The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1871-11-03
SPEECH
Hon. J. l. Rosson. on the Final Pas
sage of the Bell County
Amendment.

on this subject 1t is purely a local
question, and one that nobody outside
| the limits Of Bell County has any i'm
me Hate or legitimate interest IN, and |
had hoped that gentlemen on this floor
would not feel it their duty to oppose it,
| but leave the matter with me aud mg
/ constituents to settle If I misrepre-
sent them It Is my faul5 and their mis-
fortune, and nobody else is responsible
| But is seems that 10 this reasonable hope
! ! have been disappointed, and that ffjst
| of gentlemen seem TO know more about
the wisdom of my people than | DO my
self, and especially my friend. the dis
\ tinguisbed gentleman from Fayette He
says those people don't want the nsw
| county, and defes me to offer any nrgu>
ment why they should have it, except
| that ! want them to have it Bat. sir, he
makes that assertion right Ia the face
/ of that large bundle of petitions that
presented 70 this House the other day,
with some two thousand names attached
saying they did want it. And will tell
| him why they want it. In the first place,
! they want it because they are very in
| conveniently situated from the old county
sites. The old county sites were located
before the question of the true boundary
between Tennessee and Mississippi WAS
settled, and when the true thirty-fifth
| parallel of latitude was ascertained to be
some FIVE miles sonth Of the old line be.
tween the two States, thus giving us that
much more territory on the south of
| those old counties; and the county site
of Hardeman county was originally To-
GATED about three miles north and west
of the then center, and now about seven
or eight miles from the center And so
it is in Fayette county; and know
plenty men in those counties that have
TO travel nearly thirty miles to the old
county site, and work their way across
| Wolf River and the Hatcher as best they
can; and that | think is one reason
| Another reason is, that we have two
| railroads running at right angles and
crossing in the center of Bell County,
and viii make it one of the most conYen-
| lent little counties in the State, and re-
lieve our people from their present great
| Inconvenience. nd still another reason
is, that it ID our constitutional right TO
have it, and In view of these reasons, ice
| rant IT,
But might retort and say that the
gentleman from Fayette has not fered
one single reason-positvely, not one
single Legitimate reason, why we should
not have it, except that he and his of6~
cial brethren in Fayette County do not
want us TO have it
Another general discovery he has
made, is, that the Supreme Court has
killed as outright, and enioined the con-
stitutional rights of those people perpetu
ally and forever, and talks learnedly
about iE. Yes, sir; he talks lawyer
talk," and says that we are fiLRctus
o6fcio. Well sir, | must confess that
don't know whether that is good Latin
or whether it's Indian, or what he means.
But presume he means that all laws
and parts of laws that proposes any re-
lief to my people have been killed by the
Supreme Court dead dead and deliV-
cred over to the tender mercies of him
and his tayette County officials
Now, sir, l admit that that court could
come as near knocking statute law
clear out of exiCtence by deciding that
some of its provisions had not been props
erly complied with, as any other court
But | presume there is no other man in
America that thinks they have done 80
in this instance Tut the learned gentlc-
man from Fayette. And if they had, is
that any reason why a subsequent Legis-
lature should not revise and amend the
law so as to conform TO the wisdom Of
their opinions? Certainly not
| Now, Mr. Speaker, | must leave the
gentleman from Fayette in his glory for
a few moments, to give a passing notice to
the amendment offered By the gentleman
from Lincoln; for you see, sir, that /
am beset on all sides, and if don't dc
justice to each of those gentlemen, l
hope they will excuse me on account Of
a press of business. lie proposed by
/ 81, D., -, ~. 8
Fayette entirely, and attach it to the
county of Bell Now, sir, it is we'll
known to every gentleman on this floor
Except it may be the gentleman from
Lincoln) that Fayette is an old and high
IL respectable constitutional county of
this Satte, and we could not abolish it
if we wanted to do so, and certainly no.
body Wishes or proposes to do so but
the gentleman himself But if he eau
conscientiously offer and support that
amendment in view of the oath he has
taken to support the constitution, that is
his business and not mine
Mr.. Tillman, interruptinS- with
draw the amendment"
Mr.. Rosson-"Very well, sir if you
withdraw your amendments, L withdraw
all have said about it. and let that pass
for what it is worth.
] must now return to the gentle man
from Fayette. He very fippantly threat
ems US with the courts again If We pass
this law, and attempt to organize under
it. Well, sir, | must confess that the
courts have some terrors for me. | can
not exactly understand them at all times.
The courts, sir, recognized our other
election as being all right aud cOnstItu-
tional up to a point sufficient to indict all
the liquor dealers in Bell county who
were at all suspected of opening their
J doors, or selling or giving away any strong
, drink on the day of that election, and
dragged them up to the old county seat
and punished them with fine and cost
and would have punished them with i'm
| prisOnment if they had not come down
, with the greenbacks. Oh, yes, all right
up TO this point; all constitutional and
) legal; bus when we come to organize the
county in pursuance of that same cleo
{ ton our learned Chancellor (aud when |
say learned | mean what Say HE says
mo, YOU had no constitutional election
down there on that day" SO you see
Mr.. Speaker the courts are a sort of two
edged sword, and cuts both ways, and
we dread them aud want to keep out oil
them. And If this Legislature will pass
this bill and prescribe some positive
mode by which we can get the constitu
$ tional consent of the people, and they
comply with its requirements, defy him
and all his threats to carry US back into
= the courts, and that hope this House
will do
: l must now, Mr. Speaker, leave the
: gentleman from Fayette again for shor
n time to notice the gentleman from Shelby
for you see, sir, they are running thret
I sawa On me- Naur ha a a vou1r man