have, by the largest popular vote ever cast in this State, unmistakably expressed their desire for my continuance in the use and occupancy of the mansion as their constitutional Governor. In view of this expressed desire of the just and lawful owners that this property remain in the continuous possession of their own chosen custodian, and from the further fact that the mere occupancy of the mansion by my family cannot operate as an impediment to the just administration of the reconstruction laws of Congress, I must respectfully decline to oblige yourself or others, by vacating the mansion until a legally qualified Governor is elected under the constitution of the State. Very respectfully, BENJ. G. HUMPHREYS. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, JACKSON, MISS., July 9, 1868. Hon. B. H. Humphreys : SIR: I have been informed (it is possible that my information is incorrect) that you do not find it con venient to vacate the Governor's mansion. I presume it is because of the difficulty in finding any other fit residence. It is my wish to put you to as little personal inconvenience as possible. Under the above supposition, I have no objection to your occupying a part of the house. Next Monday, by which time you can make the necessary arrangements, I, with others, will take possession of a part of the house. So long as we may remain joint tenants, great care shall be taken not to inconvenience your family. Very respectfully, yours, etc., A. AMES, Provisional Governor. JACKSON, MISS., July 9, 1868. General A. Ames: ing. It will be disagreeable to myself and family to share the apartments of the Governor's mansion with other permanent tenants. I hope my letter of the 8th will be satisfactory, and relieve us from any such annoyance. Very respectfully, BENJ. G. HUMPHREYS. EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT STATE OF MISSISSIPPI, JACKSON, MISS., July 10, 1868. Hon. B. G. Humphreys: SIR: Yours of the 8th and 9th were received this morning. You entirely ignore the reconstruction acts of Congress, and the action taken by those empowered to net under them. I recognize no other authority. Under such circumstances, your statement, by which you would show yourself the lawful Governor of this State, has little weight. The feeling entertained not only by me, but by others, not to cause you any personal inconvenience, has, through your own action, ceased to exist. The controversy about the "mansion" can only terminate as indicated in my letter of yesterday. Very respectfully, A. AMES, Brevet-Major-General U. S. A., Provisional Governor. JACKSON, MISS., July 13, 1868. Hon. B. G. Humphreys: SIR: General Ames, the Provisional Governor of this State, has called upon me, as the officer in command of this post, to gain possession of one-half of the mansion now occupied by you. I send Lieutenant Bache, with a guard of men, to see that Governor Ames's request is carried out. Lieutenant Bache will hand you this letter. I do not desire to use force if I can help it, but he will be instructed to do so if necessary. I wish to avoid all unpleasantness to yourself and family, but if you desire, for political purposes, to have a military pantomine," I have also instructed Lieutenant Bache to carry it out with all the appearances of a reality, without actual indignity. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, JAMES BIDDLE, Captain and Lieut.-Col., U. S. A., commanding post. The thorough organization of the Democratic party, and the active canvass carried on throughout the entire campaign preceding the election of June 22d, had the intended effect, and a large proportion of the negroes in the State either abstained from voting altogether, or cast their ballots against the ratification of the constitution. The whole vote on that question was 120,091, of which 56,231 were for, and 63,860 against the ratification; giving the Democrats a majority of 7,629, notwithstanding the alleged fact that a considerable majority of the registered voters were blacks. The vote for Governor was nearly the same as that on the constitution; B. B. Eggleston, the Republican candidate, received 55,250 votes, and Benjamin majority of 8,071. Five members of Congress B. Humphreys 63,321, which gave a Democratic were chosen, four of whom were Democrats. The Legislature, if ever allowed to assemble, will have a small Democratic majority. There were numerous charges of fraud and intimidation at the polls, but General Gillem stated in his report that the military force was distributed at nearly as many posts in the State as there were counties, in order to secure a fair election, and that no instance of violence or intimidation was reported by the officers in charge. Though charges of fraud were made on both sides, the commanding-general declared himself satisfied that "the election was as fair and free from intimidation and the influence of fraud as it would be possible to secure under existing circumstances, and that no undue influence was exercised at the polls." General Gillem, who was very popular with the people of Mississippi, had been appointed, in July, to relieve General McDowell in the command of the Fourth