3<^ 
 
Democratic Violence, Proscrii)tion, and Intolerance— Spirit of the 
 White-Line Democracy — Dnty of the Kepubiican Party to 
 J41 Maintain the Rights of Colored Men — Startling 
 
 ig2 Democratic Defalcations— Unparalleled Cor- 
 
 ruption and Maladministration. '\ 
 
 V^'" 
 
 SPEECH OF HO]^. 0. P. MORTON, 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE MITED STATES SENATE JANUARY 19tll, 1876, 
 
 ON THK 
 
 MISSISSIPPI ELECTIOK 
 
 The Senate having unJer consideration the 
 resolution submitted by Mr. Mortoist, provid- 
 ing lor an investigation into the election in 
 Mississippi — 
 
 Mr. MORTON said : 
 
 Mr. President : If the information I have 
 received from very many sources is substan- 
 tially truo, the late pretended election in Mis- 
 sissippi \vaR an armed revolution, character- 
 ized by fraud, murder and violence in almost 
 every form. It was carried on in some respects 
 under the forms of law, but its real nature 
 was that of force, the violation of law, and 
 the trampling under foot of the dearest rights 
 of great masses of men. A little less sudden 
 than those revolutions which have distin- 
 guished the Srates of Mexico and the coun- 
 tries of Soutli America, it did not differ from 
 them in character and was equal in atrocity. 
 
 It is a matter of the gravest im[)ort to the 
 American people to know whether a large ma- 
 jority of the people of a State have been over- 
 thrown and subjected by the minority, and 
 also to understand upon what pretense or prin- 
 ciple such a result was brought about. The 
 only thing like principle thit could be assumed 
 in justification of such a result would be that 
 political and civil power should belong exclu- 
 sively to the white race; or upon the other 
 principle, that that party, the membeisof 
 which own the most of the property in the 
 State, should be allowed to govern to the ex- 
 clusion of the majority, who are eenerally 
 poor and the most of whom have nothing to 
 depend upon for their subsistence but their 
 labor. I apprehend that an investigation of 
 the Mississippi revolution would show that the 
 triumphant minority acted upon both of these 
 principles, and in various ways boldly pro- 
 fessed them as its doctrines. 
 
 We had hoped that a hundred years of na- 
 tional life had definitely settled the question 
 that political and civil rights should not de- 
 pend upon race or complexion, and that equal 
 righJs belore the law and in the administra 
 tiou of government should not depend upon 
 wealth or property, but belong alike to every 
 American citizen . 
 
 In proposing an investigation it is hardly 
 reasonable to demand that the matters to be 
 investigated should tee proven in advance, for 
 that would make the investigation unneces- 
 sary; and all that ought to be required should 
 be the exhibition of such probable cause as 
 would justify the Senate, in the exercise of a 
 sound discretion, in ordering an investigation. 
 Investigations have often been ordered by 
 both Houses of Congress, upon common rumor 
 and upon general impressions prevailing in the 
 public mind, derived from the press or other 
 sources. 
 
 If the belief whi?h is certainly entertained 
 by very many in .regard to the character of re- 
 cent events in Mississippi is not well founded, 
 it is of th ! greatest importance to the people 
 that an investigation should be had that the 
 truth may be shown, as the material progress 
 and prosperity of the State is deeply involved 
 in such exoneration. I cannot, therefore, un- 
 derstand the opposition to this investigation in 
 any other light than a constructive admission 
 of the truth of the charges, which have bepn 
 made in regard to the means employed in the 
 late Mississippi election, by which the majority 
 was overthrown and the government of the 
 State revolutionized. To shrink from such an 
 investigation unquestionably betrays fear as to 
 the result. 
 
 Before proceeding to what I shall have to 
 say about the Mississippi election, I propose to 
 indulge in some general observations. 
 
 PROSCRIPTION OF REPUBLICANS BEFORE THE 
 WAR. 
 
 Before the war men entertaining adverse 
 opinions to slavery, and whose opinions went 
 no further than opposing its extension to Ter- 
 ritories then free, were, to a great extent, 
 deprived of the freedom of speech and of action 
 in the fifteen slave States. Men advocating 
 such opinions were visited with social excom 
 munication, deprivation of business and threat- 
 ened and often visited with personal violence. 
 Numerous pe'-sonal outrages were inflicted in 
 the Southern States upon men who were 
 charged with being Abolitionists; and to such 
 an extent was this persecution carried that In 
 
 \'. 
 
V\w. 
 
 1856 and 1860 the Republican party was not 
 permittee! to nominate electoral tickets or to 
 run canditJates for the dili'erent offices in ten 
 of the Soutiiern States. 
 
 Republicans were not permitted to assemble 
 in convention to nooiinate candidates, and 
 could not bold public niettings in Southern 
 cities and towns without danger of mob vio- 
 lence. Not only were the Republicans of the 
 South thus deprived of the exercise of those 
 rights which are the dearest to American free- 
 nien, but the Republicans throughout the 
 North were made to feel that they were sub- 
 stantially banished from nearly one half of the 
 States in the Union; that to them those States 
 ■were almost a foreign land, and in some re- 
 spects worse than a foreign land. I remember 
 the personal humiliation I felt, which was 
 aggravated by the fact that while Republicans 
 we^e excluded from fifteen States in the Union 
 they were taunted with this exclusion as if it 
 were a crime on their part. They were con- 
 stantly denounced as the sectional party. I 
 felt, as we all did at that time, that the hand 
 of slavery was resting heavily upon us. This 
 denial to men of Republican sentiments the 
 free enjoyment of their opinions and exercise 
 of the ordinary forms of political action was a 
 wanton and gross violation of the natural and 
 constitutional rights of millions of people, and 
 was bitterly felt and deeply resmted. That 
 this state of things should have ended in war 
 was not to be wondered at; for that sentiment 
 which denied to Republicans the exercise of 
 their dearest rights afterward hurried the 
 South into rebellion. 
 
 HOW WUITE PEOPLE ARE KEPT OtTT OF THE 
 RIPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Man is a social being, and there is no disas- 
 ter from which he shrinks so much, not even 
 that of personal violence, as exclusion from 
 the society of his fellows. The fear of that ex- 
 clusion demoralizes men, and often causes 
 them to sacrifice their principles and their 
 honor. But the persecution against Republi- 
 cans went beyond society and extended to their 
 business; as merchants, they were not patron- 
 ized; as physicians and lawyers, they were not 
 employed; as farmers, they were denied those 
 kindnesses and courtesies that belong to every 
 neighborhood, and constitute the chief attrac- 
 tion of agricultural life. We had hoped when 
 the war was over that this state of things 
 would have ceased. 
 
 But, sir, we have grave cause to consider the 
 question whether it is not the policy of the 
 Democratic party of the South, in which the 
 Democratic party of the North concurs, not 
 only to defeat the Republican party of the 
 South, but to extinguish it. We have i-eason 
 to believe, and do believe, that there is a large 
 body of white people in every State of the 
 South, comprising many of the most wealthy 
 and intelliaeut, and largely comprising that 
 great middle class upon which the future 
 hopes of the South depend, who entertain 
 Republican sentiments, and would vote and 
 act with the Republican party but for the 
 dread of bringing upon themselves and their 
 families social ostracism and destruction to 
 their business. And thus a large body of 
 white people have been kept out of the Repub 
 lican party, and, at the same time, their ab- 
 
 sence from that party has been charged upon 
 it as a crime , It has been said that the party 
 was composed almost entirely of colored people,, 
 with an additional few thousands of whites in 
 each State. 
 
 Political power has thus been thrown into 
 the hands of the colored people to a much 
 larger extent than it otherwise would have 
 been, and a large and intelligent body of 
 white people who would have acted with the 
 Republican party, and who would undoubt- 
 edly have had control of its affairs to a great 
 extent, have not only been excluded from the 
 party, but compelled to act with the Demo- 
 cratic party. To this condition of things the 
 members of the Republican party can never 
 consent, having due regard to their rights as 
 citizens of the United States and to their per- 
 sonal honor and manhood. They cannot con- 
 sent in silence to be excluded from nearly one 
 half of the States of the Union. All they ask 
 in the South — not as a favor, but as a right — is 
 that they shall be permitted to enjoy equal 
 rights and privileges upon like terms with other 
 people. They do not ask that those enter- 
 taining Democratic sentiments shall vote for 
 Republican candidates or indorse Republican 
 doctrines. No such thing. Members of the 
 Democratic party have a perfect right to vote 
 for whom they please — to vote for Confederate 
 instead of Union soldiers; but what we ask is 
 that if any portion of the Southern people, 
 whether they are carpet-baggers, so-called, or 
 were born in the South, entertain Republican 
 sentiments, they shall be allowed to vote and 
 act with that party without being subjected to 
 these unusual and terrible punishments. 
 
 LET MEN AND WOMEN BE TREATED ACCORDING 
 TO MERIT. 
 
 They ask that every man in the community 
 shall be received and treated according to his 
 merits as a man. If he is a bad man, be he 
 Republican or Democrat, let him be treated as 
 a bad man; if he is a good man, be he Repub- 
 lican or Democrat, let him be treat d as a 
 good man. Let not his rights in society or in 
 business be determined by his political opinions, 
 but by his conduct and character as a man. 
 This is all we ask,thathe shall not be punished 
 socially or in business; that there shall be no 
 dread or fear of personal violence on account of 
 the assertion of his ojjinions. When that takes 
 place, so far as 1 am concerned, my warfare is 
 ended. When the amendments to the Constitu- 
 tion guaranteeing equal rights shall be accepted 
 by ail and enjoyed by all, and when colored 
 men in the South and white Republicans shall 
 be treated according to their merits as men, 
 then reconstruction will have taken place. 
 Reconstruction cannot take place at northern 
 junketings or gushings,but it must take place 
 in every town, village and neighborhood in the 
 South, by giving to men of all political parties 
 all their equal rights and letting them enjoy 
 the privileges of society according to their 
 merits as men and women. 
 
 This exclusion of men from society and from 
 business because of their political opinions 
 is intimidation of the worst character. It does 
 not differ in principle from actual personal 
 violence. It is even more dreaded than per- 
 sonal violence by brave men, who only defy it 
 and assert their opinions in spite of it; but 
 
^^^ when it comes to punishment not only falling 
 
 ^upon themselves but their families, when they 
 
 are to be isolaieA and their means of livelihood 
 
 retaken away, many shrink back and surrender. 
 
 C^ POLICY OF STARVING NEGROES INTO THE 
 DEMOCRATIC PARTY. 
 
 ^j The league's which have been forn^ed in the 
 
 South not to lease land to colored men, and 
 
 .."Ihus to turn them out of their homes and to 
 
 \^ refuse to employ them because they voted the 
 Republican ticket, may not oe in violation of 
 any law for which any legal punishment can 
 be inflicted; but it is wicked in principle, In- 
 famous in practice, and strikes at the very 
 foundation of republican government. It de- 
 stroys all freedom of election, and is a form of 
 violence not inferior in its eS'ects to any other 
 that may be employed. Id presents to the 
 colored man the alternative of starvation or 
 the support of the Democratic party, and is no 
 less cowardly than wicked. That many of the 
 most distinguished officers of the Confederate 
 army after the war was over were disposed to 
 accept the situation, to accept the amend- 
 ments, and to act with the Republican party, 
 is beyond dispute; but when any one of them 
 came out and announced his purpose he was 
 in almost every instance met with a storm of 
 indignation and abuse and threatened with 
 social punishment, from which many of them 
 shrank back. Men who never flinched upon 
 the field of battle quailed and turned back 
 from the pitiless storm with which they were 
 threatened. The case of General Longstreet 
 may be referred to. He was one of the most 
 distincruishcd officers in the Confederate army. 
 He was regardpd by many as not even second 
 to General Lee; and, when he declared his in- 
 tention in Louisiana to act with the Republi- 
 can party, was denounced as traitor, ingra^e, 
 coldly passed by in the street by many of his 
 companions in arms, and the doors of iife-long 
 friends shut rudely against him and his fam- 
 ily. At that time he was engaged in a pros- 
 perous insurance business, and had not asked 
 and did not desire any appointment from the 
 Government. But his business was destroyed 
 in a single day, and this caused the President, 
 unasked, to tender him the position of sur- 
 veyor of the port of New Orleans. 
 
 General Longstreet, in giving the history of 
 the affair, as I am informed, states that before 
 he announced his purpose to act with the Re- 
 puhlican party, he consulted wiih Generals 
 Hood, Beauregard, and many other Confederate 
 officers, and they had agreed with him that it 
 was their duty to accept the situation, to sus- 
 tain the Constitutional amendments, and give 
 their support to the Government ; but after he 
 had taken the step, and the storm of persecu- 
 tion and calumny had burst upon him, the 
 others retracted their purpose, and some of 
 them refused to speak to him. 
 
 The question seems now to he presented 
 whether the Republican party, who, while con- 
 stituting the majority of the armies ol the Re- 
 public during the war, could not be driven from 
 the Southern States, shall now be expelled 
 from them in time of peace. That the Repub- 
 lican party has committed blunders I do not 
 deny, and very many people have been led to 
 believe that one of its chief blunders was in 
 
 > permitting through the legislation of Congress 
 those who were lately in arms against t.heir 
 
 country to return prematurely to the enjoy- 
 ment of civil and political rights and again to 
 fill the Halls of Couuress for the purpose of 
 legislation. That the pariy has acted in grant- 
 ing amnesty with a liberality which has no 
 parallel in history is not to be questioned, and 
 it is but a poor requital for that liberality to 
 attempt by any means to exclude it from the 
 enjoyment of equal rights and privileges in tho 
 Southern States. 
 
 DESTROYING THE CHARAOTERSOF THOSE TfHo"" 
 JOIN THE REPUBLICAN PARTY. 
 
 Many Southern men who had joined the Re- 
 publican party, and whose personal character 
 had before been unirapeaclied, were at once 
 covered with obloquy and shame, until it 
 came to be understood that to join the Repub- 
 lican party would cost a man his character and 
 the peace and happiness of his family. When 
 the war was over, the mass of the thinking 
 and intelligent people of the South were pro- 
 foundly disgusted with those leaders and poli- 
 ticians who had hurried them into rebellion 
 and overwhelmed them with the misfortunes 
 of war. The rebellion in , its origin was so in- 
 sane, and turned out to be so utterly destitute 
 of sense, that the best men of the South turned 
 away from its authors with horror, and were 
 satisfied that the peace of the country hereafter 
 could onlybesecureiiby the administration of the 
 Government upon the principles of the Republi- 
 can party; and I believe to-day that but for the 
 exercise of the influences to which I have been 
 referring there would be a majority of the peo- 
 ple in Georgia, Virginia and perhaps in every 
 Southern State, actins" with the Republican 
 party, and that the colored people in their par- 
 ticipation in politics would have the benefit of 
 the intelligence and experience of a large part 
 of the best white people in those States now 
 acting with the Democracy. 
 
 INTIMIDATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY 
 BY ITS VIOLENT ELEMENTS. 
 
 And this leads me to another consideration, 
 and that is that the intimidation to which I 
 have referred, whether of social and business 
 ostracism or personal violence, has operated 
 almost equally upon the Democratic party. 
 There is a large part of that party in every 
 Southern State, I believe a majority of it, who 
 do not approve of the acts of violence that 
 have been committed; who do not approve of 
 the social violence which has been practiced: 
 but they have in some way been restrained 
 from the assertion of their opinions and have 
 been powerless to correct these evils. That 
 there is an element of violence in the Southern 
 States, which I believe is in the minority, 
 that has controlled them since >the war as 
 it did before the war, I have no doubt. That 
 a majority of the people of Virginia, Ten- 
 nessee, North Carolina, Alabama, Louisi- 
 ana and perhaps other States were opposed 
 to secession and rebellion, I have always 
 understood; but the lawless, the aggressive 
 and active portion of Southern society 
 were in favor of secession, and by various 
 instrumentalities drove the other part of the 
 people into its support, and that element 
 which brought secession upon the South, I 
 believe, has controlled the politics of the 
 Democratic party chiefly since the end of the 
 war. The terra "scalawag" is one of oppro- 
 
brlum and is applied almost indiscriminately 
 to every man of Southern birth who has 
 joined the liepublican party, and is often more 
 cfi'ensiye io its application than that of "carpet- 
 bagger." 
 
 APPLES OF THE DEAD SEA. 
 
 The colored people are fiercely denounced 
 for their ignorance and want of moral training, 
 and their condition, which is in many respects 
 unhappy, is imputed to them as a crime. It 
 must be admitted that slavery was a bad train- 
 ing school, not only intellectually, but morally. 
 The cruel and inhuman laws which made it a 
 penitentiary offense to teach a colored child to 
 read and write have borne their fruits, like the 
 apples of the Dead Sea turned to ashes upon 
 the lips of those who enacted them. It is 
 written that the sins of the fathers are visited 
 upon their children unt« the third and fourth 
 generations, and it is not in the providence of 
 God that the inventors of those laws should 
 entirely escape their consequences. I would 
 that the cup of bitterness could entirely pass 
 from the wliite people of the South; but that 
 is not possible under divine economy. Those 
 who practiced African slavery for two hundred 
 years cannot hope to escape all the evil conse- 
 quences from it. 
 
 THE MURDEK OF COLORED MEN DEEMED UN- 
 IMPOKTANT. 
 
 It is the merest folly to deny the atrocities 
 that have been committed upon the colored 
 people in the Southern States. The evidence 
 is found in thousands of depositions taken 
 before investigating committees, in the con- 
 tinual revelations by persons coming from the 
 South, and in the curi-ent statement of hun- 
 dreds of newspapers, although there is reason 
 to believe ihat not half, perhaps not a tithe, of 
 the outrages are ever brought to the attention 
 of the ijublic. 
 
