Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1849-1856, 1855-01-25

clal life. Cases Of individual hardship-of
poor man contending with rich man,
repeatedly happen, which il woull be i'm
possible TO reach and remedy by all the
laws which human ingenuity could enact.
These are the inevitable consequences Of
the inequalities of fortune or ability among
the individual members oi the body polite,
which are beyond the power Of Legislation
TO correct The laws are designed to pro.
tect the weak, not to oppress the strong,
and to provide equal justice to all to the ex-
tremest limit of legislative possibility. And
this we believe will be most substantially
accomplished by the well settled rules Of
legal construction upon the rights Of the
parties as they have been interpreted, un-
der the present system, and as they have
been and will be applied BY Rhode Island
juries.
We are satisfied that, under existing laws
whenever any complaint against any rail-
road corporation has been made and estab.
lished before the Railroad Commissioners,
it has been remedied by the companies, and
the results show that the roads within this
State are as safely and conveniently con.
Quoted as those in other parts of the coun.
try.
Hence we deem that the present laws
are best calculated to protect the rights OF
the citizens Of this State, and sufficient for
that purpose, and we do not, therefore, re-
Commend any Legislative action upon the
subjects submitted to our consideration at
the present time"
We come now to what we have already
said was the vital part of the report of the
South Kingstown committee, the certificate
Of Mr.. McGowan to the effect that he was
in tho habit of selling Mr. Hazard tickets
with verbal understanding that he might
use them other than on the day Of their
date. It will be seen by McGowan's afii-
davit, in another part of this paper, that he
utterly denies The statement to which his
signature was procured in the manner
which he describes, and which was an out
rage upon him and upon truth, entirely in
keeping with the whole course of this pro-
ceedng. 1t will be seen that Mr.. McGow-
an states the rule of the company in regard
to through tickets just as We have stated it,
and just as every officer OF the company
viii state it. 1t Is the same rule that pre-
walls on all the long railroad routes, and
that is absolutely Recessary to oprevent them
from being cheated every day, II is a rule
that no rea enable nan can object to, and
there can be no doubt of the motives Of the
man who tries TO break through it, Toa
plain man it would seem very strange what
could have induced the publication of this
certificate, which, it was evident, could not
stand an hours investigation. But the use
that was made OF it shows the object in pro-
curing it. This certificate has been circu-
lated in the report all over the State, before
the meeting of the General Assembly. Pc
ti,ions to the General Assembly have been
signed on the faith Of this false represen-
taiion, by hundreds, and viii be pouring in
to the General Assembly. Many who read
the false statement will never see this GER
rection, and many whose names were OBJ
taned TO the petitions by this shameful
fraud, will stand before the General Assem-
bly, as asking for Legislation to which they
would be altogether opposed if they under
stood the real facts. The contradiction, at
least, comes in time for the General As
sembly to be undeceived, and TO show to the
members what means have been resorted 10
in The double imposition upon them and up
on the petitioners. We refer those who
are interested in this matter to the affidavit
of Mr.. Nc Gowan. Nothing that we can
say will add TO the impression which it will
make on every honest man.-Prou. jour.