USA > Mississippi > Biographical and historical memoirs of Mississippi, embracing an authentic and comprehensive account of the chief events in the history of the state and a record of the lives of many of the most worthy and illustrious families and individuals, Vol. II > Part 19
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"The following shows the increase in manufactures in the state in the past seven years: Number of establishments for the year 1886, two thousand three hundred and forty-two; value, $13,656,000. Number of establishments for the year 1880, one thousand four hundred and seventy-nine; value, $7,518,302. This is an improvement of seventy-nine per cent. in seven years.
"The Baltimore Manufacturers' Record, in reviewing the new industries established in the South, shows that the amount of capital invested in manufactures in Mississippi during the first quarter of 1887 is five times as great as during the corresponding quarter of 1886.
"Mississippi has never been regarded as much of a mineral state, and it is only
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within the last few years that the discoveries in Alabama have caused any examination to be made. The result has been the discovery of some minerals of undoubted and immediate value, and others whose value has not yet been definitely determined, but from which there is every reason to hope for important returns.
"The following are the most important of Mississippi minerals:
"Iron, found at Duck Hill, Enterprise and generally throughout the eastern and north- ern portions of the state. The ore averages from forty to seventy-five per cent. of metallic iron, sufficient to work it with great profit.
"Lignite or wood coal, underlying the entire yellow loam region in the northern portion of the state.
" Hydraulic limestone of excellent quality exists in the northeastern portion of the state. Cement made from it sets almost as rapidly as plaster of Paris, and becomes very hard. Prof. W. D. Moore, after making an examination of this limestone, said: 'I need not enlarge upon the importance to the immediate district and to the whole state of such a mineral deposit of hydraulic limestone, sufficient to supply the entire Mississippi valley with cement for generations to come, which can be worked easily, and from its vicinity to the Tennessee river, be easily transported to every part of the South and Southwest.'
"Limestone, for quicklime, building stones, grindstones and flagstones is also found in various parts of Mississippi.
"Gypsum, of a pure quality, has been found in considerable quantities throughout Mississippi, especially near Cato, in Rankin county, and near Kosciusko, Clinton, West Hinds and other places.
"The kaolin deposit in Tishomingo county is declared by Professor Harper to be the largest deposit of this mineral in the world.
" White sand fit for glass-making is found along the coast, and, indeed, a glass factory was successfully carried on at Moss Point until burned. A very superior article of glass sand is also to be obtained along the branch of the Illinois Central railroad, between Kosciusko and Aberdeen. Professor Hilgard declared that the Pearl river and its tributaries furnish 'drifts of white sand that often vie in purity with those of Ste. Genevieve in Missouri, whence the Pittsburg glassworks receive a large part of their supply.'
"Last but not least are the marls of various kinds found throughout the state. They are found in all the lower half of the state, differing somewhat in quality, but all well worth using.
"Professor Hilgard, who examined them thoroughly, said: 'My deduction from all the examinations I have given these marls is that they are far superior to the green sand marls of New Jersey in potash, for which the latter are chiefly distinguished, and also contain many other valuable elements of food life that the New Jersey marls totally lack.'
"A better manure can hardly be found. It is superior to all manure that the farmer can obtain from the farm, and is equal to guano and in some respects better, for while guano will produce a large crop the first year, its effect is not felt subsequently, while marl will exert its influence on the crop for ten years to come. In the first year its effect is but slight; it is better the second, third and fourth years. While these marls do not compare in commercial value nor in their effect upon the soil with the celebrated phosphate rocks that now make South Carolina famous and add millions of dollars a year to its wealth, yet their abundance, accessibility and diffusion make them a vast, inexhaustible source of wealth to the country where they are found, and they insure its fertility for centuries to come.
"The fisheries of the state are confined wholly to the gulf coast. Since the closing of
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Bonnet Carre crevasse, which formerly allowed the water from the Mississippi to run into Mississippi sound, there has been a great improvement in the oyster beds off the gulf coast, and the oysters are now shipped not only to New Orleans, but to the North as well, where they are much relished, five canning factories being engaged in canning and preparing them.
