plenty of Confederate
generals and colonels in the Legislature." (The excluding clauses were
struck out of the Mississippi constitution at the start.) "The manner of
the blacks to the whites was habitually civil, and something of the
slave's deference to the white man remained. I think the legislation was
generally of reasonably good character. I knew positively of but little
corruption. That there was some corruption and more extravagance, I have
no doubt. But I have served since in the Massachusetts Legislature, and
I think the Southern State was but little worse than the Northern. The
negro members, though with some able and honest leaders of their own,
like Bruce and Lynch, followed largely the prominent white men. Of the
Northerners whom I knew, almost all were men of substance and had come
to stay. Six out of ten owned plantations. A 'carpet-bagger' I hardly
ever met, though no doubt there were some,--but the name was given to
all Northerners. As to expense, you must remember that the State had to
be completely rehabilitated. The war had ruined everything; public
buildings were destroyed or dilapidated; and under military rule things
had simply been kept going. Everything had to be reconstructed. The
slaves had become citizens, and that doubled the number to be provided
for. There had been practically no public schools, and they were set up
throughout the State. Taxes had fallen largely on slave property, now
they came on land. So it was inevitable that there should be an increase
of taxation. About county taxes I have no special knowledge, though in
our locality they certainly were not burdensome. In some of the black
counties it may have been worse. The Republicans, both blacks and
whites, were drilled in the 'Loyal League of America,'--it was a purely
political organization, often meeting in the woods at night. In those
years there was immense progress on the part of the negroes,--political
discussion was educational. I think if the Federal government had
provided better school education, and had protected the voters at the
polls, all might have gone well. That there was more or less of
extravagance on the part of the Legislature is not to be denied. So
there is in Massachusetts. That there was anything to justify the means
resorted to in 1875 and 1876 to get complete control of the State
government, might safely be questioned."

What those means were, there is no serious question. The Democrats
organized a cam