Military District, which had been reduced to the single State of Mississippi, by the consummation of the "reconstruction" of Arkansas by act of Congress. (See ARKANSAS.) conditions imposed by Congress for its restoThe State, having refused to comply with the ration to the Union, remained under the military rule which had been placed over it, and several instances occurred of the immediate exercise of the authority of the district commander in matters ordinarily under the sole control of the civil powers. The question now came up, as to whether the State would be allowed to participate in the presidential election. On the 11th of August, the Democratic Executive Committee determined to publish an address to the Democracy of the North, expressive of their cordial sympathy, and protesting against "the law of Congress passed in violation of the declared objects of the war, to prohibit Mississippi from performing her duty and exercising her privilege of casting her vote in the presidential election." The address was accordingly published, and expressed anew the opposition of the conservative people of the State to the course of the Federal Government and of the Republican party, in deal ing with their interests. A few days later General John D. Freeman, the chairman of this committee, addressed a note to General Gillem, stating that a general election for presidential electors was to be held in November, and that the laws of that State made it the duty of the sheriffs to hold the election. It was usual, he said, for the Governor to issue a proclamation requiring the sheriffs to perform that duty, but the Governor, having been removed by the military authorities, the people now looked to the commanding general "to require the law in this respect to be executed." The_commanding general replied, informing Mr. Freeman that "neither the act of March 2, 1867, organizing this military district, nor any of the acts supplementary thereto, nor any existing orders, either require or authorize him to cause the election referred to by you to be held, and that, therefore, he declines taking the action indicated in your communication." To this Mr. Freeman rejoined in an elaborate attempt to show that it was made the duty of the commander, by the laws under which he acted, to hold this election, and appealed to the General of the Army and the President of the United States for a decision in this matter. In consequence of this appeal, as is supposed, Army Order No. 82, dated October 10th, was issued by direction of the President, forbidding the military commanders to interfere in the presidential election in their respective districts. Nevertheless the necessary authority was not exercised in Mississippi, though General Gillem was again appealed to, and that State took no part in the election of November. State a reign of terror. Loyal and peaceable citizens were driven from their homes, threatened with vio lence and death. Public speakers, by threats and intimidations, were prevented from meeting their appointments, or were driven from the stand by lawless mobs. An organization of armed and disguised men, calling itself a Ku-Klux Klan, perambulated the country by night, committing outrages and murders, defying detection, or being aided and abetted by officers of the law, who made no effort to bring them to punishment. The poor, dependent classes of our loyal fellow-citizens were threatened with starvation, and discharge from service, with violence and death, if they failed to vote in accordance with the dictates of their disloyal employers, said employers habitually denouncing the Congress of the United States, as an unconstitutional and reve lutionary body of men, that ought be dispersed by force or otherwise. violence, thousands of our fellow-citizens were By bribes, threats, misrepresentations, fraud, and erced into voting against their will, and against their honest convictions of right and duty, or were forced to withhold their votes altogether. Many have bee feited all their just rights as citizens, by conspiring murdered. And disfranchised people, who had fr by armed force to throw off their allegiance to the Government of the United States, stood guard a the polls, to overawe the timid, and mark for future condemnation and persecution all those who defied their tyranny. In many counties the state of affairs herein enumerated prevailed to such an extent that there existed not even the semblance of a free election This malignant and unscrupulous opposition to the generous terms of reconciliation offered by Congress, and against the upholders and supporters of the founded only on a desire to harass the public mit me, has, in our opinion, no just excuse, and can be same, by parading before it issues long since settled by the sword, and which ought now to be forgotten. Among the resolutions adopted by the cu vention were the following: 2. That the Republican State ticket-viz., Go Jamison; Secretary of State, Robert J. Alcorn: Sate ernor, B. B. Eggleston; Lieutenant-Governor, AJI Treasurer, D. McA. Williams; State Auditor, Willia J. Morgan; Attorney-General, Joshua S. Morris, Superintendent of Public Education, Charles W. Clark-were duly elected by a majority of the leg votes cast at that election. 