The weekly Arizona miner., 1868-11-28
The Territorial Legislature.


  The sovereign people of Arizona should . know tha, portion of the men elected by them last June to legislaio for their interests and welfare, assembled at Tucson, on Tues day. the 10th inst. and forthwith proceeded to organize themselves into body that will hereafter be known in history as the Fifth Legislature of Arizona To say that this body, from it's paucity of numbers, or from any other cause is incapable of doing either good or harm, would be Co assert an untruth So far as their election and delegation by the people, and their organization in accordance with law, is concerned. they are legal body, empowered To make and unmake laws. Yet, there is DO disgusting the fact, tha. many Of our people arr of opinion that the superstruc- ture upon which the honorable body stands. is neither solid nor legally founded This opinion is dcduced from the fact that instead of former Legislature making the appor- tionment of members of the Legislature for the various counties they delegated the do- ing of that job to our present Governor, E. c. Mccormick, and thereby exceeded their powers and violated the letter and spirit of the Organic Act, which is really, our writ ten Constitution. The matter is nov in the hands of the Courts one of which has al- ready decided that all and everything done by all and every officer in the Territory, since 1865, will have to De done over again, because, forsooth, our ambitious Governor has, for prr- poses best known to himself, usurpcd power not legally vested in his office
 While snecring at citizens of the Territory for meddling with this affair the Govc-nor's organ admits that we have been sailing with out regard to our chart, but thinks resolu- ton of the Legislature and the efforts of our Delegate in Congress will influence Congress to legalize the wrong-doinc of the Governor We hope it will, and hope, also, that nc mischief will come to the people of the Ter ritory through the ignorance or duplicity o our present Governor, who, to say the least shows very bad taste and disinclination {, have the matter cauvassed, by casting slurs 8 those engaged in trying to correct the wrong if wrong there be, in bringing it before thu Courts. Instead of whitewashine, or attempt ing to cloud the matter over for the present the Governor, if honest, should be in the lea, of those who wish to examine and settle thi question of Territorial legality. There is m use denying the fact, our people are suspi cious and the sooner their suspicious are eth CT established or shown to be erroneous, th better.
 In view of this matter, it would be best fo our present Legislature 10 adjourn as speed ly as possible. Beyond laying our grieyancc before the Legislative Department of tn General Government, we are aware of bu very few acts necessary for it to do. Were possible to codify the laws of the Tcrritory we would like to see it done The fayorit scheme of the Governor and his clique is Il raising of a regiment of Mexicans in the Te ritory, but we would much prefer to have regiment of white soldiers stationed in tl Territory, for various reasons, some of whiC are that they are better fighters than Mex cans, and that when discharged here most
 them stay in the country and engage in tl development of its resources. But for | soldiers that have been discharged here fro the California Volunteer column and the re ular army, our white population would besli indeed. We need more troops badly, and we cannot get American soldiers we " gladly take Mexican ones.