Part 16

The social, industrial and political conditions existing in Mississippi two years after the close of the civil war can only be properly appreciated by taking a backward view of what had gone before. From 1817 to 1860 Mississippi was a garden for the cultivation of all that was grand in oratory, true in science, and enlightened and profound in law and statesmanship. Those were years of a golden age, an age of chivalry in which she vied with her sister States in the lists of that grand tournament that was to decide the fate of a nation. That period of the State's history produced a roll too tedious to read of noble spirits, bright wits, and elegant scholars, whose names and deeds are preserved in the records of an admiring people. Mississippi takes special pride in the character of Jefferson Davis, whose name will be forever enshrined in fame's proudest niche, as the representative of Southern honor, chivalry and manhood.

"And he will live on history's page, While cycling years shall onward move, A victim of a senseless rage, Now idol of his people's love; When hate is buried in the dust, When party strife shall break its spear, When truth is free and men are just, Then will his epitaph appear."

Mississippi was enriched by the power and ability of George Poindexter, her brilliant governor and United States senator; she points with pride to the executive ability and constructive statesmanship of Robert J. Walker, Polk's great minister of finance, and author of the Walker Tariff Bill; she looks back with wondering admiration to that king of orators and eccentric genius, S. S. Prentiss, who thrilled the American heart with his god-like eloquence; she holds sacred the memory of the gifted and peerless Lamar, who stood, unawed and alone, as defender and protector, in her darkest and most trying hour; and no stone that marks the last resting place of the great of earth can be worthier of the Roman legend:

"_Clarus et vir fortissimus._"

The year 1861 brought ruin and desolation upon the State. The signal gun fired from Fort Sumter was the beginning of a bloody fratricidal strife, and was the first act in the greatest drama of political and social revolution known to history. That revolution brought political, industrial and financial ruin upon Mississippi. When peace came, it found a race of ignorant slaves, masters of her political destiny. Then came the days of reconstruction, and of devilish animosity and hate; days when ignorance and vice reigned supreme, and the law of brute force was terribly triumphant. During that time a brave people were condemned to all the suffering and oppression which crime and corruption could invent, and tyranny inflict.

The political party then in power stands before the bar of an intelligent public sentiment of today a confessed and convicted author of the greatest and most criminal mistake of all time. The experiment of negro suffrage was a most stupendous blunder. Under that vicious system society was depressed to a greater degree than could be borne. For ten long years was Mississippi ruled by the adventurer, who filled the mind of the negroes with a spirit of misrule, prejudice and hatred against their former masters. He found a people impoverished by the loss of millions in slave property, and made penniless by a long and protracted war.

The State was turned over as so much prey to the hungriest and cruelest flock of human vultures that ever cursed mankind and the pathway towards better things was stained with the life blood of her best and noblest. Under such a reign property was insecure. There was open and notorious plunder without the hope of redress. Ignorance, crime and hatred had enthralled the white people of the state. No greater burden has ever been put upon a suffering people, and while it lasted in Mississippi the state was overwhelmed by a horde of ignorant, immoral and degraded vagabonds.

The blighting curse of negro rule was patiently borne by the people of Mississippi until 1875, when a halt was called, and every white man in the State took a solemn oath before high heaven that he would free himself and his posterity from such a disgrace, or die in the attempt. That idea was the battle-cry under which the campaign of 1875 was fought. That campaign was the supreme effort of a brave people to save themselves and their posterity from the blighting ruin of black supremacy. It was the most remarkable demonstration of courage ever shown to an admiring world; it was the courage that dared death and defied the world in its struggle against infamy and dishonor. The struggle was begun by a well attended mass-meeting of leading men from every county in the State. Lawyers left their books, doctors their patients, preachers their sermons, merchants their stores, and farmers their fields, and formed themselves into a mighty force for the overthrow of misrule. These brave and determined men met together at the State capitol in Jackson, Jan. 4th, 1875, and organized what is known to history as the Taxpayers' Convention of Mississippi. The convention was called to order by Hon. W. L. Nugent, one of the great lawyers of the Jackson bar. Gen. W. S. Featherston, of Holly Springs, was called to preside over the deliberations of the meeting, and his pure patriotism and great influence gave force to a gathering that was prepared to call the people of the State to arms if need be, in defense of their rights and liberties. To Gen. Featherston and Judge Wiley P. Harris all honor is due for the brave stand they took at that time. They were both remarkable men of fearless courage and sound judgement. The labors of the convention resulted in a petition being drawn up for presentation to the legislature setting forth the desperate condition of the State, demanding reform and economy, and appealing to the people to rise up in their might and overthrow their oppressors. An extraordinary increase in taxation was shown to be almost equal to confiscation. The convention of taxpayers claimed and showed conclusively that in 1869 the State levy was 10 cents on the dollar of the assessed value of lands. For the year 1871 it was four times as great and for 1874 fourteen times as great. Such a condition of affairs could only result in general ruin and bankruptcy. After the adjournment of the taxpayers' convention the delegates returned to their homes and organized local taxpayers' leagues in every county in the State. The property-holders determined to reduce taxation or refuse to pay their assessments, and, if necessary, to resist the collection of all taxes for the support of the State government.

