures to the holders eight pier cent, pei an
num interest until maturity. The argument used by its mends, including
the Governor himself, was', that this act woUld reduce aU the fiscal trans
actions of the State to a cash basis, diminish the enormous rate of discount
which results from the use of depreciated warrants instead of cash, and
pi'actically bring btate warrants issued after the first of last AprU up to
par. And there is no doubt that these arguments and the promise which
they involved, brodght to the support Of this measure the votes of many
Senators and Representatives, who would otherwise have voted against it,
and thereby defeated its passage. And yet, sir, after eight months experi
ence under this sagaicious plan, the members of the Legislature find that
State warrants now issued -wiU have to be sold, if sold at all, at as
lArge a rate of discount as those issued liefore the funding act was passed.
We are no nearer a cash basis than we were before. But let that pass with
rhe many other of tbe Governor's BROKEN PLEDGES,
over which tbe Republicans of Mississippi are weeping to-day. And let us
look at the deeper and ulterior meaning of the act, and we shall see that its
prima Jade features were intended only as a disgiiis^. The total issue of
"certificates of indebtedness" was $500^000. Of these, I understand, $306,-
000 have been cancelled, leaving a balanee of these certificates outstanding
of $1 94,000. Now, sir, mark how the Governor and the little ring of thieves
over which he is the presiding genius, are making this little sum of $194,-
OOQ, do double duty for the ring^ and no duty at all for the people ; "and
mark how a plain tale puts them down." By the eleventh section of the
funding act all State warrants of every date were repudiated to the extent
of not allowing them to be from thenceforth receivable for State taxes. But^
from thenceforth nothing is to be received in payment ofthe State taxes but
"coin, currency or certificates of indebtedness." The total amount of State
taxes levied and assessed upon this people for the current fiscal year Is
TWO MILLION ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SEVEN THOUSAND, THREE HUN
DRED AND NINETEEN DOLLARS.
. Of this amount $619,237 is for schools and payable in coin or currency, the
balance, being $1,548,082, is payable in coin, currency, and in these certifi-
ates. The total amount of the certificates outstanding amount to not more
than about 12V,i per cent, of theState taxes.
Now, sir; there are some L.<i.ws ot Trade and Finance that are abo\'e and
bevond the control of mere legislative enactments, and which if they have an
honest opportunity, are as inexorably certain-in their own independent and
unaided operation as tlie laws of heat and cold, the law of gravitation, or
any otber law of Nature. One of these laws is that if tax-payers have a
rhimce to pay their taxes in either par or depreciated fumls, ;it thoir option,
they will pay them in the depreciated fund.s and save the ditri-i-enci';
another is that if tlie taxes to be paid amount to
A MILLION AND A HALF DOLL.VRS,

.ipproxir.i...v., —   . -.^ , ¦ .L J- A -1 e -i,.
other is, that if the laws of the State permit its depreciated funds of this
character to circulate in and out of the treasury, it \viU do so with great
¦ictivity in the market, and go and come, paying, every time, so much of tin-
.'lebts of the Stiite to its people on the one hand, and so much ofthe t.i,xe,s ot
the people to the State on the other, aU of it landing in the treasury at last, and
thereby givingaid and relief to both State and people. And sir, there are other
laws apifiic.able to this subject, which are not merely fin,ancial; but are the
¦ ¦ternal and unalterable laws of God and hunianity. They teach us thai
while bankers, brokci-*. money -ch.insws and priwte individuals, may wnh

12
pi-opriety make all they can by honc«ft speculation with the people iu the ex
change of current and uncurrent funds, the Treasurer or the Treasurer's
Clerk who does It or permits it to be done through the treasuir Is simply a
thief. Now what are the facts ? The act of April 19th, 1873, (see acts of
Chat year, page 86), expressly makes all Auditor's warrants issued after the
first of March, 1872, payable at the treasury in these certifleates. It is admitted
that that provision is stiU in force, and that the Treasurer and Public Printer,
acting under the eye and with the approbation of the Governor, have refused,
ever since the advent of this administration, to pay out as much as one doUar
of these certificates on warrants; but on the contrai-y, have publicly announced
CO all comers that they would not do so. And, yet these certificates have been
on the market for sale, and in reality, have been paying the jieople's taxes -all
over the State the -whole year round. The only difference being that they
have been sold by secret agents of the treasury thieves, instead of being
paid out to the people over the counter on State warrants, as requiretl
by law. Else how came they out? Could they honestly have got
out when the Treasurer has paid none of them on warrants ? There
is but one answer. They have been sold and resold, again and
again, by the Treasurer, or by the Public Printer whom that officer
keeps in the treasury; and at a, discount; and thej', and the
Governor and the other thieves with whom they are associated, have
secretly pocketed about thirty per cent, ou $194,000, not less than half a
dozen times this year. But, sir, this is not all. Under this funding law,
warrants are payable in' currency at the treasury in the order of their issu
ance. The Public Printer draws, as I have said, $100,000 per annum in
State warrants. The .Governor and Treasurer permits him, under the pre
tence of being a clerk in the treasury at $1500 per annum, to take all his
warrants into the treasui-y, handle all the certificates and the currency that
find their way into that maelstrom of iniquity and theft. No person, except
the riUg, can tell anything about the Trefisurer's and "Clerk's" operations
with the. Currency belonging to that office. We know that $66,000 of it
was, contrary to law, "deposited" with a certain banking house in this citv.