 They have been hunted like wild beasts, and 
 the white sportsmen went gunning for thera. 
 If that many white men had been murdered by 
 the, Indians the whole country would have de- 
 manded vengeance, and a larire portion would 
 have clamored for the extermination of the 
 savage tribes. When some twenty starving 
 and desperate Modocs murdered Gen. Cauby 
 and three of his colleagues, the Government 
 never stopped until the last man had been 
 killed or captured, tried and hung. When the 
 Virginias, notoriously engaged in an illegal 
 and hostile expedition against the Spanish 
 Governm'Ut, was captured by a Spanish 
 cruiser, and some fifty of the crew tried by a 
 court-martial and shot, the Government de- 
 manded immediate reparation, and threatened 
 Spain with war in case it was not made. When 
 some six years ago an American boat was fired 
 upon and two men wounded upon the coast of 
 Gorea, Qur fleet demanded reparation ; and 
 when it was not granted, battered dowH the 
 forts and slaughtered nearly three hundred of 
 their soldiers. When Mexican robbers make a 
 raid across the border into Texas and steal 
 five or six hundred cattle, the depredation is 
 ten-fold magnified, the Government of the 
 United Staves is urged by many to go to war 
 with Mexico, and at least to place the army of 
 the United States along the Rio Grande for the 
 protection of the property of the people of 
 Texas ; but. when a hundred negroes are mur- 
 dered in cold blood it is considered a small 
 
 matter, unworthy the attention of the Govern- 
 ment, and not even justifying an examination. 
 One difference is, perhaps, that the cattle can 
 be sold and the negroes cannot. 
 
 THE STALE LIES ABOUT NEGRO PLOTS. 
 
 The infamous lies about negro plots to mur- 
 der the white people have become exceedingly 
 stale and disgusting. Last summer the col- 
 umns of the Southern Associated Press for 
 days groaned with the stupid and clumsy story 
 that the negroes had conspired to murder the 
 white men and the ugly white women of 
 Georgia. That this infamous lie was intended 
 as a pretext for a slauirhter there is but little 
 doubt. If apprehensions of these uprisings 
 ever existed, they grew out of the conviction 
 of intolerable wrongs inflicted upon the col- 
 ored people, and are another proof of the 
 truth of the saying, " Conscience doth make 
 cowards of us all." 
 
 Every year before the war there were stories 
 of plots among the slaves to " rise " and mur- 
 der their masters and families, which I believe 
 in every ins'^ance turned out to be false, but 
 were often made the pretext for the greatest 
 cruelties. i 
 
 There is a class of newspapers in the iS'orth, 
 not professedly Democratic, but really so, that 
 for several years have done everything in their 
 power to blacken the character of Southern 
 Kepubllcans. They have denied, justiQed, or 
 excused every persecution and outrage that 
 has beem heaped upon them. They have jeered 
 at their complaints and sought to cover with 
 ridicule and calumny every man who has 
 dared to lift his voice against these horrible 
 atrocities. 
 
 The peaceable conduct of the colored people 
 of the South during the war in remaining upon 
 the plantations and working with their usual 
 industry, while their masters were in the field 
 fitrhtiiig for the professed purpose of perpetu- 
 ating slavery, has been the subject of world- 
 wide consideration and surprise. Tneir general 
 behavior since the war, and often under cir- 
 cumstances of great trial and oppression, has 
 been remarkable for its pacific character and 
 for their failure to take into their own hands 
 vengeance for the enormous wrongs ihey have 
 suffered. Nothing could be more infamous 
 than the attempts which have been repeatedly 
 and, in fact, constantly made to justify the 
 atrocities committed upon them by alleging 
 that they themselves had conspired to rob and 
 murder the white people, and had themselves 
 provoked and begun the different conflicts in 
 which they have sufi'ered so greatly. The con- 
 clusive answer to these foul calumnies is 
 founded in the fact that colored men only are 
 killed; that if white men are killed they are 
 few in number, and the cases are exceptional. 
 
 While the massesof the colored people of the 
 South are uneducated, they are far from desti- 
 tute of natural sagacity, are well instructed in 
 the lessons of experience, and possess far 
 greater intelligence than their enemies give 
 them credit for. They know full well that 
 their enemies are trained in the art of war, 
 possess the best quality of arms, are skilled 
 iu the use of them, and are daring and ag- 
 gressive, and that in any conflict that may 
 ensue themselves must be the greatest suffer- 
 ers. They know full well that their interests 
 lie in peace and the observance of the laws. 
 
DUTY OF THE KEPUBLICAN PARTY TO MAIN- 
 TAIN THE RIGHTS OF COLORED MEN. 
 
 Wbile it is the duty of all men to maintain 
 the equal rights of the colored people, that 
 duty rests with peculiar force upon the mem- 
 bers of the Republican party. It was the Re- 
 publican party that abolished slavery, made 
 tive millions of people free, and this alone is 
 the erramlest achievement in the history of any 
 political organization. It was the Republican 
 party that clev..ted the colored people toerjual 
 civil and political risrhts and gave them a share 
 in the administration of Government, and thus 
 placed them in a position to be assaulted by 
 those who believed in the rightfulness of 
 slavery and that colored men should not, 
 under any circumstances, enjoy civil and politi- 
 cal rights. 
 
 If after having thus placed the colored peo- 
 ple in this position of trial and assault and 
 exposed them to the dangers to result from 
 disbelief in their natural rights, their menfal 
 and moral capacity, and the hatred of their 
 race, the Republican party should become 
 tired and so act that tdeir enemies can say 
 that they admit that the brief experiment of 
 negro freedom and suflVage is a failure, it 
 would deserve the execration of men, and, I 
 doubt not, receive the punishment of Heaven. 
 It seems that there are political dandies who 
 have nominally professed in the equal rights 
 of men, who now think it is the genteel thing 
 to abandon the colored people to join in the 
 erusade agiiinst them by professing a high re- 
 gard for a good government in the"iSouth, and 
 that the further consideration of their rights 
 and remonstrance against their wrongs should 
 be eliminated from political discussions, which 
 should be confined exclusively to questions of 
 currency, tariff, civil-service reform, and other 
 economic subjects. 
 
 Should the Republican party of the North 
 become indifferent to the fate of the colored 
 people of the South and ignore the atrocities 
 committed upon them, nothing can prevent 
 them from sinking rapidly into a state of vas- 
 salage, and their last condition will be worse 
 than the first. That the Democratic party of 
 the South are reconciled to the civil and po- 
 litical condition of the colored people is con- 
 tradicted by their every act, by their daily life, 
 by their history in the past and thtir aspira- 
 tions in the future; and when they get the 
 physical power — regardless of Constitutional 
 provisions or Congressional enactments — they 
 will hurl them from the platform of equality 
 and reduce them to a vassalage but one re- 
 move from slavery. 
 
 WHITE-LINE POLICY. 
 
 The white-line policy adopted by the Demo- 
 cratic party in Mississippi and other Southern 
 States proceeds upon the idea that the Govern- 
 ment should be exclusively in the hands of the 
 white people, and that colored people should 
 be excluded from all participation therein. 
 One excuse given for this is that the colored 
 people had adopted the color-line, by which 
 they sought to gain exclusive control of the 
 government in Mississippi and other Southern 
 States. This charge against the colored people 
 is flagrantly false. So far from having ever 
 sought to establish a color-line and to take 
 upon themselves exclusively the government 
 of Mississippi or other Southern States, they 
 
 have continually disclaimed it, and by their 
 conduct proved the sincerity of their disclaimer. 
 They have always been anxious to act in con- 
 cert with the white men; and although in Mis- 
 I sissippi and other Southern States the number 
 j of white Republicans acting with them has 
 borne but a small proportion to their own num- 
 ! ber, they have given to the whites constantly a 
 ; majority of the offices. The fact that the 
 j colored people have not joined the Democratic 
 j party and entered the ranks of their bitterest. 
 ! enemies is most absurdly, even foolishly offered 
 I as proof that they have attempted to establish 
 I a color-line in politics. Had the colored peo- 
 ! pie joined the ranks of their implacable enemies 
 ! they would indeed have proved themselves to 
 ! be the stupid and incapable beings they have 
 constantly been represented. The white-line 
 policy was established by the Democratic party 
 immediately after the termination of the war, 
 and has never been relaxed or abandoned for a 
 sino;le moment. Occasionally a resolution ha8 
 been put forward in some convention renounc- 
 ing that policy, but only for a blind to cover 
 up more desperate designs. The first, Legisla- 
 ture elected In Mississippi after the war, under 
 the government established by President John- 
 son, enacted a black code which for satanic 
 ingenuity and malice has never been exceeded 
 in any country. 
 
 The Democratic State Convention in Missis- 
 sippi, in February, 1868, adopted the following 
 resolution as part of its platform: 
 
 '^Eesolved, That the nefarious designs of the 
 Republican party in Congress to place the white 
 men of the Southern States under the govern- 
 mental control of their late slaves and degrade 
 the Caucasian race as the inferiors of the Afri- 
 can negro is a crime against the civilization of 
 the age which needs only to be mentioned to 
 be scorned ^y all intelligent minds, and we there- 
 fore call upon the people of Mississippi to vin- 
 dicate alike the superiority of their race over 
 the negro and their political power to maintain 
 constitutional liberty." 
 
 The white-line policy here adopted was the 
 legitimate descendant of the black code of 1865, 
 and the revolution of 187.5 was hut a continua- 
 tion of the fight against the principles of recon- 
 struction and the Constitutional amendments. 
 I here quote a passage from the Merklan Mer- 
 cury of last fall as a fair reflex of the spirit of 
 the Democratic press in Mississippi and other 
 Southern States, as I shall show by numerous 
 extracts hereafter: 
 
 "But the white man won't come down to 
 the level of the negro's conception of politics 
 in this or any other sort of government, and 
 the negro can't come up to the white man's, 
 and there's an end of it. TBtre is no u*e in 
 all this sort of palaver, which fools nobody 
 that has sense enough to be fooled. The re- 
 construction which" put the white man and 
 negro on the same political level with the 
 white man puthim^'n a competitive antagonism 
 which must and will last until the negro steps 
 down and out, or until his Northern friends 
 step in and rescue him from his perilous posi- 
 tion and restore him to his normal relation of 
 dependence and subserviency when in close 
 contact with that superior race which never yet 
 acknowledged an equal but of the same blood. 
 'Unite politically' the two races never can. Po- 
 litical equality is an absurdity without aa 
 equality of intelligence and the governing vir- 
 
tues of the whole people. In the end a politi- 
 cal unity will be first enforced, and then the 
 political rii^hts, which had to be controlled be- 
 cause dangerous, will be destroyed." 
 
 Whatever disguises may be teniporar; y 
 adopted, whatever protests may be made in 
 Washingftoo, the inflexible purpose of the 
 "White-Line" Democracy of the South is the 
 destruction of the political rights of the negro. 
 
 VIOLENCE BEFORE REPOBLICAN RULE. 
 
 But it is said that the violence and intimida- 
 tion practiced in Mississippi and other States 
 have been the natural result of Republican 
 misgovernment and the corruption of public 
 officers in those States. That there have ijeen 
 misgovernment and corruption is not to be 
 denied, and that it has been grossly exaggerated 
 for partisan purposes is equally undeniable; 
 but that this corruption and misgovernment 
 have been the origin and cause of the personal 
 violence and social intimidation is utterly un- 
 true. This violence and intimidation began 
 with the end of the war, and, as I have shown, 
 existed before the war; it preceded any attempt 
 upon the part of Congress to reconstruct the 
 Southern States; its most fearful outrages in 
 some of the States took place before Kepubli- 
 can State governments had been formed, or 
 while Republican government was yet an ex- 
 periment. The infamous Ivu-Klux organiza- 
 tion began as early as 186(5, and practiced 
 its most fearful atrocities in South Carolina, 
 North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama and 
 Louisiana during the years 1867, 1868, 1869, 
 1870 and 1871. 
 
 The horrible slaughter at the Mechanics' In- 
 stitute in New Orleans in 1866, where two hun- 
 dred and sixty men were killed for no other 
 crime than attending a convention, was while 
 that State was still under a government that 
 Iiad been organized by President Jc^hnson. As 
 a report of a Congressional committee shows, 
 within sixty days before the November election 
 of 1868 more than two thousand men were 
 killed and wounded in Louisiana for political 
 causes, bringing about a change between the 
 State election for May of that year and the 
 Presidential election in November of more 
 than 70,000 votes! 
 
 General Sheridan, who had been carefully 
 gathering up the statistics of the number of 
 persons killed and wounded in Louisiana since 
 1866, and up to February 8, 187.5, on account 
 of their political opinions, reported to the in- 
 vestigating committee appointed by the House 
 last winter, the number, so far ascertained, as 
 follows: 
 
 Killed 2,141 
 
 Wounded 2,115 
 
 Total 4,253 
 
 This is a greater number than fell at the 
 battle of Bull Run, and with another difference, 
 that in that battle the slaughter was not all on 
 one side. 
 
 Hon. George F. Hoar, chairman of the Con- 
 gressional investigating committee, in his re- 
 port made to the House last winter, briefly 
 recapitulates the history of the murde s and 
 atrocities in Louisiana, and presents a sicken- 
 ing detail ot horrors that dwarfs into insig- 
 niflcance any Indian war that has occurred 
 within a century. The horrid massacres at 
 the Mechanics' Institute, at Colfax, at Cou- 
 
 shatta, to say nothing of those of lesser mag- 
 nitude, relieve those at Wyoming and Sche- 
 nectady of their historic prominence and throw 
 over the butcheries of the Modocs a mellow 
 light. 
 
 The report of Hon. John Coburn, from the 
 :^>elect Committee on Atl'airs in Alabama, sub- 
 mitted to the House at its last session, presents 
 another chapter of horrors a little less bloody 
 than that of Louisiana, but partaking of the 
 same general character. The murders, raids, 
 cruelties and proscriptions practiced uuon the 
 Republicans, both black and white, read like a 
 chapter in the Moorish history of Spain. These 
 reports, sustained by a vast body of testimony 
 taken by committees on the spot, are to be 
 found in the printed volumes on the shelves of 
 your library, and may be inspecte by any one 
 who doubts the truth of the description I have 
 given. 
 
 VIOLENCE IN 1868. 
 
 The evidence taken by the Reconstruction 
 Commiteee of the House, of which Mr. Bout- 
 well, now a member of this body, was chair- 
 man, in regard to the election in Mississippi in 
 1868, presents the bloody and fraudulent ante- 
 type of the election last fall. It reeks with 
 murder, frauds, proscriptions, intimidation, 
 and shows that the new constitution of that 
 year was rejected by the most infamous instru- 
 mentalities by which the revolution of last 
 fall was enacted. The bloody record shows 
 that the White-Line Democracy of Mississippi, 
 who now would have the country believe that 
 they have been patient and long-forbearing, 
 but were finally aroused to uncontrollable 
 angvM- by the oppressions and robberies of a 
 Ixepublican State government, in 1868 hoisted 
 the same bloody lias, bearing like inscriptions, 
 under which they marched to a victory won by 
 the same weapons. The pretense that they 
 had borne with Republican robberies and op- 
 pressions until forbearance was no longer pos- 
 sible, and had resorted to intimidation and vio- 
 lence only when no other remedy was left, is 
 a falsehood, the monstrosity of which is only 
 equaled by the audacity of its presumption upon 
 the ignorance or forgetfulness of the nation; 
 and I shall show hereafter that all the real 
 grounds of complaint which they had against 
 Republican State government in Mississippi 
 were trivial, almost contemptible, when com- 
 pared with the wickedness and enormities 
 which distinguished the government of that 
 State while in the hands of the Democracy be- 
 fore the war. 
 
 REPORT OF JOINT COMMITTEE. 
 
 The report made by the joint committee of 
 the two Houses of Congress on Southern out- 
 rages, appointed in 1871, through Hon. John 
 Scott, then Senator from Pennsylvania, pre- 
 sents the history and operations of the Ku- 
 Klux organization in Mississippi, South Caro- 
 lina, Georgia, Tennessee and Florida iu a 
 picture so fearful and revolting t'^at the reader 
 turns from it with the sickness of the heart. 
 It is a, tale of hundreds of brutal murders, of 
 deeds without a name, of inhumanities and 
 oppressions upon the innocent, defenseless and 
 ignorant, that will challenge the annals of 
 crime in any aije or country. 
 
 When we read this dreadful record we reflect 
 that the vengeance of God cannot sleep for- 
 ever. The statesman who says that he is so 
 
absorbed iti the study of political economy 
 that he has no time to attend to these great 
 issues of life and death, and is wear}' of these 
 tales of horror and sufferinc:, makes the same 
 answer Cain made to the "Lord when he was 
 asked, ''Where is thy brother?" and Cain 
 answered: "I know ^m',. Am I my brother's 
 keeper?" And the Lord said: "What hast 
 thou done? The voice of thy brother's blood 
 crieth uuro me from the crround." 
 
 To punish such crimes the enforcement act 
 was passed in 1871, which of course could not 
 apply to offenses already committed, but un- 
 der it nine hundred and thirty persons were 
 indicted in the United States Courts in Missis- 
 sippi. Of these, two hundred and forty-three 
 were tried and found guilty, and the cases 
 against three hundred and eighty-two persons 
 are still peuding. In North Carolina 1,849 
 were indicted. Of these, 518 were tried and 
 found guilty, and cases are still pending 
 against"7-12; in South Carolina, 1,186 were in 
 dieted; in Florida, M\ in Alabama, 5o0; in 
 Georgia, SO.^; in Tennessee, 7'-i, and in Ken- 
 tucky, oO; in all, i,8G5. 
 
