The daily gazette., 1875-02-16
From the Phiiadeiphia Evening Telegraph.
b. 4 WOrd for the Soatfh.
An Impartial Review oil the Situa.
tiOn Of A fairs in Miss issiDDt.

tcuiS ocoH TouHtcitu WIN one OF the
largest insurance companies of this
city, and who has occasion to travel
extensively through the Southern
States, has iust returned from tour
OF Mississippi. While in that State he
made careful notes Of his observations
which he has put in connected form
as given below. He is careful OBJ
server, man of sound judgment, i'm
partial and unprecedented, and he thus
Sums up the state of affairs ::
Having recently passed over nearly
the entire State of Mississippi, on
tour of observation, / feel that it may
be comforting some little benefit upon
Northern readers 20 give MY impress
siohs OF the condition of affairs in that
state, and of the sentime pts and spirit
of the Southern people.
In the first place | would say that
! am reader of the newspapers and
believe that keep myself as thorough
ly posted in matters Of general inter-
est as most readers, and yet, while
looking around me in Mississippi, |
felt Il continual rebuke for the igno-
rance, or prejudice, or want of percep-
tion that had held my mind in such
satisfied judgment rs to Southern af-
fairs before went Southy
The large majority of our Northern
people. though not wishing to harm
the South, even in thought, have
wrong viewsregarding the sentim ents,
disposition and present aspects, social
and political, of the people, mean
the whole people, white and colored,
of the South. speak advisedly in
] saying that such is the case, at least so
far as Mississippi is concerned.
In all the towns | visited in Missis.
| sippi | made myself familiar with the
citizcns-called on the doctors, law
" IS, clergymcn, merchants, mechan-
les on all classes, and talked with
them freely upon subjects pertaining
to their social, political and material
interests, etc, and now feel qualified
to speak of them understandingly and
without prejudice.
| Nearly all the more intelligent men
whom ! met, and who made any refer
ence to the matter, said they were Un-
ion men before the war, that they
were crowded into Rebellion by force
of circumstances, that, the Confeder.
acy being organized, their convictions
of duty, even against their feeling, led
them to its support that when the
war was over they acknowledged their
utter defeat, dropped all antagonism
and i'll feeling, and only wished for
peace and fraternal relations again
with the North and they say that
they have the same feeling and wish
now.
AS Il people, looking at their past
they have been humiliated, broken ant
utterly crushed. Their business meth
DDS, social relations, and modes Oi
government are radically changed ol
passed away beyond recall. This
change, these ruins, may have come
as the natural consequences of u ma.
tural cntailed sin, or as the workings
of Divine adjustment of humaf af
+ fairs, but, whatever the cause, it il
mot with the past that the prescn
should be mostly concerned.
Let every intelligent man look the
lpresent straight in the face. What i
the exact condition in Mississippi to
day
Il The entire municipal authority o
the State is in the hands of the blacl
man, He holds the majority in tn
Legislnture-holds the majority @
offices in the State, holds the majorit
I. OF votes in nearly all the counties,
y the maker of laws and the suprem
director of public affairs.
And what is the result of all this
e. Simply ruin--ruin to all the best inte
d ests, present and prospective, OF th
Is State.
" There is no question in this matter
At there il no room for discussion nor fC
d theorizing it, lis but palpable fac
The men who hold and direct the Coy
ernment of the State pay little or notl
ing towards the cost of its annut
maintenance. The men who impOs
the taxes have themselves little @
nothing of material interests upol
which to pay taxes.
In several counties | found the 81
pervisors were composed entirely
4 negroes. They assess the property
determine the amount of taxes to b
collected, and yet very few of thel
possess any property whatever, an
the large majority of them can Meth,
read nor write their own names,
When sworn into office they make the
(x) mark.
puth iuhs iol NuuCdtt
white men, merchants, landowner
etc. And what are the taxes imposed
From s to nine per cent, and upc
ct their own arbitrary and excessive val
a alton.
to Is it any wonder, under such rul
that schools are neglected, that bu'
ness is at q stand still, that enterpri
T, is checked, and the development
all material interests and resources
- the State utterly neglected
nd And yet, after all, the great body
white men. the former rich planter
with their once luxurious living, Il
~ business men, the educated, refine
the real genuine old Mississippian
nearly all with whom conversed, Isl
prised me by their very humility
ips submissiOn-not tike patience on
monument" but as q monument of !
tience. But they understand bett
than we of the North can understal
J., the causes that have led to this lame
table state of affairs; and the reaso
m hanap,a ohuinna IN mo Harmed