The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-07-12
WHY Is Ir9


ing can be done to stop it. The instan,
which we most regret to hear of, is that {
our former townsman, Col. Thomas v
Harris, of Holly Springs, who is reporte
il to have Joined the Greenbackers.
ic If this report be true, it serves to illu
- trate the views we hold upon this subjec
- Bomb-proofers, the indoent and the timi
III may decry the teaching that to "the victc
in belongs the spoils, " ''the laborer is worth
q of his hire and the men who win th
4 fight are of right entitled to the honor bu
:" it is doctrine as firmly fixed in the econo
lc my of the human mind as that gratitud
d should follow services, or resentmen
l. wrongs.
:, After hard battle when the places o
- brave dead officers had to be filled, did the,
IL take Commissary Sergeant and homo
- him with Lieutenant's commission, or al
Ordnance Officer and put him in charge O.
a battery?
No. Some gallant private or non. com
. inissioned officer who had rendered pre-
eminent service was singled out and honor.
ed for his merit
There was great deal of human nature
; in the reply of her majesty's gray old Cap
: tain who exposed his bald head in paying
reverence to his Sovereign; and when she
commented on his badness, said, eyes,
your Majesty, SO many youngsters have
stepped over my heod."
Col. Harris had been a working Demo-
crat and had done his whole duty in put
ting the State Government into tho hands
of Mississippians, but when he came to ask
an appointment upon the Supreme Bench,
a position to which his abilities entitled
him, he was quietly set aside and the honor
conferred upon one who had held lucrative
positions under radical authority.
The political history of the State is full
of kindred instances and to such a policy
we refer the falling to- pieces of the Dem-
ocratic party.
We do not offer party neglect as justifi-
cation for party abandonment but simply
state that the former follows upon the lat
ter, and ever will, until men become more
than human. columbus Independent.
| The above is singular statement to ap.
pear In Democratic paper. Is the Demo-
cratic party falling to pieces in Mississippi
because one man failed to get an appoint
ment on the Supreme Benchf Did it take
Supreme Court appointment to hold Col.
Harris in the Democratic party2 Is this the
Oooo NOAShhO Jou Jul huhC AOI JOul AllOhus
If SO, we must say it is monstrous poor
one. And if Col. Harris left the party be-
cause the Executive preferred another man
for Supreme Judge-if that was the cohe>
sive power that held him as you very
plainly intimate-then, perhaps, the Dem
ocratic party will not shed any tears over
his loss. There are not Supreme Judgeships
enough to give all competent lawyers an
appointment and the Democratic party re-
lies for support upon men whose fealty is
not contingent upon a judgeship. We
don't know which one of our distinguished
trio of Supreme Judges SHIELD lucrative
positions under Radical authority" and
for whom Col. Harris was "set aside" 1t
can't be Chief Justice George, the Inde-
pendent is striking at. He never held any
position of any sort under Radical authori-
ty, but he did hold the Chairmanship of the
Democratic Executive Committee of 1875, ,
and he did conduct that memorable CAM
paign to q grand success, and he did
cover himself with immortal honor, and +
deserve the lasting gratitude of all Mis- t
He is the man who res Il
,eived the appointment that Col. Harris Il
iesired. The people are very firmly t,
ixed in the belief that George knows as b
much law as Col. Harris, and served the /
state az we'll And they think his appoint il
nent as good-possibly little better than o
Jol HIS. There will be no crumbling to O
pieces of the Democratic party on this ac-
ount Your fears are visionary. al
But there are only three Supreme Judg-
hips, and it is clearly impossible to confer
he honor of an appointment to the Supreme
Sench upon each one of the five hundred
legal gentlemen in Missis> =,
ppi who would appreciate it; and the
'emocratic party does not and cannot afford
, limit its strength to the three distinN
lished gentlemen Oh the Supreme Bench. -
this was the case, there would be "a y
lmbling all to pieces of the party, sure -, ~
lough, and our voting strength would go
ut. We dare say it was great oversight g
the Governor not to see the transcendent a.
nportance of mailing Col Harris to the
emocratic chariot by appointing him w
npreme Judge. But we have not observed W.
~ Mount Versuvius eruption of the peo- l"i
o on account of it, They seem to be -'N
Try well satisfied with the Judges we have. ~
@ have heard no infuriated protest. We va,
I'VE noticed no series of indignation meet
gs throughout the State, because Colonel %
nrris missed Judgship. And if Colonel '''-
arris drops into the notion that the Demo- "''
attic party was made for him, md turns H'''
ound and tries to bursl 1t all to flinders,
cause he couldn't ride into JudgshIp on
perhaps it is well enough to let him
7ing himself out. The Greenback party, Z
suppose, are ready to make a Judge out bis
him, if it ever gets chance, and that, moi
cording to the Independent, seems to be I3r 3
nat is the matter with Col. Harris. ;s :
The course which Col. Harris has seen gai
oper to take is a sufficient justification of con
9 Governor in Withholding the appoints
mt of Judge from him, if there was =, =
thing else. If the explanation of the nnf
dependent is authorized, Col. Harris Lor
uld have stuck 10 the old party if there In
been judicial cement to fastcn him,
t it places the Executive in rather an and
kward attitude for man to come up to rob
n and say: ''Sir, you must give me this cou