3. That it is for the best interest of the people of the State of Mississippi that civil government be established at the earliest practicable moment. It was claimed by the Republicans of Mississippi, in convention assembled, do solemnly declare 1. That we, the loyal people of the State of Missi sippi that, but for fraud and intimidation at the that said constitution was ratified by a majority d June election, the result would have been quite the legal votes cast at that election. different; and on the 25th of November a convention was held at Jackson, for the purpose of petitioning Congress to set aside the result of that election as officially announced by the district commander, by throwing out the vote of several counties, and pronounce the constitution adopted and the Republican candidates duly elected to all the State offices. The address adopted by the convention, and transmitted to Congress, declared that there was a large class of persons in the State arrogating to themselves the title of "the ruling class," which "in defiance of the authority, and regardless of the wishes of Congress, has rejected in contempt all terms of restoration, and has itself assumed the right to dictate on what conditions the State will condescend to be readmitted into the Union." With regard to frauds and intimidations, the following is the statement of the address: From the 15th day of May, 1868, the day on which the constitution, framed by the Constitutional Convention of Mississippi, in accordance with the reconstruction acts of Congress, was submitted to the peo ple, to the 22d of June, the date on which the election for its ratification or rejection was authorized to be held, there existed throughout a greater part of the 4. That we appeal to the Congress of the United admit the State of Mississippi into the great national States, the law-making power of this nation, to re family, and clothe her, under the new constituti of the State, and under the Constitution of the Unite States, with all the rights and powers of a sovereiga State in the Union. Such was the political state of things in Mississippi at the close of the year 1868. Notwithstanding the political excitement of the year, much was done toward reviving the material interests of the State. A large covention of land-owners, from the States of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Louisiana the purpose of organizing companies each to was held at Jackson, on the 31st of March, for be called "The Freehold Land and Colonizetion Company of and of encouraging immigration and the influx of capital into that section of the country, A scheme for the organization of these companies was formed, and a plan of action laid down. The freedmen employed as laborers during the year in most cases received a share of the crops as compensation. A fair crop of cotton and the other staples of the State was obtained. MISSOURI. The increase of population in Missouri, during the last four years, has been very rapid. On the 1st of January, 1865, the State had less than one million inhabitants, and, at the close of the year 1868, the best estimates placed the number above one million and a half. This result has been due in a great measure to the labor of the State Board of Immigration, organized under an act of the Legislature of 1865. It has been the business of this Board to make known abroad the resources of the State, and induce immigrants from Europe to make their home there. The undeveloped resources of Missouri, which call only for laborers, are very great; coal is found in thirty-six counties, iron in thirty-five, lead in thirty-six, copper in twenty-two, zinc in five, nickel and kaolin in two, and platina, emery, alabaster, and tin, in seven counties, while the best of lands for farming purposes are lying fallow for want of cultivators. The laboring population amounts to about 400,000, of whom 272,000 are employed in agricultural pursuits, leaving only 118,000 for all other occupations, and of these less than 60,000 are engaged in mining and manufacturing operations, although the State presents great natural facilities for the development of these valuable interests. The assessed value of all real and personal property in the State of Missouri in 1860 was $317,928,404.30, including slaves, valued at $44,181,912. The losses of the war and the emancipation of slaves reduced the wealth of the State to $200,000 on the 1st of January, 1865. Since that time there has been a steady increase, and the taxable property of the Commonwealth on the 31st of December, 1868, was stated at $474,000,000. On this property, a tax of one-fourth of one per cent. is levied for the payment of the public debt. The total bonded debt of the State is $18,654,000, the semi-annual interest on which amounts to $567,565. The surplus of the interest fund is invested each year in bonds of the United States, to form a sinking fund: $48,000 of the war debt still remain to be disposed of, but there was on the 1st of October a balance of $464,637.89 in the Union military fund, which, after liquidating