 The passage of the enforcement act and the 
 prosecutions under it had the effect to break 
 up the Ku Klux organization throughout the 
 South, and gave comparative peace and se- 
 curity in several of the Southern States for 
 two or three years. The suspension of the 
 writ of 7i«&efls co)'73Ms by the President in nine 
 counties in South Carolina had a magical in- 
 fluence, and many of the most desperate men 
 in that and other States immediately ran away, 
 some of whom have but recently returned. 
 The White-Liners of that State, yielding to the 
 only principles they recognize, force and fear, 
 suspended their operations, and have only re- 
 covered their courage since the revolution in 
 Mississippi, which they are now declaring it is 
 their purpose to repeat and make the basis of 
 their canvass in 1876. Social proscriptions 
 and punishments were never more powerful 
 and relentless than before the era of recon- 
 struction and the years immediately succeed- 
 ing; and it is an unanswerable fact that these 
 outrages and horrors have not been inflicted 
 upon the thieves and robbers, for they gen- 
 erally had Democratic partners, but upon the 
 innocent, the defenseless and the Ignorant. 
 
 ALLEGED MISGOVERXMENT XO EXCUSE FOR 
 MURDER. 
 
 But if the misgovernment and corruption 
 had been all that has been represented, what 
 justitication or excuse would they constitute 
 for the violence and murder that have been 
 committed ? Xone whatever. If they be ad- 
 mitted to constitute a justification or even a 
 substantial excuse, that admission would be 
 fatal to the existence of republican govern- 
 ment. Misgovernment ami corruption have 
 not been confined to the Southern States since 
 the war. The darkest page in the financial 
 history of any State in the Union is to be found 
 in the repudiation by the State of Mississippi 
 •of her public debt, many years ago, at a time 
 when no Republican or Abolitionist could set 
 his foot in that State without danger of being 
 hung upon the next tree. It cast a deep shadow 
 upon American integrity throughout the world, 
 and is to-day as vivid in the memories of men 
 as if it had occurred but yesterday. No simi- 
 lar instance can be found in our history of 
 
 equal demoralization and degradation of the 
 public conscience of a State. There has been 
 foul misgovernment in Northern States under 
 Democratic administration; and we have wit- 
 nessed in the city of New Tork, that strong- 
 hold of the Democratic party, a depth of cor- 
 ruption and fraud comprehending many mil- 
 lions of dollars first dragged to lii^ht by 
 Republican agencies, and the chief criminal 
 has recently been permitted to escape in o en 
 day by the connivance of Democratic olliciuls. 
 But these enormous public robberies, which 
 had been believed to exist for years before 
 final exposure, were never dreamed of as an 
 excuse for violence and murder. 
 
 But it seems never to have occurred to those 
 who attempt to justify these wrongs upon the 
 score of Republican misgovernment in the 
 South, that the proscriptions and violence that 
 have been practiced there are in themselves 
 calculated to beget corruption and disorders in 
 government. Where men are persecuted, not 
 for their crimes but for their opinions, and are 
 made outcasts from society and the common 
 enjoyments of life, they have but little induce- 
 ment to be honest, and the temptations to 
 fraud and corruption are increased tenfold. 
 It is the lesson of history in every age that, 
 where men are treated as villains and vaga- 
 bonds and subjected to wicked oppression from 
 society because of their race, religious or po- 
 litical opinions, they are sometimes thereby 
 made villains and vagabonds. 
 
 NO FAITH IN VIRTUE THAT CONJJIVES AT 
 MURDER. 
 
 I have no faith in that virtue which assails 
 with fury, fraud and corruption, but connives 
 at murder, outrage and oppression. Those 
 who make daily outcry about frauds, larcenies 
 and defalcations, but turn a deaf ear to the 
 cries of murdered men, to the shrieks of vic- 
 tims upon whom are inflicted infernal out- 
 rages, to the complaint of those who are 
 driven from their homes and made outcasts 
 from society for no other crime than their race 
 or political opinions, are pharisees and hypo- 
 crites of the basest sort. Frauds and larce- 
 nies are infamous crimes, and deserve the exe- 
 cration of all men; but they are inferior in 
 enormity to the crime of murder. The taking 
 of human life, save in self-defense, is the 
 wickedest deed under heaven and among men, 
 and the murderer need not be expected to hesi- 
 tate at the commission of any inferior crime. 
 He will commit perjury, forgery, arson, or any 
 deed. We haye seen how the pretended ab- 
 horience of public corruption has been made a 
 pretext for murder, for the establishment of a 
 reign of terror, for driving men from society, 
 depriving them of their means of subsistence, 
 and robbing many thousands of people of their 
 dearest political rights. If there is anything 
 more odious than these crimes, it is that reek- 
 ing hypocrisy which affects to stand aghast at 
 fraud while attempting to cast its mantle of 
 eoucealment and protection over deeds the 
 most dreadful and infamous. . 
 
 THE GREAT QUESTION. 
 
 The question of amnesty, which has recently 
 excited so much attention, is interesting as a 
 matter of justice, of feeling and of example. 
 The national question of paramount interest is 
 the political, social and industrial condition of 
 the South, the violation of the political, civil 
 
and social rights of millions of people, and the 
 subversiou of the will of the majority by vio- 
 lence and intimidation. We staml in the pres- 
 ence of a great danger overhanging the South- 
 ern States, in which those of the North are 
 powerfully, aud I must say equally interested. 
 In many ot the Southern States the policy is 
 openly avowed of seizing all power from the 
 hands" of the white race, and depriving the col- 
 ored people of their poliiical and civil rights. 
 With this policy, commonly known as the 
 white-line, it is believed that the Democracy 
 sympathize in every Southern State, and I fear 
 to a considerable extent in the Northern 
 States. State after State has been conquered 
 from the majority by violence, and we are no 
 longer left in doubt as to the purpose thus to 
 establish a solid South in the interest of the 
 Democratic party, aud when ihey shall have 
 obtained control of the National Government 
 to reconstruct the Southern States upon the 
 white man's basis, and to destroy the Republi- 
 can parly by making it impossible for men of 
 Republican x^rinciples to enjoy aud express 
 their opinions in peace and safety. Then, as 
 before the rebellion, the Republican party will 
 be banished from the South, and it will be to 
 them as a foreign country. When we consider 
 how fearfully rapid the progress has been in 
 that direciiou even under Republican adminis- 
 tration, we can understand how it might be 
 accelerated and consummated with a Demo- 
 cratic President elected chiefly by the Southern 
 Democracy, and necessarily sympathizing with 
 them in their aspirations. Lest it be said that 
 I do injustice to the Northern Democracy, I 
 beg leave to remind the Senate that before the 
 war the Northern Democracy not only connived 
 at the oppressions upon the Republican party 
 and its exclusion from the Southern States, 
 but made merry over and defended the out- 
 rages committed in the South upon Abolition- 
 ists, and that now, and ever since the war, the 
 Democratic party either deny, Justify or excuse 
 the dreadful atrocities committed upon the 
 white and black Republicans in the Southern 
 States. 
 
 PEKJUKT THE CONCOMITANT OF MUKDEXi. 
 
 A necessary concomitant of the system of 
 murder, violence and proscription in the 
 Southern States is falsehood and perjury. The 
 men who commit these crimes will, as a matter 
 of course, commit perjury to conceal or justify 
 them. In the Ku-Klux investigations and 
 trials the most wonderful and disgusting ex- 
 hibitions of perjury were witnessed. Many 
 men who had before the Ku-Klux committee 
 or on examination in court as witnesses testi- 
 fied to all want of knowledge of the organiza- 
 tion or of its crimes were afterward conclu- 
 sively proven to be members of it and guilty. 
 The victims of their infamous crimes were 
 covered with th9"foulest calumnies, and scarce 
 an outrage was investigated that was not denied 
 under oath or just-ified or excused by the most 
 infamous falsehoods against the sufferers. 
 
 A monstrous system of falsehood has been 
 continually practiced, not only in Mississippi, 
 but in every Southern State, by which the 
 Government of the United States is constantly 
 charged with the grossest and most wicked 
 oppressions of the Southern people. Republi- 
 can State and county governments are assailed 
 with charges of corruption and oppression 
 which in most cases are utterly false or grossly 
 
 exaggerated. Many very ignorant people in 
 the South have thtis been made to believe that 
 they are sorely oppressed by the Government 
 of the United States, and that it is, as charged 
 by a distinguished Mississippian, now a mem- 
 ber of Congress, the most tyrannical Governs 
 ment on the face of the earth; and yet if they 
 were called upon to specify in what way they 
 have suffered they could not do it, even if their 
 lives depended upon it. The charges of cor- 
 ruption against Governor Ames and every 
 Republican State and county official in Missis- 
 sippi have been so voluble and persistent that 
 very many of the ignorant have been made to 
 believe them, and have thus to some extent 
 been hounded on to madness and criine. 
 
 THE ONLY HIGHWAY TO PEACE. 
 
 Many well-meaning people deplore any refer- 
 ence to the outrages committed in the South 
 as inimical to reconciliation and harmony be- 
 tween the sections. They are exceedingly 
 anxious that in this Centennial year all past 
 differences shall be forgotten, and the people 
 North and South, forgetting and forgiving, and 
 mindful ouljof our great national future, shall 
 meet and embrace as a nation of brothers. It 
 is a consummation devoutly to be wished; but 
 I must remind such well-meaning people that 
 any formal reconciliation, while the dearest 
 rights of millions are sys'.ematically violated 
 and the greatest wrongs passed unnoticed and 
 unpunished, will be the rankest hypocrisy, re- 
 volting alike to divine and human justice. It 
 is only the knavish quack who ptits a plaster 
 over the mouth of the wound and says it is 
 healed. The hi aling process must begin at the 
 bottom aud be thorough to be permanent and 
 healthy. 
 
 All the gushing and hand-shaking which 
 precedes the concession of equal rights and 
 justice to men of all colors and opinions in the 
 Southern States will be the veriest sham and 
 deceive nobody. Such foul wrongs cannot be 
 ignored and concealed. They will forever ob- 
 trude themselves upon the world and cry aloud 
 for redress. It will be the cry of "Peace, 
 peace; when there is no peace;" and should 
 the Republicans of the North turn a deaf ear 
 to the complaints of the Republicans of the 
 South and affect to believe that the reconstruc- 
 tiou has taken place, and that all is well, they 
 will be justly contemptible in the eyes of all 
 mankind. The Union men of the South have 
 been subjected to trials of which we in the 
 North have but a faint idea, and have shown 
 their faith and patriotism by adherence to 
 their principles under circumstances whore 
 the weak, the venal and the unprincipled have 
 joined the enemy; and the Republicans of the 
 North dare not, will not now abandon them. 
 Let me say to this class of people, and the men 
 of the South, there is but one highway to re- 
 conciliation, and that is open, straight and free; 
 and over its portals are inscribed these words, 
 
 "EQtJAL KIO'HTS TO ALL; TO ALL THE EQUAL 
 
 PROTnoTiON OF THE LAWS;" and if the 
 Southern people will walk in that highway 
 they will arrive at the temple of peace and find 
 unbroken rest. 
 
 The task which I have underta,ken is not a 
 pleasant one; but I am in the performance of 
 what I regard as a high duty. No more im- 
 portant question can be presented to this body 
 during this session than the one I am consider- 
 ing, whether the majority of the people of a 
 
S'ate can be overwhelmed with impuuiivi', 
 
 violence Jiii'1 IVnuii, and wiieiln-r a movement 
 tliat looks to the ovcnlirow of the political 
 and civil riiihts of five millions of people and 
 the defeat of at least two important amend- 
 ments to the Constitution of the United States, 
 can pass on wltliout notice and without con- 
 demnation. I ask the Senate this mornini;', as 
 a matter of duty to themselves as well us to 
 the country, to listen to the evidence that I 
 shall produce. I will say in the beijrinning, to 
 disarm criticism, that it will be almost all 
 froni Democratic sources. I am aware that 
 letters and statements brougrht here, and espe- 
 cially if I am not at liberty to give the names, 
 will have their force weakened because of their 
 anonymous character; but I propose now to 
 show to the Senate and to the country from 
 Democratic sources the actual character of the 
 late contest in Mississippi and the principles 
 that are involved in it. 
 
 But, Mr. President, before comina: to that, I 
 want to notice the questl(5n of the finan<es of 
 Mississippi, and put that matter in a true ligfht 
 if possible. It has been constantly asserted, 
 until a larare part of the people of the North 
 believe it, that the reconstructed government 
 in Mississii)pi, first under Governor Alcorn, 
 then under Governor Powers, and then under 
 Governor Ames, has been extravagant beyond 
 precedent; has been and is thoroughly corrupt 
 and rotten; and these charges, so persistently 
 made, have male an imi)ression upon the 
 North and have been made the (!xcuse and jus- 
 tification for murder and intimidation in the 
 State of Mississippi. 1 want, then, first to con- 
 sider that question — how much, if any, truth 
 there is in that general statement that has 
 been so persistently made. 
 
 TTIE STATE WHEN TFIE REPUBLICANS TOOK 
 CONTROL. 
 
 First let me say a word in regard to the con- 
 dition of the State when ttie State of Missis- 
 sippi in 1870 when the reconstructed govern- 
 ment went into operation. Mississippi was 
 then in an impoverished condition. She had 
 been under a State government organized by 
 President Johnson from 18(5.5 until 1S67, then 
 under military government for three years, and 
 the reconstructed government went into opera- 
 tion in March, IS7U. The Republican party 
 Ibund Mississippi in a destitute and prostrate 
 condition. Many of the public buildings had 
 been destroyed by fire; all of them were out of» 
 repair, many of the court-houses, jails, asy- 
 lums, and most of tlie bridges over the rivers 
 had been destroyed ; the public highways 
 were all in a dilapidated and insecure con- 
 dition, and many ot them almost impassable. 
 Extraordinary expenses had to be incurred 
 necessarily, for the purpose of lifting the 
 State out of this prostrate condition. The 
 worlc of reconstruction had to be undertaken 
 with a majority of the citizens newly enfran- 
 chised, wholly unac({aaintcd with the science 
 of government. The judiciary was recon- 
 structed under the new constitution, and I 
 may say right here, and I believe I shall not 
 be successfully contradicted, that that judi- 
 ciary has perhaps been the best the State has 
 ever had ; that there has been but little said 
 aeninst it. I believe no well-authenticated 
 charge has been made against the Supreme 
 Court, or against any one of the forty judges 
 of that State. If such charges have been 
 
 ma le they have not been broutrht to my atten- 
 tion. Amidst the storm of obloquy and c.il- 
 umny that has swept over that Btaie, thi^ judi- 
 ciary has comparatively escaped from it. Si) 
 far as the State olHcers are concerned, the ad- 
 ministration I believe has been comparatively 
 pure. No well-grounded suspicion exists 
 against the integrity of Governor Alcorn, the 
 first Governor, or against Governor Powers, 
 the second Governor, or against Governor 
 Ames, the present Governor. I know that gen- 
 eral charges of corruption are made against 
 Governor Ames, but I imagine that it will be 
 impossible for any Senator upon this floor to 
 bring evidence fixing any charge of corruption 
 or fraud upon Governor Ames. 
 
 Mr. Stevenson. Will the Senator from In- 
 diana allow me to ask a riuestion ? 
 
 Mr. Morton. I hope my friend will allow 
 me to make my general statement. I will yield 
 a little further on. 
 
 Mr. Stevenson. I only wanted to ask the 
 Senator a question. 
 
 Mr. Morton. In regard to the subordinate 
 State oihcers, I understand that no charges of 
 corruption have been made against any of them. 
 The present lieutenant governor, Davis, has 
 been charged with taking a brit)e of $.500 to 
 pardon a criminal at a time when he was act- 
 ing Governor in the absence of Governor A mes. 
 I believe it has not been officially or judi(;ially 
 established in any way, and whether he is 
 guilty or not I cannot say. Mr. Cardozo, the 
 superintendent of public instruction, was 
 charged with having been guilty of corrupt 
 practices before he became superintendent of 
 public instruction; but I have not heard of 
 anything having been preferred against him 
 since that time, though there may have been. 
 
 The sheriff's of the counties of Mississi[)pi are 
 collectors of taxes ea; o/^do. I have heard of 
 but two cases of defalcation on the part of tax 
 collectors in that State since reconstruction in 
 1870. I do not say there are not others, but I 
 will say that upon inquiry I have heard of but 
 two, and the agirregate sum of the defalca- 
 tions amounts to $15,000. One of these tax 
 collectors was a Uepublican and the other a 
 Democrat. 
 
 There have been charges in regard to the 
 public printing, that there were great extrava- 
 gance and corruption in that. It has been 
 said the rates for printing fixed by the Legis- 
 lature of 1870 were too high, and I am not pre- 
 pared to dispute it. I believe they have been 
 largely reduced since that time; but the public 
 printer against whom these charges have been 
 chiefly made was re elected in 1873. The prin- 
 cipal charges, against him were for maladmin- 
 istration during 1870 and 1871. He was re- 
 elected by the Legislature in 1872, and at that 
 time received the entire Democratic vote in the 
 Legislature. He was indorsed l)y the Demo- 
 cratic party after those charges had been made, 
 and I believe some of them had been preferred 
 by Governor Alcorn himself. That does not 
 justify or vindicate his conduct. But what I 
 mean to say is that, whether he was guilty of 
 those charges or not, the Democratic members 
 of that body, with a full knowledge of what 
 had been done, voted for his re-election, I be- 
 lieve, unanimously. 
 
 THE PINANCI.\L CONDITION OF THE STATE. 
 
 Now, Mr. President, I come to the question 
 of the finances of Mississippi; and I ask the 
 
10 
 
 attention of the Senate to the pr»ise)it condition 
 of the Stiite 2:overnraent of Mississippi in a 
 financial point of view. I rear! from themes- 
 sage of Governor Ames, and I presume it will 
 not be successfully contradicted In any of the 
 matters which he states. He says: 
 
 ''The condition of the State's finances is un- 
 preaedently favorable. 
 
 "The real debt of the State, that is, its out- 
 etandintf obligations beyond its ability to pay 
 at once with its current and available funds, 
 (the taxes received for 1875,) amounts to 
 $500,000." 
 
