, 1863-06-13
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SATURDAY, JUNE is, 1858.
WHO HAD THE mAJ0RITYi


First the Tragedy aud then the Comedy
That abomination Of abomiuations-1ne
Legislature at Springfield, or the copper
head end thereof-after having wasted q
whole regular session in diaioyh endeaVor,
tn t1,e inter and unpardonable neglect ol
nnh1fc business; and altar having FILTERED
avay the days Of the adjourned session in
the most disrcputable attempts to put
money, by-means Of horse railroad swim
dies and the like, into the pockets Of the
majority, now. after being dissolved as a
public nuisance, fingers at the Capital just
long enough for the members to
write up protest against the
Governors action, and to tell the
people whom they have outraged
and betrayed, what they would haVe done
had thev been suffered to 60 on. Their
protestation Of what they would, Is full
confession Of what they ought, to have
done. and m Indictment against them for
the prostitution Of their own time, the
public money, and the vital interests of
the State and Of the country to the pursuit
Of mean partisanship, or to the greater
mcanncss Of private gain by official un-
taithfuIness and corruption-an Indictment
upon which they will be tried BY their con-
stitucnts, and upon which only one YER
dict can he pronounced This is their al
legation, in many counts, against the
Governor:
He has defeated the appropriation Of one
Of Illinois, who arc bleeding and dying upon
the battle field and in the hospital
He Inns defeated the bill for the sale Of the
coin in the Treasury, and the payment Of our
interest in treasury notes, saving hundreds Of
thousands to the people, which WAS on its
left lie llalls of legislation at the bidding Of
their master.
&c has defeated the passage Of the general
appropriation bills already passed tho Senate
and banding in the House, and ready for pas
sage, which the Senate had acted upon with
out delay. and to which no obstruction was
intended 10 be, would or could have been, in
terpcsed by The House.
Helms defcated the printing Of the report
OF the State Agricultural Society, IN appro.
priation for which had passed the House and
was on its passage in the Senate, and the dis-
tS5bution Of the appropriation for agricultural
rurposes made BY the General Government,
was intended, to the great detrlment Of the
Sast agricultural interests Of Illinois. for
whose benefit these measures were intended
He has defeated the appropriation for the
State Normal University; the property will
be eola under Tie @ esistng and this
Tie memory Of the great dead could not re-
strain him, and the appropriation for the trec-
ton Of monument to Douglas receives its
death blow at bis hands.
"He defeated" That's good, end that's
where the comedy begins. The monstrous
ia1s1 The Copperhend majority Of that
Legislature never had any more intention
Of appropriating money to the relief Of the
soldiers than they had Of being translated
to heaven, each man with his pet swindle
or his bribe moncy-the price Of his vote
in Lis pocket. And the record proves what
We say. Last winter they were repeatedly
and urgently pressed by the Governor to
furnish means for wounded soldiesr' relief
But TIC refusal to do 80 was constant and
obstinate, until the Union men were able to
effect by q trade what they could not
wiring from Copperhead sense Of right.
They conceded partisan advantage and
the majority, thus bribed voted the money.
But rs soon as the Legislature adjourned
the Coppcrheads got together in caucus
and instructed The Treasurer, one Of thei1
tools, to refuse to pay over the money
and there it is yet, andnot dollar, during
all the terrible scenes at Vicksburg, he:
the Governor been able to draw. The ex
ira session opened just as the demand ffor
the soldiers for aid was the loudest, and .
bill was hurriedly introduced, to appropri
ate one hundred thousand dollars to theil
relief 1t passed, and went orer to the
other house, where, amid audible snicker
ing, it was purposely amended ant
sent back; the body that Originated
it refused to concur in tn
amendments, and there the measure hang
where it was purposely put, between TIL
SENATE and the House; and had tn
Abomination kept On legislating until tn
). end Of the year, the bill would mt hav
been extricated from the Limbo in which
the art Of How not to do it" had placed
it. There WAS no pretence on the part O
individuals that there WIS any intention O
doing anything for the soldiers; On the
CONTRARY, all the outside talk and all the
mere personal effort was adverse to all
measures which Immediately or remotely
aided the progress Of the war. And no
decent Copperhead who was at Spring
field will deny TINT this is SO.
And now about the General Appropria-
ton bill. This was the very last measure
that the Copperheads voted down. Early
on the morning Of Wednesday, PROPOSE
ton -was made to take it up; and BY a par
ty vote, the motion was tabled. In an
instant thereafter, the thunder was heard,
the lightning struck, and that Legislature
was dissolved. And thus easily and effect
1al1y these, the principal counts in the
g1ldiron allegation are disposed Of, and
the others may be quite rs easily set aside
The people are the accusers. They have
anaigned that faithless body for its un-
faithfulness and neglect. 1t had before it
only the ordinary business Of the State
either at the regular or extra session.
Why did it not do the business for which
it assembled2 What excuse can beurged
for the criminal neglect? Who had the
majority? That's the question.
OF THE SUE PRECISION OF DIS
LOYAL JOURNALS
We take it that there should be no diff
Guilty or disagreement among Union men
in regard to the principle involved in the
suppression Of dis1oya1 publications, nor in
regard to the application Of that principle
BY Gen. Burnside, in thesuppression ofthe
Chicago 1imes. But, as the case does not
seem to have been made quite clear in the
communications which have been devoted
to the matter in hand, in our colums, We
propose to set forth, very concisely and
briefly, our own opinions, and submit them
to our readers for what they are worth.
For us they are complete sclfjustidca-
lion:
L We believe in the rightfulness and ne
ceaaty Of martial law in time Of war, in
al places and cases where the civil law Is
imperative or unequal to the emergency