the remnant of the debt, will be transferred to the credit of the interest fund. The claims of the State against the Federal Government for reimbursement for military expenses, incurred during the war, have all been settled, and the Treasury has received therefrom $6,472,289.35, which has been applied as follows: More than $13,000,000 of the present State debt was incurred by issuing bonds to aid in the construction of railroads, the payment of which was secured by a lien on the property. The process of transferring the property acquired in railroads by the State to private capitalists, on such terms as shall secure the speedy completion of the lines, has been continued through the year, and a considerable share of attention was given by the last Legislature to an adjustment of railroad affairs. There are now 1,394 miles of finished road in the State, and 569 miles in process of construction. The North Missouri Railroad has been completed. It embraces 374 miles of road, and, with its various branches, connects St. Louis with the great agricultural region of the north and northwest. Work on the bridge across the Missouri River, at St. Charles, has made rapid progress, and will be finished without delay. The State claim on this railroad has been sold in accordance with an act of the last General Assembly, the whole amount paid in money and secured by bond being $800,000. A deed of release has also been executed to the Pacific Railroad Company, under an act of March 31, 1868, whereby a clear title has been given to the Pacific Railroad of Missouri for the sum of $5,000,000. Provision was also made for the disposal of the South Pacific Railroad, and in the hands of enterprising private capitalists it is making rapid progress, and promises soon to connect the Territories to the southwest with the great metropolis of the Mississippi Valley, and, through that, put that region in communication with the Eastern part of the country. Its value in the development of New Mexico and Texas will be very great. By an act of the last Legislature, it was provided that the Missouri Valley Railroad Company should pay off its indebtedness to the State by extending the road, at the rate ef $120,000 for every mile of road constructed. An act was also passed directing the St. Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad to pay its debt to the State by building a road from Pilot Knob to the State line of Arkansas, and this arrangement was promptly accepted by the company. The St. Joseph and Council Bluffs Railroad has been completed, and passes for 80 miles through one of the most fertile districts of the State. The Osage Valley and Southern Kansas Railroad has been built from Boonville to Tipton, a distance of 25 miles. Among the projected lines is one from the Mississippi to the Missouri River via Macon. The great interest of this, as well as several other Western States, at present seems to be the building of railroads as an agency in the development of the country. It is with this view that liberal aid has been granted to it by the Legislature during a period when it would be wholly unremunerative if undertaken by private individuals alone. The public elemosynary institutions of Missouri are under very efficient management, but the growing wants of the State demand more ample provisions for the unfortunate and the vicious. The State Penitentiary contains seven hundred and thirty-five convicts, and the accommodations afforded by the present buildings are quite inadequate, and new structures are already in progress. Under the provisions of the act of December, 1865, two hundred and twenty convicts have been pardoned, and a similar leniency has been shown in one hundred and ninety-seven cases not falling under the provisions of that law. The State Insane Asylum is overcrowded, but a new institution of the kind, in course of construction by the city and county of St. Louis, will afford ample additional accommodations." The Institution for the Blind is in a prosperous condition, and seems to be all that is required for the wants of the unfortunate persons committed to its care. The Deaf and Dumb Asylum is full, and requires enlargement. The public schools of the State are in a promising condition. The whole number of children in the State between the ages of five and twenty-one is 544,664, of whom 510,183 are white and 34,481 colored. For the instruction of these, 6,040 school-houses with 7,100 teachers are supplied by the State. The permanent school fund now amounts to $1,689,760, from the income of which $92,793 were distributed to the counties during the year to aid in the support of schools. The portion of revenue tax set apart for the same purpose amounted to $217,011.60. The State has no system of normal schools, but for two years past a series of "teachers' institutes" has been organized in nearly all the counties, and does a very useful work in the way of training teachers for their peculiar duties. The State University provided for by the constitution has been put in prosperous operation with a full corps of instructors. A normal department was added by an act of the last Legislature, and is already working