 But very few States in the North are in as 
 Gfood condition in that respect. There would 
 have been a iarn;e public debt hang^ina: over 
 Mississippi, comina; down from the years be- 
 fore the war, if before the war that State had 
 not repudiated the debt. But Ta/i now speak- 
 ina: of the present debt of Mi6sii5sippl . 
 
 "The common and Chickasaw funds — debtg 
 upon which the interest only is to be paid,tlie 
 principal never becoming due, (obligations in- 
 curred many years since)" — 
 
 Before the war — 
 "amounts to * * * $1 ,.5:^0,620." 
 
 This debt against the State, upon which the 
 State pays interest, the State having received 
 the money herself, is formed in thifi way: 
 SSS^JjOOO were received from the sale of Chick- 
 asaw school lands in 1847 — lauds granted by 
 Congress in the northeastern part of Missis- 
 sippi, sold for gold and put into the Treasury. 
 These moneys were loaned by the State in 1^58 
 to four railroad companies and lost. The rest 
 of this $1,500,000 consists of fines, forfeitures 
 and liquor licenses paid into the State treasury 
 and set apart for the school fund. 
 
 The expenses of the State government during 
 the past year amounted to $618,25U 18 
 
 The amount i)aid to the two universi- 
 ties of the State, to normal schools 
 and interest on Ohickasaw school 
 fund was 138,893 37 
 
 The Mississippi State bonds paid 
 amounted to 250,000 CO 
 
 Interest on bonds 37,564 00 
 
 Extra improvements,(State buildings) 66,017 44 
 * » * ♦ » 
 
 Receipts over disbursements were for 
 1874 49,114 47 
 
 Receipts over disbursements were for 
 1875, (based on moderate estimate of 
 taxes already received and due,) 
 over 400,000 00 
 
 Since this message was delivered I have re- 
 ceived a communication from (xovernor Ames, 
 stating subsequent returns made by the State 
 treasurer, which shows that the receipts over 
 disbursements for 1S75 will be $496,000.- 
 
 EXPENDITURES COMPARED. 
 
 Now, Mr. President, I come to the question 
 of taxation. The Repul)lican government of 
 Mississippi has been foully and so persistently 
 slandered on that subject that I beg the indul- 
 gence of the Senate to go into a little detail 
 upon that point; but before doing that I want 
 to contrast the expenses of the present State 
 governmenv, of Mississippi under Governor 
 Ames with the expenses of the State govern- 
 ment, be;;;inning with 1857. I have figures here 
 which I am told have been carefully prepared 
 from the journals. 
 
 The expenses of that State government were 
 in — 
 
 1857 $738,531 00 
 
 1868 6 14,859 00 
 
 1850 740,015 00 
 
 1860 063,536 00 
 
 1861 1,^24,1 61 I 
 
 1«6'2 6.810.894 00 
 
 18 53 '2;210,:94 00 
 
 18'.'4 5,ri4t>,73'J no 
 
 18o5 1,410,250 01) 
 
 1S68 I,8e0.800 00 
 
 1867 626.00) i;0 
 
 1S68 625,678 lO 
 
 188'.i 463,219 00 
 
 In these last two years there were no State 
 Legislatures, and that accounts for the diminu- 
 tion at that time. I have not been able to cet 
 the figures for 1870, 1871, and 1872. For the 
 first year of the reconstruction of course they 
 were necessarily larger than they are now from 
 the causes I have stated — 
 
 ] 873 $953,030 00 
 
 1874 9i)S,330 110 
 
 1876 : ....^. C1H,259 00 
 
 I think that will compare very favorably 
 with State governments anywhere. Then bear 
 in mind that, by the enfranchisement of the 
 colored "[people and they becomina: citizens, the 
 expenses of the Government have been neces- 
 sarily enlanced. That is an item that ought 
 to be taken into consideration; and, further, 
 that the expenses of the State government be- 
 fore the war were paid in coin, and since that 
 time they have been paid in paper, which has 
 been at a very considerable discount, some- 
 times as low as sixty-five cents on the dollar. 
 
 TAXATION. 
 
 Now, Mr. President, I come to the question 
 of taxation in the State of Mississippi, [n 187:1 
 the State tax for creneral purposes was seven 
 mills; interest and principal on bonded del)t, 
 one and a half mills; school teachers' tax, four 
 mills. The tax for school teachers was first 
 imposed this year by general law. This tax 
 hail been previously levied Ijy the counties, but 
 to obtain uniformity throughout the State it 
 was thought best to make a general levy, and 
 therefore it made the State tax that much 
 larger. Now I will read to the Senate the law 
 passed in 1872: * 
 
 "i?e it enacted. That the powers of the board 
 of supervisors in the several counties in this 
 State, to levy taxes for all purposes of what- 
 ever kind, is hereby «o limited and restricted 
 as to prohibit the said boards from levving a 
 tax any one year which, with the State tax 
 added, shall exceed $25 on the $1,000 of as- 
 sessed valuation." 
 
 Now, I come down to 1874. The State tax 
 was then six and three fourths mills; interest 
 and principal on the bonded debt, three and 
 one fourth mills; teachers' fund tax, four mills. 
 Allow me to remark right here — and it is 
 particularly worthy of attention — that there 
 had never been a common-school system in 
 Mississippi before the war; and, of course, 
 there was none during the war; and the very 
 first Legislature after the reconstructed gov- 
 ernment established a common-school system. 
 There were four hundred thousand sehool 
 children in Mississippi of both races, and the 
 most of them, even the whites, were without 
 tlie means of education; and the State was 
 taxed to establish and maintain a common- 
 
11 
 
 school system, and If there should be any com- 
 plaint about the increase of taxation or in- 
 crease of expenditures, bear in mind that it 
 comprnhends a school system, a tliin<j before 
 unknown in the State of Mississippi, lu 187.5 
 the tax law was amended, aa follows : 
 
 "/>««< enacted, <f'c.. That the boards of super- 
 visors of the several counties of this State are 
 hereby protiibited from levyini;: taxes which, 
 witli tiie State and school taxes, will exceed 
 $20 on the » 1,000 of valuation." 
 
 In addition to the above levy for public pur- 
 poses a like tax was laid on business by the 
 general tax bill of this year, and a sliirht one 
 on merchants and some other branches of busi- 
 ness perliaps. A poll tax of one dollar is 
 levied that j^oes exclusively to thescho ^1 fund. 
 The averaije delinquent list on all taxes is 
 about twenty per cent. The proceeds of all 
 fines, li(iuorlicenses, sales of public lands, &c., 
 go to tha common-school fund, and cannot be 
 used foi general purposes. Therefore the tax 
 durino; the last year for all purposes cannot 
 exceed twenty mills, or two per cent. I now 
 invite the attention of my Democratic friends 
 to a comparison between the rate of taxation 
 in Mississii)pi and other States. This is com- 
 piled from the census returns of 1870. Of 
 course I cannot speak for the last year or two, 
 but I understand that the rate of taxation in 
 Mississippi in 1875 was no higher than in 1870. 
 
 New York: 
 
 AssKSsod value of property $1,967,001,1S5 
 
 Total taxes 48,550,308 
 
 Hate of taxation, 2.4 6-10 per cent, on the dollar. 
 Ohio: 
 
 Assessed value of property $1,167,731,697 
 
 Total taxes 23,526,548 
 
 Hate of taxation, 2.01 per cent, on the dollar. 
 Illinois: 
 
 Assessed value of property $482,89-1,675 
 
 Total taxes . . 21,825,008 
 
 K;i,to of taxation, 4.5 percent, on the dollar. 
 Indiana: 
 
 Assc.><sed value of property $663,455,044 
 
 Total taxes 10,791,121 
 
 Kato of taxation 1.6 2-10 per cent, on the dollar. 
 Massachusetts: 
 
 Assessed value of property .$1,609,983,112 
 
 Total taxes 24,922,900 
 
 liate of taxation, 1.5 9-10 per cent, on the dollar. 
 Missouri: 
 
 Assesseil value of property $556,129,969 
 
 Total taxes 13,008,498 
 
 Kate of taxation, 2.5 per cent on the dollar. 
 Michigan: 
 
 Assessed value of property $272,242,917 
 
 Total taxes 5,412,9o7 
 
 K;itc of taxation, 1.9 per cent, on the dollar. 
 Pennsylvania: 
 
 Assessed value of property $1,313,23S,042 
 
 Total taxes 24,531,397 
 
 Kate of taxation, 1.8 8-10 per cent, on the dollar. 
 The average rate of the above States is 
 2.1 5-10 per cent on the dollar. 
 
 TAXATION COMPARED WITH OTHER STATES. 
 
 I submit, in this connection, further evidence 
 showing the rate of taxation in several States 
 of the North. Mr. Smith, of 0\i\o'(Congrcssional 
 Record, page 1G05, Forty-third Congress, sec- 
 ond session,) says: 
 
 "In the table before rae there is a statement 
 of valuations of forty-five cities and towns, all 
 the cities and a number o. the large towns in 
 Ohio. The total valuation of the property in 
 those ciT.ies is, in round numbers, $448,000,000. 
 The average rate of taxation is 25.43:; mills 
 per $100, a little over 2% per cent, on all the 
 town property in the State of Ohio. This in- 
 
 cludes all the taxes except special assessments 
 for improvements," &c. 
 
 The auditor of the State of Indiana says: 
 
 "Ttiat a large portion of the taxes in the 
 towns of that Slate are not returned to the 
 State auditor; but, notwithstanding he has not 
 those taxes in many instances, the average is 
 there over 2 per cent. * * * 
 
 "Am I told by gentlemen here, who live in 
 New England that the rate of taxation there is 
 at least 2% or 3 per cent, in that part of the 
 country?" 
 
 Mr. Cotton, following Mr. Smith in the dis- 
 cussion on taxation in the District of Colum- 
 bia, said: 
 
 "I do not think that the city tax should he 
 higher thun 2 percent., although thit is not a 
 very hish tax. * * * vVe pay miudi 
 more than that all through the West, in some 
 case 4 and 5 per cent, on the value of the prop- 
 erty." 
 
 Thus it will be seen that this charge about 
 extravagant taxation in Mississippi under the 
 circumstances is without foundation. There 
 is another species of taxation, however, that I 
 must call attention to so as to avoid confusion, 
 and that is called the levee tax. The counties 
 along the line of the*Mississippi river that arc 
 liable to overflow are divided into twodivisions. 
 Each county sends a representative to what is 
 called a levee board. These levee boards as- 
 sess taxes for levee purposes. They are paid 
 more cheerfully than any other taxes in tho 
 State. They are assessed by the planters 
 themselves owning the land, and of these, I 
 believe, there is little or no complaint made. 
 1 understand that they are paid cheerfully, 
 and the complaint has been often that they 
 were not high enough to protect the lands, 
 because unless the levees were kept up the 
 plantations would be entirely destroyed. 
 
 Now I desire to call the attention of the 
 Senate to this rate of taxation as compared 
 with the taxation of Mississippi established by 
 the Democratic Legislature of 18(55, and that 
 which existed in Mississippi before the war 
 wnder Democratic administration. The law 
 in Mississippi until 1870 in regard to the assess- 
 ment of real estate is found in the code of 
 1857, and I will read it and would like to have 
 the opinion of my friends upon it: 
 
 "Lands shall be assessed every four years 
 according to the intrinsic value, to be judged 
 of by the owner or person having possession or 
 charge thereof." (Code 1857, page 75.) 
 
 The owners of plantations were made to 
 assess themselves, and it is not recorded that 
 they ever made the assessment too high, but 
 there is much evidence that it was too low, 
 and that the burdens of taxation were thrown 
 upon the few feeble industries of that State. 
 
 INIQUITOUS DEMOCRATIC REVENUE LAW. 
 
 In 1865 there was a new tax law passed, to 
 which I wish to call the attention of the Sen- 
 ate, under the government established by 
 President Johnson, when there was no Kepub- 
 lican in the Legislature, and when the colored 
 men were still little better than slaves. The 
 first provision was that real estate should be 
 assessed at the rate of one mill on the dollar. 
 Bear in mind that Mississippi is an agricul- 
 tural State, that there are few manufactories, 
 and a very few moneyed corporations. The 
 railroads there were exempted by law from 
 taxation for twenty years by tha Legislaturce 
 
12 
 
 chartering them. There were very few insur- 
 ance companies, and scarcely any banks; so 
 that there was 'out little, property in the State 
 except real property and a comparatively small 
 amount- of colored people's property; anil yet 
 in levyin!; the taxation for that year (and that 
 continued to be the law till 1870) there was 
 but one mill assessed on real estate. The 
 laud-owners threw the burdens upon the me- 
 chanics and working-people of the State; and, 
 us I shall show you, a more oppressive system 
 was never devised; and I defy any member of 
 this body to show auythi-ng in the history of 
 what are called the carpet-bag governments 
 that bears any comparison to the oppression, I 
 may say the wickedness, of the tax law of 
 1865. Of course one mill upon real estate 
 would not raise money enough to meet the 
 expenses of the government; and to supply 
 that dulkiency they put a tax of $2o on a bar- 
 ber's sliop. The poor h'lrlier luiLrht not have 
 live dollars' worth of property in his shop, yet 
 he paid $25; while a man whose real estate 
 was assessed at $35,000 in value would only 
 pay $35. 
 
 THE POOR OPPRESSED. 
 
 I want to show you what ideas of justice and 
 equity prevailed at that ' time, and how the 
 labor of the State was oppressed. The black- 
 smiths, bakers, butchers, brick-masons, brew- 
 tirs, carriage-makers,, carpenters, dealers in 
 lumber and shiui^les, printers, gunsmiths, tail- 
 ors, tanners, watch makers, painters, milli- 
 ners and owners of llouring-mills were taxed 
 twenty-five cents on each and every $100 of 
 the gross receipts of their several trades or 
 callings. 
 
 ''On sales of merchandise sold by any regu- 
 lar merchant or dealer in goods, wares and 
 merchandise, fui-niture, books, carriages, or 
 any other species of merchandise, except ale, 
 beer, spirituous and vinous liquors, .3 of 1 per 
 cent. 
 
 ******* 
 
 "On all livery-stables, upon the gross re- 
 ceipts of their regular business, 2 per cent. 
 * * * * * * * 
 
 "On all confectioners' shops, barber.s' or 
 hair-di-essiug shops or establishments, the sum 
 of $25. 
 
 ****** * 
 
 "On all pleasure-carriasres, clocks, watches, 
 gold or silver coin, gold or silver plate, (above 
 the value of $.50 of ijold and silver plate,) 
 pianos and watches, }4 of 1 per cent. 
 
 "On the gross receipts of i^l ferries, bridges, 
 turnpikes and othrr places where a fee is col- 
 lected from the passer, ]4 of \ per cent. 
 
 "On the actual value of all solvent credits, 
 )<^ of 1 per cent. 
 
 ******* 
 
 "On each and every hack, cab, carriage or 
 omnibus, used for transporting passengers for 
 pay or compensation, if drawn by one horse, 
 $5; if drawn by two horses, $10, and if drawn 
 by four horses, $20. 
 
 "On each and every dray or wagon, used for 
 l.ransportiuy; freight for pay or compensatiou, 
 if drawn by one horse, $5; if drawn by two or 
 more horses, $10." 
 
 This was the Slate tax on a few of the many 
 subjects of taxation, and then the counties 
 came in, and sometimes triplicated these 
 taxes, so that I have heard of cases down 
 there where a man's license on his drav would 
 
 be $20, and the county tax assessed on a bar- 
 ber's shoD added to the State tax would make 
 it $100. 
 
 It will thus be seen that this system of 
 taxes was devised for the purpose of relievimi- 
 th»se who owned the land, and throwing the 
 burden upon the labor of the State. I might 
 refer to many other things to show the iiii 
 quity of this system of taxation under Demo- 
 cratic administration in Mississippi; but there 
 has been so much said about the oppression of 
 the Republican party, as if it was a new thin;;- 
 in Mississippi; but it has been so gros.sly ancl 
 shamefully exaggerated lor political ijurposes 
 that I wish now to I'efer briefly to the history 
 of Mississippi under Democratic rule. I do so 
 to meet a charge that I heard made on tlie 
 floor of the Senate four years ago, and I have 
 a very distinct recollection of it. A Senator 
 was inveighing with great bitterness and 
 power against rhe oppression of the llepubli- 
 cau party of Mississippi, and said he, "I state 
 it upon my honor that the taxes upon real 
 estate in Mississippi have been increased ten- 
 fold." I thought it was a very grave charge 
 and a very gross outrage if it was true; but I 
 did not know then that the tax before bad 
 been only one mill on real estate and had 
 afterward been put up to 1 per cent. 
 
 STAliTLlNG DEMOCRATIC DEFALCATIONS. 
 
 Now I come to the question of Democratic 
 taxation before the war, and I shall quote en- 
 tirely from olf5cial sources. The Senate Jour- 
 nal of Mississippi for 1810 shows a list of de- 
 faulters for one year in that State, amounting 
 to thirty-eight county sheriffs. They num- 
 bered twenty-eight defaulters in that many 
 counties, amounting to $36,980. The Senate 
 Journal for the next year shows thirty-six 
 defalcations in that many counties on the part 
 of 'tax collectors, amoanting to $90,617; and I 
 shall show by a quotation from the message of 
 one of the Governors that these men were 
 never brought to justice, but that defalcations, 
 recklessness and robbery were so common 
 that there was scarce any attempt made to 
 hold men to official responsibility. The fol- 
 lowing tables are taken from the official jour- 
 nals of the Mississippi Legislature : 
 
 [Senate Journal, 1S40, pages 90, 91. Defalcations 
 of 1S38.] 
 
