Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1859-09-08

teihg was IHmed1tely fald before the people o.
the State, and then the Governor called upon
Mr. Gibson and told him, 'Sir, You are either a
defauiter In point of fact, or you have wilfulIy
concealed the default of your predecessor. Nc
|, matter what horn OF the dilemma you take. you
!. have acted in manner totally disregarding
your duty to the State, and now one of two
things are before you. either you must resign
your Office and take your chance before the peo-
pie or of the prosecutions instituted by the At
toEney General, or l shall feel it my duty to
cause an information 10 be laid against you i'm
mcdiaiely and cause you to be arrested, and ap-
point a successor" Mr.. Gibson resigned, and
a successor was appointed; and from that day
to this, no man. be he Republican or Democrat,
has ever complained of want of honesty and up
| rightness in the administration of Your Treas
| ury.
| shall not make compai isons. You will
make them. | shall leave the whole matter of
comparison as far as these statements of legisla-
ton and administration are concerned, to you.
/ RESULT OF DEMOCRATIC ArPoRrIoSMExTs.
But l want You TO bear in mind one other
thing. The Republicans only had the legisla-
| tive department two years. In 1857. while the
Republicans carried the State. and elected their
State ticket they failed to elect a majority of
the menbers of the two houses oil the Legisla-
I ture, and thus, in consequence of the appor-
! tionmcnt, many counties which have Democrat
| ic majoriiies were enabled to elect enough mem
bers to make up a majority CT the Legislature.
although the aggregate majority of those coun-
ties by no means equaled the majorities in the
others which gave Republican majorities. Thus,
with minority of the popular vote, the Demo-
Gratis elected a majority of the Legislature.
What. under such circumstances, was it their
duty TO do? 1t seems to me that when there is
Republican administration and Democratic
Legislature, it is the duty of each to acquiescen
what the people have done nnder the Constitu-
tion; it is the duty of the Republican admins
tration to acquesee cheerfully in the existence of
the Democratic Legislature. and of the Demo-
cratic Legislature TO acquiese as cheerfnlly in
the existence of a Republican Administration
And when met these gentlemen, proposed
meet them in just that spirit. that we might
feel that we were citizens OF the same State,
having the same common interests, and desiring
! TO act together upon all public matters, in per-
feet harmony.
What did they do? Having the control of
the Legislature, they wanted to have the ad-
ministration too. and although they were a mi
| nority of the people OF the State, and although
the majority of the people of the State, had
elected Republican administration, they i'm
mediately undertook TO deprive the Executive
of his power. so far as they conceived themselves
able to do so. In the first place. these gentlemen
wanted the appointment of certain officers. TO
occupy certain places. They thought they
would try the experiment upon the PeHitentia-
ry. and upon the State House. The Constitu-
ton and the law as | understood it, and as it
was generally understood vested the power of
making these appointmets in the Governor
with the advice and consent ofthe Senate. They
were not satisfied with this. They thought
that they would, for the purpose of using these
officers for partizan purposes,appoint three Gov
ernors instead. They did not think that l was
good enough Governor for them, and they tho't
that you. the people, in elccing me as Govern
or. had made a mistake. Well, they kindly
and charitabty set themselves to work TO cor
rect your mistake, and inasmuch as they thought
probably that one Democratic Governor was not
enough to- take the place of one Republican.
they appointed three Governors instead; that is
to say. they appointed three citizens TO make
these appointments. Why? For any public
good9 For any purpose of public utility7 1t
was not pretended that it was so. Why then?
Because they wanted these directors to appoint
partizans in the subordinate places.
Well, would have no objections to their 4
making such appointments as they chose TO
make oftheir own party, providing the Consti-
tuition sanctioned ii: it the people had given
them the power to make them. This was not
the case at all; on the contrary, the Constitu-
tion expressly declared that the Legislature
should exercise no appointing power, except in
the cases specially provided for in that instru-
ment. But disregarding entirely this plain pro-
vision of the Constitution, these gentlemen pro-
ceeded TO make their appointments of these
three gentlemen. Then this matter was SUBJ
mitted to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme
CoCrt said just what the Constitution said, that
the Legislature had no appointing power, and
that Its acts were null and void, and those
three governors. who had been with so much
expenditure of Democratic brain and contriv-
ance appointed. having achieved the mighty eff
fort OF taking their oaths to perform their du-
ties actually went home TO attend to their
domestic affairs. They were little like |
marched up the bill. and having achieved |
that glorious feat, came down again. ltwasall
null and nugatory, but your time-because the |
time of the Legislature is your time-and your |
money was expended in this partizan work.
ABOUT THE BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS.
Next look at the canals. There is vast in |
terest in these public works. an interest in which
the whole who reside upon the lines of the ca
nails are Immediately interested, they being the |
channels of transportation; the great works in |
which the people of the whole state are interest," |
ed. because the whole people of the whole state |
have to pa the tax required for their support. |
Now the Constitution of your State commits |
these canals to Board of three members, and |
it gives TO the Legislature the authority to pre-
scribe the powers and duties of the Board and |
its members. Why do you have Board? Ev- |
erybOdy answers at once, because we want the |
concurrent wisdom, experience and Judgment
of three men, the two acting as a check, if ne
cessary. upon the one, but each enlightened by |
all. That is what is understood by Board
What did the Legislature do? The affairs of |
your State. remember, had always been COM
mitted to Board of Public Works. Under the |
old Constitution to a Board of Canal Commits
sioners, and under the new Constitution to |
Board of Public Works, and always everything
had been done by one member in charge of one |
division. subject to the control Of the whole
Board. What do these gentlemen do? 1t SO
happened that in 1857, they had elected upon
the State ticket, one of their candidates. that is
a member of the Board of Public works, in con-
sequence of a division in the Republican party.
They divided the whole public works of the
State into three divisions, and gave one of these
divisions to each member of the Board, and
they authorized each member of the Board to
make all appointments of Collectors and In
spectors; TO make all contracts in respect to
work, and generally to manage The whole af-
fairs of ths work as he might see fit, without
the control or supervision of the other members.
1t seems to me that in this Legislation they
violated the Constitution, because they created
three Boards of three divisions instead of placing
the whole public works in charge of the whole
Board as they are required by the Constitution.
But not only did they violate the Constitution,
but they violated the sound principles upon
which every public trust should be administer