MISSISSIPPI. 



507 



pointed to take into consideration the question 

 of compensation for members, and a minority 

 report was submitted, which, after stating that 

 the reconstruction acts were unconstitutional, 

 and that the convention did not represent the- 

 people of the State, declared 



That this assembly is unconstitutionally convened, 

 and is not competent to make amendments to the 

 constitution of the State of Mississippi in any re- 

 spect whatever, and therefore the officers and mem- 

 bers of this convention are not entitled to compensa- 

 tion for any services which they may see proper to 

 perform in such capacity to the people of the State of 

 Mississippi, or to the people of the United States. 



The convention had not been in session 

 many days, when a committee was appointed 

 to memorialize Congress to grant to that body 

 the power to declare vacant all civil offices in 

 the provisional government of the State, and 

 to fill them with officers of its own selecting. 

 The committee prepared a memorial, which, 

 after considerable discussion, was forwarded to 

 the Federal Legislature. This document was 

 in the following terms : 

 To the. Congress of the United States : 



The Constitutional Convention elected under the 

 laws of Congress for the reconstruction of civil gov- 

 ernment in the State of Mississippi, now in session 

 in the city of Jackson, of said State, beg leave to 

 represent to your honorable body that the loyal peo- 

 ple of this State, in our opinion, require your imme- 

 diate aid to remove obstructions impeding the action 

 of their representatives in convention assembled. 



The loyal Union men of Mississippi have accepted 

 in good faith the reconstruction laws, and are labor- 

 ing to institute a civil government that shall recog- 

 nize the rights and protect the liberties of the citizens, 

 and on such principles as shall render it acceptable 

 to the national "Congress. 



The reconstruction laws of Congress, nine months 

 ago, found the State under a civil government, so 

 called, organized in 1865 by not more than one-third 

 of the white men, who were authorized to vote by 

 the President's proclamation. 



They found this government administered by reb- 

 els, not in name merely, but really such in heart, in 

 head, in policy, indeed in all respects save open hos- 

 tility. 



When the terms of reconstruction were announced 

 by Congress in the early p^art of last year ; it was 

 hoped by many sanguine friends of the Union that 

 they would be willingly accepted by the great mass 

 of the Southern people. Not so, however, has been 

 the result, and, as the work or reconstruction ad- 

 vanced, there was gradually developed and made 

 manifest first doubt, then fear or apprehension, then 

 opposition, and lastly an absolute and unmistakable 

 hostility. 



During this transition state of public sentiment 

 from doubt to hostility it may be imagined what 

 proscription and abuse the faithful Union loyalists 

 had to meet. 



All this has been borne with a calm defiance and 

 unfaltering devotion to country, to liberty, and the 

 Union ; and now this rebel sentiment has culminated 

 on the floor of this convention itself by a member in 

 a report to this body averring that the convention is 

 an unauthorized assembly, called by an unconstitu- 

 tional law of Congress, and has therefore no legal or 

 binding power over the State of Mississippi in com- 

 pelling obedience to its ordinances. 



In addition to the impediments thrown in the way 

 of the convention by this popular sentiment arising 

 from the broken fragments of secession and rebellion, 

 which may very safely be permitted to drift aloof 

 from all participation in reconstruction, there is 



another and a much more formidable power, produc- 

 tive of far greater embarrassment to reconstruction 

 than that already brought to view, namely, the ad- 

 ministrators of the provisional government of the 

 State whose terms of office have expired. 



These incumbents, continued in office by the for- 

 bearance of Congress, were elected by only a portion 

 of the people in 1865, when, if any Union candidate 

 had presented his claims for omce ? ho would have had 

 no chance. Their continuance in office endangers 

 the restoration of peace and order ; at least, their 

 action or non-action may result greatly to the em- 

 barrassment of this convention in its work of recon- 

 struction. 



We, therefore, in the name and in behalf of the loyal 

 people of Mississippi, in the name of justice, liberty, 

 and humanity, do most earnestly and respectfully 

 petition your honorable body to authorize this con- 

 vention to declare all civil offices in the State vacant, 

 and to fill them at once by the appointment of true 

 and loyal men who, we humbly trust and confidently 

 believe, will greatly add to the success of the con- 

 gressional plan of reconstruction ; all of which is 

 most respectfully and deferentially submitted to the 

 consideration of your honorable body, and, as in duty 

 bound, we will ever pray. 



A protest against the action of the conven- 

 tion, in sending this memorial to Washington, 

 was read on the 29th of January, signed by 

 fifteen prominent conservative members. This 

 protest laid down and supported by argument 

 these five propositions, showing, as was claimed, 

 that "the material statements made in said 

 memorial are untrue." 1. "The government 

 of the State is not in the hands of rebels." 

 Under this head it was urged that at the close 

 of the war the people had "accepted the sit- 

 uation in good faith," and then and since had 

 endeavored to act the part of good and loyal 

 citizens. 2. " The officers of the State have 

 not neglected to protect the life and property 

 of loyal men." The third proposition states 

 that not enough "competent men" could be 

 found in the State who could take the " test- 

 oath" to fill the offices under the State admin- 

 istration. The fourth declares that the "mem- 

 bers of the convention were elected to dis- 

 charge the specific duty of framing a constitu- 

 tion and civil government for the State," and 

 that, in choosing them, the people had acted 

 on the belief that their labors were to be con- 

 fined to that object; "and now the conferring 

 of any other power by Congress upon the con- 

 vention, or the assumption of others by it, will 

 be a violation of the trust reposed, and a usur- 

 pation of the rights of the people." Fifthly, 

 signers of the protest declare that 



When the resolution "for the appointment of the 

 committee to prepare this memorial was on its pas- 

 sage, an amendment was offered to it in these words : 



" Resolved, further, That, in reorganizing the State 

 government under the foregoing resolution, no mem- 

 ber of this body shall be eligible to any office of trust 

 or -profit in connection therewith." 



Which amendment was lost by a vote of 36 yeas 

 to 48 nays. 



By this vote a majority of the convention have 

 shown their utter disregard of a great conservative 

 principle, which is consecrated as well in the Consti- 

 tution of the United States as in the constitutions 

 of a large majority of the States, the State of Missis- 

 sippi inclusive, namely: that no representative of 

 the people shall, during the term for which he shall 