outside of the treasury. The public had no information of this fact until
information was forced by
LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR DAVIS,
in the Governor's absence. Then, for the first time, was set up the false and
fraudulent pretence that it was put there "for investment." But, sir, it was
done without warrant of law or precedent, and solely to enrich the thieves
who so deposited it. In this way, the public funds, consisting of currency,
certificates, school warrants and State wa,rrant8, are handled and kept by*
robber hands fioating about upon the great sea of greenbacks, and ¦with
Governor Ames in the executive office, the public have no means for the
discovery, detection or punishment of the thieves.
Sir, I have mentioned only a few ot the outrages against which the
people of Mississippi have vainly appealed to the Republican partv for re
lief. Their '^ ^ ¦ .
REPEATED APPEALS
are answered only by repeated outrages. Their patience is weU nio-h ex
hausted. They ai-e rapidly taUing into the tearful delusion that there wUl
be atleast some relief in revolt. This is to be regretted and deprecated
But there is reason to believe that this determination is rapidly and gener
ally being formed, and wiU be foUowed to bitter results, unless a change of
policy shaU be speedily adopted by all the official departments at the Capi
tal, and throughout the entire State. For thinking and saying as I do, many
()f the veteran leaders of the Republican party have been twitted, bv official
malefactors, with DESEKri.NG THE PAP.TY.
But, sir, does a .self-sacrificing devotion to Republican principles require
that 1 should approve or connive at all these outrages upon the people
among whom, for more than a decade, I have cast my lot ? Does the Re
publican party here or elsewhere demand that 1, as a man of Northern
birth, and a .soldier for four yeai-s in the armv of the Union, should now as a
citizen of Mi,'isi^.iippi, and interested, ns every man should be, in the honor

13
prosperity, and &ir fame of bis adopted eountry, see and know that all
these outrages and wrongs are being constantly and systematicaUy inflicted
on this vast commimity, and yet raise no voice of reproof or of protest ? I
have been from my boyhood up to this hour an unwavering adherent of the
'Cause and measures of the Republican party, and had hoped to so continue
to the end of my Ufe. But now I am told that the test of Republicanism in
Mississippi is a blind, besotted, unconditional support of aU these anti-Re
publican, and utterly infamous measures and of the reckless and unscrupu
lous men who have de-vised and put them into operation.
This administration, and a portion of the disreputable press that sup
ports it, look upon aU the numerous Republicans who dissent — (and their
name is legion, and include many ofthe brightest inteUects ofthe State) —
""With an unforgiving eye,
And a damned disinheriting oo-antenance. ' '
But itmay as weU be understood at once that the Republic'ans with whom
I have the honor to act and associate demand that personal honesty, official
integrity and a reasonable devotion to the Constitution and laws shall be
the foundation-stones of any organization that commands their suppo.^t.
Gtovemor Ames makes frequent
BOASTS OF WHAT HE DID
as mUitary commander to establish RepubUcan principles in Mississippi.
