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Show NAMED MISSISSIPPI. .Icpresentatlve Williams Gives Some Interesting Historical Datn Con- jemlng Famous Ships. in a recent comentlon Hepresentathe ,ohn Sharp Williams, of Mississippi, sine Kime Interesting historical lnci-Jents lnci-Jents of warships which have borne tho name of that state. "Ono of the ships engaged In the olocknde of the Mexican coast during the Mexican war, under the command of Capl. Connor," said Mr. Williams, 'was named the Mississippi. .She was afterward under tho spcelal command com-mand of Capt. I'orest, with the fleet that spcurcd the neutrality of Yucatan nnd cptureJ tho Mexlcnn flotilla at I'obnsco. It was the name of the American battleship which Hew Admiral Ad-miral Knrrngut's pennant when he broke through the obstructions from tho mouth of the Mississippi to New Orleans on tho expedition which led to tho separation of the cls-MtsslsslppI from the trans-lsslssIppl confederacy ft was the name of a tonfedcrnto cruiser, then being built for Admiral 3onimcs, nnd not yejulte romnletod, which was taken by tlTo federal forces when they ruptured New Orleans, and whlcn, If completed, might have taken the place which tho ronfcder.ite cruiser Alanatna subsequently took In the history his-tory o' tho naal nlfulrs of tho world. It wis tho name of the battloihlp of AdmlrM Perry when, In 18.12, by the wise exhibition of n 'big nick,' lie procure pro-cure 1 trom the old Japanese government govern-ment tho conditions under which Japan, that rejuvenated giant of tho twentieth century, opened its portst to the commerce of tho I nlted Stntes) uml, ns n result, to the rommerco and fellowship of tho world. It may bo said, therefore, to have been, In a way, the opening wedgo whereby the trunk of old prejudices iinil Chauvinistic Chauvinis-tic isolation In Japan was spilt nnd destroyed. Trom Its guns, belched the seed which, when grown to fruitage, has developed Into the present empire em-pire of Japan tho mot stupendous exhibition ex-hibition of tho rebirth and rapid growth to national mnnluod of a people, peo-ple, which the world has ever witnessed. wit-nessed. "It was iipan the same ship, Mississippi, Missis-sippi, Mint Capt. Perry afterwards visited vis-ited Halifax "ltd Capo Uieton, on account ac-count of the seizure of our llshing vessels ves-sels by ltrltlali crulfors. Tho result of that ltit Wus tho reciprocity treaty with Cunnda, In 18.14. And laot, but by no means least, In my estimation, it Is tho nnmo of n state second In tho union to none n state whose great men have Illustrated the virtue of Amertcnn cltlzo-iflilp on the bench. In tho cabinet cab-inet one! In legislative halls; n state whose mon have Illustrated the virtues and greatness in llfe-ieiiderlng of American soldiery on the field. May the grod ship Mississippi, when she is commissioned, go forth In herself an object lesson to tho wor'd of tho excellence ex-cellence of American naval architecture, architec-ture, or.d in her crow and her oftlcers nn object leson of tho fact that American Amer-ican intelligence and daring nro all as fully to bo found now ns In the most heroic dnys of the republic!" |