The Kansas herald of freedom., 1857-09-26
Not a Partisan View.

ponsible for the acts of his agent. He
should have selected better man; or
rather, he should never have sent dollar
to Kansas. The censure rests upon him
for persistently insisting On the appropria-
ton from the Legislature, and for using it
after it was made. There never was the
slightest excuse for sending ii, as the fact
that the wheat was sold for sshorse, hog
and hen feed" abundently proves, while
hundreds of our own citizens were subsist-
ing on legitimate horse and hog feed
Such is the language of the Michigan
State Journal, in response to an article OF
ours in the Herald of Freedom several
weeks ago, in which we stated, even if
the statement was true that Mr.. WHIT
NAN had unjustly or Improperly used the
seed wheat sent here by Gov. BINGHAM,
the latter was not censurable. We did
not attempt defense OF Mr.. Whitman,
because we were ignorant of the facts.
We knew by common rumor that seed
wheat. or money to buy it with, had been
brought to Kansas from Michigan; and
We knew, too, that 600 bushels of spring
wheat was sold at auction by Mr.. Whit
man, at prices ranging from 81 ,25 to s., 40
bushel; but We did not know that it
was the same wheat, neither did we know
that any other person would have been
enabled to have managed the matter bet
ter than Dir. w. did. We have not con-
versed with Dir. Whitman, or any of his
friends in regard to this matter, and as we
stated before "do not care to get mixed
up with it" but in justice to GOV. BING-
HAM of Michigan we must say that he
could not have been at fault in the selec-
ton of his agent here, for at that time Mr..
w. had no enemies to whisper word
against his reputation as a straight for
ward business man. There was not man
in Kansas whose reputation for stern in
tegrity was better than his Gov. B. could
not have known what the tongue of scan-
dal would invent to his prejudice, there
fore the public, nor our Democratic friends
of Michigan should not find fault with him
on that account That Mr. Whitman's
reputation has suffered in Kansas, as has
eUery otlter persoa's aolto has figured an our
history, is true; but it is not true that we
believe them all culpable, or even any
considerable number of them. We have
not been one of those who have labored
to pull dorm other mems reputation that
ours might be built up on the ruins of our
neither shall we do it. The
only public man against whom the Herald
OF. Freedom has seen fit to take issue was
Chas. Robinson, who opened fire upon
US. We retorted, as we would again SIM
ilarly circumstanced, only in future case
we would deal less in generalitieS and
more in detail and facts, were he to make
another onslaught upon lis.
Gov. Bingham did well in taking the
active position he did in regard to Kan
sas. Our people were suffering beyond
precedent. Money was scarce and provi-
sions high. Seeds could not be procured
for want of money to buy them. The
Michigan fund, like the thousand rills
which poured in upon us from all over
the North, gave our people relief. 1t is
probably true that frauds were committed
in some instances by agents, and in other
cases the want of knowledge or want of
Judgment may have not made those funds
as useful as they might have been, vet
they did an incalculable amount of good.
and saved great amount of suffering, and
of human life. The generous prompt
ings of an individual, whether in high or
humble life, should never be made the
cause of censure.
We know nothing of Gov. B. only what
has been developed through the public
journals during the present discussion,
but we are free to say, that were we
of Michigan We should feel proud
Of the State and the people in it, for elcc-
ling Governor whose ear was open to
distress, and who, at the risk of obliouy.
would step forward in crisis, such as en-
circled Kansas last winter, and, with the
aid of his influence, succeed in procuring
he distribution of a small gratuity from
.he State treasury for the relief of those
who had gone out from among them, and
% save them from starvation. If Gov. B.
mas no greater fault than opening his ear,
md with the aid of the Legislature, the
State purse for trifing fund to relieve
want, he is not bad man, and the people
those who love the good, will reward
1im by bestowing their confidence and Of
ices upon him in the future, for he must
DC worthy of their highest regard.
Such, the Lansing Journal will under
tand is the opinion of an sndependeat
press in regard to Gov. Bingham, and
he attack upon him from his political
opponents.
Incendiaries
We neglected to state in our last