But sir, he has neither estabUshed or aided in the establishment of any
Republican principles here. On the tioJitTSary, he has contributed all the
power, patronage and influence of his position to bring the Republican
party into contempt, and to the establishment and perpetuation of the
abuses, some of which I have named. He has been rewarded in both
CCRBKNCT AND HIGH OFFICE.
fax above his merits. 'Wben he cg,me from his seat in the United States
Senate, to which he had chosen himself, before he had ever claimed to be a
citizen of the State, and announced his purpose to run for Wovemor, he
found the Republican party of this State united, harmonious and prosper
ous, its camp-fires burning brightly on every hill-top and in every valley
from the Mississippi to the Tombigbee, and from the Tennessee river far
down to the sea. But now behold it,
RENT IN TWAIN !
and thc administration drifted away from the great masses of the party,
supported only by a brainless, unprincipled and servile Faction, and the
country threatened with anarchy and civil war. And he says, forsooth, that
when he and the several corrupt rings of which he is the leader and chief
shall faU, as he feels that they -wUl, Republicanism in this State wUl cea=e
to exist. Vain thought! ' 'The feeble sea-birdB blinded by the storms.
On some t»U LijihthouBe dash their pony forms.
And the rudejgranite scatters for their pains
Those small ^posits that were meant for braim,:
Yet the tall fabric in the morning sun,
Stands aU unmindful of the mischief done;
StiU the red beacon pours its eveninz rays,
Tor the lost mariner with as fttU » blaze,
And shines, all radiance, o'er the scattered neo«
Of gulls and boobies brainless at its feet! ' '
But. sir, it is far better that even the Republican party, with aU the
bright deeds that are emblazoned upon its escutcheon, should faU and l«
forlotten, than that it should cast the people of botli raxies over the preci-
ffS^ veryverge of which is now before us. If the party knows noth-
f^better to do than to promote the measures of such an admmistratwn ;
a^ If it knows no better men to nurse upon its bosom, than those who have
fJr..,«ir9t«d and are carrying forward to completion the corrupt combi-
aaS^wWch Is^kji (^'s uame let it faU ! But if It fafls, it wlU

14
o-vve its death wound and the ignominy that survives it to the traitor hand
of Adelbert Ames. "So the sti*uck eagle, stfetched upiSnthe plain,
No more througlr rolling clbuds to sbar again.
Views his own feathier in the fatal dart
That wihgfed the shaft which quivers in his heart 1
Keen w^i'e his' pangd, butlfccner fur to feel
He nursed the pinien' whichimpelled the steel ,
"While the same plumage that had -warmed hia nest
Drank the last life-drop of his bleeding breast. ' '
I had intended, Mr. President, to have presented my views, somewhat in
detail, touching the more immediate causes that precipitated, and some of
the facts that attended, the recent unhappy disturbances in my own Senato- .
rial district ; hut time will not permit. I must, however, avail myself of the
opportunity to direct the public attention, and particularly the attention ofthe
Senate, tothe main-spring of all these difficulties, existing here at the Capital.
Here was the source and cause of all the disaster and
ULOODSHED AT. VICKSBURG,
and here is Che source und cause of probably many other disastersand of niuch^more
bloodshed all over the State. The streams of corruption, of misrule, of wrong,
and of oppression that for the last twelve months have flowed out, and been
radiating to almost every Republican county, city and incorporated town in
this commonwealth, all flow and radiate from the great and constantly increa.s-
ing fountain, which rises here at the very foot of the throne. We all know that
t-he State, county, and city taxes of Vicksburg had been eo constantly increas
ing, and the ability of the people to pay hem, had been so long and so coii-
-tiintly diminishing that tax collectors had came to , be regarded by the people,
only as agents for the CONFISCATIOI,
of their substance; that the burthen of that city and county debt had only in
creased with the ever increasing burdens of taxation ; that among all the local
office-holders, ignorance and incapacity, defjlcatibn and embezzlement, forgery
and the larceny of both money and the public records, had got to be the general ¦
rtrle, and honesty and capacity, if they existed at all, existed only as rare ex
ceptions ; that the most imjiortant revenue officers persisted in the lawless de
termination and efforts to hold office, and squander and steal the people's monev
with only «ham bonds and notoriously irresponsible persons as their pretended
sureties, and that, all the weight of . , . .
