Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1868-04-03
THE BALL KEPT ROLLING.
An Immigration Meeting ON
the Cars.
Appointments for other Meet
ings Made. HEyFr


On board of the train on the Missis-
sippi and Tennessee railroad, bearing
the Memphis delegation and others to
their homes from the Agricultural and
Immigration Convention, at Jackson,
Mississippi, yesterday, an impromptu
meeting was organized and the follow
ing resolution, offered by Colonel ]. T.
Trezevant, unanimously adopted: 81
Resolced, That the citizens along the
line of said railroad are hereby earnestly
requested to hold public meetings for the
purpose of considering the most efficient
and speedy means Of settling their sur
plus lands with population whose labor,
intelligence and virtue will aid usin re-
storing our former prosperity; and that
these meetings be held at the following
times and places: 4
At fernando, Monday, April 18th.
At Senatobia, Tuesday, April l4th.
At Sardis, Wednesday, April 18th. 81
At Batesville, Thursday, April 10th.
At Oakland, Friday, April 18th.
AT Grenada, Saturday, AprilA8th.
Each of these meetings will be held at
ten o'clock am. t''t esis. ''tet ~ a
1t was further resolved also that Col.
Topp, J. L. Irrelevant, Gen. Wallace,
Pitser Miller, G. P. Foute, and others
friendly to the enterprise, be requested
to attend these meetings and address the
citizens. gff.gnt1EE
Before the meeting adjourned, the
presence of very modest gentleman was
made known by one of the delegates, who
introduced him to the meeting as Brig.
General Fl. B. Banning At the urgent
request of the meeting the General ex-
pressed his great pleasure as well as his
surprise at the remarks of those whose
deliberations he had just heard, being
accidentally on the same car He had
been in the Federal army during the
whole war, fighting for what he thought
right, as he believed we were doing the
same thing. After the war was over he
had gone to work, selling machinery in
the South and was just on bis return
from Holmes county, Mississippi, where
he had been selling machinery for saw
mills, and thus doing little towards
reconstruction " in practical way.
When he left home, some of his friends
expressed the opinion that he would
never return and so much had been
lately said about the unsafety of q
Northern mans life in the South, he
himself had apprehensions that he might
be daily insuled, if nothing worse should
befall him. On the cars, unknown to a
soul, he has heard and listened atten-
lively to all the speeches made; and
they were made without the speakers
being aware that an ex Federal soldier
was anywhere near them. He could
not refrain from quietly expressing to
one of the delegates what he soon
said to all; that, could that meeting
be transferred to Mount Vernon, Ohio,
where his home was, and could his peo-
pie have heard the generous, liberal,
kind sentiments which he had just heard
from the lips of Southern gentlemen, be
was confident that his little township
would furnish at least one hundred inn
migrants for this land Of yours--just such
men as you need-men of industry and
integrity = not Adventures or office
seekers; not men who would deny you
the privileges claimed for themselves;
but men who, while doing their whole
duty in developing the resources of this
fertile and charming country, would in
sist that its white population, born and
raised here, should have all the privileges
of a free American citizen. General
Banning said this trip was vastly inter
esting to him, for while he knew how
gallant our men were in war, he
now knew how generous, liberal and just
they are in peace. BE said his people
knew but little Of the South and that it
would be his great pleasure to tell them,
on his return home, that there we're at.
fractions down here Of which they had
no conception, while life and property
would be protected as with them at home
He spoke of the hard climate at the
North, and mentioned the fact that the
food required for horses, cows and mules
during the winter in that country, would
keep these animals in good condition all
the year round in this. He closed by
expressing his conviction that II some
of the gentlemen whom he had
heard would 20 to Ohio aud
explain their plans for inviting
immigration here, the effort would suof
coed beyond the expectations OF the most
sauguine. There are thousands fam
lilies there now looking westward for set
Elements who would turn their faces
southwark to this fertile land and genial
climate IL our plans were explained TO
them as be heard them explained to day
After concluding bis remarks, delivered
with the courteous elegance OF a gentle
man and the fraukness Of q soldier, the
meeting rendered the General q hearty
vote Of thanks for what he had 90 well
ana 90 timely said The meeting then
adjourned, requesting the city papers Of
Memphis. and ell other papers interested
in the subject, TO publish these proceed
inga