Part 9 (1/2)
The attention of district commanders is called to a proclamation of the provisional governor of the State of Mississippi, of the 19th instant, which provides for the organization of a military force in each county of the State.
While the general government deems it necessary to maintain its authority here by armed forces, it is important that the powers and duties of the officers commanding should be clearly defined.
The State of Mississippi was one of the first that engaged in the recent rebellion. For more than four years all her energies have been devoted to a war upon our government. At length, from exhaustion, she has been compelled to lay down her arms; but no orders have as yet been received by the military authorities on duty here, indicating that the State has been relieved from the hostile position which she voluntarily a.s.sumed towards the United States.
The general government, earnestly desiring to restore the State to its former position, has appointed a provisional governor, with power to call a convention for the accomplishment of that purpose. Upon the military forces devolve the duties of preserving order, and of executing the laws of Congress and the orders of the War Department. The orders defining the rights and privileges to be secured to freedmen meet with opposition in many parts of the State, and the duties devolving upon military officers, in the execution of these orders, are often of a delicate nature. It has certainly been the desire of the department commander, and, so far as he has observed, of all officers on duty in the State, to execute these orders in a spirit of conciliation and forbearance, and, while obeying implicitly all instructions of the President and the War Department, to make military rule as little odious as possible to the people. While the military authorities have acted in this spirit, and have been as successful as could have been antic.i.p.ated, the provisional governor has thought proper, without consultation with the department commander or with any other officer of the United States on duty here, to organize and arm a force in every county, urging the ”young men of the State who have so distinguished themselves for gallantry” to respond promptly to his call, meaning, thereby, that cla.s.s of men who have as yet scarcely laid down the arms with which they have been opposing our government. Such force, if organized as proposed, is to be independent of the military authority now present, and superior in strength to the United States forces on duty in the State. To permit the young men, who have so distinguished themselves, to be armed and organized independently of United States military officers on duty here, and to allow them to operate in counties now garrisoned by colored troops, filled, as many of these men are, not only with prejudice against those troops and against the execution of the orders relative to freedmen, but even against our government itself, would bring about a collision at once, and increase in a ten-fold degree the difficulties that now beset the people. It is to be hoped that the day will soon come when the young men called upon by Governor Sharkey and the colored men now serving the United States will zealously co-operate for the preservation of order and the promotion of the interests of the State and nation. It will be gratifying to the friends of the colored race to have the a.s.surance in an official proclamation from the provisional governor, that the day has already arrived when the experiment can be safely attempted.
But as the questions on which these two cla.s.ses will be called to co-operate are those with regard to which there would undoubtedly be some difference of opinion, particularly as to the construction of certain laws relative to freedmen, the commanding general prefers to postpone the trial for the present. It is the earnest desire of all military officers, as it must be of every good citizen, to hasten the day when the troops can with safety be withdrawn from this State, and the people be left to execute their own laws, but this will not be hastened by arming at this time the young men of the State.
The proclamation of the provisional governor is based on the supposed necessity of increasing the military forces in the State to prevent the commission of crime by bad men. It is a remarkable fact that most of the outrages have been committed against northern men, government couriers, and colored people. Southern citizens have been halted by these outlaws, but at once released and informed that they had been stopped by mistake; and these citizens have refused to give information as to the parties by whom they were halted, although frankly acknowledging that they knew them.
Governor Sharkey, in a communication written after his call for the organization of militia forces was made, setting forth the necessity for such organization, states that the people are unwilling to give information to the United States military authorities which will lead to the detection of these outlaws, and suggests as a remedy for these evils the arming of the very people who refuse to give such information.
A better plan will be to disarm all such citizens, and make it for their interest to aid those who have been sent here to restore order and preserve peace.
