Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1864-09-17


lam aware that NAV be told that make the
charge TOO broad | wish il were possible. i
could then sfford e. be corrected. IL the State
could thereby escape the shame But let me
ask Won If instances do not readily suggest them
selves II YOU remember any one three wears
and a half ago. comparatively poor, If Dot. in
deed. poor beJOnd comparison, who has since
grown rich 10 Office. tell me how he has become
SOL Did his salary DO IL That vas only TWO
or three thousand collars year n most; and,
even if IL bad all been saved, II would not have
enabled him TO purchase that fine farm; to have
built that magnificent house: 10 have invested
those msny thousands in bank stocks The du-
tic u his Office doubtless required all his time,
and all his energies He could do nothing else;
hac time FOR speculation; time for his own
affair. but hs affairs have, nevertheless, taken
care OF them-elves and made him rich. Hence
he Is able TO pay $50 900 Tor farm. many thou
sand dollars for bank stocks, and his friends are
equally prosperous salaries far less than his
Own. | know il has been said that in one IN
stance the farm was gift from wealthy friends,
a tribute to cisnterested patriotism and self
sacrificing virtue. But then it further said
that these generous friends had been favored
with contracts By the subject of their
bounty Out upon such gifts IL was
/ Tor them that the great Lord Bacon
/ The highest. wises, meanest of MANKIND" was
/ mpeached. degraded fined and Imprisoned Out
upon them! They are the bane of public admin
istration-the fatal rot at the root OF public
rality and free institutions From the highest
| civil magistrate, down to the petty captain and
unimportant clerk. there are instances where each
and all. with salaries far less than sufficient for
decent support have realized fortunes which
! honest men would never have enjoyed.
Another evil Indicative of our approaching
downfall, and making il necessary to vindicate the
moral government OF God. may be traced in the
habitual disregard of minorities for official obi
i CATION. The staving of of elections. factious
resistance to the regular business of legislation
and boiling to prevent the passage OF undesirable
measures. all are but steps toward that broad and
bloody revolution that has been desOlating ouI
country for the last four years, and is still going
forward, to end, when and where. God only
knows Twice, in the recent history of Indiana
has the minority forced an adjournment of thu
the General Assembly by such revolutionary
measures, before the necessary appropriation:
were made to pay the interest on the State debt
support the public charities, and carry on the
government. Fast upon the heels of the wicked
failures of duty. have followed each time, exec
utive usurpatOns still worse than the causes tC
which. in the false reasoning of misguided psrti
sans. they owed their origin.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GOV. WILLARD AND GOV
MORTON.
In 1857 the Senate refused TO pass the neces
sary appropriations; and thereby left the Execu
. tive and Administrative Departments without thu
means necessary TO carry on the government
: The officers controlling these departments foun'
themselves unable TO 90 on without calling al
extra session of the General Assembly or resort
ing TO extraordinary and unauthorized measures
| In determining between these alternatives. on
+, | avil o1 apI tho finn
employed without appropriation and in contra
vention of an express constitutional provision il
these words:
f mo money shall De drawn from the treasury
but in pursuance Of appropriations made by law
This was done upon the pretext that it wa
useless TO reassemble the Legislature, whicl
would, it said, most probably still fail to pas
! the requisite laws, and that it would not do t.
stop the wheels of government. Upon this rea
sonng, altogether fallaciOus, and at war with tn
{ first principles of government of law-the pub
{ lie funds were drawn and applied to the publi
1 uses without appropriations. The application,
: believe, was honestly and faithfully made,
general thing: and, at its next session, the Gen
era Assembly made appropriations to cover an
Z egalize the whole.
These breaches of duty and law on the part o
e all departments of the State government, excep
G the Judiciary, did not, however, end here. Tn
. determined SO lar as possible, 10 provide agains
= any future employment of the public funds with
5 out appropriations They accordingly passed
: treasury system. prohibiting the payment of an
moneys out OF the treasury except upon warran
drawn in pursuance of appropriations made b.
law, and afixing penalties to the viola
tons of the prohibitions il contained This sys
: tenn was completed at the session of 1889 bu
y the Governors veto of the penalty bills left
> without its appropriate sanction Tor two NOR
y wears The same bill. however, which the vet
had defeated. was the first measure of the sessio
), Of 1861. and still stands upon the statute boo
for the punishment of its violators With thi
= system. il was thought. the people of the Stat
would thencefOrward find their money empOye
: only they should direct by law.
I. Bus the genius of crime is boundless. Will
a virtue s always uniform, vice has moveabl
. ways that battle and defeat all the calculation
/, of the wise. The wrong -dOer oyerleaps th
fences of the law, and commits his crimes ou
= eide of its penalties with impunitv-oifiense
i clearly within the spirit and reason of the Grim
n nal code, but unfortunately not within the LEI
/, ter.
. In this respect, the mode in which our presel
= Executive carries on the government, is we'll ca
cuated To awaken admiration alike for h
invention and audacity. In both he stands Will
out parallel; for after appeal to the courts
o compel the Auditor TO comply with his view:
and the decision of the highest and final tribuna
against him. he still maintains that he is rigt
and the courts wrong; and without the sanctlO
OF law, or the concurrence OF the officers
State. organizes a treasury unrecognized bv th
Constitution or laws, and goes forward, lik
Charles the First OF England to exhibi this ablit
a to govern without reference TO the General a.
= sembly Ii was Charles favorite policy TO gov
= ern without Parliament and although il ut
:, mately lost his throne. and cost him his head, hi
q example l. followed in snlte OF his fate, by HI
Excellency
q Ii il not sufficient 70 cxculpate His Excelenc
TO plead the example OF Governor Willard, a.
, advice of Mr. Attorney General Mcdonald. no
;. the apparent necessity of the measures In IN
= first place. Wizards example did not 20 80 fa
|; stopped a great way short of the career of II
r Excellency Ii had the sanction of the officer
!, of State who were not subject TO pains and per
alties for drawing upon the Treasury for money
. not appropriated, or paying drafts SO drawn
II There was no decision of the Supreme Coui
against it. Ii did not propose To divert the reve
nues of the State altogether from the hands Q
, those officers whose duty and right it is unde
q the Constitution and laws of the State, TO hol
: aud handle them Willard and the State off
= GERS, indeed. acted without the sanction of es
> press law His Excelency endeavored to coerc
= the same officers 10 act in violation OF EXPIRE
: law: and failing in that endeavor, by a regula
coup det0f, seized upon functions which the Con
stItution had denied TO him and conferred upo
Others and proceeded TO run the whole machine
/ of eovsrDr,ant hsn,-olf This he A