The comet. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1877-1882, 1879-05-17
NO. 80.

! looked when the tally-sheets are made III
or disregarded in the count. These are tn
things of which the colored people com
plain. These grievances should be remuv
ed. 1t is folly, absurd, and disgrace fu
u any one to say that 1t cannot be accom-
plished. Why, before the war, you held th
negro III perfect subjection and with hin
this rough element that you say you cauno
control. Gentlemen, history teaches u
that this thing Of making people half slaves
and half freemen will notdo. Ituever has
: been and / believe never will be success
fully accomplished, You must either make
them entirely free or enhluve them abso
lutely. This matter of immigration. You
have in your own keeping Remedy the
evils that have spoken Of and this uneasy
and restless feeling among the c9lOred pao-
pie will be forever quieted.
We want no privileges moi enjoyed by
ether citizens We do not wish to iutruda
upon our white fellowcctizens in any re-
spect whatever, and we are justified III
thinking that they should meet us half way
in this matter, and not seek to abridge our
equitable and legal rights. Should this ex-
pectation be realized, we will all move for
ward harmoniously to better aud brighter
future.
There is a community of interests be-
| tween the colorcd and white citizen which
ought to be recognized by both. The
| abridgement of the rights Of citizenship is
very serious question, not only to the
colored people but to the white people If
permitted, it will grow in dimensions until
it will threaten the existence, if indeed i
does not destroy the republican form of
government. / am now, and have always
been opposed to the idea Of a general emil
grafton of the colored people, because I
always have and do now believe that ulti-
matcly better and kindlier feeling will re-
place the present misguided prejudice,
The South suits the negro better than any
other part Of the world that know of,
and, if he is dealt with justly he will pros
per better here than elsewhere: and, ii is
better too, for the white people that he re-
main here and labor-becau5e, allow me to
say, in my judgment, you cannot possibly
find another race under the sun that will
come here and till the soil as the negro
does. As for the immigration and impor-
tation of foreign labor my friends, l am
heartily in favor of obtaing laborer5 in any
number that it is possible to get them, that
will make good citizens after they come.
We have plenty of room for thousands,
yes millions more of workers., ana how
lily we can afford to lose ONLY one pair of
industrious hands, those Of you who agree
with me, and wish to see our State put on
high road to prosperity, will respond
most cheerfully to this. My idea of Aueri>
can citizenship is that it is broad enough,
deep enough, and high enough to protect
the innocent aud weak help the poor, and
raise the strong higher i'll the enjoyment of
this worlds goods. To-day there are five
and half millions of acres of land in
Mississippi belonging to the United States
that can be purchased at twelve and half
cents per acre; and a half million acr 5
owned by the State that can be purchased
at twenty-five cents per acre, which the au,
thorities are anxious to dispose of.
ask why these lands have not been taken
up ere this? 1t seems to me that it would ho
wise to adopt some measures, which would
settle up these waste lands, as we'll as tax
ing care cf those which are now being cu-
tivated | asked the Commissioner of Tmo
migration of this State, the other day, if he
knew how many immigrants had come into
the State during the last two years. He in
formed me that he did not have the stats
tics at present, and therefore could not
give a definite answer, but he thought that
a great many more had gone ont of the
State than had come in, Although my
friends, every effort has been made by him
to induce immigration, we have actually
lost in the last few months over 5000 labor
ers, and not one hundred has come to re-
place them.
What has our section lost by this? Over
one million of dollars, and if the compare
i've outgo and influx is maintained, the nj
innate result is so obvious that it is useless
10 argue the matter. l regret exceedingly
his alarming exodus, because believe it Is
alike injurious to the poor negro who leaves
nome without a cent, and the white man
who is left with plantation to grow up in
weeds. But yet, if we cannot enjoy our
freedom here like other citizens. I shall ad-
,ise the colored people to go. even to the
bleak hill sides of New England or TO the
reeless region Of the Great West | say
his, not in the nature of a menace, hUt
ay it from my heart, after deliberate con-
liberation and consultation with many Ci
nv colored brethren. l think it is time
hat our white fellow citizens were showing
S that our citizenship is not an empty
anne, and that ouI just and reasonable
lights should not be Knocked at and spit
pom. The past no man can possibly reme-
v. 1t Is gone and let it sink into oblivion,
ever to he resurrected. What the State
eeds now and the people most earnestly
nd forvently pray for, is peace. q1iet and
in the future.