The Van Buren press., 1870-01-25
Ignorance in High Places.

In the Little Rock Republican news
paper daily Of the llth inst, We find al
article purpcrting to be the production
Of The editor, but which sounds 80 famil
ter 20 our ears, that We are compelled tC
believe it to be the effusion Of either tn,
valiant Supervisor MCDONALD alias mil
irArE," or of his illegal adviser, "who il
borne on the rolls at Washington, at 1
yearly salary of 81, ,000-and who comes
TO Arkansas to play "DJormer" for thu
half Of the tobacco, his chief has seized
We cannot but believe that the - adviser
10 the author, because it contains many
Of the errors of law and sense, that b,
treated US to, during the examination OF
the charges against oosTicK It RYAN be-
fore Commissioner CHURCHILL. 1t speaks
well for our Government, that it pays
such salary to secure such unprecedent
ed ability; and it also speaks well for tn,
Adviser" that he will sacrifice his prcc
Gus time and talents to the service of tn,
Government, by not only playing =" in
former" but by wasting his time in fore
stalling public opinion by newspaper ar
ticles--in case where the law is so plain
ly on his side.
We will direct the attention Of our
readers to few Of the points in the arti-
Gle above alluded to, conGning ourselves
to those only that display the ability and
legal aumen Of the "Adviser," and which
are so characteristic ofthe shining lights,
that adorn the judiciary of the State.
This brace Of heroes, Mcdonald and his
adviser" came among us, az they them
selves asserted, to have the isgaiity of the
act Of manufacturing tobacco in the In
dian Country tested by the courts. The
Adviser" opens his famous article, in
the Republican, by the broad assertion,
that there has been for the past two years
an illegal manufacture Of tobacco in the
Indian Territory" etc, If this is true,
there is no further use for the Judiciary
This able and experienced lawyer has de-
clarcd the act to be illegal, and that
ought to DO satisfactory to the Governt
ment He can have none but the pures.
motives for so deciding, because he only
gcts a pitiful one-half of the property
seized, and what is that to giant mind
and man who Z" is borne on the rolls at
Washington, with yearly salary OF
$1,000! But for fear that those, whose
eyes have not been blessed with a sight
Of this great man, and honored by per-
sonal acquaintance, might not place inn
plicit faith in his mere declaration, he
proceeds to assign reasons for his opin-
ions. Amer branding the parties as
thieves and using other language char.
acteristic of stupcndous minds, he quotes
the l07 section Of the Revenue Act OF
July goth, 1868, as follows:
And 30 IL further enacted, That the
internal, revenue laws, imposing taxes on
distilled spirits, fermcnted liquors, tobae-
co, snuff, and cigars, shall be held and
Construed to extend to such articles pro-
duced aayrhere within the srterior bound
ariss Of the United States, ohsther tae
came shaU b within collection district or
not
The italics are all his own. He then
declares that mo sane man can doubt
the intention of Congress in creating this
law" His sane opinion is, that it extends
the revenue laws over the Indian Coun-
try; and declares that lift does not, then
"wc acknowledge ourselves ignorant of
the plainest provisions Of the English
language" The acknowledgement bears
upon its face proof " stronger than Holy
writ" We confess ourselves ignorant of
the meaning Of the above quotation.
What this" Daniel means by the "plain-
est provisions Of tho English language"
We know not, nor can we guess He is con
victed out OF his own mouth OF utter ig-
norance Of the use Of our language; SO
let us turn to bis law In italicising the
l07 section, this astute lawyer, who pro-
fesses only q disintcrested love for his
government and desires "equal rights for
ALL" takes great pains. not to italicise
the words " such articles" Men of or
dinary sense, whether they be lawyers or
not, can see at glance that the leading
words in the l07 section, are the words
"sach articles" yet this fair minded
adviser" fails to notice them. These
words refer, and as they stand In the sec.
ton represent the articles named in the
first portion Of the section, among other
things tobacco" The section means,
that the provisions of the law shall be
construed to extend to "tobacco,' DC.
produced anywhere within the exterior
boundaries" &c. The revenue law acts
upon the articles according to this
section, but is there any construction OF
the language employed in this l07 section
possible, by. which it can be made to ex
tend the revenue laws over any other, oil
greater " territory than the other pro
visions extend itS II there is we cannot