diff options
Diffstat (limited to '42980-0.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 42980-0.txt | 4664 |
1 files changed, 4664 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/42980-0.txt b/42980-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7547aa --- /dev/null +++ b/42980-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4664 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42980 *** + + PUBLICATIONS + + OF + + THE + Mississippi Historical Society + + EDITED BY + FRANKLIN L. RILEY + SECRETARY + + (_REPRINTED 1919_) + + By + DUNBAR ROWLAND, LL. D. + Secretary + + VOLUME I. + + OXFORD, MISSISSIPPI + PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY + 1898 + + + + + OFFICERS FOR 1898. + + + PRESIDENT, + Gen. S. D. LEE. + + VICE-PRESIDENT, + Dr. R. W. JONES. + + SECRETARY AND TREASURER, + FRANKLIN L. RILEY, _University P. O., Miss._ + + ARCHIVIST, + Chancellor R. B. FULTON. + + EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, + Dr. R. W. JONES, + Prof. J. W. WHITE, + Supt. S. F. BOYD, + Supt. A. A. KINCANNON, + PROF. FRANKLIN L. RILEY. + +All persons interested in advancing the cause of Mississippi history +are eligible for membership in the Society. There is no initiation fee. +The only cost to members is annual dues, $2.00, or life dues $30.00. +Members receive all publications of the Society free of charge. Single +members, $2.00 a year. + + All communications should be addressed to + + FRANKLIN L. RILEY, + _Secretary and Treasurer_. + + + + + CONTENTS + + PAGE. + + 1. MISSISSIPPI'S "BACKWOODS POET." + Dabney Lipscomb, A. M. 1 + + 2. MISSISSIPPI AS A FIELD FOR THE STUDENT OF + LITERATURE. W. L. Weber. 16 + + 3. SUFFRAGE IN MISSISSIPPI. R. H. Thompson, LL. D. 25 + + 4. SPANISH POLICY IN MISSISSIPPI AFTER THE TREATY + OF SAN LORENZO. F. L. Riley, Ph. D. 50 + + 5. TIME AND PLACE RELATIONS IN HISTORY WITH + SOME MISSISSIPPI AND LOUISIANA APPLICATIONS. + Prof. H. E. Chambers. 67 + + 6. THE STUDY AND TEACHING OF HISTORY. + Herbert B. Adams, Ph. D., LL. D. 73 + + 7. SOME FACTS IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI. + R. W. Jones, A. M., LL. D. 85 + + 8. PRE-HISTORIC JASPER ORNAMENTS IN MISSISSIPPI. + R. B. Fulton, A.M. LL. D. 91 + + 9. SUGGESTIONS TO LOCAL HISTORIANS. + Franklin L. Riley, Ph. D. 96 + + 10. SOME INACCURACIES IN CLAIBORNE'S HISTORY IN + REGARD TO TECUMSEH. H. S. Halbert. 101 + + 11. DID JONES COUNTY SECEDE? A. L. Bondurant. 104 + + 12. INDEX 107 + + + + + PUBLICATIONS + OF THE + MISSISSIPPI HISTORICAL SOCIETY + + VOL. I. JUNE, 1898. NO. 1. + + +MISSISSIPPI'S "BACKWOODS POET." +BY DABNEY LIPSCOMB, A. M. + + +To awaken greater interest in what, however estimated, Mississippians +have accomplished in the field of literature, to provoke research into +even its remote and unfrequented corners; and, chiefly, to place more +prominently before the people of his much-loved State a poet too little +known, is the double purpose of this essay. + +The poet needs no introduction and offers no apology on his entrance +into the domain of history; for he is no intruder there, entitled +indeed to a place of honor in the proudest capitol of that noble +realm. Homer precedes Herodotus and makes his record doubly valuable. +The poet is in fact the maker in large measure of the history of the +world. Through his entrancing and inspiring voice the aspirations of +humanity have been elevated, ideals lofty in thought and deed have been +constantly upheld, and will to dare and do the utmost in the cause of +liberty and righteousness has been imparted in the hour of need. In the +poet's verse we read, as nowhere else, the inner throbbing life of man. +High or low his ascent of Parnassus, his words have a charm for us, if +the Muse has bidden him welcome; and the nearer he is to us the more +apt he will be to express our peculiar griefs and joys in his melodious +strains. + +Hence, it is with pleasure, that the claims of Mississippi's +"Backwoods Poet" to our affection and appreciation are now presented. +Perhaps he is not the greatest of the thirty or forty that might be +named who in our State have as poets achieved more or less local +distinction. He modestly disclaimed such honor, and assumed himself +the title of "Backwoods Poet" which has been given him. S. Newton +Berryhill, of Choctaw (now Webster) county, Mississippi, is his proper +name. He was born October 22, 1832, and died Dec. 8, 1887. + +In the preface of his poems these significant facts are stated: + + "While I was yet an infant, my father with his family settled + down in a wilderness, where I grew up with the population, + rarely ever going out of the neighborhood for forty years. The + old log school house, with a single window and a single door, + was my _alma mater_, the green woods was my campus." + +Yet what he learned in the log school house and the woods and by +subsequent private study would put to shame very many who have enjoyed +far better educational advantages; especially, when the further +disadvantage under which he labored is considered. Early in life he +became the victim of a serious spinal affection, which rendered him a +confirmed invalid, unable the remainder of his days to stand upon his +feet. Despite all these, to an ordinary man, crushing limitations, +he became fairly proficient in Latin, French, German, and music, in +addition to a thorough knowledge of the usual high school course in +English, science, and mathematics. + +To teaching, journalism, and literature he devoted his life. After a +long and creditable career as teacher near his country home, during +which time most of his poetry was written, he moved, about 1875, +to Columbus, Mississippi. In the dingy office of the old _Columbus +Democrat_, the writer first saw this unquestionably remarkable man. +Cushioned in his wheel chair, before a desk, busy with his pen, Mr. +Berryhill, the editor, saw not how closely he was observed, nor the +look of pity he might have read in his beholder's face for one so +handicapped in the race of life. But as the massive, thinly covered +head was raised, and the dauntless, lofty spirit of the man shone +from the dark and deep-set eyes; as the almost cheerful expression +of his pallid countenance was revealed,--pity gave way to wonder and +admiration, which grew yet more with further knowledge of the man +and his achievements against odds apparently so overwhelming. How +respectfully on bright Sundays when he could venture out, he was lifted +in his chair by friends up the double flight of steps to the audience +room of the church and rolled down the aisle to the place near the +pulpit, sympathetic glances following him the while, is a picture, too, +not soon to be forgotten. + +During his stay in Columbus he was elected County Treasurer, which +office he filled acceptably two years. In 1880 he returned to Webster +county, where, as has been stated, he died, Jan. 8, 1887. Little else, +for the lack of information, except that he was a Methodist and a +Mason, can be said of the life and character of Mr. Berryhill. What +more is given must be gathered from his writings in an inferential way, +which for this purpose and for their literary merit, will repay the +examination now proposed. + +The editorials, sound, progressive, and patriotic, must be laid aside. +The rather crude but racy character sketches, Indian legends, and +miscellaneous short stories, written in part during his quiet closing +years, must, also, more regretfully be left unnoticed for lack of time. +His poetry is the work he prized most highly, and by it his place in +literature should be determined. + +From boyhood, he was irrepressibly poetic. The spirit of the woods +and hills early descended on him, giving his eye unwonted keenness +in discerning the beauty that surrounded him, and his ear unwonted +delicacy in detecting the melody that floated in every breeze. Romantic +stories of their better days told him by neighboring friendly Choctaws +took deep root in his youthful fancy and bore fruit in his prose and +verse. + +In 1878 his poems written during the forty years previous were +published at Columbus in a volume entitled "Backwoods Poems." Political +issues of very serious nature, not altogether settled, were then too +absorbing a theme to Mississippians to permit them to pay much heed to +poetry, however excellent. Hence, the work received less notice than +otherwise it would. But one edition was ever published, and few copies +of it can now be found. + +What first strikes the reader as he turns the pages of this +unpretentious little volume is the variety and uniform excellence of +the versification. Under the circumstances, it was natural to suppose +that this poet would attempt little else than the rhyming couplet and +the ballad form of verse. Instead, stanzas varying greatly in length +and rhyme order, with lines from two to six stresses, iambic and often +trochaic in movement, usually well sustained, soon make a strong +impression that no common poetaster has set the music to these verses. + +As to length, not more than half a dozen of the two hundred twenty-six +poems in the collection contain more than one hundred lines. The +longest and leading poem, called Palila, is a metrical version of a +favorite Choctaw legend, numbering one thousand tetrameter lines. This +pathetic story of an Indian maiden and her ill-starred gallant lover +and the upshooting by the medicine spring of the little flower the +pale-face calls the lady's slipper, but known to red men as Palila's +Moccasin, is told with dramatic effect, and has the atmosphere of +freedom and wildness befitting a tale so weird and sad. Bare mention of +two or three other rather lengthy poems, such as "A Heart's History," +and "The Vision of Blood," will be made, principally to call attention +to the excellence of the blank verse in which they are written; its +ease, accuracy, and vigor are readily perceived. + +The shorter poems may be conveniently classed as anacreontic, humorous, +patriotic, descriptive, and personal. Many of them, as the author +admits, especially those of his youth, are crude and imperfect, but +he explains in a personally suggestive way that he could not cast out +these poor children of his brain on account of their deformity, and +craves indulgence where approval or applause must be withheld. + +The poems of love and humor have little value except for the light they +throw on the poet, who, though deprived of nearly all the heart holds +dear in life, could yet fully sympathize with youth in its joys and +smile genially even on its follies. A few stanzas from two or three +poems in his lighter vein, of which there are quite a number, will be +sufficient to indicate the sunny side of the poet's nature. First, a +little rustic picture: + + BETTIE BELL. + + How sweet she looked in home spun frock, + With arms and shoulders bare, + And yellow flowers and scarlet leaves + Twined in her auburn hair; + With saucy lips and fingers plump + Stained by the berries wild; + And hazel eyes whose drooping lids + Half hid them when she smiled. + + I could have kissed the little tracks + Her bare brown feet had made; + There was no huckleberry pond + Too deep for me to wade-- + There was no rough persimmon tree + Too tall for me to scale-- + If Bettie Bell was standing by + With the little wooden pail. + +Another with a touch of humor will next be given: + + MR. BROWN; + OR CIRCUMSTANCES ALTER CASES. + + "O tell me Mary have you seen + That ugly Mr. Brown + With pumpkin head and brimstone hair, + And manners like a clown! + What could have made young Charley Smith + Bring such a gawk to town? + + He has no breeding, I am sure-- + He stares at ladies so + With those great dumpling eyes of his--- + And I would like to know + How Bettie Jones can condescend + To take him for a beau!" + + Quoth Mary, "What you say is true; + He's awkward and he's plain; + But then, you know, he's rich; + And wealth with some will gain."-- + "Indeed, I never heard of that," + Said pretty Martha Jane. + + "I only got a glance at him + At Mrs. Jenkins' ball; + And on acquaintance he may not look + So ugly after all. + I wonder if young Charley Smith + Will ask his friend to call!" + +Even in parody the isolated sufferer would at times seek +self-forgetfulness or diversion. A short one is here inserted from the +author's scrap-book. To a Southerner, the faithfulness and humor of the +selection will be manifest: + + SKETCH. + + The darkey sat on his stubborn mule, + Day through the west had fled, + And the silver light of the rising moon + Shone on his bare bald head. + + Firm as an Alp the old mule stood-- + An Alp with its crest of snow-- + The darkey thumped, the darkey kicked, + And swore he'd make it go. + + The night wore on, it would not budge + Till it had changed its mind; + And the darkey cursed, the darkey swore + Till he was hoarse and blind. + + At last he saw its big ears twitch, + Its eyes cast back the while; + And felt the skin beneath him writhe + Like a serpent in its coil. + + Then came a yell of wild despair; + The man--oh! where was he?-- + When the clouds unveil the hidden moon + I think perhaps we'll see. + +In the patriotic poems, chiefly war lyrics, notes louder, harsher, and +even bitter in their tone as the cause seems lost, strike clear and +full upon the ear, disclosing their author as one of the "fire eaters" +of the South, loth to accept the verdict of the sword and submit to +reconstruction. In this gathering, apart from their connection with the +author, two or three of these poems no doubt will be interesting for +their historical value alone. "_The Storm_," written April 15, 1861, +expresses in borrowed form but with graphic power the terrible suspense +that then prevailed: + + THE STORM. + + OLD DOMINION. + Watchman, tell us of the night, + For our hearts with grief are bowed; + Breaks no gleam of silver light + Through the dark and angry cloud? + + WATCHMAN. + Blacker grows the midnight sky; + Lightnings leap and thunders roll; + Hist! the tempest draweth nigh,-- + Christ, have mercy on our souls! + + OLD DOMINION. + Search the northern sky with care, + Whence the tempest issued forth, + Are the clouds not breaking there? + Watchman, tell us of the North. + + WATCHMAN. + I have searched the Northern skies, + Where the wicked storm-fiends dwell; + From their seething caldrons rise + Clouds as black as smoke from hell. + + OLD DOMINION. + Turn you to the East, my friend; + Can you see no rosy streak? + Will the long night never end? + Day--oh will it never break? + + WATCHMAN. + I have looked; no ray of light + Streaks the black horizon there: + But the angry face of night + Doth its fiercest aspect wear. + + OLD DOMINION. + Raven, cease your dismal croak, + Cease to tear my bleeding breast; + Turn you where the clouds are broke; + Watchman, tell us of the West. + + WATCHMAN. + Black and full of evils dire, + Stands the cloud which hides the West; + Storm-lights tinge its base with fire, + Lightnings play upon its crest. + + OLD DOMINION. + Watchman, scan the Southern sky: + Is there not one star in sight? + Search with anxious, careful eye-- + Watchman, tell us of the night. + + WATCHMAN. + Praise the Lord! there yet is hope! + Cease your groans and dry your tears: + Lo! the sable cloud doth ope + And the clear gray sky appears. + Wider grows the field of light + As the rent clouds backward fly, + And a starry circle bright + Silvers all the Southern sky. + +"The Vision of Blood" written in 1864 is too long, and even if not, too +lurid in its imagery to justify reproduction now. Instead let us take +this glimpse into those days of death and disaster to the South: + + TIDINGS FROM THE BATTLE FIELD. + + "Fresh tidings from the battle field!" + A widowed mother stands, + And lifts the glasses from her eyes + With trembling withered hands. + "Fresh tidings from the battle field!" + "Your only son is slain; + He fell with victory on his lips, + And a bullet in his brain." + The stricken mother staggers back, + And falls upon the floor: + And the wailing shriek of a broken heart + Comes from the cottage door. + + "Fresh tidings from the battle field!" + The wife her needle plies, + While in the cradle at her feet + Her sleeping infant lies. + "Fresh tidings from the battle field!" + "Your husband is no more, + But he died as soldiers love to die, + His wounds were all before." + Her work was dropped--"O God" she moans, + And lifts her aching eyes; + The orphaned babe in the cradle wakes, + And joins its mother's cries. + + "Fresh tidings from the battle field!" + A maid with pensive eye + Sits musing near the sacred spot + Where she heard his last good-bye. + "Fresh tidings from the battle-field!" + "Your lover's cold in death; + But he breathed the name of her he loved + With his expiring breath." + With hands pressed to her snowy brow, + She strives her grief to hide; + She shrinks from friendly sympathy-- + A widow ere a bride. + + "Fresh tidings from the battle field!" + O, what a weight of woe + Is borne upon their blood-stained wings + As onward still they go! + War! eldest child of Death and Hell! + When shall thy horrors cease? + When shall the Gospel usher in + The reign of love and peace? + Speed, speed, the blissful time, O Lord!-- + The blessed, happy years-- + When plough-shares shall be made of swords, + And pruning hooks of spears! + +The lines on Sheridan and Butler express something more than the poet's +righteous indignation at deeds by them in which he can somehow see +neither virtue nor valor. As indicative of the feelings of the South in +the hour of final defeat and subjugation read "Daughters of Southland" +and "My Motherland." One stanza of the first must suffice: + + Daughters of Southland, weep no more; + Their glory's priceless gem + Nor peace, nor war can ever mar; + There is no change for them. + Rejoice! for tho the conqueror's hate + Still beats upon our head, + Despite our chains there yet remains + The memory of our dead. + +How tender and ardent is the patriotism in these lines: + + My motherland! My motherland! + Though dust is on thy brow, + And sack-cloth wraps thy beauteous form, + I love thee better now + Than when, arrayed in robes of power, + Thou send'st thy legions forth + To battle with the hosts that poured. + From out the mighty North. + + * * * * * + + My motherland! my motherland! + Thy bravest and thy best, + Beneath the sod their life-blood stained, + In dreamless slumber rest; + Thrice happy dead! They cannot hear + Thy low, sad wail of woe; + The taunts thy living sons must bear + They are not doomed to know. + + My motherland! my motherland! + Their spirits whisper me, + And bid me in thy days of grief + Still closer cling to thee, + And though the hopes we cherished once + With them have found a grave, + I love thee yet, my motherland-- + The land they died to save. + +Whether he spoke for his section in these disdainful and defiant lines, +descriptive of times just after the war, each may decide for himself: + + RE-RECONSTRUCTION. + + Aye, heat the iron seven times hot + In the furnace red of hell; + Call to your aid the venomed skill + Of "all the fiends that fell," + And forge new links for the galling chain + To bind the prostrate South again. + + Stir up again your snarling pack + Your jackals black and white, + That tear her lovely form by day, + And gnaw her bones by night-- + Your sniveling thieves with carpet bags-- + Your sneaking, whining scalawags! + + * * * * * + + Villains, go on; each blow you strike + To glut your hellish hate, + But welds in one all Southern hearts, + And state unites to state; + And lo, compact our Southland stands-- + A nation fashioned by your hands. + +But it is in the poems personal and descriptive that we get close to +this poet's heart. There will be found what gave most solace to his +circumscribed and lonely life. In nature as she was most attractive +to him, and in lines to loved ones young and old, plaintive often but +never rebellious or morose, the placid, self-restrained, yet inspiring +nature of the man is brought to clearest view. Fervid in his love for +beauty, he bowed none the less devoutly at the shrine of duty. + +"The Old School House," "The Deserted Home," "Autumn," "The Frost and +the Forest," "My Castle," "Lines on the Death of My Father," "My Old +Home," and the last poem "Unfinished," are representative of the class +that best reflects the poet and the man; and by their pensive beauty +perhaps take firmest hold upon the reader. It is difficult to offer +satisfactory illustrations without being too lengthy; but these will +prove at least suggestive: + + AUTUMN. + + Let nobler poets tune their lyres to sing + The budding glories of the early spring,-- + Its gay sweet-scented flowers and verdant trees + That graceful bend before the western breeze. + Be mine the task to chant in humble rhyme + The lovely autumn of our own bright Southern clime. + + No more the sun from the zenith high, + With fiery tongue licks brook and riv'let dry; + But from beyond the equinoctial line-- + Where crystal waters lave the golden mine-- + Aslant on earth he pours his mellow beams, + Soft as the memories which light old age's dreams. + +The following poem can be given entire, as it is short: + + THE FROST AND THE FOREST. + + The Frost King came in the dead of night-- + Came with jewels of silver sheen-- + To woo by the spinster Dian's light, + The pride of the South--the Forest Queen. + + He wooed till morn, and he went away; + Then I heard the Forest faintly sigh, + And she blushed like a girl on her wedding day, + And her blush grew deeper as time went by. + + Alas, for the Forest! the cunning Frost + Her ruin sought, when he came to woo; + She moans all day her glory lost, + And her blush has changed to a death-like hue. + +Perhaps Mr. Berryhill's best known poem is one that is personal and yet +quite fanciful. It can be found in Miss Clarke's "Songs of the South." +Two or three stanzas will be sufficient: + + MY CASTLE. + + They do not know who sneer at me because I'm poor and lame, + And round my brow has never twined the laurel wreath of fame-- + They do not know that I possess a castle old and grand, + With many an acre broad attached of fair and fertile land; + With hills and dales, and lakes and streams, and fields of waving grain, + And snowy flocks, and lowing herds, that browse upon the plain. + In sooth, it is a good demesne--how would my scorners stare, + Could they behold the splendors of my castle in the air! + + The room in which I am sitting now is smoky, bare and cold, + But I have gorgeous, stately chambers in my palace old. + Rich paintings by the grand old masters hang upon the wall + And marble busts and statues stand around the spacious hall. + A chandelier of silver pure, and golden lamps illume, + With rosy light, on festal nights the great reception room. + When wisdom, genius, beauty, wit, are all assembled there, + And strains of sweetest music fill my castle in the air. + + * * * * * + + The banks may break, and stocks may fall, the Croesus of to-day + May see, to-morrow, all his wealth, like snow, dissolve away. + And the auctioneer, at panic price, to the highest bidder sell + His marble home in which a king might well be proud to dwell. + But in my castle in the air, I have a sure estate + No panic with its hydra head can e'er depreciate. + No hard-faced sheriff dares to levy execution there, + For universal law exempts a castle in the air. + +Little remains to be said. This singular life, with an estimate of the +quality and quantity of its work has been unfolded as faithfully as +possible. + +With greater interest, the dominant motive of the author, so frankly +stated, may now be joined, without comment, to his mournful retrospect +of his life work. The first is found in the lines from Mrs. Hemans +inscribed on the title page of "Backwoods Poems." + + ----"I'd leave behind + Something immortal of my heart and mind." + +This is his salutatory. In the closing stanza of the last poem +"Unfinished," the retrospect is made, and his valedictory delivered +thus: + + "My canvas is not full; a vacant space + Remains untouched. To fill it were not meet-- + I'll leave it so--like all that bears a trace + Of me on earth--Unfinished--incomplete." + +To Hayne, Lanier, and Maurice Thompson, S. Newton Berryhill must yield +in subtlety of melody and penetrative insight into nature's deeper +meanings. Timrod and Ticknor in their war lyrics may, at times, have +struck the martial chord with stronger and more dextrous hand; but it +may still be justly claimed that the best of the "Backwoods Poems" +compare favorably with much or even most of the work of these more +famous Southern poets. + +If in this paper this claim has been established, its purpose is +abundantly fulfilled, and the "Backwoods Poet" in environment and +achievement stands out a unique figure in the literature of the State. + + + + +MISSISSIPPI AS A FIELD FOR THE STUDENT OF LITERATURE. + +BY W. L. WEBER. + + +Dr. Sam Johnson is sponsor for the stock illustration of history +reduced to its lowest terms. His story is with reference to the Natural +History of Iceland by the Danish Historian Horrebow. The learned Dane +undertook to write an exhaustive account of the wintry island. Chapter +Seventy-two of this history, so the story goes, had as its title +the attractive phrase, Concerning Snakes. The Chapter itself, long +famous for telling the whole truth in the fewest words, consists of +one sentence: There are no snakes to be met with throughout the whole +island. + +With similar parsimony of words, if we are willing to adopt one of the +almost universally accepted definitions in which beauty and permanence +and universality are made the final tests of literature--if we are +willing to accept so narrow a definition we may find ourselves able to +write the history of Mississippi literature in one sentence. Such a +history would be--in the brutal directness of Horrebow's phrase: There +is no literature to be met with throughout the whole State. + +But as for me, this humiliating conclusion is not to be agreed to, +for I decline to be shackled by so narrow limitations. Literature +has a wider meaning than is given to it in this esthetic definition, +a definition which must exclude everything written by Mississippi +authors. There ought to be general agreement to the commonplace that +literature is life embodied in the pages of books. "Good literature +is" therefore "an open door into the life and mode of thought of the +time and place where it originated." On this side of our work the +departments of literature and of history are one and inseparable. +There can be no genuine history of a people which fails to take into +account the distinctly intellectual life of that people. The student +of policies and of institutions must needs seek the help of him whose +care is to trace literary currents and together they must labor by +painstaking study of the writings of Mississippians to conjure up +by some verbal necromancy, the literary genius and spirit of the +people of the State. We are not going too far, then, in asserting +that all written monuments that in any way reflect and set forth the +intellectual life of the people are rightly to be enumerated in the +lists of Mississippi literature. + +But even after we have insisted on this wider definition of literature, +Mississippi has few grounds for boasting. The list of Mississippi books +is not long; the average quality is not high. Of pure literature, of +the real literature of power, we