A patriotic desire to have the State redeemed ( ?) was not with them the actuating motive.

When the redemption ( ?) of the State was an accomplished fact they, no doubt, felt that they were entitled to share in the fruits of that redemption.
Their idea evidently was that the State should be made to pay for its own salvation and redemption, but the only way in which this could be done was to have the people's money in the State treasury appropriated for that purpose otherwise than by legislative enactment.

This, as I have already stated, is only a conjecture, but, under the circumstances, it is the most reasonable and plausible one that can be imagined.
The case of Treasurer Hemmingway is conclusive evidence that in point of efficiency, honesty and official integrity the Democratic party had no advantage over the party that was placed in power chiefly through the votes of colored men.

What was true of Mississippi in this respect was also true,--in a measure, at least,--of the other reconstructed States..