The Daily clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1866-1888, 1876-03-16
SPEECH OF hon. GREEN CLAY
On the Bill to Limit the Tax Levy for the
Payment of the Bonded Debt
OF Bolivar County.
A Full Exposure OF the Frauds
which Have been Pracficed
on the Taxpayers.

Mr.. SPEAKER: It may not be amiss TO
look at the circumstances OF this the first
Uet0 of the Governor of bill, local in its
nature, and OF little general Importance.
On the eye of leaving Jackson-called
away bv urgent private business-in an in
tervIew with thee Governor in regard TO
this bill, was Informed that he contem-
plated vetoing it notwithstanding the threa,
he understood expressed: that he did not
dare veto an act of this Legislature.
The Governor was determined TO show
that he was not afraid. As on the theatre of
great actions, there are hidden avenues by
which the historian arrives at the motives
and secret springs to grand ana noble
daring, so here, while ] stood before His
Excellency the representative of the tax
payers and citizens of my county, there was
opposed to me an invisible person, who had
not appeared before our committees, or been
REPRESENTED on this floor, but who had
emerged from the dark purliens OF the
Governors office. and whispered tale he
bore down from this House of the indiscreet
ex preston of some member The instincts
and calibre of the Governor, it seems, were
well known, and this act of sublime cour-
age was decided on! And iJ Was courageous
in a small way. For it challenges attention
TO the administration of His Excellency as
far as it has directly affected Bolivar
county.
With the indulgence OF the House L will
very briefly recount some facts in regard TO
it, which may, too, help US in the portrait
ure OF man we are about to consign to a
place in the history of Mississippi. The
President of the L nited States, by rule
peculiar unto himself, when an exalted pO-
sition is to be filled, selects from his army
"reminiscences some mediocre young man,
generally with no experience or skill IN
civil administration, som etimeS OF not very
robust integrity. This plastic material
soon forms to the mould of his policy, and
becomes the direct OutgrOwth of what is
known as Grantism. For his Southern pol
lev one Adelbert AmeS fell to the lot OF
Mississippi as Military Governor. No SOON
er installed in office, than Military Governor
Ames directs his attention to the Levee
Boards of the river cOunties--rich harvestS-
corporations, not political but handling large
amounts of trust funds, and upon which are
dependent all the industries of that section.
At the time, our Board was composed Of
the very best men of the counties, fit repre-
sentatives of the tax payers, OF whose trusts
they were the tiduciaries. These worthy
citizens were removed, our Levee office
taken possession of by the bayonet, and
some Young men, alien to the people, placed
in charge or these important funds and IN
terests. They have since tlOurlshed in
wealth and luxury and acquired large prop
erty while fine estateS--lndeed, almost
whole counties, have been forfeited under
the weight of taxation, and the owners
broughtto poverty and misery.
Under this regime, too, Canadian Super
intendent of Education was sent To our
county, who took his departure without
making a settlement of the school moneys.
And a Chancery Clerk, who. at the aour OF
night-it was 10 avoid ali inj unction-hauled
off the archives OF the county to new
county seat for his own pecuntary advantage
IN the purchase of a plantation residence
for a cOurC-house, as the deed books OF his
office will show. although, having good
courthouse and Jail, the citizens were, and
are still, heavily taxed for the new county
seat, and the name OF Prentiss, which should
cause the bosom OF every Mississippian
to swell with pride, is now replaced in
the designation OF our capital by the syno-
nym of shame and disgrace TO the country.
Next comes Bowles, like Packer. Sena-
tor from the 18th, and well ought he to be
designated by a number-appointed COM
missioner for the sale of levee lands by one
of the famous Chancellors. | need only
name him that he may bear his laurels--
Chancellor Stafford. Our Chancellor, await
confirm alton oy the Senate, BoWles, a
little recalcitrant, being Senator, was nat
urally appointed. Upon realizing large
sum of money from these sales, he abscOnds
and becomes defaulter for several thousand
dollars.
latest The special friend and counsellor
of the Governor, like Packer. too, near
and dear in the Governors hOusehOld--hs
chief military aid! He was appointed our
Sheriff and TaX-collector under an uncon-
stitutional law of his own procurement
while member of the Legislature. Only
few weeks ago he caroused through the de-
partments here below, walked over to the
bank, drew out his thousands, then due to
the State, and left for parts unknown, in
default to the State and county some
twelve or fourteen thousand dollars. Are
we not fortunate, Mr.. Speaker to have at
tracted the good graces and tender solicitude
of our Governor? He has never given the
real Interests of my county a decent
thought. And when it was known our
SherlHs and others were appropriating
large amount OF the taxes. and an executive
agent was to be appointed to supervise
them-Whom does his EXcelleucv select?
Their accOmplice and associate and him
self, the occupant of two of the suspected
officers, one G. G. Smith go, cover up the
shortcomings of yourself aud confederates,
and should you stumble across an outsider
in default, pounce upon fifty per cent. of his
plunder"-this was i'm effect his commission,
The House. the other day, called for the re-
ports of these special agents The said
Smith reports nil for the State and dates his
report from Oberlin, Ohio! His name APP
pears here as having bonded $4,000 90 Of
this debt about which the Governor is so So
lictous amidst the great cares of the State
Sam ireland, of Aicorn University notorlety,
is another! NJ. B. Sullivan. anotheri The
Governors only idea of service to the
State, or rather his party, seems to be to
distribute the spoils to its corruptest MEM
bers and thenceforward shield and protect
them in their stealings-7 He seems to say to
his friends: can't steal myself but will
put you in fair way to steal with impu-
nifty, and with no further sequence, he GER
tainly presents peculiar phase of human
nature as he does, when he now hurls repu-
diation at me and my people.
mpathy or sentiment in common with
Mississipiansl A public servant without
single act tor which the people will hold
him in honored remembrance! In fine. a
Governor without a State, partisan with
out a party and lower still. on the constant
verge of eriminality and fraud. detested as
the protector of embeZzlers. the friend of