successfully. A military department has been organized, where civil engineering and military tactics are taught under the direction of a distinguished army officer, assigned to that duty under a law of the United States; and it is proposed to establish a department for teaching the branches of learning which pertain to agriculture and the mechanic arts, so as to enable the university to avail itself of the donation of land made to the State under act of Congress of July 2, 1862, for the purpose of founding an Agricultural and Mechanical College. The present endowment of the State Uni versity amounts to $123,707.50, yielding an income for the past year of $10,677.50, which was increased by direct appropriations to $22,065.50. Before giving an account of the action of the two political parties in the excited campaign of the year, it may be well to present a synopsis of the registration act passed by the last Le lature, which contains some provisions intended to guard the privilege of voting even more rigidly than had been done hitherto in the State of Missouri. The law makes it the daty of the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to appoint a superintendent of registration in each senatorial district every year in which a general election takes place. The Board of Registration in ear county is to be appointed by the superintend ent, and all the registry officers are to quality by taking the "oath of loyalty and oath of of fice, prescribed in the sixth and thirteenth see tions of the second article of the constitution." After prescribing some of the general duties of the officers having charge of the registration o voters, the act lays down the following: SECTION 8. In the books furnished to the Board of Registration as aforesaid, there shall be printed e written the oath of loyalty aforesaid, followed by space sufficient for every voter to subscribe his name a place of residence thereunder, and, in cities h streets and houses numbered, the street and num of each voter's residence shall be placed opposite name; and no person shall be registered as a qua voter unless he appear before the said Board, and ta and subscribe said oath, except in the cases provi for in the twenty-third and twenty-fourth sections the second article of the constitution; for persons lieved from disqualifications under the said twentythird section, a separate oath shall be written printed in said book, in conformity with the eas tution, to be taken and subscribed by them. ay person subscribe either of said oaths by making mark, his signature shall be witnessed by a mem posite thereto. Every person so registering of the Board of Registration, by signing his name write his first Christian name in full, and if his sig ture is so illegible as to be difficult to read or ef a registering officer shall immediately in his presen write the name legibly in a side column or spat registration 'under the provisions of this get sta the register; provided that if any person entit from any cause, not appear before the Board of Egistration of his respective district, he may tr mit to said Board, or to the Board of Review, a writing his name thereunder, and sworn to before ten or printed copy of the oath of loyalty, signed by officer properly authorized to administer oaths. A the oath so signed and sworn to shall be preser and filed in the office of the Clerk of the County C with the books of registration. SEC. 9. The Board of Registration shall have p er to examine, under oath, any person applying registration, as to his qualifications as a voter; they shall, before entering the name of any pers on the registry of qualified voters, diligently is specified in the constitution as causes of disqua and ascertain that he has not done any of the tion, and if, from their own knowledge or evid brought before them, they shall be satisfied that t person seeking registration is disqualified under sty provision of the constitution, they shall not enter have taken and subscribed before them the cath name on the list of qualified voters, though he loyalty aforesaid; but shall, if he has taken and se scribed such oath, enter his name on a separate list of persons rejected as voters; and in connection with such entry they shall also note every appeal from their decision by making an entry of the fact opposite the name of the party taking such appeal. The Board of Registration, or any member thereof, shall have power to administer oaths to all parties appearing before them for registration or as witnesses. "On the six secular days next preceding the tenth day before the general election," the supervisor of registration of each county, in connection with the Board of Registration of the county, are required to meet as a Board of Review to revise the lists previously made. "If such Board of Review shall be satisfied that any person applying to be placed on the list of voters could not have appeared before the Board of Registration in his election district, without great inconvenience, they shall so place his name, if entitled to be registered as a voter, on the list of the election district in which he resides. If the Board shall be fully