have contributed scarcely fifty pages +to the world's store. We may deceive ourselves and gratify our state +pride by wild claims, but after the joy of self-glorification is over +we shall be forced to the conclusion that our place in literary history +is an humble one. Some part of this result is doubtless due to sham +admiration of our literature. We have delighted to praise our books +without stint; we have preferred to buy the books of others. To praise +is easy; to read is weariness to the flesh. We have, therefore, praised +extravagantly; we have read vicariously. It does not come within the +range of this paper to suggest why Mississippi has contributed so much +more to politics than to literature. Preference for the hustlings and +the madding crowds rather than for the desk and its quiet enthusiasms +must be accepted as a fact, let him who will account for it. Nor is +this the place to argue that a local literature is a contradiction in +terms. Our desire is to see the day when Mississippi shall have writers +whom succeeding generations will delight to number among those who have +contributed to the world's best thoughts, adequately expressed. + +My purpose is not to tickle your ears with a panegyric on what +Mississippi has done in the field of literature, not to apologize for +her confessed shortcomings, not to prophesy excellence as the certain +outcome of the future. My purpose is a humbler one. I take for granted +that there are in the state young men with literary aspirations. I +wish to suggest to such, some lines of work that need to be done, and +to be done at once. It is my hope that such work will be valuable in +furnishing a store house of literary material and that the labor of +accumulation will be admirable discipline preparing the students for +creative effort--if haply they be so endowed as to be able to do work +for all time. + +To make my suggestions altogether practical, I shall draw up a list of +channels in which the student of Mississippi literature may profitably +direct his activity. (It may not be amiss just here to call your +attention to the fact that by my subject-title I am restricted to +that aspect of our subject which has to do with the interests of the +students and have, therefore, no direct connection with the immediate +interests of the author.) Turning our attention to student-work, I may +as well express my opinion that we have no noble specimens of literary +art to which the student may turn to make critical examination of the +method and purposes of literary interpretation. We have little that may +claim place even in the ranks of third and fourth rate productions. +With the single exception of the poems of Irvin Russell, Mississippi +has produced nothing which literary men have been willing to accord a +place in the literature of America. + +It is perhaps too soon to prophesy whether his place is a permanent +one or not. It is, however, evident that the Mississippi student must +look for a humbler class of work than that of constructive criticism. +Having little material to which the rules of esthetic criticism may be +profitably applied, and having no desire to be enrolled in the large +and ignoble army of criticasters, our student must look for a less +inviting field of activity. Yet he has the consolation of knowing that +even journeyman work if it be well done is altogether worth doing. And +even if we are not yet at a stage in our literary history when we can +afford to claim the right to subject our material to the tests reserved +for noble literary models, we may wisely believe that ours is the work +which will prepare the ground from which will spring up a harvest every +way worthy of our beautiful fields of our eventful history, of our +noble people. + +Having agreed as to what class of work may come under a professedly +literary review of Mississippi writings, we are minded to take stock +of our property. Being under the conviction that everything which sets +forth Mississippi life is worthy of consideration, we may conclude that +every Mississippi book has a right to be included in the subject matter +worthy of the attention of a Mississippi student. Justin Winsor learned +by experience that every printed document was worthy of preservation +in the great library of Harvard University and we shall find that no +contribution of a Mississippi pen is unworthy of our care. I may call +your attention to the fact that much writing of real merit is of a +fugitive character and appears only to sink back into the oblivion of +musty files of country newspapers. + +The first work, then, to which I should assign my student is the +compilation of a bibliography of Mississippi literature. So far as I +know there is no man who knows how many books have been written by +our own authors. A confessedly incomplete list of my own compilation +reveals the name of many a work the Mississippian of average +intelligence has never so much as heard of. As has already been +suggested, I should not confine the list to an enumeration of bound +volumes. Every pamphlet a copy of which may be had, or the actual +appearing of which is assured, ought to be listed in the Bibliography +of Mississippi Literature. At the very outset of our labors, we are +met with a problem that meets the student of the literature of every +section of the United States. What constitutes a Mississippi book? +Are we to proceed on the doctrine that once a Mississippian, always +a Mississippian and include in our enumeration the books of every +writer that has been in the State? If so, Jas. A. Harrison, a native +born Mississippian, a Virginian by adoption, is to adorn our lists. +Must we add all books written on Mississippi soil? If so, we are to +include many volumes of Maurice Thompson, who spends his winters on +the Gulf Coast, and dates his prefaces from Bay St. Louis. Are we to +include works written by authors then legally residents of the state, +afterwards citizens of other states? If so, Professors Bledsoe and +Hutson are Mississippi authors. These questions must be settled before +we can have an authoritative bibliography. It has been my custom +to enumerate as ours, all books written by an author resident in +Mississippi at the time of the writing of the volume. + +After having completed the bibliography, the student would naturally +turn his attention to the gathering of biographical facts connected +with our own writers. Most of those who have made books have +acquaintances still living. From them we must get the facts that will +enable us to understand what has been written. The man wrote himself +into his book, to be sure, and the facts of his life are the very best +commentary on the book itself. It is a shame that we have neglected our +own writers and that it was left to Professor Baskervill, a Tennessean, +to give us the only adequate appreciation of Irwin Russell. But much +is left to be done. The student who accumulates the recollections of +Russell's friends and preserves them in the archives of the Historical +Society will be doing a work worth while doing, a work which will +grow in value as the years go by. This field of biographical study is +practically untilled, tho we may cite as examples of how the work is to +be done--Professor Baskervill's paper just mentioned, Bishop Galloway's +study of Henry T. Lewis and Professor Lipscomb's account of Berryhill, +the Poet. + +After my student had acquired a surer touch in his progress from +compiler of book-lists to painter of life-picture, he would already be +prepared in literary appreciativeness to see and point out the fine +poetry fossilized in the Indian names remaining in our state. It is +worth while to make lists of all our Indian geographical names, to +discover the meaning of the names so collected and if possible to find +out the circumstances that led to these names being given to creek, +to river, to hamlet, county, as may be. In some names there is, to be +sure, little poetry. The fact that Shubuta means "sour meal" does not +serve as a trumpet call to the writing of a sonnet; but where there +is a lack of poetry the historical fact of name-origin still remains. +Why may not some Mississippi Lanier sing into fame our rivers, as the +Georgia Chattahoochee has been immortalized by its own poet? + +Connected with Indian names the investigator will find Indian legends. +A rich mine is sure to open before a diligent worker. The fact that +there are different versions of the same legend makes the material +all the more valuable as a field of study. The student of ethnography +as well as the student of literature finds the history of the Biloxi +Indians full of interest. There is poetry even in the naming of the +legend of the singing waves of the Pascagoula. There are many and +complicated stories connected with the driving of the Natchez Indians +from their ancestral seats. Every year makes the collecting of these +legends more and more difficult. The patriotic Mississippi student will +see to it that they are not lost, but are gathered into the store house +for use in days to come. + +Joel Chandler Harris has done a wonderful work for Georgia and the +Atlantic Coast in the collection of Lore. It cannot be that Uncle Remus +had no kinsmen in Mississippi. Yet no one has sought to preserve these +Mississippi versions of negro folk tales. It will be remarkable if +these tales have not been influenced by Indian admixtures. No student +has investigated the subject to find out whether Mississippi has its +distinct group of Brer Rabbit stories and whether the distinctive +quality of our group is due to contact with Indian legends. Surely +nobody will suggest that the work is not worth while doing. With the +disappearance of the Indian and the complete conventionalizing of the +negro, the opportunity will have passed away. + +Not less valuable to the collector of material for the use of the +future maker of Mississippi literature is the full account of the +doings of famous Mississippi outlaws. It may not be too soon to +investigate the deeds of Murrell and his gang. If the story of his +exploits is to become literary property it must be learned before all +his contemporaries have passed off the stage of life. It is not too +much to expect that the William Gilmore Simms which Mississippi will +some day produce may find in the doings of Murrell material for a story +that may compare with some of the wildest exploits described by the +South Carolina writer. May he who is to portray the early life of our +State be not too slow in the coming. + +Who knows but that the Mississippi literary man whom we confidently +expect and to whom we await to do honor--who knows but that he may +belong to the school of Cable and of Murfree and may therefore wish +to write in dialect. If the student have some philological training +he may wisely prepare for the writer's coming by collection of word +lists--of words heard in Mississippi but words that have no literary +standing--words which are for the most part confined to the use of the +illiterate. Dr. Shands has already collected a list along this line in +his dissertation entitled Some Peculiarities of Speech in Mississippi. +I am sure he is mistaken in thinking that any of his words are peculiar +to Mississippi, but nevertheless his list is valuable as enumerating +expressions that are to be heard in our state--words which he who tries +to reproduce the speech of Mississippi illiterates may not be afraid to +use. + +The student of our literature may wisely include in the range of his +studies all references to Mississippi to be found in the literature of +other sections. Not only such references as those but all accounts of +Mississippi in books of travel have a rightful place in the collections +of him who would gather together the raw material from which literature +may some day be woven. + +To the writer of reminiscences the literary student looks with hopeful +eye. From such an one may be had biographical data, personal traits, +literary anecdotes--in fact all the ana which the literary student of +this day delights in. The humble collector of this material may not +win much of fame for self--except so far as that the humbler work well +done does not need to be done again and therefore wins the reward due +to honest endeavor--But if he gains no reward he may rejoice in the +consciousness that he is making possible the day when Mississippi may +stand as a peer with other Southern States, delight to honor her own +Lanier, her own Harris, her own Cable, her own Murfree, and her own +Allen. + +Some one is already asking what's the good of all this? Such matters +may perhaps be wisely assigned as school boy tasks but there certainly +can be but little value in the material after it has been laboriously +collected. The study of literary history supports the contention that +the accumulation of the subject matter of literature is in necessary +precedence to the creative work of the producer of literature. It +will but be in accord with what has taken place in the past, if a +student who sets to work along lines I have suggested, who accumulates +material, who immerses himself in the history and traditions of his +state--it will be but natural, I say, if such an one have his heart set +on fire by the enthusiasm engendered by his work and be transformed +from a journeyman toiling over his tasks of accumulator into literary +wizard who by the incantations of his genius may call forth the spirit +of his time. Such work made Walter Scott. + +May Mississippi see not another Scott but a literary man who under +new conditions and with new material may create for Mississippi a new +literature which may have like place in the world's literature with the +immortal contributions of the great Scotchman. When that day comes the +Mississippian will not have on his shoulders the burden of being an +apologist and will not have to compound with his conscience in order to +win the name of being patriotic in matters literary. + +I have not hesitated thus to rehearse in your hearing matters already +well-known to you. If I have but retold an old, old story, I have not +deceived myself into thinking that I was telling you new or startling +truths. The old story--the well known fact sometimes needs to be +reviewed. The fact that it is so well-known, is so self-evident--causes +it to be overlooked. I am quite willing to be found fault with for +rehearsing at needless length what everybody knows--provided only my +rehearsing will lead to these matters being attended to. + + + + +SUFFRAGE IN MISSISSIPPI + +BY HON. R. H. THOMPSON. + + +That portion of the present State of Mississippi and that part of +Alabama lying between the Mississippi and Chattahoochee rivers, and +bounded on the south by the thirty-first parallel of latitude and +on the north by a line drawn due east from the mouth of the Yazoo +river, was organized into the Mississippi Territory in pursuance of +an act of Congress, approved April 7, 1798. Afterwards, in 1804, +the country lying south of the State of Tennessee and north of the +original Mississippi Territory was added; and in 1812 that portion +of the present States of Alabama and Mississippi lying south of the +thirty-first degree of latitude was annexed. Mississippi became a state +in 1817 and Alabama was then separated from it. This historic statement +at the outset will explain why several matters pertaining to suffrage +in municipalities not now in the state, are hereafter mentioned. + +The organic law of the Territory enacted that the people thereof should +"be entitled to and enjoy all and singular the rights, privileges and +advantages granted to the people of the territory of the United States, +northwest of the river Ohio in and by the ordinance of the thirteenth +day of July in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, +in as full and ample a manner as the same are possessed and enjoyed +by the people of the said last mentioned Territory," and thus in our +investigation of the subject we are led to examine the ordinance +referred to, and which we find in the statutes entitled, "An ordinance +for the Territory of the United States Northwest of the River Ohio," +to see if it contains any provision relative to suffrage. We find it, +and the words of this celebrated ordinance are as follows. "So soon as +there shall be five thousand free male inhabitants, of full age, in the +district, upon giving proof thereof to the governor, they shall receive +authority, with time and place, to elect representatives from their +counties or townships, to represent them in the general assembly; +provided that for every five hundred free male inhabitants, there shall +be one representative, and so on progressively with the number of free +male inhabitants, shall the right of representation increase, until the +number of representatives shall amount to twenty-five; after which the +number, and proportion of representatives shall be regulated by the +legislature; Provided that no person be eligible or qualified to act +as a representative, unless he shall have been a citizen of the United +States three years, and be a resident in the district, or unless he +shall have resided in the district three years, and in either case, +shall likewise hold in his own right, in fee simple, two hundred acres +of land within the same; Provided also, that a freehold of fifty acres +of land in the district, having been a citizen of one of the states, +and being resident in the district, or the like freehold, and two years +residence in the district shall be necessary to qualify a man as an +elector of a representative." + +With all due respect to the fathers, nothing in statutory language +could be more awkward; the reading of it, however, will serve to remind +us that the modern legislator cannot claim originality for his habitual +use of the word "provided" as introductory to amendments, and with +which to string his ideas together. + +The last of the three provisos is necessarily a limitation on the "free +male inhabitants, of full age," mentioned at the beginning of the +section, since there is no provision in the ordinance for the election +of any officers save representatives to the general assembly; all other +officers in the scheme of government here provided were appointive. An +analysis of the laws of 1787, which evidently must be basis of suffrage +in a number of states as well as Mississippi, shows that to entitle +a person to vote under our first suffrage law he must have been (1) +Free, (2) Male, (3) of full age, presumably 21 years, (4) citizen of +the United States and resident of the Territory or a resident for two +years in the Territory and (5) Freeholder of fifty acres of land in the +district. + +While this organic law was in force, of course the territorial +legislation was confined, so far as concerns our subject, to municipal +suffrage, but I have thought reference thereto not without the scope +of this paper, since such legislation, perhaps more than any other, +being untrammeled as a general rule by unyielding constitutional +restrictions, throws light upon the spirit, temper and thoughts of the +people on the subject at the time of the enactment. + +Before the amendment of the organic law herein next mentioned I find +but one piece of such legislation; by an act approved in 1803 the +"freeholders, landholders and householders" of the city of Natchez were +authorized by a majority vote to elect municipal officers, and the +act further reads that "for the better understanding of the meaning +of the term householder, it is hereby declared that any person who +shall be in the occupancy of a room, or rooms, separate and apart +to himself, shall be deemed a householder, and entitled to vote at +the annual and other meetings of the said city: Provided that such +occupancy shall have existed six months next preceding such election." +Were this explanatory enactment omitted it would seem that to entitle +a person to vote he should have been a freeholder and a landholder +and a householder, all three conjointly, but it is apparent that the +legislature did not so intend, since it provided by the explanation +that if he were a householder alone, he would have been entitled to +vote. The explanation, while directed at a definition of a householder, +settles by indirection the only doubt arising from the text sought +to be explained, but unfortunately the proviso brought with it a +greater difficulty than the explanation had removed, and that was +whether other householders than those directed to be so deemed, were +required to have been such for six months before offering to vote. The +phraseology suggests legislative amendments and indicates a difference +of opinion as to who should be intrusted to vote; but all seem to have +agreed upon permanent residence anchorage to the soil as an essential +qualification, the difference being as to rigidity and extent to which +it should be carried. The most notable thing about this, the first +legislative act of Mississippi conferring the right of suffrage, is +that no distinction is made because of age, color, or sex. Whether this +were by accident or design, and whether other persons than adult white +males really voted thereunder, does not appear. + +By an Act of Congress, approved Jan. 9th, 1808, the organic law so far +as it related to Mississippi Territory, was amended so as to provide +that every free white male person in the Mississippi Territory, above +the age of 21 years, having been a citizen of the United States, and +resident in the said territory one year next preceding an election of +representatives, and who has a legal or equitable title to a tract of +land by virtue of any act of Congress, or who may become the purchaser +of any tract of land from the United States of the quantity of fifty +acres, or who may hold in his own right a town lot of the value of one +hundred dollars within the said territory, shall be entitled to vote +for representatives to the general assembly of said territory. + +The change just made in the suffrage laws of the territory can best be +appreciated by the use of parallel columns. + + Act of July 13th, 1787. Act of Jan. 9, 1808. + A person to vote hereunder must be A person to vote hereunder must be + (1) Free, (1) Free, + (2) Male, (2) Male, + (3) Of the age of twenty-one years. (3) Of the age of twenty-one years. + (4) A citizen of the United States (4) A citizen of the United + and a resident of the Territory, States and resident of the + territory or a resident for + two years in one year next + preceding an the Territory, + and election at which he + offers to vote, + (5) A freeholder of fifty acres of (5) The holder of a legal or + land in the district. equitable title to a tract of + land, by virtue of any act of + Congress, or who may become + the purchaser of any tract of + land from the United States of + the quantity of fifty acres, or + who may own a town lot of the + value of one hundred dollars + within the territory and + (6) White. + +This act of Congress, passed in 1808, first introduced the color line. + +In 1811 four municipalities were organized by acts of the territorial +legislature, Woodville, Port Gibson, Huntsville and St. Stevens; the +latter two are now in Alabama. In the first one named the right to vote +was conferred on the freeholders and householders within the town, and +in the second the right was conferred on the landowners, freeholders +and householders within said town, but in each case the grant was +followed by a separate section of the act in these words: "All free +male inhabitants, subject to taxation, who shall be in the occupancy +of a room or rooms separate and apart to himself, shall be deemed a +householder, within the meaning of this act, and shall be entitled +to vote at the town elections." Clearly this section was intended to +enlarge the scope of those who were authorized to vote and it could not +rightfully be construed as narrowing it. + +This being true, the freeholder and householders, other than those +mentioned in the quoted section, were empowered to vote without +reference to sex and all without regard to age or color. In the charter +of Huntsville the suffrage was conferred on "all free white male +inhabitants of said town above the age of twenty one years," and in the +case of St. Stevens the right to vote was given to "the citizens of +said town," but this was amended in 1815 so as to limit the right to +"landholders, freeholders and householders." + +In January, 1814, the territorial legislature treated the town of +Mobile as an existing municipality, the section of the country +surrounding it, acquired from West Florida, was added to the territory +in 1812, and restricted suffrage to the "landholders, freeholders and +householders within the town," and followed this with a section in the +very language of the one quoted above from the charters of Woodville +and Port Gibson, but this was amended in 1816 so as to limit suffrage +as written in the following section, viz: "No person shall vote at any +election for president and commissioners, assessor and collector for +the said town, unless he be twenty-one years of age, and shall have +been a freeholder in said town, or the tenant of a house or separate +roof at least six months previous to any election and shall have paid +a county, territorial or corporation tax, nor unless he be a citizen +of the United States, or shall have resided within that part of West +Florida now in the possession of the United States, at the time of +the change of government in that province." The next legislation +pertinent was the act of Congress, approved April 25th, 1814, amending +the organic law of the territory. This provided "Each and every free +white male person, being a citizen of the United States, who shall have +attained the age of twenty-one years, and who shall also have resided +one year in said territory previous to any general election, and be at +the time of any such election a resident thereof, shall be entitled +to vote for members of the house of representatives, and a delegate +to Congress for the territory aforesaid." The only effect of this act +was to dispense with the property qualification previously prescribed +and to substitute in its place the payment of a county or territorial +tax. In 1815 an election was authorized for the purpose of locating the +county seat of Jackson County by act providing simply that such persons +as were authorized to vote for representatives might cast their ballots +thereat, but in 1816 a like act for Adams County was passed providing +"every free male white person, being a citizen of the county of Adams +who shall have arrived at the age of twenty-one years and resided in +the said county twelve months previous to the said election, shall be +admitted to vote thereat and none other." This brings us to the end +of territorial legislation and from it we learn that ownership of or +anchorage to the soil was a prominent conception of the times; all +else as a necessary qualification for voting, even age, color and sex, +seems to have been subordinate, or accidental or exceptional. There was +certainly no prejudice then in the good old days because of color; the +color idea came from without, from Congress. + + +UNDER THE FIRST CONSTITUTION. + +The constitution under which Mississippi came into the Union as a +state was adopted on the 15th August, 1817, and by the first section +of Article three thereof, the following provision is made: "Every +free white male person of the age of twenty-one years or upwards, who +shall be a citizen of the United States and shall have resided in this +state one year, next preceding an election, and the last six months +within the county, city or town in which he offers to vote and shall be +enrolled in the militia thereof except exempted by law from military +service; or having the aforesaid qualifications of citizenship and +residence, shall have paid a state or county tax, shall be deemed a +qualified elector; but no elector shall be entitled to vote, except in +the county, city or town (entitled to separate representation) in which +he may reside at the time of election." + +An analysis of this section shows that in order for a person to be a +qualified state and county voter thereunder he must have been, + + (1) Free, + (2) White, + (3) Male, + (4) Twenty-one years of age or upward, + (5) A citizen of the United States, + (6) A resident of the state for at least one year, + (7) A resident of the county, city or town at least six months, + (8) Enrolled in the militia unless exempt therefrom, or he + must have had the "aforesaid qualifications of citizenship and + residence" and have paid a state or county tax. + +What our forefathers meant by alternate qualifications is hard at +this day to find out. A literal construction would have authorized a +free white male person having the qualifications of citizenship and +residence to have voted irrespective of age, but there is no record +of infants having exercised the right, nor is there in our books a +judicial interpretation of the constitutional provision. It is notable, +too, in respect to this section of the fundamental law that crimes +did not disfranchise under the terms of the constitution itself and +that the murderer, the thief _et id omne genus_ are relegated to the +legislature so far as voting was concerned by the 5th section of the +sixth article which provides, "laws shall be made to exclude from +office, and from suffrage, those who shall hereafter be convicted of +bribery, perjury, forgery or other high crimes or misdemeanors." We +find, however, that the legislature in 1822 undertook to perform its +duty in this regard by providing that "no person shall vote at any +election whatever in this state who shall have been convicted by the +verdict of a jury, and the final judgment or sentence of a court of +competent jurisdiction, of bribery, perjury, forgery, or other high +crime or misdemeanor, unless the person so convicted shall receive a +full pardon for such offense." + +On the subject of pardons and its effect on the right of suffrage it +may be stated here that the doctrine in this state until the adoption +of the constitution of 1890 was in favor of the restoration of the +right to vote; the constitution just named having made provision for a +legislative restoration of the right to vote leaves the matter now an +open question as concerns executive pardons. + +It is worthy of note that by legislative act, approved February 10th, +1821, elections in this state were held _viva voce_, but this act +remained in force only until June 13th, 1822, the date of the act +repealing it, since which time they have been by ballot; since 1869 +the constitutions have required them to be so. In truth there is no +record of an election held _viva voce_ under the law of 1821, though +the election held on the 1st Monday of August, 1821, under Sec. 6, +Art. 3 of the first constitution must have been so held. Of course the +laws passed under the constitution of 1817 on the subject of state and +county elections conformed their provisions, defining who should have +the right of franchise to the terms fundamental law on the subject and, +as we have seen, the legislature excluded criminals from the right to +vote, but the lawmakers of that day by no means confined themselves +to the constitutional qualifications when they came to prescribe who +should be entitled to vote in municipal elections; for instance, we +see that "citizens of the town" were made voters in Shieldsborough (Now +Bay St. Louis) in 1818, in Greenville (Jefferson county) in 1819, and +in Holmesville in 1820; and "citizens of one month's residence" were +allowed to vote on the subject of the location of the Madison County +court house by act approved 1829, and "free white male citizens of +the town above the age of twenty-one years" were made voters by act +incorporating Pearlington, passed in 1822, and in the same year "free +citizens resident in the town" were made voters in Columbus. In 1821 +"free white male inhabitants, resident of the town, twenty-one years of +age and upwards" were authorized to vote in Monticello, and in 1831 in +Warrenton; and in 1824 such residents of the county were authorized to +vote on the location of the county seat of Warren County. + +By act of 1821 "every free white male person, twenty-one years old or +upwards, an inhabitant of the town for six months and who had been +assessed and paid a town tax within a year," were allowed to vote in +municipal election at Port Gibson, and so too were the owners of land +in that town, if the land had been assessed and taxes paid on it, +whether the owner resided in the corporate limits or elsewhere; and I +am advised the law of that town so remained until after the war; the +idea has been adopted by several municipalities of the state in later +days. By the early charters of Vicksburg, approved 1825, and Rodney, +approved 1828, suffrage was conferred on "landholders, householders, +freeholders and such as shall have paid a town tax, being inhabitants +and residents for three months in the town." + +In 1830 "freeholders and householders" were made voters in +Shieldsborough (now Bay St. Louis) and Raymond, and in 1825 +"freeholders and householders," whether resident or not, were given the +right to vote in the town of Washington, and in 1831 the right to elect +a constable was given "actual citizens of Vicksburg, over twenty-one +years of age," and in 1830 the "freeholders and householders" of the +town of Washington were required to be males in order to vote after +that date, and the only qualification of voters in the town of Liberty, +according to the act of 1819, were that they should be "free white +males, resident citizens of the town," and this is true under the +first charter of Warrenton, approved in 1820. In all these instances +the constitution of 1817 was not regarded as establishing a rule to +be applied to municipal suffrage. By several acts passed while this +constitution was operative the constitutional rule was, however, +adopted in defining who should vote in municipal elections. Thus in +1821, in respect to the town of Washington the language is "persons +entitled to vote for members of the general assembly," and the same +language is used in the charter of Clinton, passed in 1830, and to the +same language is added the words, "and who shall have resided in the +town three months" in the charters of Meadville and Brandon passed in +1830 and 1831 respectively. In the amendment to the charter of Liberty, +passed in 1828, suffrage is limited to "inhabitants of the town under +the restrictions prescribed by the constitution of the state," and the +same language substantially is to be found in the act incorporating +Gallatin approved in 1829. + +"The qualified electors" of Jackson county voted on the subject of the +location of their court house under the provisions of an act passed in +December, 1830. The "free white male inhabitants, residing within the +town entitled to vote for members of the general assembly" were made +the electors of the city of Jackson by the first act of incorporation +passed in 1823, and by legislative grant approved in 1830 incorporating +Manchester (now Yazoo City) the "inhabitants entitled to vote according +to the constitution and laws of the state" were given the right to +participate in municipal elections, and the same language is used in +the charter of Athens, approved in the same year. + +An analysis of all this will show that under the constitution of 1817 +"color" was not a qualification or a disqualification in eight of +the towns of the state legislated upon, viz: Shieldsborough (now Bay +St. Louis), Greenville (Jefferson County), Holmesville, Columbus, +Vicksburg, Rodney, Raymond and Washington. Of course slaves were +not freeholders or citizens, but free men of color were frequently +freeholders and before the Dred Scott decision were regarded by many as +citizens. It will be noted, too, that sex was not made a qualification +or a disqualification for voting in seven of the towns whose charters +were passed or amended during the period in which the first state +constitution was operative, viz: those, except Washington, just +enumerated. There is no evidence, however, that women ever voted in +any of these towns, and all that can be learned on the subject leads +to the belief that they not only never did but the right seems never +to have been claimed for or by them. Free persons of color, however, +as I learn, did claim the right in some of these towns and it was +generally conceded by those of the white men whose interest was on the +side of the claimant's political preference, but was generally denied +by the opposition, and it is doubtful if a negro ever voted in any of +them until after the war. On the whole it is not so clear but that +the failure to exclude women and free persons of color in the early +legislation on the subject of voting in municipalities was but the +result of legislative awkwardness and a want of exactness in statutory +exclusion and inclusion. + + +UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1832. + +The exact period in Mississippi legal history extends from 1832 to +1869, and embraces the period during which the constitution adopted +in 1832 remained in force. This, the second state constitution, was +adopted October 26, 1832; its provisions on the subject of suffrage +are as follows: "Every free white male person of the age of twenty-one +years or upwards, who shall be a citizen of the United States, and +shall have resided in this state one year next preceding an election, +and the last four months within the county, city or town in which he +offers to vote, shall be deemed a qualified elector." * * * * * "Every +person shall be disqualified from holding an office or place of honor +or profit under the authority of this state, who shall be convicted +of having given or offered any bribe to procure his election. Laws +shall be made to exclude from office and from suffrage those who shall +hereafter be convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, or other high +crimes or misdemeanors." * * The second of the sections above quoted +was acted upon by the law-making power March 2, 1833, and the following +piece of legislation then became operative: + +"No person shall vote at any election whatever in this state, who shall +have been convicted by the verdict of a jury and the final judgment of +a court of competent jurisdiction, of bribery, perjury, forgery, or +other high crimes or misdemeanors, unless the person so convicted shall +have received a full pardon for such offense." + +It will be noted that the conviction must have been by the verdict +of a jury and the judgment of the court both conjunctively. What was +the effect if the criminal plead guilty does not seem to have been +considered. Of course the general legislation of the state on the +subject of state and county elections, conformed to the constitution, +and we are again led to examine the acts incorporating municipalities +within the period, and providing who should be voters therein, in order +to obtain light on the thought of the times relative to our subject. + +A great many cities and towns were incorporated during this period; in +a large majority of charters it was simply provided that the "qualified +voters" should exercise the right of suffrage, thus recognizing the +constitutional rule. In many instances additional qualifications to +those named in the constitution were imposed, thus, residence for a +specified time within the corporate limits was required in 1833 for +Columbus, Amsterdam, Manchester (now Yazoo City), Jackson, Sartartia, +Liberty, Woodville, and in 1836 for Plymouth. But by no means did the +legislatures of the period conceive that they were bound to require all +the constitutional qualifications as essential for municipal suffrage. +A favorite idea was to authorize "every free white male inhabitant of +the town" who had resided therein for a specified time, to vote in +municipal elections. This was the case in Raymond, by act passed in +1833; Salem, Starkville and Sharon, 1837; Cotton Gin Port, Farmington +and Philadelphia, 1838; Cooksville and Emory in 1839; Hernando, 1840; +Gainesville, 1846; Shongole and Camargo, 1850; Sarepta, Hermans, +Eastport and Benela, 1852; Columbus and Aberdeen, 1854 (in the latter, +however, non-resident freeholders were allowed to vote by the act); +Bonner, 1860; Wesson, Beauregard, Hickory and Hazlehurst, 1865; Lodi, +Batesville and Sardis, 1866; Crystal Springs and Winona, 1867. In +addition to the ordinary qualifications the payment of a town tax +was required for Grand Gulf, 1833; Vicksburg, 1833 and 1839; Rodney, +1844; Yazoo City, 1846; Natchez, 1865. During this period, too, a +few municipal charters pursued the language which was so frequently +used at an earlier day--"freeholders, landowners and householders." +This was the case in the acts for Shieldsborough (now Bay St. Louis), +1838 and 1850; Pass Christian and Biloxi, 1838, and Rodney, 1844. +In a few instances every adult resident person was allowed to vote, +without reference to race, color, sex or anything else if the laws +were administered as they are written. This was the case in Macon, +1836; Paulding, 1837, and Raleigh, 1838, and in Brandon, by act of +1833, resident persons were not excluded by law because of infancy. For +liberality of sentiment on the subject of universal suffrage, Brandon's +charter of 1833 is without an equal, but whether this liberality of +expression proceeded from a liberality of feeling or from ignorance in +the forms of expression doth not appear. Registration of voters was +first required in this state by act passed in 1839, and it applied to +municipal elections at Vicksburg only; in 1861 a similar provision was +enacted for Canton, and in 1865 for Natchez. Of late years a municipal +registration is quite common, as we shall see hereafter. + + +UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1869 + +By the second section of article seventh, constitution of 1869, the +following qualifications of voters were prescribed; in order to be a +voter a person must have been, + + 1. Male, + 2. Inhabitant of the state; idiots, insane persons and Indians + not taxed excepted, + 3. Citizen of the United States, or naturalized, + 4. Twenty-one years old or upwards, + 5. Resident of the state six months and in county one month, + 6. Duly registered. + +And by section two, article twelfth thereof, the legislature was +required to pass laws to exclude from suffrage "those who shall +hereafter be convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery or other high crime +or misdemeanor." + +The public laws of the state, on the subject of state and county +elections, of course conformed to the constitutional provisions; the +section thereof found in the code of 1871 on the subject of criminals +excluded from the right to register and vote "persons convicted of +bribery, perjury, forgery or infamous crime;" that of 1880 denied +suffrage to persons convicted of bribery, perjury, forgery, grand +larceny or any felony. + +Under this constitution (1869) of course the negroes were voters. Much +has been said of late years to the effect that the grant of the right +to vote on the negroes by the fifteenth amendment to the constitution +of the United States was a mistake; perhaps the adoption of that +amendment was an error in statecraft; certainly it proved a party +mistake to the Republican party. But every thoughtful and candid man +will doubt the proposition that the grant of suffrage to the negro was +a mistake when viewed from the standpoint of the negro's welfare. Would +his rights as a citizen have been as soon respected had he remained +deprived of political power? Of course this is a question that can +never be settled. We can only speculate upon it. + +The provisions of this constitution, like that of the preceding ones, +were construed by the legislature as applying only to state and county +elections; hence we find that in municipal matters the provisions of +the acts of the legislature passed under it defining who should vote +in city, town and village elections are variant. It is sufficient to +extract from the numerous municipal charters any governing principle. +It is apparent, however, that the tendency was, perhaps from +convenience of expression, to adopt the constitutional rule, simply +adding that the voter should be a resident of the municipality. In a +few instances persons having "permanent business" in the town were +permitted to vote at municipal elections even though their citizenship +and residence were elsewhere. + +This was the case in Bolton, 1871; Quitman, 1880; Laurel, 1886; Scooba, +1886; and non-resident freeholders of the town were permitted to vote +in Senatobia in 1882 and Tunica, 1888. + +In a majority of cases the provision was that the voter should be +a qualified elector of the state, or state and county, and that he +should have resided within the municipal limits a specified time. +This time varied greatly, from ten days, the shortest, to two years. +Of the various acts of legislation on this subject I find thirteen +in which the length of residence was required to be only ten days; +one in which the time is fifteen days; eight fixing twenty days; +forty-five prescribing one month; nine fixing two months; fifteen +naming three months; nine prescribing four months; one fixing five +months; twenty-one naming six months; three fixing one year, and four +prescribing two years. The municipalities in which one year's residence +was required are Pass Christian (a seashore resort), the purpose +evidently being to exclude summer visitors, 1882; Rosedale, 1890; and +Durant, 1890. Those in which two years' residence was prescribed are +Eureka Springs, 1880; Seven Pines, 1882; Pass Christian, 1890; and +Jackson, 1890. The principal purpose in each, except the summer resort, +was to exclude the transient negro voter. + +During this period it was not unusual for the legislature to provide +that there should be a separate registration of municipal voters. This +was the case with Natchez, 1870; Columbus, 1884; Senatobia, 1884; +Macon, 1884; Yazoo City, 1884; Ellisville, 1884; Bolton, 1886; Bay St. +Louis, 1886; Brooksville, 1886; Fulton, 1886; Pass Christian, 1886; +Scooba, 1886; Biloxi, 1888; Terry, 1888; Potts Camp, 1888; Tunica, +1888; Water Valley, 1888; Rosedale, 1890; Clarksdale, 1890; Jackson, +1890; Durant, 1890 Indianola, 1890. + +The prepayment of a municipal tax was in several instances made a +requisite qualification: This was the case as to a street tax in +Brookhaven, 1884; Greenville, 1884 and 1886; Vicksburg, 1886; Vaiden, +1886; and as to street tax and poll tax, Jackson, 1890; Durant, 1890. + +In but one instance during the period, 1869 to 1890, do we find the +"householders and freeholders" made voters, the case of Greenwood +Springs, 1871, though, as we have seen, this was a favorite idea in the +early days of the state. In 1882 the spirit of liberality was given +full scope by the act providing that "all persons residing within the +town limits" should have the right to vote in Columbia; again we will +make the suggestion of a skeptic and express doubt whether the girl +babies exercised the right. + + +UNDER THE CONSTITUTION OF 1890. + +The provisions of the new constitution of Mississippi on the subject of +suffrage are as follows: + +ARTICLE 12. + +FRANCHISE. + +Section 240. All elections by the people shall be by ballot. + +Section 241. Every male inhabitant of this state, except idiots, insane +persons, and Indians not taxed, who is a citizen of the United States, +twenty-one years old and upwards, who has resided in this state two +years, and one year in the election district, or in the incorporated +city or town in which he offers to vote, and who is duly registered +as provided in this article, and who has never been convicted of +bribery, burglary, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false +pretenses, perjury, forgery, embezzlement, or bigamy, and who has paid, +on or before the first of February of the year in which he shall offer +to vote, all taxes which may have been legally required of him, and +which he has had an opportunity of paying according to law for the two +preceding years, and who shall produce to the officers holding the +election satisfactory evidence that he has paid said taxes, is declared +to be a qualified elector; but any minister of the gospel in charge +of an organized church shall be entitled to vote after six months' +residence in the election district, if otherwise qualified. + +Section 244. On and after the first day of January, A. D. 1892, every +elector shall, in addition to the foregoing qualifications, be able +to read any section of the constitution of this state; or he shall be +able to understand the same when read to him, or give a reasonable +interpretation thereof. A new registration shall be made before the +next ensuing election after January the first, A. D. 1892. + +The qualifications at the present time, therefore, of an elector are: + +1. Male, +2. Inhabitant of the state, excluding idiots, insane persons and +Indians not taxed, +3. Citizen of the United States, +4. Twenty-one years old or upwards, +5. Resident of the state for two years, +6. Resident for one year in the election district, or city or town, +except ministers of the gospel who may vote on six months' residence, +7. Duly registered, +8. Never convicted of bribery and other enumerated crimes, +9. Has paid two years' taxes, +10. Able to read any section of the constitution of the state; or +able to understand the same when read to him, or give a reasonable +interpretation thereof. + +It will be noted that these constitutional qualifications, unlike the +provisions of former fundamental laws, are by the section above quoted +made to apply to electors in municipal elections; the legislature, +however, is authorized to prescribe additional qualifications. And it +has prescribed as such additional qualifications, by the section on +that subject in the chapter of the new Code on Municipalities, that the +voter must have resided within the corporate limits for one year next +before he offers to register and he must not be in default for taxes +due the municipality for the two preceding years. + +Much has been said about this constitution, both for and against it; +especially has the "understanding clause," the tenth qualification +as enumerated above, been severely criticised. Thus we find in the +American Law Review of January-February, 1892, the following: "It is +quite apparent that this clause was never intended to be carried out +faithfully. It will be so administered as to exclude the negro voters, +hardly one of whom will be eligible under it, and so as not to exclude +the ignorant white voter. The last qualification, the ability to give +a reasonable interpretation of any clause of the constitution of the +state, would exclude nearly all the lawyers and judges in the state. In +this manner the people of Mississippi endeavor to solve the appalling +problem of carrying on civil government with a mass of voters easily +corrupted and so stolid and ignorant as not to be able to understand +the first principles of their political institutions." + +And we find in the Atlantic Monthly, December, 1892, the following +statement in reference to it: + + "That it may, and probably will, be put into operation so as + to preclude the negro from voting, while his equally ignorant + white neighbor is allowed the privilege, appears from the fact + that the inability to read does not constitute an absolute + basis of exclusion; for the inspectors may allow a person to + vote who can understand or give a reasonable interpretation of + a section of the constitution when read to him. It is apparent + that an inspector may very easily reject as unreasonable an + interpretation from a colored man, and accept one no whit + better from a white man. Such discrimination in practice would + be very hard to discover." + +And Mr. John F. Dillon, one of the most distinguished of American +lawyers, in his address as President of the American Bar Association, +at Saratoga, August, 1892, speaking of this section of the Mississippi +Constitution of 1890, says: + + "It has been supposed that this clause was a concession made + in the interest of illiterate whites; but whether this be so + or not, a general and indiscriminate requirement that all + voters shall be able to read and write is, in my judgment, not + contrary to the fundamental principles of American government, + but in accordance with the principles on which such government + must securely rest, namely, the intelligence and virtue of the + people." + +I have heard attributed to a distinguished United States Senator, who +would have been glad to have come to a different conclusion, that this +constitution demonstrated that Anglo-Saxon ingenuity could accomplish +anything; that the provisions of it on the subject of the suffrage was +a practical repeal of the fifteenth amendment of the constitution of +the United States, and yet the result was effected in such a way that +its legality could not be successfully denied. + +The truth is, without reference to the designs of its authors, that we +have under it in the state, to all intents and purposes, an educational +qualification pure and simple. More negroes, the American Law Review +and the Atlantic Monthly to the contrary notwithstanding, have +registered under the alternate or understanding clause than white men. +Only 2,672 illiterate, both white and black, had up to 1893 registered +under it. I have not seen the figures since. The negroes who have taken +advantage of it exceed the white men who have done so in a majority of +the counties of the state. + +It seems that the illiterate white man shrinks from an application to +be registered under the "understanding clause;" a refusal to advertise +his incapacity, while the negroes as a rule have but little to lose; +but another truth is that with scarcely an exception the negroes are +thoroughly content with the constitution, and are satisfied to be +measured for registration and voting by its standards. The writer, as a +member of the convention which adopted the constitution, voted against +the "understanding clause," but now that he has seen its practical +workings he is prepared to say that the convention did the very best +thing that it could have done under the circumstances surrounding it. + +This "understanding clause" is not without a parallel in the +constitutions of other states; as was pointed out by Senator George +of this state in the United States Senate, it is no more difficult of +honest administration than are the provisions of the constitutions of +other states: for example, the constitution of Vermont of 1777 provided +that an elector "should be of quiet, peaceable