Weekly Mississippi Pilot clipping
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Henderson, Ambrose; Alcorn, J. L. (James Lusk), 1816-1894; United States--History--Civil War, 1861-1865; Slavery--Mississippi
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Romance in Politics.
Elsewhere we publish the communication in which Governor Alcorn sent in the name of W. G. Henderson as Judge of the First Chancery District. That document and the letter by which it is accompanied constitute a page in the romance of politics. Many instances of devotion between master and slave equally heroic with this, come down to us from the days of Sallem and Sennen, but in this age of the material they are "like angels' visits, few and far between." Ambrose Henderson has covered himself with honor by the nobility of his good faith to the companion of his childhood - a companion from whom he could not have been separated by all the excitements of a revolution, or the intoxication of the honor that has been poured by that revolution on his head! Men may speak of aristocracy, of enticle, or of blood as they please; but whatever be the one or the other in the case of Ambrose Henderson, the letter which we publish over his name declares him to be amongst the very noblest of the men in this loved State of Mississippi; and yet were it not for the "so-called" Fifteenth Amendment, and the "so-called" Constitution of this State, he would have had, to-day, "no rights which the white man is bound to respect"!
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
JACKSON, MISS., March 26, 1870.
To His Excellency Governor J. L. Alcorn:
GOVERNOR. I was a slave of Col. W. G. Henderson. Boys together as we were, he is the centre of the tenderest associations of my life. Arrived at manhood's estate, I was still intimately connected with him in the relation of his body servant. When he was wounded at Upperville, Virginia, en-route for Gettysburg, he languished in the valley of Virginia in the hands of the Federal authorities, until it was my privilege to take him away, secretly, through the lines to his own people. The affectionate relation of our childhood having ripened into a fixed friendship in our manhood, has been invigorated still further by a mutuality of service and devotion which makes him dear to my soul.
My friend and loving master is a candidate for the office of Circuit Judge of the First District. He is a man of unblemished honor, is a lawyer of high standing at the bar, and having stood out for you boldly during the late caucass, is a good Republican.
Now, Governor, I, by the mysterious providence of God, am a member of the Legislature. I want no office, no honor save that of standing here in my place as a duty to my race. But I believe my position gives me some claim upon the patronage you are about to dispose; and I now place, without reservation, all the credit of that claim to the account of my earnest prayer that you appoint to the Judgeship of the First District the playmate of my boyhood, the companion of my manhood, the generous friend of my whole life - my former master, Col. Henderson.
Hoping you will grant this first and last prayer which I, as a member of this House of Representatives, make to you as Governor of Mississippi.
I have the honor to be,
Your Excellency's
Very humble servant,
AMBROSE HENDERSON.
Elsewhere we publish the communication in which Governor Alcorn sent in the name of W. G. Henderson as Judge of the First Chancery District. That document and the letter by which it is accompanied constitute a page in the romance of politics. Many instances of devotion between master and slave equally heroic with this, come down to us from the days of Sallem and Sennen, but in this age of the material they are "like angels' visits, few and far between." Ambrose Henderson has covered himself with honor by the nobility of his good faith to the companion of his childhood - a companion from whom he could not have been separated by all the excitements of a revolution, or the intoxication of the honor that has been poured by that revolution on his head! Men may speak of aristocracy, of enticle, or of blood as they please; but whatever be the one or the other in the case of Ambrose Henderson, the letter which we publish over his name declares him to be amongst the very noblest of the men in this loved State of Mississippi; and yet were it not for the "so-called" Fifteenth Amendment, and the "so-called" Constitution of this State, he would have had, to-day, "no rights which the white man is bound to respect"!
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
JACKSON, MISS., March 26, 1870.
To His Excellency Governor J. L. Alcorn:
GOVERNOR. I was a slave of Col. W. G. Henderson. Boys together as we were, he is the centre of the tenderest associations of my life. Arrived at manhood's estate, I was still intimately connected with him in the relation of his body servant. When he was wounded at Upperville, Virginia, en-route for Gettysburg, he languished in the valley of Virginia in the hands of the Federal authorities, until it was my privilege to take him away, secretly, through the lines to his own people. The affectionate relation of our childhood having ripened into a fixed friendship in our manhood, has been invigorated still further by a mutuality of service and devotion which makes him dear to my soul.
My friend and loving master is a candidate for the office of Circuit Judge of the First District. He is a man of unblemished honor, is a lawyer of high standing at the bar, and having stood out for you boldly during the late caucass, is a good Republican.
Now, Governor, I, by the mysterious providence of God, am a member of the Legislature. I want no office, no honor save that of standing here in my place as a duty to my race. But I believe my position gives me some claim upon the patronage you are about to dispose; and I now place, without reservation, all the credit of that claim to the account of my earnest prayer that you appoint to the Judgeship of the First District the playmate of my boyhood, the companion of my manhood, the generous friend of my whole life - my former master, Col. Henderson.
Hoping you will grant this first and last prayer which I, as a member of this House of Representatives, make to you as Governor of Mississippi.
I have the honor to be,
Your Excellency's
Very humble servant,
AMBROSE HENDERSON.
Citation
Weekly Mississippi Pilot, “Weekly Mississippi Pilot clipping,” Mississippi State University Libraries, accessed April 25, 2024, https://msstate-exhibits.libraryhost.com/items/show/572.
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