The Arkansas advocate., 1833-01-30


 tons oi the day, on either side. Yet, SIT, have hecn charged with political enor- mity. My course has been censured as guided by partisan zeal; and one of our presses las once CT iwice made a show of opening masked battery upon me. lam unwilling to remain entirely silent and sec e poisoned arrows thrown at me from a CO., vert. These men and their fnipions, for reasons best known to themselves. have long had fretfal anxiety 10 have me put luPon tie invalid list and declared unfit for seryice, before had taken Up arnls.A- 'he dte R now cast. The public shall Judge of me, not these men or their crca- tufcs. If they are for war, will endeay- or to give blow for blow, thrust for thrust. Forthe hrst time in \ rhansas have taken lap my pen io write for tue press. l pro- ceea to review and examine this road af- lar Tn coaaexion with this judicial pro- i feeedthg. do it in self defence The defence ftny injured client might furnish q further apology. if one were necessary.
 he imposing assumption of this pro ceeding Is the false assertion that tAis aeSo fodd, this Pope and Rorer road, has been opened, cat out and made sunder the au- thority an act Of Congress- This asser- 1 iion Is tue basis of the petition and deciar- ation. deny the truth of II, and will ] prove its falsity. What is the foundation l oi the Governors authority in road busi- ness? If is founded on, and limited by. two acts of Congress. One of these acts, passed ih 1e32, is in these words: Be ii enacted &c., That tire following spms be appropriated for the rnrpose of making the improvements herein after mentioned, viz then laiter forty CT more improvements are specified anu money appropriated for them) follow these words :--for the re- pats of inc Little Rock and Memphis road ;, from Little Rock to tbe St. Francis river, under the superintend fence of the Govern l or of said Territory, twenty thousand dol lars (See acts of Congress of 1892, pa ges l34, l37.) By t!ius connecting the en- acting clause with tho clause making tiic appropriation, the whole force of the act as to the Governors authority Is exhib- tied.
 Ii would seem that the Governor could have had no question as 10 the object for which this s2G.eg0 was appropriated. Ii was clearly 10 repair some road. lfhe did not know the sense of the word repair, he " az guilty of remarkable hebetade. Common people understand 1t very easily. l he had any doabt what road was meant, he had only to refer 10 act of 1894, in thcse words; The Presidentis hereby author lzed to appoVnt three commissioners. who shall explore, survey and mark, in the most eligible course, road from point on the right bank of tbe river Aiississippi, opposite 10 the town of Memphis, in the State of Tennessee, to Little Rock. in the Territory Of Arkansas; and said com tnissioners shall make out accurate plats of such surveys accompanied with field notes. and certify and transmit the same to the President of the United States who, if he approves of sad surveys. shall cause the plats thereof to be deposited ia the office of the Treasury of the United States, aid the said road shall be consid- cred as established and accepted'
 inc said road shall be opened and made under tie direction of the President of .le Uuited States, who is hereby authorized to employ the troops of the United States in tae completion, or in assisting in the completion thercof' {Gordon's Digest of the Laws Of U. s., page 562.)
 give the words of the acts, that I may not he accused of misstating.
 Now, sir, l affirm that there Is no other act whatever that gives the Governor any authority to do any work either in person or by agent upon the IL. R. and NJ. road Do either of these give him authority to open, cut oaf and p,dke any road whatever!
 
 any such grant in either of them. His au- thofity is confined 10 one pont--sto repoir the L. R. and M road That road was easily found. The last quoted act so de- scrlbed It that none, of common scnse, could mistake II. It was past the possible power of Inc Governor to open and make that road. Il had been sopened and made years before, under the direction of tho President. Where then IS the act of Con- gress, under the authority of which any road has been opened, cut out and made under the direction of the Goyernora IL does rot exist. The assertion Is false.- The fact of opening and making tle H. R. and M. road IS an inpossibility to the C O. vernon, unless indeed the Governor can do in ls:32, whatthe President had done years before.
 The Governor has cnt down and cleared out the trees, undergrewih and shrub oery, and opened a space through the forest, where there never was a road before He ias constructed causeways aHa bridge filled up holes and dug down and Ievelled the places which required it. All this he has done for miles where there " as no pub- lie road. Such acts bespeak and prove the making a neso road, not ssthe s-epui,- of an accepted and established old road d'' By what authority or pretence of anihori- ty will the Goternor pay Rorer for making this new road out of the S2D ,0GD fund l-- Certainly no actof Congress authorizes it.
 This Pope and Rorer road cannot with truth be described in terms that will suit the L. R. and II, read,' The publication in the Gazette makes three efforts to de- scribe it; and they are made by the Go vernor's eronies. The petition says it is road opened under the authority of an act of Congress, and cai oui and nlade com rnodious highway, by D. Rorer. Samson