The weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1852-1858, 1858-04-10

Sion OF the 1errlt0rial Legislature was IL
blast at the Capitol: that "honest" session
which disposed of the land grants to foul
Railr Dad Companies, ON their promise tt
find the capital to build certain stipulated
roads; which promise they are trying tt
keep, by getting the State to furnish then
the money as we'll as give them the lands :
On what hypothesis the magical figures
6-5-O-O, ,.O-O became associated with Mr.. BRIs
BINS honored name in connection with his du
ties and votes as President of the Council
has always been and still is mystery but
when, after the gift of the lands to the Mime
sofa and Pacific Railroad Company, Mr.
JOHN B. BRlsBIN uniting in bis august per-
son President of the Council and Mayor d
St. Paul, became also Attorney Of said Com
pany, at a fat salary per annum, folks gener-
ally quoted that passage of scripture where it
sayeth: "Verily he hath his reacon1; )" and all
men united in predicting that Mr.. B. was des-
tined to rise higher in the world of fame and
was reserved in the ordination of Providence
to achieve some greet work in the future ola
kind not allotted to commonplace humanity
to perform
This destiny for him thus predicted. we
suppose will now be hailed by his friends as
accomplished, in his being Ito use his own
phrase) tho Aushor of the Poll Book" This
he doubtless imagines will lift him at once to
the zenith of his fame With what proud
air, he tells US " the responsibility of which
1.-THE Poll Book belongs s0hOly to ME?" How
jealous he is lest the Secretary of the Com
pany should carry off any of the honors Of
this wonderful achievement!
1t is indeed wonderful one, in the sense Of
being a novel and usual procedure. In the
course of twenty years observation of politi-
cal life, we never beheld so gross trick and
fraud attempted by either party upon the
other, as the authorship of this Poll Book
displays. Let our readers examine Mr.. Bris-
bins letter in another column: let them no.
tice how he admits that he has tampered
with and interpolated the laws" adapting
altering -changing,"-as he variously calls
his operations but forging really whole Sec
tions to su& tho occasion and to suit the pur-
poses of the Railroad Companies for which
he is an Attorney; and then sending them
out into the interior with all the ear-marks
of being an exact transcript from the Revised
Statutes, to impose on ignorant and unsophis-
ticated men, who have not the opportunity
of comparing the fraud with the Statutes and
then Judging for themselves.
Ifthere had been an honest purpose in max
ing up therecord, as Mr.. BRIsBIN would fain
have us believe, why not have given the orig
inal sections of the law, with brief notes in
brackets mentioning wherein JOHN B. BRIs-
BIN, gentleman learned in the law" con-
ceived they were altered or changed for
the pur rposes of this special election ? In
that case, every man could have judged for
himself how far Mr.. BRIsBIN's Interpretation
was the correct one, and could act according
ly. But the whole record as made up by him
clearly and plainly conveys the idea on its
face, that such was absolutely the Ian with
no doubt, nor any construction" about it.
Every lawyer who has seen the Railroad
Poll Book of which Mr.. BRIsBIN claims to
be the Author, unites with US in pronounc-
ing it shameful concoctiOn, clearly intended
to deceive
We direct the attention of the People al.
so, to the impudent avowal in Mr.. BRIsBIN's
letter, that the officers of the Minnesota and
Pacific Railroad Company, have been Off
cally and gratutiously assuming the business
of the various County Commissioners and
getting up in secret, and distributing in like
manner, the Poll Books for election precincts
in different counties. Had they been hon.
estly got up, with an honest intent also, there
would have been no such extreme desire as
has been evinced to keep them from the pub
lie eye generally!
One most ridiculous part of MIR. BR1sBIN's
letter is his setting aside the Interpretation
which he says was at first manifested to
himself and Mr.. TAYLOR, on reading and
comparing the law that is, that the ''Gov-
ernor" was merely substituted for the words
Secretary of the Territory" as the person to
whom the Registers of Deeds should address
their abstracts: and then afterwards resort
ing to the ipss di1u of some of the members
of the Legislature as authority( y for differ
ent construction of the law. Mr.. BRIsB1N
as lawyer very we'll knows that this is an
untenable theory of Interpretation. The in
tention of the members of the Legislature
must be construed from the language Of their
united act; and not from the aside talk of a
few of their body, even if they are those
"most likely to know" as Mr.. BRIsB1S init
mates. Who these extra-knowing members
may be, we are not informed; but in law, we
should think they all stand upon an equal-
ty as to knowledge upon such point. On
the other hand, other members of the Legis-
lature have told us that the construction aoe
gaze was the true and bona fde intention of
the act as it is the most natural and most
practical to carry out. Our informants are
just as good authority on this point as those
Mr.. B. educes. But here is an extract from
Smiths Commentaries which is better au-
thority than either on the construction to be
given to laws and Cousti tutions:
"From the rule considered in the preceding section
has been deduced the rule that sin constituting a Stat
ute, the Intention Of the lGsO giuer and the meaning Of
the Law to be ascertaned by viewing the whole and
every part of the act II any section be intricate OBJ
doubtful, the proper mode Of discovering
true meaning is, by comparing 1t soih the other
tiOnS and finding out the sense of clause by the
words obvious intent of another" SIT is
in my opinion" observes Mr.. Justice Coeridge, in a
cent case important for the Court, in constituting
modern Statutes to act upon the principle of giving full
effect to their language and of declining to mould that
language in order to meet either an alleged noonven-
ence an alleged equity, upon doubtful eridence Of
sntentiOn," SC.
From this, it is perceived what are the
true legal principles of construction on such