Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1860-04-19

the space that can be spared for one
day to the discussion. and consequent.
ly there can be no array of well con-
nected arguments. each in some degree
lending strength to the rest. They
must come out more like series Of
single combatants than q compact
army. The disadvantage in which
an editor is thus placed becomes
greater when the discussion, as in :he
case OF Mr.. Hendricks late speech,
covers a multitude of topics. He
may thoroughly exhaust any one.
and yet leave the speech nearly as
forcible as ever. But in spite of this
disadvantage, we propose to resume
the consideration Of Mr.. Hendricks
speech. and notice as many Of his
points as possible.
In our remarks two days ago. we
stated that Mr.. Hendricks made three
main points: 1st. himself; 2d. the
State: and 81, the Nation. The 1st
we passed by. On the % he urged.
first, that the prosperity Of the State
was due to the Democratic Admins
tratiops under which it had been de-
veloped, and second, that so far as the
Republicans had acquired any power
in the State Government it had been
misused, to the great injury of the
State. To the first of these propo-
sitions no serious reply was necessary,
for it was but little above the level OF
puerility. In support of the second
he adduced one argument, and only
one. that the Republicans having the
majority of the State Senate in 1851
had defeated the Revenue and Appro-
priation bills, by which great mischief
was done. aud about 81, 100000 ad-
ded to the State debt. We replied
by giving a history of the failure OF
those bills from personal observation.
We saw the whole affair, and we
know exactly how the failure was
caused. and we showed that the Dem
ocrats defeated the bills By their ad-
herence to purpose avowed on the
Goth day of February. "that certain
contested election case then pending
should never be decided, and Mes
,couid defeat oil legislation if it were
attempted" This threat, with the
help of the President of the Senate,
they executed by breaking quorum,
by blocking all business for five days
by breaking a solemn agreement to
decide the case on the last day, by re-
fusing all offers of arrangement pro.
posed by themselves. All this was
done to prevent the transaction of the
regular order OF business, in which
the contested case stood in advance oI
the Revenue and other bills. These
facts settled the responsibility of that
failure, and Of all its evils. But these
are not all the facts, for we had not
time to present them all on Tuesday
We propose now to add a few more.
The only argument as we have said
advanced by Mr.. Hendricks to sup
port his charge of misconduct by the
Republicans in State affairs, we dc
not propose to consider his 2d poin,
on National affairs" yet. is the
failure Of the Revenue and Apprpria.
ton bills in the Senate in 1857
AS we have shown the Democrats
caused that failure. Two contested
csaes were pending. and they were the
primary cause of the failure. If they
had been ont of the way,no matter how
decided. they would have been no hin
drance to ordinary and necessary leg
islation. Who kept these cases il
the way? The Democrats, as they
admit, although the rules. the interest,
of the people, and their own agree
ment. required the cases to be decided
and taken out of the way. They de-
clared that one of them never should
be decided if they had to defeat al
legislation to prevent it. They kept
the case unsettled the whole session
This much being admitted on al
hands. let us see what sort of case,
they were. and what excuse the Dem.
ocrats had for sacrificing all legisla
tion to them.
The first. that of Miller and Shry.
ock. from Fulton county, was an or.
dinary case of alledged fraudulent
election. 1t could have been decided
in an hour any time after the com
mittee had reported on it. We dc
not know how it would have beer
decided, for some Republicans leaned
strongly to the belief that Miller Wa,
fairly elected. But the Democrat,
would not run the hazard Of submit
ting the case to vote, and steadil,
resisted every effort to have it decided
They could easily have been over
powered. and the usual business trans