The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-12-11
FRIDAY, DECEMBER IL, 1868.
The Case of Mississippi.

WHEN the result OF the constitutional cleo
ion held In the State of Mississippi some
months ago was announced, It was generally
aoquiesoed in by the people of the North, as
well as those of that State, under the belief,
in this section Of the country, that majority
of the legal voters of the State were unwilling
to resnter the Union under any terms i'm
posed by Congress, and certainly under the
Constitution which was submitted to them by
the Jackson Convention. While this Constitu-
tion generally conformed to the requirements OF
the Reconstruction acts, 1t is represented as
containing several provisions which are en-
tirely too proscriptive in their character,
and in consequence OF which the
people of the State refused to
give it the sanction of a majority of
their votes. At the time OF the election, and
for months thereafter, nothing was said of
fraud, and we were led to believe that the
vote upon the Constitution was quite as fair
and honest as il was in the other States in
which elections We're held under the Recon
struction acts. Quite recently, however, it
was discovered by somebody that the grossest
frauds had been perpetrated in a number Of
counties, and that when the votes of these
counties were rejected in toto, the Constitution
had majority of what was left. Therefore it
was argued that the Constitution was legally
adopted. To impress this idea upon Congress
COMMITTEE of five''-self constituted, to all
sppearances-has arrived in Washington, and
is now diligently at work in the effort to lobby
the Constitution through that body.
1t is possible that the objects and motives
of this committee are legitimate; that the Con-
stitution did receive, as its members allege,
clear majority of the legal votes of the people;
that the "committee of five" is not body OF
mere adventures, as their opponents alege;
and that the State is entitled to representation
in the Federal Legislature under the Constitu-
ton which they advocate. Yet it becomes
the duty of Congress to investigate the mat.
ter thoroughly before any decisive especially
before any favorable, action is taken upon the
subject presented to them by the committee.
While it is eminently desirable that Mississippi
should be restored fully to all her former re-
lations to the Union, it is even more desirable
that this restoration should be brought about
reconstructed government should be estab-
lished upon basis of impartial justice to all
the people OF the State; and that as free and
fair an opportunity as is consistent with the
national safety should be given the
former participants in the Rebellion
for performing their share of the great task
Of restoring the State to its normal condition
of prosperity and peace. The fact that SO
many months were suffered to elspse before
the alleged frauds were detected is, of itself,
sufficient to impart to the present movement
suspicious look. Not until the matter has
been closely scrutinized should Congress de-
clare that the people of Mississippi are en-
titled to resume that place in the sisterhood
of States which they wickedly and without
provooation renounced. The powers of Con-
gress in the premises are ample and if the
same patriotic and states manlike spirit which
prompted their dealings with the other insur-
rectionary States is manifested in the case of
Mississippi, the people have declared in
advance, by the election of General Grant
their approval and entire satisfaction.