 Ohoctaw $134 68 
 
 Madison 9-17 21 
 
 Winston 71 67 
 
 Lauderdale 24 Vt6 
 
 1 tawamba Vl 67 
 
 Copiah ■ 50 00 
 
 Oktibbeha 78 44 
 
 Hancock 15i> 00 
 
 Jetferson 6,930 19 
 
 Carroll •.■•• 2,990 21 
 
 Coahoma 251 25 
 
 Leake 4d9 67 
 
 SmitU 285 62 
 
 Covington 189 00 
 
 Yalabusha 2(55 96 
 
 Warren t: ^,855 43 
 
 Lafayette 1,053 8S 
 
 Pontotoc 62 VO 
 
 Amite ao 00 
 
 Pauola 60 00 
 
 Washinstou 1,992 3-i 
 
 Tishemingo -21 89 
 
 Clarke... 4'i6 26 
 
 Solmes 'l,22i! 66 
 
 Monroe 2,155 o>> 
 
 Tallahatchie 1,048 -5 
 
 Total $26,980 27 
 
13 
 
 lu Senate Journal, 1840, paees 86 and 87, 
 cxliibit A, is a list of public defaulters, re- 
 lerrcd to by name and county and the amount 
 due by each, 1»:;'J. Number, 33. Total 
 amount, $1)0,017.46 : 
 
 No.xubee ^. . 
 
 JLuwndes 
 
 Uroeno , 
 
 Adams 
 
 \V ni«.on 
 
 Carroll 
 
 Hain^ock 
 
 Son 
 
 Clreciie 
 
 Wilkinson , 
 
 AdaiuB 
 
 .Icllerson 
 
 liiuils 
 
 Marsball 
 
 (Jhickasaw 
 
 Keuiper 
 
 (Jhuctaw 
 
 lafa 
 
 ttlaTJliall.... 
 
 Jellcrson 
 
 FonioCoc . . 
 
 W.arren 
 
 \azuo 
 
 Wilkinson... 
 Covington.., 
 
 .loucs 
 
 Lauderdale. 
 Liowndes.... 
 
 Adams 
 
 Lieake 
 
 Uinds 
 
 Monroe 
 
 Madison.... 
 lloiuies 
 
 11,235 60 
 
 368 S8 
 
 •Z-l 8'.l 
 
 7,708 OJ 
 
 66 13 
 
 1,»:51 38 
 
 aiO 21 
 
 42 00 
 
 718 84 
 
 1,0+7 8b 
 
 204 43 
 
 4,113 38 
 
 2,037 24 
 
 4lir, 00 
 
 75 0.i 
 
 650 72 
 
 285 51 
 
 153 35 
 
 1,480 3 I 
 
 b35 38 
 
 2,821 OS 
 
 72 T3 
 
 58 40 
 
 873 51 
 
 317 6S 
 
 206 86 
 
 285 06 
 
 35,431 77 
 
 101 00 
 
 15,836 78 
 
 l,-.:7i 32 
 
 5,y'J5 4+ 
 
 3,by6 13 
 
 Total $yO,617 46 
 
 1 read from the message of Governor McNutt, 
 of Mississippi: 
 
 "Thirteen tax-collectors are in default for 
 the year 1838 in the sum of $23, 533. 38; and 
 twenty-one in the sum of $32,859.25 lor the 
 taxes of 1839. Large balances are still due for 
 taxes which have accrued previous to the year 
 1838. Some of the assessors have failed to re- 
 turn their assessment-rolls. The auditor esti- 
 mates the taxes of 1840 at $192,876.94. It will 
 be perceived that the expenses of the govern- 
 ment cannot be svistained hereafter without a 
 tliauge in our whole system of assessing and 
 collecting the revenues. Not more than one 
 half of the taxable property in the State is 
 ever assessed, and large portions of the taxes 
 collected are never paid into the State treas- 
 ury." 
 
 THE STATE TREASUKr ROBBED. 
 
 That is the testimony of Governor McNutt. 
 In 1843, Mr. Graves, State treasurer, was a de- 
 faulter to the amount of $165,.547.07, and ab- 
 sconded, in 1858, the then Governor says of 
 the auditor, John MaDory: 
 
 "It appears that he is a defaulter to the 
 amount of $54,097.96, all except $230.58 on ac- 
 count of town lots and the 3 per cent, seminary 
 and sinking funds." 
 
 In 1866, under President Johnson's govern- 
 ment, the defalcation of A. D. Haynes, State 
 treasurer, was $61,963.38. According to the 
 report — 
 
 "The amount of defalcations and insolven- 
 cies disclosed annually in the auditor's report 
 can but satisfy you that there is great remiss- 
 ness on the part of some of the collectors." 
 
 In view of this character of its government 
 before the war is it probable that the Democ- 
 rasy of Mississippi have been aroused to an un- 
 
 controllable aneerby tlie allegation of corrup 
 tion and niismaii:i<:enient on tlie part of ihe 
 llepunlicans of Mississippi for the last six 
 years? And, Mr. President, I have only made 
 a little beginning in it. 
 
 I am aulfliorized to state here by a gentle 
 man whois very familiar with. the condition of 
 MiBSissi]iin that this d.'falcation of Haynes in 
 1866 of $(il,()00 is greater than all the defalca- 
 tions which have taken place in Mississippi 
 since that time. 
 
 MISSISSIPPI'S SHAME. 
 
 This is only a very small part of the history 
 of corruption in Mississippi belbre the war. In 
 1S29 the Legislature of Mississippi chartered 
 the Planters' Bank, in which the State sub 
 scribed $2,000,000 of stock under the charter. 
 The State issued her bonds to procure the 
 money to pay for that stock, and the bonds 
 were sold in the London market at 113>2 . A 
 part of them passed afterwards into the hands 
 of George Peabody. A sinking fund vv.-is prp- 
 vided to pay these bonds. It was provided that 
 the dividend on the stock should go into the 
 State treasury, and remain there as a sinking 
 fund to pay the bonds when they should fall 
 due, and that sinking lund had grown until it 
 contained $560,000. In 1838 the State char- 
 tered what was called the Union Bank of Mis- 
 sissippi, with a capital of $15,000,000. The 
 State provided for issuing to the bank her own 
 bonds, made payable to the bank, for $15,000,- 
 000. In other words, the State guaranteed the 
 stock, but only $5,000,000of bonds were issued. 
 These bonds were sold to Nicholas Biddle, the 
 President of the Bank of the United States, at 
 par, and the State subscribed her stock, or 
 took stock to that amount in the Union Bank 
 of Mississippi. Two years after that the bank 
 failed, and the Planters' Bank failed, and 
 then the State repudiated the bonds of 
 the Planters' Bank and the Union Bank, and 
 there began the darkest spot in the financial 
 history of any State in this Union. These bonds 
 were boKlly and shamefully repudiated upon 
 the ourailest possible legal quibble or pretext, 
 and I desire to read to the Senate the i-easons 
 given bv Governor McNutt for this repudia- 
 tion. li> seems that the $5,000,000 of bonds 
 that liad been purchased by the Bank of the 
 United States had been hypothecated with the 
 Rothschilds, in England, for borroweu money. 
 Governor McNutt, in giving the reasons why 
 these bonds should be repudiated in the hands 
 of the Rothschilds, says this: • 
 
 "The bank, (i. e., the Bank of the United 
 States,) 1 have been informed, have hypothe- 
 cated these bonds and borrowed money upon 
 them of the Baron Rothschild; the blood of 
 Judas and Shylock flows in his veins, and he 
 unites the qualities of both his countrymen. 
 He has mortgages on the silver mines of Mex- 
 ico and the qui«k6ilver mines of Spain; he has 
 advanced money to the Sublime Porte, and 
 taken as security a mortirage upon the holy 
 city of Jerusalem and the sepulchre of our 
 Saviour. It is for the people to say whether 
 he shall have a mortgage upon our cotton- 
 fields and make serfs of our children. Let the 
 baron exact his pound of flesh of Mr. Jordan 
 and the Bank of the United States, and let the 
 latter institution of our country exact the 
 same of the Mississippi Union Bank. The 
 honor, justice and dignity of the people of this 
 
14 
 
 State will not suffer them to interfere in the 
 bankers' war." 
 
 A BITTER SARCASM. 
 
 The bonds were repudiated. I now want to 
 c:tll the attention of the Senate to a sarcasm, 
 and a very bitter one, by Mr. Peabody, Mr. 
 P'labody held a part of the bonds issued to the 
 Planters' Bank, and just before his death, as 
 you are aware, he made a magnificent dona- 
 tion to the Southern States and a gift of 
 $1,000,000 to tlie State of Mississippi. In a 
 h tter addressed by Mr. George Peabody to the 
 trustees of the Peabody fund for education 
 in the Southern States, dated February 7, 
 l-(57, in which he designated the amount and 
 iliaracter of funds set apart for that purpose, 
 hi! says : 
 
 "In addition to this gift ($1,000,000) I place 
 in your hands bonds of the State of Mississippi, 
 ii.sued by the Planters' Bank, and commonly 
 known as the Planters' Bank bonds, amount- 
 in-- with interest 1o about eleven hundred 
 thousand dollars, the amount realized by you 
 li om which is to be added to the fund and used 
 for the purpose of this trust." 
 
 A BLACK RECORD. 
 
 But, Mr. President, this is not the worst part 
 o'' the repudiation of the bonds of the State of 
 Mississippi. Ihe Union Bank was incorporated 
 ill ISo8. The money was loaned to members 
 of the Legislature and the leaders of the party 
 wiio had incorporated the bank. They bor- 
 ruwed it with security, or with imperfect se- 
 curity, and I read the statement in regard to 
 the winding up of that banii and of the Plant- 
 ers' Bank, which has been made out for me, 
 and I have no doubt is corrac-t, and I ask the 
 Senator from Mississippi [Mr. Alcorn] to tell 
 me whether the history is correctly given or 
 not. 
 
 ^ The State sold bonds at par to the amount of 
 §r>,000,000, which was subscribed as sto?k to 
 the bank. The bank was organized and its 
 directors appointed. Among their first acts 
 was an order authorizina; the cashier to dis- 
 count the individual notes of the directors for 
 *50,000 each, and this they obtained. The 
 biink went forward in a most reckless style, 
 but secured, nevertheless, on its loans, a large 
 amount of money circulated among the people 
 by taking mortgages and other securities. 
 
 In l.Si2, while the banks were going on in 
 the elfoit to recover the moneys they had 
 loaned, an act of the Legislature was passed — 
 I call attention to this, because I do not think 
 any carpet-bag gOTernment, with their best 
 efforts, could equal this— the Legislature 
 passed an act authorizing a writ of Ijuo war- 
 ranto to be sued out against the banks'in order 
 that their charters be 'forfeited. The Legisla- 
 ture provided a sharp and speedy remedy for 
 the Ibrfeiture of their eharters. The charters 
 were forfeited, and all efforts on the part of 
 the creditors of the bank to induce the Legis- 
 lature to provide a remedy for the recovery of 
 debts due to ttie banks were fruitless, and the 
 whole amount was lost. The debts due the 
 banks were thus wiped out, and all suits were 
 abated. The corporations could neither sue or 
 be sued, as they were fimctun officio. 
 
 The men who borrowed the money had con- 
 trolled the Legislature, provided for forfeitinir 
 the charter, and destroyed the banks, so thai 
 they could not be sued for monev loaned, and 
 
 thus they kept the money. Now, take it al- 
 together, has there ever been anything like 
 this in the history of any other State? I invoke 
 my friends to search the history of carpet-bag 
 governments in Mississippi or elsewhere, and 
 see if anything approaching this enormity can 
 be found. Tlie idea ot destroying the charter 
 of a bank by the very men who borrowed the 
 money so that they could not be sued, and 
 then the State repudiating the bonds that 
 had been sold in good faith, and for which it 
 had received the gold, I think never occurred 
 to anybody outside of Mississippi. Now I 
 want to give the specimen — it is only one of 
 many — of another steal down there, and, by 
 the way, I will ask the Senator from Mis- 
 sissippi if the facts I have presented are cor- 
 rect. 
 
 Mr. Alcorn. My recollection is that it is 
 substantially correct. 
 
 Mr. Morton. In 1841 the Legislature, being 
 in l)08i^ession of a large sum arising from the 
 two and three per cent.' funds derived from the 
 sale of public lands received from the United 
 States, passed an act making an appropriation 
 from the three per c nt. fund for the purpose 
 of improving the navigation of various streams 
 within the State. Sixty-five thousand dollars 
 Wire appropriated for the improvement of ttie 
 Chickasawka river; I believe I never heard of 
 that stream before. John J. McKae, after- 
 ward Governor of the State, took a contract 
 and executed a bond for its performance and 
 drew the money in advance. He did no work 
 whatever, but drew the money. After several 
 years had elapsed suit was brought on the 
 bonds, and after many delays, and when it was 
 supposed the case was ready to be tried, the 
 bond was missing from the office of the Secre- 
 tary of State, in which it had been filed. It 
 was, therefore, necessary to file an amended 
 declaration to aver upon the lost bond. The 
 usual delays were resorted to in order to pre- 
 vent the making of the issue. Finally the issue 
 was made up, but before the case was tried 
 McRae was elected Governor. Under the 
 statute all suits were required to be brought 
 in the name of the Governor, and the attorneys 
 of the Governor filed a plea in abatement, al- 
 leging that he was Governor of the State, and 
 that an action could not be maintained, and 
 therefore the suit was abated, because it had to 
 be brouijht in liis name. I take it that it is a 
 model in its way, and that nothing half so 
 ingenious and smart has been done under the 
 carpet-bag government. 
 
 SACRED TRUST FUNDS STOLEN AND SQUAN- 
 DERED. 
 
 But, sir, it does not stop here; I now come to 
 the question of the school fund of Mississippi, 
 and I shall read Irom the report of the State 
 Board of Education on that subject. 1 will re 
 mark that the Government of the United 
 States has dealt with Mississippi in the way of 
 grants of land with more liberality than with 
 any State of this Union. The total tcrant of 
 lands to Mississippi has been 6,000,000 acres, 
 equal to one-srtcth of the whole area of the 
 State. It is estimated that, had these lands 
 been husbanded and taken care of instead of 
 squandered, their value would have been over 
 $25,000,000. About 850,000 acres were orici- 
 nally granted for school purposes — a quai/nV\- 
 equal to over one-thirty-sixth of the whole an'.i 
 
15 
 
 of the Siiitu — that is, tlie sixteeuth -cctimi ia 
 every sectional township. 
 
 Nearly all of this inuniflcent endowment has 
 been disponed of and the proceeds squandered. 
 From investigations already made, we are sat- 
 isfied that thousands of acres of these lands, 
 some of them the most valuable in the State, 
 are held and occupied without the shadow of 
 title. It is our purpose to thoroughly investi- 
 gate this matter, and recover all lands thus 
 illegally held. 
 
 We have no means of arrlvina; at a correct 
 estimate of the value of the unsold school 
 lands, but it cannot be doubted that a very 
 moderate degree of honesty, economy and skill 
 in the administration ol' the lands donated by 
 the (ieueral Goveriunent to the State for 
 s«hoo! purp' ses, jvould have produced enough 
 of revenue to have furnisheil perpetual and 
 elKcient free schools lor all the people of both 
 races in this State to the full extent of their 
 needs forever 1 
 
 The following table exhibits the amount of 
 the proceeds arising from the sales and rental 
 of school lands : 
 
 Amount arising from the sale of 
 
 Ohiclcas»\T lands $826,432 78 
 
 That wa.s paid into the State treasury in 1857. 
 
 and the wliolo amount loaned to four railroail 
 
 companies indirect violation of tlio terms of the 
 
 gram, and tho wliole amount lost. 
 
 Amount arising from the sale qf 
 Chickasaw lands $826,432 78 
 
 Amount held by the State in trust. . . 815,227 73 
 
 Amount of the proceeds arising from 
 the sale and rental ol sixteenth-sec- 
 tion lands, about l,500,eo* 00 
 
 Agg:tegate amount of tlie proceeds 
 arising from the sale and rental of 
 school lands, about 2,326,432 90 
 
 Of the proceeds of sale and rental of six- 
 teenth-section lands it is estimated that at 
 least $1,000,000 is a total loss on account of 
 the want of proper management, and the re- 
 mainder consists of outstanding claims, in 
 notes, for loans and leases made by township 
 trustees and the former board of police. 
 
 UNPARALLELED CORRUPTION AND MALADMIN- 
 ISTRATION. 
 
 The school fund has been squandered ; the 
 money for the education of the children has 
 been stolen. It is a part of the financial his- 
 tory of the State of Mississippi before the war. 
 Now, the "white-liners"' of Mississippi, edu- 
 cated in this way, pretend that they are out- 
 raged by the frauils and corruptions of the 
 Republican party in Mississippi, that they are 
 justified in resorting to violence for the pur- 
 pose of getting clear of that governmeut. I 
 am reminded of a general exhibit of the finan- 
 cial allairs of Mississippi, given in the message 
 of Governor Tucker, and I would not do ray 
 duty if I did not present it. I will ask the 
 Clerk to read this, as I am somewhat fatigued. 
 Tliis was the message delivered in 1843 by 
 Governor Tucker. 
 The Chief Clerk read as follows : 
 "On the 1st day ot January, lS3S,as appears 
 by the reports of the State treasurer up to tha', 
 date, there was a surplus or balance of cash in 
 the treasury amounting to $279fi\2M]4, not 
 including, as I understand, either the ettects of 
 the sinking fund, the seminary land fund or 
 the Jackson City lot notes. Besides this bal- 
 ance and the sinking fund in the Planters' 
 Bank, the seminary land notes and the Jatikson 
 
 Jit.y lot notes, the tiin'-:- in i'i .^.o^l* i.i t'lO 
 I'iauters' Bank lo at least $2,000,000, which 
 stock had, prior to that time, yielded to the. 
 State a divid. nd of 10 percent., or $200,000. 
 When I came into oilieo the scene was lament- 
 ably chanLjed, notwithstanding the [lopulatinn 
 ol" the State had been burdened witli the pay- 
 ment of a heavy tax for eac: vcar prior to that 
 period. What was the contii- -on of the Sta;e 
 treasury when I came into olliv ^ On the KImIi 
 of January, 1842, the report .-.' the Stat.i 
 treasurer, as made to the Legisiature, shows ;i, 
 balance in the treasury, on thr- :50th oi' >[ . 
 vember, of $103,959.9.534, consisting of ' • • 
 attorney general's receipts for claims on , . 
 Brandon and other broken banks for the sum 
 of $3;>;),102; the notes of the insolvent Mis^is^- 
 sippi Uailroad Company, $6:>,0"0; the notes uf 
 the Mississippi Union Bank, $1,S00; the notes 
 of the Hernando Railroad Company, $2!); 
 Jackson City corporation tickets, $:!.():i'^, ami 
 specie, the sum of H-t cents. These anaoun^s 
 are not, in my estimation, intrinsically worth 
 5 per cent, on their amount. 
 
