The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1876-08-24

chosen through fraud and violence, such as
would scarcely be accredited to savages,
much less to civilized and Christian people.
This1ast statement, come it from whom
it may, we pronounce, in the face of the
testimony taken by this committee and
not yet printed, to be untrue and un-
warranted of the facts disclosed. The
tone of animosity to the white people of
the South, which breathes throughout
the Presidents message and letter, is un-
mistakable. In his message of July 81,
six days subsequent to this letter, the
President says 'sthe report on Missis-
sippi has not beeni made public" Why
should he anticipate? We hold and
believe that it will be so held by the
right-thinking men everywhere, that it
is discreditable for the Chief Magistrate
thus to have exhibited such evidence of
prejudice against any portion of his
fellow-citizens. 1t adds, however, but
another proof to many given heretofore
that the heart and mind of President
Grant are closed to all sense of Justice
where his political opponents, especially
in the Southern States, are concerned.
The minority show that other attempts
to forestall public opinion, in relation to
the affairs in Mississippi, have been made
calculated to grossly mislead. When
Governor Ames took his seat on the 1st
of January, 1874. elected in the month
of November previous, there was not an
official CT the State who was not mem
Der of the Republican party. There was
not a county official to be appointed by
the Governor who was not in close affin-
ity with him. In all the Republican
counties-and all were Republican in
which the negroes were in the majority
every official was member of the
same party. Thus the entire control of
the State was in the hands of Governor
Ames and his party associates. In all
these Republican strongholds, in which
charges of turbulence and misgovern-
ment are alleged to have existed, it is
noted that the entire local power was in
Republican hands. The minority assert
that Governor Ames prostituted his Office
and bargained with his appointees, and
speak of the State militia being organized
preparatory to campaign. The officials
being among the most notorious and un-
scrupulous partisans, black and white,
Of the State administration, many of
them being unable to read. This created
great alarm among the whole population,
and violence, bloodshed, and force, as the
only arbiter of the election, were first
suggested, in time of profound peace,
in the State of Mississippi, by Governor
Ames and his political associates. There
is not, from the beginning to the end of
this testimony, single case of the OBJ.
stuction of voter because he was a col
ored man.. Interference by Federal au-
thority in State elections and internal
affairs has. since the close of the war,
frequently taken place, and never without
deplorable and disastrous results, and on
the other hand the applications of the
minorities defeated by the popular vote,
to be nevertheless installed in Office, has
never been denied by the Federal au-
thorities, without such denial being fol-
lowed by beneficial results. Such inter
ference has always been followed, and
very naturally, by local discomfort and
disorder, as in the cases of Louisiana and
Alabama, while Tennessee, Virginia,
North Carolina, Georgia, Texas, and Ar
kansas, are living proof, in their increased
prosperity and tranquility, of the wisdom
of non-interference.