A new legislature was to be elected in November, 1875, and the only hope of property holders to save their lands from confiscation was to elect a legislature composed of white men pledged to economy. The Democratic State Convention met in Jackson on August 3d, 1875, and was made up of the best men in every walk of life. Gen. Charles Clark was made chairman. He was an ex-governor of the State and was reverenced and loved for his patriotic devotion to his adopted State. Hon. L. Q. C. Lamar was a delegate to the convention from Lafayette county, and was the leader in every movement. He made the greatest speech of his life on the floor of the convention, and it served as a bugle call to action to the white people to throw off the ruin and dishonor that threatened them. The campaign was placed under the guidance of Gen. J. Z. George, as chairman of the Democratic State Executive Committee, and such men as Lamar, Walthall, Barksdale, Lowry, Money, Featherston, Singleton and Chalmers took the stump and aroused the people to action. The people laid aside their business for three months and worked for the protection of their homes and for the preservation of free institutions. The popular heart was fired with enthusiasm as never before. Public feeling found utterance in the following resolution that became the slogan of the campaign, and was passed by the people of every county in the State:

"_Resolved_, That without equivocation and without mutual reservation, we intend to carry out the principles enunciated in the platform of the Democratic party at Jackson, on the 3d day of August, 1875, and to this we pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our most sacred honor."

The State executive committee met in Jackson, August 15, and organized for the campaign, and its first act was to issue the ablest and most stirring address that ever came from such a body. The address was prepared by Gen. George, the chairman of the committee, and is a masterpiece of political literature, and closes with this appeal: "In this contest Mississippi expects each of her sons to do his duty; brace up old age to one more effort, nerve, manhood, to put forth all its strength, and invite youth to its noblest enthusiasm."

In the very beginning of the campaign it became evident to Governor Ames and the Republican boodlers that the election would result in their defeat. Ames, in his desperation over impending disaster, applied to the Federal government at Washington for United States troops to be used in terrorizing the people on election day. He boldly declared that the death of a few thousand negroes would make sure the success of the Republican party, and did everything in his power to bring about an armed conflict between the two races. Bloody riots occurred at Clinton, Yazoo City and Vicksburg, in which hundreds of negroes were killed. President Grant refused to send Federal troops into Mississippi, and his refusal was based on the report of Mr. C. K. Chase, an agent of the attorney-general of the United States, who had been sent to report on the application of Gov. Ames for troops, his report being that there was no legal excuse for the presence of armed men. The Democratic orators, on every stump in the State, declared that the negro had proven himself unworthy of the right of suffrage, and should be deprived of it. They showed that wherever the negro controlled, depression and ruin were evident on every side. They proclaimed aloud that the honest, intelligent and decent white people should and would control the State. Negro suffrage had been tried for ten years with terrible results. They pointed to the ominous fact that the Southern States were behind in the road for progress, just in proportion to the number of negro voters in each. The right of manhood suffrage was daily denounced as a doctrine that was ruining the State by making it a prey to the worst and most depraved elements of society. Bitter experience had taught that freedom could not, in a moment, transform an ignorant slave into a good citizen. The most dangerous experiment in modern times in government had proved to be a most colossal blunder. The negro had slavishly surrendered his vote to the dictation of a band of petty thieves and plunderers, who were interested in nothing but gain. Where was the State, under such control, that showed even a trace of honest, intelligent government? The appeals to the people were effective. After the most remarkable of political campaigns a legislature, with an overwhelming Democratic majority, was elected. The legislature met in Jackson, January 4, 1876, and organized by the election of Hon. H. M. Street, of Prentiss county, speaker, and Hon. George M. Govan, clerk. It had among its members, such men as W. S. Featherston, W. A. Percy, H. L. Muldrow, W. F. Tucker, W. R. Barksdale, I. T. Blount, J. S. Bailey, J. G. Hall, G. B. Huddleston, G. D. Shands, George H. Lester and Thomas Spight, in the house; and J. M. Stone, R. O. Reynolds, John W. Fewell, R. H. Thompson and T. C. Catchings, in the senate.