behavior," and the +constitution of Connecticut requires at this day that the voter shall +sustain "a good moral character," and numerous other like instances +that might be mentioned. + +The constitutional provision that a person shall not register as a +voter within four months of an election is believed to be a wise +measure; the ignorant, the indifferent and the sordid voter fails to +register; political excitement never exists to any considerable extent +so long before the election; there is no such thing as hiring men to +register, for those who can be hired, cannot be trusted for so long a +time to vote in the promised or expected way. It is believed that the +provision is worthy of adoption everywhere. + +The legislation of Mississippi under the constitution of 1890 conforms +to that instrument. + +By sections 3624 to 3640 of the code (1892) ample provision is made for +appeals from adverse rulings of registration officers, and the humblest +citizen of the land, the humblest negro, if you please, can invoke the +courts of the country, even the Supreme Court, for protection in case +he be improperly denied the right to register and vote, and he is +also provided with ample remedy before the courts in every case where +the right is improperly granted to others. These Code sections are as +follows: + + 3624. _Appeal by person denied registration._--Any person + denied the right to register as a voter may appeal from + the decision of the registrar to the Board of election + commissioners by filing with the registrar, on the same day + of such denial or within five days thereafter, a written + application for appeal. + + 3625. _Appeal by other than person denied._--Any elector of the + county may likewise appeal from the decision of the registrar + allowing any other person to be registered as a voter; but + before the same can be heard the party appealing shall give + notice to the person whose registration is appealed from, in + writing, stating the grounds of the appeal; which notice shall + be served by the sheriff or constable, as process in other + courts is required to be served; and the officer may demand and + receive for such service, from the person requesting the same + the sum of one dollar. + + 3626. _Appeal heard de novo._--All cases on appeals shall be + heard by the boards of election commissioners de novo, and + oral evidence may be heard by them; and they are authorized to + administer oaths to witnesses before them; and they have the + power to subpoena witnesses, and to compel their attendance; + to send for persons and papers; to require the sheriff and + constables to attend them and execute their process. The + decisions of the commissioners in all cases shall be final as + to questions of fact, but as to matters of law they may be + revised by the circuit and supreme courts. The registrar shall + obey the orders of the commissioners in directing a person to + be registered, or a name to be stricken from the registration + books. + + 3637. _Appeal from the decision of the Commissioners._--Any + elector aggrieved by the decision of the commissioners, shall + have the right to file a bill of exceptions thereto, to be + approved and signed by the commissioners, embodying the + evidence in the case and the findings of the commissioners, + within two days after the rendition of the decision, and may + thereupon appeal to the circuit court upon the execution of a + bond, with two or more sufficient sureties, to be approved by + the commissioners, in the sum of one hundred dollars, payable + to the state, and conditioned to pay all costs in case the + appeal shall not be successfully prosecuted; and in case the + decision of the commissioners be affirmed, judgment shall be + entered on the bond for all costs. + + 3638. _Duty of Commissioners in case of appeal to Circuit + Court._--It shall be the duty of the commissioners, in case of + appeal from their decision, to return the bill of exceptions + and the appeal bond into the circuit court of the county + within five days after the filing of the same with them; + and the circuit courts shall have jurisdiction to hear and + determine such appeals. + + 3629. _Proceedings in the Circuit Court._--Should the judgment + of the circuit court be in favor of the right of an elector + to be registered, the court shall so order, and shall, by its + judgment, direct the registrar of the county forthwith to + register him. Costs shall not, in any case, be adjudged the + commissioners or the registrar. + + 3630. _Costs; compensation, etc._--The election commissioners + shall not award costs in proceedings before them; but the + circuit and supreme courts shall allow costs, as in other + cases. The sheriffs, when required to attend before the + commissioners at their meetings, shall be paid two dollars a + day, to be allowed by the board of supervisors. + +Having now considered and presented the evolution of suffrage in +this state and given by way of recital and incidentally at least, +its present status, we come to consider the objects upon which the +suffrage may be exercised, and this can be easily stated by the general +averment that all legislative and executive officers are elected by +the suffragists; the executive officers of the state are not elected +necessarily by a plurality or a majority vote. We have a sort of an +electoral scheme, which is created by the constitution in the following +words: + + SECTION 140.--The governor of the state shall be + chosen in the following manner: On the first Tuesday after + the first Monday of November of A. D. 1895, and on + the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November in every + fourth year thereafter, until the day shall be changed by + law, an election shall be held in the several counties and + districts created for the election of members of the house of + representatives in this state, for governor, and the person + receiving in any county or such legislative district the + highest number of votes cast therein, for said office, shall + be holden to have received as many votes as such county or + district is entitled to members in the house of representatives + which last named votes are hereby designated "electoral votes." + In all cases where a representative is apportioned to two or + more counties or districts, the electoral vote, based on such + representative, shall be equally divided among such counties + or districts. The returns of said election shall be certified + by the election commissioners, or a majority of them, of the + several counties, and transmitted, sealed, to the seat of + government, directed to the secretary of state, and shall be by + him safely kept and delivered to the speaker of the house of + representatives at the next ensuing session of the legislature + within one day after he shall have been elected. The speaker, + shall on the next Tuesday after he shall have received said + returns, open and publish them in the presence of the house of + representatives, and said house shall ascertain and count the + vote of each county and legislative district and decide any + contest that may be made concerning the same, and said decision + shall be made by a majority of the whole number of members of + the house of representatives concurring therein, by a viva voce + vote, which shall be recorded in its journal; _Provided_, In + case the two highest candidates have an equal number of votes + in any county or legislative district, the electoral vote of + such county or legislative district shall be considered as + equally divided between them. The person found to have received + a majority of all the elective votes, and also a majority of + the popular vote, shall be declared elected. + + Section 141. If no person shall receive such majorities, then + the house of representatives shall proceed to choose a governor + from the two persons who shall have received the highest number + of popular votes. The election shall be by viva voce, which + shall be recorded in the journal, in such manner as to show for + whom each member voted. + + Section 142. In case of an election of governor or any state + officer by the house of representatives, no member of that + house shall be eligible to receive any appointment from the + governor or other state officer so elected during the term for + which he shall be elected. + + Section 143. All other state officers shall be elected at the + same time and in the same manner as provided for election of + governor. + +The legislature is prohibited from electing officers to a very great +extent by the following section of the constitution: + + Section 99. The legislature shall not elect any other than its + own officers, state librarian and United States Senators; but + this section shall not prohibit the legislature from appointing + presidential electors. + +All the judges of the state, except justices of the peace, are +appointed by the Governor by and with the advice and consent of the +senate. Mississippi was, it may be mentioned parenthetically, the +first state to provide for an elective judiciary; this was done in +her constitution of 1832; but she is now as far away from that mode +of selection as she can well be, her present constitution providing +for their appointment and her people generally, it is believed, are +thoroughly satisfied with the present status of the matter. There are +two instances in which the electors vote directly upon the subject of +the enforcement of laws; and without an affirmative vote in their +favor the statutes are not enforced. These are, first the Local Option +law, by which the qualified electors of a county, if a majority vote +against the sale, may prohibit the licensing of dram-shops in the +county, and under which a large majority of the counties of the state +have secured absolute statutory prohibition of the liquor traffic; and, +second, the fence and stock law, by which is determined the question +of whether the owners of live stock shall keep them confined, and thus +allow of the production of crops on unenclosed lands. This resolves +itself into a question of "fences" or "no fences," and it is left to +a vote in the counties, or parts of counties can vote upon it. This +question is left to "the resident freeholders and leaseholders for a +term of three years or more" of the territory so voting. It will be +noticed that neither sex nor age is mentioned, and in truth women and +infants do actually vote in the state, on this interesting and to those +involved, most serious question. + +The Supreme Court of the state has settled beyond cavil that the +statute is constitutional and valid. This "fence" or "no fence" +election is possibly an exception to the general rule of the state that +a plurality vote elects or carries. I say, possibly is an exception, +because of ambiguity in the statute, construed as I think it may be +seen by some minds, it will require two thirds of the vote cast to put +the "no fence" law in force. + +All elections in Mississippi since 1821 have been by ballot, and this +is now the constitutional rule; we have here the Australian or secret +ballot system very much as it is found in a number of states of the +Union, and it accomplishes in its practical operation the primary +objects of the system; first, the absolute prevention of bribery, for +no man will bribe a voter if the only evidence of the delivery of the +contracted-for vote be the word of the bribe taker, and, second, the +prevention of intimidation of voters, which is practically impossible. + +The absence from the voting place since the introduction of the system +of the ticket broker and professional bummer is notable. + +It was the intention of the writer when this article was begun to +present his views on many of the questions suggested and germain to +the general subject, but this paper has now grown so long that he will +have to be content with a presentation of a mere historical narrative +of matters pertaining to suffrage in this state. He consoles himself +with the reflection that perhaps such a contribution may be more +valuable to the true and earnest student of the subject than would be +any discourse that he might write which in its nature was sought to +be made philosophical, or which was merely speculative. If the facts +are presented, if the history be made accessible, the student who is +interested enough to read will draw the proper conclusions. + + + + +SPANISH POLICY IN MISSISSIPPI AFTER THE TREATY OF SAN LORENZO. + +BY FRANKLIN L. RILEY, PH. D. + + +October 16, 1795,[1] Thomas Pinckney, in behalf of the United States +and the Prince of Peace, representing His Catholic Majesty, signed at +San Lorenzo el Real, a treaty which contained among other things, the +following stipulations: + + "The southern boundary of the United States, which divides + their territory from the Spanish colonies of East and West + Florida, shall be designated by a line beginning on the River + Mississippi at the northernmost part of the thirty-first degree + of latitude north of the equator, which from thence shall be + drawn due east to the River Apalachicola," etc. + + "If there should be any troops, garrisons or settlements of + either party in the territory of the other according to the + above-mentioned boundaries, they shall be withdrawn from + the said territory within the term of six months after the + ratification of this treaty, or sooner if possible." + + "One Commissioner and one Surveyor shall be appointed by each + of the contracting parties, who shall meet at the Natchez on + the left side of the River Mississippi before the expiration of + six months from the ratification of this convention and they + shall proceed to run and mark this boundary according to the + stipulations." + + "The navigation of the said (Mississippi) River, in its whole + breadth from its source to the ocean shall be free only to his + (Catholic Majesty) subjects and the citizens of the United + States, unless he should extend this privilege to the subjects + of other Powers by special convention." + + "The two high contracting parties shall____maintain peace + and harmony among the several Indian nations who inhabit the + country adjacent to____the boundaries of the two Floridas." "No + treaty of alliance or other whatever (except treaties of peace) + shall be made by either party with the Indians living within + the boundary of the other." + +These terms, so favorable to the United States and so destructive +of Spanish interests, had long been the rock upon which all plans +for an adjustment of the differences between the two powers had +been stranded.[2] Nor were they finally extorted from Spain until a +concurrence of unfavorable events had precipitated a diplomatic crisis. +Even then his Catholic Majesty seemed to consider such stipulations +as only a temporary expedient, the fulfillment of which he hoped +eventually to be able to evade. The Prince of Peace himself admits +that political circumstances forced Spain to consent to the treaty and +intimates further that he would have made even greater concessions +if they had been demanded by the United States. In writing of these +negotiations, he says: + + "I had taken to heart the treaty (Jay's), which unknown to us + the English cabinet had negotiated with the United States of + America; this treaty afforded great latitude to evil designs; + it was possible to injure Spain in an indirect manner and + without risk, in her distant possessions. + + "I endeavored to conclude another treaty with the same states, + and had the satisfaction to succeed in my object; _I obtained + unexpected advantages_, and met with sympathy, loyalty, and + generous sentiments in that nation of Republicans." + +Subsequent events proved, however, that Godoy had overestimated the +probabilities of a consolidation of interests between the United +States and Great Britain, and that Spain had also failed to gain +that ascendency over the affairs of this "nation of republicans," +which she hoped to do through this treaty.[3] She was therefore no +longer interested in fulfilling its stipulations. These facts are +substantiated by a letter which Stoddard[4] claims was written by +Governor Gayoso in June, 1796, to a confidential friend, and which came +to light several years afterward. In this communication Gayoso claims +that: + + "The object of Great Britain in her treaty with the United + States about this period, was to attach them to her interests, + and even render them dependent on her, and, therefore, the + Spanish treaty of limits was made to counterbalance it; but as + Great Britain had totally failed in her object it was not the + policy of Spain to regard her stipulations."[5] + +In order to evade the treaty, she now returned to a line of policy +which she had adopted several years previous[6] and which had also been +tried by more than one foreign power[7] since the combined efforts +of England, France and Spain to "coop up" the United States between +the Alleghanies and the Atlantic, at the close of the Revolutionary +War.[8] This was nothing less than a dismemberment of the United +States. But the accomplishment of this bold project required time. She, +therefore, resorted to her historic policy of procrastination, hoping +ultimately to evade the treaty and thus regain what had been wrested +from her in diplomacy. She was fully aware of the dissatisfaction +the western states had expressed over the tardiness and at times the +apparent indifference of the United States to the navigation of the +Mississippi[9] and she also realized that the publication of the treaty +"would bring her project of dismemberment to a crisis and in a manner +to compel the western people to make a decided election to adhere to +the Atlantic states or to embrace the splendid advantages held out +to them on the Mississippi."[10] Hence, upon the announcement of the +treaty in New Orleans, a Spanish emissary was immediately dispatched +from that place to Tennessee and Kentucky, with authority to engage +the services of the principal inhabitants in a scheme to disaffect the +people towards the United States by the free use of money and promises +of independence and free trade.[11] In Gayoso's letter of June, 1796, +referred to above, the assertion was made that, + + "It was expected that several states would separate from the + union, which would absolve Spain from her engagements; + because, as her contract was made with the union, it would + be no longer obligatory than while the union lasted. That + Spain, contrary to her expectations, was not likely to derive + any advantages from the treaty, and that her views and + policy would be changed, particularly if an alteration took + place in the political existence of the United States. He + therefore concluded, that all things considered, nothing more + would result from the treaty than the free navigation of the + Mississippi."[12] + +A second line of policy for evading the treaty was then opened up. +This was to postpone an execution of its stipulations awaiting the +development of certain international complications which seemed to be +inevitable. There had been a rupture in the diplomatic relation of the +United States and France and hostilities between these two countries +seemed to be near at hand. Mr. Pickering, who was Secretary of State +from 1795 to 1800, considered this the real cause for delay on the part +of Spain, after contending that the other reasons given by the Spanish +authorities were "merely ostensible," he says: + + "The true reason is doubtless developed by the Baron (de + Corondelet)[13] in his proclamation of the 31st of May (1797). + _The expectation of an immediate rupture between France, the + intimate ally of Spain, and the United States._"[14] + +By making common cause with France, in case of such a rupture, Spain +evidently thought that she could recover some of the concessions she +had made in the treaty, if compliance with its stipulations should not +be too far effected. + +In order to find time for the operation of these schemes, the Spanish +officials produced, from time to time, such excuses as either the +treaty or the circumstances rendered plausible. After months of +fruitless delay, they determined to rest their final action upon +the results of another effort to detach the western states from the +Union. An emissary was again sent to Tennessee and Kentucky to confer +with certain men who were former correspondents of the governors of +Louisiana. He found, however, that the people were less disposed +towards a change than they were ten years previous, especially since +they were likely to secure the navigation of the Mississippi,--the +real cause of their former disaffection--without resorting to a +hazardous enterprise. After an eventful sojourn in this region, he +returned to New Orleans in January, 1798, bearing the unwelcome report +which convinced the Governor General that Spain had lost all hope +of political prestige in the territory north of the 31st degree and +east of the Mississippi.[15] Arrangements were then perfected for the +execution of the treaty. + +In the light of the Spanish policy as presented above, local events +may be easily interpreted. As time was an indispensable condition upon +which the success of this policy depended, it was gained by various +pretexts. Don Yrujo, the Spanish minister, intrigued at Philadelphia, +and his efforts were ably seconded by Carondelet, Gayoso[16] and a host +of subordinate officials on the Mississippi. + +In accordance with a stipulation of the treaty, President Washington +appointed the Honorable Andrew Ellicott[17] as Commissioner to run the +boundary line in behalf of the United States. He left Philadelphia for +Natchez by way of the Ohio and the Mississippi, September 16, 1796. But +his descent of the Mississippi had been anticipated by the Spaniards, +who had prepared obstructive measures in advance of his coming. So +that whenever he came in contact with Spanish officials they evinced +a disposition to hinder his descent of the river, if not prevent it +altogether.[18] Some of them affected ignorance of the treaty, others +appeared embarrassed at the presence of the Americans, while none of +them had made or were making, so far as the Commissioner could observe, +any preparations to evacuate the posts according to the terms of the +treaty. + +Before reaching his destination, Ellicott received a communication +from Governor Gayoso, expressing his gratification at the arrival of +the Commissioner in those waters and requesting that the military +escort accompanying him should be left at the mouth of the Bayou +Pierre, sixty miles above Natchez, in order to prevent an "unforeseen +misunderstanding" between the troops of the two nations. Since the +treaty had provided for such an escort, this request was deemed +improper by Ellicott. He yielded the point, however, for the time +being, out of deference to the wishes of the Governor.[19] + +Upon his arrival at Natchez, February 24, 1797, ten months after +the ratification of the treaty, he found no one ready to co-operate +with him in the performance of the duty assigned. To the contrary, +he learned through private sources that the Baron de Carondelet, the +Governor General of Louisiana, had declared that the treaty was never +intended to be carried into effect, that as Commissioner on the part +of Spain, he would evade or delay from one pretense or another, the +running of the boundary line until the treaty would become "a dead +letter," and that Louisiana either had been, or would soon be ceded to +France.[20] + +About this time a suggestive and characteristic event occurred which +gives an insight into the temper of both the Spanish Governor and the +American Commissioner. About two hours after the flag of the United +States had been hoisted over the Commissioner's camp, Gayoso requested +that it be lowered. This request met with a flat refusal, and though +there were rumors of parties being formed to cut it down, "the flag +wore out upon the staff."[21] Gayoso explained, a fortnight later, +that his objection to the flag was not prompted by a desire to show a +discourtesy to the United States, but to prevent any unbecoming conduct +on the part of the Indians.[22] This explanation, however, seems to +have been an after-thought. Suffice it to say, when it was offered the +Indians had become so troublesome that Ellicott had determined to send +for his escort. The Governor, after declaring that he would construe +their descent as an insult to his master,[23] and then suggesting that +they might with propriety join the Commissioner at Loftus Cliffs, +near Clarksville, finally consented that they go into camp at Bacon's +Landing, a few miles below town.[24] This put an end to the efforts of +the Spaniards to draw Ellicott away from Natchez, the place designated +by the treaty for the meeting of the commissioners.[25] + +After the lapse of a fortnight from the time of his arrival, +Ellicott was informed that the Spanish Commissioner, the Baron de +Carondelet, was detained in New Orleans in the discharge of duties +incident to the war then waging between Spain and Great Britain, and +that in his absence the business of the survey would devolve upon +Governor Gayoso.[26] March 19, had been settled upon as the time when +the commissioners would begin operation, but with this change of +commissioner, Gayoso gave notice that it would be impossible to proceed +at the time appointed. He promised, however, to be ready at an early +day. But, before these preparations were perfected, Spanish finesse had +discovered a new reason for delay. This in turn was followed by others +until May 11, when Ellicott was finally informed that the business upon +which he had come was postponed indefinitely, awaiting further orders +from the ministers of the two powers concerned.[27] These pretexts +having varied from time to time, it would be well to present them in +one view.[28] + + +I. NECESSITY OF AWAITING THE RESULT OF NEGOTIATIONS FOR SECURING THE +INHABITANTS IN THE POSSESSION OF THEIR LANDS. + +This reason was first given in a proclamation issued by Governor Gayoso +on the 28th of March, 1797, but bearing the Gate of the day following. +It was reiterated in a second proclamation of the same date. Yet, when +the Secretary of State, two and a half months later, received from +Commissioner Ellicott a notice of this reason for delay, he declared +that no such negotiation had existed and that it was the first time +these objections to the evacuation of the posts had been heard of.[29] +Two months later still he observed that, + + "As____the great body of the inhabitants (of the territory) + appear not to desire the patronage of the Spanish Government + to secure it (their real estate); as the Government of the + United States must be at least as anxious as that of Spain to + protect the inhabitants in their rights when (they) become + citizens of the United States ... there can be no difficulty in + deciding whether this is a reason or a pretense. Besides, the + negotiation ... has never existed; nor even been proposed or + hinted either to or by the Government of the United States."[30] + +Orders were promptly issued, however, by the President and the +Secretary of War to assure Governor Gayoso that no person would be +"disturbed in his possession or property, till an opportunity had been +afforded to apply to Congress," and that they might "rely upon their +claims being adjusted upon the most equitable principles."