"The fish caught off the coast are sent mainly to New Orleans and Mobile, few of them going North. The average annual catch of fish and oysters is now $225,000.
"These streams, with the railroads, give the planters four thousand and twenty-seven miles of route to market. Some of them are not to-day in complete navigable condition, but can be made so at small expense.
"The representatives of the United States statistical bureau estimate the traffic of Mis- sissippi as follows:
"Cotton and cotton goods, $39, 732,320; cottonseed oil and cake, $1,100,000; wool and woolen goods, $257,952; lumber, $3, 940,000; fruit and vegetables, $250,000; fish and oysters, $235,000; cord wood, $1,500,000; total, $47,015,272. Of this $41,465,000 is exported from the state and represents its annual net earnings. Unfortunately most of this large sum goes for provisions brought from the West and manufactured goods, cottons, etc., from New England. If Mississippi raised these articles itself, as it is well able to do, it would keep all this money at home, and would soon become one of the richest states in the Union.
"In consequence of the building of railroads and the erection of factories, there has been a decided increase in population and commercial and industrial activity in the towns. Vicksburg, Natchez, Meridian, Jackson, Holly Springs, Grenada, Starkville, Columbus, Yazoo city, Water Valley, Greenville, Canton, Macon, Wesson, Brookhaven, Summit and Enterprise are all growing and prosperous places." It is greatly to be regretted that the census of 1890 is not available to make a later exhibit, especially as other sources are incomplete and therefore unavailable. Enough has been given, however, to illustrate, if not measure, Mississippi's great growth under two different systems of labor."
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CHAPTER VII.
POLITICAL HISTORY.
I T is obvious to the reader that it would be impracticable to embrace within a single chapter in minute narrative and critical form a political history of the state of Missis- sippi, extending, as it does, through some of the most eventful periods of the general government, and covering a space of seventy-one years. It is, however, the design of the writer to state all of the important facts and interesting incidents properly belonging to such a history, accurately, uncolored by sectional prejudice or party-bias, for public infor- mation and use.
On June 12, 1797, President John Adams recommended the establishment of a govern- ment in the district at Natchez, and accordingly, by act of congress, approved April 7, 1793, all that tract of country described as bounded on the west by the Mississippi river, on the north by a line to be drawn due east from the south of the Yazoo to the Chattahoochie river, on the east by this river, and on the south by the thirty-first degree of north latitude, was constituted one district and called the Mississippi territory, and the president authorized to establish a government therein.
The territorial government, thus established, existed for fifteen years. Winthrop Sar- gent of Massachusetts; William Charles Cole Claiborne, of Virginia; Robert Williams, of North Carolina, and David Holmes, of Virginia, were the territorial governors. The most notable event which occurred at that time in the history of the territory and the United States, was the War of 1812. Maj. Thomas Hinds, for whom one of the most considerable counties in the state is named, and in which the capital is situated, with a battalion of Mis- sissippi dragoons, was ordered to report to General Jackson at New Orleans. Their prowess and valor displayed upon this celebrated battlefield in history won for them the following plaudits of congratulation and praise from the General, who, possessing in an eminent degree the quality of courage and spirit of patriotism, readily discovered and generously applauded their exhibition in others. By military order he said: "The cavalry from the Mississippi ter- ritory was always ready to perform every service which the nature of the country enabled them to execute. The daring manner in which they reconnoitered the enemy on his lines excited the admiration of one army and the astonishment of the other."
Under Governor Williams' administration (extending from 1805 to 1809) of the terri- tory this interesting episode took place. Colonel Burr and his retinue of men arrived opposite the capital site Washington, at the mouth of the Bayou Pierre run, in January, 1807, with a grotesque flotilla of nine flatboats. He soon learned that the territorial authorities would oppose his descent.
