The true Democrat., 1857-03-24
The Late Lerislaturp

l h.. ! name be of any interest to our readers T, whole tenor of his letter shows that he is u,m ing to make accusations which the facts in l case will not sustain; and thus cast an imnn''' ton upon the moral honesty of the mai,ritr | that body. In the letter before us the wn. sets out by declaring that" They found s15s GOO of the peoples money n the State treasn ry--and no gambler everpayed more intenhv or managed his cards with greater skill :, cheat his victim out of his money, than tho. naodel legislators managed their hands to robtb.
 State treasury" Here Is plain, open char. of -stealing-preierred against the o
 glslature, and not one tact-not one word o,
 evideuce-produced to make the charge goo3
 Nor do we think It was the intention of the WIT
 ter to sustain his charges-he wished to crea,s the impression, that the legislature was deyoi5 of moral honesty, and seeking only to deyis.
 ways and means to spend the money in tb. treasury, without any regard to the welareof ' the people; and should he succeed in this obac, | thereby cast reflection on the democraticla, 1 ty. The impression sought to be left is, tb,, the legislature expended S156,0OO of the Den.
 ple's money, to no profit. We should bav. supposed that the oft repeated, and never s.. tained charges of this character against the ds. mocratlc party in this State, as a whole, and against individuals in that party, from Gove. nor Conway down to the petty county office, and the scorn and contempt with which sue, charges have been met and silenced by the PED. PILE, would have prevented any man of com. mon discrimination from repeating them; and
 whoever does repeat them, must be, either soma disappointed politician of the opposition, 0, some vindictive, interruptions aspiraut of tba democratic party, who thinks to create distru,, jealousies and divisions in the party for se6s5
 purposes; and in either case, himself and h
 charges will merit and meet the same late-ds
 belief.
 Of the legislature as body, we have an in.
 innate knowledge, and can speak from tb4
 facts, as they then presented themselves to on, eyes and ears; and from the records of tba House, as they are now before us. For tb,,
 body we will not claim pre-eminence in po;r,
 of taent-nor would they thank us if wa should. But we can and do claim for then
 uprghtness of conduct-a desire to prom,s
 the welfare of the -industry-ecouonv
 and energy of character. And while we %
 nor agree with them in the wisdom and boiler of dH their enactments, we are free to say, that every day of the session furnished evidence of
 their capacity and determination 70 Subsery4 the interests of the State. To say to the Con. trary of this, is to "speak outside of the rs. cords" That some acts" were pasSel, which 1 in our opinion had better never been introduc. ed, we believe; but even in these, the legsa. i tors did that which hey thought best, for the ! interests of the people. They were sent there ! for that purpose-they took all oath to that | effcct-and u impugu their motives, as the { writer alluded to does, proves to Us that he Is influenced by bad motives. Had he attackei l the enactmentS of the legislature without eH. deavoriug to cast an imputaton upon tks moral honesty of the members, and thus. bl implication, tO hold the whole democratic part responsible, We had not said a word iu reply ur defence.
 ! There were $l56,O0O in the treasury, n g0I atd sttUer-wneu the legislature con, vened. It was in session A days; and passed about ITO laws; and expended in thjs work about S3OOOO. eve give an indetuite for definite sum, not having the actual amourt before us.) When its work was completed t djourned-leaving about S125,OOO in tbp State treasury. Why did not this Fort Shit writer state this--otate all the facts? On
 would not have answered his purpose.-, would have removed the imputation of dishot esty--that the legislature was a robbing, thiey ing body of meu--aud that the democrate [ operations.
 It tis true, that the writer offers in h;s closirp paragraph, kind of apology for the Legislature leaving any money in the treasurv--uot verv complimentary one, by the way. Not benr able to sit long enough to get all the monevia the treasury themselves!" What was to pro. vent them sitting to this day--to next Januar5 if they had been so disposed? We are rd. aware that there Is any limit to the length ofa session of the legislature, so that it does "a, hold for over two years so as to encroach on the time for the setting of a new one. IT. then they had been the venial selfish set of men tie writer would taln have the people believa what was to prevent them sitting in se .,on until they had expended every cent of moneg lu the treasury? That they did not do sb with the charge whlth which the writer sets ou, hanging over them Is evidence of their honesty and integrity; and thus the accuser becomes n witness for the accused; and convicls himself ot false charges for most Erworthv purpose
 " Not beng able to sit long enough to get all the money Ill the treasury themselves-have made appropriations, and created ways and means to have all expended on fruorite tee and thereoy accomplished their object in gong to the capltoP.! According to the c6arls with winch thlS Fort Smith writer sets out. tts "obIect' of the legislatur in assembling at Lt. tie Rock was to "ro6" the State treasury ofal the money m It; but not being able to do tl6s themselves, they enacted "ways and mean,p by which "a tavorite .tet0'' may do it! As VIZ do not happen to belong to the tauo,1te feto we will be considered disntercSted in defending the legislature against this double charge of dis. honesty. We would ask this Fort Smth moG ern SOLoN, how the machinery of State goE. ernment could be conducted without means? | He lntlmates that the appropriations were eE travasant. In what respect? What State c. ! tcer receives one cent more than his time atl talents call for? Indeed, what State offer receives even a fair compensation for his servi ! ces? When the State was young; and whtg she had no gold and silver in her vaults. the salaries of all her public servants were fixed N the lowest possible sum that would secure eyPl , respectable talents; and these have not beRl Increased while the labors of the officials haze , increased with the advanced wants and de- mands of a rapidly growing State And ths , late legislature, with perhaps solitary excep , uon, refused to increase these salaries and vet for all this, they are characterized as set o , robbers; and not being able to get all the monsy themselves, have devised ways and means bg , which "a iavorite few" might finish the work , of robbery! Verify, we would recommend 2 Gov. CONWAY to search out this sapent writers , name-dismiss all the State officials, and pltcs , the control of it's affairs under his sole sHi. , daucc
 As regards the members of the legislatrrs individually, and collectively, we have said - s and again say,-that a more industrious, sobet h working body of men, never met togetherl k this State; and while majority of them wdrs r ! cln I,o / h there were among them those whose talers will suffer nothing in comparison with auysi h miIar body of men in any other State in ihs < i Union; and the entire legislature was comps ed ot just such men, as know the wants of thi 8 people; and had the irmness to enact "wan [ and means to have these wants satisfied. FG V themselves, they received not one cent more o { the peoples money than they were legally eIu ' tied to; and not more than three ifthS aS muci as they should be entitled to in our opinlbr f and we are farther of the opinion. that this Fpn