[31] + + +II, DESIRE OF FIRST ESTABLISHING FRIENDLY RELATIONS BETWEEN THE INDIANS +AND THE INHABITANTS OF THE TERRITORY TO BE CEDED[32]. + +On this subject Gayoso asserted that it was "impossible for His +Catholic Majesty to leave unprotected so many of his faithful +subjects and expose other settlements to the revengeful disposition +of discontented Indians." He therefore felt justified in retaining +possession of the country until he might be sure the savages would be +pacific.[33] The Secretary of State contended that such a reason would +warrant the assertion, that "the Governor meant, for an indefinite +period to avoid an evacuation of the posts: for, while a tribe of +Indians existed in that quarter, the Governor could not be _sure_ that +they would be pacific."[34] He observed further, that, + + /# "Upon a view of the whole correspondence ... submitted to + the President, it appears that there is but too much reason to + believe ... that an undue influence has been exercised over + the Indians by the officers of His Catholic Majesty to prepare + them for a rupture with the United States, those suspicions + corresponding with other intelligence recently received by the + Secretary of War and by me."[35] + +Instructions were issued by the Secretary of War to assure the Spanish +Commandant that effort would be made "to preserve a continuance of +the pacific dispositions of the Indians within our limits, towards +the subjects of His Catholic Majesty or his Indians; and to prevent +their commencing hostilities (of which there is no appearance) against +either."[36] + + +III. NECESSITY OF CONSULTING THE KING CONCERNING THE CONDITION IN WHICH +THE FORTS WERE TO BE SURRENDERED.[37] + +The treaty failed to specify whether the posts should be surrendered +with the buildings and fortifications intact, or whether they +should first be dismantled. Gayoso declared that a treaty with the +Indians required a demolition of the post at Walnut Hill and that +orders had been issued to that effect, but that owing to their +unsettled dispositions he had received counter orders to prevent the +fortifications from being injured.[38] General Wayne took the position +that the posts should be left standing.[39] President Adams, however, +left the matter entirely to the discretion of the Spanish officials, +and thus at once brought an end to the validity of this excuse.[40] On +this sub-Secretary Pickering maintained: + + "It is probably the first time that to 'withdraw,' or retire + from a place, has been imagined to intend its destruction. If, + at the formation of the treaty, the demolition of the posts had + been intended, it would assuredly have been expressed."[41] + +When the Spaniards had really decided to surrender the district, no +further mention was made of this subject, showing that, notwithstanding +their treaty with the Indians, they considered the demolition of the +forts of no consequence whatever. + + +IV. EXPECTATION OF AN ATTACK UPON LOUISIANA BY A BRITISH FORCE FROM +CANADA. + +Suspicion to this effect, though based upon reports more or less vague, +had been expressed by the Spanish Minister as early as the February +preceding; and had been reiterated by him from time to time,[42] until +at the expiration of three months, it had developed into a pretext for +delaying the execution of the treaty. In fact, the Baron de Carondelet +asserted in a proclamation of May 24, that further delay in surveying +the boundary line and in evacuating the forts was then occasioned only +by the imperious necessity of securing Lower Louisiana, in case the +British should become masters of the Illinois country[43] and that such +apprehensions had caused him to put the post at Walnut Hills "in a +respectable but provisional state of defence."[44] Secretary Pickering +not only considered these suspicions groundless, but contended further +that, + + "If the posts of the Natchez and Walnut Hills 'are the + only bulwarks of Lower Louisiana, to stop the course of the + British,' as the Baron alerts and if, therefore, Spain is + justifiable in holding them, she may retain them, without any + limitation of time, for her security in any future war, as well + as in that which now exists."[45] + +Before the appearance of the Baron's proclamation containing this +reason for delay, the Spanish Minister had been informed that the +Secretary of State saw no reasons for such suspicions and the British +Minister had been notified that the Government of the United States +would suffer neither British nor Spanish troops to march through its +territory for the purpose of hostility of one against the other.[46] +The Spanish Minister replied[47], however, that he knew to a certainty +that the English had made a proposition to General Clarke of Georgia +in order to secure his influence in that State in a proposed attack +against Florida. At the request of Mr. Pickering, this report was +investigated by the District Attorney of Georgia. He replied that +he could not find any one who knew of the matter or who entertained +a belief of the report; and that from General Clark's known violent +antipathies to the English and other circumstances, he doubted the +truthfulness of it altogether.[48] + +When the attention of Mr. Liston, the British Minister, was directed +to the subject, he pointedly denied that his government either had +intended or was then intending to invade Louisiana.[49] A few days +later, however, he admitted that a plan for attacking the Floridas +and other Spanish possessions adjoining the United States had been +submitted to him by other persons, whom he declined to name, but +stated it was discountenanced by him because its success depended upon +a violation of the neutrality of the United States and an enlistment +of the Indians. According to this plan, the expedition was to be +undertaken by a British sea force, which would be joined by such +volunteers of the United States as would join the king's standard when +raised on Spanish soil.[50] + +The noted conspiracy of Senator Blount of Tennessee then came to +light[51] and precipitated a spirited discussion between the Spanish +Minister and Mr. Pickering. The former contended that the plot had been +revealed and that no one any longer doubted that the expedition was to +have taken place,[52] while the latter maintained that there could have +been no connection between Blount's scheme and either the expedition +from Canada,[53] or the project attributed to General Clarke.[54] The +Secretary argued in support of his position that Blount's expedition +was to have been formed in one of the states south of the River Ohio; +that it was destined against the Floridas, and perhaps Lower Louisiana; +that Blount himself expected to be at the head of it; that it was +not to be undertaken but in conjunction with a British force; and +that "on the proposal of the expedition to the British Government, it +was totally rejected."[55] He maintained further that the suspicion +of a British invasion from Canada was groundless for the following +reasons:--(1) Preparations for such an expedition would have attracted +attention and rendered satisfactory proofs attainable; (2) the troops +of the United States, stationed along the Canadian border, were in +position to protect the frontier, as well as to get information of any +warlike preparations and communicate the same to the Secretary of War, +yet no such communications had been made; (3) the British did not have +on the lakes a force adequate to such an enterprise; (4) the routes +suggested for such a campaign would have interposed great difficulties +for the transportation of troops, equipage, provisions, etc., even +if they could have been taken without violating the territory of the +United States; and (5) the British Minister, after inquiring of the +Governor General of Canada and of "the British Secretary of State," +denied that his Government either had intended or was then intending +such an expedition.[56] + + +V. FEAR OF AN ATTACK FROM THE UNITED STATES. + +In the Spring of 1797, certain American troops were sent from the Ohio +into Tennessee for the purpose of preventing a forced settlement upon +the Cherokee lands. Orders were also given the Cumberland militia to +hold itself in readiness to prevent similar encroachments.[57] These +facts were seized upon by Carondelet, who asserted in a proclamation +of May 31, that since the United States was at peace with all the +savages, these movements must concern the Spanish provinces. To make +this pretext more plausible, the proclamation also made mention of +"the anterior menaces" of the representatives of the United States at +Natchez;[58] of the expected rupture between that Power and France, the +intimate ally of Spain; and of the recognition by the United States +of the right of England to navigate the Mississippi, which, the Baron +adds, "appears to annul" the treaty with His Catholic Majesty, by which +the United States acknowledged that "no other nation can navigate upon +the Mississippi without the consent of Spain."[59] + +Secretary Pickering regarded the expectation of a rupture between the +United States and France as the real cause of the delay in running the +boundary and in evacuating the posts.[60] With reference to any hostile +intentions on the part of the United States, he wrote, + + "Never, perhaps, was conceived a more absurd idea, than that + of marching troops from the Ohio to the State of Tennessee, + and thence to the Natchez, in the whole a tedious, difficult + and expensive route of many hundred miles, chiefly through a + wilderness; when, if the United States had any hostile views, + they had only to collect their troops to the Ohio, and suffer + them to be floated down that river and the Mississippi, almost + without labor, with great expedition, and at small expense, to + the county to be attacked."[61] + +These pretexts were usually accompanied by a profusion of promises and +explanations which rendered them more or less plausible. Besides this, +the Spaniards on more than one occasion made appearances of beginning +the evacuation.[62] Although declaring that nothing could prevent +the religious fulfilment of the treaty, they were, at the same time, +strengthening their fortifications and augmenting their forces on the +river. Under such circumstances, the presence of American soldiers and +officers was not desired. This fact explains the efforts of Governor +Gayoso to prevent Ellicott's escort from reaching Natchez and the +attempts to entice the Commissioner himself away from that place.[63] + +He had scarcely failed in these schemes, however, when he heard of +the descent of Lieutenant Pope with a small detachment of American +troops to take charge of the posts upon their evacuation. He then sent +Ellicott an open letter directed to Pope, in which it was stated that +"for sundry reasons it would be proper and conduce to the harmony of +the two nations" for these troops to remain at a distance until the +posts were evacuated, which would be completed in a few days. But +instead of complying with the Governor's request to second this effort +at harmony, Ellicott wrote to Pope that there was evidence to show +that an evacuation was not really intended in any reasonable time and +that in his opinion the sooner the American troops reached Natchez +the better.[64] Upon receiving the Governor's letter Pope stopped his +detachment at the Walnut Hills. April 17, Ellicott wrote a second +letter stating that a rupture with the Spanish authorities at Natchez +was near at hand and that in his opinion the Lieutenant could better +serve his country at Natchez than at any other point on the river.[65] +In response to this letter, Pope and his command resumed their descent, +the Governor finally consenting, and reached Natchez April 24, 1797.[66] + +Such are the general outlines of the contest that was waged between +the representatives of the two powers over the dilatory policy of +Spain. Subsequent diplomatic discussion centered on the navigation +of the Mississippi and the affairs at Natchez assumed the form of a +popular outbreak against the established government in the district. + + + + +TIME AND PLACE RELATIONS IN HISTORY, WITH SOME LOUISIANA AND +MISSISSIPPI APPLICATIONS + +PROF. H. E. CHAMBERS. + + +A student or writer of history, imbued with the true and scientific +spirit of historical research and expression, would hesitate to accept +the task of compiling the narrative of a State or country if it were +required of him to confine himself strictly to local events. He would, +indeed, find it difficult to isolate the facts bearing upon the State +or country from their antecedents, distant in time and space, or from +their consequents when communicated to contemporaneous and succeeding +communities, or social organizations. + +The great stream of human affairs is a tide of many currents. He who +would pilot by his pen the reading multitude must note the crossings +and the blendings, the counter-runnings and the parallelings. He cannot +take an arbitrary stand and say that this tide of affairs began in this +place and ended in that; or that this course of events began in such a +year and ended in such another. Back of every motion is an impelling +power. Back of every individual action lies the basic principles of +human conduct. Back of every manifestation of corporate activity may be +found a pulsive social force. Neither individual nor social movement +can be studied understandingly alone. Each forms a link in a chain +whose beginning and end may not be clearly seen, but whose continuity +may be inferred from upholding and depending contiguous links. + +This continuity when once perceived enables us to bring into relation +widely associated ideas. For instance, the history of Oregon, through +the first English explorer of its shores, leads us to the point where +the intense vitality of the English nation was first directed to +securing the naval supremacy of the world. The history of any one of +our north-central States introduces us to the follies, fashions, +and ambitions of the French Court under several Louises; to a long +series of moves in one of the most complicated games ever played +upon the chess-board of European politics; and to the most critical +period in American affairs when Virginia by generously renouncing an +empire appeased discordant and jealous elements and made possible the +formation of the Federal Union. Patrick Henry's passionate plea for +liberty was but the echo of the clarion call which rang over Runnymede +centuries before, and this call was but the voicing of an idea which +dominated the most primitive of Teutonic peoples in the remotest past. +And so I might make innumerable citations to show that the present is +but the heir to the past; and that what is, stands in close relation to +what has been. + +If time relations may be demonstrated by the association of remotely +associated ideas, or by tracing modern institutional fruitage to their +root points buried in the soil of the past, then may other correlations +be as easily established. + +The idea of place as a background to historic treatment has, to a +certain extent, undergone change. The former conception has been that +of a region with artificial bounds established by accident, treaty, +or legislative enactment. The more modern conception is that of a +physiographic area whose limits nature herself has fixed and within +whose confines fundamental ethnic ideas crystalized into institutional, +social, political, and religious forms have reached or are reaching +complete or incomplete expression. + +Every great civilization that has ever arisen is or has been a +composite civilization. Isolate an individual, a community, a people, +or a race and no matter how favorable may be the circumstances and +environment, the advance made will only be so far and no further, the +final point of which advance is characterized by rigidity of thought, +fixity of forms, and slavish repetition of actions. The greater +Chinese Wall of non-intercourse encircling the Mongolian nation for +centuries cast the civilization of the Flowery Kingdom into molds of +monotony whose stiffness has yielded only to the breaking of Occidental +hammers upon Chinese commercial portals. + +The autocthonous civilization of Peru and Mexico hardly attained the +dignity of semi-barbarism. What might the Inca or Aztec have become +had the influx of European culture-impulses reached his mind before +its plasticity was lost, or had the gifts of acquired experience and +knowledge been brought to him by hands guiltless of his scourging and +innocent of his blood? + +On the other hand, let an individual mingle with his fellows; a race +or community enters into political or commercial relation with its +neighbors, the divine sparks struck off by the attrition of mind with +mind kindle the fires which illumine the spiritual in man and sets +in motion the machinery of human progress. What student of history +fails to recognize the influence of Phoenician letters and Egyptian +thought upon Greek civilization; of Greek literature and ideals upon +Roman character and development; of Roman genius for organization and +talent for legal forms upon modern enlightened nations; of whatever +was best in the past upon whatever is best in the life and thought and +aspirations of the present. + +Egypt began to advance when caravans first made their way to her over +heated outlying deserts, for these brought to her something more +than myrrh and incense, and precious fabrics. Greece developed with +phenomenal rapidity as soon as her galleys sprinkled the blue waters +of the Mediterranean, for with every incoming freight came a whisper +of rudimentary art or culture which she forthwith clothed in beautiful +form and language. England was provincial and primitive until her +commercial supremacy made her the bearer of civilization to every +corner of the globe. She has received more than she has given. Look +where we will, we see unmistakably the effects of action and reaction +in the intercourse of nations and communities. + +In taking up the history of any one state of the Union, then, we find +it impossible to confine our observation to accidental or unrelated +happenings, however these happenings may find careful chroniclings +at the hands of local scribes and unphilosophic writers. We see +the States as a part of a physiographic area having in common with +other parts the determinative elements of soil and climate which by +prescribing industries, affect desires, ambitions, thought, and other +forms of human activity. We study community forces and estimate their +quality and intensity as they find expression in characteristic social +and political institutions. We consider the people in their racial +attitude, anticipate similar results from similar motives as conforming +to the spirit and experience of the ethnic type to which the majority +of the people stand related. We regard the State as an organic whole, +a corporate being related to other similarly constituted beings. Take +what position we will, there come into our line of vision ideas, +origins, effects, reactions, and relations which show us that a State's +history extends indefinitely into the past and in the present ramifies +to every part of the larger, body-politic of which it is a constituent +member. + +Apart from general principles there is a singular correlation between +the history of this your State and the history of the one I so +inadequately represent upon this occasion (First Annual Mid-Winter +Meeting of the Mississippi State Historical Society). Both States were +originally a part of that great continental heart of North America, +that wilderness of empire-like extent, contended for by mighty +nations in epoch-making struggles. Both owe their initial territorial +organization to the commercial needs of the American people of a +hundred years ago. Up to a certain point the history of the one is +but the history of the other. The first settlement, paradoxical as it +may seem, in Louisiana was made in Mississippi. De Soto crossed your +State and died in ours. The same people who founded our city of New +Orleans established your city of Natchez. The narratives of Bienville +and Iberville are as closely associated with your history as they +are with ours. The two principal Indian wars waged by the Louisiana +colony were fought upon Mississippi soil. The first appointed governor +of the Mississippi Territory was the first appointed governor of the +Louisiana Territory. When under Spanish rule that portion of our domain +known as the Florida parishes revolted, it was Reuben Kemper from your +territory that rallied to the support of the revolutionists and struck +such terror in the Spaniard's breast that Governor Folch of Mobile +piteously appealed to the United States Government for protection. +When the West Florida revolution was crowned with success and an +addition of new territory to the United States resulted, Mississippi +received her portion as well as Louisiana. When in the days of the +American Revolution the notorious Willing came down from Philadelphia, +ostensibly to protect but really to rob, our district of Baton Rouge +felt his vulture clutch as keenly as did your district of Natchez. In +later times, when our Zachary Taylor found himself upon the border +lands of Mexico, an overwhelming foe in his front and war hardly yet +declared, your riflemen under Jefferson Davis joined our Louisianian +in rushing to his assistance, long before the general government moved +to protect its own. We followed you out of the Union. Disaster to you +was calamity to us. The cause of the Confederacy we shared in common. +Our dead are sleeping together upon the old battlefields in every +part of our Southland. We are common sharers of the heritage of brave +deeds and undying memories. Your peerless citizen, the first and only +president of the Confederate States, died in our arms and we gave him +such sepulture that the continent trembled under the all-powerful force +of sentiment. We have faced your dangers, felt your needs as only a +people can whose interests are one with yours. The spirit that framed +your present constitution is pulsing in our veins. And so, did the time +limits of this paper permit, might I continue to enumerate indefinitely +the instances in which History wipes out the boundary line by which +maps unblushingly infer that we are two peoples, having separate +interests and lines of thoughts. True history is broadening; never +narrowing. It is because so much of Louisiana history is Mississippi +history, and so much of Mississippi history is in the chronicles of +Louisiana that the narrative of either State calls for so broad and +liberal and inspiring a treatment at the hands of the historian. + + + + +THE STUDY AND TEACHING OF HISTORY. + +BY HERBERT B. ADAMS, PH.D. +Professor of History in the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore. + + +Among all the subjects of college study and college teaching, among +all the means of liberal education fitting young men for civic life +and public duty not one stands higher than the study and teaching of +History. + +In my senior year at Amherst College, President Julius H. Seelye gave +my class a single lecture on the Philosophy of History. Among other +good things he said: "History is the grandest study in the world." That +remark made the profoundest impression upon my student imagination. +I said to myself, "If History is the grandest study in the world, +that is exactly the study I want." The good President proved his +statement to my satisfaction by showing the relation of Greek and Roman +civilizations to the spread of Christianity and the education of Europe. + +In Germany I first learned the true method, and at the same time, the +most practicable ways and means of studying and teaching history. Amid +a pleasant variety of academic courses by brilliant lecturers like Kuno +Fischer, Zeller, Ernst Curtius, Grimm, Treitschke, Droysen, Du Bois +Raymond, Lepsius, and others, I somehow felt a lack of educational +unity and system. There was need of some backbone to unite the skeleton +of human deeds and historic experiences. This I found at last in the +teachings of my old master, Dr. J. C. Bluntschli, at Heidelberg. In his +lecture courses on the State, on the Constitutional Law, on Politics +and on the International Law of Modern Civilized States, I first began +to realize that government and law are the real forces which bind +society and the world together. I began to see that the true unity of +the world's life is to be found in the succession of States, Empires, +Federations, and in the International Relations, which are slowly +leading to such great aggregations as the United States of America +and the United States of Europe. In Germany I learned from a reading +of Bluntschli's various writing, including many noble articles in his +Staatsworterbuch, that there is such a thing as the World-State now in +process of evolution. From the published records of the Institute of +International Law, of which Dr. Bluntschli was the president, and from +a study of the subjects of Arbitration and International Tribunals, I +thought I could dimly discern the beginnings of that Parliament of Man, +the Federation of the World, of which the Poet Tennyson sings in his +Locksley Hall. + +When I came to Baltimore three ideas of study and teaching were +uppermost in my mind: (1) the study of the origins of municipal life, +in order to find out whether it was Roman or Germanic; (2) the study +of the relations of Church and State, from their beginning down to the +present, for I had learned to believe in Germany that the separation of +civil from religious society is America's greatest contribution to the +world's progress; (3) the continued study of art history for its own +sake and as illustrating the history of civilization. + +Out of the first of these ideas, developed by a reading of the works +of Sir Henry Maine, has grown my Historical Seminary and a long series +of University Studies in Historical and Political Science (chiefly on +Municipal, Economic and Institutional themes). Out of the second idea +evolved successive courses of lectures on Church and State, or Religion +and Government in the Ancient and Graeco-Roman World, together with my +whole system of graduate instruction upon the Early History of Society, +Greek and Roman Polities, Jewish and Church History, and certain modern +States like Prussia and France. The third idea never had a good chance +for development until recent years when I have fairly begun to realize +my original conception of illustrating in concrete, artistic ways the +progress of civilization. + +Goldwin Smith, in his Lecture on History, says there can be no +philosophy of history until we realize the unity of the human race and +that history must be studied as a whole. Twenty years ago, at the Johns +Hopkins University, I began to teach Local History, as representative +of Universal History. I began with New England Village Communities, +with Plymouth Plantations, Salem and the Massachusetts Bay Towns, +those little republics which seemed to me the very protoplasm of State +life. The survival, continuity or revival of old Germanic forms of +village settlement, with common fields and town commons, impressed +my imagination and interested my students. They carried this kind of +study into this State of Maryland and original papers