Nebraska advertiser., 1858-12-09
Correspondence Of the Advertiser.
Peru, Nov, %, SO,

FRIEND FURNAs-
/ have seen several letters, written by
"Capitolium," which, to say the least, 1
think do not give a full account of the
matters of which they treat. There also
appears to be. a misunderstanding with
some Of the people in regard to what is
called the Stay Law; also with regard
to what action was taken on the Home
stead Bill the Bank Bill, the printing
question, the election of printer, &C., SC.
| desire, through the medium of the Ad-
vertiser, to lay before the public a num-
Der Of short articles upon the subjects
Just mentioned, and will be under obliga-
lions to you if you will publish them.
First, then, with regard to Special Leg
islatiOn, without referring to the several
direct and indirect charges that have
been made, by 'Capitolium' and others,
| will state the fact that the impression
is tried to be made, that, as a general
thing, in the Legislature, the RepubIi-
cans, or the opposition to Buchanan De-
mocracy, favored all kinds and any amount
of special Legislation, and the ~so-called
Democracy opposed it. Now, nothing is
further from the truth than all statements
tending that way, or calculated to convey
such an idea. 1t is true, at the COM
mencement of the session, Mr.. Rankin
introduced a resolution in the House, post
poning the consideration of all local mat
tiers till certain general laws were dis
posed Of; which | opposed, though l did
not discover that it was in any way con-
sldered at the time as a party test. My
reasons for opposing it were, first, because
the Council had no such rule, and were
passing special bills all the time, and sem
ding them into the House, and they were
accommodating on our hands; and no gen.
eral laws having been matured by the
committees at that time, so that the House
could act on them, l thought that II
was then proper, when we had plenty OF
time, (the House a~djourning for more
than a week without sitting over two OF
three hours a day. to carefully consider,
and closely examine all bills of a private
or special nature, and not put them of
till till e a the close of the session, and
then bring them in Ike a food. and pass
them without consideration, which ! an
sorry to say was the case with regard to
some bills.
l had several bills that | desired to pas:
and though they were special-having
reference only to my county-still l die
not consider them the less important t.
my constituents. Among them was one
bill defining the boundaries of Nemaha
County so as to include McKissic's Island
and the upper part of the Bottom
But the resolution passed, and steed as
the rule Of the House, till the session was
more than half gone, when it was SCI
aside on motion of Mr.. Fleming, of Rich
ardson county, a consistent democrat and
a talented man. But, the "certain gen.
eral laws had not all been passed and
were not, even at the end of the session.
Then came the food of special legisla-
tiOn that had been damned up for so long
a time.
The most obnoxious laws IN the whole
batch that were passed. were, as a gen.
eral thing, introduced FIRST into the Dem
Ocratic Council, and passed, and then, in
the House, supported and voted for, by