454 



MISSISSIPPI. 



cal parties distinctly organized. Besides the 

 three just mentioned, a fourth, styled " the 

 People's party," had not only come into exist- 

 ence before the close of the year, but acquired 

 sufficient strength of action to endeavor to 

 make its power felt in the community. This 

 may be inferred from the fact that, no sooner 

 had the press made known the candidates 

 named by the Republican State Convention of 

 September 9th, than the People's party, regard- 

 ing them as not advocates of the people's inter- 

 ests, summoned its members to assemble at 

 St. Paul on the 7th day of October, in order 

 to hold there a State Convention, "for the pur- 

 pose of placing in nomination a State ticket, 

 by the election of which the people might 

 rebuke the abuses of party mismanagement, 

 and reform the administration of State affairs." 

 A local paper stated that on the previous day 

 "quite a number of delegates from different 

 counties were present in the city, although, 

 upon consulting together at an informal meet- 

 ing, they decided to hold no convention." 



At the polls in November but little notice 

 was taken by the people of the Temperance 

 party candidates, the highest number of votes 

 cast for any of them having been 1,764, given 

 to Daniel Cobb, for Governor; while the votes 

 cast at the same election for each of the Demo- 

 cratic and Republican nominees, through their 

 whole tickets, exceeded 20,000. The Repub- 

 licans came out of this contest victorious, all of 

 their candidates having been elected by several 

 thousand majorities. The votes, being classed 

 under their respective heads, were as follows : 

 Chief Justice Supreme Court 0. G. Ripley, 

 25,899 ; Charles E. Flandreau, 22,216 ; Edward 

 0. Hamlin, 1,430. Ripley's majority, 2,253. 



Governor Horace Austin, 27,348 ; George 

 L. Otis, 25,401 ; Daniel Cobb, 1,764. Austin's 

 majority, 183. 



Lieutenant-Governor William H. Yale, 29,- 

 456; J. A. Wiswell, 21,745; J. H. Stevens, 

 1,428. Yale's majority, 6,114. 



The political complexion of the Legislature 

 for 1870 continues to be Republican. The Sen- 

 ate consists of 14 Republicans and 7 Demo- 

 crats ; while in the Lower House the two par- 

 ties are almost evenly balanced, it being com- 

 posed of 26 Republicans and 21 Democrats. 



MISSISSIPPI. At the beginning of this 

 year the State of Mississippi was in the hands 

 of the Reconstruction Committee of the na- 

 tional House of Representatives. She had 

 rejected the constitution framed for her under 

 the acts of Congress of March and July, 1867, 

 by a decisive vote, chiefly on account of the 

 harsh and prescriptive provisions which had 

 been embodied in it on the subject of the elec- 

 tive franchise. Although the military com- 

 mander had made his report on the election, 

 stating this result as the final decision of a 

 majority of the qualified voters, several repre- 

 sentatives of the Republican party, including 

 the late candidates for the principal State offices, 

 were at "Washington early in the session of 



1868-'69, to urge Congress to throw out the 

 vote of several counties and declare the con- 

 stitution adopted notwithstanding the vote 

 which had been taken. This action was rec- 

 ommended on the ground that the election 

 had not been fairly conducted, and that vio- 

 lence and intimidation had in many parts of 

 the State prevented a full and just vote. A 

 large amount of testimony was taken by the 

 Reconstruction Committee on this subject, and 

 statements were received not only from those 

 who favored the prescriptive policy, but also 

 from the moderate Republicans and the Demo- 

 crats. An address to the committee was made 

 by several gentlemen who declared themselves 

 to be "the representatives of a very large and 

 most respectable and influential portion of the 

 Republican party of Mississippi," and who en- 

 tered their " earnest protest against the effort 

 now being made to bring Mississippi back into 

 the Union, under the constitution voted upon 

 in June last, as an act of political suicide." 

 After setting forth their objections to the 

 proposed action at considerable length, they 

 submitted their own plan for completing the 

 reconstruction of the State, which was as fol- 

 lows : 



We would therefore respectfully suggest : 



1. That Congress shall declare all the offices in the 

 State vacant. 



2. Provide for the appointment of a provisional 

 Governor, with power to fill all the offices thus de- 

 clared vacant with power also to remove from office 

 his own appointees. 



3. Provide that the proposed constitution shall be 

 so modified or amended as to remove from it those 

 features that are more prescriptive than is required 

 by the reconstruction laws of Congress. 



4. Provide for an election at tne time designated 

 by the proposed constitution for holding the annual 

 election for the ratification of the constitution as 

 amended, and for the election of all State, county, and 

 municipal officers. 



The Democrats were represented before the 

 committee by ex-Governor Albert G. Brown. 

 He declared that there was "profound quiet 

 in all parts of the State," and that there was 

 "not a State in the Union where the law is 

 administered more impartially, or where the 

 civil courts have a higher regard for the rights 

 of all men of all parties and of all colors." 

 The people, he said, not only submitted cheer- 

 fully to all the legitimate results of the late 

 war, but were ready to acquiesce in the recon- 

 struction policy of Congress, if it were fairly 

 carried out. The constitution was defeated, 

 "not, as these men allege, by fraud and in- 

 timidation, but distinctly for the reason that 

 it was more vindictive in its spirit than the 

 people, white or black, would tolerate, and 

 more proscriptive in its provisions than the 

 acts of Congress required ; and the candidates 

 were defeated, because they stood as the rep- 

 resentatives of the tone and spirit of the con- 

 stitution, and not because they were trying to 

 reflect the will of Congress." The wishes of 

 those whom he represented were expressed 

 in the following words : 