At the time the legislature assembled, the executive and judicial departments of the government were under the control of the Radical party, made up of and dominated by negroes, disreputable adventurers and carpet baggers. Adelbert Ames was seated in the executive chair. At the close of the war he was in Mississippi as a colonel in the Federal army, and after the State government set up by the white people was overthrown by Federal bayonets he was made military governor. After a new constitution was adopted and Mississippi was re-admitted to the Union, Ames was elected by the legislature to represent the State in the United States Senate. James L. Alcorn was his colleague, and fierce conflict arose between the two over the control of the Republican party in the State. Alcorn was a man of admitted ability. He had been a lifelong Whig before the war, but became a moderate Republican after its close. When the constitution of 1868 was adopted the military government of Ames gave way and was succeeded by Alcorn as the first governor elected by the people after the new organic law went into force. Gov. Alcorn was a large property holder and really desired the peace and prosperity of the State. His plan was to unite the old followers of the Whig party for the control of the negro element, and save the white people from the ruin that would result from negro control. The new governor was soon found to be in the way of the negroes and carpet baggers, and he was sent to Washington as a senator of the United States.

Ex-Gov. Robert Lowry thus writes of Alcorn and Ames as Senators from Mississippi, in his history of the State:

"Governors Alcorn and Ames were occupying their seats in the United States Senate. The former, a man of high bearing, wealthy, full of courage, proud and imperious, had a supreme contempt for the pretensions of the latter, and asserted in substance, on the floor, of the Senate, that Ames was a fraud, that his poverty of intellect was only equalled by his arrogant assumption of unauthorized powers; that he was not, and never had been a citizen of Mississippi."

Ames made the best reply he could, but he was no match in debate for his opponent. The estrangement and breach between them culminated in both declaring themselves candidates for governor of the State. Ames gained the negro support and was elected, and ruled the State with all the autocratic power of a czar. The public scandals of the Ames administration soon became notorious throughout the State, and the legislature stood pledged to a full investigation of all executive acts.

Early in the session a resolution was introduced by Gen. Featherston providing for the appointment of a committee of five to investigate and report whether or not Ames had been guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors in office. The resolution was passed and Speaker Street appointed Gen. Featherston, Gen. Tucker, W. A. Percy, H. L. Muldrow and Fred Parsons. After an investigation, lasting thirty-eight days, the committee made a report recommending that Ames be impeached and removed from office for high crimes and misdemeanors. The report of the committee was adopted by the house, and W. S. Featherston, W. F. Tucker, W. A. Percy, H. L. Muldrow, W. R. Barksdale, and Thomas Spight were appointed managers to conduct the impeachment trial before the bar of the senate. Twenty-one articles of impeachment were presented by the committee, to the house and adopted. They contained specifications and charges, involving high crimes and misdemeanors in office. The senate proceeded to organize as a high court of impeachment, and summoned Gov. Ames to appear for trial. Chief Justice Simrall, of the Supreme court, appeared in the senate March 16, 1876, and after having the oath administered according to law by Associate Justice Peyton, announced that the trial of Adelbert Ames, governor of Mississippi, for high crimes and misdemeanors in office would begin the next day. It was a time of great excitement in Jackson, and that feeling spread all over the State.

Governor Ames tried every known means in his power to intimidate the legislature. He decided at one time to attempt to disperse the body with Federal troops, but President Grant would not furnish them for such a purpose. The next plan was to collect an army of negroes in Jackson and incite them to riot and bloodshed against the whites, but the cowardice of the negroes prevented its accomplishment. One of the most corrupt and colossal schemes of public robbery ever devised by a band of plunderers was being laid bare to the eyes of an indignant people, and every effort was made by the guilty officials to hush up the investigation of their delinquencies. At the beginning of the investigation the governor and his partners in crime assumed a bold front and defied the legislature to do its worst, but when they found that the investigation was backed by a public opinion that knew no turning, they began to weaken and plead for mercy. It was brought out in the investigation that the State was full of defaulting county treasurers and sheriffs who were partisan friends of the governor, and were allowed to retain their positions. The investigation developed that the office of State Treasurer was being filled by an official who had never given bond for the faithful performance of his duty. It was found to be the custom of the governor to remove judges from the bench when they made decisions against his friends, and one public official, the sheriff of a county, was removed by force of arms. Ames was employing the same methods that he put in force during his right as military governor, and was applying the rules of arbitrary martial law in times of peace. Incompetency and rascality reigned supreme. All legislation had been in the hands of ignorant negroes who for years, were intent upon nothing but public pilfering. On March 29th, 1876, the court of impeachment was opened, and the managers of the House appeared and announced themselves ready for trial. In the meantime Ames had become panic stricken over the certainty of conviction and offered to resign and leave the State if the impeachment articles were withdrawn. The one great object of the trial was to rid the State of Ames and his gang of corrupt officials, and the managers of the proceedings agreed to allow him to resign and the following order was made by the impeachment court: "That articles of impeachment heretofore preferred by the House of Representatives against his Excellency, Adelbert Ames, be and the same are hereby dismissed, in pursuance of the request of the House of Representatives, this day presented by the managers in their behalf." After that order was entered, counsel for Ames offered the following from their client:

"EXECUTIVE OFFICE,

"Jackson, Miss., March 29, 1876.