 '* I found, at the same time, an immense 
 liability pressing on the treasury in the shape 
 of outstanding and funded auditor's warrants, 
 ranging in amount from one half to throe 
 fourths of a million of dollars, and that in- 
 stead of the State tjeiug the owner of $2,000,- 
 000 of stock in the Planters' Bank, yielding a 
 dividend annually of $200,000, that this stO(;k 
 had been referred to the Mississippi liailroail 
 Company, then insolvent. 1 found, also, the 
 first installment of the bonds issued on account 
 of the Planters' Bank, $135,000, due and un- 
 paid, as well as the interest for several ycais 
 on said bonds. The interest, when added lo 
 the first installment, amounted to but litilo 
 short of $.500,000; making a difference to t!iii 
 State in this transaction, including the $2,000, - 
 000 of State stock transferred and thereby 
 lost, of $2,.500,000. Besides these enormous 
 liabiliiiet, I Jouud a claim set up against tha 
 State of $5,000,000, in the shape of boud^ , 
 created uuder and by virtue of the act su;*- 
 pleraentary to the charter of the Mississippi 
 Union Bank, together with the intere.-t 
 which had accumulated thereon, a suia 
 not short of $250,000. This sketch, 
 which will be found bv practical tests to be 
 more than fanciful, shows a vast difference in 
 the financial condition of the State in the 
 period of four years preceding my administra- 
 tion. On the 1st day of January, 1838, there 
 was in the treasury the sum of $379,01;) .31 Ij 
 in cash. On the 10th day of January, 181:;, 
 when I came into oilice, the real and pretended 
 claims atrainst the State exceeded the sum of 
 $8,000,000. This presents a scene of reckle.-,s 
 extravagance and prodigality unaqualed in t!io 
 administration of any fi;ee governiaent which 
 has ever existed. The State has to exhibit ii.s 
 the proceeds or avails of those enormous 
 liabilities: First, the sinkiuf: fund in the Plan- 
 ters' Bank, supposed to amount to between 
 $500,000 and $1,000,000, but uncertain as to 
 nominal amount, and still more so as to tho 
 real and available value thereof; second, 
 $3,000,000 in stock in the Mississippi Railro.id 
 Company. This company has suspended both 
 in the paym^mt of its liabilities and tiie per- 
 formance ot the public works contemplated by 
 its charter. The stock is of but lit le, if any, 
 value. The railroad being completed only for 
 
16 
 
 a short distuuce. yields but small profit, il' 
 any, beyond the current expenses of the com- 
 pany." 
 
 HOW THE LATE CAMPAIGN WAS INAUGURATED. 
 
 Mr. Morton. Mr. President, I have said as 
 much in reaard to that State government be- 
 fore the war as I care to do. I have very 
 much more material of the same character, 
 but it is hardly worth while to take up the 
 time of the Senate readin;^ it. I now come to 
 the question of the last campaiujn; the ques- 
 tion of violence, intimidation and fraud; and I 
 ask the attention of the Senate, and I ask the 
 attention especially of the Democratic Sen- 
 ators, who, I have no doubt, from sources of 
 information more open to them or perhaps 
 that they more frequently consult than we do, 
 entertain sincerely different opinions. I want 
 them to understand what was the true char- 
 acter of tliat campaic;n, and I want them 
 to understand how it started out — the 
 policy of violence and of fraud in which It be- 
 gan and in which it was consummated; and I 
 first ask my friend from Kansas [Mr.lN- 
 galIjS] to read an extract from the Raymond 
 (Hinds county) Gazette, a leading Demo- 
 cratic paper, in the month of August, at the 
 beginnino; of the campaign, indicating a 
 policy that was afterward pursued, as I am 
 advised, in nearly every county of the State 
 of Mississippi. 
 
 Mr. Ingalls read as follows: 
 
 "There are those who think that the leaders 
 of the lladical party have carried this system 
 of frauii and falsehood just far enough in 
 Hinds couuty, and that the time has come 
 when it sliould be stopped — peaceably if pos- 
 sible, forcibly if necessary. And to this end it 
 is proposed that whenever a liadical pow-wow 
 is to be held, the nearest aotl-Radical club 
 appoint a committee of ten discreet, intelli- 
 gent and reputable citizens — -fully identified 
 with the interests of the neighborhood, and 
 well known as men of veracitv — to attend as 
 representatives of the tax-payers of the neigh- 
 borhood and the county, and true fsiends of 
 the negroes assembled, and that whenever the 
 Radical speakers proceed to mislead the ne- 
 groes and open with fi'Jsehoods and deceptions 
 and misrepresentations, the committee stop 
 them riirht then and there, and compel them to 
 tell the truth or quit the stand." 
 
 THE WHITE-LINE POLICY. 
 
 Mr. Morton. I shall read from many 
 other Democratic newspapers durmg and early 
 in the campaign, to show the spirit and policy 
 In which it was conducted. I read from the 
 Shuliuta Times: 
 
 "Call it what you please. Some call it the 
 color-line. It looks to us like' the white-line. 
 It shall be seen who, in this emergency, can 
 chose to stand with the negroes as against the 
 whites. Mark them." 
 
 Again I read from the Handsborough Demo- 
 crat: 
 
 "We are in favor of the color-line as a prin- 
 ciple, a necessity and a policy. 
 
 "As a principle it means that property, in- 
 telligence and integrity enjoy, of right, a supe- 
 riority over poverty, ignorance and duplicity; 
 for which reason, as an abstract prineiple, it 
 has our hearty indorsement." 
 
 I now read from the Meridian Mercury : 
 
 "Rally on the color-line boys, beyond the 
 
 platform, every man to his color and colors, 
 and make these negro pretenders to govern 
 this great county come down, else put 'em 
 down. Wliat do the young men say to the 
 old man's battle-cry in this political campaign: 
 ' Step across the platform, boys, and go for 
 'em.' " 
 
 Nex-, from the Forest Register : 
 
 "The body of the Democratic party will 
 carry their colors of the White Line over the 
 State. Some of the auxiliaries in a scout or 
 bushwhacking manoeuvre may use a mild, con- 
 servative face over the flag, but still it will rest 
 on a white journal. To the Radicals we say 
 just superintend your structure — we will raise 
 our own flag and colors." 
 
 Here is another \ 
 
 "Tlie Forest Register keeps the following 
 standing at the head of its editorial column : 
 
 " 'A white man, in a white man's place. A 
 black man. In a black man's place. Each ac. 
 cording to the 'eternal fitness of things. ' " 
 
 I read now from the Vicksburg Jfonitor, 
 (Democratic,) being a report of the Demo- 
 cratic State convention, August, 1875 : 
 
 "As the convention was strictly White Line, 
 and as no negroes were nominated, and as the 
 hankering after the negroes was pretty thor- 
 oughly squelched, how would it do to raise a 
 little purse to buy a few bags of salt for tin- 
 use of those who still want to try and catcli 
 black birds?" 
 
 From the Columbus Index : 
 
 "Already do we see signs in our State of the 
 good eQects of the color line. Prior to its or- 
 ganization there was no harmony or unity of 
 action among the whites. The negroes liad 
 perfected their race in organiz.itions, and were 
 aL)le to control the politics of the State. Thu 
 whites, after having attempted every schenn; 
 to secure an intelligent government and a co- 
 operation of the negroes in this behalf, wisely 
 gave it up, and determinerl to organize them- 
 selves as a race, and meet the issue that had 
 presented itself for ten years. 
 
 "Now we recognize the fact that the State is 
 most thoroughly aroused, more liarmouious in 
 its actions, and more determined to succeed in 
 the coming election than it has been since tlie 
 days of secession. * * * * 
 
 "So the grand result of the color line has 
 been accomplished In organizing the wiute 
 people of the State, and placing them in a po- 
 sition to control the coming election. No other 
 policy could have effected the result." 
 
 From the Meridian Mermtry: 
 
 "Our correspondent at Running Water Mills 
 makes his points well. His positions caanot suc- 
 cessfully be contradicted. The miserable bung- 
 lers who have put the negro in the Constitution 
 have certainly written themselves down asses 
 all. VVhen we accept 'results of the war,' we 
 do not accept the notion of statesmen, but the 
 blunders of unreasoning malice and stupidity, 
 and of course we continue to accept it only so 
 long as we are compelled to." 
 
 I read now from the Aberdeen True Rcpubli- 
 cau, beintc a report of a speech by Col. G. E. 
 Hooker, member of Congress from Mississii)pi, 
 at Aberdeen, during the late canvass: 
 
 "Col. Hooker, of Jackson, then addressed 
 the convention in a speech of over an hour, in 
 which he advocated the color-line, and said, in 
 conclusion, 'White men must and shall rule in 
 Mississippi.' " 
 
17 
 
 The Vicksbuivj; Iferulti (Dcuu>ci\i;,i ) icpjiLs 
 a epeteh of L. Q. C. Lainar, at Aberdeen, Mis- 
 sissippi, tlius: 
 
 "In bis speeah at Aberdeen, last Saturday, 
 Colonel Lamar made an eloquent speech. A 
 better Democratic speech we do not care to 
 listen to, and in manly and ringing tones he 
 declared that the tontest involved 'the suprem- 
 acy of the unconquered and unconquerable 
 Saxon race.' We were glad to hear this bold 
 and manly avowai, and it was greeted with 
 deafening plaudits. 
 
 "We have never seen men more terribly in 
 earnest, and the Democratic white-line spcesh 
 made to them by Colonel Lamar aroused them 
 to white heat." 
 
 From the Canton 2fail: 
 
 "It is useless to talk of the races living to- 
 gether as free American citizens; it cannot be 
 done; and justice to forty millions of whites 
 demands that foar millions of blacks should be 
 segregated from them. To permit them to 
 remain together will be to continue to all 
 time an unsettled &tate of society, with dread 
 and distrust, and forever drive peace and 
 prosperity from us. This is high ground, yet 
 we believe it will come to this and that right 
 soon. The flow of immigration that will set 
 in with our harvest season will bring us an 
 element that will supersede the negro as a 
 laborer, will add strength and force to our 
 intelligent voting population that will in time 
 enable us to demand what the necessities of 
 both races require." 
 
 All these extracts are from papers during 
 the last campaign. I now read from the West- 
 ville (Mississippi) News: 
 
 "vote the negko down ok knock him 
 
 DOWN. 
 
 "Does not the very thouirht boil the bl«od 
 in every vein ? Will you still contend that we 
 must not have a white-man's party ? Away 
 with such false doctrines; we must and will 
 have a white-man's party. We have tried 
 policy long enough. We must organize on the 
 color-line, disrciiarding minor considerations. 
 The white-man's party is the only salvation 
 for the State. Show the negro his place and 
 make him keep it. If we cannot vote him 
 down, we can knock hira down, and the re- 
 sult will be the same. Either the white man 
 or negro will rule this country; they cannot 
 both do it, and it is for the white men to say 
 who the ruler shall be. Let us have a white- 
 man's party to rule a white- man's country, 
 and to do it like white men." 
 
 From the Okolona Southern States : 
 
 "The African race ean no more be absorbed 
 and trausmou'rilied into dignified, intelligent 
 statesmen and responsible self-governing ciii- 
 zens than the American Indians could be 
 bought and trained to lay aside the tomahawk 
 and live with us in peace, under an adminis- 
 tration which promises equal rights, civil and 
 political, to all men. Consequently we may 
 expect these outbreaks." 
 
 That was in reference to a murder which 
 had been committed. I next read from the 
 Columbus I'lulex: 
 
 "The nscessities of the State of Mississippi 
 recall this injunction and give emphasis to the 
 parallel — put none but Democrats in office. 
 
 "We have gained a great victory — Bull Run 
 
 o;' Ciiickriinauga. Let us follow it up to the 
 securing of results. 
 
 "The white people must be welded into one 
 compact organization. All dilTerences of 
 opiuion, al! personal aspirations, must be 
 settled wttli.n oixr own organiiv.ai on, and from 
 its decis: : there must be no a;i;i.al. Other- 
 wise each recurring election produces its dis- 
 orders." 
 
 AN OATE-nOUSTD WHITE-LINE LEAOCE. 
 
 From the Columbus Index: 
 
 "A color-line club has been organized in 
 Columbus, of which we are proud to announce 
 ourself a member. It is secret in its nature, 
 but its principles are such that even the Con- 
 servative editor of the Ind'peruknt could con- 
 scientiously subscribe to them. The club has 
 
 a large number of members, which is rapidly 
 
 mereasmg." 
 
 Now, from the 'Vicksburg Herald, August, 
 1875: 
 
 "The color-line was by common consent ig- 
 nored" — 
 
 I refer to this for the purpose of calling at- 
 tention to the attempt that w is made in the 
 Mississippi conveution, by p<!5.MUg a color-line 
 resolution to disguise the real purpose and ob- 
 ject of the party — 
 
 "The color-line was by common consent ig- 
 nored. It was only mentioned incidentally, 
 and it was not 'liilled otf' either by the speech 
 of Colonel Lamar or by a vote of the conven- 
 tion. The representatives of the people ex- 
 pressed no opinion on the subject. The con- 
 vention left each county to manage its own 
 affairs in its own way '" 
 
 I now read from the Columbus Index: 
 
 "We stand on the color line bec;'.use it is 
 tacitly indorsed by tlie platform, and because 
 we believe it to be the only means of redeem- 
 ing this and other counties from negro rule." 
 
 From the Vicksbur;; Monitor : 
 
 "Is he white and true to his own color?" 
 
 From the Yazoo Banner : 
 
 "We have thrown the Banner to the breeze 
 as the color-line organ of all good color-line 
 citizens.'^ 
 
 From the Winona Advance : 
 
 "The motto of the Adva%ice, 'Mississippians 
 should rule Mississippi,' should be changed to 
 read 'shall and will' rule," &c. 
 
 From the Newton Democrat : 
 
 "Mr. Potter and ex-Gov. Brown, of Hinds, 
 think the negro can be reasoned into Democ- 
 racy, and they have been thinking so ever 
 since the war; but for our own part we would 
 as soon reason with a shoal of crocodiles or a 
 drove of Kentucky mules. And so might they, 
 for all the convictions they have produced in 
 the counties of Hinds and Copiah." 
 
 THE ALABAMA POLICY TRANSFEKRED TO MIS- 
 SISSIPPI. 
 
 From the Meridian Mercury, report of a 
 speech made by Colonel Taylor, of Alabama, 
 telling how that State was carried in 1874, and 
 urging the same line of policy in Mississippi: 
 
 "At first they tried the policy of conciliation. 
 He said he did not believe they carried one 
 single negro vote by it. Little by little they 
 came to try the color-line in municipal elec- 
 tions and then county elections here and 
 there, and finding it to succeed, they at last 
 made the State canvass upon it and redeemed 
 the State." 
 
IX 
 
 That is referrinn: to tlie Alabama election of 
 1874. I have alreadj' spoken of that as beins: 
 a carnival of blood and fraud. 
 
 From the Vicksburj; Monitor : 
 
 "For these reasons we say that the ne?ro as 
 a voter and a citizen is a failure, and the Re- 
 publican is the party convicted in the eyes of 
 the world of a fearful crime, not only against 
 the Southern people, but ajjainst the civiliza- 
 tion and progress of mankind — such a crime as 
 was never committed by a political party be- 
 fore in the cycle of the centuries." 
 
 Now, from the Columbus Democrat : 
 
 "And the white men of Mississippi will do 
 it, in spite of eloquent diatribes ami sham 
 platforms which represent nothing but a 
 clique's notions of expediency. In the contest 
 on which they have entered they mean some- 
 thing more than the election of certain men to 
 office, or the elevation of Lamar or xVlcoru to 
 the Senate. They mean the preservation of 
 their constitution, their laws, their institu- 
 tions, their civilization from impending ruin. 
 They mean that white men shall rule Missis- 
 sippi.'- 
 
 Now, from the Jackson Clarion: 
 
 "Appeal after appeal has been made in vain 
 to the colored people. No more appeals will 
 be made to them." 
 
 From the Vicksburg Herald: 
 
 "Colored men, remember that next Tu sday 
 is your golden opportunity. Throw it away, 
 and the white people will eliminate you from 
 politics and discard you forever. The Con- 
 gress already elected is Democratic, the next 
 President of the United States will be a Dem- 
 crat, and after next Tuesday this State and 
 county will be Democratic. You have no hope 
 and no salvation but in acting wish the Demo- 
 cratic part}' in this contest. Will you do it?" 
 
 From the Columbus Index: 
 
 "Below we give a list of the presidents of 
 the negro clubs in this county. lu the coming 
 election these must be marked men. We re- 
 quest every beat committee to save this list for 
 future reference." 
 
 Subsequent events show what was meant by 
 that. 
 