EXECUTIVE INFLUENCE AND PATRONAGE
in that county has been thrown into the scale in favor of the augmentation and
perpetuation of these outrages. We know that the Board of Supervisors arbi--
trarily and persistently refused to even ¦meet so that they should so much as hear
the just complaints'of an outraged people. The trial of culprits the most de
praved and dangerous to the' pUblic interests, were giVen up to the control of
those culprits themselves and their own chosfen confederates in crime. Thfese all
boasted the favor and friendship ofthe Courts, and the unconditional "backinff"
of the Governor. And over all this festering system of official villainy, the
culprits immediately concerned, the Governbr himself, and the entire ring of
which he i« the chief; have from the first thrown an air of
OFFICIAL INSbLENCB AND ARROGANCE
to which the history of civilized governments affords no parallel.
But, sir, all these outrages, galliUg" and intolerable as they were, were not
the cause of the recent scenes of domestic violence in that community. The
people were enduring outrages' and were resolved to continue to endure them with
what patience they might, till peaceable protest, the Courts or the agency of the
ballot-bb* should bring them'relifef. TrUe, they did urge, but only, so ftras I
know, in apeaipeable manner, that some of thimofet ohndxious of these official
malefttotofB should' "ste^'down and out." Anff*therB was probably a degree of
earnes'tliesS in'the'naani^er of thigteqUBSt^ofthiW indignant citizens, that struck
terTorto the thieves and' felons to wHofU th6y were iiddressed, and to their brethren
and aSsoeiafes' in cl-friie at the Capita,!' and etsewhdre: But there -was no' violettce of
any kiud'thredtfetted or iUteridedby'the citizens, and none' -would have ensued if
Griverno'r Attips hutl 'shn'WTi thi* sligbt(«t inclination in that in.?1)flnrp to adhere

15
to his sworn duty to "see that the laws are faithfully executed." But having
connived at the the conduct of criminals in office there, as well as elsewhere, ho
at last counseled the poor, ignorant and credulous colored men of Warren
county TO MARCH IN ARMED BODIES
upon the city, well knowing that If they did so there was great danger of the
women ¦ and childien ofthe city, whose only offense was that they were the
mothers, wives, sisters, and children of the mon who objected to being robbed.
And, sir, they did march on the city — but, alas, .
' 'Their march of glory was but to the grave!"
Gentlemen speak of investigating thismelancholly occurrence, but thc very
word "INVESTIGATION,"
as applied to the current politics of Mississippi, has already become- a by-word
and a reproach among all honest men. Every attempt or pretence of legisla
tive investigation that this State has experienced since "Reconstruction" com
menced, has been carried on either in the interests of dishonest combinations or
of frivolous or malignant factions, or both, and has in no instance resulted in an
honest or satisfactory verdict. Nevertheless, I shall favor any earnest attempt
to obtain the real facts and causes of all the bloodshed aud violence in the re
cent conflict in Warren. It will indeed make a sad, though it may be an
instructive record, a record of systematic misrule and outrages brought about by
the misdeeds of ignorant and incompetent office-holders, and the wicked and
malevolent counsels of the Governor, aud a record of i-etribution iwift and ter
rible. Far be it from my purpose, now or hereafter, to justify, palliate or excuse
any acts of cruelty or crime perpetrated or attempted by either party upon the
other. These will, it is to be hoped, be investigated before the proper tribunals
provided for that purpose by the Constitution and laws. It is our duty to inves
tigate them, not as a jury or court, and not as peace officers or public prosecutors.
