Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-05-25
The Letter.
ATTORNEY GENERALS OFFICE, !
JACKSON, MIss,, november q, 1875.

.
JACKSON, MIss., November "a, 1875.
To His Excelleney Q. S. tIran6, President OF
the United States:
SIR-Misissppi, with a Republican
majority two years ago of twenty-four
thousand, has gone Democratic by an
overwhelming majority-say thirty
thousSnd This was no less astonishing
to the Democracy than it was sad to the
Republicans, and inasmuch as many
have undertaken to account for our de-
feat and contradictory statements have
been made as to the real cause, / think
1t proper to write and give you plain
and unvarnish6d statement Of affairs
here, and, while it Is painful to give the
whole Truth, yet 1t will in some degree
relieve me as legal advisor from the re-
sponsibiliiy of many Of the fatal blum.
deTs Of the present State administration
and at the same time give the real
causes of our defeat. However, Ames
was inaugurated in January, 1874, under
tbs most favorable su5picie,. His ad.
dress promised economy and reform
and was well received by the whole
country, even our political opponents in
p state OF disruption, many Of them
having voted for him, expressed a will
iDgaess to support him in all that he
had promised and advised; but instead
OF encouraging every indication of re-
turning friendship, his cold Indifference
drove them 1T once into 8 direct an
tagonism. He seemed to contract his
views and narrow his circle of friends to
q few confidential advisers, as it were a
close corporation of mercanary men,
WhS knew but little of the wants of the
noOnln nf nd ln.a
who have DO identity Of interest orsym-
pathy in common with the people OF the
State, and, to deal plainly, must call
names-such men as John B. Raymond,
A. T...MOrgsn, A. r. Howe, and a few
lesser lights, il possible. Raymond, the
State printer and chief clerE In the treas.
urer's office, lobbyist around the Iegisla-
ture, especially on ths printing bills,
which pay him nearly eighty thousand
dollars per annum, when thirty thou
sand would bs too much. He leaves bis
printing Office In the hands of another,
it is said, a. a salary of eighteen hum
dred dJllsrs in currency, and takes q
clerkship in the Office of the State treas
ury at fifteen hundred dollars in State
warrants worth seventy.five or eighty
cents on the dollar. This he could we'll
afford, because he handled the funds of
the State, and if he cashed his own war
rants, he makes nearly twenty thousand
dollars per annum on that, and there Ia
nothing to prevent 1t except his known
honesty (?). There has bsen much COM
plant of snis, and yet it is persisted Ii
to this day. But the treasurer's Office Is
to change hands since the special cleo
ton to fill vacancy, and his Office as
State printer is about to expire. and now
he wants 10 be postmaster at Vicksburg.
I regret TO add that he is 30 degraded
that the charge Of corruption and bribe-
ry is no offense to him, and it comes
from various sources.
THE STATE OFFICIALS.
Morgan, who is sheriff of YszOo
county, has long been a refugee from
his county. Chairman Of the late State
convention and husband of a very re-
spectable colored woman (?), who,
when q State senator, offered, in writ.
ing, to sell his vCts for two thousand
dollars, and Raymond refused to pay it,
saving he had already paid nine hun
dred dollars, and that was enough for
that vote. A. r. Howe, ex-county
treasurer and ex member of congress,
who took from the treasury of Panola
county, through an ignorant coIored
board of supervisors, and now unlaW-
fully retains the sum of five thousand
one hundred and twenty-five dollars
and seven cents Il have certified trans
criut Of the reeord) and which he does
not deny, but refuses to pay. This, in
brief is small part Of The record Of
three OF the governors confidential ad-
yisers. friends and counsellors, and he
must have known their character all
the while. Thrl ugh these and other
friends he had very full control of the
legislature, and could procure almost
a1y legislation that looked at all plausi-
he. either for the good Of the State, the
good Of the party, or for self-aggrandizs-
ment, and the sequel has shown how he
has used that power. The first session of
the legislature passed with but little II
spv reform, and we felt sad. Under
The constitution and laws Of the State
be was required to appoint twenty
with the advice and con-
sent of the senate. This, OF course,
should have been done during the sss-
sion OF the senate, but for some reason,
blst known to himself, he refused
to do 1t, but waited until the
and then made the
a appointments in vacation, and this was
set sside by the supreme court (see Brady
vs. Howe, so Miss. reports, p. 6O7), the
court holding that the appointments
should not have been made during the
session OF the senate. 1t was manifest
Iv his duty to have made the appoint
ments during the session of the senate
and to have sent them in for confirms.
tiop, and the terms Of Office expired long
before the next session. But the gov
ernor, In his desire to control the judici-
sry as well as the executive department
Of the State, resorted to the expediency
Of making the appointment in vacation
and then holding the appointments over
them, in teTToTenl, until the next session
of the legislature, and if they did not
please him in their DEGREES, etc he could
withhold their names las he did in one
easel, thus making the judiciary Of the
State suoservient to the executive, in
violation of the constitution (see art. 3,
secs. l and q; and he actually removed
Chancellor Dfemsn, as believe, because
In q case OF habeds corpus he refused
bail to the governors friend Morgan, on