"To the People of the State of Mississippi:

"I hereby respectfully resign my office of governor of the State of Mississippi." "ADELBERT AMES."

After the reading of the resignation, Mr. Pryor, attorney for the resigning governor, spoke as follows:

"Mr. Chief Justice and Senators--At the instance of my learned associates, I rise merely to return to the chief justice and the senators the expression of our grave sense of the courtesies and kindness which we have received, both from the learned chief justice and senators, and especially from our honorable adversaries, the managers on the part of the house."

By his resignation Ames practically admitted his guilt, and soon after left the State in disgrace. Hon. John Marshall Stone became governor of the State by virtue of his position as president pro tem. of the senate, one day after Ames' resignation. A better man was never made governor of any State, and with his administration commenced an era of peace and prosperity that continues to this day.

GLIMPSES OF THE PAST.

BY MRS. HELEN D. BELL

From my youth up "Historical Mississippi" has possessed a never failing charm__ books, papers and manuscripts I have faithfully searched, and my gleaning has brought me sheaves from many a field, where stronger hands have wrought.

I shall leave chronology and statistics to the members of the Association who are more capable of dealing with them, and shall give a few current events that interested our ancestors some sixty years ago.

In one of Irwin Russell's inimitable dialect poems, he makes an old negro preacher say:

"An' when you sees me risin' up to structify in meetin'; I's just clumb up de knowledge-tree an' done some apple eatin'."

My "knowledge-tree" proved to be an old file of newspapers published from 1836 to 1843.

As far back as 1838 an active interest was taken in Historical Mississippi, and this Association, is not the first to try and preserve records and deeds, facts, traditions and legends of our beloved state.

A Lyceum flourished in the Natchez district, with Mr. Dubuisson as president. A notice of a meeting that was to be held in Washington, Miss., June 2d, 1838, says: "There is a proposition before the Lyceum to change its name to that of 'The Mississippi Philosophical & Historical Society.' It should be incorporated, as it bids fair to be the nucleus around which the taste and talent of this section of our state may rally."

Besides literature and history, an interest was taken by the men and women of this period in many other things. Realizing that Mississippi was an agricultural state, they formed an "Agricultural-Horticultural & Botanical Society," and one meeting was held April 28th, 1843, in the Methodist Church in Washington, President B. S. C. Wailes in the chair. There was no public dinner, but every planter had enough along with him to supply a dozen more than his own family. Col. Wailes, Mr. Affleck and many others, we are told, kept open house; Mrs. Shields, Miss Rawling, Miss Newman and Miss Smith were appointed to examine and report on needle-work and other articles of feminine industry. They made their report through Mr. Joseph D. Shields, and awarded prizes to Mrs. Dr. Broome, Mrs. Anna D. Winn, Mrs. Sarah West, Miss Virginia Branch, Miss Eliza Magruder, Miss Julia Cashell, and Miss Mary McCaleb.

The women of the thirties had never heard of the "new woman" yet they were fully alive to their own interest. It is said that when the "married woman's property right" bill was up for discussion in 1839, it was passed mainly through the exertions and influence of Mrs. T. B. J. Hadley, who kept the most popular boarding house in Jackson. She had become enamored of the civil law principle in Louisiana, and was determined to have this statute in our state. How did she accomplish it? From the day that Adam ate the apple, women have had firm convictions as to the best way of bringing men to their "point of view." If any of Mrs. Hadley's boarders opposed this bill, she put them on short rations and they had no comfort until they gave in. By the way, it is believed that our Mississippi Statute on this subject--property rights of married women--was the first which was passed in any state in the Union, which was governed by the principles of common law.

Politics ran high; Whigs and Democrats were ready at all times to give reason for the faith within them, to fight for it, yea, even to die for it at need. But through it all ran an intense loyalty to the state. Prentiss was once on a boat coming to Natchez, when some one remarked that the Governor of Mississippi was a dog. "Sir," said Mr. Prentiss, rising, "you cannot call the Governor of Mississippi a dog in my presence; it may be that he is a dog, but he is _our_ dog."