The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1876-09-28

hliiSi bRo DtCJk cbb w ECNtt 'S"'t
years, and which has given an earnest
of economy by the reduction made III
public expenditures by the present
House of Representatives., especially.
when the candidate of that party has
shown by his record as Governor OF
New York, that he is an aggressive re-
former, from whom rings and thieves
may expect no mercy.
But as earnestly AZ We desire to see
a return to the honest and
cal methods Of the caller days Of the
Republic by the general government,
the Southern people recognize the fact
that with them the oyershadowlng
question Is, how to escape the evil and
ruinous results Of the blunders Of re
construction, and to secure that peace
and quiet which must preeede prosper
'ity, and whica they can only have by
being permitted to manage their W
local affairs, rs the remaining States OF
the Union arc allowed to do. The
present md past military Interference
with the Local affairs of the South IS rs
unjust as it is nnwise.
The armies Of the C~onfederacy eleven
weary years ego surrendered III good
faith. The attempts to establish an in>
dependent government was forever
abandoned.
The Southern people, without reser-
Walton, returned to that allegiance
which many of them, under force Of clrN
cumstances, Undiscovered with sorrowing
hearts. We only desire an opportunity
to build up our broken fortunes. And
this Centennial year would have wit
messed the ravages of wal repaired, the
South prosperous, and the whole coun :
try thoroughly united in feeling and
sentiment, had not party exiegnces pre-
vailed over discretion and patriotism,
and prenaturely thrust the ballot into
the hands or so many persons utterly
unpreparel to use it. But this be-
came II of the conditions Of the re
Mobilization of the Southern States, IN,
wisely because premature, we think
those who imposed it, must themselves
now see. The duty, the necessity de.
volved upon us of adapting ourselves
to our altered situation. The eighty
thousand newly-made voters, Ignorant
of the duties of citizenship, were nee
essarily dependent for advice i'll the
exercise of their newly acquired priv
leges. From a -partizan stanC
point, it a entirely immaterial wheth
er they acted with one party Of thu
other, or both; it was only importan'
that they shonld not become the cas-,
and ready tools of designing men. They
were largely in the ascendancy in ,
number of the States. Unfortunately
the hardships and in some instances
the cruelties inseperable from the con
dition of slavery, from which they ha(
just emerged, together with a feeling
of gratitude to the North for then
emancipation, made them the easy pre-.
of the adventures who came amongs'
them, recounting their trials as slaves
and prociaimiming themselves as th'
representatives of those who had givel
them freedom. Against the banefu
effects Of these appeals to passion the
Southern whites patiently labored.
Recognizing the solemn fact tina
everything-sociaI order, local govern
ment, and You might add civilization
itself-was imperilled, we were pre-
pared.to make any sacrifice, not dis
honorable, to avert the impending, anc
to remedy the existing evils. Actuatel
by this feeling, the South, four year.
ago, with one accord, acceptedled Mr.
Greeley, the earliest and mos
steadfast friend the negro ever had, be
cause we knew that his great heart an,
sound Judgment would never consen
that whole States should be sacrificed
and their inhabitants remanded to
s~emi-civilized condition for mere part,
advantage.
In our own State, party organization
was abandoned and Republicans, mel
in whose honesty the party had conf
dence, were brought forward by thel
former opponestss or the bighest Offices
with a view Of dividing the colored vot
and diverting at least a part OF it from
the support of those who were %coEtroll
ing the machinery Of orr local govern
mems with a view to their WI person
al advantage, and regardless Of tn
good Of the State.
Many Southern men preserved in tn
attempt to accomplish szthe same en-,
within the party organization to w!lcl
the blacks, almost without exception
yielded a blind allegiance, but it was a.
to no purpose. Interruptions men
lavish in their promises to the blacks
and aver ready to appeal to race preju
dice as against their former owners
with rare exceptions, continued to con
, troll them, ard through them the Re
publican party, until every one, actua
ted by a desire for the public good
must be convinced that no relief ca.
come through the Republican organiza
ton as it exists in the South. The onl
hope is in united opposition to all at
tempts to continue ir, or to restore
authority that class of men who hav
welded the ascendency lover the ne
groes for corrupt and selfish purposes
Thereby, as recent events have lndlca
ted, our deliverance may be assured !
the Southern States are not subjugate'
to su%nwarranted Federal interference
Asdihicult az is the problem Of maintain
ing good governments circnmstanced p
we are, the solution OF it is Ienaere
impossible as long as the sts'ng arr
of military power stretches cat fror
Washington to uphold and cacourag
/, corruption, oppression and ignorance.
Let the responsibility of prescryin.
peace and protecting all OF the peopl
in their rights BE placed in the hand
of u own local authorities, and L be
lieve it will be done.
The North must see that if the South
ern people are capable of self govern
ment, that Federal espionage and su
pervision and military interference
wrong. If they are not capable, thel
they cannot be educated by the bay
onet, and the sooner our system o
Republican government is ackuowledg
ed to be a failure the better. But
! have an abiding faith that the peopl
of tbe North will not lo~ngertolerate tn
policy of int ttererce which has SO lon
prevailed toward the Southern states
that they will no longer consent Una
the interests of the whole country aux
of our Republican form of government
itself shall be imperilled in order tina
party purposes may be su~bserved, ant
that the time is near when ~sectlonallsn
will be unknown, and the anlmosltle
of war forgotten forever.
Very truly yours,
J. T. SESSIONS.