The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1869-04-29
The Jury Order.

The Jury Order
The Military Order, published else
where, requiring assessors to make out
supplementary lists of persons to serve as
jurors, 50 as to include persons of color,
has been expected and will surprise no
one. In whatever spirit, or with what
ever intent it has been issued, our resi-
dent white population viii know well how
to deport themselves under it. The mass
of negroes are Of necessity unaequalnted
with the important duties they are re-
quired to perform under this order; but
nevertheless they are duties which involve
the issues Of life and death, and OF pro
lection of property, and the maintenance
Of law and order; and the people who
have these great interests to guard, will
diligently and patiently strive to afford
instruction to the new jurors in the way
in which they are to be performed. In
this matter, a in others, the freedman,
feeling his incapacity, and want OF intor-
nation, viii gladly profit by the
experience and yield 10 the in
fuence Of the superior intelligence of the
white citizen. BY the active use Of these
agencies, by practicing attorneys and cit
izens generally much Of the damage to
the eneraIinterests ofsociety which would
otherwise materially result from incompe-
tency, viii be avoided.
Our people viii therefore do themselves
benefit in very many ways needless here
10 recite, if they will take a practical
view Of the subject; and treat it as they
would any other matter Of concern TO
themselves. While they viii regret the
incompetency Of the new jurors, however
proper NAV be their inclinations, to try
issues submitted to them, they will inf
nitelv prefer service with them as jurors
10 association with the lower class Of car
pet-haggers who have been appointed to
office Of late, and with whom they will
necessarily be thrown In contact. These
carpet-baggers are thus described by Mr.
Medill, the editor Of the Chicago Tribune,
the leading Radical paper in the West, in
a letter which he has recently written to
his paper from the South: "The Southern
people (says Mr.. MedillD entertain an
sirrevocabIc luminosity towards carpet-bag
.sofice-seekers and L really Gl1lot blame
'4he5a, for It Is a deplorable fact that a large
'pajoyity Of these gentry are scAMPs AND
THIEVES; rotten d1ift,cood 1rho haze footed
''oo1cn the Mississippi and sqllatted on the
''o6iccs. They bring disgrace on the par
''ty to which they profess to belong. They
possess rs keen a scent and as ravenous
AN appetite for plumber as the vultures
'.who fill the air have for putrid carcas-
'sses." And then speaking particularly |
Of these ycrmin as they exist in an add |
oining State, Mr.. Medill says, 'itis safe
TO enter the carpet-baggers for Pi!tering, |
'pee,latRg and sco,mdreiism there, in con-
'nection with any of the trade in any
part Of the South"
That our resident whites will infinitely |
prefer to take any sort of service with the |
freedman and trust to his characteristic |
to be guided by superior in
than with ''the scamps and |
.'thieves who have foated down the Mis- |
''sissippi and squattcd on the offices" de
scribed by the leading Radical editor, we
all know Where the alternatives Of |
choice are presented (and they indubita- |
bly, will be in some localities) for office at |
the approaching election between honest |
and well-meming freedmen, however il |
literate they may be, and this 'pilfering
and peculating' tribe of carpet-baggers, |
We shall certainly advise all men to unite
in electing the former. And so we inn |
prefer the freedmen as jurors
to this class Of interlopers rs incumbents |
of the offices.
To sum up the whole, let our people |
all unite in turning this innovation to the |
best account. Our meaning cannot be |
The opportunity must |
not be trlfed away.