 From the Yazoo Democrat: 
 
 "Let unanimity of sentiment pervade the 
 minds of men. Let invincible determination 
 be depicted on every countenance. Send forth 
 from ourdeliberate assemblyof the eighteenth 
 the soul-stirring announcement that Missis- 
 sippians shall rule Mississippi though the 
 heavens fall. Then will woe, irretrievable 
 woe, betide the Radical tatterdemalions. Hit 
 them hip and thigh, everywhere and at all 
 times. 
 
 "Carry the election peaceably if we can, 
 forcibly if we must." 
 
 From the Yazoo Democrat again : 
 
 " There is no Radical ticlict in the field, and 
 it is more than likely there will be none. For 
 the leaders are not in this city, and dare not 
 press their claims in this county." 
 
 I referred to the returns from Yazoo county 
 in the tirst. speech I made on this subject. In 
 that county there was a regular, ordrinary Re- 
 publican majority of 3,000. At the last elec- 
 tion the Republicans gave just 7 votes and the 
 Democrats 4,01:-i ! That shows the easy ex- 
 planation of the Republican electors being ab- 
 sent. I shall afterward introduce evidence to 
 show thai they were driven out, and that a 
 
 number of very bloody murders were com- 
 mitted in that county. 
 
 From the Aberdeen Examiner : 
 
 " The present contest is rather a revolution 
 than a political campaign ; it is the rebellion, 
 if you see fit to apply that t/crm." 
 
 From the Vicksburg Herald: 
 " Spot the men who try to defeat the will of 
 the people next Tuesday, and remember them 
 hereafter." 
 
 Remember that hereafter. 
 
 From the Jackson Clarion : 
 
 " Do not submit to any of the old ' back to 
 breast ' arraneement, a long line of voters in 
 which you have liitherto had to take the rear. 
 H tliat game is tried again break the line. 
 After you have carried the day at the polls 
 submit to no throwing out of votes or of 
 boxes. Put your votes in the boxes and see 
 that they are counted and returned properly 
 afterward. * * Hang the registrar that 
 proposes to throw out a Democratic vote or a 
 Democratic box." 
 
 No difference how bold the fraud, how mani- 
 fest it may be, "hang the registrar that pro- 
 poses to throw out a Democratic vote or a 
 Democratic box !" 
 
 From the Yazoo Herald: 
 
 " 'Shoot him on the spot,' if you find any 
 man following Waner's suggestions about 
 'counting the votes and making up the return' 
 in the interest of Radicalism. 
 
 "Our colored Democratic friends must not be 
 beaten and scoffed at on the day of the election 
 by men of their own color steeped to the lips in 
 Radicalism. Let all such disturbers of the 
 peace be shot on the spot as a tit punishment 
 for their disgraceful coaduct. 
 
 "Democratic votes must not be thrown out 
 by false-hearted, scoundrelly registrars, work- 
 ing in the interest of the Radical party. If 
 this be done, shoot the man who docs it on the 
 spot; and, our word for it, the public senti- 
 ment of the world will sustain you. Such a 
 man deserves to die tlie death of a dog." 
 
 From the Vicksburg Herald- 
 
 "Much as we deplore bloodshed and 'much 
 as we lament violence, we believe that every 
 riot will carry a plain lesson to the intelligent 
 electors of Mississippi. To put down this 
 riotous, revengeful feeling we have just got to 
 put down the Ames ring. 
 
 "Just so long as the Ames power rules Mis- 
 sissippi, just so long will white men be com- 
 pelled to sleep with guns handy to reach." 
 
 TEY THE liOPE. 
 
 From the Yazoo Democrat : 
 
 "Speaking of the troubles in Madison county 
 the Yazoo City Democrat for the 26th of Octo- 
 ber says; 'Try the rope on such characters. 
 It acts finely on such characters here.' " 
 
 From the Forrest Reglater : 
 
 "In this connection we will state that the 
 white men who ally themselves with negroes 
 in this confliet need not expect any better fate 
 than they; fact is, they will be the first to suf- 
 fer if the Caucasian can find them at all when 
 trouble comes." 
 
 From the Yazoo Democrat: 
 
 "God speed the day when Mississippians 
 shall rule Mississippi, and the Alonzo Phelps 
 and Murrels of Radicalism shall find their fate 
 in a 'stout rope and a short shrift.' Then will 
 'peace reisfn in Warsaw.' " 
 
19 
 
 From the Jackson Clurion: 
 
 "If the old game of packins: the polls is at- 
 tempted aud the Radicals will not o:ive you a 
 chance to vote, break the line ! Come what 
 will, break Uie line !" 
 
 From the Aberdeen Examiner: 
 
 "We have already broken the line in old 
 Monro^', and we never intend that it shall be 
 80 formed ai'ound the polls as to interfere with 
 Democratic voters." 
 
 From the Vicksburg Herald: 
 
 "The wanton killinfi^ of a few poornegroes is 
 something unworthy of our people. If the 
 killing of anybody is necessary, we repeat 
 what we have heretofore said: 'Let the poor 
 negro pass, and l«t the white scoundrels who 
 have llred his heart with evil passions be the 
 only sufferers.' " 
 
 I now ask my friend from Kansas to read an 
 extract from the Meridian Mercury. 
 
 Mr. Ingalls read as follows: 
 
 LAMAR AT SCOOBA. 
 
 "The leaders of the Radical forlorn hope 
 have got Jason Niles, the back-salary grabber 
 and force-bill supporter, with Cork-screw Mc- 
 Kee, into the country, and they went to Sage- 
 Yille yesterday to stir up the negroes ia that 
 corner to the pitch of going 'through blood 
 and hell to get to the polls and vote.' The 
 quoted words are the koy-nole. McKee 
 pitched the tune upon it at Okoloua the otner 
 day. We echo the sentiment ol the gifted La- 
 mar at Scooba the other day, when alluding 
 to this diabolical advice, if, after all our over- 
 tures to the negroes to have peace, and ap- 
 peals to them to cease their hostility and the 
 scathing ruin they infllit upon us with their 
 hostile ballots, more terrible than hostile bul- 
 lets; if they take McKee's advice xo go through 
 biood and hell to ruin us with their votes, 'Go 
 to hell aud be damned !' We beg leave to add 
 they will find 'Jordan a (damned) hard road 
 to travel.' " 
 
 Mr. Morton. Again, from the same paper 
 of another date: 
 
 "Ames and his crew are, no doubt, endeav- 
 oring to have the State overrun with Fedaral 
 troops, aud to erect again the enginery of Ka- 
 Klux courts to have another bayonet election 
 this fall. It Is reported In some of the journals 
 that gentlemen about Jaclison approached 
 him the other day and told him flatly that his 
 life should be the forfeit if he issued any of 
 the State arms to negroes. While they were 
 about it, we think he might, with equal pro- 
 priety, have been spoken to about the Federal 
 troops and Ku-Klux courts' business." 
 
 From the Forrest Register I read: 
 
 " There has been a light between the whites 
 and blacks in Noxubee county. It is difBcult 
 to arrive at any very definite results. No 
 white man was hurt; eight negroes were re- 
 ported killed, which we fear is true, but now 
 it is stated that none were killed, but eleven 
 wounded. For the next fourteen mobthe 
 there will be lots of eolHsions, and we advise 
 every white man to be prepared. The Rads 
 know it is a death sVruggle." 
 
 From the Jaokson Clarion: 
 
 " The time has arrived when the eorapanies 
 that have been formed for de/ensive and 
 protective purposes should come to the fron;. 
 There are three of them in the eity of Jaokson. 
 There are others in other pans of Hinds 
 
 county. Let still others be formed all over 
 the State as speedily as possible, and armed 
 and equipijed with the best means that can be 
 extemporized for the occasion." 
 
 From the Vicksburg Herald: 
 
 "In it? head lines to the news we print else- 
 where of trouble in Tallahatchie county, the 
 Vicksburg Uerahl significantly says: 'The 
 negroes in North Mississippi need a little kill- 
 ing.' " 
 
 ALABAMA MINUTE MEN STANDBY THEIR ARMS. 
 
 From the Mobile Jiegif^ler: 
 "If the tocsin of war is sounded by Ames he 
 will find men, monoy and arms trooping across 
 our border to defend our kinsmen and our 
 trade. This is no vain and idle threat. Tlie 
 moment Ames org.inizes his militia let the 
 Democratic and "Cou^rvalive young men or- 
 ganize bands of minute-meu in every county. 
 Let them stand by their arms." 
 From the Aberdeen Examiner: 
 "In our sister county of Lowndes, Gleed, one 
 of the basest and most reckless negroes in the 
 State, is now, the Radical candidate for sheriff, 
 and confidently expects to be elected. The 
 white people of Lowndes county will make the 
 best fight possible again.st him at the polls, 
 and, failing there, are determined that he 
 shall never, under any circumstances, fill the 
 office." 
 
 From the Holly Springs Reporter: 
 "Gov. Ames has made proclamation order- 
 ing the military companies of the State to dis- 
 band at once. No attention is being paid to 
 his proclamation, so far as we have heard, and 
 the probability is that no company now organ- 
 ized will disband at this particular juncture. 
 We think the times demand the organization 
 of more companies, and, if it becomes imprac- 
 ticable to organize by daylight, then the wOrk 
 will go on at that dread hour when 'grave- 
 yards yawn and hell itself breathes out conta- 
 gion to the world.' " 
 
 I want to call the attention of the Senate to 
 these fasts. Governor Ames .had five compa- 
 nies in Mississippi. It was said that if he dared 
 to call out those companies it would be the 
 signal for a general slaughter. He found that 
 he could not use colored troops to keep the 
 peace, or to protect even the colored people, 
 and General George, the chairman of the Dem- 
 ocratic State committee, came to him and 
 said: "If you will now disband yoar militia, I 
 will undertake, upon the part of the Demo- 
 cratic party and my friends, that we will keop 
 the peace." The General Government had 
 failed to respond to the demands of Governor 
 Ames, and he was utterly powerless, and was 
 compelled to make a treaty with the chairman 
 of the Democratic State committee, by which 
 that committee promised to lieep the peace 
 upon the condition that bewould dissolve his 
 military companies. Ho did disarm them, but 
 uo company on the other side was disarmed, 
 and here is the evidence of it: The white com- 
 panies rctt-^ned their arms, and new companies 
 were formed every day, until they existed in 
 every counky and almost every township of the 
 whole Sttfj. 
 I read i^om the Yazoo Banner : 
 "It it no longer 'renounce the dovll and his 
 pomp,' but forswear his twin brother Radical- 
 ism, wLh hlo manifold machinations and 
 chicanery; then you, with your county, will be 
 
 \ 
 
20 
 
 safe. Take a little advice, ye imps of Radical- 
 ism hereabouts." 
 
 What that mea.nt is shown by what after- 
 ward occurred. I will now read the following 
 from the Hinds county Gazelle: 
 
 "Tlie clubs in some parrs of the county re- 
 commend that the anti-Radicals vote open 
 ticket at the election. The proposition is a 
 good one, and if universally adopted, may be 
 made answer a very good purpose. The 
 Democratic Conservative committee at each 
 voting- place will be prepared with a list of all 
 r^he voters at the box, and as each man votes 
 his name will be checked otT, and the character 
 of the ticket he votes may then be entered 
 with certainty if the Democrats and Conserva- 
 tives agree to vote open tickets. All open 
 tickets will speak for themselves, while the 
 folded ticket, as a mass, may be counted Kadi- 
 cal, and the men votinpj them entered on the 
 club book)i an Radicals . The cUizens of the coun- 
 try — ef:j)ecially the land-ownera and merchanti — 
 deaire to knoxo who are their friendu!" 
 
 DEMOCRATIC PROSCRIPTION AND INTOLER- 
 ANCE. 
 
 I said something jesterday, and I want again 
 to refer to the proscription practiced upon 
 white Republicans, the course taken to drive 
 them out of the Republican party, to destroy 
 them if they joined it, and to keep others from 
 joining it. I could refer to very many illas- 1 
 trations, but I will preseot one set of the reso- I 
 lutions that were adopted in the county of | 
 Noxubee by the Cooksville Democratic club, i 
 They are putilishod in febe Columbm; Index: ' 
 and I will say in advance that Mr. Ma Horner, j 
 the man reltrred to, is the richest man in 
 Noxubee county; is said to own twenty thou- | 
 sand a«res of land. He was a Confederate 
 during ihe war, and has been a Conservative 
 Democrat since that time; but, baing a large 
 properly-holdvT in the county, he had much 
 interest in the election of proper supervisors, 
 and he allowed his name to tie put on the Re- 
 publican ticket for supervisor of the county, 
 an office without emolument, the supervisor 
 there having simply the power whick a county 
 comitQit.sioQer has in Indiana and other States. 
 Now, I want to read the resolution of the Dem- 
 ocratic Conservative.. club, of Cooksville, in 
 regard to Mr. Ala Horner, a man of unques- 
 tionable character: 
 
 "Whereas Mat Ma Horner, in the late elec- 
 tion, acted in a mann»r totally offensive to the 
 interests of the wkite men of otir country and 
 the policy of the Demoeraric-Conservative 
 party, by violating his promise to act with said 
 party, by starting an opposition ticket, vvlth 
 his name connected with two scalawags (I. L. 
 Wilkersou and Bill Parmenter) and a negro, 
 (Robert Dacy,) which was loathsome :ind des- 
 picable and injurious to the white man's 
 cause, by erasing the names of his friends and 
 putting others in their places eqtially despised, 
 and by him and his scalawag associates dis- 
 tributed and placed in the hands of the negroes 
 on his own plantation and of the neighborhood 
 and at a negro church on Sunday" — 
 
 You see they do not like to have the Sabbath 
 violated — 
 
 '■'■ Resiolved, 1. That we unanimously consider 
 him a trctilor to his comitrv and an enemy to 
 his neighbors. I 
 
 " 3, That henceforth we shall have no moral, I 
 
 I social or political association \vith such a beast 
 I in man's clothing, nor will wc countenance 
 I any man who condescends to associate socially 
 I with him. 
 
 ''3. That these resolutions be considered as 
 ! applying as much to I. L. Wilkerson as to Mat 
 I Ma Horner. 
 
 I •' 4. Tliat the Macon Beacon be requested to 
 j publish these resolutions and send a copy to 
 j each of the above mentioned traitors. 
 I " 5. That as Bill Parmenter has repudiated 
 and seeks to be a wliite man, we extend to him 
 I our cordial sympathy. 
 
 I " Done by order of the club at Cooksville, 
 j December 11, 1875. 
 
 "J. L. HiBBLER, President. 
 ".J. R. D. King, Seeretary pro tempors." 
 
 A SrSTEM OV COERCION. 
 
 A very general system of coercion was 
 adopted throuirhout the South by Democratic 
 clubs and associations agreelni: not to employ 
 negroes who voted the Iv'pubiicnn ticiiet, not 
 to lease them lands, nor to furnish them with 
 or allow tham to obtain for themselves any 
 means of subsistence. I have here a number 
 of resolutions on the part of such clubs and 
 declarations on the part of Ihoir newspapers, 
 but I shall content myself with reading only a 
 few, as the time is passing. I will first ask ray 
 friend from Kansas to read from the Chicka- 
 saw Messenger a communication from Buena 
 Vista, Mississippi. 
 
 Mr. Ingalls read as follows: 
 
 "Bdena Vista, Miss., Jan. 1, 1876. 
 
 "Editor Messenger: The following list 
 comprises the freedmen that have been reported 
 by the members of the Buena Vista Demo- 
 cratic Conservative c!ub i'.» the one third that 
 would be refused to recontract for the year 
 187(?. You are requested by the club to pub- 
 lish their names in the Jfesscngfr. 
 
 "Respectfully yours, 
 
 "C. A. M. Pulliman, 
 ^'■Secretary Buena Vista Democratic Conserves 
 
 Hue Club." 
 
 "Fred. Crow, Frank Williams, Dary Holli- 
 man, John Doss, Wade Pulliam, Calvin Glad- 
 nev, Joe Moora, Henry Johnson, Anderson 
 Williams, Ed. Bramlett, John Pulliam, Ben 
 Vailiant, Gay Brand, Wash. Chandler, Jake 
 Walkur, Henry Woodard, Lawsoa Pulliam, 
 W. Huddltstone, Martin Pulliam, Ed. Kyle, 
 Culvin Gray, John Bushanan, Dan Punds, 
 Albert Conor, Ed. Nathan, Jitn Pulliam, 
 Simon Baskin, Bill Pulliam, Georgs Gates, J. 
 Featherston, Sh»di Love, Hiiliard Fields. 
 
 "We are not familiar with the names of all 
 the leading darkies in Bvtena Vista, but it oc- 
 curs to us that many of them do not appear 
 upon the list sent to us. We maj not under- 
 stand aright the action of the Buena Vista 
 club, but our impression was that one third of 
 the laborers were to be discharged, and that 
 one. third shocld include such turbulent, vi- 
 cious rascals as Fred. Mcintosh, Prince Hud- 
 dlestone and others, who once held high carni- 
 val in that seetion. Let us have no 'whipping 
 the devil around the stump,' iriends, but let 
 us carry our pledges both inspirit and letter." 
 
 "Houston, January, 1876. 
 "Pursuant to a call of the president, the 
 club met at the court-house at 11 o'clock a. 
 ra.; W. S. Bates, presiding. 
 
21 
 
 "On motion of Captain Frank Burkitt, the 
 following: resolutions were read : 
 
 " 1. That we solemnly declare our purpose 
 to stand to and abide by om- plederes made 
 during flbe canvass, and that we will hold in 
 utter detestation any man claiming to be a 
 Conservative Democrat who by any equivoca- 
 tion shall in the least violate the sacred prom- 
 ises made by us previous to «he election, eilrtier 
 as a club or as individuals. 
 
 "2. That at no time and under no circum- 
 stances will we employ those who are regarded 
 as leaders in the Radical party. 
 
