The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1875-06-09
MISSISSIPPI PRESS CONVENTION
AT KOSCIUSKO.
Wednesday, June End. 1875.

nesday June End. 1870
Present-G. w. Harper. President; G. G.
Thicker. and II. d. Money, Niee-Presidents
] 5. IIoskins, Secretary, and K. Nalpole
Treasurer. -
and : w. Dale. Chaplin.
On motion, j. l.. Power was appointed
Assistant Secretary pro tenn. and ). 4. Jones,
CbaDlin. pro tep3.. aud upon further motion,
kinioch Falconer was appointed Assistant
Secretary in the temporary absence of ). l..
Power.
The Convention was then opened with
prayer by tbey yhaPlsip potion
.Ifhe Shall delivered the following address:
Gentlemen cfthe Convention
An ever watchful Providence has guard
ed us throughout the ample round of anoth-
err year. and brought Us together in THIS
thriving town OF koseiusko for the ENJOY
ment al another reunion.
A. your presiding officer, | welcome each
one Of YOU here. and express the wish thar
our meeting may prove harmonious ana
ioveus; that in future years, amid our
tolls. our anxieties and our dlsappOint-
mems we NAV be able TO revert TO this oc-
casion with profound pleasure-with emo
tiops of pride and satisfaction. May We,
to-day, lay up in the mine store-house
courtesies and incidents TO Which fond mem
orics Viii cluster so long as recollection
ana mind remains green.
We are Assem- BLEED here as the representa-
tives OF the Mississippi Press-as the advo-
Gates of a free aud unfettered Journalism
Rphird Ms we have left our m ultipled labors
and cares, and our manifold disquietudes'
pcruleXitieS. and whatever of asperlty there
may be in our breasts. And here We meet
with warm hearts ana gushing affections,
generous souls ard open hands for all men,
AID especially for all who arc engaged in
the labolious and responsible duties OF IN
dependent journalism. And, to-day, we
may well renew our vows on the affairs OF
our State, and on the Star Spangled banner
of our country
Here shall the Press the Peoples rights main
tain,
Unawed by influence and unbribed by gain
Pledged but 10 truth, 10 liberty and law,
No favor sways, no fear shall awe.
Observation and experience teach, gentle
men. that when the country is prosperous
the Press is financially pros porous; and on
the other hand when the country is In gloom
and distress the Press is enveloped IN Imam
cial darkness and despair.
1t would afford me extreme gratlhcatlon
i'll could, on this occasion, revert to our
situation aud condition, as journalists, as
citizens, in terms satisfactory and cheerful.
1T would CRAFTY me beyond expression,
Ii | could at this moment pronounce the
State, the country, prosperous. we all out
too we'll know, however, that instead OF pros
perity. staguation everywhere exists In
business; failures and bankruptcies are IA
millar occurrences; an extraordinary con-
traction is apparent at every hand; an I'M
precedented shrinklge of values appals us,
while our lands are mOrtgaged To the cap
italists at ruinous rates of interest. and
whole townships are being Knocked down
under the mcrcileSs ham ofthe tax-gath-
erer A cloud of anxiety and dlstrust un-
doubtedly surrounds the country-and es-
pecialV this State of ours. A fearful condlt-
ion OF affair>is upon US. To bad government,
local al d federal, may all these multiplied
woes be traced.
During the early and throughout the bet
ter DAYS of the Republic, the American
statesman and patriot exhibited peculiar
pride in advocating and insisting upon
perfect freedom, and unreSiralned liberty
for the Press. Indeed the theory was held
that Liberty could not be permanent without
a free Press, that a Republic could not eX-
ist if the Press should become sGbservlent
to the desire and whims of those in au-
thority. In other words, that a constitu-
tional Republic and civil and religious
Liberty, although embedded in the very
hearts OF the people, would be safe and Sc
cure under the watchfulness of free Press !;
while all would be lost ia the darkness of
night, should the Press be subsidized
should it become. through bargain and sale
or otherwise, an instrument. a tool, of those
in power. Our patriot fathers who found
ed this government and baptised it with
their blood, fully believed these great truths
and hence engrafted them on the federal
State constitutions, emphatically declaring
that 'la1oS shall nor be passed dbrtdgtng The
fr1D1 adff4ifhg MS administration OF The eruer
Adams, an effort was made to fetter the
Press. The Sedition Law, as it was called,
was enacted--a law designed to screen
those in authOrity-tO punish any who
might hold those in authority up to their
public gaze. The Intention was to hold the
Press in check and subservency. The sem
timent of the country Tevolted. John
Adams and his party were overwhelmed
by the indignation Of our Yirtuous and lib
erty-loving ancestors.
But what do we behold to-day? We
have but to turn to the Acts of the Con-
gress OF last year, and we find here a dag
ger driven deep into the freedom of the
Press-a dagger as well pointed and as
piercing as the Old Sedition Law which con-
signed John Adams TO private life, and
overthrow the old federal party, not
withStanding it carried among its adhe-
rents many of the most illustrious names
in the cOuntry's history. We allude, of
course, to the Gag Law passed by Congress
a year ago-the creature of corrupt dy-
nasty-the outcropping OF military and
despotic power.
The Gag Law is war upon the liberty
Of the Press, but it is, perhaps. less dan
gerous to the liberties of the people than
two other propositions which now have ad-
vocates-
ory at this period. We hear of those who
contend that all the grand trunk railroad
lines of the country should belong to,and be
operated under the supervision of the fed
eral government, and be made subServient
to its interests; and then again there are
those who insist that the telegraph lines
should also be the property OF the govern
ment, and subject 20 its exclusive control. |
w hen the government seizes these two !
great interests, so necessary to the intelli-
gence and safety OF the people of the cOun-
-ry, and so indispensable to Il free Press the !
government may then we'll seize the press, |
ana with the assistance of the Gag Law of |
1874, blot out on this continent the last re- |
mains Of liberty.
1t is for you, gentlemen. to maintain the |
!ignity an d the freedom of the Press 1t I
: for YOU 70 resist every encroacbment |
lpOn its rights, let it come from whence il /
nay. Ii is for Won. regardless of conse-
luenceS. to speak the truth--tO cry aloud /
md spare MOTTO wage vigorous warfare
gain-t every man in official station who is
hostile to the peace, the prosperity and the
Iest interests of the whole people of this
country. All history teaches that cORsoI-
dalton overthrows Republics, and that
espOts and tyrants alone seek to fetter the
'ress. Let us gentlemen. do gallant bat
lie in the peoples cause. in the cause of free
government, i'm behalf of free speech. and
free and unpurchased and unpurchasable
'ress.
ny spirit, Independence, let me share,
Lord of the lion heart ard eagle eye,
ny steps | folio with my bosom bear,
Nor heed the storm that hewls along the sky.
But the spirit Of consolidation is exhibited
OF in federal affairs only. 1t crops out |
,arfully in the States, and nowhere is its
'ead more majestic and naughty. than in
ur own Mississippi. No people in all the ,
-orld are more sincerely attached to a Re
ublican form of government. than are the
eople of our own State. Gathered in as |
he great body OF us are, from the older States
arurally proud of our country-our whole :
civilization. its rapid growth,
; boundless resources, its past prosperity 7
nd especially proud of the State of our
would make Mississippi a
odel State--a model in its laws-a model i'm