The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1856-03-05
..Wur,r Rrsrs The REsposs1B1L1TYs' THE

! ..WHrRE REsrs THE RESPONSIBILITY! THE
/ following is an extract from recent address OF
! hon. ". r. Smith, Of Alabama, 10 his constlt-
i uents. ii which he shows most concluslveiy
!. that the democratic party are responsible. tor
w. Ave Of them at least, for the non erganlza-
inn IL the house. and of course, for the suisse
! ouent election Of Banks as speaker. On Messrs.
! Rarksdale. Bennett, and Wright, of this State,
and the other forty two southern members, who
i voted with the whole crowd of freesollers, abo-
litionists and black republicans, against Mr..
Carlise's resolution, rests the responsibility OF
this failure to elect. We quote:
On Monday, the 21stinst., the honorable gen
tleman from Virginia Mr.. Carlisle offered a
resolution .that The honorable William Smith,
a representative in congress from Virginia,
should be declared speaker Of the house ofre-
presentatves', Upon that resolution vote
was taken, and Mr.. Smith received forty seven
yotes-amongst which was, I believe, every
member of the national American party pre-
sent, except one Here is the vote for Mr..
Smith
YEAs-Messrs. Boscie. Boyee, Broom. John
P. Campbell, Carlisle, ". f. ". COBB, Cox,
Cullen, Doae1eH, Etheridge, Eustis, Evans,
Faulkner, Foster Henry NJ. Fuller, Morrison
Harris, Herbert Hoffman Kennett, Lake, Lind
Hey Alex. K. Marshall, Humphrey Marshall,
lMclNullen, Nc G1lteea HILL son. Paine. Quitman,
Reade, Ready, Richardson, Rust, Sauage, VIM.
r. Smith, .Steuart, Swope, Talbot, Taylor,
Trippe Underwood, Walk. Walker, Farmer.
Watkins, Whitney, John Y. Wright, and Zolli-
coffer-47.
Those italcised are among the immortal sew
enty four Gas the Union calls them) who have
voted fer Mr.. Richardson throughout the bal
lettings. Ofthe seventy four Mr.. Smith receiv
ed but nineteen votes; forty-tive Richardson
men voted against Mr.. Smith. Forty seven and
/ forty-fve make nlnety-two votes. The whole
vote polled was one hundred and seventy eight,
of which ninety would have been a majority Of
all the votes given. Soft the Richardson men
had voted for Mr. Smith, he would have been
elected speaker, with two votes to spare, and
this protfacted and painful controversy would
have been brought to a close by placing in the
chair an old democrat, good Nebraska man,
and one of the seventy four who have rigidly
adhered to Mr.. Richardson!
WHO'S William Smith? A distinguished de-
mocrat. once governor of Virginia, member of
the last congress, man ofhigh political attain
ment and great political ayacity-honest faith
full and capable! Where, now, rests the re-
sponsblity? Will any man say that Mr. Smith,
Of Virginia is not as fully national on the great
test, the Nebraska act, as Mr.. Richardson?-
Where, now, rests the responsibility
[Natchez Courier.
THE SWAMP LAND FuND.-As the proceeds
of sales of lands donated to the State by the
general government for the purpose of drain
| II.
large, of course it attracts the usual amount of
attention from those who have laudable de-
sire to see the same properly appropriated
This commendabe spirit on the part of the re-
representatives. of the people, has given rise to
many plans for carrying into full force and ef-
feet, the object of the grant. Louisiana is in
debted to the late Mr. Harmanson, for this
scheme, which has opened wide the door to the
widest spirit Of peculation ever known to u.s.
The grant of these lands TO the State was
obtained prior to the adoption of the present
constitution, wherein it is written:
Art. l3l-The general assembly, at its first
session after the adoption of this constitution,
shall provide for the election and compensation
of the commissioners and the organisation of
the board. The commissioners first elected
shall assemble on day to be appointed By law,
and decide by lot the order in which their term
of service shall expire.
Art. 132-The commissioners shall exercise
a dlligent and faithful supervision of all public
works, IN which the State may be interested
except those made by JOINT stock Companies +
They shall communicate to the general assem-
bly,, from time to time, their views concerning |
the same, and recommend such measures as
they may deem necessary, in order to employ
to best advantage and for the purposes for 8
which they were granted the swamp and over !
flowed lands conveyed by the United States to :
his State. They shall appoint all officers en- q
gagged on the public works, and shall perform d
such other duties as may be prescribed by law.
In violation of the document from which the /
'boVe quotations are made, commissioners were
appointed by the governor, and for the manner
n which they discharged their duties, such as :,
lave not already done SO, may refer to pam e
billet report published by joint committee of a
10Th houses of the last Legislature. The COM n
nittee was composed Of the hons Louis Hebert :
Y. W. King. and 7. W. Palfrey, on the part ri
If the senate, and on the part of the house,
IONS. B. B. SHINES, j. S. Williams, w. w. g
ough, E. Lawrence and H. Mccullough They u
organised themselves regularly on the 9Th of fl
february, and proceeded to the work of ex- Q
animation from day to day, until the 9th day of RI
Iarch.
According to that report, no sooner we're "
he commissioners appointed than they went to 9
york in conjunction with other persons in II
magnificent and stupendious system of specu- T
alton Instead of organising board as con- ii
empated by the act Of 1854 to keep record fs
f the contracts and proceedings of each com Il Il
Missioner each one of the gentlemen took the !,
barge of the funds of his district and without Al
ny bond or security to the State went to work p
aging 1t out, on works of very doubtful utili-
7, to any other than personal and private in &
arestS. -7s In
The commissioner of the first district select m
Cat island as the field of his operations APP y
ropriating to reclaim an area Of 81 900 acres in
evenly eight thousand dollars, and contem- Of
lated an additional expenditure to complete IT,
re work, of sum to amount in the aggregate ct
} S105,000! About sixteen thousand acres of b,
at island only accrue to the State, which at OF