The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1875-09-23
The Mississippi Troubles.

I The effort of Gov. Ames to oyerawe
and intimidate the people of Mississippi
at the coming election with an array of
Federal troops may be set down as an
unmitigated failure. President Grant
and his cabinet are at last awakening to
the fact that the American people are
righteously indignant at the employment
of soldiers to control elections in this
part of the country, and that such in
strumentalities to keep carpet-baggers in
power must not be used any further. 1t
has taken long time to convince the
administration of Gen. Grant that the
military must be subordinated to the
civil power in this country, and that
local governments must be employed for
the protection and not the oppression of
it's citizens But the time has arrived
when this lesson is rot only learned, but
is being inculcated by the President and
his constitutional advisers. Gov. Ames
has been selected as the medium for COM
municating this lesson to all aspiring and
designing demagogues, whose only chance
of success in public life is the exact pol
icy heretofore pursued by the Republican
party, under the leadership of Gen.
Grant. Not until the condemnation of
the masses, however, did the President
and his followers forsake this convenient
method of making and unmaking State
governments, and it is not likely that a
change of policy, even though satisfac-
tory and entirely just in its execution,
will reinstate the men who are truly re-
sponsible for the bloody record of the
Southern States since reconstruction.
The carpet-baggers and their native-al
lies, in order to retain power and control
of the negro vote, have sedulously en-
couraged the presence of disorder and
riotous proceedings, by which means
they were enabled to retain the protec-
tion of the military, and thereby impress
the negroes with the idea that they alone
were the friends and protectors of the
colored race. When peace and good
order is restored, with civil government
in the ascendancy, their occupation no
longer brings the substantial rewards,
and they are forced to release their grasp
upon the public treasures, from whence
they derived subsistence and power
through plundering schemes.
The lesson to which we refer is con-
veyed by the Attorney General in let
ter to Gov. Ames, which letter has been
printed. Judge Pierrepont quotes the
dispatches received by him from Presi-
dent Grant, who acknowledges that "the
whole public are tired out with these an
nual autumnal outbreaks in the South,
and the great majority are ready now to
condemn any interference on the part of
the government" The Attorney Gener-
al reiterates this declaration, with which
every member of the cabinet who has been
consulted is in full accord He advises
Ames to accept the proffered assistance
of the white citizens to put down any in
surrection he may be able to show them,
and says none of them can understand
why Ames does not convene the Legisla-
ture, in case there is any need for money
and arms to maintain the public peace.
His letter plainly intimates that the Gov
ernor has been indulging in the usual
amount of lying, which has heretofore
been necessary to secure the cooperation
of the Federal military, and we have al
ready shown that President Grant is en-
tertaining more scrupulous notions upon
that point. He further suggests that all
lawful means and all needed measures be
employed to preserve the peace, and let
the country see that the republican citi-
zens of Mississippi have the courage and
the manhood to fight for their rights, if
necessary.