506 



MISSISSIPPI. 



rency of the Constitution, we declare that the 5.20 

 bonds should be paid in the currency received^ by 

 the Government for their issive, and, that by the with- 

 drawal of the gold and silver to the national banks, 

 that result would be accomplished without undue or 

 dangerous increase of paper money, now the only 

 circulating medium, thus relieving our people from 

 the burden of debt, the tendency of which is always 

 to corrupt and enslave, and free our Government 

 from the reproach of paying a favored class in gold, 

 while discharging its debts to all others, including 

 also its sailors and soldiers, in inferior currency. 



, That this plan violates no law, impairs no 

 contract, breaks no faith, and, instead of retarding a 

 return to specie payments, is the shortest, because 

 the only sale way of reaching that end. 



Resolved, That all the property of the country, in- 

 cluding so-called bonds, which receive such equal 

 protection of the Government, should bear an equal 

 share in its burden. 



Resolved, That we indignantly reject the principle, 

 drawn from the feudal system, that the masses of the 

 people belong to the governments under which they 

 live, which, in another form, is contended for by the 

 monarchies of Europe, including Great Britain, that, 

 once a subject, always a subject. "We, on the con- 

 trary, maintain that an individual can, by emigration 

 to, and residence in, another country, forswear his 

 previous allegiance, and be admitted into all the civil 

 and political rights of his new home \ that American 

 citizens, by adoption and naturalization, are entitled 

 to all the rights, as between the United States and 

 foreign powers, which can be claimed by our own 

 native-born citizens ; and it is the duty of the Fed- 

 eral Government to protect and maintain them by 

 every means within its power. 



Resolved, That the fortitude and gallantry of our 

 soldiers, in. the recent civil war in defence of the 

 Union, entitle them to the gratitude of the country, 

 and should ever be remembered by it in its bounties. 



Resolved, That the Democracy of the country have 

 neither the purpose nor desire to reestablish slavery, 

 nor assume any portion of the debt of the States 

 lately in rebellion. 



The Republican State Convention also, pur- 

 suant to a call of the Republican State Central 

 Committee, dated January 22d, assembled on 

 the 13th of May, 1868, when they elected 8 

 delegate's to the National Republican Conven- 

 tion, to be held in Chicago, on the 20th day of 

 that month, and 4 presidential electors. 



Of the acts passed by the State Legislature 

 in the last session, we abstain from making any 

 further mention, in reference to the public in- 

 terests of the State. The local paper, in 

 which such matters are officially published, 

 in its issue of March 13, 1868, says: "The 

 work of the tenth Legislature was virtu- 

 ally closed last evening, although to-day is 

 within constitutional limit, and may be occu- 

 pied with any other business than the passage 

 of bills, which is inhibited. A very large num- 

 ber of laws have been enacted, hut none of vital 

 importance to the welfare of the State." 



MISSISSIPPI. The rigors of military rule 

 were somewhat relaxed in Mississippi at the 

 beginning of the year 1868. By an order of 

 January 9th, jurisdiction was restored to the 

 State courts in the general cases of horse-steal- 

 ing, etc., though, if it should appear that any 

 person could not obtain an impartial trial, on 

 account of his race or his political sentiments, 

 jurisdiction of the case would be taken 



by the military. On the 21st of January, 

 General Order No. 39, series of 1867, prohibit- 

 ing the purchase or delivery of country sup- 

 plies after sunset and until market-hours in 

 the morning, and requiring all persons to pro- 

 cure a special license, as authority to purchase 

 country produce, was revoked. Four days 

 later a similar revocation was made of the 

 order causing saloons, and other places where 

 intoxicating liquors were retailed, to he closed 

 from each Friday evening at sunset, until the 

 succeeding Monday at sunrise, and on occa- 

 sions of political meetings in towns garrisoned 

 by troops. On the 27th, an order appeared, 

 revoking the several circulars issued in 1867, 

 relating to the adjustment of " questions aris- 

 ing from settlements of crops, and generally 

 the relations of debtors and creditors, or civil 

 suitors," and all such matters were thereafter 

 to be left to the established civil tribunals, " ex- 

 cept such cases affecting the rights of freed- 

 men, or others, as by acts of Congress were 

 specially committed to the care of the Bureau 

 of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands." 



An impression having got abroad that the 

 planters would receive aid from the Govern- 

 ment in cultivating their lands, through the 

 agency of the Freedmen's Bureau, a circular 

 was issued from the office of the Assistant 

 Commissioner for the State of Mississippi, in- 

 forming all persons, who had formed any such 

 expectations, that all aid rendered through 

 that office would be strictly limited to cases of 

 actual want, and any supplies furnished would 

 only be in such quantities as were absolutely 

 necessary to prevent suffering. All freedmen, 

 who were laboring under the delusion that 

 lands would be furnished them by confiscation 

 or otherwise, were warned that this was a 

 mistaken idea. They were told that their only 

 way of obtaining land was by purchase or by 

 locating on the public domain. The Bureau 

 offered its services as a medium to bring to- 

 gether laborers and employers, and urged 

 those engaged in agricultural pursuits " to de- 

 vote more land and labor to the production of 

 corn and wheat." 



The convention which had been called to 

 frame a constitution for the State of Missis- 

 sippi, under the reconstruction laws of 1867, 

 met in Jackson, on the 7th of January, and 

 continued in session without interruption until 

 the 18th of May. During this protracted pe- 

 riod many subjects were discussed, which per- 

 tained more to the general condition of the 

 State and of the country at large, than to the. 

 special duty of the framers of a new constitu- 

 tion. The general per diem of the members 

 was fixed at ten dollars, and measures were 

 adopted for levying a special tax, to be col- 

 lected under the authority of the military com- 

 mander, to meet the expenses of the conven- 

 tion. There was a pretty strong and active 

 conservative element in the body, which con- 

 tinually opposed all extreme measures. This 

 element was represented in the committee ap- 



