The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1872-05-30


choice and then certifying to his own eIec-
ton to that body
Ii l have interpreted your letter correct
ly yon have complained that your capacity
TO perform the service required ia the inter
est Of Mississippi has been impaired by the
blind passion of our people, by which
suppose you mean to be understood that
they have furnished their enemies ground.
of prosecuting hostilities against them
Their passions" you say, INSCRIBED the
18th amendment in the constitution II
that measure is the embodiment of wisdom
and Justice claimed for 1t by the Republican
leaders its enactment is not to be adduced
as evidence against them, even il it be due
to any proceeding OF theirs. In the almost
slavish obedience with which the Southern
people executed the edicts of President
johnson in all they did before that amend
ment, was submitted, it is difficult to find
proof of the passion" wbie h you have
described.
Nor were there evidences of passion"
in the repugnance which they manifested
to the reconstruction acts, when their auth
ors at the time of their passage declared
them to be measures of great but deserved
severity on people whom they had charged
with having committed the crime of high
treason. Without approving the vile means
by which these acts were passed, and though
loathing the spirit of persecution and hate
in which hey were born. | nevertheless
| believed that the circumstances in which
our people were placed, did not Justify them
in attempting their rejection; but though
1 a FRI I
repugnance with which they were received
| by the mass OF Southern whites, furnished
a justification for the wrongs, humiliations
and robbaries of which they have since been
the victims.
Another count in your indictment is that
the class 10 whom you refer as given over
| to ''hlind passion" did dot enlist under Your
eolors in the Republican party after they
had beaten its leaders in the contest over
the proscTiptive constitution of 1865. You
| intimate that there was then a moderate
faction OF that party led by yourself, as
contradisiinguished from the extremists ;
but if our people had been disposed to
choose between leaders all OF whom had
co-operated in the effort to give vitality to
the proposed odIous constitution, there was
no indications apparent to them of such
division of sentiment as you describe. To
outsiders the Republicans OF that day, were
all birds Of feather, SHIELD together by the
cohesive power of public plumber" and
| there was no sign of disagreement until the
practical business of dividing the spoils
commenced after your Inauguration.
D.. Anothe, complaint is that these same peo-
| rla xybOsr ssllinI naSSionSs- uot, bov., .sa,.o
Gated. have given occasion for the use of
military interference in our State affairs by
uniting with "carpet-baggers'' to defeat
| your scheme to Change the Venue. 1t SO
| happens that your memory is incorrect con-
corning tie events which combined to defeat
| that measure. Ii you will refer to the Jour
/ mails of the Legislature. you will find that
| it was reported against in the House by the
! Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. who
| happened to be Mr.. Boyd, an Alcorn or
| Home Republican, representing Attala
| county. The measure itselfwas so palpable
| a violation of the fundame tai principle of
the right OF trial by jury of the vicinage,
and so liable to be employe as an instru-
ment of persecution to the innocent, that
its acceptance could not have been justified
| even to avert the terrOrs of military rule.
And again yOu have found lying across
| the path that would lead you 10 the per
Torrance of good offices for the State, a
| lion in the shape of the Printers election
| which resulted in the rejection of the in
cumbents of your choice. The Public
Printer, you say, chad been caught i'm a
''sharp practice on the Treasury" You
The one represented honesty and modera-
''tion :" the other was the strong hold of po-
''litical adventures who sought to plumber
''through incehdiary divisions of the two
''races." And by a combination of Demo-
| cratic passion and Carpet Bag knaverv."
the sharper" was elected. This all sounds
well, but it SO happens that neither YOU nor
the organ which represented moderation
land honesty" ever alleged as a reason for
your action that the removed party ''had
''been caught in sharp practices''-never
accused him of over charges. nor false ac-
counts--and your silence left the public to
infer that it was a mere personal preference
of organising. 1t was, however. alleged
with truth. by the Democratic press, that
the discarded Printer was the beneficiary
of an unjust law which you yourself had
approved, and in virtue of which he had
drawn ut the rate of some $4,000 per
month from the Treasury. But no infer
ence favorable to your appointee. could
have been drawn by the Legislature. from
that fact, on the score of economy. mas
much as their accounts against the Treas
ury for the three months in which they per-
formed the duties of Public Printer
more than the average monthly receipts of
the Printer you had discharged! Nor had
the organ which you had established by
your appointment, given evidence that il
was any more of a representative of mod
Grafton IN politics than of economy in ex-
penditure. 1t had escaped all suspicious
of its unfriendliness to Carpet Baggers, by
devOting its columns to the lauda.iOn of
that yenal tribe, and in reminding the peo-
pie of the State of the wondrous things
they had done for them from the introduc-
ton of the Bureau regime down to that
time. 1t repeatedly protested that it
was as much an organ of the carpet
baggers' as of the home Republicans and
oh the very eve of the election il claimed to
be as sincerely devoted to the interests of
Ames as of Alcorn. And we have the ev-
idence of its own columns the day after its
defeat that it was party to a compromise
that had been agreed upon with the very
.ssharpers" whom you had turned out of
office ON the ground that she was the strong
hold of the political adventurers! -
But all these details are OF trivial moment
To the people. You hare OUerIOOked the Jed-
tlve If the transaction in tohfch THEY are
concerned. liz is that the election was the
first step towards the objective point for
which the ''blind passionists" in the Legis-
1ature were aiming-wbich they never lost
sight OF for "A moment-and which they
finally reached. viz: The reduction Of The
rates Of Public Printing This problem they
worked out trium phantly even TO the extent
of cutting down prices in some instances
below the rates fixed by the law of 1857
and saving to the taxpayers in this branch
OF the service alone, not less than 100000
per annum!
From the facts it follows that if on the
one hand the people have sustained loss in
the impairing of your capacity to serve
them in consequence of the defeat of the
Printer OF your choice they are compensated
by IA reduction of the rates of printing and
a saving to the treasury of probably more
than $4,000 per annum from the p-odigal
operations of law which had derived its
vitality from your own signature.
/ apprehend that it is the prompting of
the very passion" in your own bosom
which you ascribe to others, that has found
cause of complaint in the action of the
members 81 the Legislature touching the