Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1870-09-24

ion, q lobbyist and Reeds own
;hOsen accomplish. He wrote on
he S1st of May, 1869, to Cover
nor Reed, as follows:
You remember, when in New
our agreement was this:
You were to call the Legislature
together, and use your influence to
our bills passed as drawn by
us, aud if you were successful in
this you were TO be paid twelve
thousand five hundred dollars in
cash, out Of which amount was to
be deducted the seventy. five hun
dred dollars you have heretofore
leaving a balance Of five
thousand dollars to be paid at an
day.
The Florida House Of Repre-
sentatives-chieay under the con-
troll Of Reed-having appointed a
committee Of five TO investigate
his conduct, four out Of the FIVE
D ,mbers reported on the 4th of
February, 1870, that he ought to
be impeached for bribery, embez-
element Of public funds and cor.
ruption generally while the fifth
member, although mildly discoun-
tenancing impeachment, did re-
port that "there was evidence Of
irregular and indiscreet action on
the part of Governor Reed which
may be considered reprehensible,
and not deserving of approval."
Even with all the money Reed
could find it in his heart to spend,
and all the influence of the enor-
nous and, considering the re-
sources Of Florida, utterly UMPIRE
cedented amount voted the rail-
road, his own "reconstructed''
Legislature, only permitted him to
escape impeachment by q vote of
20 to 90.
He received a bride of $4,000 to
calltogether the Legislature to pass
an act to incorporate a railroad with
slO,O0O,0 900 capital and in which
he himself was one of the chief
corporatOrs. BY the same kind
of influence he acquired for an
other company, in which also he
had a large interest, an exclusive
right of ferriage for the six most
important miles of the St. Johns
river, besides other immense
grants of land and money, the lat
ter in sums Of $500,0 900, $4,000,
$4,000 and $49,O 200.
Perhaps the most fragrant and
directly punishable orall his crimes
is that described in the World, no
doubt truly, as follows:
Succeeding this campaign, and
on the close of the session, Gov.
Reed sets out for Washington with
a document purporting to be an
act of the Florida Legislature, and
entitled: IAN act to authorize the
Governor to ask for and receive
from the Government Of the Uni
ted States the Agricultural Col
lege and land scrip which this
State may be entitled under and
by virtue of the act of Congress
Of July I'd, 1862, providing for
Agricultural Colleges in the sew.
eral States" the truth being that
no such act was ever introduced
into or read or voted on in
either branch of the Legislature,
1.-THE act" itself and the signature
thereto of the President and Sec
rotary of the Senate and Speaker
and Clerk of the House being as
sheer forgeries as it is possible for
villainy to conceive or crime to
execute. Armed, however, with
this "act," Gov. Reed pushed on
to Washington, and doubtless
would have secured under it the
valuable land scrip due Florida had
not one of the Florida State off.
GERS, provided with the journals
of the Houses and an opinion
from the State Attorney General,
followed on after and exposed the
fraud"
Certainly it can scarcely be
questioned that in all the history
of the globe, no such set of vii.
lainies has ever before been per.
petrated among an intelligent PEG.
pie and under a free government.
They are enough to make the best
men disloyal, if there were no way
of legal redress. They are all
done in the name Of "loilty,"
"moral- ideas" and horror Of Dem
ocrats.