The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1873-09-25
Gov. Alcorn's fernando Speech.

e am to-day the friend of tue peopie-tt
e whole people-and, above all, the friend {
the people Of my own State. Identified wit
the State for the past thirty years, my a
l. here. my property, my family. my twent
V years of public life recorded on the pages c
/ Mississippis history-all these offer in ties
T timOny of the honesty and truthfulness Wit
which now come before you. l ask no IN
/ dorsement at your hands tor anything that
i a. a public man, have done in the past
T: ask of you no sacrifice of your convictions
! While have nothing TO take back maxi
no demand on you. am. with my whole
heart, Republican. You may have warret
: against ME in the past; that matters not. 4
question is now at issue that Involves OuI
r peace. our future prosperity; our homes
1 our firesidts. Our State is about to be com
United TO the government OF i band OF lun-
) derers, who have organized for our robbery
who nave proclaimed war upon our pro-
+ perty, war upon our right to participation
in the affairs of government; who have
come to antagoniZe our people; TO engender
strife; who have come as incendiaries TO set
fire TO our homes that they may plumber by
the light of the flame.
On the eighteenth of January. 1870 Cen
eral Ames was elected by the Legislature OF
Mississippi To a seat in the Senate of the
United States. At that time Mississippi
had not been re-admtted TO the Union.
General AmeS was at the time military Gov
ernor of Mississippi. had 1Ot been inaug
urated. General Ames issued to himself
his own credentials. That you may COM
preheHd the situations, l VIII read the ere
dentials which he issued TO himself:
/, Adelbert Ames, Brevet-Major-G General
of the United States army, Provisional Gov
! ernor OF the State of Mississippi, do hereby
! certify that AdelberL Ames was elected
| United States Senator by the Legislature OF
his State on the eighteenth day OF January,
| 1870, for the unex pired term, which com
menced on the fourth day of March, 1869,
1 a nd Va if.h Wri on no lay nf
March, 1875.
In testimony whereof have hereunto set
my hand aud caused the great seal of the
! State of Mississippi to be affixed, this TWEEN
| ty-fitth day of January, 1870.
/ LIS. ADELBERr AMEs,
| Major-General United States Army,
Provisional Governor of Mississippi.
By the Governor:
JAMES LYNCH,
Secretary of state.
The credentials of General Ames, thus is
sued to himself, were, VI hsn presented to
the Senate, referred to the Judiciary Com
mttee of that body. The committee was az
the time composed of some of the ablest
lawyers in America: Senators Edwards. OF
Vermont; Conklng, of New York Car
penter, OF Wisconsin; Trumbull, of Illinois;
Thurman, of Ohio-all lawyers OF marked
distinctiOn-all Republicans except Judge
Thurman, of Ohio, the most OF whom had
presided on the supreme bench of their own
OJdtcS III luis luHuteI-dll OF JneSt
distinguished men agreeing to the report
General Ames was declared mot an inhabi-
tant of Mississippi" That committee re-
ported resolution, which L Will read
Resolved, That Adelbert Ames is not
eligible to the seat in the Senate of the
United ates 10 which he has been ap-
pointed"
When asked by The committee whether if
he had not been elected 10 the Senate it was
his intention to remain in Mssissi ppi, his
reply was: doubtful; | should have be
come citizen if had not been elected but
L felt certain of being elected" The debate
WAS a long one, ana II was nor until the first I
of April that Ames, against the vote of the
cuInDittee, Was finally admitted to his seat. /
y year after this, to- wit. on the eleventh OF
April, 1871, General Ames made speech in /
the Senate in answer to Senator Frank Blair /
in which he used this language, viz: IL /
stated 70 the Judiciary Committee that had /
| not been elected to this body would have /
continued an officer in the army Before |
the committee he expressed doubt. the I
doubt in the Senate was given in his favor. /
Had he then eApres>td himself ii ycor /
after he states he did express himself, I'M |
dertakc to say he would not have been i'd |
mitted to his seat. His statement in 1871 /
showed the tie that binds him to Mississippi /
lit is the tie of Office, of office, only. And !
what, ask, has he done since his admission I
to the Senate to strengthen his claim TO citi- /
zenship in Mississippi? Nothing, absolute
Congressional directory as resident of /
NatcheZ, and there it stands to-day on the |
registry, but he has never up to this good I
hour spent altogether as many as thirty |
days in the city of NatchCZ. Ii is true that /
he this summer went through the forms OF +
the purchase of house in NatcheZ but the |
deception is too shallow to deceive any one.
He does not live here to-day, nor does he /
ever intend 10 reside in the State. Thus the /
people OF the State are insulted by packed |
convention in presenting the name of this /
man for Governor who does not reside In 4
the State, but whose resid, nee is abroad;
who comes here to be our Governor as he /
would go TO a foreign land IN search of dia-
monds-that he might grasp the jewel aud
bear it back TO his home. His election would t
be a fatal stab to ali State pride; it viii ig-
uore residence citiz 4Dship, identity of in
tereSt. The State in his election will be-
come the political prostitute of adventures
of strangers.
But want of citizenship is the least OBJ
lection to General Ames. If he sought his
election with no il~feelng to the people,
merely to crafty his ambition, we could ,
bear this without com plaint; but it is more
than this: General Ames is an enemy to the I
white people OF the State he cares nothing
for the cOlOred people except to use them as
instruments in working the degradation OF
the Southern whites. His purpose is, re-
peat, to antagoniZe the races; TO exclude
the Southern whites from all share in the
administration of the State government.
tie seeks To urge the cOiOFeu people To NIO-
lence and aggression in the hope that the
white pc opie may be driven TO a peratlon
whereby, il need be, the strong arm of the
national government may be again invoked
for our chastisement and final ruin. What
cares he If blood may flow? What cares he
it raee-wars ensue? BY this his purpose
will be but the bitter sword.
When Governor L sought to bring the
white people and the colored people to-
gether i'm brotherhood of citizenship, but /
in N tprm 7
strife. While in his seat in the Senate, he
wrote to cUlOred member of the Legisla-
ture that was bartering the blood OF the
celOred people for popularity with the Dem
ocrats: thar cOlored people were being
murdered in this State by tens and hun
dreds and that | was deaf to their cry of
distress. He wrote this falsehood with re-
gard To myself, and this libel upon the peo-
pie of the State in order to kindle a passion
of hatred toward the Southern whites in the
colored mans heart. He denounced the
Southern whites in Congress as cruel and
savage race, as Representatives of barbar-
ism shocking to the civilization OF the age.
He declared falsely that he had heard, when
in Mississippi. the shrieks of the colOred
people in the agony of their cruel and heart
rendng torture! Calnmnies upon the peo-
pie of the State like these to De uttered by
one commissioned to represent the State ii
the Senate of the United States, is shameful I
even to a military satrap; but for the libel
Ter to seek the votes of the people. either
cOiOred or white, alter Sucn uIteranceS Is
an insult intolerable in itself
But Ames. I have said, is no friend of the
co!ored race; he cares not for them. heard +
him, with my own ears. declare that the
southern whites, no matter what their pro-
feSsions of LOYALTY. that the whites who had
sympathized with the rebellion, were I'M
safe as custodians of the State government;
that the only men who could be safely in
trusted with the government were those
who stood firmly by the L MON when the
war went on that these. as class, were the
men from the north; that the colored peo-
pie were without the intelligence necessary