Colonel Burr in a letter to the governor " disavowed any hostile intentions toward the ter- ritory or the country; that he was en route to the Ouachita to colonize his lands and that any attempt to obstruct him would be illegal and might provoke civil war." A deputation of gen-
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tlemen, among them George Poindexter, was sent to interview Burr, with a letter from the governor. Colonel Burr, judging from all appearances, sneered at the idea of his having any hostile designs upon the country, saying that he would have gone direct to Natchez to see the governor (a point six miles distant from the capital) but for the information received at Bayou Pierre and the fear of assassination. Burr presented himself before Judge Rodney and gave his recognizance in the sum of $5,000, with sureties for his appearance at a called session of the supreme court to be held on February 2. George Poindexter was then the attorney-general for the territory. He moved the discharge of the grand jury. This was on the ground that in the depositions submitted to him by the court, he found no testimony which brought the offense charged against Colonel Burr within the jurisdiction of the courts of the Mississippi ter- ritory. He asked for the conveyance of the accused to a tribunal competent to try and punish him if guilty, and asked for the discharge of the grand jury. Judge Bruin declared against the discharge of the grand jury unless Colonel Burr was also discharged from his recog- nizance. The grand jury presented no bill against Colonel Burr, after a session, and were dis- charged. Colonel Burr then demanded a release from his recognizance, which the court refused, and he fled, forfeiting it.
At the close of the War of 1812, an exhaustive strain having been made upon the mate- rial conditions of the territory, they were appreciably stimulated with new life by increase of an enterprising population and influx of capital. The question of admitting the state into the Union was now canvassed with ardor and that pardonable sentiment of national pride which the American instinctively feels toward the government of the United States.
On March 1, 1817, President Madison approved an act to enable the people of the ter- ritory "to form for themselves a constitution and state government, and to assume such name as they deemed proper, and the state, when formed, was to be admitted into the Union upon the same footing with the original states." Qualifications of freedom, color, residence, and payment of territorial or county tax, authorized a vote in selecting delegates to form a constitution.
In accordance with this enabling act and the election held under it, the delegates, as chosen, assembled in the town of Washington in July, 1817, the convention adjourning on the 15th of August of that year. The qualifications prescribed by the constitution of 1817 for the governor were: Residence of five years in the state, the age of thirty years, posses- sion of a freehold estate of six hundred acres of land within the state, or real estate of the value of $2,000. For the new lieutenant-governor the qualifications were the same. For a state senator: Twenty-six years of age, four years' residence in the state, to own in his own right one hundred and fifty acres of land or an interest in real estate of the value of $500 at the time of his election and for six months previous thereto. Every free white male of the age of twenty-one years or upward, a citizen of the United States, who had resided in the state one year, and the last six months in the county, city or town, and who had been enrolled in the militia, unless exempted by law from military service, and shall have paid a state or county tax, was declared to be an elector. The judicial and executive officers were made elective by the legislature. The first constitution of Mississippi was, there- fore, formed and put into operation in the forty-second year of the independence of the United States of America. The earlier governors of the state under the constitution of 1817, in their consecutive order of election to office, were as follows: David Holmes, of Virginia; George Poindexter, of Virginia; Walter Leake, of Virginia; Gerard C. Brandon, a native of the territory, and Abram M. Scott, a native of Sonth Carolina. David Holmes, the last terri- torial governor, was fitted by experience and ability to put into operation the machinery of the government in conformity with the provisions of the new constitution.
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George Poindexter, of Virginia, is of national reputation, having been a member of both houses of the Federal congress. He is the author of Poindexter's Code of Mississippi, a work of high rank and great value in the judicial and legal annals of the state. In 1835, when Mr. Poindexter became a candidate for reelection to the United States senate, he was defeated by Robert J. Walker, who was secretary of the treasury under President Polk.
The administration of Walter Leake was rendered conspicuous by the assembling of the constitutional convention of 1832, the convention which changed the whole structure of the organic law of the state.
