Daily Mississippi clarion and standard. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1866, 1866-08-04

the fields Of fancy, is now withered, and all
the flowers of rhetoric are faded and gone,
and can but offer for your consideration
me homely and practical suggestions.
Repugnant as it is to my tastes ana Ieel-
ings to discuss now questions touching upon
our public affairs, have felt that / cou'dno
well avoid doing so to some extent on the
nr,scut occasion, and could not, perhaps,
better meet the demands of the hour than
Inv submitting some reflections with reference
to the great and vital changes that have re-
Gently occurred in our condition and clrcum-
stances, as individuals, and as people, and
with reference TO the duties and responsible
tiles resting upon US, and especially upon
our institutions of learning, and our young
men, in this new phase of our social aud lu-
dustrial existence.
In pursuing the line of remark thus indi-
Gated | am not unmindful of the adnoni-
ton,
'incedis per ignes,
SuppOsitos elmer dolOSi."
But vet, in treading over these "treacherous
embers." and amid still smoking ruins, do
not deem ii necessary TO preface anything L
NAV say with either prOtestatiun or profess
sion as to my motives or opinions, nor have l
any fear that ! shall give utterance to senti-
mcnts obnoxious to any jast criticism, or
otherwise do violence 10 the prOpnetles OF
the occasion.
With reference to the causes which pro-
duced that fratI cidal STRIFE, mOurnfully
calamitOus in its results, it is not my inten-
ton now or hear to speak. 1t is, however,
but vindicating the truth of history, and
the wisdom of the fathers, TO state, that It
grew ont of no design or desire to change
the form of government as originally estab-
lished by them, nor out of any dissatisfac-
tiOn with the Constitution ITSELF but was
the bloody sequal of war Of ideas which
had been waged almost from the date of its
adoption as to the proper Interpretation of
that instrument, and which it was believed
by us was so interpreted and administered
by dominant section as 10 threaten the
practical subversiOn of the government aud
the inevitable destruction of those rights of
person and property which it should be the
end and object of all governments to foster
and protect.
Whether these apprehensions were well
founded or not, and whether We We're alb
stractly right or wrong in our theory of the
functions and powers of government, State
and Federal, or in the means to which we re-
sorted to vindioate this theory, il is not my
purpose to inquire. 1t is enough to know,
that after years of bitter controversy of Grim
nation and recriminatiOn, the theatre of
strife was shifted from the hastings and the
halls of legislation, l" the camp and the
battlefield, and that in the dread arbitra-
meut of arms, THE last argument" OF States
as well a. Of kings, a decision was pro-
nOunced against us ut the canuUns mouth,
from which there is no appeal. There the
theory lies entOmbed with the thousands of
its martyrs who vainly sacrificed their lives
in its defense, and, Obeying the dictates of
wisdom, let us turn sadly from the dark and
drcary past to the contemplation of the
present
Having in our brief and tragical expert
mcnt tn establish an independent govern
ment, challenged the respect and admiration
of the world, as well for wisdom in the cabi-
net rs for proves in arms, may We NOT justly
insist that we are no less entitled 10 that re-
speCt and admiration for the manner in
which we have borne ourselves, since, by the
signal failure of that experiment, we became
a vanquished and impoverished peoPle!-
Adversely tests the virtues of "A people as
well as of an individual, and, looking to all
the circumstances, 1t may bc safely affirmed
that there is not an instance in history that
will III all respects compare tavorabiv with
the spectacle winch has been presented 10
the world by the people of these southern
States since they laid down their arms; show
ing that, to whatever cause attributable, the
superior civilization which we claimed was
something more than an idle boast
Let us glance for u moment at some OF the
time when we abandoned our cause as hope
less, the country was an immense camp from
onC extremity to the other, and almost our
entire white male population, between the
ages ~ seventeen and fifty belonged 10 some
form of military organization; and when
this mighty camp was broken up, and its
tens of thousands were disbanded, SONIC of
whom were veterans Of hundred fields, and
all more or less accustomed to arms and to q
hal 70
absent for years tIom home, and the anchor
atlnG influences OF social and domestic life
all OF whom were penniless, and many Of
whom were about to return TO beggareG fam
lies and desecrated hOmes,-is there, or has
there been another country, where, out of
these materials, hostile and maTauding bands
would not have been formed, eluding OF de-
flying the power of the government, OF at
least committing acts of Decentralization and
turbulence, requiring the exercise of militia
~ force for their repression And yet no
armed organizations we're formed beyond
Perchance a few outlaws banded together
here and there for plumber only; not a gun
has been fired hostile to the government; and
with the almost pardonable exception of a
few instances, in which stores, formerly the
property Of the government for which these
men had sacrificed their all, were appropria-
ted, no riots or other violations of the rights
of person or property occurred.
For four or five years the laws had been ST.
lent amid the clash of arms, and courts of
Justice had almost ceased to exist, and when
the military authority, which had controlled
everything, was subverted, and there was in
fact no law, is there now, or has there been,
another country or people where, under such
circumstances civil and social disorders, and
indeed the widest anarchy, would not have
occurred And yet, no sooner does the
10 Of hat 10 oil t4l,
instructive love of law and order, communi-
ties are recognized, the civil tribunals re-
established, and
Returning justice lifts aloft her scale"
AT the commencement of the conflict we
were, in the aggregate, beyond controversy,
the wealthiest people upon the globe, and
possessed more of the elements of agricul-
tural and commercial power and prosperity.
Many of our people had been reared in the
lap of luxury, and far larger proportion
were surrounded with all the comforts of
life in abundance, and exempt from the ne
cesSity of daily toll Not only was our sur
plas wealth, so to speak, swallowed up by
millions and thousands of millions in the
devOuring wort Z of war, but almost every
form of property was involved ia intliserail'-
mate destruction. rence6 and houses were
UaFaed; farmes pillaged aud devastated
mills aud manufactures destroyed; CON-
merce annihilated; business paralyzed; and
our system of labor utterly subverted Not
o lily were those who had never known a
want deprived of all the luxuries to which
they had been accustomed, but thousands of
our people were denied the comforts of life,
and thousands more its very necessities, SO
that mere subsistence, in multitudes of cases,
and sometimes in whole communities, was
and is yet, question of startling import
Under calamities SO appalling, where is there
another people that would not have stag
gered into hopeless imbecility and despair?
And yet not only were these incredible losses
and trials borne by our people with heroic
and sublime fortitude, but with marvel
lous promptness they adapted themselves to
the new condition of affairs,-the corner
stone of a new social and industrial edifice
was laid, and soon the Phoenix, Prosperity,
began to be evolved from the ashes of her
former self.
Looking to the impulsive character of our
people. and to the intellectual power and i'm
FASHIONED eloquence for which our public |
men have been distinguished, where is there |
another country where systematic efforts
would not have been made, cOyertly or OPEN
ly, to cripple and embarrass the government |
that had compelled our allegiance, either by |
involving it in war abroad, or in commo- |
lions and commissions at home? And vet it 1
may be affirmed, that Notwithstanding the |
trials to which it would almost appear that |
We are designedly subjected with view to