_It is therefore ordered_, that district commanders give notice at once to all persons within their respective districts that no military organizations, except those under the control of the United States authorities, will be permitted within their respective commands, and that if any attempt is made to organize after such notice, those engaged in it will be arrested. Whenever any outrages are committed upon either citizens or soldiers, the commander of the post nearest the point at which the offence is committed will report the fact at once to the district commander, who will forthwith send as strong a force to the locality as can be spared. The officer in command of such force will at once disarm every citizen within ten miles of the place where the offence was committed. If any citizen, possessing information which would lead to the capture of the outlaws, refuses to impart the same, he will be arrested and held for trial. The troops will be quartered on his premises, and he be compelled to provide for the support of men and animals. These villains can be arrested, unless they receive encouragement from some portion of the community in which they operate; and such communities must be held responsible for their acts, and must be made to realize the inevitable consequences of countenancing such outrages.
By order of Major General SLOc.u.m:
J. WARREN MILLER, _a.s.sistant Adjutant General_.
No. 14.
[Reported for the Vicksburg Journal.]
_Speeches of Hon. Sylva.n.u.s Evans and Richard Cooper, candidates for Congress and attorney general, Vicksburg, September_ 19, 1865.
Pursuant to a call published in our yesterday's issue, a large number of citizens a.s.sembled at Apollo Hall last evening to listen to addresses from prominent candidates for office at the ensuing election.
Shortly after 8 o'clock Hon. A. Burwell introduced Hon. Richard Cooper to the meeting, who addressed them as follows:
SPEECH OF MR. COOPER.
Fellow-citizens: I present myself before you to-night as a candidate for the office of attorney general. I have not before spoken in public since announcing myself, relying wholly upon my friends and past record. I have resided in this State twenty-nine years, and have for twelve years been a prosecuting attorney.
Soon after announcing myself I found I had an opponent, and I concluded to accompany my friend, Judge Evans, to Vicksburg, merely to make myself known, not intending to make a speech.
I was born in Georgia. The first vote I ever cast was with the old-line Whig party. [Applause.] In 1850 I opposed an attempt to break up the United States government, and in, 1860 I did the same thing. I travelled in Alabama and Mississippi to oppose the measure. [Applause.] But after the State did secede I did all in my power to sustain it. [Heavy applause.] I never entered the army, having held a civil office, and was advised by my friends that I could do more good in that way than by entering the service. I believed in secession while it lasted, but am now as good a Union man as exists, and am in favor of breaking down old barriers, and making harmony and peace prevail.
I was a delegate to the State convention lately in session at Jackson, and hope the legislature will carry out the suggestions of the convention. I believe the negro is ent.i.tled to the claims of a freeman, now that he is made free, and I hope he will have them secured to him. I am thankful that Mississippi has the right of jurisdiction, and I hope she will always have it. The office I am a candidate for is not a political, but strictly a judicial office. If elected I shall use my utmost endeavors to promote the interests of the State and country.
Hon. Sylva.n.u.s Evans was then introduced to the audience by Mr. Cooper, who spoke substantially as follows:
SPEECH OF JUDGE EVANS.
FELLOW-CITIZENS OF WARREN COUNTY: I am grateful to meet you here this evening, although a stranger to most of you. Here you must judge of my standing, and I hope you will pardon me while I attempt to explain my position to you. I came to Mississippi in 1837, and moved to Lauderdale county in 1839; by profession, in early life, a blacksmith, latterly a lawyer, practicing in eastern Mississippi; to some extent a politician, always believing in the policy of the old-line Whigs, and always acting with them. In 1851 I was a delegate from Lauderdale county to the State convention, then, as in 1860, being opposed to the act of secession, and fought against it with all my powers. But after the State had seceded I went with it as a matter of duty, and I sustained it until the day of the surrender with all my body and heart and mind. [Great applause.] I believed that the majority of the people did not know what was to come, but, blending their interests with mine, I could not, with honor, keep from it.
We are now emerging; now daylight is dawning upon us. But whether peace and prosperity shall return in its fulness is now a question with the people. I am a candidate before you for the United States Congress. Let me say to you, as wise men, that unless the people and the legislature do their duty, it is useless to send me or any one else to Was.h.i.+ngton, as we cannot there obtain seats in Congress.
My opponent, Mr. West, was nominated at Jackson by a lot of unauthorized delegates, which nomination was, in my judgment, of no account. Were your delegates from this county authorized to nominate candidates for Congress?