, 1861-02-07

that it is dated January 23d, aud appoints James
I,Odgr, Esq, from and aler January %, lsGl.
We envy not our cOtCmpOrary for his success
in attaining this prize, but we are at a loss 10
conceive where any authority is found in the
laws Of Washington Territory for such q course
upon the part Of the Governor. Did he hl! back
on the theory Of the Chief Justice Of the TcIr;.
tory, in justilying the usurratiOn Of Gov, rmor
Mct;ill III the removal Of another legislative Hp-
pointee, on the g ound that by the OIganc At
disbursnS officer is only RESI- OnsihIc 10 the
Secretary Of the treasury, and is not an,enablc
TO Territorial law, We would have no comments
| 10 make. But the Governor has recognized in
full the vitality Of our Territorial law AZ merely
gives that law vitality to set all its provisions at
defiance.
What law gives to Gov. McGill auth rty to
make an appointment to an office viii b by law
is to be filed by the Assembly, VIII lst that Leg
islative Assembly is in session. In the act Cf
April llth, 1854, no such power is conferred.
The Assembly alone have the right in Joint Con-
yentiOn to elect Territorial Printer by re-
ference to the election law in regard to the filing
| Of vacancies the Governor can find no justiiica-
| ton for USnrptng such authority. Sec 4 Of the
law Of w. T., page "a, acts Of session 1854, only
authOriz that official to ill such vacancies when
they occur during The recess Of the Legislature.
Who and what law constituted his EXcellency
judge Of the powers Of the Legislative Assembly
How did he oDicidly learn that that body were
powerless 10 elect Public Printer, because the
Council had rejected resolution to 90 into
Joint Convention at .frel day, and by GER
tain joint rule No other day could be designateds
by the same means Of knowledge, he might have
learned that sU pension Of TtL'es was no i'm
possibility with the pres Mt Legislature, and
that the joint rule spoken Of was not like dc
cree Of tie Medes and Persians, which altgreth
not" lie should know that il Is aud was the
slcorn duty Of the Assembly to elect Printer,
if the law he has cited be operative. He la
no right to assume they would violate their oath
Of Office and Gail to do q duty imposed by law,
TO justify his filling vacancy, Of which under
that law he could take no official notice until
their session had expired. As an Individual, he
might have been aware Of the nul!fedtiOn in
tentions Of the Council, but as Governor he had
no Information, nor right to information, upon
which 10 base such an act We think the aI
pointment Of Public Printer, on the 23d Of
January, wasa palpable violation Of the laws Of
the Territory.
Again: why is It Mr.. Lodges term Of Office
commenced upon the 9th January, four days
after date Of proclamatonl Because the te IN
Of Edward Furste, Esq, did not expire till that
date. Up to that date, Mr.. Gallagher VT 8
powerless TO enter upon the discharge Of the
duties Of his office. In fact no vacancy could
exist up to that period, and Of necessity, OIL the
Esd Of January no raoaRey did Grid, the Gov
eTnors proclamation TO the contrary notwth-
standing. And although the fact is that on the
18th day Of January Mr. Gallagher was ele cted
Printer, the Governor, in his hot haste TO i0rI.
stall an election and secure to the Pioneer the
emolnments Of the printing, right to enjoy
which this Legislature wNuld never have con-
ierred, allows but eleven days to follow, two Of
euh n1awa Al. L..
cluded from the count before be assumes a va
cancy existed. and that the Legislature had no
authority to do that which the law positively
says tseg mu't annually do.
Again: Mr. Gallagher, though having q GER
hlieaie Of election, not having qualified, could
not have resigned to the Governor, as the law
says be must do, IL an officer elected by the
Legislative Assembly. As he did not qualify,
and could not resign, i follows logically, no va
cancy occurred Of which the Governor could
officially be appFised. Nothing but the expira.
ton Of the session, without filling that Office,
would justify such an appointment
We could not approve as journalist the
stepping outside Of the printing profession to
t1nd candidate for Printer, and we are happy
10 see our personal friends receive these mari 8
Of favor from the "powers that be-"
II Gov. McGill has such an appointing power,
bis successor must have, and we await patiently
our turn. In the meantime, however, we hesi-
tate not % record our opinion that the appoint
ment Of Mr.. Lodge sets at defiance the law Of
washington Territory creating the ottice>Of
Territorial Printer.
Above We have given in fun the well-timcd
and excellent comments Of our Olympia cOtem.
porary on this subject We designed comment
ing upon the matter in similar manner, but this
article 50 well answers our views, thatwe adopt
It unreserYedly fer our present purpose.
A single remark, in justice to one member o
our delegation, and we are done with this ques.
ton. We have been taken to task for including
Mr.. n. H. Cunningham in the censure rro-
nounccd upon the Pierce County delegation,
We aru assured, in the most emphatic language,
BY colleague, that Mr.. Cunningham was a
Prosch man arst, last, and all the way through"
and Tat he rcgar ed itasa stretch Of impudence
for one having no connection with the business
to put himself forward as candidate for Public
Printer.
Below we publish communication from the
Public Printer elected, in reply to correspon-
dence written in Olympia. We cannot sec that
Il proves or disprOves anything-but we leave
the reader 70 judge for himself:
10 he Editor Of tie Puget Sound Herald:
sifi SrEnAcooM, Febs 9th, 1857.
You viii confer fayor by publishing the fol- |
lowing correspondence, taken from the Portland |
advertiser:
o1SnrrA, W. T., Jan. IA, 1861.
Tie Legislative event Of tie season ira. .spired
on Saturday last. For the past three or four
years the election Of q Public Printer has been
fhn uran1 n Zach u.as;c., T..s.l.a..- : =