From the Meridian Gazette.
The Rev. James Lynch, our colored Secretary of State, has addressed a letter to Gov. Alcorn on the situation in Mississippi, which gives the lie to the statements of Ames, Warren and other radical slanderers. The letter is as follows:
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
OFFICE, SECRETARY OF STATE,
Jackson, Miss., April 10, 1871.
Governor Alcorn:
Dear Sir – I have read with great pain the letter of Hon. A. Ames, U. S. Senator, addressed to Hon. C. F. Norris, member of the State Legislature, dated, Washington, D. C., March 27, 1871. The charge which it contains carries its own refutation to every Citizen of the State of Mississippi, and the testimony of the people of this Commonwealth, in your vindication, cannot be outweighed by that from any other source. I hope that during your visit North you will do much to convince the national legislators, and public opinion, that reconstruction in Mississippi is not a failure, and that the civil government of our State to which it has given birth, can protect all its citizens, without regard to race or color.
Anticipating a wise administration of our State Government, by your Excellency, in the future, as we have enjoyed in the past, I am full of hope, especially in view of the general disposition of the whites to recognize an identity of interest as regards the relations of the races. A sense of mutual dependence seems to be daily increasing.
The deadly assaults on men of my race at Meridian, and other places along the Alabama border, have their origin in local causes, rather than in the predominant feeling of the people of the State. This fact warrants the belief that the assassins who would veil the State with disgrace, will no more be successful in subordinating the peace of citizens to their cruel attrocity, than the horse thieves that trouble many of our counties.
As a representative man of my race, I wish to see the experiment of self-government, without Federal intervention, tried a little while longer in the State of Mississippi. I have no doubt of the result. One thing is certain; the bayonet cannot give us peace and prosperity. It may maintain order, while it glistens, in garisoned towns; but we wish more than this. We wish to win the hearts of the people to the great doctrines of the Republican party, and to nurture into full development as great love for the American flag as when Mississippians followed it to Mexico. The war of blood is over. Statesmanship alone can finish the grand work which divine providence ordered that war should commence. If patriotism prove stronger than personal ambition, and reason reign over prejudice and passion; if the thoughtless do not succeed in successfully obstructing your grand work of building up a government based upon republican ideas in Mississippi, we shall soon point with pride to our Commonwealth as among the most peaceful and prosperous States in the Union. I solace myself with the thought that assaults upon you are more the result of hasty consideration and impatience than a settled purpose to precipitate anarchy and make you the victim of malice.
Hoping that you and all concerned, in a spirit that says, “come let us reason together,” will be able to answer President Grant’s immortal convocation “Let us have peace,” by saying, “We have peace,” I am very respectfully, your obedient servant.
JAMES LYNCH.
Secretary of State.