The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1870-03-17

AS means ofeconomy proper TO my OWE
/ department OF the government, / shall use
the most conscientious care In my appoint
ments 20 ONCE. Competency on the part Of
Its indlvldual agents Is one of the first es.
sentials OF government in the administers
I ton OF ffs affairs with providence. Blu the
competency of officials in the transaction Of
public business is not more important In or
der 20 reduce the burden of taxation, than
their honesty. No considerations, what
ever, shall turn aside my fixed determine
ton TO scrufinize every application for Of
nee under these two points of view. Actu-
| ated as am by not only an honest pride OI
position. but by those plain dictates of pOlif-
zeal policy which demand imperaTively
| that the expenses of the State Government
shall be kept down TO the lowest possible
ngure consistent with its benefcent design,
l shall refuse to entertain any claim for of
nee which cannot be maintained in face oil
every question OF competence and honesty
and may, furthermore, add OF sobrie-
| ty.
Our taxation will be, after the employ
ment of the most Jealous economy, extraor-
dinarily large. Its application will, how
ever, tend not to impoverish us but to en-
rich us; for it will be directed to develope
the productive powers of the State. And
productive result can receive no greater inn
pulses than that accomplished by the educa-
ton of labor. The world has adopted the
industrial college" and the 'public SCHOOL,
IN concession OF the principle that the high
est production of wealth follows the combi-
nation of muscle and intelligence.
Outlays on public education yield a high
return in the increased production OF an ca :
ucated people. While the economies of the
question show it thus, to be wise policy,
the popular government which is planted
amongst US to-day. preferring prevention to
cure, superceding physical p wer for moral
cation that priceless return which comes to
people in the growth of the virtue that
springs, perennial, under the fosuerage of a
government which sets aside the policeman
for the school-master
The Board of Public Works called for in
the Constitution, is a subject of outlay spe-
cial to the new. ADMINISTRATION So great are
the demands upon the people for other SER
vices of the State. that the present condition
ofthings is not opportune for any consider
able expenditure from the public treasury,
on internal Improvements. In view of this.
the wise economy which, have no doubt,
Will govern legislation, will, it may be as
sumed, follow the suggestion made by the
mode of constituting the Board of Educa-
ton. by designating two or three officers
the administration to constitute the Board
OF Public Works under President bringing
to the duties of the position the skill of
civil engineer.
The Malta Is another subject which in
wolves the incoming government in new
OUTLAWS. The Legislature will undoubtedly,
discharge its duty by organizing citizen
soldlery In this State. as they are organized
in other States. The economical spirit
which will no doubt, actuate our law-mak-
ers, will place this force on the footing of
presume, a sedentary body liable to be cal
led. on extraordinary occasions, into active
service. The public may therefore, feel as
sured that the Constitution, in calling for
Militia. does not involve necessarily and
very grievous additions TO the burden of the
public revenue.
Lawlessless, may, however, make the
Militia a source of crushing taxation. But
the improved temper shown by the people
leads me to hope that they will not force
upon the incoming authority of the State.
any resort to armed power. Personally,
such necessity would affect me with pro
found regret. But SO long as | shall have
the honor to govern the State, the laws shall
be obeyed. Even poverty and helplessness.
shall, while preside over the government,
be held sacred within our borders from law
less violence. Old citizens or new. black
citizens or white. natives or foreigners,
coming into this State, shall be shielded by
the law as with panoply of steel The
immigrant who comes among Us, and the
traveller who passes over our domain, may
feel assured, that henceforth, have Moth
ing to apprchend from the pistol and knife,
they will be in the inviolable keeping
civil power at once omniscient and Omni-
present.
Within the limits of the per centage of
crime incident to the best ordered societies,
l shall not attempt repression by agencies,
other than those ofthe Courts. Let lawless-
ness, however, run riot, let criminals escape
by reason of either the cOwardice or the
sympathy of the people of Beat or of a
County, and ! shall not hesitate to bring
that people to a sense of their obligation to
law and order. even though they shall have
left me, for that duty of government. no
means less painful to my own feelings than
that OF calling out the Militia. And here
does the question of economy pass beyond
the control of either the Governor or the
Legislature, to receive its limit directly
from the moral sense of the people.
Slavely is dead. Free labor demands the
abolition of code based on bondage. The
past must be swept away from our statute
book to be replaced by the present. And
equality before the law must now be estab
lished by legislation in q form which shall
throw open the ballot box, the jury-box,
and the offices of the State to the '-compe-
tent" and '.honeSt,n without distinction of
color. The colored citiEens must be pro-
tecCed in all their rights ofperson and prop
erty and, being placed, NOS only ri theory,
but In fact, on exactly the same footing in
the courts as all other citizens, shall be left
free to pursue the race of life under code
which shall throw open all the rewards of
success, intellectual or Industrial, to be worn
regardless of the previous condition OF the
winner.
The colored population are an infant peo-
pie struggling to maintain themselves in
the presence of intelligences more advanced
than their own. And the first duty of
wise and paternal government is TO protect
the weak against the strong. From me,
individually, the colored people of Missis-
sippi have every reason to look with pro-
found anxiety for the realization of their
new rights. In the face OF memories that
might have separated them from me as the
wronged from the wropger. they offered
me their confidenoe-offered me the guar
of their new and precious hopes
in a trustfulness whose very mention stlrs
my nerves with emotion. In response 70
anxiety with which 1 enter my Office as
Governor of this State, is that of making the
colored man the equal, before the law, of
any other mantle equal, not in dead let
ter, but in living fact.
And the weak and poor amongst US are
not confined to the people of color. Thou
sands of our worthy whites have ever re-
manned, to a great extent. strangers to the
helping hand of the State. But all those
citizens have at last risen to their proper
level under Republican government; and
shall henceforth be made the special object
of the State care. The poor and the weak
of the whites are in need of our fostering
help. In the neglect of their education and
the defencelesspess of their industry, they
must commend the tender solicitqde OF the
Doiiticai system which Is planted, this day,
in Mississippi. not upon its point, but upon
its base-tfle whole people. And We pro
coed to this work regardless OF cQnsidera-
tions of race going forward with it in hearty
good faith under the mission OF men who
bring Mercy and Justice to the weak and
lowly.
The Legislature of the State win. no
doubt, do It's duty earnestly to the new order
Of things. But laws are of very little value
in the practical establishment Of new sys-
TENS unless they be committed to an admin
Istratjon which combines the necessary con-
ditions for embodying those laws IN facts
Our legislation In the interest OF the poor
er classes will be confronted, In traditions
of centuries, by great force of virtual null
LITIGATION. While legislative power is very