Year: 1865


ment submitted by Congress to the State
Legislatures. We were not present, but
we learn that a very able speech was
m lde against the amendment by Hon.
Giles NJ. Hillyer, of Natchez. 1t was
then referred to the committee on State
and Federal relations.


The special order, Ibeing the considera-
ton of bill to confer civil rights on |
freedmen, came before the House at IL |
A. NJ. As the question of NEGRO testi-
mony" was involved in this bill, conside- |
rable interest was manifest ed in the dis |
cussion that ensued


Mr.. Simrall, of Wilkinson, took the
floor in favor Of the adoption of the
bill. He distrusted his own judgment
and spoke of the Importance of the issues
involved. The negro was freed by the
war, was declared free by the State Con-
vention, and the obligation was upon the
Legislature to recognise it. The entire
servile code fell with the fall of slavery.
HI noticed that the right to sue and be
sued was greater concession than the
right Of negro to testify. In the former
/ instance, all the law officers and the pow
| er of the State were under obligation to
/ serve the negro a witness, t'vhilo in the
latter case, he was only allowed to exer-
else a right essential to the preservation
of his ''person and property" Common
law-the aggregation of human wisdom
now prevailed and its courts were now
open to all men, unless excluded by spe-
cial statute. All governments were bound
to protect strangers and denizens tempo
rarily in their Jurisdiction We were
therefore under obligation to protect the
freedmen. The courts of England were
open to all peoples to redress all wrongs
He showed the requisite qualifications of
witness under the law, that he must
be sufficiently instructed in religion, must
possess knowledge OF the subject, and not
be warped by pecuniary interest. All
these the freedmen possessed. The stat
ute of Mississippi making the free negro
incompetent as a witness has been repeal
ed and under the common law he is a
competent witness. He noticed that the
question had been argued as if it was a
privilege of franchise. This was not so.
The right of franchise was another an d
different matter. The right to.testify, on
the contrary, imposed duty, an obliga
ton on the party, which took him from
his plough or workshop, and without re-
gard to his convenience or pleasure
He then proceeded to show that the ne
gro cannot be a citizen of the United
he could, were i'll informed as to the
principles of international law, the action
of Congress, and the decisions of the Su-
preme Court of both State and National
Governments. He showed that in the
formation of the Constitution of the
United States the negroes in none of the
States were embraced in the "people"
who made that instrument. He showed
that this position was subsequently con-
frmed, that negro was not citizen, by
the decision of the Supreme Court of Con,
necticut, by a similar decision of the Su-
pgeme Court of Tennessee, and subse
uuently unanimously re-affirmed by the
Supreme Court of the United States in the
bred Scott case. 1t was clear from all
these decisions that a negro was not
regarded as a citizen of the United. Nor
could a negro become a citizen of the
United States by the naturalization laws.
Congress had especially confined that
privilege to the caucasian race, and to
that fact we might attribute our superb
ority as nation over Spain, which per-
mitted mongrels tob ecome citizens. The
question, therefore rested alone with the
people of Mississippi-witht their repre-
sentatives in the Legislature. A negro
could never become citizen of the Uni
ted States unless he was first invested
with the right of franchise by a sovereign
State, and even if Mississippi should elect
to do so, she could only make him citi-
zen of this State, but could not confer the
right to the extent of making him pa1
ticipant in the rights and immunities of
citizenship in other States.


The policy and necessity of permitting
freedmen to testify in suits to which they
were parties, was further enforced by a
consideration of the wants and labor
necessities of the State at the present
time. Two-thirds of the State was over
run in broom sedge. We could not get
labor enough from Europe by 1870 to
cultivate our lands. But the labor was
here, at our doors, in many places on our
plantations, and it was our solemn
duty to encourage him to work by
making his protection of person and
property complete. This must be done
Our duty to ourselves, to our suffering
State, to our almost ruined people, de-
mandecl that we should march forward in
the direction commanded by the State
Convention, and afford to the freedmen
the fullest and amplest protection of
both their "person and property


The real danger was, not that the
negro would get too much justice, but
too little. 1t was a libel upon the judge,
the jury and the cousel, who would all
be white men, and all against the negro,
to suppose that there was any danger of
his getting too much justice. In con
clusion, he appealed to the Legislature to