The weekly Ottumwa courier., 1860-05-10

i ne i)e71O"FfttJc C2tob Is IN JFOuDIc ADOuL
an item in the local column of the COURIER,
stating that "a number of ladies Of Ottumwa
sent nice large. cake, as a present, to Mr..
Dunham, editor of the HaaCk Eye" Should
Its vigilant eye discover that no cake was
sent, or those who sent it were no yns}ie8, the
readers of the COURIER may in due time be
notified Of The achievement; till then, it may
be well enough to concede that ladies' have
way of their own in bestowing Or withhold
ing favors, when they please, where they
please and from whatever cause they please,
without consulting editors, or even conde-
scending to give them any account Of the mat
ter should they see fit to meddle with it
hend the idea that popular sovereignty in
our community is simple fact, and not a
glorious sham, for mere politicians to make
spread about.
Ifa number of ladies have given away
cake and number of others have done no
such thing, the COURIER is willing to recog-
t1lbS tIiS iUSb aIib puDllNi IL w LiIS "Olli,
without rushing heroically to the assault or
defense Of either party.
So far as the thing has created a conflict,
we confess to little sympathy with our
nearest neighbor, since it is only a weekly,
while the Haeok-Dye, being daily has the
chance of six shots to one, besides being in
. octuol roconcciop of thn c,ka
As TO the right or duty Of a county Judge
to offer reward for the arrest of nurdererS,
it is q question by no means local in its char
acter The citizens of this community have
certainly no wish to monopolze the anXieties
or responsibilities caused b. the work Of des-
peradoes. To all it must seem quite hard
ship to be taxedto support civil government,
but when an exjgoncy arises demanding
promptness in hurting the whole force Of
public indignation against offenders, to find
that local executive officers cannot legally
act as the nature of the case seems to require.
Those who have an influence in forming
public sentiment throughout our entire State
will do well to look into this subject, and If
there is deficiency in our legislation point
out the remedy. We have not seen the law
by which the Governor has acted, and if he
has been moved simply by the generous i'm
pulses of a "higher law common to human
nature, we feel quite sure no one will be
found to censure him. Still, some have the
impression, that 5000 offered within eight
hours after the murder was committed would
have been likely to accomplish more towards
bringing tojusticeits perpetrators than$l 900
will after the lapse of more than half as many
weeks.
AS to the character or conduct of our citi-
z3ns we have quite too much respect for
them to admit that they need defense at our
hands against assaults from any quarter,
and, in the absence Of the editor of this pa
per, we cheerfully leave this work to our en-
terprising contemporary, congratulating
him on the ease with which he will accom-.
plish it when compared with the difficulty OF
defending the doings Of the Charleston con-
vcntion. Perhaps this is the reason why he
devotes so much space in his paper to the
former subject, and so little to the latter
Several columns in the last number of the
COURIER were devoted to the proceedings Of
the Convention, whilewe feel that it is quite
enough to say, in defense of either our city
or county, as Daniel Webster once said o
Massachusetts,, There she is; look at herr