Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-01-29

have had two Conventions, both exercising |
legislative powers, one holding several
sessions, and three distinct Legislatures,
each sitting for two or more sessions. And
yet, though the third has been quite two
months in session, there seems to be more
business now On its calendars than at any
previous day since it met Each and every
one of these bodies has filed large vol
umes in adding to and amending the laws
of the State, and to-day it seems as if the
objects aimed at were further from attain
ment than when the armies of the Southern
Confederacy surrendered. There is less
system and more confusion now in the
administration of civil affairs in this State
than during the darkest and most trying
hours of the late war The laws are less
known and less obeyed violence is more
frequent and more sanguinary crime more
rife and holder. and less frequently ferret
ed out and punished. The administration
of justice was never SO loose or PARTIAL
The denominations CT the war, great as
they certainly were, had never so corrupt
ed official honesty, or placed premium
upon criminal chicanery. The partisan
ships, then naturally nurtured by the ne
cessities and dangers of the times, never
extended beyond the over-jealous demands
of selfpreservation and protection 5nt
now they descend to subserve the pErpo-
ses of private revenge and individual
ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
State and individual credit was never at
so low an ebb as at present. Never was
less confidence felt in public honesty and
virtue. At no time in our history was the
honor of the State so aspersed by the foul
faint of suspicion enveloping her public
officials. Charges and counter-charges-
ordinations and re-criminations-corru
tons and briberies, fill the proceedings of
our Legislature, and hang like hideous
nightmare upon the honor and credit of
North Carolina.
Last month bribery was charged in the
Legislature to procure the passage of i'm
portant bills involving millions of dollars,
and it is believed only failed of proof by
the precipitate flight of important and in
corrupt ignorance were charged in the pur-
chase of lands for the use of the Peniten-
tiary, and the guilty wretches now writhe
under the terrible exposures of the Senate
Committee ; q day or two since, corruption
was charged in the enrolment of an i'm
portant act involving the honor of the Sec
rotary of State and the Committee on
Enrolment, which we believe is now the
subject of investigation yesterday pecu-
lation was charged in the purchase and
distribution of stationery. involving the
character of the Secretary of State and
Doorkeepers of the Senate, of which ven
tilation is promised, and tomorrow doubt
less We will have some new phase of the
kleptomania which seems to have laid vio-
lent hands upon our officials and corrupted
the fountain head of public credit and
State honor.
In the meanwhile, with the loss of repu-
tation, with the prostitution of the judi
ciary for political purposes, in the general
confusion of laws and chaos of civil aud
political affairs, broLt 1T on through the
ignorance and corruptions of our State
officials, crime stalks boldly abroad,
satiates its appetite for plumber and blood
shed, and, unmolested, prepares, at its
leisure, to renew its dreadful yisitations.
The unarmed traveller upon the highways,
the venerable citizen in the midst of his
own family, around his own hearthstoGe-
nay, the hallowed remains of the dead
are alike victims of desperate bands of
desperadoes who daily outrage the laws of
God and man with impunity.
Every executive and judicial officer in
the State, and three-fourths OF the legisla-
tive and two-thirds Of the county and
party which promised our people pros
perity, peace and quiet to follow our resto-
ration to the Union. The making and the
execution Of the laws are with them, while |
the expenses only fall to the lot OF their
political opponents. While the latter is
made to press grievously upon the good
citizens, the former seem to have no
restraining effect upon the bad. If we
measured our State government by it's cost, |
it should be most efficient if we Judge it
by it's merits, it must sink into unenviable |
oblivion. If, in the morning of its exis-
tence, it has sacrificed the honor of the |
State and bankrupted its credit, what may
we expect in the "yellow leaf?
Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford
Railroad.
Mr.. French's amendment to the Senate !
bill dividing the Wilmington, Charlotte
and Rutherford Railroad passed its third
reading in the House on Tuesday. This
bill provides that the State shall issue four
million dollars Of bonds in aid of this
road, and securing the State representa-
ton in the Company. So many amend
ments have been made, and probably
others will be made in the Senate, that
we can hardly tell the exact character of
the bill as passed.
FAIR PLAY vs. Foul PLAY.-Many of our
readers have doubtless read with intense