by Maryland boys +were published upon such subjects as Parishes, Manors, and other local +institutions. These lines of inquiry were extended down the Atlantic +seaboard to Virginia and the Carolinas. Gradually the field of interest +has been widened from towns, plantations, parishes, and counties until +now the constitutional, economic and educational history of entire +States is in review or contemplation. + +While I still believe in Local History and in limited subjects of +student research, I now recognize more fully than I used to do, the +importance of General History, especially for college students and +college graduates in the early part of their course. After all, the +great fact in History, as well as in Geography, is that the world is +round. You must recognize all human experience on this globe as parts +of one great whole, just as you recognize that the continents and +outlying islands are but related parts of one vast geographical system. +In every properly arranged course of school and college instruction in +the domain of History, this doctrine of unity ought to be taken for +granted. It is like the doctrine of divine unity in theology or in +nature, like the sun in our heavens. It gives light and rationality to +any and every course of study. + +I used to think that it was the first duty of a boy to know the +history of his own State and country; but I am now persuaded that he +should know the history of mankind and of the world. Nobody would study +geography or geology from a purely local point of view. You must have +a consciousness of the whole in order to appreciate the parts of any +subject. It is a mistake to imagine that a boy or girl cares most for +what is nearest and most familiar. Children are always gifted with +imagination. They rejoice in the thought of lands that are far off, +of men who lived in olden times. They take the greatest pleasure in +heroic tales of Cyrus and of Hannibal, of Horatius and of the great +twin brethren, Castor and Pollux. Mythology, minstrelsy, Bible stories, +and lives of great wariors, explorers, discoverers, inventors, these +are of supreme interest to boys and girls. American History should be +taught to American youth, but chiefly the heroic, the romantic, the +biographical, in short the more human sides of our colonel and national +life. + +History begins and ends with Man. Biographical approaches to the +world's life are the oldest, and best beaten paths for youth to follow. +Carlyle and Froude are among the champions of the biographical method +of studying and teaching History. When Froude succeeded Freeman at +Oxford the biographical idea was at once brought to the front. Froude +quoted Carlyle as saying: "The history of mankind is the history of +its great men; to find out these, clean the dirt from them, and place +them on their proper pedestals, is the true function of the historian." +And Froude, the new professor, entered at once upon those splendid and +inspiring courses of lectures, in which the personal and biographical +elements entered so strongly. + +Every American student should read Froude's lectures on "English Seamen +in the Sixteenth Century," that brilliant account of Sir Francis Drake, +Sir John Hawkins, and the great captains of England who gained a new +world for Elizabeth and defeated the Spanish Armada. You should also +read Froude's Lectures on the "Life and Letters of Erasmus" if you +would understand the relation of the great religious reform to the new +learning, which Erasmus represented. + +Is it not wonderful that by reading a brief biography, which perhaps +occupies our leisure hours for a week, we can grasp and understand the +life-work of a great man? Think of it! A whole life in one book. A +whole history is in one of Plutarch's chapters. By turning to that new +series of biographies called "Heroes of the Nations," you can study +or teach the lessons derived from the lives and characters of such +great men as Pericles, Cicero, Julius Caesar, Julian the Philosopher, +Theodoric the Goth, Wyclif, the first of the English reformers, Prince +Henry the Navigator, Henry of Navarre, Sir Philip Sidney, Gustavus +Adolphus, Napoleon, Nelson, and Lincoln. Another excellent biographical +series is that called "English Men of Action," published by Macmillan, +and containing such noble lives as those of Wolfe, the conqueror of +Quebec; David Livingstone, the Explorer of Africa, Lord Lawrence and +Sir Henry Havelock, the saviors of India; General Gordon, the Hero of +Khartoum. If your taste runs toward literature, you should read select +biographies in the series called "English Men of Letters," embracing +such characters as Gibbon, Carlyle, Byron, Shelly, and Hume. There is +a corresponding American series, edited by Charles Dudley Warner, and +embracing such men as Washington Irving, J. Fenimore Cooper, and Edgar +Allan Poe. But among all biographies for boys and young men I know +nothing better than the Autobiography of Franklin. This has encouraged +and quickened many young Americans to a desire of knowledge and +self-culture. + +But let no student or teacher believe for one moment that historical +biography is the full equivalent of History. Not all the biographies +that have ever been written could possibly contain the world's great +life. As the poet Tennyson truly says: "The individual withers, but +the world is more and more." There must be great men in Church and +State, to lead society forward, but there must be unnumbered thousands, +yea millions, of good men and true, and of faithful, devoted women, +in order to support good leadership and carry humanity forward from +generation to generation. It is often the biography of some plain man +or self-sacrificing woman that affords the greatest encouragement and +incentive to ordinary humanity. But we must remember that no man, +no woman is worthy of biographical or historical record, unless in +some way he or she has contributed to the welfare of society and the +progress of the world. Only those deeds which affect our fellow men +in some noteworthy manner are fit for commemoration. What you do as +a private individual, what you ate for breakfast, what you do in the +seclusion of your own room, is not necessarily historic; but whether +Napoleon was able to eat his breakfast on the morning of the Battle +of Waterloo, or whether an army has been properly fed, may have the +greatest historic significance. + +Not man alone, but man in organized society, is the subject of History. +Man in his relation to his fellows, man as a military, political, +social, intellectual, and religious being may become historic. Dr. +Thomas Arnold sometimes defined History as the biography of nations. +This is a large and noble conception, although not the largest, and +it may be profitably emphasized, like human biography in the study +and teaching of History. It is the duty of every school and college +to lay great stress upon the history of England and of the United +States in addition to General History. We all need to know the lives +of our own people as well as the lives of great Englishmen like Pitt +and Gladstone, and great Americans like Washington and Lincoln. We +should teach and study the histories of those nations which are nearest +our mother country--Scotland, France, Germany, and Italy. As Germany +is now the great seat of culture and of university life for American +students who go abroad, so was Italy for wandering English students +in the days of the Renaissance. English literature from that time +onward is pervaded with Italian elements, with the influences of "all +Etruscan three," Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, and also with the +ideas of Machiavelli and the Italian historians. We cannot understand +the literature of England or America without going back to its French +and Italian sources. It would be wise for college professors of history +to devote special attention to the Italian Renaissance or Revival of +Learning, without which an understanding of the German Reformation and +modern education is an impossibility. + +In reading the biography of men or the biography of nations, teachers +and students should note carefully the most interesting and memorial +points. If you own the book which you are reading, use for note-taking +the fly leaves at the end. Otherwise, use reference cards, like those +employed in a library for a card catalogue, or else sheets of note +paper. When you have found a fact or illustration which you think +will prove useful at some future time, in connection with your work +as a teacher or a student, note it briefly on paper with the proper +reference to the book and page. Remember Captain Cuttle's advice: "When +found, make a note of!" Recall the saying of Lord Bacon: "Reading +maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man. +And, therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory." + +In the multitude of modern books and amid all the variety of our modern +reading, it is impossible to remember exact quotations and historical +details. We must have a good system of note-taking and index-making. +Every student and teacher can invent his own system. Mine is the use +of fly leaves in books and cards topically and alphabetically arranged +for miscellaneous data. I always carry a few of these reference cards +in my pocket and make all my notes under appropriate catch words, for +example, "Chautauqua" or "Johns Hopkins University," with the name of +the writer on this subject and the exact reference or quotation. + +Begin to collect a library for yourselves. Students and teachers do not +always appreciate the opportunities they enjoy of acquiring good books +of History. I would strongly urge students to save their money instead +of spending it on poor theaters and variety shows. Buy standard books +of literature, art, and history; devote your leisure hours to good +reading, always with pen and pencil in hand, and with a dictionary and +an atlas beside you. _Seize the moment of excited curiosity_ and look +up every point on which you need exact information. One of my former +students, Dr. Albert Shaw, now editor of The Review of Reviews, said he +was more grateful to me for that advice than for any other one feature +of my instruction: _Seize the moment of excited curiosity_, or it will +be lost forever. + +An English writer, Langford, in his _Praise of Books_, well says: +"In books the past is ours as well as the present. With them we live +yesterday over again. All the bygone ages are with us, and we look +on the face of the infancy of the world. We see the first dawning of +thought in man. We are present at the beginnings of cities, states, +and nations; and can trace the growth and development of governments, +policies, and laws. The marvelous story of humanity is enacted again +for our edification, instruction, and delight. We behold civilizations +begin, struggle, triumph, and decay, giving place to higher and nobler +as they pass away. Poet, lawgiver, and soldier sing their songs, +make their codes, and fight their battles again, while we follow the +never-dying effects of song, of law, and of battle. We sit down with +'princes, potentates, and powers,' watching them, as they think, +governing the world.... Shut up in a little room we can witness the +whole drama of man's history played on the vast stage of the world. All +that he has thought and done from the earliest dawn of recorded time +to our own day is enacted before us; and our hopes are strengthened, +our faith deepened, in the great destiny yet awaiting mankind; in the +higher, holier work yet to be done by those who have accomplished such +mighty things, achieved such noble victories. Books which record the +history of the past are the infallible and unerring prophets of the +future." + +"History is the grandest study in the world." My College President, Dr. +Julius H. Seelye, was right. There is no art or science comparable to +it, for it embraces the whole experience of man in organized society. +History takes hold of all the past and points the way to all the +future. The French historian, Guizot, in his "History of My Time" (III. +162) says: "Religion opens the future and places us in the presence of +eternity. History brings back the past and adds to our own existence +the lives of our fathers." Pliny said of History: "Quanta potestas, +quanta dignitas, quanta majestes, quantum denique numen sit historiae." +Perhaps the highest conception of History comes from the Greek. The +etymology of the ward is an inspiration for both student and teacher. +History, from the Greek word historia, is a knowing or learning by +inquiry. To study History is to understand by means of research, +for History is a science; its very essence consists in knowledge. +Historical science is perhaps the most comprehensive and the noblest +of all sciences, for it is the self-knowledge of Humanity. The subject +of History is Humanity itself; it is the self-conscious development of +the human race. History, therefore, does not consist in dead facts, but +is itself a living fact; it is the self-knowledge of the present with +regard to its evolution from the past. Clio is a living muse, not a +dead, cold form. She stands upon that very threshold of the future and +glances backwards over the long vista Humanity has traversed. In the +plastic art of the Greeks you will notice that the muse of History is +represented in the attitude of reflection; the pen is uplifted, but the +word unwritten. + +We sometimes speak of written history and of its standard works as +though the essence of that science consisted in books and not in +knowledge. "There are no standards of history," said Droysen, a German +professor to an American student who had asked his advice respecting +the choice of standard works for an historical library. In this caustic +saying there lies a profound truth. History is a living, self-developed +science, not a collection of fossils. Books like facts, are sometimes +dead to history, and historical standards, like historical facts, are +grander in their spiritual influence than in their material form. In +the onward march of historical science, historians are perhaps the +standard bearers of fact and their works may be called the battle-flags +of history which kindle the zeal of the ever-advancing present in men +and awaken a sense of unity with the great past, which has gone on +before us. But written history often becomes shot-riddled by criticism +and is set away, at last, like battle-flags, after many honorable +campaigns, in some museums of relics or some temple of fame. Unless +such trophies continue to awaken in the living present a sort of +enthusiasm and a sense of unity with the past experience of our race, +then are our historic standards but antiquarian rubbish, indeed, as +useless and unmeaning as the banners and symbols of heraldry. + +The subject of History is the self-conscious development of the human +race, the Ego of Humanity. The realization of this Ego does not lie in +any fictitious personality, but in the universal consciousness that +man is one in all ages and that the individual human mind may mirror +to itself and to others the thought and experience of the race. As the +heavens are reflected in a single drop of dew, so in the thoughts of +the individual human mind we may sometimes behold a reflection of the +self-knowledge of Humanity. For the individual is sometimes the very +best expression of the whole with which it stands in connection. The +onward march of world-history seems to have concentrated itself in the +development of individual peoples like the Jews, Greeks, Romans, and +the Germanic peoples. As these nations best typify historic progress +and certain world-historic ideas, so the historic thought of manhood +may be most fully realized by individual minds. For example, a single +historian, like Thucydides, may reflect the self-consciousness of his +age, and a single mind, in our own day, may realize, in some measure, +at least through the works of history, the self-knowledge, the Ego of +Humanity. It should be the aim of every student of History thus to +realize in his own consciousness the historic thought of mankind. "The +life of each individual," says Dr. W. T. Harris, the American Hegel, +"presupposes the life of the race before him, and the individual +cannot comprehend himself without comprehending first the evolution of +his day and generation historically from the past." + +Let us then regard the study of History, not as something wholly +objective but as an unfolding panorama of the human self-consciousness, +for history is merely the reflecting spirit of mankind in which we +ourselves may have an immediate share, which we all may help to +perpetuate and in some way enlarge. Let us remember that History is +a constant knowing and learning, the self-knowledge and communion +of reflecting spirits in all ages and a perpetual "Know Thyself" +to advancing time. There is something indescribably solemn in the +historic pausing of Man before the temple of the unknown future and +seeking to realize in himself the _gnothi seauton_ or "Know Thyself" of +Humanity. He glances backward through the long vista he has traversed +and as far as the eye can see, his pathway is cumbered with ruins. +Crumbling monuments and fallen columns reveal the wreck of all material +greatness, while the distant pyramids but remind him of the more than +Egyptian darkness out of which Humanity has been mysteriously led unto +this mountain of light which we call the Present or that Living Age. +Man sees the immense distance he has come and he remembers the perils +and disasters he has encountered in his upward way; he is conscious too +of having brought a vast wealth of experience to this temple of the +Future before which he now stands, but that which fills and overwhelms +the historic consciousness of Man is the feeling that the place whereon +he stands is holy ground and that there is a mysterious power in his +own soul calling him to self-knowledge and to self-judgment before he +may lift the veil of the future. This is the supreme moment of History. +The facts of human experience become suddenly transfigured in the light +of a divine principle, namely the self-consciousness of reason, that +God-given spirit which recognizes the purpose of History to be the +increasing self-knowledge of Man. + +"History is a divine drama, designed to educate man into +self-knowledge and the knowledge of God," (Henry James, Sr., on +"Carlyle," in Atlantic Monthly, May, 1881.) Tennyson recognized the +divine element in human history in that prophetic verse: + + "And I doubt not through the ages one increasing purpose runs, + And the thoughts of men are widened with the process of the suns." + +It is by this "increasing purpose" that God reveals himself in human +history. By the widened thought, Humanity is led forward, as it were by +a pillar of fire, unto a higher life, and unto a conscious unity with +Divine Reason, the Unseen One, who dwells in a temple not made with +hands. + + + + +SOME FACTS CONCERNING THE SETTLEMENT AND EARLY HISTORY OF MISSISSIPPI. + +By R. W. JONES, M. A., LL.D. + + +The "Miscellaneous Papers" as collected by Col. J. F. H. Claiborne +constitute a rich mine for the future historian. They also indicate +what can be done by others by well-direct inquiry, in the way of +gathering information from "old settlers" and by going to other sources +that may be accessible. The importance of this work can be scarcely +overstated, and the sooner it is begun the better. A volume could be +written composed of adventures and daring exploits that would be as +thrilling as highly wrought fiction and make us proud of our ancestors. +As an illustration of the large number of well known characters +introduced, within a limited space, and of most interesting and +instructive incidents I shall quote from a letter of + + +DR. A. R. KILPATRICK + +to Col. Claiborne, written at Navasota, Grimes county, Texas, May 2, +1877: + +* * "You ask for my contributions to De Bow's Review, but I am entirely +unable to furnish them. When I left Concordia, La., in September, 1863, +I moved none of my books, and the scoundrel in whose hands I left the +place proved to be a traitor joined the Yankees, and when Natchez +was occupied he went partners with some of the Federal officers, who +brought over several wagons, gutted my house and sold the furniture +and other property in Natchez. Out of a library of 2,000 volumes I +have none left. Among my books were (12) twelve volumes of De Bow's +Review bound." In these twelve volumes Dr. K. had written a great deal +that was interesting and instructing to those who inquire into the +settlement and colonial history of Mississippi. They contain accounts +of many of the best known families who lived at and near Natchez and +Woodville and in the counties wherein these towns are situated; also +similar writings concerning Concordia, La. + +He says; "Before I wrote those accounts of Concordia Parish, I wrote +some Sketches of the early Baptist in Mississippi and Louisiana which +were printed in a Baptist newspaper of New Orleans under the management +of a Minister named Duncan: I think he was Rev. W. Duncan, D. D. Get +copies of those papers and make use of the historical facts, because +your work will be incomplete if you leave out the churches. These +papers were published about 1849-51. + +"My Grandfather (Maternal), Robert Turner, was an early settler in +Miss., and a pioneer of the Baptist Church, though not a minister. +He moved a colony of nearly (100) one hundred, white and black from +Beaufort District, S. C., starting in 1804. He went up near Nickajack +on the Tennessee River, built boats, put on his horses, cows, hogs, +furniture and floated down to Natchez, reaching there early in 1805, +he found there no settlement to suit, went down to Fort Adams, landed, +and settled four miles S. W., of where Woodville now stands. There they +built old Bethel Church with whipsawed lumber and wrought iron nails, +each one furnishing his part of materials, or work. The Chaplain or +preacher of the colony was Rev. Moses Hadley. At that time, 1805, there +were only a few houses, temporary shanties, where Woodville is. Ole +Uncle Bob Lecky, who kept hotel so many years in Alexandria, La., and +old John S. Lewis of Woodville, were the first to put up houses. My +Grandfather, R. Turner was a Surveyor and was employed to measure and +lay off the streets, squares, etc., of the town in 1808. He was also +summoned and served in the arrest of Aaron Burr above Natchez about +1807; he said it was so cold in February that in handling oars of the +skiff the blood poured from the tips of his fingers. He represented +Aaron Burr as remarkably polite, genteel, urbane, good looking, though +small, and as having eyes whose glance was most penetrating and +fascinating. + +"There was another party of pioneers from Georgia, preceding +Grandfathers; in this party were the Ogdens and Nolands." + +"Captain John Ogden, near Woodville, (1796-1837) served as Captain +at the battle of New Orleans, 1814. Robert Tanner and several of his +colonists moved to Rapides Parish, La. There the old gentleman died +September, 1839, of yellow fever, aged 71 years. Wilkinson county +furnished one Governor (H. Johnson) to Louisiana and (4) four, I think, +to Mississippi. + +"The old original editor of the Woodville Republican, W. Chisholm, had +all the volumes of that paper bound for over twenty years--from about +1820 to 1845. In it will be found much of Poindexter's history; also +much of Moses Waddell, of Abbeville, S. C., brother-in-law of John C. +Calhoun." + +Rev. Wm. Winans, D. D., lived and died at Mount Pleasant, about sixteen +miles east southeast of Woodville. Major Butler, of Kentucky, lived +there; also General Van Dorn's father. Major Butler served in General +Wilkinson's command. The general was very strict in regard, not only to +his own dress, but also the dress, etc., of the officers and men under +him. It was the fashion then to wear the hair long and plait it into a +queue, or pig-tail behind. General Wilkinson had the misfortune to lose +his pig-tail and issued an order for all to cut off their pig-tails. + +Major Butler refused; Wilkinson threatened court martial; Butler +resigned and retired to the farm of his sister, Mrs. Cook. In a few +months he died; before dying he left special injunctions with Mr. and +Mrs. Cook to have an auger-hole bored in his coffin, to have his hair +neatly dressed and the pig-tail tied with a blue ribbon and run through +that auger-hole, so that Wilkinson and his officers might see that he +was pluck to the last and distained his authority. + +Dr. Franklin L. Riley, in a lecture, gives another version of this +incident, which is very amusing. Dr. Kilpatrick narrates many incidents +concerning Governor Poindexter, Mr. Percy, Audubon, Jeff Davis and +others. + +The Audubon mentioned by him was the distinguished John James Audubon, +the Naturalist. Born 1781, in Louisiana, died 1851, on the Hudson; +Author of Birds of America, Quadrupeds of America, etc. Audubon was at +the house of Mr. Percy, spent several months with him; he furnished +Audubon with many specimens of birds for his sketches. One day Percy +says he brought home a "magnificent gobbler" which weighed about 28 +pounds and Audubon _would have it_. He pinned it up beside the wall so +as get a good view of it and spent several days lazily sketching it. +Percy said: "The ---- fellow kept it pinned up there till it rotted and +stunk. I hated to lose so much good eating." + +It is said that while Aububon was at or near Woodville, his money gave +out; he refused to accept gifts; but taught a dancing school, in order +to get funds sufficient to enable him to proceed with his researches in +Natural History. The people patronized him generously. + +"Jeff. Davis spent part of his boyhood in Wilkinson county, Miss. There +was a boy on a place adjoining where Jeff. Davis lived named Bob Irion, +son of a Baptist preacher. The two boys went hunting one day, each +alone, and after some time they met behind a field. Jeff. Davis was +out of shot and Bob was out of powder, but had shot. Davis wanted some +shot and asked for some, but Bob was unaccommodating and saucy--jeered +at Davis, and finally told him he had a mind to shoot him any how, and +made some threatening demonstration which aroused Davis. Davis jerked +out a small pocket knife dropped it down his gun on the load of powder +and raised his gun and said: "Now, sir, I'm ready for you; I dare you +to shoot.' Bob told me this himself during the Mexican campaign, as +illustrating Davis' bravery and fertility of resources in emergencies. +Of course the boys stopped their foolishness and exchanged ammunition." * * + +"I got on the Sultana at Fort Adams when S. S. Prentiss was aboard +on his bridal trip--married that morning at Natchez, and the whole +bridal troupe went down to New Orleans. It was my first sight and +acquaintance with Prentiss. I was charmed with his manners and +appearance. He had the most handsome head, and it sat better on his +neck and shoulders than any person I know. That was in 1843, when his +fame was world wide; yet, sir, he was as bashful, timid and quiet as a +boy of 16 in the presence of those ladies." + +"At table he had nothing to say, but ate his meals quietly, almost +stealthily. But as soon as he came down in the social hall, he was +lively and chatted enough." + +I could