, 1859-01-18
PRESS AND TRIBUNE.
TUESDAY KnaNlEo, JANUARY ls, 1853.
amy Great Principle - at Defined By
It's DiscfDless


Te conspizators against the voters aud
taxpayers OF Chicago. have finally stopped
to give the people gllmmcring Of the pro-
Tisions of the Dyer Chartcr-not the docu"
mcnt itself but syllabus Of its contents
mixed up with special pleading md misrep-
rcscntation. AS preliminary to The whole mat
ter, there are three features which We pro-
pose to examine before looking again at the
Inherent dctormities Of the measure ITSELF
l. The bill was ooacoeted in secret by u
clique Of demagogues whom the people have
utterly repudiated. When they had ha.ched
it out they suppressed NIL knowledge OF its
character from the Taxpayers Of this city.
The Aldermen who are the legal representa-.
tives Of the people, were not permitted to
nee it, or to know anything about it; nor
were any Of the members Of the Legislature
from this county apprised Of its provisions
The conspirators sought the darkness Of night
to hatch their plot, and after they had con-
stEucted it to their liking, u dcputation
covertly sneakel down to the State Capital
with it, where they commenced boring and
eapping among members from the farthcst
counties Of lue State, begging for their sup.
port on the b1sest partizAa grounds. During
the fortnight that these fellows have been
mousing Ab1ut the Capital they have sedu.
lousy excluded the members from Cook
County from even sight Of their Is charter =
their plan being to get 1t adopted in parti-
Ean caucus as party N casure, and then torce
It through the Legislature under the whip
and spur Of party drill.
II. The second feature that must strike ey-
cry man as grossly Objectionable, is that
which virtually distranchiscs tue people Of
Chicago for three years, by taking from them
the right to elect their oTn public servants.
Under this charter Chicago is reduced to the
condition Of conquered city given up to be
sacked, and placed under martial law. We
will briefly explain how this is done. In the
FIRST place, the Wards OF the city are cut up
and subdiyided in such manner that email
minority u the voters will hare control Of
the Council a thousand Inhabitants Who
are supposed to favor the conspiracy, arc al
lotted as much power in the Council as 1lr~e
thousand in another ward, known to be hos"
tile to it. II this way the will Of 1he major
ity is e1ectual|y oyer-riddcn and troddcn un-
der loot In the next place, all the Offices
nov filled By the people, arc abolished and
new ones created, aud the power Of filling
them conferred upon tAl Council. Thus tic
Office Of Water Commissioners, now st ably
and acceptably filled, by men elected by tie
people, is abolished. The same thing il
done with the Sewerage Board the same
with tue Street Commissioners; the powers
Of these Boards are conferred on q
new Board, and the right Of filling this
Board is taken away from the people
and given to 4 packed Council. Again,
the Mayor il diyested Of all power, duty or
responsibility-the name alone remains, but
the Office is deprived Of vitality, and stripped
clean Of all executive functions. The Office
Of Marshal, now filled hy tic people, is also
abolished. Tue duties performed by the
Mayor and Marshal arc given 10 tdree g COM
missionors,:' who are not elected ty the people
but appointed by the Rottcn-Dorough Coun.
Gil. We are thus 10 have in effect three
Mayors appointed over US, with fat salaries,
to perform tic work now done by one Mayor
elected by the people!
II it it Necessary 10 create these new boards
and to abolish the old ones, wLy is it not pro-
Vided that tue people shall ill them at the
first elcctione Are the people Of Chicago in
capable Of government Are they unfit
to be entrusted with choosing their own pub
lie agents? II they arr to he allowed 10 elect
Police Commissioner in 1861, why not let
them 10 it in 1859? What has become Of tho
".great principle" OF self cgorcrnment-thc
right Of ea=h people 10 choose their own pub
lie servants aud form or government, about
which there has been such q deal Of Epoutinc,
Of late? Where arc the champions of the
"great principle Of non-intcrvention ~? Nc
call the attention Of the Douglas members Of
the Legislature to thc rank Federalism incor-
porated in this Dyer charter.
III. The third repuSnant feature Of tue
proposed charter, is That it makes no proyis-
ion for being submitted 10 tue people for rat1~
fcatlon. In this We zee the very essence Of
dead and blasted Lecomptonism. It is pro-
posed to make sweeping changes in the Con.
Bti.utlon Of our city-in fact TO abolish it,
leaving scarcely vessige behind !; the object
being to oyerturn the whole superstructurc Of
cur city government. 1t is not merely to
enact q few amendments in concord with the
frame wo.k Of the present charter, 10 promote
Its better working, but to annihi]atc
1t, md deprive u oi all voice in the forma-
tlon Of its successor The people have not
been consulted. They we're not asked whether
they desired an amended charter or 4 neu
one. Their legal representatives in the Leg
islaturc md Council have Ecycr been cou-
snlted, but have been sedulously excluded ;
aud now ii is proposed 10 saddle upon the
citizens, without submission, charter they
never asked for, 10 not want and strenuously
oppose!
Nthis monstrons piece of iniquity shall re-,
celVe the sanction Of the Legislature, we
Shall have the strange spectacle Of . people
equal in population and wealth to ten arc
rage Illinois counties, deprived OF their char
ter against their will, aud another one forced
upon Them against their consent, which de-
MICS them tue right Of sclf-govcrnmcnt; which
changes their wards into system of "zottcn
burroughs y which enables tie minority to
rule, plunder aud opprcss the people, and to
perpetuatc their ill-gottcn power in defiance
Of IN overwhelming minority Of the tax.pay-
ers. How charming1y ls Popular Sovereignty
here e1emplldtd by its disciples! What de-
voted followers Of "my great principles
Dyer, Granger L Co. arc, to be sure! Are
they the proper c1cmplars Of the Anti-Lc-
compton Democracy Of Illinois: We shall
Zee.
Colleges.
HckEHpRE1 CoLLkoK.-We are ID rcceint of
the Catalogue Of this institution, located at
1o;r