546 



MISSISSIPPI. 



point to all sections of the State, having refer- 

 ence to the greatest inducements offered by 

 donations or otherwise, as to the point of 

 locality and convenient to a railroad : Pro- 

 vided, The cost of such site and farm shall not 

 exceed the sum of ten thousand dollars ; and 

 the said Board shall, with the assistance and 

 advice of a competent architect and engineer, 

 prepare plans for the improvement of such 

 site ; and the buildings to be erected thereon 

 shall have capacity to confine, safely keep, 

 and properly work at suitable manufacturing 

 and industrial occupations, at least four hun- 

 dred convicts, and the same shall be so planned 

 as to permit of portions being erected, from 

 time to time, as demand for capacity occurs : 

 Provided, That the buildings necessary to 

 confine all the convicts sentenced to the peni- 

 tentiary within the walls thereof, shall be com- 

 pleted on or before the 1st day of April, 1876.^" 



A report on the subject of the new peni- 

 tentiary is required to be made at the next 

 session of the Legislature, and, pending the 

 construction of the new institution, provision 

 is made for the support and employment of 

 the convicts by temporary contract. 



The act apportioning the State into six con- 

 gressional districts was passed by the Repub- 

 lican members alone, the Democrats having ab- 

 sented themselves to prevent a quorum. Many 

 of them entered a protest against the act be- 

 coming a law, on the ground that it so divided 

 the State as to give a very unfair representa- 

 tion of the two parties, and that a majority 

 did not vote for it. 



A joint resolution was adopted, submitting 

 to a vote of tho people an amendment of the 

 constitution, authorizing a reduction of the 

 number of Chancery Court districts. This 

 will be voted on at the State election in No- 

 vember, 1873. In his message to the Legisla- 

 ture of 1873, the Governor recommended other 

 amendments which should bring the biennial 

 elections for State and county officers and 

 members of Congress together in the same 

 year, and make the regular sessions of the 

 Legislature biennial. He also recommended 

 the submission of an amendment, limiting the 

 amount of debt which a county, city, town, or 

 other municipal corporation could contract for 

 any purpose, to 5 per cent, of the value of tax- 

 able property therein. 



There was no election for State officers this 

 year; but the political parties held conven- 

 tions for the nomination of presidential elec- 

 tors. The Republicans favored the reelection 

 of General Grant to the presidency, and placed 

 themselves on the regular platform of the 

 party, which has failed to reach us. The Demo- 

 crats, whose convention was held at Jackson, 

 on the 26th of June, declared their position 

 and purposes in the following resolutions : 



Unsolved, That, to defeat the Administration of Pres- 

 ident Grant, and restore the Government to the 

 path of freedom, peace, honesty, and economy, we 

 are prepared to lay down all prejudices upon the 



altar of our common country ;-and, in obedience to 

 the promptings of duty and patriotism, to clasp 

 hands with the friends of constitutional liberty in 

 the North across the bloody chasm made by the war, 

 and help to the presidency of the United Stales Hor- 

 ace Greeley and B. Grata Brown. 



Resolved, That our policy should aim at local self- 

 government and not at centralization ; that the civil 

 authority should be supreme over the military ; that 

 the writ of habeas corpus should be zealously upheld 

 as the safeguard of personal freedom ; that the indi- 

 vidual citizen should enjoy the largest liberty con- 

 sistent with public order, and that there shall be no 

 Federal supervision of the internal policy of the sev- 

 eral States and municipalities, but that each shall be 

 left free to enforce the rights and promote the well- 

 being of its inhabitants by such means as the judg- 

 ment of its people shall prescribe. 



Besolved, That it is our solemn conviction that the 

 overthrow of the Administration of President Grant 

 ia the one vital necessity of the hour. For the ac- 

 complishment of so necessary an object there is no 

 sacrifice, short of personal honor, that we will not 

 cheerfully make. 



Resolved, That we declare our deliberate opinion 

 that it is unwise and inexpedient for the Baltimore 

 Convention to nominate candidates in opposition to 

 the nominees of the Cincinnati Convention. 



Resolved, That our delegates to the National Con- 

 vention be and they are hereby instructed to vote as 

 a unit in favor of the nomination of Greeley and 

 Brown. But should tho Baltimore Convention, in 

 opposition to these our solemn convictions, make 

 other and different nominations, we pledge ourselves 

 to their support. 



At the election on the 5th of November there 

 were 129,107 votes cast, of which 81,916 were 

 for the Grant and Wilson electoral ticket, and 

 47,191 for the Greeley and Brown ticket, 

 making Grant's majority 54,725. A Demo- 

 cratic Representative in Congress was chosen in 

 the first district, and Republicans in the other 

 five districts. The present Governor of the 

 State is Ridgley 0. Powers, who, by virtue of 

 his office as Lieutenant-Governor, succeeded 

 Alcorn on the latter's resignation. The Le- 

 gislature consists of 25 Republicans and 1 

 Democrats in the Senate, and 61 Republicans 

 and 55 Democrats in the Lower House. 



"With regard to the general condition of af- 

 fairs of the State, the Governor says in * 

 message to the Legislature of 1873 : 



Since the adjournment of your honorable \ 

 profound quiet has prevailed everywhere within 

 State. An earnest determination has been manifest- 

 ed by the people to uphold the laws and repress 

 crime. Officers have been faithful and zealous in the 

 performance of their duties, and a new era of good 

 feeling has sprung up, which promises soon to re- 

 move every vestige of oppression that lingers in the 

 wake of the terrible revolution, which but lately 

 blackened the land with the monuments of war. 

 Mississippi stands among her sister States of the 

 South as an example of reconstruction based upon 

 reconciliation, by a full and just recognition of the 

 rights of all her citizens. Having already realize 

 the benefits of a liberal policy, wherein all are aliki 

 protected, and the opinions of all are accorded^a de- 

 cent respect, it is not probable that any_ prejudice < 

 caste, or blind devotion to exploded or impracticable 

 theories of government, will ever again be sutfei 

 to imperil individual safety and destroy the pros- 

 perity of the State. 



Some improvement has been made in the 

 financial condition of the State during the year, 



