The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-25 00:00:00

BRIBING A LEGISLATURE.

" The Yew York Times of May 25, 1858, adverting to
the state of things in Wisconsin, had these headings :
Railroad Management—The Wholesale Bribery of the En-
tire Government of Wisconsin—Tariff of Prices: Governors
quoted at 20,000 dols; Senators, 10,000 dole; Assembly-
men, 5,000 dols. The General Plunder., Robbery, and
Miscellaneous Swindling of the La Crosse and Milwaukee
Railroad—Report of the Special Committee of the Wiscon-
sin Legislature. This committee (I bog the reader to be-
lieve that this is all serious) was appointed by joint resolu-
tion to inquire into alleged bribery and corruption of mem-
bers of the Legislature of Wisconsin and others in 1856, and
also into the condition of the refit., ad mentioned, and other
corporations. The committee reported as a tame fact the
discovery that a great majority of the Legislature of 1856
had been bought up, while the most unique ingenuity had
been used to veil the transaction. The bribery was effected
by assigning to certain persons bonds or stock in the La
Crosse and Milwaukee Company. A list of senators' names
was given, with their pecuniary compliments, varying from
10,000 to 20,000 dols in bonds. The amounts were placed
in the hands of an agent of the company, to be passed by
him to those senators when the bill should become a law ;
the recipients not choosing to trust the directors. About
50 members of the Assembly, or Lower House, received
5,000 dole each in bonds ; a few more, 10,000 dole ; and one
—of higher principle than the rest, perhaps-20,000 dols.
Of these, none rejected the compliment. Four senators,
however, voted for the bill gratuitously. Several State
officers in high places came in for a share of these pecuniary
compliments—some getting 10,000, ',erne 5,000 dole. About
30 outsiders received from 1,000 to 25,000 dole. In one of
the lista of recipients of the railway company's bounty there
the tasked
•tim ne was a pretty good
\v.:arse five dashes-10. When the clerk who drew the lists up
me
dto explan those blanks, he said he remarked at
, these roust be for the Governor. His principal told
read the guesser. One would be curious to
state
oE„sv
i_ messagecoito the Legislature of this Governor of the
those numbers stood fno.rhPths
lists made out, of • The manager of the business had two
the recipients of thwetieh the first contained the names of
, numbered ; while in the second
packages of bonds were then
names, with the amounts ; the
were jestroystl. There seemens
trnade up, and tho first list
clufeitiovhave been a general under-
The witness just men-
preserve not to be too in
tinned said—' It has been the habit of my life to make and
.'as president, he
Th,,
pmrebseirdeanhing
preserve written memoranda of ai,llireevteunrteenoire circumstances
I desire to remember. I had no de
sir©
etlymidseenpeace,ktahgaet:
of the
1 company, about thes(aleidli,vienr3h'
agent 200 000 dole. in bonds of. placed
in the hands of an I tb.a tom-

parry, to be used in any such way as might seem necessary
to procure the passage through Congress of the several acts
granting lands to the territory of Minnesota, for a virtual
extension of the La Cress and Milwaukie Railroads. Only
three editors came in for a share of the plunder. On exa-
mining the lists of names of the persons bribed, it will be
found that five-sixths are of English origin, the rest being
foreigners. It was not the despised Irish or German ele-
ment of the population that furnished this body of corrup-
tion ; it was not English born, of course ; an Englishman
stands a most infinitesimal chance of getting any office, or
of obtaining the people's votes, in the North especially.
Nor did the South contribute any of its English descended
population to the list of bought and sold freemen. I see no
reason to doubt that full half of these persons were genuine
Yankees, and more than a quarter more of them Northerners
of Yankee origin. In England we are in the habit of attri-
buting American wrong-doings, excitements, and rascali-
ties to the mob;' but in this case it need not be proved the
mob had no hand in the foul business : nor has it generally,
These things are the work of highly-respectable persons,
ho, when at home, are most of them attendants or mem-
bers of the Churcb,' as the phrase is, The Wisconsin Le-
gislature adjourned without taking any steps to redeem the
character of the S tate from all these infamies ; and the public
wealth in land thus, and in other ways, becomes a public
curse."