Court and member of
Congress. His able and brilliant son, Judge Henry Clay Niles, is now
the United States District Judge for that State, having been appointed
by President Harrison. He has the reputation of being one of the best
and finest Judges on the Federal Bench. The State never had before
and has not had since, a finer judiciary than it had under the
administrations of Alcorn, Powers and Ames, the three Republican
Governors. In referring to the three justices of the State Supreme
Court, Mr. Rhodes made the statement that eligible material in the
Republican party was so scarce that, in order to get three competent
judges the Governor was obliged to select a Democrat. This is not
true. Chief Justice E. G. Peyton and Associate Justice H. F. Simrall
were both southern Republicans. Justice Tarbell, though a so-called
"carpet bagger," was also a Republican and an able judge, who enjoyed
the confidence and respect of the bench and bar. When he retired from
the bench he was made Second Comptroller of the United States
Treasury.

In addition to these able and brilliant men, I feel justified in
naming a few others, such as R. W. Millsaps, in whose honor one of the
educational institutions at Jackson was named; W. M. Compton; T. W.
Hunt; J. B. Deason; W. H. Vasser; Luke Lea, who was at one time United
States District Attorney; his son, A. M. Lea, who subsequently held
the same office; J. L. Morphis, who was one of the first Republicans
elected to Congress; Judge Hiram Cassidy, who was the recognized
leader of the bar in the southern part of the State; his able and
brilliant son, Hiram Cassidy, Jr.; and his law partner, Hon. J. F.
Sessions. Among the circuit and chancery court judges there were such
jurists as Messrs. Chandler, Davis, Hancock, Walton, Smyley,
Henderson, Hill, Osgood, Walker, Millsaps, McMillan, and Drane.
Moreover, there were thousands of others, such as J. N. Carpenter and
James Surget, men of character, wealth and intelligence, who had no
ambition for official recognition or political distinction, but who
were actuated by what they honestly believed to be conducive to the
best interests of their country, their State and their section. In
fact, the southern white men that came into the Republican party were
typical representatives of the best blood and the finest manhood of
the South, than whom no better men ever lived. And yet to read what
Mr. Rhodes has written, one would naturally assume that the opposi