The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1866-08-21
.aarr.. from senator j. l.. Acorn.
oprRoE MISSISSIPPI !:

To THE PEOPLE OF MISSISSIPPI
c+ata was struck down in the crash
rhottIe Having staked all on the "aSotr
81 var she lost all. Once under tne ho9 IN -
tbe victor, she spoke not OF Tagh's;
with his sword at ner pAo t1'
offaTed her terms. They dismissed rom W.
t,rorrs the sullenness of the enslaved ior Ine
lI.,a,.fnIness of the free The passive resls-
tanca which otherwise might have charac-
.a,.;zad vour action they changed, IL not INTO
baartv. into at least willing acqulesceneecc
Tn r,aonanimity of the eommander-ln-chiel
of the army and navy which had nung YOU
TO the earth, drew your hearts ONE N.Y.
to,-or,ls the Government of your fathers.
The terms of the compact of restoration
rV.re not light They demanded your consent
RI the abolition of slavery. Hereih thee
Subjected YOU, the people OF MISSISSIPPI 10 ="
nenaItv of two hundred millions OF dollars
They stipulated for your repudlatloh ol .l,o
dahf of the State, incurred IN the stFuSgi1
for the Confederacy In this they humoleu
Won i'm the agony of distress, to your own
dishopor. They bargained that every man
of Won. old and young, rich and poor, shouio
occent before the world the position OF
condemned criminal Magnanlmous, though
Won held the terms granted you by the
President of the United States, they We're
I repeat, if not grievous. certainly not hght.
All the conditions of the compact OF resto-
ration YOU have fulfilled Your duties under
that contract having been all discharged
YOU counted on the enjoyment OF the result,
ing rights. You sent, as you were invited
to do, Representatives and Senators TO
CONGRESS As one of the Senators whom you
Thus accredited, / hold it my duty, now that
Congress has adjourned, to report to you
that the right which you have purchased so
dearlv-vour right of representation-ha
been repudlated
Your exclusion from Congress is al act OF
bad faith As n violation ofthe Constitution,
| il NAV fairly be protested against by those
who held the war waged lcithiR the powers
| and duties of the Union To you ard me,
who have been parties to a reroiati0h, tins
denial of our right of representation Is, IN It's
! relation to the compact of restoration, SIM
| ply a reputation of the public honor. mat
act of faithlessness is, however, ehargeabIe
| in fact to but one department OF the Federal
! Government. The President sustainS your
contraet-right. A powerful body of men in
| the North supports that assertion OF the pub
! lie faith. They insist on your right OF rep
resentation. They demand for the whole
| country political repose. They protest that
| the North and the South shall be allowed to
settle down, as formerly, to the condition of
reciprocating prosperity. Having determined
on an appeal from Congress to the people,
| those gentlemen, men of all shades OF pOliti-
! cal opinion, have invited you to meet them
at Philadelphia on the I4th proximo in
| Grand Inquest OF the NatlOn.
| The convention to which you have been
invited brings the struggle of restoration to
a crisis. The business of that assemblage
concerns the people of the whole country to
the extent of their industrial prosperity, If
not also of their civil order. To you, my
| feIlow-citizens of Mississippi, the success of
that informal Congress is one of especial
| importance. The restoration of the Union
depends on that success. The representation
which constitutes the prime condition of that
restoration, is precious to You as the funda-
mental condition of your political liberty.
The Philadelphia Convention undertakes to
act upon the question, whether you, children
of the revolution of l776, shall stand within
the government of Your fathers, erect and
free, or lie PROSTATE under its heel defrauded
i'll your impOverishment and enslavement
into a surrender of your property, of your
pride, of your honor.
Liberty is infinitely more precious than
the golden fleece. Representation is not
more a necessity of your souls than it is OF
your purses. If your Representatives and
Senators had not been denied their places in
Congress, do You suppose that, in addition
to your full proportion of taxation common
to the whole country, you would have been
in your poverty, condemned to pay a spe
cial tax on cotton! Assuredlv not The
: Philadelphia Convention, in offering to as
sist in the recognition of your right of rep
: resentatiOn, involves therefore a question OF
material interest that, on the basis of youI
production i'll 1850, affects your pockets, men
Of Mississippi, to the amount of Thirteen
. millions Of dollars per dnRum
+, The cotton of Natal enjoys in the market
: of Liverpool, high classification. The
Brazilian tbers have always held then
f ground in competition with those of the
United States. The Egyptian staples ap
proach in quality the longest and finest OF
the American staples. Sea-Island cotton has
been produced for ten years without re
newal of seed, on the shores of Morton.
Bay, in South Australia The Cotton Com
mittee of the last Worlds Fair held in Lon
, don, decided that cotton of the very choicest
description can be produced IL mq,nIIY, part;
than that assigned by the market price
Inc tax on the production of cotton III this
country is n bonus on its production else
where In thus threatening the maintain
ence of the United States in the monopoly
OF that production, you will observe that
misrepresentation, going beyond a cost OF
even thirteen millions q year, threatens the
, very foundation of yOnr industrial prosper.
ity.
Cotton culture has proved itself within
the memory of this generation to be migra-
tory. As men now living have witnessed
lts migration from Jamaica, from Hayti,
from the Isle of Bourbon, so NAV we live TO
witness its migration from these United
States Inasmuch as the extinction of cot
ton growth In the West Indies while that of
sugar survived, resulted from taxation: so
lii'y the extinction OF cOttOn-growth in our
own country result from taxation The ruin
OF that branch of industry in some countries
and It's decline in Others have gone on. as n
consequence, from continued reductions in
tle price OF raw cotton, and the ruin or de
cine OF cotton planting among Won may
therefore be expected to follow from any
violation OF tie law which governed it's en-
lSratlon TO these shores-that of cheapness
Mlgratl0ns of industry are sometimes Sc
quences of revolution. In the disoroonizo
tlon OF your labor, you may find agencies
| Sufhclent to result in such migration in tho
case OF your cotton monopoly, even thouph
they had not been supplemented by a dan
gerous tax And thus it is that nOn-repre-
| sentatIon strikes at the very foundation of
your prosperity, your industry. and vonr
social order lnasmuch then as the Pbila-
delpha Convention bears directly, for GOOD
/ or Tor evil, on a question which involves
your dearest rights, political and material,
hoId myself bound by a solemn dutv to
| give you IN this address, an insight into such
! 1acts around me as point, in my Judgment
to the best policy for making that convention
a success.
The Democrats are regarded by the party
III ascendancy throughout the North with
intense hatred. The passions of faction
separate the two in even instances where
you would look for the philosophical temper
OF craftsmanship. To you this would be of
very little concern, if party blindness had
not included you among the objects of this
hate The Republicans have jumped to the
conclusion that, if they consent to your |
political rights, they would be outyoted in |
the next contest for the Presidency. by the |
democrats. This consideration underIies the |
fact of your exclusion from representation. |
Factions violence infiicts on you thus a /
grievous penalty on the supposition that |
you are natural allies of an opposition I'M
known TO you, save as part and parcel of a
people whom you have for four weary wears
associated with the red graves and burning
homesteads of your kith and kim
The Peace Democrats" are a mere hand
full. So far as their course during the struc-
gle of the sections is concerned; they are
known to you only your enemies. Like
all other men of the North, they have fouobt |