The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1875-02-10

ertS ruin VIII be written on every door
post, and every breeze viii be freighted
with the sighs and groans of blighted
hopes and ruined prospects. Great God
Is it possible, that men, claiming to be
the representatives of the people, intend to
fasten upon the wealthiest county in the
State, this black seal of a swift and terrible
destruction? / cannot, [ will not believe
it. Let reason, aud not passion, control
your action, and remember that you are
making history: yea, more than that,
YOU are making record to-day which
must be met at the bar of God, on that
great day of accounts, when every thought
and every act of our lives must pass in
fearful array before the Great Judge, |
call upon you, whose voices have, from
dav to day, been raised from that stand,
in supplication to Him whose ears are
ever open to the cries of the oppressed,
who have prayed from time to time, that
peace and goodwill may prevail in our
borders, and that nothing may be done in
passion, or in forgetfulness of our personal
responsibility, to pause before you deny
your faith and insult the God whom you
profess to serve. If you are, indeed,
''ministers of the glorious Gospel of the
blessed God" prove yourselves worthy of
your high calling follow in the footprints
of your lowly Master, and seek to bring
peace, not strife, goodwill, not enmity,
to your fellow-men.
But there is another thought in connec-
ton with this subject, which fills my mind
with the most fearful apprehensions, and
if it were not that love Mississippi, the
beautiful land Of my birth, from whose
generous bosom [ have been nourished
through all the years of my life, the home
of my wife and children, and beneath
whose sacred soil sleep the forms of
'Ioved ones gone before" I should not
suffer my mind to dwell in contempla-
ton upon this horrible picture, but
would turn away from the sickening
scenes which rise up before my vision,
scenes of blood, and carnage and wide
spread ruin, of widowed mothers and or
phaned children, of deserted homes, Of
blasted hopes and blackened prospects
I know that the advocates of this bill dc
not realize what they are doing. They
do not know that they are erecting thei
: own funeral pyre, and perhaps kindlfn2
. the flames which will consume their owl
t lives and all that is dear to them.
I know. that in the blindness of their par
: tizan zeal, they do not realize that there
n a point beyond which forbearance cease
e to be virtue speak the words of SC
s. berpess when [ tell you that the peopl
V of this State may be goaded on to de'
a peration. They have been long and pa
IS tientlv, as can none but a brave people
d glorious even in their degradation, hopin
and waiting for the returning sense {
~ Justice to right their wrongs, and restol
: good feeling and friendship between tt
h races. The true men of Mississippi d
or sire no conflict, nor will they encouras
y, lawlessness of any character, but there
,d such a thing as selfpreservatlon, sci
49, defense-the first law of nature-wrltte
e not upon the statute books by the har
to to of til Legislator, but by the hand
1v Almighty God in the great volume OF
,I!o ture We see it in the humblest Wor
4 that crawls upon the ground, as he tur
~, to bite the heel that treads him IN t
ar dust: we see it in the sweetest bird tn
ID ID flies in the air, warbling praises to
,rs Maker; we see it in every beast tf
10 roams through our groves and fields, a
NO I would warn gentlemen that the sal
of God-given spirit burns, even deeper do
fo,. in the breast of man.
ear I know that some will say that this
is all idle talk, but let me tell you,
the friendship, as one who wishes you
cir harm, that the people Of Mississippi
N getting terribly in earnest, and you,
to to-day tanning fire which may bu
hill into a flame, and sweep like wild h
the ricane over the land, destroying as
md goes. We are standing upon slumt
ing volcano, and an incautious step,
e to hastv action may kindle spark t
pon will hurl us into destruction. [ impl
hen YOU, colored men, by the love you b
nee. your wives and children, by all tha
,on- near and dear to your hearts, to ST
the Oh! stop and think moment; [ reg
the the present as the most critical perio(
ami the history OF Mississippi. The actio
n of to-day may decide her destiny for
net or for woe. This hour may be the t.
vet ing point, and I ask, "Shall we P
rren forward to nobler and higher plan
sup civilization, of wealth and happines;
pan shall we sink beneath the wave, and l.
rad no stone to mark the spot where
able. stood one of the fairest and lovelies
from the s'beauteous sisterhood'' of Stat
midst I leave each one to answer for hln
-, +bic question