Ypsilanti sentinel. [volume] (Ypsilanti, Washtenaw Co., Mich.) 1843-1900, 1847-03-10
For the Ypsilanti Sentinel.
DETROIT, Monday March 8, ls47.

uou Vi TIE ehect vi d ieuuCt'oh vi pay upon the
action ofthe Legislature. Upwards of 80 bills,
on which a great part of the session had been
spent, were indefinitely postponed! They were
mostly bills of no Importance: some of them
mischlevous; but as long as SO day lasted
the Legislature was willing to spend day after
day upon them, listening to long and senseless
lspeeches and upon the most insignificant ques-
ltlons. But two days after the pay stopped the
was discovered that the bills were of no conse-
quence whatever, and they were decapitated
without mercy. The moral of the story is man.
ifest enough. AS long as you pay members
So day there will be no hurry to bring the
session toa close; you will be cursed with
whole volumes of useless or pernicious laws.
And where there is so much wrong-doing there
will be little well-doing: for men cannot well
do good and evil at the same time 1.-THE pay
of members had been reduced in the beginning
TO 81 or 81, so there would have been no induce
ment to set any longer than the public coed re-
qnired. There would have been no induce-
ment to find expedien's TO trife awav the time.
The few acts which the general voice Of the
people demanded would have been passed. ana
the Legislature might have adjourned in SO or
40 days.
( The Senate has done far worse than the
House: it has done no good thing that can
now think of, but has killed some good bills
passed by the house. There is no chance,
fear, for the constitutional amendments, impor-
tant as they are, and imperatively called for by
the people. Ifthey should pass the House they
will fail in the Senate.
Why has this session been SO barren of good
results? The party in power have majority
Of more than three to one; and among that ma
jority are their ablest men. The whig minori-
/ ty, SO far from opposing any obstacle to the
regular course of business, have, so far as it
was in their power, in perfect good far h, assis
ted the majority in perfecting all their meas
! ures that had any appearance OF being usefri.-
The majority will acknowledge that there new
| er was a minority more entirely guiItless of
any factious opposition. Yet, what has been
done! The curse of barrenness has fallen
/ upon the party in power. Under the most
/ favorable conditions il produces nothing. Ii
absorbs freely the resources ofthe public treas
ury-and yields no return! The absorbent
function appears to be The only one that fully
retains its vitality; all other functions of the
system are either diseased or dead! How is
this? Do all political parties, who claim exclu-
sive power and wisdom, latter few years ascen-
dancy, become as the barren fig tree! 1t is nat
ura and right that this should be SO. 1t is right
that, radically false principle, persistently ac-
ted upon should in time affect the whole sys-
TEN. owe allegiance to no party, and claim
the right TO speak the truth in charity, of all
parties. 1t is time for the people to come to
the conclusion that no party or faction in the
State has all the wisdom needed to govern the
State. If possible, the intelligence ofthe whole
people should be in some degree harmonisei and
brought TO bear upon the Legislature. We
never can have good government while the
ascendant party looks upon the rest of the com
munity as strangers and aliens who have no
right to be heard, and who are to have no weight
in the government. The principle is radically
false, and the party that acts upon 1t must soon
become itself practical falsehood,-a living
contradiction of all its professions. II seems
almost inevitable that the wing party should
be in power in this state next year. May i'll
ever be free from the narrow bigotry that has
wrought so great an evil in the opposite party.
| Erening. The House have again had under
consideration the Constitutional Amendments.
A motion was made to strike out the limitation
of the pay Of members to 30 days. Mr.. Ed !
minds thought the Limitation too short-he
moved to strike out 80 days and insert 40, adop-
ted. So the amendment stands two dollars a
day for 30 days, and one dollar day for 20
days hereafter. Mr.. H. w. Taylor remarked
adopted by TWO thirds of the House, had been
omitted by the select committee of revision
He therefore moved it again. Adopted 38 to |
IA. He also moved an amendment SO as to |
provide for single, instead of double senatorial
districts. Adopted, yeas 25 nays "a. Mr..
Goodrich moved to strike ont two dollars per
diem and insert three, lost. Mr.. Harris moved |
the indefinite postponement of the whole sub
ject, lost % to %. This shows that there is a
majority Of the majority opposed TO these amend
ments OF the Constitution. The amendments
were laid on the table to be called upagain.
A bare majority of the Senate have got sick
of the days play about the capitol. They have
fixed on Lansing, and seem determined to pass
the bill as it came from the House, while the
minority wish to keep the question open longer.
You will hear in day or two | think, of the
settlement fthe question. vOX POPULI.
"THE AMERICAN AMARANTH," and Ladies