MISSISSIPPI. 



511 



MISSISSIPPI. Early in the present year 

 the reconstruction of the State was completed, 

 and the administration of affairs passed from 

 the United States authorities into the hands 

 of its own citizens. The hill admitting the 

 State into the Union was passed by Congress 

 on the 17th of February, and on the 8th of 

 March following the Legislature assembled, 

 and continued in session until the 20th of July. 

 On the 10th of March J. L. Alcorn was in- 

 augurated as Governor. In his inaugural ad- 

 dress he says : 



The Union has brought us back , pardoned children, 

 into its bosom. It bids us go forward this day, to 

 the reconstruction of a government on the ruins left 

 by our own madness. Restored to our lost place in 

 the sisterhood of States by the grace of the nation, 

 that grace has brought us back an equal among sov- 

 ereigns 1 Erect and free, Mississippi goes forward 

 now to work out her destiny in a fellowship of States, 

 the peer of the proudest I And, in approaching the 

 duty mode incumbent on us as representatives of a 

 sovereign authority, our first work is to carry out in 

 g_ood faith the principles incorporated by the revolu- 

 tion just closed, in the letter and spirit of the Consti- 

 tution. 



The Northern Democracy have overthrown the 

 Southern Oligarchy 1 This is the measure of the fact 

 accomplished by the action of the United States. 

 Entering on our duty in acceptance of that result, wo 

 must go forward to make the overthrow of the old 

 system that had reigned among us a practical re- 

 ality, by insuring all the blessings of free govern- 

 ment for the masses of the people. 



The action of the Legislature at this session 

 was of a very important character. The re- 

 organization of the courts and other depart- 

 ments of the State government devolved upon 

 it as well as the reestablishment of civil rule 

 for the first time since the war. The new 

 constitution provides for a Supreme Court, to 

 consist of three judges, appointed by the Gov- 

 ernor. Messrs, rayton, Simrall, and Tarbell, 

 were appointed by the Governor, and con- 

 firmed by the Senate. " An act in relation to 

 the Supreme Court," passed at this session of 

 the Legislature, divides the State into three 



Supreme Court districts, provides for the ap- 

 pointment by the court of a clerk, to hold office 

 four years, subject to removal by a majority of 

 the judges ; a reporter, to hold office for six 

 years, subject to removal as in the case of the 

 clerk ; and requires the judges to elect one of 

 their number as Chief Justice. The salary of 

 each judge is fixed at $4,500 per annum. The 

 second section of the act prescribes the juris- 

 diction of the court as follows : 



SECTION 2. Be it further enacted, That the Supreme 

 Court shall have such jurisdiction as properly belongs 

 to a Supreme Court, and shall hear and determine all 

 manner of pleas, plaints, motions, causes, and con- 

 troversies, civil and criminal, which may be brought 

 before it, from any Circuit Court, Chancery Court, or 

 other inferior tribunal, from which by law a cause 

 may be removed, either by appeal or writ of error, 

 or other legal means, and which shall be cognizable 

 in said Supreme Court according to the constitution 

 and laws of this State, and all laws in force in this 

 State on the 80th of November, 1869, regulating the 

 jurisdiction and practice in the High Court of Errors 

 and Appeals, or otherwise appertaining thereto, BO 

 far as they may be applicable, shall continue in force 

 and be applied to the Supreme Court, established 

 by this act. 



It is further enacted that all causes pending 

 and undetermined in the High Court of Errors 

 and Appeals shall be transferred to the Supreme 

 Court, and that all books, documents, and 

 property, belonging to the former shall be re- 

 moved into the latter court for preservation. 

 Circuit Courts are established with criminal 

 jurisdiction and with jurisdiction in civil suits 

 at common law. For the purposes of these 

 courts the State is divided into fifteen districts, 

 for each of which a judge is to be appointed, 

 who has a salary of $3,500 a year, and is pro- 

 hibited during his continuance in office from 

 practising law in the courts of any State or 

 of the United States. A conrt to be styled 

 " the Circuit Court of the County of " is to 

 bo held in each county of the State three times 

 a year. A District Attorney is to be elected 

 by the qualified voters of each district for a 



