The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1876-05-17

| has been put at three hundred"
] docs not Lamar oppose this policy ~
"No; Lamar makes very different speeches
in Mississippi from those he delivers for the
Northern market. While the Republican
papers of the North are glad to publish his
speeches IN Congress on account of their
| iiberaflty, the Democratic papers in Missis-
| sippi are afraid to publish his speeches in
that State on account of their bitterness
He made the most vituperative speeches
during the last campaign, and he owes his
election as United States Senator to that
fact He explained away his eulogy on
Sumner as being political necessitv-to
give the South hearing in the North
Barksdale, the most bloodthrty journalist
and most influential Democratic politician in
Mississippi, is his chief supporter"
"Haye there been consta t or ONLY occa-
sional outbreaks in Mississippi?'
''There are personal disturbances in Mis-
sissippi, often between white men and occa-
sionally between a white man and c0lored
man from time to time but these incidents of
a Southern and frontier life have nothing to
do with politics rule But wherever the
negroes are numerous, there are organized
disturbances. purely political, whenever the
time approaches for an election, These
outbreaks are part ola system, having for
their object the annulnent of the eonstitu-
tional amendments affecting the negro.
State administrations have nothing To do
with them. There was no Republican Gov
eminent in Mississippi in 1868, when the
constitutional amendments were submitted,
and yet 1t Is one of the most brutal and
bloody canYasses that the State has known"
"Where did the disturbances occur in
Mississippi at the last election?'
"Never in Democratic counties-always
in Republican counties. The Democrats Of
ten point to this fact as if it was a thing to
be proud Of The truth is that in counties
largely Democratic the negro, although not
whipped, or assassinated, or overawed by
actual violence, is cowed into submission
because he knows that all the machinery of
justice is in the hands of his enemies, who
have no scruples in using all its terrors
against him. lie knows he Gan e&peot no
mercy from white juries. This is done all
over the Gulf States. They are at peace be-
cause the constitutional amendments are de-
tied-practically abolished"
at is charged, Governor Ames, that YOU
constantly appealed to the prejudices of the
negroes against the whites-that YOU sought
from ambitious motives 10 prevent feeling
of harmony between the whites and blacks
Is that true %
mo, Sir. On the contrary, when / first
went to Mississippi, nine years ago, Ct have
been there ever since,) my duties brought
me into constant intercourse with the
whites, and adopted their version of the
condition Of affairs without Investigation,
and sympathized with them 1t was ONLY
when the trials over which l presided re-
yealed the fact that their conduct toward
the negro was almost universally character
lied by an utter disregard Of their rights as
citizens that was forced to become, if YOU
may call me so, their champion. Since
then have always taken a very prominent
part in Mississippi politics. | have mace
hundreds of speeches, and yet no man can
point out single line l have written or
. sentence have spoken calculated
70 ato4se hQstifltk Of race On the
contrary, I have used all my influence,
both personal and official, to produce sen.
timent of harmony Oh tho basis OF exact
and equal justice. That is just what | am
denounced for, because justice is what the
Democratic leaders do not want. They
want supremacy-absolute despotc control
of the negro-tO make him powerless in
politics and in the courts Of law, so that
tAeE san te-eElaplisu lhetr Gi.l-liDie tunttol
of his labor far Ii Is possible after the
adjustment OF property in man.
. How do you account for such an over
whelming majority of Black Republicans?
Considering that the whites employ all the
Hesbk9,es-rAat The hlaeks are enstrely de
pendent an them for sqpPqrt aud materially
look to them tor advice, how does it happen
that there has been no division of the negro
vote?"
" The negroes display confidence in the
whites IN all things except those relating to
EoiiIles, 4hls Is universal faot In the
south Gen. Gordon testified in his
own case in Georgia. Every white native
IN Mississippi will tell you So How do |
account for it? Slavery, to begin with.
The negroes cannot forget that they were
once the slaves Of these Democratic Ioliti-
Clans, who sold their wftes and children
away from them with as little regard for
their rights or feelings as if they had been
horses or sheep that every dollar Of Ehe
produce Of their labor in those times
was taken from them. They dare not
trust them where their political rights are
concerned. Again, they remember that
these men used to urge secession, not on
any theory of State sovereignty, but for the
avowed and sole purpose of perpetuating
slavery forever. They know that if the
Yankees, whom their masters hated, had
beeh defeated, they would have been slaves
to-day. They heard Lincoln denounced as a
monster, and they know that Lincoln liber-
ated them More than that, they have seen
every effort of the North to enfranchise and
protect them, fought step by step, some
times in sqllenness, sometimes with blood
shed, but always resisted to the uttefmost.
They remember that just as soon as Andrew
johnson gave these men a chance they
enacted black code, which would have
kept them in a state of servitude worse
than that of slavery. They heard them de
clare in defense of those Infamous laws that
the negroes would not work unless under
the lash. They have seen them oppose
every effort to have them made voters,
jurors, otHce-holders or to have their chill
dren educated, They have known their
teachers to be whipped and killed, and their
churches and school-hOuses burned. They
remember the Kuklux, who whipped, drove
ont and killed thousands Fhav no.,
that the laws for the punishment Of these
outrages were met with persistent and obsti-
nate opposition at every stage. They know
that the same is true of the Enforcement
act, OF the Civil Rights bill, and of all other
measures, State and national, whether Of
greater or lesser importance, that had for
their object the security and maintenance
would have joyfllIy extended their conf
dence, believe, to the native Southerners
If they could have trusted them; but, as the
history of Mississippi and other Southern
States has shown, they would have been
guilty ofgreat folly if they had done so. /"
Are there 10 colored Democrats at all ?"
mot one in a thousand"
"Haye the negroes ever begun a riot or
killed any man for political reason? '
"On the contrary, they are notorious for
their peaceful disposition. have never
heard OF single case in which the negroes
were the beginners of any disturbance in
the state; You must AaYe noticed that in
the riots that the negroes are charged with
having instigated, it is always the negroes
who are Killed. IF they were permitted the
free use or their franchise, which the Con-
stitation coHfets on them, not a single dis
tuFbanee would be heard Of It is invari-
ably the case that the whites begin the as
sauits, kill some, disperse the others, and
then charge that the negroes have risen, or