give other extracts of value and interest from this same +letter, but I will not worry you. I hope it will not be long before +this letter and other important historical manuscripts will be printed. + + + + +PRE-HISTORIC JASPER ORNAMENTS IN MISSISSIPPI + +R. B. FULTON, M. A., LL. D. + + +In the annual Report of the Smithsonian Institute for 1877, Dr. +Chas. Rau, under the title of "The Stock-in-Trade of an Aboriginal +Lapidary," emphasizes his conjecture "that among the aborigines certain +individuals who were by inclination or practice particularly qualified +for a distinct kind of manual labor, devoted themselves principally +or entirely to that labor." He referred to several instances where, +in certain localities, finds of a large number of similarly wrought +specimens of work in stone seemed to indicate that each set of +specimens came from the hands of a special lapidary. + +One of the most remarkable of these deposits was found in Lawrence +County, Mississippi, in 1875, and was carefully described by Dr. Rau. +It consisted of 469 imperfectly finished objects made by chipping, +cutting and grinding out of reddish or orange-colored or brown jasper +pebbles, and was found accidentally about two and one-half feet below +the surface of the ground in the northern part of Lawrence County,[67] +The objects were evidently intended for ornaments, and when finished +all would have been polished and probably perforated. The majority +were cylindrical in shape, and varied from one-fourth to one inch in +diameter and from one-fourth to three inches in length. Others were +roughly fashioned into ornamental shapes. Several showed an attempt at +perforation, and one, not received at the National Museum, was said to +be completely perforated. + +When the hardness of the material used--jasper--is considered, the +patience and skill needed to give their form and polish to these +objects command admiration. From the fact that only one specimen was +perforated completely, one might readily suppose that the workman found +the difficulties of this part of his undertaking too great, and buried +his unfinished work in despair. + +Some time ago there came into my hands a set of similar articles found +in the county of Lincoln, Mississippi, about twenty-five miles west of +the spot where the above-mentioned find was made. + +These last found objects were exhibited at the Cleveland meeting of the +American Association for the Advancement of Science, in the hope of +learning whether similar specimens had been found, as they appeared to +me at that time to be entirely unique. + +Following out suggestions made at that meeting by several gentlemen, +and afterward by two of the best informed Southern archaeologists, I +found that the above-mentioned region in Mississippi has yielded a +number of carved, polished and perforated objects of this hard red or +brown quartzite (or jasper), and nearly all such specimens of this +material which I have been able to learn about came from this region. + +The collection of specimens of this style of workmanship described +by Dr. Rau probably contains the majority of pieces extant. A few +specimens of polished jasper ornaments from other States than +Mississippi are shown in the National Museum. There are two or three +specimens from Indiana, one from California, and one from Louisiana +(Claiborne Parish), which seem to be similarly made and from the same +material. + +The late Dr. Joseph Jones of New Orleans had in his collection some +jasper ornaments, mostly from Mississippi, including a beautiful +ceremonial ax of reddish translucent jasper. + +Besides those mentioned I have not been able to learn of other similar +objects. Probably there are a few scattered ones in other hands. + +The collection of these objects in my possession includes thirty +pieces. They were found on a farm four miles west of Wesson, in Lincoln +County. And were plowed up on the summit of a hill where no earthworks +were noticed. A few other relics were found at the same time and were +not preserved. With them were two other beads, one of a gray stone and +the other of bone very truly shaped, as if in a lathe. + +Among the jasper ornaments (all of which are perforated longitudinally +with holes from one-tenth to one-eighth of an inch in diameter) are +three cylinders between two and a half and three inches long and +about one-fourth of an inch in diameter; ten cylinders ranging from a +quarter to an inch and a quarter in length and less than one-quarter +in diameter; five nearly spherical beads; one accurately shaped short +cylinder three-quarters of an inch long and five-eighths in diameter, +with a well-drilled perforation three-eights of an inch in diameter; +and ten carved ornaments of various shapes. One of these, an inch +long, is a strikingly sculptured deer. Four are evidently intended for +birds, and four others resemble each other and in form are indistinctly +bird-like. A separate ring of the same material is firmly fixed on one +of the long beads. + +All of the specimens have evidently seen service as personal ornaments. +They have a fine polish externally, and the interior of the borings is +worn smooth as by a string. An artistic color-perception is shown in +the beautiful variety of tints brought out in various pieces of jasper +used. + +As to all these ornaments in red jasper mentioned in this paper, +comparison of the specimens forcibly suggests that they may be the work +of one skilled artist. In the western pebble belt of Mississippi, which +extends along the border of the Mississippi and Yazoo river bottoms +southward from near Memphis to Natchez, and thence eastward through the +counties in which these relics have been found, quartzite of almost +every variety occurs, and chipped implements of almost every variety +and color are common. The maker of these ornaments has passed by all +other tints save red and brown. In the cylindrical and other carved +forms that have been found there is a striking similarity both in +design and workmanship. + +One will readily believe the perforation of these ornaments with small +and accurately made drillings to have been the most difficult part of +their manufacture. And yet in all the specimens seen the perforations +have been in the _longest_ direction through the ornament. The total +length of the borings in the set of thirty beads I have is twenty-eight +inches. A lapidary not remarkably expert in the art of drilling these +holes would probably have simplified his work by shorter borings, +arranging the ornaments as pendants. + +Again, the rarity of any objects of carved or polished or perforated +quartzite suggests a very limited manufacture even in the region under +consideration. + +As to the means used in making these perforations, drills of stone are +excluded from consideration on account of the smallness and length of +the borings. + +There is one specimen in the collection of Dr. Joseph Jones of New +Orleans, in which a boring has been began, evidently with a hollow +tube as a drill, probably a joint of a reed fed with sand, as there +is a core in the centre of the boring; but hollow drills as small as +one-twelfth of an inch in diameter could scarcely have been used. +Some of the specimens described by Dr. Rau show the beginning of the +drilling process, apparently with a solid drill, fed with sand. + +We are forced to the conclusion that the drilling implement used must +have been a needle of copper, or more probably of the hard outer wood +of the Southern cane tipped with quartz, or fed with sand. The borings +are about as true in direction and form as the best modern appliances +could make them. + +It is worthy of note that these highly wrought jasper ornaments have +been found in that portion of Mississippi once occupied by the +Natchez, that these aboriginal people were more or less familiar +with Mexican or Aztec art and customs, and that carved and polished +workmanship in hard stones was not uncommon among the aborigines of +Mexico and Central America.[68] + + + + +SUGGESTIONS TO LOCAL HISTORIANS. + +BY FRANKLIN L. RILEY, PH. D. + + +Local research must precede the writing of general history. It +discovers and renders available the materials from which history is +made. For this reason the local historian largely determines the +character and extent of all history. The facts with which he deals may +be considered as mere historical digits, yet in the aggregate they +represent the entire life of a people. In fact their true value is not +fully revealed until they are tested by their relation to State history +and to still larger movements. The apparent insignificance of the local +annal disappears when it is recognized as one of a thousand threads +out of which is woven the great and beautiful fabric of human history. +Hence, as has been truly said, "local history is not isolated; it is a +part of State history----indeed of national and world history." + +One of the most pressing needs in Mississippi is a more efficient +organization for local historical work. Societies should be organized +in the various historical and intellectual centers of the State. Such +an organization has been effected among the students of the University +of Mississippi. The formation of similar societies throughout the State +would awaken an interest in Mississippi history. This should not be +limited, however, to our institutions of learning. It is also desirable +to enlist in the great work of perpetuating our history the many noble +men and women who have helped to make it. + +Another great need is a system for the proper direction of the various +lines of research that should be followed out in the State. The best +results can accrue from such organizations only by a system for the +unification of efforts and the preservation of results. Without such a +system the results achieved by the historical renaissance upon which we +are entering will be largely lost. This necessity is shown by our past +experience in work of this kind. In 1876 many counties of the State, +acting in accordance with a suggestion of the President of the United +States, held centennial celebrations, at which were delivered many +addresses of historical value. With the exception of an incomplete +collection of these addresses which were gathered into the archives +of the State Historical Society upon its organization, several years +later, these contributions to our history have either been lost +entirely, or are not now available to investigators. By having a common +place of deposit for these results of historical investigation our +workers will be able to learn readily what has been done along various +lines of research and will often be saved a duplication of effort. + +_Plan of Organization._--The charter of the Mississippi Historical +Society gives it authority to establish branches in the various +counties of the State. In order to put such a scheme into practical +execution, the Executive Committee of the Society has adopted the +following resolution, looking toward a unification of all the +historical work of the State: + + 1. That all of the patriotic and historical organizations + of the State, including local historical societies; the + Daughters of the Revolution; the department of Mississippi + United Confederate Veterans, and the Sons and Daughters of the + Confederacy may, by a resolution duly passed and filed with the + Secretary of the State Historical Society, become affiliated + with said society and entitled to all the benefits accruing + therefrom. + + 2. That any such auxiliary society may, by the first of + December annually, make a report of its work to the Secretary + of the State Historical Society, which, or portions, or a + synopsis thereof, may be included in the publications of the + State Society, and upon application of an auxiliary society + the State Society may become custodian of the records of such + auxiliary society. + + 3. That a copy of the publication of the State Historical + Society be sent, free of charge, to such auxiliary societies as + make annual reports as provided above. + + +PURPOSE OF AFFILIATION. + +1. _Encouragement of Research._--It is the purpose of the State Society +to encourage investigation by giving proper recognition to all worthy +contributions that may be made to our history. This will be done both +by the public presentation of papers from local societies at the annual +meetings and by their publication and distribution by the State Society. + +2. _Unification of Work and Preservation of Results._--This is the +day of co-operation in historical work. A great and noble task lies +before us. We cannot afford to duplicate work or to lose any worthy +contributions that may be made to our history. Let us not repeat the +experience of 1876. Again some of our most important subjects can be +worked only by local aid in various parts of the state. This aid can be +furnished by the members of organizations in the locality from which +information is desired. + + +SUGGESTIONS. + +_Character of Work Needed._--The historian should above all things +keep himself free from prejudice. It will be impossible to stop +investigation and the historian must ever keep in mind the fact that +sooner or later his work will be tested by others and his errors +brought to light. The value and permanence of all historical work, +therefore, is quite in proportion to the amount of truth it contains. +"Particularly must he," says one, "guard against careless or incorrect +statements about the dead who cannot defend themselves." Every +assertion should be susceptible of proof and exact references should be +made in foot-notes to the authority upon which a statement is based. +If this be neglected, says the writer quoted above, the work stands in +danger either of neglect by future historians, or of being discredited +as a mass of unsubstantial statements. + +_Sources of Information._--The most fruitful and accessible sources of +information on local history are the following: State histories; public +records (municipal, county, church, school, etc.); newspaper files; +books and pamphlets pertaining to the locality under consideration; +manuscript letters, journals, etc., of early settlers; and interviews +with the oldest inhabitants. + +_Scope of Work Needed._--In Mississippi the following topics would +doubtless yield rich returns to the local historian. The list might be +enlarged or changed to meet local conditions. + +_Antiquities._--The name and location of Indian tribes and the +events, dates and incidents in their history together with their +present condition in some counties in the State would doubtless +prove fruitful to the investigator. Closely allied to this is the +subject of archaeology. Although we have no large public collection +of pre-historic implements in Mississippi there are several excellent +private collections in different parts of the State. These should be +cited for the use of investigators. + +_Early Settlements._--This opens a fertile field that has been too much +neglected in Mississippi. The local historian should gather up the +annals and letters of the first settlers. He should as far as possible +ascertain the former homes of settlers and the facts that led to their +removal as well as those which determined the location of settlements. +Closely allied to this is the development of early thoroughfares. +The investigator might also give the early experience as well as the +domestic and social customs of the pioneers. + +_Biography._--The lives of men that have contributed to the greatness +of our State. We do not know enough about our statesmen, scientists, +poets, teachers, philanthropists, authors, etc. + +_Groups of Foreign Settlers._-Although this field is limited in +Mississippi, we have not done this work. The Irish settlement in Jasper +county and perhaps a few others in the State might be worked with much +interest and profit. + +_Military History._--The old militia system and the part taken by the +county in the wars in which the United States has engaged need to be +investigated now, since those who took part in these events are fast +disappearing. + +_Political History._--This subject might embrace county boundaries, +their establishment and location, the origin and development +of political parties within the county; the establishment of +municipalities, etc. + +_Religious and Social History._--The sources by way of church records +are abundant. The growth of churches, philanthropic movements and +reforms may be included under this subject. + +_Educational History._--This would embrace not only the public schools +of to-day, but private schools of ante bellum times. + +_Industrial and Commercial Development._--The local historian might +show the effects of topography, soil and natural resources upon the +occupations and economic conditions of the county. Industrial and +commercial methods should be treated and statistics given. In this +connection the influences of slavery should be noted. + +_Miscellaneous Topics of a Local Nature._--The following subjects +might be studied with results more or less satisfactory, according to +location: Tory Influences, Railways, Newspapers, Architecture, Contents +of Early Libraries, Reconstruction, etc. + + + + +SOME INACCURACIES IN CLAIBORNE'S HISTORY IN REGARD TO TECUMSEH. + +BY H. S. HALBERT + + +In this article the writer desires to call attention to some +inaccuracies in Colonel J. F. H. Claiborne's History of Mississippi, +on page 487, in regard to Tecumseh's visit to the Choctaws. These +inaccuracies have unfortunately misled the authors of our Mississippi +school histories, and I wish here to present the subject in its true +light and so correct these inaccuracies for the benefit of all students +of Mississippi history. As a beginning, I will state that in 1877 I +sent to Colonel Claiborne, then engaged in writing his history, some +notes which I had written in regard to Tecumseh's visit to the Choctaws +in 1811. These notes gave some account of the last council between +Tecumseh and the Choctaws, which was held on Blewett's plantation, in +Noxubee County. Subsequent research, several years after, showed that I +was in error on some points. Still, if Colonel Claiborne had made use +of my notes just as they were, the matter would not have been so bad. I +regret, however, to say that Colonel Claiborne took much liberty with +my narrative and added thereto some fictitious embellishments. To take +a liberal view of the matter, the Colonel, no doubt, considered these +embellishments as harmless and as adding somewhat to the interest of +the narrative. After the manner of some historians of antiquity, the +Colonel had acquired the habit of putting fine speeches into the mouths +of his Indian heroes. For the benefit of the students of Mississippi +history, I will here state, in all truth and good conscience, that the +speech which he has put into the mouth of Pushmataha is nothing more +nor less than pure and unadulterated fiction. Pushmataha never made +that speech. Even the uncritical school boy might ask the questions: +"Who was the reporter in the Indian camp that took down that speech?" +"Who translated the speech from Choctaw into English?" The Truth +is, Colonel Claiborne simply composed that speech and interpolated +it into my meager narrative. The Colonel, too, seems to have been +utterly oblivious or regardless of the fact, that, in all Indian +inter-tribal councils, where more than one language is spoken, all the +business is transacted through the cold medium of interpreters. Under +such circumstances there can be no wonderful displays of impassioned +oratory. Pushmataha spoke only Choctaw, Tecumseh only Shawnee. A +speech delivered by Tecumseh in his native tongue could not have been +understood by the Choctaws. Hence, all the arguments and statements +on both sides had to pass through the mouth of the interpreter; in +this case the interpreter, Seekaboo. Such inter-tribunal councils +are strictly business conferences. Many years ago it was my fortune +to be present at two inter-tribal councils among the wild tribes, +where several languages were spoken, and no displays of oratory were +attempted--for in such a case the speaker's tribesmen alone could +have understood him--but everything was conducted in practical, +businesslike manner, the interpreters kept constantly busy translating +the statements of the speakers. + +Reverting to Colonel Claiborne and Tecumseh, I will state that +elsewhere I have given all the attainable facts in regard to Tecumseh's +Choctaw visit, worked out from original and authentic sources. Suffice +it here to say that Tecumseh in none of his councils exerted the +slightest influence over Moshulitubbee, over Hopaii Iskitini, nor over +any other Choctaw, chief or warrior. The Choctaw mingoes unanimously +and utterly discountenanced his designs, and at the last council +threatened to put him to death if he did not leave their nation. + +Again, on this same page, there is an inaccuracy in regard to the +conference which Weatherford and Ochillie Hadjo had with Mingo +Moshulitubbee. In this case, however, Colonel Claiborne is not +blameable, as I made the mistake myself in the notes which I sent him. +Subsequent inquiry showed that I was in error on this matter, so I here +correct the statement by saying that Moshulitubee was not influenced +in the slightest degree by these Muscogee chiefs. This conference is +an historic fact, which I received from the late Mr. G. W. Campbell, +of Shuqulak, he receiving it in early life from Stonie Hadjo, one +of Moshulitubees' captains. Circumstances show that this conference +occurred in the summer of 1813, perhaps in July. + +My object in making these corrections is, that, as I am the only person +who knows about these erroneous statements in Claiborne's history, I +may place the facts in their true light for the benefit of all lovers +of historical accuracy. + + + + +DID JONES COUNTY SECEDE? + +BY ALEXANDER L. BONDURANT, A. M. + + +It seems that many within and without the State would answer this query +in the affirmative, and even their ordinance of secession is given by +one writer on the subject as follows: + + "Whereas, The State of Mississippi, for reasons which appear + justifiable, has seen fit to withdraw from the Federal Union; + and + + "Whereas, We, the citizens of Jones County, claim the same + right, thinking our grievances are sufficient by reason of an + unjust law passed by the Confederate States of America forcing + us to go into distant parts, etc., therefore, be it + + "_Resolved_, That we sever the union heretofore existing + between Jones County and the State of Mississippi, and proclaim + our independence of the said State and of the Confederate + States of America; and we solemnly call upon Almighty God to + witness and bless the act." + +Such being the case, it has seemed to me in order to advert to a +discussion in the Nation on this subject beginning March 24, 1892, +which throws considerable light on the question. In the paper of this +date Samuel Willard, of Chicago, writes that he had been a soldier in +the army which invaded Mississippi, and that he had never during the +war heard of such an occurrence. When, therefore, he saw the statement +made in the New England Magazine, for November, 1891, the author +being Professor Hart, he doubted its accuracy. It may be stated just +here that Professor Hart, in a subsequent issue of the Nation gives +as his authority Mr. Galloway, historian of the Sixth army corps, +who published in the Magazine of American History for October, 1886, +an article entitled "A Confederacy Within a Confederacy;" but upon +what authority Mr. Galloway based his statements does not appear. He +therefore wrote to the Governor of the State of Mississippi and to +the clerk of Jones County, and elicited replies from both of these +gentlemen, and Governor Stone inclosed a letter from his predecessor, +Hon. Robert Lowry, who was sent to Jones County during the war in +command of troops for the purpose of arresting deserters. The texts of +the letters are too long to quote in full, so a few passages will have +to suffice. Governor Stone writes: + + "It gives me pleasure to inform you that the whole story is a + fabrication, and there is scarcely any foundation for any part + of it. To begin with Jones County furnished perhaps as many + soldiers to the army of the Confederacy as any other county + of like population. * * * Many of them declined to go into + the army in the beginning, but so far as formal withdrawal + or resolution to that effect is concerned, no such thing + ever occurred in Jones County. Hon. Robert Lowry was sent to + Jones County during the war for the purpose of arresting and + returning deserters to their commands, and there was some + little fighting with these bands of deserters, or rather + bush-whacking of his men by the deserters; and some of the + deserters were arrested and executed, but only a few. The whole + story is the veriest fabrication, and I presume few persons of + intelligence will believe any of it." + +Ex-Governor Lowry writes: "The county furnished nearly and probably its +entire quota of soldiers, many of whom did splendid service. No such +effort as establishing a separate government was ever attempted. The +story of withdrawal and establishing of a separate government is a pure +fabrication--not a shadow of foundation for it." + +Governor McLaurin, in a recent letter to me on this subject, writes: +"I was a boy thirteen years old when the war commenced. I was 'raised' +in Smith County, a county adjoining Jones. I was at home the first +three years of the war, and, if there was any attempt by Jones County +to secede and set up a separate government, I did not hear anything of +it. I was in a brigade that intercepted a Federal raid that started +from Baton Rouge to Mobile in November or December, 1864, and we passed +through or very near Jones County, and I never heard of any attempt to +set up a separate government in the county. I think it is safe for you +to negative the whole story." + +E. B. Sharp, Esq., chancery clerk, writes: "The report is utterly false +in every particular." + +The authority of these well known gentlemen is quite sufficient to +dispose effectually of this canard reflecting upon the good name of a +county which rendered brave and efficient service to the Confederacy. + + + + + INDEX + PAGE + + Abbeville, South Carolina, 87 + + Aberdeen, 37 + + Adams County, 30 + + Adams, Prof. H. B., 73 + + American Law Review, 42 + + Amsterdam, 36 + + Arnold, Dr. Thomas, 78 + + Athens, 34 + + Atlantic Monthly, 42 + + Audubon, J. J., 87, 88 + + Autumn, a poem, 12 + + Australian Ballot, 48 + + + Backwoods Poem, appreciation of, 3 + + Bacon's Landing, 57 + + Ballot, 48 + + Baptists, Early Settlement, 86 + + Baskerville, 20 + + Batesville, 37 + + Bayou Pierre, 56 + + Bay St. Louis, 33, 34, 37, 40 + + Beauregard, 37 + + Benela, 37 + + Berryhill, S. Newton, 2, 20 + + Bethel Church, 86 + + Bettie Bell, a poem, 5 + + Beuford District, S. C., 86 + + Bienville, 70 + + Biloxi, 37, 40 + + Biography, Relation of to History, 76, 78 + + Biography, Importance of in Literary Study, 20 + + Bledsoe, 20 + + Blewett, 101 + + Bluntschli, J. C., 73, 74 + + Blount, Senator, 63 + + Bolton, 39, 40 + + Bondurant, Prof. A. L., 104 + + Bonner, 37 + + Brandon, 34, 37 + + Brookhaven, 40 + + Brooksville, 40 + + Brown, Mr., a poem, 5 + + Burr, Aaron, arrest of, 86 + + Butler, Major, 87 + + + Camargo, 87 + + Campbell, G. W., 108 + + Canada, 61, 64 + + Canton, 37 + + Carlyle, 76 + + Carondelet, Baron de, 57, 58, 61, 64 + + Chambers, Prof. H. E., 67 + + Chickasaw Bluffs, 56 + + Chisholm, W., 87 + + Choctaws, 101-103 + + Claiborne, Col. J. F. H., 85, 101-103 + + Clarke, General, 62, 63 + + Clarksdale, 40 + + Clarksville, 57 + + Clinton, 34 + + Columbia, 40 + + Columbus, 33, 34, 36, 37, 40 + + Constitution of 1817, 30, 31 + + Constitution of 1832, 35 + + Constitution of 1869, 37 + + Constitution of 1890, 40 + + Cook, Mr. and Mrs., 87 + + Cooksville, 37 + + Copiah County, 95 + + Cotton Gin Port, 37 + + Crystal Springs, 37 + + + Davis, Jefferson, 71, 88 + + De Bow's Review, 85 + + Deupree, Prof. J. G., 95 + + Dialect, writing in, 22 + + Dillon, John F., 42 + + Duncan, Rev. W., 86 + + Durant, 39, 40 + + + Eastport, 37 + + Educational Qualification, 43 + + Elective Judiciary, 47 + + Ellicott, Andrews, 55, 56, 58, 64, 65, 66 + + Ellisville, 40 + + Emory, 37 + + Eureka Springs, 39 + + + Farmington, 37 + + Fence Law, 48 + + Florida, 62, 68, 71 + + Folch, 71 + + Fort Adams, 86, 88 + + France, 52, 53, 54, 57, 64 + + Frost and Forest, a poem, 13 + + Froude, James Anthony, 76 + + Fulton, 40 + + Fulton, Chancellor R. B., 91 + + + Gainsville, 37 + + Gallatin, 34 + + Galloway, Bishop G. B., 20 + + Gayoso, 52, 53, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60 + + George, Senator J. Z., 44 + + Georgia, 62, 87 + + Godoy 50, 51 + + Governor, how elected under Constitution of 1890, 46, 47 + + Grand Gulf, 37 + + Great Britain, 51, 52, 58 + + Greenville, Washington Co., 33, 34 + + Greenville, Jefferson Co., 40 + + Greenwood Springs, 40 + + + Hadley, Rev. Moses, 86 + + Harris, Joel Chandler, 21 + + Harris, Dr. W. T., 83 + + Harrison, James A., 20 + + Hart, Prof. A. B., 105, 106 + + Hazlehurst, 27 + + Hermans, 37 + + Hernando, 37 + + Hinsdale, Prof. B. A., 52, 56 + + Hickory, 37 + + History and literature inseparable, 17 + + History and Poetry, Relation of, 1 + + History, Conception of, 80, 81, 82, 83 + + History of Literature, 23 + + History, Local and general compared, 75, 76 + + History, Study and Teaching of, 73, 74 + + History, Unity of, 75 + + Holden, F. M., 104 + + Holmesville, 33, 34 + + Huntsville, 29 + + Hutson, 20 + + + Iberville, 70 + + Indian Legends in Mississippi, 21 + + Indian Names in Mississippi, 21 + + Indians, 59, 60, 63 + + Indianola, 40 + + Irion, Bob, 88 + + + Jackson County, 30, 34 + + Jackson, city of, 34, 36, 39, 40 + + Jones County, 104, 106 + + Jones, Dr. Joseph, 92, 94 + + Jones, Prof. R. W., 85 + + Johns Hopkins University, 75 + + Judges, How Chosen in Mississippi, 47 + + + Kemper, Reuben, 71 + + Kentucky, 53, 87 + + Kilpatrick, Dr. A. R., 86, 87 + + + Laurel, 39 + + Lawrence County, 91 + + Lecky, Bob, 86 + + Legislature, Power of to elect officers, 47 + + Lewis, Henry T., 20 + + Lewis, John S., 86 + + Liberty, 34, 36 + + Lincoln County, 92, 93 + + Lipscomb, Prof. Dabney, 1, 20 + + Literature in Mississippi, 17, 19 + + Literature, History of, 23 + + Local Historical Work in Maryland, 75 + + Local History and general compared, 75 + + Local Historians, suggestions to, 96 + + Local Historical Societies, 97 + + Lodi, 37 + + Loftus Cliffs, 57 + + Louisiana, 61, 62, 64, 70, 71, 88 + + Lowry, Gov. Robert, 105 + + + Macon, 37, 40 + + Madison County, 33 + + Manchester, 34, 36 + + McLaurin, Gov. A. J., 105, 106 + + Meadville, 34 + + Mississippi River, 53, 55, 64, 66 + + Mississippi State, 70 + + Mississippi Territory, 25, 30 + + Mississippi Historical Society Archives, 97 + + Mobile, 29, 71 + + Monticello, 33 + + Mount Pleasant, 87 + + Municipal Suffrage, 27, 29, 30, 33, 34, 36, 37, 39, 40 + + Murrell, 22 + + My Castle, a poem, 18 + + My Motherland, a poem, 10 + + + Natchez, 27, 37, 39, 50, 55, 56, 57, 62, 64, 65, 66, 70, 86, 88 + + Negroes, Rights of to vote, 34, 38, 42 + + New Orleans, 53, 54, 58, 70, 86 + + Northwest Territory, Suffrage in, 25, 26 + + Note-Taking, Method of, 79 + + + Ogden, Capt. John, 87 + + Ohio River, 63, 64, 65 + + Oregon, 67 + + Outlaws, Doings of, 22 + + + Pardons, Effects of upon rights of suffrage, 32 + + Pass Christian, 37, 39, 40 + + Paulding, 37 + + Pearlington, 33 + + Percy, 88 + + Philadelphia, 37 + + Pickering, 54, 61, 62, 64 + + Pinckney, Thomas, 50 + + Plymoth, 36 + + Poindexter, Governor, 87 + + Poindexter's History, 87 + + Pope, Lieutenant, 64, 66 + + Port Gibson, 29, 33 + + Potts Camp, 40 + + Prentiss, S. S., 88, 89 + + Pushmata, 101, 102 + + + Quitman, 39 + + + Raleigh, 37 + + Rapides Parish, 87 + + Rau, Dr. Chas. R., 91, 92 + + Raymond, 33, 34, 37 + + Registration when first required, 37 + + Registration under constitution of 1890, 44, 46 + + Re-Reconstruction, a poem, 11 + + Riley, Prof. Franklin L., 50, 87, 96 + + Rodney, 33, 34, 37 + + Rosedale, 39, 40 + + Russell, Irwin, 18, 20 + + + Salem, 37 + + Sardis, 37 + + Sarepta, 37 + + Sartartia, 36 + + Scooba, 39, 40 + + Seekaboo, 102 + + Seminary, Historical, 74 + + Senatobia, 39, 40 + + Seven Pines, 39 + + Shands, H. A., 22 + + Sharp, E. B., 106 + + Shieldsborough, 33, 34, 37 + + Shongole, 37 + + Sketch, a poem, 7 + + Society, Forces which bind it together, 73 + + Spain, 50-66 + + Starkville, 37 + + Stoddard, 52 + + Stone, Gov. J. M., 105 + + Storm, The, a poem, 7 + + St. Stevens, 29 + + Suggestions to Local Historians, 98, 99, 100 + + Suffrage, Qualifications for, constitution of 1817, 31-35 + + Suffrage, Qualifications for, constitution of 1832, 35-37 + + Suffrage, Qualifications for, constitution of 1869, 37-40 + + Suffrage, Qualifications for, constitution of 1890, 40-42 + + + Tanner, Robert, 87 + + Taylor, Zachary, 71 + + Tecumseh, 101, 102 + + Tennessee, 53, 64, 65 + + Tennyson, 74, 76, 84 + + Terry, 40 + + Thompson, Maurice, 20 + + Thompson, Hon. R. H., 25 + + Tidings from the Battlefield, a poem, 9 + + Topics in Mississippi History, 99, 100 + + Travel, Accounts of in Mississippi, 22 + + Treaty of San Lorenzo, 50, 51 + + Treaty, Jay's, 51 + + Tunica, 39, 40 + + Turner, Robert, 86 + + + Understanding clause in constitution of 1890, 42, 44 + + University of Mississippi, 96 + + + Vaiden, 40 + + Vicksburg (Walnut Hills), 33, 34, 37, 40, 56, 60, 61, 62 + + Voting, _viva voce_ in Mississippi, 32 + + Voting by ballot in Miss., 48 + + + Waddell, Moses, 87 + + Walnut Hills (Vicksburg), 33, 34, 37, 40, 56, 60, 61, 62 + + Warrenton, 33, 34 + + Warren county, 33 + + Washington, 33, 34, 35 + + Water Valley, 40 + + Wayne, General, 60 + + Weber, Prof. W. L., 16 + + Wesson, 37, 93 + + West Florida, 30, 71 + + Wilkinson, General, 87 + + Wilkinson county, 87 + + Willard, Samuel, 104 + + Willing, 71 + + Winans, Rev. Wm., 87 + + Winona, 37 + + Woodville, 29, 36, 86, 88 + + Woodville Republican, 87 + + + Yazoo City, 34, 37, 40 + + + + +_Constitutional and Political +History of the United States_ + +BY DR. HERMANN E. VON HOLST + + +A work unsurpassed and unrivaled in its field. It is keen and profound; +fearless and impartial in its judgment of men and measures; vigorous +and vivid, alike in its delineation of events and in its portraiture of +parties and leaders. + +"His labors, indeed, have been immense.... A work which every student +must needs possess in its entirety."--The Nation. + +Eight Volumes--Cloth, $25.00; Sheep, $80.00. Special + +Prices for Students and Libraries. + + +_The Constitutional Law +Of the United States_ + +BY DR. HERMANN E. VON HOLST. + +Part I.--Genesis of the Constitution. Part II.--The Federal +Constitution. Part III.--Constitution and General Law of the Separate +States. Appendix--The Constitution, with references to the body of the +work. Biographies and historical notes increase the value of the work. + +One volume, large 8vo, Cloth, $2.00 net. + + +CASES ON CONSTITUTIONAL LAW. + +BY CARL EVANS BOYD + +The so-called "case system" of study is applied to almost all branches +of the law, but its application to constitutional law has been retarded +by the obvious impracticability of referring a class to the original +reports and by the wants of a suitable case book of moderate size. It +is to meet such requirements that this collection has been formed. + +One Volume, Cloth, $3.00. + + +CALLAGHAN & CO. CHICAGO. + + + + +COLONIAL MOBILE + +An historical study, largely from original sources, of the northern +Gulf coast and the Alabama-Tombigbee basin from the discovery of Mobile +Bay in 1519, until the demolition of Fort Charlotte in 1821. + +BY PETER J. HAMILTON, A. M. + +I. Exploration; II. The French capital; III. Department of Mobile; IV. +British Domination; V. Under the Spaniards; VI. Americanization--all 47 +chapters and appendix. + +An admirable work.--The author has the essential qualities of a good +historian.----N. Y. Times. + +An important contribution to the history of our southwestern +beginnings.--Atlantic Monthly. + +A history of the deepest interest.--N. O. Picayune. + +Confers obligations upon future generations.--Mobile Register. + +A literary monument.--Hannis Taylor, ex-minister to Spain. + +A work of exceptional interest.--Meridian Post. + +446 pages, besides preface, etc.; 15 illustrations, including Biloxi +Bay in 1699. Price $3.00. May be ordered from Houghton, Mifflin & Co., +Boston, or the author at Mobile, Alabama. + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Ratifications were exchanged at Aranjuez, April 25, 1796, and the +treaty was proclaimed August 2, of the same year. + +A copy of this treaty is given in the American State Papers. Foreign +Relations, vol. 1, 546 et seq; also in the Treaties and Conventions +Concluded Between the United States and Other Powers Since July 4, +1776. Sen. Ex. Doc. 2d Session, 48th Congress, Vol. I, Pt. 2, 1006, et +seq. + +[2] See Trescot's Diplomatic History of the Administrations of +Washington and Adams. Chapters I and IV. + +[3] Godoy's Memoirs, Vol. I.45-'8 et seq. Quoted from Trescot, 253. It +is very evident that Mr. Pinckney understood the circumstances that +determined the course of the Spanish Minister. See American State +Papers For. Rels. I. 535. Martin, who has studied the subject from the +standpoint of Louisiana, says (History of La., 269) that this was also +understood by the King's officers in New Orleans. + +The United States and England had previously agreed that they would +share equally in the navigation of the Mississippi and on May 4, +1796, six months after the treaty with Spain, the United States and +England subscribed to the following: "No other stipulation or treaty +concluded since (the date of their former treaty) by either of the +contracting parties with any other Power or Nation, is understood in +any manner to derogate from the right to the free communication and +commerce guaranteed by the 3d article or the treaty to the subjects of +His Brittanic Majesty."--Amer. State P. For. Rels. II. 15. In a letter +to the Spanish Minister, Chevalier de Yrujo, dated January 20, 1798, +Mr. Pickering says that the United States "have not asked, nor will +they have occasion to ask Spain to be the guardian of their rights an +interests on the Mississippi."--Ib. 102. + +[4] Sketches of Louisiana (1812), 98-9. The author of these sketches, +a major in the army of the United States, took possession of upper +Louisiana in behalf of his government, under the treaty of cession, +in March, 1804. His book was based upon "local and other information" +furnished by "respectable men" "in most of the districts" of which +he wrote, together with his own extensive excursions, during the +five years in which he was stationed on various parts of the lower +Mississippi. + +[5] This is the language of Stoddard, which was based upon Gayoso's +letter. See Sketches of La. 98-'9. + +[6] In 1787, the Intendant of Louisiana, acting in accordance with +instructions from the Spanish court, prepared an elaborate memoir on +the political situation in America. "He represented the people of the +United States as extremely ambitious, as animated by the spirit of +conquest and as anxious to extend their empire to the shores of the +Pacific. He then suggested a line of policy, which in his opinion, +it was incumbent on Spain to adopt. The dismemberment of the western +country, by means of pensions and commercial benefits, was considered +by him as not difficult. The attempt was therefore strongly urged, +particularly as it would, if successful, greatly augment the power of +Spain in this quarter and forever arrest our progress westward. These +suggestions were favorably received, and formed the groundwork of that +policy which Spain afterwards pursued."--Sketches of La., 98. + +[7] Ib. 85. + +[8] See Hinsdale's Old Northwest, Chapter X. A bibliography of the +Negotiations at Paris, 1782-'83, is given in Hinsdale's Southern +Boundary of the United States, published in the Annual Report of the +American Historical Association for 1893, p. 339, footnote. + +[9] See Gould's Fifty Years on the Mississippi, 182 et seq.; 288 et seq. + +[10] Stoddard's Sketches, 88-'9. + +[11] Ib. 90. + +[12] Ib. 99. + +[13] He was at this time Governor General of Louisiana. + +[14] Amer. State Papers. For. Rel. II.79. This opinion is corroborated +by Marbois (Hist. of La., 162) who made a study of the subject from the +French standpoint. + +[15] Martin's History of La., 271-5. + +[16] He was Governor of the Natchez District and was stationed at the +town of Natchez. + +[17] Ellicott had made the surveys locating the limits of the District +of Columbia, in 1791 (Chas. Burr Todd's Story of Washington, 21). +The year following he was appointed to draft and publish a plan +of the Federal City (Ib. 30). He also established the Meridian of +Washington, conducted several other important public surveys and +served a number of years as Surveyor General of the United States. +In 1813, General Armstrong appointed him Professor of Mathematics in +the United States' Military Academy at West Point, which position he +held for several years. He was in constant communication with the +National Institute of France and contributed to the Transactions of +the American Philosophical Society. His official dispatches while +engaged as Commissioner for locating the boundary between the United +States and Spain may be found in the American State Papers, Foreign +Relations, Vol. II. A more extensive account is given in narrative form +in Ellicott's Journal, published at Philadelphia, in 1803. All his +writings with reference to Mississippi must be read with caution, since +they exhibit intense partisan animus. + +[18] The day after beginning his descent of the Mississippi, he and his +party reached "the station of one of the Spanish gallies, the master +of which treated them politely, but detained them until the next day +(Journal, 31). A few hours after leaving this point, they reached New +Madrid, where they were saluted upon landing "by a discharge of the +artillery from the fort and otherwise treated with the greatest respect +and attention." Here the commandant stated that he had "a communication +to make and for some reasons, which he did not detail," requesting +Ellicott "to continue there two or three days." The commissioner +declined to be detained longer than one day. At the expiration of that +time a letter was produced from the Governor General of the province, +containing an order issued about three months previous, not to permit +the Americans to descend the river till the posts were evacuated, +which could not be effected until the waters should rise." In reply, +Ellicott took the position that "if want of water was an objection ... +it was ... done away by the commencement of the inundation," that such +an order must have been intended for troops and that to detain himself +and party "would be an indirect violation of the treaty" they were +preparing to carry into effect. The objection was then withdrawn and +they proceeded (Ib. 31-33). At Chickasaw Bluffs the Commandant received +the party politely but "appeared embarrassed" (Ib. 34) and affected +almost total ignorance of the treaty. There were no appearances of +preparations to evacuate (Ib. 35). Again resuming their voyage, they +were detained a few days later, for about an hour, by a Spanish officer +commanding two galleys (Ib. 36). At Walnut Hills (Vicksburg) they were +brought to by an "unnecessary" discharge of a piece of artillery, but +were treated "very civilly when on shore." Here also the commandant +"appeared to be almost wholly unacquainted" with the treaty and was +not satisfied until Ellicott produced "an authenticated copy" of +that instrument in Spanish (Ib. 37). This incident appeared very +extraordinary to the Commissioner in view of the fact that this station +was "in the vicinity" of Natchez, where Governor Gayoso resided (Ib. +38). + +All of these occurrences were more extraordinary still, when +viewed in the light of the further facts observed by Professor +Hinsdale:--Although Ellicott "bore a commission from the Government +of the United States, was accompanied by an escort of American troops +and was charged with the performance of a duty created by a solemn +international agreement, he was halted and questioned as though he +were a suspect in a strange country. Moreover, the one bank of the +river, throughout the whole distance, Spain had acknowledged to +belong exclusively to the United States, to say nothing of her having +guaranteed its navigation by American citizens from its source to the +sea" (Annual Rept. Amer. Hist. Association for 1893, pp. 351-2). + +[19] Ellicott's Journal, 39-40. This escort consisted of only +twenty-five men (Amer. State papers, For. Rel. II. 20). + +[20] Ellicott's Journal, 44. + +[21] Ib. + +[22] Ib. 50. + +[23] Ellicott's Journal, 52. + +[24] Ib. 52. + +[25] An effort had been previously made to induce Ellicott to visit the +Baron at New Orleans. July 14, the President directed the Commissioner +to remain at Natchez until the Spaniards were ready for operations. +Amer. State Papers, For. Rel. II, 102. + +[26] Ellicott's Journal, 47-48. + +[27] Ib. 84. + +[28] These pretexts often overlap, two or more being given at the same +time. They are arranged in the order of their first appearance. + +[29] Report to the President of the United States, dated June 10, 1797, +in Amer. State Papers, For. Rel., II, 72. + +[30] Ib. 92. + +[31] Ib. 20. Letter from the Secretary of War to Gen. Wilkinson, dated +June 9, 1797 in Ib. 92. + +[32] This pretext was given in connection with the preceding one in the +proclamation of March 28 and 29. + +[33] Ib. 25. + +[34] Ib. 92. + +[35] Amer. State Papers, For. Rel., II, 66. Lieutenant Pope wrote to +the Secretary of War, from Natchez, May 9, 1797, "there have been +several attempts to draw on the Indians upon my troops" (Ib. 73); +General Wilkinson also wrote him from Fort Washington, June 4, 1797, +"letters from all quarters announce the discontent and menacing aspect +of the Savages; ... they ... are making no preparations for a crop, +which is certain indication of their intention to change ground" +(Ib.); Lieutenant Colonel Hamtramck wrote from Detroit, May 21, 1797, +"I am pretty sure that both the French and Spaniards have emissaries +among the Indians" (Ib.). The Secretary of State received a letter +from Winthrop Sargent, at Cincinnati, bearing date of June 3, 1797, in +which he says, "it ... appears from various channels, that they (the +Spaniards) are inviting a great number of Indians of the (Northwest) +territory to cross the Mississippi.... A large party of the Delawares +passed down White River about the 6th of May, on their way to the +Spanish side, bearing the national flag sent from St. Louis" (Ib. 88). + +[36] Ib. 73. + +[37] Ib. 78. This reason was expressed by Governor Gayoso in a letter +to Commissioner Ellicott, dated March 31, 1797 (Ellicott's Journal, 71). + +[38] This declaration was made March 23, 1797. Gayoso suggested, at +the same time, that this post would be held only until the arrival of +American troops to take possession (Amer. State Papers, For. Rel. II, +91). + +[39] Ellicott's Journal, 71. + +[40] Amer. State Papers, For. Rel. II, 20. + +[41] Ib. 97. He also cited several precedents established by different +powers in fulfilling treaties of a similar nature. See Ib. 92-'3. + +[42] March 2, the Spanish Minister wrote Mr. Pickering that he had +become confirmed in a suspicion expressed to him three days previous, +that the British in Canada were preparing to cross over from the lakes +to the Mississippi, "by Fox River, Onisconsin or by the Illinois or +other parts of the territory of the United States" in order to attack +Upper Louisiana. He therefore requested that measures be promptly taken +to prevent a violation of American neutrality (Amer. State Papers, For. +Rel., II, 68). + +[43] Upper Louisiana, which was then in the possession of Spain. + +[44] Ib. 78. + +[45] Ib. 79. + +[46] Ib. 69. + +[47] April 21, 1797 (Ib. 68). + +[48] Ib. 71. He also suggested that this suspicion was based upon a +former scheme in which Clarke was concerned, for subduing the Floridas +in connection with France. + +[49] Ib. 69. He further declared that he had never heard of Clarke. +(Ib. 93). + +[50] Ib. 71. + +[51] July 3, 1797, the President submitted to Congress a letter +from William Blount to James Carey, which revealed that the former +was implicated in a scheme of conquest, that he hoped to conduct in +behalf of the British against the Spanish possessions. A copy of this +letter may be found in Ib. 76-'7. Blount was thereupon expelled from +the Senate by a vote, not of two-thirds only, as required by the +constitution, but unanimously. + +[52] Ib. 89. + +[53] Ib. 94. + +[54] Ib. 93. + +[55] The Secretary evidently considered this plan the same as the one +that had been mentioned by the British Minister in his communication +referred to above, since Lord Greenville had written that the two +objections the Minister had given to that plan,--violation of the +neutrality of the United States and employment of the Indians--would +have been "sufficient to induce the British Government to reject it" +(Ib. 98). + +[56] Ib. 90. + +[57] Ib. 102. + +[58] Ellicott and Pope. + +[59] Ellicott's Journal, 101-'3. + +[60] See Supra. + +[61] Amer. State Papers, For. Rel., II., 79, 102. + +[62] Two feints at evacuation were made at Natchez and at least one at +the Walnut Hills (See Ib. 91). + +[63] See Supra. + +[64] Amer. State Papers, For. Rel. II., 25. + +[65] Ellicott's Journal, 79. + +[66] "Lieutenant Pope's descending the river was, certainly a fortunate +circumstance for the United States, though in doing it, he did not +strictly comply with his orders from General Wayne, by whom he was +instructed to remain at Fort Massac till he obtained some information +respecting the evacuation of the posts, and if a judgment was to be +formed from the provision made for the detachment, it could not be +supposed that it was really intended to descend the river. It was +in want of artillery, tents, money, medicines, and a physician. In +consequence of this omission, or bad management, I had to furnish +the men such articles as they were in need of, out of the stores +appropriated for carrying the treaty into effect. And after all that +I was able to do, we had (to our great mortification) to borrow some +tents from the Governor" (Ellicott's Journal, 80). + +[67] They were plowed up by Mr. W. T. Hutchins in a field about +three-quarters of a mile east of Hebron and were sent to the +Smithsonian by Mr. T. J. R. Keenan. In the field where these objects +were found, the outlines of a pre-historic fort could be easily traced +until a few years ago. + +[68] Since the above paper was written I have obtained one jasper bead, +found fifteen miles north of Hot Springs, Ark. It is cylindrical in +form, one inch long, one-fourth of an inch in external diameter, and +has a longitudinal perforation one-tenth of an inch in diameter. The +material resembles that of the set found in Mississippi. I have also +seen several perforated jasper ornaments in the possession of Prof. +J. G. Deupree, of the University of Mississippi, which were found in +Copiah county, Mississippi, and I have been informed that several +similar objects are in the possession of persons in Copiah County. + +It will be noted that the quartzite, or jasper, of which these +ornaments are made, is a very different material from the comparatively +soft and easily-worked red sandstone--"Catlinite"--extensively used by +the Indians of the Northwest in the manufacture of pipes and ornaments. + + + + +Transcriber's Notes + + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + +Transposed lines corrected on pp. 16. + +Hyphen added "battle-flags" (p. 82), "to-day" (p. 14). + +P. 3: "inforamtion" changed to "information" (lack of information). + +P. 9: "friendy" changed to "friendly" (friendly sympathy). + +P. 16: "comonplace" changed to "commonplace" (commonplace that +literature). + +P. 21: "geophraphical" changed to "geographical" (geographical names). + +P. 22: "Misissippi" changed to "Mississippi" (Mississippi literature). + +P. 27: "enactemnt" changed to "enactment" (explanatory enactment). + +P. 29: "confererd" changed to "conferred" (vote was conferred). + +P. 29: "referenece" changed "reference" (without reference). + +P. 31: "atuhorized" changed to "authorized" (authorized a free white +male). + +P. 33: "Conuty" changed to "County" (Warren County). + +P. 33: "assesed" changed to "assessed" (had been assessed). + +P. 36: "become" changed to "became" (became operative). + +P. 47: "conceruing" change to "concerning" (concerning the same). + +P. 53: "interntional" changed to "international" (international +complications). + +P. 58: "NEGOTIATIOHS" changed to "NEGOTIATIONS" (RESULT OF +NEGOTIATIONS). + +P. 62fn: "the" changed to "he" (he had never heard of Clarke). + +P. 63: "hopel" changed to "hoped" (he hoped to conduct). + +P. 63: "refererd" changed to "referred" (referred to above). + +P. 65: "Comimssioner" changed to "Commissioner" (the Commissioner +himself). + +P. 65: "evactuation" changed to "evacuation" (upon their evacuation). + +Pp. 68-69: "repitition" changed to "repetition" (slavish repetition). + +P. 78: "maner" changed to "manner" (some noteworthy manner). + +P. 79: "libary" changed to "library" (a library for a card catalogue). + +P. 81: "infleunce" changed to "influence" (spiritual influence). + +P. 82: "individaul" changed to "individual" (individual human mind). + +P. 83: "self-consicousness" changed to "self-consciousness" +(self-consciousness of reason). + +P. 86: "mangement" changed to "management" (under the management). + +P. 91: "Mississppi" changed to "Mississippi" (Lawrence County, +Mississippi). + +P. 97: "rennaissance" changed to "renaissance" (historical renaissance). + +Index: "Capides Parish" changed to "Rapides Parish", "Clark, General" +changed to "Clarke, General". + +This text was produced from a reprint that contained typographical +errors not in the original edition. The following errors that appeared +correctly in the original edition have been corrected: unaccomodating +(p. 88), Mississppi (p. 91), competely (p. 92), Jospeh (p. 92), +seperate (p. 93), maufacture (p. 94), applances (p. 94), historiacl (p. +96), cenennial (p. 96), Historieal (p. 97), fetrile (p. 99), therto (p. +101), discountenaced (p. 102), cheifs (p. 102), inclused (p. 105), Low +(1st ad page). so-colled (1st ad page), Exporation (2nd ad page). + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Publications of the Mississippi +Historical Society, Volume I (of 14), by Mississippi Historical Society + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42980 *** |