The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1857-01-07


As the gross mal-adminstration oil the laws
Unless such constitutional laws as have bee
recorded upon our statute books, and have thu
been approved by the people, are respected an
enforced to the letter in every case where the
NAV be violated the customs Of the people be
come diseased, and rowdyIsm aa|i outrage 500
prevail where We have every right to look TO
reasonable and gentiemanly conduct On
large towns are considered models of prophet
BY the uninitiated, and what is tolerated in then
is naturally supposed to be proper and goo'
enough for small towns and villages, and
T men are as initiative as apes, all the evil habit
and customs of the former are speedily trans
ported. and cultivated in the latter. Hefce th'
fatal misrule under which the country has sui
. fered of late years, and which has, 1t woult
seem, established the habit Of setting the law
at defiance, begins to be painfully visible eve
where. Scenes of violence have increased and
multiplied so rapidly, and are kept up with such
diligence, tbaGhe people nolonger look amazed
which they hear of murder having been com
mitted, of man being shot or dirked, or any
other offence putting at defiance the peace and
safety of society," as well as the laws Of the land.
Twenty or thirty years ago, when men were as
volent, as brave and fiery as they ever will be-
scenes of violence or boodshed were so sell
dom, that when any one of them did occur, the
entire public was shocked, and ono stone was
left ,nturned'' to find out the offender and bring
| him to a speedy reckoning with justice. What
difference prevails now. Assaults occur ev-
erywhere, and scenes of violence are witnessed
almost daily, without exciting more than the
passing notice Of the public, and rascality, fraud
and robbery are so common, that departments
are made for recording them, as fixed facts, y
in al! the city papers. What is the reason of
all this? Human nature is no worse than it
was thirty years ago Men are better clothed
fed snd educated than ever they were before,
a greater number of churches exist and with
more numerous congregations, while the land
teens with religious missionaries, distributing
tracts and other moral publications, and the
NATURAL temptations TO do wrong have been
hedged in by enlightment even in the. wilder
ness The reason is plain. 1t is to be found in
the insufficency of the laws, and the loose man
ner in which they are executed. All moral
obligations to punish an infraction of the stat
utes appear to have been removed by almost
universal consent, and that man who is remark
able for personal strength, or for desperate
reckessness, or anything that commands noto-
rlety, appears to enjoy the immunity of doing
just what he pleases. When jurors refuse to
find a verdict against a well known defler OF
the iaw-when public officers, unpublished, are
allowed to pilIage the public treasury-when
corrupt incompetent men are chosen to fill pub
lie offices Of trust and honor-when congress
men and ministers of staGs withhold their evt-
dente, in order to save a congressional rowdy
from the hands of justice-can we hope for any
thing but a continued agglomeration of social
horrors. Even the papers have fallen into the
slough, and do much to vitiafe the moral atmos-
to frmilarise the people still further with what
is Impure and wicked, until, perhaps, every
reader shall become so familiar and used to vice
from 'endurng' and ''pitying," that all shall
be ready and willing to embrace outlawry and
rowdyism. Were the laws made efficient, and
administered with fidelity, we would speedily
observe mitigation, if not the comparative
abrogation, of majority of the social evils which
are how such plague spots upon the escutcheon
If oar country.
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The Washington correspondent of ttss Delta
writes that the Pacific railroad bill will be on
he tapis next week; but its fate is very uncer-
ain, SO conflicting are the interests and views
If parties inside and outside of congress. The
southern members have gotten up a southern
association, to be styled the Southern Atlantic
nd Pacific Railroad Company and have
made the hon. Vernon K. Stevenson, of Nash
lille, Tenn, the president of the same. An {
Mort Will be made to secure for this company,
onposed entirely of southern gentlemen of {
blty and brains, the grant of land for the s
oulhern route. The old plan reported last t
esslon, of granting land to a combination of
is now pronounced here simple alb {
urdlty, and withal entirely impracticable.- {
he route through Texas will be the one adopt 7
d by the southern company, if the bill should /
ass. Judge L. D. Evans, of the eastern dis
let Of Texas, is bending every energy to Sc 2
ure action, and early action in the premises +
lay success attend his efforts. r
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MIR. G. G. Ehrsam, of Baltimore, has inyen- Il
ID and patented machine for cutting down S
ees, which is said to be manifestly practical I
nd useful, and convinces the observer at d
lance that inventive genius has achieved
reat result from the simplest means. An iron
anne is made to clasp the tree, and from this "
anne chisel shaped knife is broughtinto con = Il
'ct with the trunk. By the turning of wrench s.
le chisel is worked round and round the tree IL
lttlng its way to the centss The nventor4 a
AIMS for it an efficiency equal to the falling of n
tree of four feet diameter in half an hour
S 1t cuts only narrow groove, it saves a con- L