The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-11-25
A CLEAN SWEEP IN MISSISSIPPI.

A rCLEAN SWEEI LIN u1SJASCAA ~
How it was Accomplished-The Way to
Win-Magical Effect upon the Value
Of Property.
Correspondence Of The Cincinnati ComnierciaI
JACKSON, MISS, November 8.
AS the election returns come, the mag
nitude of the white line victory becomes
apparent. At this writing it is a ques-
ton whether the Republicans have
carried single county in the State
The official returns will doubtless give
them a few counties, but they had as
we'll have retired from the. contest, a
month before the election, 80 Tar as sub.
stantial fruits from their campaigning is
concerned: II had not been in the State
twenty-four hours until saw how it was
going. In the first letter wrote two
weeks ago predicted a victory for the
whites, and reiterated it nearly every let
ter since. Before the impetuous determ-
ination of the whites to carry the elec-
ton at every hazard, I knew that the
thirty thousand Republican majority
would amount to nothing. The whites
carried the Legislature by a majority OF
not less than thirty on joint ballot, and
have elected five out of the six Congress
men, to say nothing of. ,ae
THE CLEAN SWEEP
in county officers and the election of
their candidate for State treasurer. The
last Congressional delegation stood five
Republicans to one Democrat. The del
egation now stands FIVE Democrats to one
Republican, and even this solitary Re
publican is not. 10 a certainty elected.
The official returns may leave him out.
The Legislature had a Republican ma
iority Of about twenty on joint ballot.
The Democrats have reversed it and q
little more, so that it will be reliably
Democratic on joint ballot by thirty ma
iority. 1t is clean sweep, perfect
revolution. But the so-called revolution
is perfectly understood here: 1t was the
result of the frenzied determination of
the whites TO carry the election by every
hazard, and they carried it: Their pro-
gramme did not contemplate ballot-box
stufing, or anything like that but sim
ply to operate on the minds OF the
negroes-conyince them that the proper
ty.holders were in rebellion against
negro rule, and would stand it no longer,
unless that rule was set up again by Fed
eral bayonets. The negroes, no longer
supported by the Federal power, as. they
conceived, gracefully accepted the inevi,
table, and in large numbers, either voted
the white ticket, OF refrained from voting.
-. -. :, THE LEGISLATURE.
From what I know of the. candidates
nominated by the whites, I have not the
least doubt but what the incoming Leg
islature will be the best one that has as:
sembled in Mississippi since the war.
The whites really made an honest effort
to- bring out their best men, discarding
in many instances the old line of politi-
clans, and putting forward men OF
capacity, worth, intelligence and property.
Really, there was no comparison between
the ,rominees of the: two parties. The
Republicans did not show a capacity to
improve by past experiences. Indeed,
it was not expected that they could, for a
stream can not rise above its source. An
incompetent class of voters will inyarla-
bly select an incompetent class of legisla-.
tors. That has been demonstrated times
without number. In the District OF Co
lumbia; under the very nose ofsthe gov
ernment, the negroes elected such a
u,orthIess lot IN office. and kept at it so
persistenly, that the taxpayers could
find relief only, in the abolishment of the
District Government as then constituted,
and q change in its form. Yet the col
ored people in the District are far more
intelligent and capable than their class
in Mississippi. Here we have the
densesst of dense ignorance. To suppose
that the p1operty-holders would rest
quietly under this sort of thing year
after year, was to suppose that they had
less of human nature than we find In
other parts Of the world. I am not ap-
proving of the cir manner .ofgetting rid of
negro rule, as. they call it, I am merely
suggesting that We make allowances TOR
human nature. There were. few good
men among the Republican nominees for
the Legislature, but the most OF them
were a..
;,a IA soREY LOT, -. .5=s .
made up of plantation negroes, BARRIERS
imported from, the North, white carpet
baegers without q. dollars interest in the
State; and natives who become Repubh-
cans one day and candidates for office
the next. It was such slate Of candi-
dates as would be reptdiated in Ohio. by
five hundred and seYenty-fve thousand
majority, provided the vote was as full as
at your last election. .,7a... r-4t /.
Understand me, there were some good
men among them, but the most were a
sorry lot. Had the Republican party,
so-called, carried the State, the Legisla-
ture would not have been an improve
ment on the last one, and which was a
very inferior body of lawmakers. A
we'll balanced man could not go among
them without vague feeling that some
thing was wrong, that such men were not
calculated for law-makers. A fulL-blood-
ed negro is not an exceedingly intellect.
ual person at best, and when his natural
stupidity is heightened bya want of all
knowledge except what he has Learned
between cotton rows, when in fact he can
not read sentence in the language or
sign his name, the question arises in the
impartial mind, how can this man be a
success as law-maker? The incoming
Legislature will contain comparatively
few negroes, not above thirty in number,
and the body will be strkingly superior
to anything Mississippi has had in the
way of lawmakers since the war. But
wisdom does not always accompany in
telligence. Whether the new Legisla-
ture is wise or not, we shall know more
in six months from to-day. They can do
much good! or much harm. Any attempt
to curtail the rights of the colored peo-
pie will be looked upon with suspicion.
An attempt to re-enact the Black Code
of 1867, or anything like it, would be
fatal to the interests of Mississippi. On
- i IL ,1ot 10 Ira