The second term of Governor Brandon, covering the years 1830-31, is memorable in the state for the passage of two acts, one to establish the Planters' bank of the state of Missis- sippi and the other calling a convention to revise, modify or make a new constitution. Twelve years had elapsed, when the state had greatly increased in population; its agriculture had been extensively developed and the state was growing rapidly. The legislature of the state, at its annual session in 1830, determined, despite the exclusive privileges conferred upon the bank of the state of Mississippi, to incorporate an additional bank, to be known as the Planters' bank of the state of Mississippi, with a capital of $3,000,000. This act of incor- poration was approved February 10, 1830. Two-thirds of the capital stock was reserved for subscription by the state, and the governor was authorized to subscribe for twenty thousand shares of the capital stock in the name and on behalf of the state, aggregating $2,000,000. The second section of the act of incorporation pledged the faith of the state to make good all losses which might accrue from a deficiency of the funds of the said bank, or by other means, in proportion to the amount of the stock which the state should have therein. The governor was empowered to have prepared and issued the bonds of the state of Mississippi for the sum of $2,000,000, to be signed by the governor and countersigned by the auditor of public accounts, and when so signed and countersigned it was made the duty of the governor to deliver the said bonds to the president and directors of the Planters' bank in payment of the subscription of the stock made for and by the state.
It was also made the duty of the president and directors of the Planters' bank to sell the bonds delivered to them by the governor for specie only. The said bonds were to be under the seal of the state, signed by the governor and countersigned by the auditor of pub- lic accounts, and made assignable by the endorsement of the president and cashier of the bank to the order of any person, or the bearer. The faith of the state was pledged for the payment of the principal and interest of these bonds upon their maturity, as well as the stock of the bank. It was also provided that if a dividend arising from the stock subscribed by the state, as specified, should be insufficient to meet the interest accruing on the bonds and the payment and extinguishment thereof when due, the bank was to supply such deficiency and charge the same to the account of the state, and for the payment thereof the faith of the state was pledged. Of the bonds of the state authorized to be delivered to the Planters' bank of Mississippi in payment of the stock subscribed for in the name of the state in that institution, $500,000 worth was sold in the year 1831 and the remaining $1,500,000 worth was disposed of in the course of the year 1833, and the money received therefor placed in the vaults of the bank. The constitution of 1817, unlike that of 1832, contained no clause prohibiting the state from pledging its face, and hence the legislature was clothed with plenary power in the premises. The bonds had been sold by the agent of the bank in strict conformity with the provisions of the law authorizing their issue, and for specie only, and the proceeds were properly paid over to the officers in charge of the insti- tutiou. The bank was conducted on what are usually regarded as sound business principles
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and was in a highly prosperous condition until the great financial distress of 1837 came, which involved the commercial prosperity of the whole Union.
At this time the question of changing the constitution was debated, the state having out- grown the original constitution of 1817, and an organic law was demanded better calculated to meet the needs and conditions of a more prosperous and growing state. The question of the expediency and necessity of a constitutional convention was submitted by legislative act to the people, and a decided majority pronounced in favor of calling the proposed constitu- tional convention, which was accordingly done by legislative act passed and approved Decem- ber 16, 1831. The convention convened in pursuance of the act, the 10th day of September, 1832.
The material change and distinguishing feature which characterized the constitution of 1832 was the enlargement of the liberty and power of the people through the ballot-box, by conferring authority on them to elect their own public servants, without reference to a prop- erty qualification. The most radical change, however, was that made in the judicial depart- ment of the government, making judicial functionaries, from the highest to the lowest, elective by the people. A superior court of chancery was authorized to be established and the chancellor was made elective by the people. A high court of errors and appeals was provided for, composed of three judges. Circuit and probate courts were provided for and these judges were all elected by the people, as also the district attorney.
The constitution of 1832 made Mississippi the pioneer state in embodying in her organic law the right of the people to select through the ballot box their judicial officers from those who presided over inferior tribunals to the court of last resort. At that time neither the constitution nor the laws of any state in the Union provided for a judiciary elected by the people, and in the interim, between 1832 and 1861, every state in the Union followed the example of Mississippi in this respect.
