The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1855-03-03
From the 81. Anthony Express.
The Pioneer and Times versus the Territory
Va " Of Mime sofa. -Aa| i+o1DoO

l. The st. Paul, Pioneer and Times keep up the
=" weeping and waiting and gnashing Of teeth,
because the Legislature has not seen proper tt
endorse certain measures dictated BY the clique
Wild which they have been acting, The Pio
neer is crabid and confines itself to vituperation
and abuse Of the members who have been in.
strumental in defeating its favorite schemes
Ihe Lines evidently more sincere, but blinded
oy prejudice, walls most lamentably over the
result, and concludes that because the Legisla-
ture did not passively aequiescei in The Cover
nor's sveto' Q" Minnesota is the most corrupt
place on Gods earth" -,
Now, come gentlemen, pray tell us what
Minnesota has done to merit such unqualified
denunciation as yea seem to delight in heapinp
upon her. Minnesota granted charter to Ger.
tam Eastern capitalists to build. railroad
tnfough her territory. Certain provisions of
tnat charter conferred unheard of privileges. it
Is true, and the Legislature which granted it,
as well as the Governor who approved it, de-
served, and they received, our severest con-
demnatlon. But subsequent Legislature has
rrescinded its odious provisions and placed the
lncorpofators on footing with similar compa-
mes In the States. oItis true, our very consci-
entious Governor, who signed without COM
Function, the original charter with all its enor-
mites, could not vindicate himselfin foro con-
scientific, for signing the charter with its odious
features removed; but Minnesota has defended
nerself from the imputation of folly which such
an act on the part of her Executive might fair
~ nave entitled her to, by voting almost unan-
imously through her representatives her disap-
proval ofthat act. She has thrown back the
odlum upon those to whom it justly belongs,
leaving them to justify themselves before an
enlightened and discerning public. Let not
minnesota, therefore, be cursed for this. Up
But Congress made grant of lands to Min
nesota, to aid her in constructing railroad.
An unscrupulous corporation, who saw them
selves, by the terms of the act excluded from
the benefits of that grant, undertook to correct
the legislation of Congress by certain verbal
amendments, which would make these lands
lnure to their benefit. Congress, justly re-
gardlng this act as an outrage upon the purity
OF legislation and common honesty, repealed
the act comforting the grant. No one will pre-
tend to say that Minnesota had any part in the
proceedings of this New York Com
pany, nor with the subsequent proceedings be-
fore the courts-by which the repeal was pro-
nounced unconstitutional and void. The Dep
uty Attorney General was not Territorial Of
ilcer, and had not been a resident of Minnesota
more IMAM about three months but was the i'm
ported agent of the administration. Ifhe were
guilty OF any act not COMFORTING with strict le-
gal propriety, Minnesota should not be held re-
sponsible. In regard to the original fraud,
has sufficiently signifed her condem-
nation OF it, by laying on the table of the House
OF Representatives. a resolution of approval of
the fraud, the motion for which was opposed
by the very men who are the known patrons of
the Pioneer and Times f .s'-.-..a
What, then, has Minnesota done to merit all
this denunciation and abuse? She has endea-
vored to make the most of a bad case, and we
think she has through her Legislature, the pre-
sent session, accomplished this. In the face of
DrOOfS that hov ~ for
years, at least, of ttaining new grant, she
mas tried to retain the old, and we verify be-
iieve that but for the efforts ofthese papers and
tnelr cOadJutOrs, this she would hove been
able to do. II, however, Minnesota should be
so unfortunate as to lose that which more than
any other thing she now needs, denunciation
proceeds with very ill grace from those whose
enorts. more than anything else, have brought
this misfortune upon her.
1t would seem to us that it must require a
singular degree of assurance and arrogant pre-
sumption for few individuals, among the
whole mass OF the citizens of Minnesota who
are represented in our Legislature, to indulge
IN such wholesale and unqualified denuncatiOn
OF men and measures that have been endorsed
by nine-tenths of our people. This assurance
is al! the more striking. and indeed partakes of
reckless madness, in the case of the Pioneer
and Times, which are published in communi-
ty almost unanimous in their disapproval of
the course pursued by these papers. At all
events, we can assure them their efforts to bear
down the members from st. Anthony, with ar
rogant defamation, or personal detraction,
will prove entirely futile. They are made OF
sterner stuff than to be moved by the roaring
rage or hypocritical cant of factious presses 1t |
is enough for them to feel that no complaint Of
their course has yet proceeded from their con-
stltuents, and to them alone do they regard
themselves as accountable