The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1878-07-03
Answer to "a Friend"

| DEAR CLARIoN-Your Duck Hill CORES
pendent may be most excellent "Friend,
but assuredly he is very poor logician
His facility for confOunding terms and mis-
understanding the plain import of words i
remarkable His theory of the duty of tn
press, if carried OUT, would reduce that great
bulwark of free people, to an abject regis
trar of the edicts of the little great men o
the country. The conductors of the press
are false to their great duties whenever they
fail to criticise the men clothed with public
! functions, and it is miserable piece o.
| special pleading to assume that because
| Senator Lamar is a man of Integrity, he is TO
| be justified for defying the well known SEN
timents of the people of Mississippi. In
| like manner it is i'm pertinent to assume that
| Mr.. Lamar knows more than the entire peo-
| pie of the State, and that all wisdom will
| die with him. 1t is equally impertinent to
assume that Mr. Lamar is to be justified in
dsobeyng the instructions of the Legisla-
ture because of his superior wisdom, or rs
your Duck Hill correspondent puts it, be-
cause the members of the Legislature are a
gang of hoobys who knows "but little about
what is being done in Congress" aud "who
are more or less, altogether too Ignorant
of such matters" to undertake to .teach
instruct and command a Senator to do a
thing which he kiloaos is ecrong. and against
the Interests OF his people,
This, if you will allow me to say so, is
about as SlaviSh a doctrine as has ever been
enunciated. and a once changes the rela
ton of Senator from the position of a ser
want of the people to that of master of the
people For one, repudiate and spit upon
he theory as false, runous and degrading
The purity, the Integrity, and the patriot
ism of Senator Lamar, so much dWelt uDon
! by his friends, have nothing in the world to
do with the question. Ii an able. pure pa
triotic man of integrity, does nothing bnt
f1ou6 his constituents, DEFY their wishes
and boast of his superior wisdom. | do not
see why we may not as well be represented
By "carpet- baggers and political vagabonds
of the South, or the vindlctive bloody-shirt
Radicals of the North" for assuredIv
neither of these wretched classes could
manifest more utter disregard of the will
of the people of Mississippi than has been
eVinced by Senator Lamar. For such in
solent and defiant disobedence, his ability.
purity. and patriotism, constitute no sort of
palliation, but on the contrary, these quail
ties tend to aggravate his contumacy and
heighten his offense.
Your correspondent Tugs in the Hon.
Thos. T. Rayard, objects TO your criticism
of his letter to Col. Percy, and PIRATES. of his |
@integrity, purity and virtue" Now, Mr. |
Editor, Ihave not heard any Impeachment |
of the integrity of Mr.. Bayard, or Mr.. Lamar. |
Nor is it necessary in discussing their |
public acts and utterances. A man may be |
very able, very pure and patriotic, but 1t /
does not necessarily follow that the happy /
possessor of these most desirable qualities, |
Is not iRsolent and impertinent. / yield to i
no one i9 respect fer the ability. integrity |
and patriotism of Mr.. HAyard. but regard
his letter to Col. Percy, as NJ 5st imperti-
nent interference In matters with which he
had no possible concern. His letter. urging
that the Legislature OF Mississippi should
not instruct Mississippi Senator's upon a
u estion of great national Importance. was
IN act OF naked impertinence, one without
shadOW of excuse mr. 81 al len ,
ne people OF the State will resent upon tie
ir-t favorable occasion Because Mr. Bay
lrd Is the representative of the small State
4 Delaware, he need not imagine that Mis-
issippi desires his advice unsolicited, and
n future he will do well to remember aud
mulate the example of the man who accu-
nulated two fortunes, one by assiduously at
ending to his own business, and another
y letting the affairs Of his neighb0r severe
y alone.
l ann, dear CLARION, as ever, faithfully
ours. - TRuMpa
MIssIssIRrr, June "a, 1878.