The tenure of office prescribed by the constitution of 1832 was two years, prohibiting the same individual from holding the office more than four in any six consecutive years. The powers conferred and the duties imposed on the executive were copied, in the main, from the constitution of 1817, the material difference being that the latter provided for, and prescribed, the duties of lieutenant-governor, while these duties under the constitution of 1832 were to be performed by the president of the senate when rendered necessary by reason of the death, resignation or removal from office of the governor.
Alexander G. McNutt, a native of Virginia, was the third governor of Mississippi, under the constitution of 1832, having been nominated by the democratic party, which, at that time, in 1837, had a large majority in the state over the whig party. Under his admin- istration, the great era of the Flush Times existed, so inimitably described by Judge Bald- win in his interesting work of that name, and in his Party Leaders. The capital of the banks of the state incorporated by the legislature in less that six years after the formation of the constitution of 1832, aggregated the enormous sum of $53,750,000. To most of the railroads was given the privilege of banking; they were authorized to issue their own notes for circulation, to make loans and deals in exchange, bonds and bills of credit. The era of innumerable mushroom banks, inflated credit systems, and frenzied spirit of speculation produced an abundant harvest of distress and bankruptcy for the people of Mississippi. As this financial policy signally drew the line of division between the two prevailing parties of the state, the whigs and democrats, it will be somewhat disclosed in detail, giving rise, as it did, to a spirited and important political contest. The people at that time seemed to im- agine that this species of legislature could provide substantial sources of revenue, and
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bring about permanent prosperity. They clamored for more banks and a still larger issue of worthless promises to pay. In obedience to this public demand for more money, the legislature early in the session of 1837 passed an act to incorporate the Union bank of Mississippi, with a capital of $15,500,000, which was approved January 21, 1837, “ so far as the action of the legislature is recognized." In the original act of incorporation, in order to facilitate the said Union bank in its negotiation for this loan of $15,500,000, the faith of the state was pledged both for the security of the capital and interest, and ordered that there should be issued seven thousand five hundred bonds of $2,000 each, payable in four installments of twelve, fifteen and twenty years, and bearing interest at the rate of five per cent per annum, to be signed by the governor of the state to the order of the Mississippi Union bank, and countersigned by the state treasurer, and under the seal of the state. The bonds were made transferable by the endorsement of whomsoever or to the bearer, and the capital and interest of the bonds were payable by the bank at the time they severally fell due.
The charter of the Union bank, as originally enacted, authorized the issuance of the bonds of the state for $15,500,000, and their delivery to the bank as a loan. The bank was required to secure the payment of these bonds, and the prompt payment of the accru- ing interest by mortgage upon the property of the stockholders of the bank, but this did not satisfy the legislators of that day.
They passed an act to incorporate the subscribers to the Mississippi Union bank, requir- ing the governor to subscribe for, in behalf of the state, fifty thousand shares of the original stock of the bank, the same to be paid for out of the proceeds of the state bonds, as provided to be executed to the bank by the charter, and that the dividends and profits accruing and declared by the bank on stock subscribed for on behalf of the state, should be held by the bank subject to the control of the state legislature, for the purposes of internal improvement and promotion of education.
The president and directors of the Mississippi Union bauk, or the managers, had ample power to appoint three commissioners to negotiate and sell the state bonds, provided for in the act incorporating the subscribers, in any market within the United States, or in any foreign market, under such rules and regulations as might be adopted by the president and directors, or managers, not inconsistent with the provisions of the charter of the bank providing against the sale of bonds under their par value. This supplementary act was approved by Governor McNutt on February 15, 1839, but a short time after the date of his approval of the original charter of the Union bank, after its passage by two successive legislatures, in obedience to the requirements of the constitution, during that year, bonds of the state to the amount of $5,000,000 were prepared, signed by the governor, countersigned by the treasurer of the state and delivered to the president and directors of the Union bank. The bank appointed three commissioners of integrity and purity of character to negotiate the bouds. They succeeded in disposing of the entire $5,000,000 worth of bonds to the honor- able Nicholas Biddle, then the president of the United States bank of Pennsylvania. When the intelligence of the consummation of this negotiation reached the people of Mississippi they were wild with excitement, and the event was celebrated by great rejoicing and public demonstration,
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