The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1868-11-24
T ! Re Palladium.
RICHMOND. IND. NOV. gath, 1865.
AN INTERESTING REVIEW.


the time of the passage of the bills by
our State Legislature, re districting the
State for Congressional and Legislative
purposes, while the measures gave en-
tire satisfaction to the people generally
q great out cry was made in this part of
the State, by the friends and admirers Of
our distinguished M. C., who charged
the members of the Legislature, and es
pecially those Of them who had been
active in the matter, with all kinds of
evil and malicious designs. The hon.
orable gentleman above alluded to, him.
self, in his celebrated "stereotyped man
ifesto" to his confidential constituents,
proclaimed the authors Of tie measure,
as ''cowardly dem agogues," malignant
fiends,s' and many similar choice and
statesman like epithets, with which his
scholarly vocabulary is SO well stocked.
A united effort was made to convince the
public, that the whole object was to de-
prive the Republic OF the valuable SER
vices Of this original patentee of the Re-
publican party, which, of course, was
well calculated to .'sadden the heart Of
every loyal man in the nation.'' as so
recently and SO pathctically portrayed
by this great man himself in his Dublin
speech. In vain it was argued that the
measure was demanded by the Republi-
can party of the State; that it received
the unanimous support Of the party in
the Legislature; that it would give the
Republicans that majority of members
Of Congress, which their majority in the
State entitled them to that it was just
that the gerrymandering arrangement Of
the Democracy, by which one district
was made With 5000 Republican major
ity, while others all around it were made
Democratic, should be broken up. It
was in vain that it was shown that the
honorable gentleman was left in good,
reliable Republican district. All argu.
cent was in vain. and it had to be left
for him to demonstrate the wisdom or
folly of the Legislative action ~
Let us, then, in the light of present
events, examine the question. Had our
old districts remained, at our recent
election for Congressman. tits true that
our distinguished member, would have
been returned by q much larger MAORI
ty than he received in the new district,
and that, too, without rejecting the
South Poll, = but it is also true that the
Democracy would have carried SIX and
the Republicans but five of the old dis
tricts-the former carrying the first,
secon d, third, fourth, seventh and tenth
old districts, andthe latter carrying the
fifth, 8 ixth, eighth, ninth and eleventh
old districts, as a reference to the vote
of last October shows. Thus presenting
the spectacle of State going Republi- :
can, and yet the Democrats carrying
majority of the Congressmen-to say
nothing Of the '.loyal hearts that would
have been saddened.''o Whereas by the
present arrangement, enacted BY. ..scow-
ardfy demagogues y and g malignant
fiends,, the Democrats have but four
and the Republicans seven members
and among them our own '.suileless
chief himself And then it is no fault
of the Legislature that the Democracy
carried even the four districts, and came
so near carrying ours. For the new bill
gave the Republicans nine of the eleven
districts IT is true Holman carried the
third, and Voorhees, the sixth, but, it is
also true that they are both good, Re-
publican districts, with good manage
ment, popular nominations, and an hon
Ill g. -:.~.rt AZ
the former by GA, and the latter by
$40 majority. As to our district, the
fourth, t is true our "giant Radical was
saved to the district, and to the nation,
by the fortunate, we might say Provi-q
Dental Hunder Of the judges Of the
''South Poll, - counting the ballots on
the wIong side Of the s'road;" but it is
nevertheless, equally true, that Baker
carried the district by. the handsome ma
jority Of $50, from which was taken the
1873 at the "South Poli'' TO save our ''be-
loved ;chief,"7 leaving still the safe ma
jority of I'D for Baker, and every other
Republican, save our own immaculate
statesman" and then Grant sweeps the
track with 1347 majority in the fourth
district. Is it not a Republican district
So that, if our own "virtuousz leader
had been defeated, and sadness carried
to the heart of every Union man in the
nation" no blame for such terrible ca
lamity) could have been charged to the
Legislature, '-cowardly dem agogues.p and
malignants' though they were but the
whole awful responsibility would have
rested on perverse and unapI relative
constituency, and those counterfeit Re-
publicans who hang on the verge of the
party'!3 b9iiqsz ".bias sssaE" Is
AS to the bill apportioning the State
for legislative purposes, it only needs q
reference to the figures TO demonstrate
its wisdom: Under the new bill, the
Republicans have large, and reliable