The daily gazette., 1876-08-10
NISSESSIPPE.
WHY DEMOCRATIC ELECTION FRAUDS
WERE IMPOSSIBLE IN
THAT STATE

WERE IMPOSSIBLE IN
THAT STATE.
From DIR. Bayard's Minority Report.
The reconstruction policy of Con-
gresslhad fully and perfectly forced the
institutions OF the State of Mississippi
into the most entire subsection and
conformity with its provisions. What
Mississippi was at the time OF the last
election of Governor Ames in 1873;
she was 1.-THE work of reconstruction
by Congress" Ths will of her people,
their tastes, their virtues and their
faults had been melted and run into a
mould fashioned by the will of Con-
gress alone. If her institutions were
defective, If they were not conducive
to the ends of good government. if
tLey were arranged with an unwise
disregard of the condition and wants
of her people, that people are no more
responsible than the population of
France, for they had no voice. such
as che was in 1878 the Congress of the
United States had made her. The
State Constitution was moulded in &C.
cordance with the will of Congress.
The legislation under it had been enac-
ted by men placed in power by tie
Federal Government. The ruling
principle of that legislation seems to
have been to lead as much power as
possible directly into the hands CT the
Executive, in which the reins were
placed. The institution of suffrage
g, was OF course the proposed basis, and
to control this the machinery of elee-
tiops was placed absolutely in the
hands of the Governor, who had the
sole power to appoint those officer.
who, in their turn, had the power o1
appointment of the registrars of every
county, who in their turn appointed
the election officers throughout thu
State in their respective counties, anl
supervised the elections and returns
thus gathering the whole control o
elections in a single executive hand
This was the state of things when Gov
ernor Ames took his seat on the frs
day of January, 1874, elected in tn
month of November previous. Their
was not an official of the State VIII
was not member of the Republican
party, There was not cOunty Off1cia
to be appointed by the Governor VIII
: was not in close affinity with him. Il
all the Republican counties, and al
' were Republican in which negroe
were in majority every official was
member of the same party. Thus W
see that the entire control of the Stat
: was in the hands of Governor Anne
: and his party associates. At page 9
!. of his deposition the fact is stated b
: him as follows: 't
!, Q. You have stated the violence and il
}, timidation to have existed in the Republics
: counties Of the State? A. Yes. sir.
!, q. You have not referred to violence in ar
: but Republican counties? A. No. sir.
g Q. Were not, then, all these justices Of Il
IS pence, chancellor.. the judiciary. and Il
machinery for choosing juaries in the hands
!, Yes, sir.
). Q. need not ask you if all tn, Unit,
: States officers in that state were not membe
l.. ofthe Republican patty that YVES so. was
l. Q Then the grand juries and. the pet
D. juries. and the judges, and the sheriHs. ar
2; the supervisors, by whom the jurors We
sss all D TbsS %e4s
10 belonging TO the ominant party.
O. OF course every official of the Fede
'r al Government, district judges, distri
10 attorneys, marshals, deputy marshal
= supervisors, postmasters, revenue of
) GERS. were all of the same party, al
10 necessarily active adherents. 1t ms
/. ;be truly said that there was no tra
l. whatever of official power in the Sta
y; of Mississippi IN the hands of Il
O. Democratic party until the first day
January, $1S76.