These are already, or soon will be, at work, and will proceed, let us hope, solely jn
the INTERESTS OF JUSTICE,
and not in the base interests of party, or faction. And sir, it is to be hoped that
the majesty of the violated laws will be fully vindicated, and that the sword of
justice will fall where it ought to fall; and that all the good people of the State
wiU lift-up their voices and say Atnen I It becomes us to look to the causes of
these outrages, not in a judicial, but in a legislative capacity, and solely that the
causes may be removed, and a repetition of these disorders prevented. With
this view our inquiries and investigations should' take a wider range than did
the guns under the command of Andre-W Owens, or those of his white adversa
ries on the hills of Vicksburg. They must take in a more extended view than
that which lay before the eyes of the' heads of families in Warren county when
at sunrise on the morning ofthe 7th of December, with spy-glasses in then-
hands, they watched from the cupola of the Courthouse, the advancing columns
of ARMED AND D^LttDED COLORED MEN,
moving forward under the orders of Governor Ames and the silly tools of hia
ambition to sack and bvu-n that fair city, and murder its gentle women and tender
children. Wefmust go to the fountains of information and acquaint ourselves
and our constituente with' the real origin of this great public calamity, and of
others like unto it, -which are likely soon to follow, unless the origin and cause of,
them' shall be removed. . . ^ , ,
Sir' it 18= one of the inseparable characteristics of bad government or bad
administration that' its evils need not he proved by witnesses. They need no
oonnnitteo to report'them. They are visible to the naked eye. They are
apparent on every hand; self-confessed, admitted by all and denied by none. As
wellmiffht you require the testimony' of sworn witnesses to .prove that the peo
ple of Mississippi are overburdened with taxes; to prove that there is no adequate
security against the misappropriatioiny squandering, or stealing of their public
funds- to prove that there is waste and extravagance and plundering on every
banc^'or to prove that the Governor is ftttampting to exert a corrupt and suri-ep-
titions

16
INyLtTENCE OVEI THE COURTS,
ani public press, and that these are, in many instances, yielding to that corrupt
and surreptitious influence. As well might you attempt to prove by sworn wit
nesses these or any of the other notorious facts that gleam out upon the sun
shine, and need no proof because they admit of none, as to require the proof of
sworn witnesses that the blood of the citizens of Warren county, white and
cslored, has for future time added new memories to the Pemberton
monument and furnished the material for another epic to the Eternal
Hills of Vicksburg. There, sir, by the margin of that noble river,
rest the remains of eighteen thousand Union soldiers. And, sir, hard
by the rich and costly plateau, beneath which the Nation has dutifully inurned
the ashes of her dead but still victorious warriors, a little to the east,
and separated from it by no "bloody chasm," but only by a narrow ridge,
which time and the winter rains are rapidly removing, there is another and a
lonelier spot, equally sacred to the respect and affections of brave men, and to
the tears of gentle and devoted Woman. Above it, the mocking bird sings in the
willow, and over it Nature, even in winter, scatters evergreens and roses with a
generous and 'impartial hand. There, sir, sleep all that was mortal of those who
fell gallantly fighting to uphold a Cause which is now forever Lost !
"In vain was the strife! when the struggle is past,
Our fortunes must flow in one channel at last.
Like torrents that rush from the iuountains of snow,
EoU mingling in pea«e iu the valley below. ' '
And there summoned to their slaughter — ^to attempt murder, and then to
die — near the sepulchres of the dead heroes of both the old armies, and dose to
the monument that commemorates the surrender of Pemberton to Grant,
with their faces turned to the county seat ot Warren county, and their
murderous orders in their pockets,
fell over one hundred men belonging to the hardy laboring classes of Mississippi
' "There is a tear for all who die
A maurner o'er the himiblest grave."
" The double inscription may now appropriately be made ou that scarred
monument :
"Here surrendered the Confederate Chieftain in 1863, and here fell one hun
dred Dupes to the unhallowed ambition of Adelbert Ames in 1874."
Sir, the manacles Were drawn so tightly about the limbs of the white peo
ple of Warren county that even the rude iron of which those manacles were
wrought has at last snapped asunder. Ere long it will in like manner burst
from the limbs of their brethren in. the other counties of Mississippi. And
it will require A STRONGER HAND
than that «f Governor Ames to rivet it again. These people fully recognize the
Freedom and Equal Bights of the Colored Kace, but they claim that they them-
selvei belong to a free race, and are determined that they aud their race shall re
main free forever, or they will go i
' 'Where the Spartans still are free
In the proud cliamel of their Thermopyla; ! ' '
^Mr. President : I know that no
WORD OT warning
that. I may be able to utter, however earnest and anxious, is likely to have the
slightest weight with the blind and infatuated Stranger whose robber grasp is
upon the throat of Mississippi, or upon the insolent miscreants who alone com
pose his political household. "Whom the gods intend to destroy
they first make mad." But, sir, I warn Governor Ames . and his associates
that they have deserted the flagship of the Constitution; that they have placed
their lives and fortunes upon a Pirate bark, and are rapidly steer
ing it into stii'ange and perilous waters. Nightj and the tempest are gathering
thickly around and before them; let them hearken to the sweUing gale and
rumbling thunder before it is forever too late 1
' ' For Time at last set« all things even .
' And if we do but watch the hour.
There never yet was human power '
That could evade if unforaflvsn
The patient search and vlgillong
'»' bun wtw> kimsnrtis up a wroag '

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