Arkansas true Democrat., 1859-03-16

certify accounts for pay during the recess, and the Senate sustained him. A number of the representatives have refused to draw pay from December 23d, to January lIth, for the reasons ably set forth in the card from Nr. Oates, to be found in another CO lumn.
 For three days the cabal were hard at work among the members trying to per suade them that 1t was sneer-an inuendo "a reAection-a very large eat in a meal tub ready to bounce upon every innocent mouse
 That ate the malt,
 That iav in the house
 That Jack built
 In the same way that they managed other things during the session-by whispering, or getting members in room and looking fierce while declaming-by reading the above article with great emphasis on cer- tain words, they succeeded in persuadlng some that they were badly abused mortals. On Friday, set of resolutions were con cocted and offered that night. We find a copy of them in the State Rights Demo- crat, and presume they were printed from correct copy, if not from the original draft. Here they are
 '" Whereas, An editorial article appear ed in the True Democrat of the l6th inst, referring to the members of the House, and which, by insnuation, -efects upon the honor and integrity of this body, and par ticularly their speaker Therefore be it
 Besolped, By the House of Representa- tiyes of the State of Arllansas-That the article of the True Democrat which was intended to rcRect upon the motives ot majority of this House, for receiving their per diem pay during the recess, according to law, and according to the decision of the Senate, is d wiIfu and unauthorized insin- uation, unbecoming one of the organs of the democratic party, and false in every particular, so far as it intends to reject upon this body.
 Resolped, titrtjter, That we fully indorse and approve the course of our speaker of the House, B. T. Duval and we repel, as unjust, any attempt to rct1ect upon the course which he has pursued since he has been elected speaker of this body"
 Certain members said, next morning, that the resolutions amounted to nothing, for if no reflection was intended by us, no censure was intended by them. With this understanding they had voted for them.- No quorum voted on them, but a ma ority ofthose present and voting, sustained them. We wish they had passed.
 The reader will perceive that this elegant literary exercise, in the preamble and in each resolution, uses the words '' reflects" or "redect" It appears to us that these were unfortunate words, for if there was anything reflected, they should have at- tackled that and not the reflector live had intended to rcfea public sentiment, gag ging us would not choke the people. If their inference was correct, they were imi- tatng the ugly man who spitefully broke his looking glass because it did not hatter him.
 It was q rich scene to see men who had been told to their teeth that they had coa- lesced with know nothings; hal trampled democratic principles under loot; had voted for deiaulters, knowing them to be such; some of whom had been denounced as un- worthy to sit in a democratic caucus; who had been bullied, threatened and abused; 1t was singular to see these men so much ex cited at what by violent construction, simply amounted to '' reflection" The object of those who got up these resolutions was to iniure us and not to defend them selves, for innocent men never prepare a defence until they know of the accusation.
 One or two things are worthy of notice here Because we did not directly oppose the action of a majority in the caucus, we were derelict in duty, but when by vio- lent presumption we are suspected of op- posing the majority who decided a matter in their own behalf, we are criminal Ac- cording to the logic of our opponents if we speak out or even hint our disapprobation we must be censured, and if we think the subject not important enough to take sides upon, we are shirking or not doing our dutvl Both the resolutions and the com ments upon them by the State Rights De- mocrat, carefully avoid giving our language The resolutions say that they reflect and the paper above mentioned, with its usual parade of adiectives, says that denial of a reflection being cast by us, is " so shame lesslv dishonest as to be beneath contempt" 1t seems, as the article in question was only few lines in length, that the best way would have been to have quoted 1t. We !! have since found 1t necessary to write a fur 1 ther defence of the members, and in spite | of these resolutions, have put on record our oninion that the action of the majority of | the House was an error, though the mem bers who voted themselves pay were not | influenced by mercenary or improper mo- | tives. But for those whose machnations | led to this state of things; who begged and | persuaded men into it; who accepted office, knowing that the price thereof was that they should decide doubtful question of right, to say the least of it, ina certain way, and who endeavored to shield themselves by having us censured, we have no defence to make Let the people judge them, and they will find, instead of a reflection" a direct condemnation.
 These resolutions were so absurd; so ex- tra-legislative and such high handed, die tatorial measure, that one of the cabal, either prompted by the leader, or not capa- ble of resisting the temptation, to hold up this strange action of democratic leglsla- ture. commented upon 1t. In the same ar ticle we were roundly abused, and the same ground taken there as was in the preamble to the resolutions and in the State Rights Democrat, that our article was "reiiec- tion." They all agree on that, and so tar