The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1876-05-17
Ex-GOV. AMES' TESTIMONY.
HIS POISONED ARROW.
Wholesale CaIumuies for Radical
.sra- Consumption.
n. I. Times !
WAsu1raroS Anril %. 1S16.

Ex-Governor, and have obtained state
ment of affairs in Mississippi which prOba-
bly covers all the points in his evidence that
are of general interest.
He offered to answer any questions that |
might ask.
twas the last election" l inquired, Gear
ried by violence aud fraud, as the resolution
of the Senate implies -
''Yes. The population of Mississippi is
about eight hundred and fifty thousand.
The blacks exceed the whites by some 49,,
900 or so 900. At least ninety nine out of
every hundred Of the blacks are Republicans.
The legitimate Republican majority is from
$4,000 to $4,000. Yet at the last election
the Democrats carried the State by over &c.
900. Tnis WAS due wholly to fraud, violence,
and murder to such an extent and degree
that the Northern mind seems incapable of
comprehending it. Before | went South
and was brought into constant aud intimate
contact with the people, mean the ex
rebels of the State-I do not think that any
amount of human testimony could have in
duced me to believe in such a condition of
society as exists in Mississippi | do not
blame the North for dscrediting it"
SIS it not safe for Northern man to live
there 81
'sIt i not safe for any Northern man with
national sentiments to live there, if his con
Victions incline him to the cause of human
ity and he attempts any active measures,
especially political efforts, in behalf of the
colored people of the State. If he is Il Dem
ocrat, it IS safe cnough-or if he refrains
from politics altogether, which no honorable
or manly citizen, of course, can conscen-
tiously do Even as "a Yankee when he takes
no part in politics, he is often ostracised or
treated as an infwior. What is true of the
Northern man is equally true of the South
orp white Republican. He is summed by
his neighbors. Longstreet is treated as
coldly as the carpet-bagger, as every North
ern man, rich or poor. who Is Republican,
is called in every Southern State. 1t is Just
the same everywhere. | mean Northern
Republicans who live in the State. Visiting
Republicans, especially newspaper writers,
or famous politicians, are treated WE'LL in
order to deceive the \ orth. Such men who
have returned to live, and then acted on
their principles, have soon found that they
had been deceived"
''Was not the fact that you were what
they call carpet Dagger the chief cause
of the opposition to you? | have heard it
so stated"
mo, sir. In Virginia they adopted
Walker; in North Carolina,
an old native leader, on purely political
grounds, was impeached and removed, and
Is denounced as traitor because he pro-
tected colored people-IIolden; in Louisi-
ana, Longstreet, their splendid military
1869, they themselves imported Judge Dent
from " a9hington TO run as their doFernGr.
Davis, of Texas, was treated in the same
wayne was thrown aside rs traitor as
soon as he became a Republican. It is the
Republican, and not the earpet-bqgqeI WIG is
hated y
''The Mississippians who oppose you say
that You made yourself odious by advocating
the social as well as the political equality Of
the colored people.
GAS public man." replied Gov. Ames,
''and as Governor, this question of social
equality never came before me in any way,
and had nothing whatever to do with it.
1t Is not live qt.esliO4 H. the State An
attempt was made in the early days of Is.
construction to indict Republicans for mis-
cegenation. The Grand Jury was Demo
cratic, and called a Republican before them
to ascertain what Republicans might be
ihdicted He Ea4 ..ked whether he knew
any white men who cQhablted Win Gofored
women He said ives l do who arc
they? He replied: Mr.. Foreman of the
Grand Jury, you are one of them And
then he proceeded to point out certain other
members of the Grand Jury who were in
the SAME G4tegGl9 Tho resut was that no
bill was found against 4ntole,- GitheE at EAak
session of the Grand Jury, or 1T any other,
BIT, in the days Of slavery, the practice of
miscegtll.s.ttii" was universal. About one
fourth of the colored population are o. ,".->c~.
blood; The Republicans made every effort
to break up titl social system in the inter
ests of the colored people They put d sec
ton in the Constitution that was adopted
in 1869, which declared that all persons
living and eohabitng together az man and
wife should be taken and held for all pur-
poses in law rs lawfully married. This
provision was intended, by legitimizirg the
children and making them legal heirs, to
destroy the practice of concubinage between
the two races. Stringent statutes Furnishing
adultery and fornicatiOn were also passed;
but such was the universal laxity of
sentiment among all Glasses on this subject,
that they were practically dead letters.
Slavery had demoralized all classes equally"
''The general complaint of the Democratic
leaders of the South is that the Republican
-or carpet g'-Governments robbed and
oppressed their States by excessive taxation
in order to enrich themselves. Is there any
truth in this charge against your admins
tration p
'On the contrary, this charge has never
been made against any administration since
the war in Mississippi, nor can it truthfuIly
be made. NY bitterest enemies never have
charged me or my Government with dis
honesty or dishonest attempts in the State.
The present Indebtedness of Mississippi is
only half million. This has been incurred
chiefly by extensions and Improvements of
public buildings and the purchase of sites
for normal schools and eolored college,
There is also an Indebtedness of million
and half--the Chickasaw School Fund
mainly incurred before the war, the principal
of which is never to be paid. This debt was
incurred by the action of the Democratic
Government before the war in diverting this
amount, the proceeds of the sales of land
given to the State by TIE United States for
educational purposes They loaned it to
railroads and made the State responsible for
the amount When | was Military Governor
Icaused suit to be brought against these rail-
roads, which has recently resulted in judg=
ment against them by which the State will
recover about million of dollars that would
otherwise have been lost. Now, the iHdebt=
edness of the State, the principal ofwhieh has
to be paid, As you will see is only about sixty
cents per inhabitant The indebtedness of
the city of New York is about one hundred
and fifty millions, or $50 per inhabitant, if
the city has really million inhabitants. So
much for relative Indebtedness Now, as to
the expenses of the Government Last year
in Mississippi for its various departments,
aside from interest on bonds and appropria-
tioas for colleges and permanent public
buildings, the expense Of the Government
was only 1918 00 which renders necessary
a tax of only seventy cents per lnhabltant.
Including the interest on bonds and the APP
preparations for permanent improvements
the expense is less than one dollar a head.
In New York city the taxation is $50 per
inhabitant; in the State of New York, SO
per inhabitant."
''Since you have lived in Mississippi what
has been your experience of the true senti-
ments of the people, or rather the ruling eIe-
ment of the whites in regard 10 the national
authority and the enfranchised class p 1a
SIN one phrase hostility 70 the negF9 az
80 eEsf IN