satisfied, from the testimony brought before them, that any person has been rejected by the Board of Registration wrongfully and without sufficient cause, they shall place the name of such person on the list of voters of the election district in which he resides; or if it satisfactorily appears to the Board from their own knowledge, or testimony brought before them, that any person has been placed on the list of voters of any election district of said county who has done any of the things named in the constitution as disqualifying a person to be a voter, they shall strike from the list of voters the name of such person. Objections to persons whose names have been registered by the Board of Registration may be made on the first, second, third, or fourth day of the sitting of the Board; and the name of no person previously registered shall be stricken from the list of registered voters unless such person shall have had two days' previous notice of the time and place when such objection would be heard and considered. Such notice shall be given in either of the following methods: 1. At the time such person is registered by any citizen, and if such notice be then given, it shall be the duty of the officer of registration to mark opposite the name of such person the words 'objected to,' and the name of the objector. 2. By notice in writing, signed by the person objecting or by a member of the Board, to be served as ordinary summons is served. 3. By posting up such notice conspicuously in the office of the county clerk, and at the voting precinct in the election district where the person sought to be affected resides, signed by the party objecting, or by a member of the Board of Review." The Board of Registration is required to elect three judges of election for each district, and to deliver to them the completed registration lists. Very strict regulations are made with regard to transferring names in case of the removal of qualified voters from one election district to another, and heavy penalties are attached to all attempts at fraudulent voting or registration. When any person has Voted, the word "voted" is required to be written opposite his name, and, in case a vote is rejected, the word "rejected" is placed against the name of the person offering the vote. Severe penalties are imposed upon any member of a Board of Registration who "shall knowingly enter upon the register of qualified voters the name of any person not entitled to registration, or shall wilfully and corruptly exclude therefrom the name of any person applying for registration and lawfully entitled thereto." On the other hand, extraordinary powers are given to the Board of Registration and Board of Review by the following section: SECTION 20. The Boards of Registration and Review, while discharging their duties, shall have and exercise the powers of a circuit court for the preservation of order at and around the place of registration, and may summon and compel the attendance of witnesses for the purpose of ascertaining the qualifications of persons registered or applying for registration, and to that end may issue subpoenas, attachments, and commitments to any sheriff or constable, who shall shall receive the same fees therefor as allowed by serve such process as if issued by such court, and law for such services in State cases. All papers, writs, etc., issued by said Board, may be signed by either member of the Board, and shall have the same force and effect as if signed by the whole Board, but no fee shall be charged by said Board for any process so issued; the serving of subpoenas to be paid out of the county treasury, and attachments and commitments by the person against whom they are issued. Special precautions are required in the city and county of St. Louis, and printed lists of the qualified voters are to be used in place of the registration books. In that city, "the judge to whom any ticket shall be delivered shall, upon receipt thereof, pronounce in an audible voice the name of the voter, and, if the judges shall be satisfied that the person offering to vote is a legal voter, his ticket shall be placed in the ballot-box, without inspecting the names written or printed thereon, or permitting any other person to do so; before such ticket is placed in the ballot-box, such judge or clerk of election shall number it to correspond with the number opposite to such voter's name on the printed list, as herein provided; and the clerks of election shall check off such voter's name on the list, by writing opposite the same, in the column of remarks, 'voted,' with red ink." The political campaign was opened in Missouri by a convention of the Democratic party, in St. Louis County, which issued an address to the people of the State, arraigning the Republican party for the policy on which the administration of the State and of the country generally had been conducted since the close of the civil war. A series of resolutions was adopted by the same convention, embodying the substance of the address in condensed form, and closing with a recommendation that a thorough organization be effected in all the towns and wards in the State, and that meet |