The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1855-09-22

WEDNESDAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 10. 1866.
asss Csasummats ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
u Character for Political Purposes.
Before William R. Marshall was nomina-
ted for Congress, the man did not live in
Minnesota or elsewhere who dared to whis-
per breath against his strict honesty and
firm integrity in all the transactions OF bus
mess and social life. We have never, after
an intimate acquaintance of six years, found
occasion to doubt his most thorough honesty
in any relation, public or private, that he has
been called upon to assume between man and
nan. Widows and orphans have called upon
him in many more numerous instances than
upon any other citizen in this community to
perform that most perpaexing of duties, the
settlement Of the estates OF their deceased
husbands and fathers. And we have no doubt,
that if this day an enquiry were made into
the records of Ramsey county, Mr.. Marshall
would be found to be the administrator OF es-
taees of deceased persons involving greater
pecuniary amount than has ever been placed
in charge of any one other citizen of Mime
sofa. He came to the Northwest some
twelve or fifteen years ago. a poor young man;
by industry and strict integrity he has laid
the foundation of an earthly fortune: he has
won the confidence of all his fellow-citizens,
and would not barter that confidence away
to be elected President of the United States
much less to hold the more humble office
of Delegate to Congress.
When Mr.. Marshall was first nominated,
the Rice journals yielded to him this high po-
sition as a man of strict integrity and person
al honor. But the very moment it be-
comes almost decided fact that he will be
elected, we find every editorial whiffet and
penny-a-liner in the Territory who is favored
with the poor privilege Of handling Mr.. Rice's
money, turning in to impeach Mr.. Marshall's
standing as a business man. The chieflead-
or in this humiliatingly mean operation is the
editor Of the St. Anthony Express man
who many months since we convicted in these
columns of petty knavery. but no appears
now determined to Guido all his former acts
ofmeanness by proclaiining through his turn
coat sheet that Mr.. Marshall is a dishonest
SPECTATOR man entirely unfit to be trust
ed with the affairs of the people of Minneos-
ia at Washington. We are somewhat per-
sonal in our illusions to the editor of the Ex-
press, because we arc forced into the neces-
sity.
We imagine that where Mr.. Marshall and
the editor of the Express are both known,
the editors envenomed shafts Of personal
spite will fall as harmless at the feet of our
candidate as have his equally poisoned ar
rows which have from time to time been
aimed at the reputation of the best men in
the community which he disgraces. Many
good man in Minnesota has borne the out
pourings of Isaac Attwater's petty wrath
and venom, but we have yet to learn the man
who has ever suffered therefom. 1t would
be giving him too much -prorainenee 10 for
mally contradict all the falsehoods with
which he has flooded the Territory concern
ing Mr.. Marshall. But in contradiction of
the charge that Mr.. Marshall is land spe-
culator, or any other kind of Spectator,
We again, for the second time, quote H. M.
Rice himself. In his reply to the charges
Of Secretary McClelland's spy, j. Ross
Browne, sent here last winter to dispossess
the settlers of portion of the Fort Smelling
Reserve of their land titles, Mr.. Rice says
this of Mr.. Marshall:
"Mr. Browne further says that William
X. Marshall, the principal purchaser, is a
merchant, and SPECTATOR Now, Mr..
Marshall is simply merchant, and his char
acter for integrity will compare favorably
with that of any man, either east or west.
He is universally respected; and for that
reason, poor men solicited him to 90 and bid
OF the lands upon which they had settled,
to save them from the expense of attending
sale: Not one foot of land was purchased
for himself, but he attended the sale and bid
II oh for the sole purpose OF accommodating
the poor. And had Mr.. Browne examined
the records, with the same care he seems to
have bestowed upon advertisements in news
papers, and notices stuck upon trees or
with the willingness he gave ear to the idle
gossip OF idle persons, he would have found
Mr.. Marshall had, true to his trust, conveyed
to each individual settler, the lands he had
improved. Nor did he charge the settlers
one farthing for the services rendered them"
So much for Mr.. Marshall as a "specula-
tori"
Another equally base charge is that of the
Winona Argus, which states that Mr.. Mar
shall is about to enter into the business of
issuing shinplasters. The mendacity of this
last editor leads him so far, that he pretends
to quote Mr.. Marshall's language in justifi-
cation of such course in his banking bus
mess. Here is the charge as made in the
Argus:
at is understood that the Banking House
Of VIM. r. Marshall & Co., of St. Paul, will
soon commence the issue of shinplasters,
upon their own hook. This step. they
say, Borup 4 Cakes have forced them to
take" &c.
Could political malevolence go farther :?
The editor of the Argus himself was in St.
Paul nearly the whole Of last winter, and he
we'll knows that Mr. Ma.shan, as President
Of the St. Paul Board Of Trade, spent many
days during that period in devising legiti-
mate plans to drive out Of circulation all the
shinplaster currency with which we were