 "o. That we will not employ an; laborer 
 who has been discharged by any member of 
 our club because of his past political course. 
 
 "4. That tiie members of this eiub are re- 
 quested to send into the secretary the names 
 of all persons turned off by them under &he 
 above resolutions, and that the executive com- 
 mittee of the county is requested to publish 
 their names. 
 
 "5. Tliat every other club io the county is 
 requested to take like action. 
 
 "6. That our papers are requested to publish 
 these resolutions and the names of persons 
 sent to them by the execuive committee. 
 
 "7. That colored men are invited to join this 
 club. 
 
 "S. That this club meet the Jfirst Saturday 
 In each month. 
 
 "J. B. Gladnet, 
 
 "Secretary." 
 
 THE STARVING-OUT PKOCE.'SS. 
 
 Mr. MORTON. I will now ask my friend to 
 read certain extracts and state what papers 
 they are from. 
 
 Mr. Ingalls read as follows: 
 
 "The Democratic Conservative Club at 
 Eocky Springs, Clairbourne county, on Satur- 
 day last discussed Wie question of renting 
 lands, advancing supplies and employing men 
 in the year lS7(i who voted the radical ticket 
 in 187-5. It was finally determined that no 
 member of the club should rent or advance to 
 or employ any but members of the Democratic 
 Conservative party, and any employed men 
 who voted the Radical ticket at the late 
 election should be discharged at the ex:pira- 
 tion of the year unless they came forward 
 voluntarily and joined the club and promise 
 henceforth to act openly with the friends of 
 honest and good government. 
 
 Mis it not time that the Raymond club 
 should take some definice action on this sub- 
 ject? We are to have a Presidential election 
 in 1876, and in 1S77 a Governor and all the 
 State officers are to be elected. Our triumph 
 in 187.5, great as it certainly is, will not be 
 complete unless we repeat it in 187ti and airain 
 in 1S77." — Raipnond Gazette, December, 1875. 
 
 "Colonel R. O. Reynolds, our noble stand- 
 ard-bearer in this Senatorial district, sounded 
 the key-note of the campaign in his brief but 
 tellinu- speech at Buena Vista last 'Shursday, 
 when he said that his platform hereafter was 
 that 'whoever eats the white man's meat must 
 vote with the white man or refrain from voting 
 at all,' and the immense applause with which 
 this sentiment was greeted showed that he had 
 reached the heart of every auditor." — Aberdeen 
 Exainiiier . 
 
 "Remember that you solemnly pledged 
 yourselves, each to each, aud one to the other, 
 that after the expiration of your present co'i- 
 
 tracts and leases you would neither rent land 
 to nor employ any lessee or laborer, 'without 
 resrard to race, solor or previous condition of 
 servitude,' who sanctioned the oppression under 
 which you and your dear ones groaned, by his 
 voice on the 2d of November; that inismuch 
 as it was impossible for many of you to make 
 a clean sweep on the 1st of January, you each 
 and every one of you acreed not to lease land 
 or hire one third of thlise now your tenants 
 and employees who disdained your proffered 
 friendship, an<l tJaat no one of you would con- 
 tract with, as landlord or employer, any 
 laborer or tenant who so refused. 
 
 " This solemn pledge was made in the hour 
 of danger ; it was made for the salvation of all 
 that you held sacvred aud dear, and you arc not 
 true men to yourselves or your country if you 
 do not stand by it now that the storm has 
 passed." — Aberdeen Examiner. 
 
 Resolutions adopted by the McCondy Store Club, 
 Chickasatv County. 
 
 " Resolved, 2. That we organize ourselves 
 I into a company, for in time of peace we should 
 prepare for war. 
 
 '^ Resolved, 'i. That we pledge ourselves in- 
 dividually aud coUeciively not to employ in 
 any manner, for any purpose, direcMy or indi- 
 re«tly, any man, black or white, who casts his 
 vote with the so-called Republican party at the 
 next election. 
 
 " Resolved, 4. That if any member of this 
 cjub fails to comply with the provisions of the 
 lurt*- resolution he be expelled from (the club, 
 aud bis name be published in the Messenger, 
 and Southern States." 
 
 "How IT IS Done in CmcnASAW Countt. — 
 The Democratic clubs of this county are re- 
 quested to meet at their respective club rooms 
 on Saturday, November I'j. Every member 
 will at that meeting give to the secretary of 
 this club a list of the names of his employees 
 with whom be does not expect to make con- 
 tracts next year. The secretaries of the 
 different clubs will please forward a complete 
 list of these names to the secretary of this 
 committee. 
 
 "D.;P.BL.i.CK, 
 
 "Chairman Democratic Executive Commit- 
 tee." 
 
 "A Republican victory in Mississippi this fall 
 means 10,000 laboring men out of work and 
 out of iooii.."—Vicksburg Herald. 
 
 "Are those who are to be turned off For vot- 
 ing the Republican ticket included in this num- 
 ber? " — Jaekson Times . 
 
 "That's the understanding in i^bis part of the 
 country." — Aberdeen Examiner . 
 
 "Men who employ hands, or rent lands, or 
 
 advance supplies on crops, yet have the right 
 
 in Mississippi to employ, to rent lanl and to 
 
 advance to whom they please. They are not 
 
 compelled to contract with Radicals, and they 
 
 I may refuse to do so if they think proper. Men 
 
 I do not often willingly feed and provide for 
 
 I their enemies." — Raymond Gazette. 
 
 TESTIMONY INEXIIAUSTIBLE. 
 
 j Mr. Morton. I could treble the number of 
 
 I these extracts. I did not suppose it was neces- 
 j sary to read them all, and 1 have not done so. 
 
 I I have brought them to the attention of the 
 
 j Senate ibr ttie purpose of showing the spirit of 
 
22 
 
 the Mississippi press durinic the last campaign, 
 the publications from day to day and week to 
 week, testimony that cannot be controverted, 
 and will not be, on the other side. It is a run- 
 uino: history made up at that time, one not 
 made up afterward, to suit a political exi- 
 gency. 
 
 I shall continue, also, to read Irom Demo- 
 cratic sources. I now call the attention of the 
 Senate to the letters of H. B. Redfield, pub- 
 lished iu the Cincinnati Commercial, an Inde- 
 pendent ^newspaper well known to you . Mr. 
 Redfield is a Democrat, and a very well-known 
 correspondent. He has been the resrular 
 Southern correspondent of that paper for eisht 
 years, and lives at Chattanoo3;a, Tenn. He is 
 a very ardent Democrat, but a man of s^rcat 
 intelligence, and I think a very goad man. 
 You vrill find in his letters his prejudices 
 against negroes and negro suffrage and against 
 what he calls carpet-bag governments. I shall 
 ask the attention of the Senate on both sides 
 of the chamber to the statement of facts made 
 by Mr. Redfield. His character as a man can- 
 not be impugned, I presume, on this floor by 
 anybody. These letters are somewhat lengthy, 
 but they are interesting and very valuable as 
 showing the character of the campaign. He 
 traveled through the State of Mississippi just 
 before the election, and his letters are written 
 from Jackson, the capital of the State. I have 
 quite a number of them. I shall not read all 
 of them, but if any of my friends on the other 
 side desire to look at these letters they will be 
 at their service, so that they may read any of 
 the passages that I do not read. His letter of 
 October 25, 1S75, from Jackson, Miss., begins 
 as follows : 
 
 "The sacrifice of life in this campaign is ap- 
 palling. In the past sixty days no: less than 
 one hundred men have been killed in political 
 quarrels growing out of politics and the rela- 
 tion of the races. In this estimate I do not in- 
 clude sutih as have fallen in meroly personal 
 difiiculties, disconnected with politics, such as 
 the killing of Cooke in Senatobia, Wilson in 
 Grenada, and Nye in Yazoo. These 'personal 
 difficulties,' ending in shooting and stabbing, 
 keep up at about the same ratio in times of 
 profound quiet and peace as in seasons of polit- 
 ical turmoil and confusion. During exciting 
 political campaigns the murder list is fearfully 
 augmented by race difficulties and riots and 
 assassinations. 
 
 "But it was of race difficulties here that I 
 propose to write, and not of personal quarrels 
 between man and man. I was drawn into it 
 by n adiug accounts of some recent killings in 
 adjaceni States, which were so absolutely un- 
 necessary as to be doubly shocking. 
 
 "The condition of affairs in Mississippi is 
 very bad, but so much better than immediately 
 before the recent 'treaty of peace' that 
 thoughtful men feel a sense of relief." 
 
 This was after the treaty that Governor 
 Ames had been compelled to make with Gen- 
 eral George, tte chairman of the Democratic 
 committee. 
 
 "At the time of the conference between Gov 
 ernor Ames and the leading Conservatives, the 
 State was on the very brink of a volcano. | 
 Negro militia were strutting around, pompous 
 with conceit and ignorance, and face to face 
 with them in this vc-y cicy were liuudreds of 
 
 white men, with pistols buckled on the outside 
 of their clothing." 
 
 Other evidences will show hereafter that 
 there were but five colored companies in the 
 State, less than five hundred men, and, so far 
 from strutting around otfensavely .they scarcely 
 dared to drill in public, never "dared to make 
 the slightest demonstration; and those few 
 companifes Governor Ames was compelled to 
 disband. I shall show hereafter that his own 
 life depended upon it. 
 
 "A little spark, a single difficulty between a 
 white man and a black man, would have fired 
 the magazine, and the most furions slaughter 
 would have commenced. Of course, the 
 negroes would have fallen like the leases of 
 the forest, militia, and all. Although in the 
 1 majority, they cannot stand against the whites, 
 and it is the height of absurdity to suppose 
 that they can, or to put arms into their hands. 
 When the result of a race fight is figured out, 
 it is always found that about fifteen negroes 
 have fallen to one white man." 
 
 I think the evidence will show a hundred 
 negroes to one white man. 
 
 "But for that peace conference and agree- 
 ment by the Governor to disband the militia 
 which he had just called out, all this cen- 
 tral section of the State would have been 
 plunged into war, compared to which the 
 Vicksburg and Clinton riots and sla.ughterjngs 
 would be as nothing. Yet some of the skillet- 
 headed negroes here in Jackson who owe their 
 lives to the Governov's humane action are 
 finding fault with him for making them 
 (the negro militiai disband and give up their 
 arms . 
 
 «■ * * * -:f 
 
 " The whites are actuated by a firm, I may 
 say a desperate determination to carry the 
 election— that is, gain the Legislature. They 
 say they must have it, or see their State sink 
 into such a condition of worthlessness and 
 wretchedness that it would not brine two dol- 
 lars and a half at auction. They point to the 
 steady decline of property and rise of taxes 
 simte the negroes took control, and they affirm 
 that their very self-preservation demands that 
 this rule be overthrown." 
 
 PROPERTY NOT DEPRECIATED. 
 
 Here Mr. Redfield .'•efers to that stereotyped 
 falsehood about the great increase of taxes 
 and the depreciation of property. I am in- 
 formed, and I believe the statement to b-; true, 
 that there has been no decrease in the price of 
 property in Mississippi since 1870. In ISfiOtLO 
 property in Mississippi was valued at $.541,- 
 000,000, with the slaves. In 1870, at the be- 
 ginning of reconstruction and Republican gov- 
 ernment, it was valued at .$1.50,000,000; and 
 there has been no decline in real value since 
 that time, whatever the assessments may 
 show. I am informed if a man wants to buy 
 land he cannot buy it one cent cheaper, and in 
 many counties lie cannot buy it as cheaply as 
 he could five or six years ago. I am told an- 
 other thing, too, that land is rented iu Missis- 
 sippi to colored men for a price upon the acre 
 each year that is eaual to the assessed value 
 of the land. 
 
 Mr. Spexoer. More than its assessed value. 
 
 Mr. Morton. The Senator says more than 
 its assessed value. I am told that in many 
 cases it is quite equal to it, and perhaps in 
 
23 
 
 some cases it is rented for more than the land 
 Is taxed for. lu some places cottou-land is 
 rented for $12 au acre to colored men, while 
 to ordinary farmers $6, $5 and as low as $'■> 
 an aexe, and very many of these plantations 
 were not appraised ai over $2, $3 and $i an 
 acre. The rcsn.t is that the negroes come 
 out in debt at 'he end o<' every year. Their 
 earnings are almost totally absorbed, and they 
 fall behind. 
 I am reading from the same letter : 
 
 OUTKAGES IN' YAZOO COUNTY. 
 
 "Morgan, the sheriff of Yazoo county, had 
 to flee for his life, and is now iu this city. He 
 has positive assurance that if he comes back 
 to Yazoo his life will be taken, and, very 
 properly, he has coucluded to remain here a 
 while.'-' 
 
 Now, says Mr. Iledfield : 
 
 "What a spectacle is this! Here is the legal 
 sheriff of a county containing over two thou- 
 sand Kepublican majority who fear to go back, 
 and where the majority is as worthless as 
 straw iu protecting him. Ordinarily, the 
 thing for a sheriQ' to do when attacked liy a 
 mob is to summon a posne, the power of the 
 country. But should Morgan attempt that no 
 wiiite man would obey him, and any negro 
 who obeyed would be shot on short notice. In 
 the very nature of things a negro is utterly 
 worthless to perform this branch of a citizen's 
 Cuty. Morgan 's a white man, but he has ren- 
 dered Irkuself doubly obnoxious to the whites 
 by marrying a \i\dv with colored blood in her 
 veins. 
 
 "It looks to me very much as if the more 
 headstrong of the whit'^s of that county had 
 determined to get rid of 'negro rule' and had 
 set about it systematically. Let us see. On 
 the night of Sepi ember 1, the Republican club 
 met at Ya/oo City." 
 
 The account of the difficulties I have almost 
 entirely from Democratic sources — 
 
 " Morgan was making a speech, when some- 
 body denounced him as a liar." 
 
 That was iu pursuance of an arrangement 
 made in the begiuuiug of tiie campaign to ap- 
 point men to attend everj' public meeting, 
 and if anything was said which was distaste- 
 ful to call the speaker a liar oi make him leave 
 the stand. 
 
 " This, we are told, ' was followed by firing, 
 and fifty shots wore fired.' K. B.Mitchell, a 
 leading white Republican, was shot dead. 
 Several negroes were wounded. Morgan v/as 
 not hit, although a dozen shots wtre aimed at 
 him. He'jumpid out of aback window and 
 escaped to the woods and thence to this city. 
 
 "Now, anybody with half an eye or no eye 
 at all can see that this was a plot to get rid of 
 Morgan and the Republican leaders. Not a 
 Republican fired a shot or attempted the least 
 resistance. Tha netjroes, like Morgan, jumped 
 from windows ai.a ran pell-mell out of town. 
 Morgan came to Governor Ames and applied 
 for ml!itia to rei: tate himself. TheGovernor 
 hesitated, but finally agreed. Word went to 
 Yazoo with the rapidity of the wind, and 
 
 within twentj'-four hours eight hundred armed 
 men were on the road toward Vau'jrhan Sta- 
 tion to meet Morgan and his 'nigger militia.' " 
 
 I have a Democratic newspaper on my desk, 
 giving an account of the asscmblaire of eight 
 hundred and fifty armed men -xt Vauuhan 
 Station, with the avowed purpose of ab.-olutely 
 amiihilaling any forces that Morgan might get 
 to come to Yazoo county to assert his charac- 
 ter as a sheriff. 
 
 "The State was on the verge of war, and 
 just at the opportune moment, when the spe- 
 cial train v/as ready to carry tht; negro militia 
 to Vaughan Station, the peace policy pre- 
 vailed, and Ames disbanded and disarmed 
 them. He could do nothing else unless he 
 wanted them killed, for killed they would 
 have been as sure as fate. The duties of the 
 sherifl' meantime are being performea by Mor- 
 gan's depu'Jes, who have not been disturbed. 
 
 "But there was another Republican leader 
 whom it seemed necessary to get rid of. This 
 was Patterson, colored, member of the Legis- 
 lature. A negro was shot in a cotton field, by 
 whom it was not clear. Another poor devil of 
 a negro was jerked up by the whites, charged 
 with the crime, and he 'confessed' that he did 
 it, and that Patterson promised him $50 for 
 the job. This settled the fate of poor Patter- 
 son. He was arrested, and along with the 
 negro who made the confession, brought to- 
 ward Tazoo City. A dispatch to the Vicks- 
 burg Herald says that the deputy was 
 returning to this city with the prisoners, when 
 they were met by an armed body, and 
 Patterson taken from him. They report him 
 lostiuthi swamp. The other prisoner was 
 brought to this city and placed in jail. That 
 tRlls the story. Patterson was taken to the 
 woods and murdered. But the other prisoner, 
 who confessed to doing the deed, was suffered 
 to go to jail ! It was all a bungling device to 
 get Patterson out of the way. "With Morgan 
 ran off, and Mitchell shot to death, and Pat- 
 terson lost in the swamp, the negroes would 
 be without organization, and would of neces- 
 sity allow the election to go by default. They 
 can do nothing without leaders. What is the 
 result i " 
 
 The result of all was that the Republicans, 
 having a majority of 2,000 in that county, were 
 only able to poll seven votes. 
 
 '' What is the result? The negroes, although 
 having a majority of over 2,000J tuivu uo ticket 
 in the field, and peace prevails, for there is uo 
 cause of irritation. The whites will elect their 
 entire ticket, and hereafter will allow just 
 enough negroes to vote not to endanger their 
 supremacy. Nothing short of the power of 
 the Federal Governmcni; can revive the Re- 
 publican party in Yazoo ; and then it will 
 tumble over again as soon as that power is 
 withdrawn. 
 
 * * * * a 
 
 " When one of these counties escapes from 
 what they style 'negro rule,' uo matter how, 
 nothing but the active power of the Federal 
 Government can restore it again." 
 
 Mr. President, with these remaiks I close 
 the discussion for lo-day. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 542 449 5 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 542 449 5