The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1871-08-24

I IL Is IC2IctIOl 10 ste one luuDttHill eld0
where he means 10 shield, and We caunot
/ help sympathising with a Governor so pc
culiarly unfortunate that the tempted de-
lenses of his warmest friend are the deadli-
est blows at his reputation.
We come then, with mingled feelings OF
sadness, sympathy, admiration and pity, to
notice an article which the editor OF the
Leader, with beautiful simplicity, calls
reply to one OF our communications to
The CLARION.
Ii pains at the very outset more than
we can well express, that we cannot truth
fully reeiprocate his polite compliment and
say that he ''seems 10 possess ability rather
above the average of newspaper scribblers."
According him many attractions of private
character, and such skill as doctor of med
icine that we would soon take his pills as
those of any other member of his craft in
the State, nevertheless candor compels the
statement that We have never seen an argu-
ment from his slashing pen wherein a six
mule team could not readily be driven be-
tween his premises and his conclusions. His
selection by Gov. Alcorn to bear his stand
ard would be matter OF surprise To one not
familiar with his own peculiar style, anu
with that public career which fifty requires
| thoughtless clustering as cover for genu-
inc shame. Weare nOtdiSposed now to COM
ment upon the exceptional Inconsistency of
the public lite of the editor of the Leader,
further than merely 10 instance il as addi-
tional evidence of his peculiar fitness TO
conduct purely Alcorn paper, aad in pal
liation of the apparent folly of the Govern
IN i'm 2 2 IN his ma
The editor OF the Leader, in a slap dash,
darkly suggestive style, so characteristic OF
him, aud which might give him some repu-
tation for spiciHess as local in police
court jottings for a City Gazette, dimy
>quints at three points in his reply We
shall notice them in order, first presenting
them inteliigibly. For such presentation
we shall deserve and doubtless receive his
honest thanks.
First, Bisapprehending us-which is UNI
svoidably common with him in all cases-he
distorts our remark that the prosecuting
attorney of State Ought to be as much
the attorney of the accused OF the state.
10 see that fair trial is had, and no advan-
tage taken of the rights of either" into an
assertion that the prosecuting officer should
ueI cJU dCCuStu pcIcOH-. anu ldheS lSSuC " ilu
Us on this supposed proposition.
Our assertion is mauifestly correct. 1t
does not comport with the dignity of the
State that her representatives in the courts
should struggle for conviction, where the
law and the facts do not clearly warrant it,
and l hold it to be his duty TO promptly dis
miss any prosecution where u conviction
should not be had. He should always bear
i'm mind that he represents no partisan inter-
est. but the might, and power, and magma
nimity of a great commonwealth, whose
motto in disposing of the long catalogue of
crimes is. that lit is better that ninety Line
guilty men should escape thai. one innocent
man should suffer" In this sense lac is the
attorney tor the prisoner as much as tor the
State. profess to know about as little law
as the editor of the Leader knows of the
methods of sound political discussion, but
no man OF common sense will readily differ
from the proposition advanced; and in mil
itary law the tacit law has been frequently
expressed. In this connection permit me To
say that, before the war, we had district
tornies with brains enough to dispense with
the necessity of paying other counsel to as
sist them in our own courts in the discharge
of their duties. The appointive system does
not seem to work so well in this regard.
The second proposition of the Leader,
translated. is TO the effect that the Ku KIux
prisoners have violated the State as well as
the Federal law, and therefore the Governor
is jus flied in retaining assistant counsel
This is ''abOut as great mistake as | have
any recollection Of" An Offense against
the Federal and State statutes is punishable
in rha tribunals a each iHrIsCirrIou
prisoners, therefore. If guilty. are liable to
Indictment again in the State courts after
convection in the Federal tribunals. under
the Leaders hypothesis. Why then should
a great State struggle for the double punish
ment of her citizens? Her statutes Genuunce
a penalty which Mississippi Judges sufii-
cieut. Why should her Governor pay out
her money to increase it! 1T the prisoners
not punishable under both Jurisdictions
then the Governor spends our money To
have our citizens punished for what are not
crimes in the purNi Of the laws of our
State. Either holn of the dilemma is pre-
scented to the choice OF the eminent man"
aud his JduS dctOtis. l leaffirm that a
Governor or Mississippi makes as shameful
a misrepresentation in employing prosecu-
ting counsel in the ku kluX trials in the
Federal Courts, as he would make in send
ing our money TO Alabama 10 prosecute
offenders against Alabama law. There can
be no escape from this conclusion.
At the same time, we have 10 word TO say
against the distinguished lawy ers employed.
Were u lawyer, we should have no hest
uation in accepting fee with the same ob-
iect. We merely assert thar, so far a. Gov.
Alcorn is concerned, his act is political
dis grace-a degradation OF his Office
intensified by the obiruding conviction that
it is not the mt re result of an error Of judg-
ment, but palpable bid for restoration TO
party favor.
The Leaders third proposition savors of
the Eighty and absurd SO remarkably "a to
suggest the prOpriety of his being prom ntlv
remanded to the Luuatic Asylum. of which
lac has been so distinguished an ornament
He says. on the score OF dollars and cents.
that it is economy for the Governor To perse
cute our citizens ia foreign tribunals By the
payment of few hundred dollars To as
.iStant counsel. My word for il the few
hundred dollars" wticE such distinguished
gentlemen as Messrs. Harris and Yerger
would charge for such uncongenial work
means at least from five hundred to one
thousand apiece And if it were only a few
hundred dollars" does the gentleman mean
to say that constitutional home prosecution
in our own courts would cost So much Bur
economy can cut no figure in a Gaze like this
And truly, TO hear Radical talk about
economy. in Mississippi, is like drinking
champagne through a syringe" Inc b+v-
erage is fine. but the instrument through
which il comes l. of very doubtful attrac-
ton. All this by the way. for we hever in
tended any point on the cOst-it is the mis-
appropriation itself which shocks the intel
ligence and sense of propriety OF every
right thinking man.
In reply to a question of the Leader, we
will say that we do not suppose that the an
imadversions of the ClariOn's correspondent
will cause him Gov. AlcOrn) TO falter now. !"
When man is dead to every pricking OF
political honor, no sane man can hope to
change bis onward march through the cess
pool of official faithlessness. One can only
leave him politically TO choke to death by
the accumulation of his own political slime
while one cries. "Unclean! unclean!r to
warn against the contamination of his I'M
wholesome example.
Governor Alcorn and his faithful follow err