Arizona miner., 1867-11-16
The Governor and the Capital Question.

of his action in signing the bill for the per manent location of the Capital at Tucson. The people of the Territory residing north of the Gila certainly expected that His Excel lency would attempt some explanation oi his conduct in signing away the interests of the great majority of the citizens for thc argran- dizcment of handful of fspccuator' and pol- iticians. We had. weeks ago, in,imations from His Exccllcncy that he intended to do SO. (At length the general expectation is fulfilled.
 His Exccllercy begins by denying, what we charged by implication, that he knew at the time he signed it, of the use of ofdi-honest means to effect the passage of inc bill. Now, there are two faces to this statement. He was. perhaps. not cognizant of any facts which would warrant him in subscribing a judicial oath alleging that he kHur that certain mem bcrs or the Legislature had been induced by dishonest means Co vote for thc bill and yet the circumstances under which the bill was passed were SO plainly indicative of fraud and corruption. that Ills EXcclency must have been moraHy cariaclf that they had been used, If his pcrceptivc faculties were not bluntcd by the prospects of politi- cal prcfermcnt said to he held out Co himself as a donccVr for ignoring the dishonesty, and consummating the iniquity which he had in his power, and which it was his duty to pre- vent.
 "Thc combination says lis Eycciicucy, by which the measure was carried may have been unexpected, but 1t was not necessarily the result of 9isFanes meoas. and think may be otherwise accounted for without difficulty" Why. then, if the task is so free from diff culty, does not His Excclency account hon estly for that unexpected combination which he admits was formed, through which the people were outraged, their interests trampled under foot, and heavy expenses en- tailed upon the Government. In the name of common integrity, does His Excel'ercy pretend to say that such combination was effected without resort to dishonest means ? In what school of morality has he been bred, that he coolly justifes such acts
 His Excellency says that before signing the bin he held it an unusual length of time 'atiording it, opponents every opportunity to prove their various charges yet "nothing whatever was established.n The truth is, His Excelancy would be satisfied with noth- ing short of such evidence authenticated by oath, as would be competent in a court of law, well knowing that the opponents of the bill could not possibly, in tue time he allowed them, produce such evidence In the mean time he allayed the apprehensioHs of the op- ponents of the bill, and threw them of their guard, by intimations intended to- and which did convey the impression that he would veto the bill. While he had the bill in his hands letters were exhibited to him from prominent citizens of Mohave county, strongly condemn ing the vote of their Representative, Lewis in voting for the bill and declaring that every voter in the county was opposed to it; a re- mou- trance from citizens of the same county was presented to the Governor. urging him not to sign the bill in the Executive office, in His Excellcncy's presence, Lewis, of Mo- have, declared that in voting for the Jill he had {" got even on the Yayapai delegation " His Excellency knew that Mickey of Yuma and Class and Cutler of Pah-Ute missrepre- sentcd the wishes of their constituents in voting for the measure, and he knew that no honest motive could have influenced them in 1 doing so. An ordinarily honest Executive, possessed of ordinary discretion and frmness, | would have vetoed measure, so manifestly i unjust to the people, and passed under such | circumstances at once, without asking for sworn evidence of positive bribery and cor 1 ruption.
 We are aware that few persons, under the influence of His Excelency's 1owery logic have attempted to defend him from the charge of complicity in the dishonest means by which the Capital was removed from Pres colt; but that any one has expressed to Hi. Excellency the conviction that the removal
 was not effected through fraud and corrup
 tion, ue do aot belicce
 The second paragraph of His Excellency'. letter is an effort to excuse himself for sign
 ing the bill on the ground that the people o
 Pima had induced him in moment of weak
 ness, to "put his foot in it." and that he
 had not subsequently gained sufficient strength
 of mind to make his way out. His Excel
 lency is welcome to all the benefit he can de
 rive from such an excuse,
 We trust the people of Prescott will b,
 duly grateful to His Excellency, for not re-
 tracting anything he may at any time hay,
 said in favor of Prescott. Such generosity
 [ T