The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1881-10-20


the hearty welcome he had met at the hands
of his friends of Kinds county said that
he was before them as a candidate for the
Office of Governor of Mississippi; he had
been nominated for that high position BY
two conventions, one composed Of Green
hackers and the other of Republicans.
When committee OF the representative
men of these bodies waited upon him and
asked his consent to place him in the field
as their candidate for Governor, he bad
consented, it being understood he was not a
Republican, not Greenbaeker, not Demc-
crat, but a Conservative. His record show
ed the sincerity of his professionally that
record and by his votes he stood pledged to
aid all measures which would give the most
thorou gh security to the rights, property
and life of all classes of citizens. He was
not here to advocate Republican or Green
back doctrines nor to defend the principles
of either or both of those parties, but rather
to advocate those grand principles involved
in the canvass-the question OF tuiI vote
free ballot and fair count. He had been told
ybhis dis tinguished opponent that this was
not great question; that 1t is OF nolmpoTt-
ance to the people when compared to the sub
iects of Railroads, money and red oats-that
he shouldt urn his attention TO the questions
compared with which Gen. Lowry had in eff
feet declared that the great cause of human
rights was of nothing. He held that it
was everything, and of infinitely more
concern to the masses than the questions
which were usually discussed by his oppo-
nent. Unless free ballot and fair count
should become established in practice as well
as in theory, we will cease to be Republic
and our form of government will become q
despotism-we will be the tools of the politi-
cal party which chances to have the cleo
ton machinery,in its hands. The Democracy
might study with profit the history of des-
potisms of the old world and profit by their
sad experience.
In regard to the matter of fusion, which
had formed long portion of Gen. Lowry
speech, he considered it all right; what could
be more natural than that two or more
parties, aided, too, by people who owned no
allegiance to party, should combine to hGrl
| from power party which had held undls-
puted sway for years, a party which he be-
| lieved to be in a large minority in the Slater
| And when did Gen. Lowry and the party
! fusion? He then referred to the Dent-Alcorn
canvass, when the Democratic party sup
ported the carpet-bagger Dent for
Governor, Gen. Lowry being can
| idate on the same ticket for the
Office of Attorney-General That fusion
movement, he said, took the name of the
| National Union Republican party, and as it
is fair to Judge candidates by the name of
| their party organization, we find the present
| Democratic candidate for Governor running
as National Union Republican candidate
| for AttOrney-General; later, in the Greeley
campaign, he had changed to a Liberal Re
publican, and in the Alcorn-Ames canvass
he had swapped horses, and took an active
interest in the cause of Gov. Alcorn, whom
he had formerly opposed. Col King then
referred to the State Printing fusion in the
Legislature Of 1872, when the Democrats
and some Republicans fused on The CLAIR
ION and Pilot and gave the formera little
Of the ''chicken-pie" He referred to these
things, he said, not because he thought they
were wrong, for he had sympathized with
all of them, except the Dent business, and
that was too much for him to digest, but to
/ show the inconsistency of his opponent in
denouncing fusion. 1t was just the thing
when it profted him, and all wrong when
it was directed against him. The Democra-
CIV were professional fusionists, would go out
Of their way to look for fuse in all coun-
ties where thev could find fusion they had
snatched it up; instanced the counties OF
Kinds, Warren, Panola, Adams, ETC., in
support of this assertion, Both he and Gen.
/ Lowry had been Wings before the war, aud
after that bloody chapter had ended, the
latter had become Democrat. He (King)
had never professed to be one; he had acted
with that party as against the carpet-bag
Reconstruction Republican party, and had
contributed all he could to break the rule
of the carpet-baggers, whose success zen.
Lowry 8nd other supporters OF the Dent
movement had made possible. In all the
speeches he had ever made, he had promised
to be the friend of the negro, and to defend
his rights if they were ever threatened.
He proposed to redeem that pledge. Gen
Lowry had pointed with eonte mptuous
hand at the men who were supporting the
/ tasion candidate for Governor; Col King
advised him Il, clean off his own doorstep
get rid of Gibbs and Alcorn anu s5.:e.l,r .%,,@r
before he throws stones at the fusion
camp.
He denied that he was Democratic
Senator, as charged by his opponent; while
he had been elected to that body partly by
, Democratic votes, he had acted and voted
AS a Conservative In regard to the 'sBuch
anan letter." he had only to say that the
matters discussed were private and the
letter a confidential one. What. he asked
is to be thought of man who betrays con
nidienee?
When he had acted with the Democratic
. marty. the Democratic press and politician;
had been loud in their. praises Of him had
called him "the wheel-horseof of Democracy,
tbe Moses who had led his party out OF th'
wilderness: in the estimation OF some O
. them, he was good enough for Democratic
, Governor, Senator or anything else. But nov
! | a change has Gomez he is spoken OF as "oi'
f Ben King, who is nothing, and d--n lirtie
, that; who wears brogan shoes, ana !
a nnacauainted with the uses OF a shirt collar
I Times change and so do party newspapers
Continuing, he referred to the lmpoVei
+ ished condition of Mississippi, and attrlbu
: ted it in a great measure to the spirit o
: intolerance which existed in the minds Q
some of our eitizens, corporations ha'
ifl crown rich, while the people had growI
+ Door the value ofproperty had diminished
a a feeling of unrest prevails; young me
/ we're leaving the State to seek their fortune
; elsewhere. Where, he asked, is the none
,f that has come to the South where tn
i prosperity his opponent talks about? Hav
:, the raople ever felt it, or is 1t not contlne
' to rich monopolies and corporations
4 What good have Railroads done the masses
. He declared that citizens OF M
= sissippi were disfranchised by elet
ton officers; confessed criminals ha
1T been made judges of the right
q of honest men to have voice In the eoI
re duct of affairs; he cited incidents In tn
ir counties of DeSoto, Pamela, Grenada, Nor
10 roe and others, where ballot-boxes had bee
y | stolen and burned, and frauds of variou
IL kinds practieed He had charged thes
Il things in every county in which he ha
" spoken, and in every instance, in the face
4 overwhelming facts, Gen. Lowry had plea
40 snot guilty. At first his deuials had bee
,S emphatic and bold, but of late he was b
ns ginning to admit there might have bee
in the past some little Irregularities" though
he if he had the Democratic champion lit
a longer he could "hring him 70 his milk
IL this point He had left the Democrae
Z, because of its infamous practices, and b
ofl was glad that he had done so, late in III
in though it was.
ch He denied responsibility for the Cam
Is bell Code; said it was rushed throus
"A the Legislature at race-horse speed; Il
- work Of months was was crowded into
.ss few short weeks As whole, he considers
a. it a bad book. and had voted against