Mississippi index. [volume] (Columbus, Miss.) 1865-18??, 1867-07-30

suffered, and bad men, for a time, ruled
but the English race have never YET
failed to rescue their constitution
from the power both Of traitors and
fanatics.
/ tell you the American people will
not always be deceived. They will rise
in defense Of their constitution, and trai.
tors win tremble. They who rallied
three millions strong to defeat what they
considered an armed assault on the con-
stiutiOn and Union, will not sleep until
a few hundred traitors from behind the
masked battery of Congressional oatbs
and deceptive pretensiOns of loyalty shall
utterly batter down the Constitution and
Union forever. warn YOn, b0astful,
vindiotive Radicals, by the history Of
your own fathers, by every instinct Of
manhood, by every right Of liberty and
every impulse Of justice, that the day
is coming when you will feel the power
of an outraged and betrayed people.
Applause. Go on confscatingl Ar
rest without warrant or probably cause;
destroy haJeas corpus; deny trial by
jury, abrOgate State Governments; defle
your own race, and fippantly say the
Constitution is dead On, on, with your
work Of ruin, ye hell-bOm rioters in sa-
cred thingsl but remember for all these
things the people will call you to judg-
ment prolonged applause). All!
what an issue you have made for your
selves. Succeed, and you destroy the
Constitution Fail, and you have COW
cred the land with mourning. Succeed,
and you bring ruin on yourselves and
all the cOuntryl Fail, and you bring in
fanny upon yourselves and all you delu-
ded followersl Succeed and you are the
prejured assassins of liberty. Fail and
you are defeated, despised traitors forev-
er. Ye who aspire to be Radical Gov
ernors and judges in Georgia, / paint
before you this day your destiny. (Un-
bounded applause) You are but cow
ards and knaves, and the time will come
when you will call upon the rocks and
mountains to fall on you and the dark
ness to hide you from an outraged peO-
pie. (Applause)
But they say that oath was prescribed
by the President, and that he isnOt loyal.
Then / must answer fool according to
his folly, and traitor according to his
treason. What do they require who
passed these bills-this military Jugger-
nauti They require every man who
registers his name to vote, to swear to
support the Constitution, and counsel
and persuade others to do sO-and still
it is said the Constitution has nothing to
do with i'll They say the scheme is
outside of the Constitution, and yet in
the process Of carrying it out, they re-
quire an oath to support the Constitu-
tion and persuade and counsel others to
do so. That is more than Mr. johnson
ever required in the oath which he pre-
soribed.
1t is my business to support the Con-
stitutiOn, and my duty and pleasure to
persuade others to do so. Some of you
who favor the acceptance of the militia
ry bills take an oath to that effect, and
still intend to vote for a convention
which you admit to be ordered contrary
to the Constitution How is tbisi If
you have conscience, l have said
enough. IfyOu vote for the Convention,
you are perjured! OF l pity the race of
colOred people who have never been
taught what an oath is, nor what the
Constitution means. They are drawn
up by a selfish conelaVe Of traitors to in
fiict death-blOw upon the life of the
Republic by swearing them to a false
hood They are to begin their political
life by perjury to accomplish treasOnl
I would not visit the penalty upon them.
They are neither legally nor morally
responsible, but it is you-educated, de-
signing white men--whO thus devote
yourself to the unhOly wOrk-whO are
the guilty partiesl You prate about
your loyalty! I look you in the eye and
denounce you! You are morally and le-
gally periured traitOrsl You periure your
selves and peDure the poor negro to
help your treason! You can't escape it,
You may boast of it now, while passion
is rife, but the time will come when the
very thought win wither your soul and
make you hide from the face Of mankind.
l shall discharge the obligation of the
amnesty oath. 1t required me to sup
port the Constitution and the emancipa-
tiOn of the negro, and ] do. l will not
bind my soul to new slavery, to hell,
by violating it. talk plainly, but
simply want to break through the encrus-
tatiOn of the hardening conscience, and
make men feel and realize their true sit
uatiOn.
I have proved that these military
bills violate the Constitution, and that
you, in carrying them out, violate it and
your amnesty oath and your registry
oath. And what is your purposei 1t
must be a great good you seek to induce
you to commit so much crime and folly.
Sometimes men wink at what is by
strict teehnicalities wrong in theindivid-
nal fo aooomnEqh couna oraaf rond IN