Herald and tribune. [volume] (Jonesborough, Tenn.) 1869-current, 1871-01-26
THE.
Asthisbody is doing worse than not!

Asthisbody Is doing worse than nothing,
it is rarely that we feel it our duty to en-
cumber our columns with a report of their
proceedings. In charity, and free gratis,
we will inform our readers it is in session,
has been in session since the holidays, and
as to the time it will adjourn. this deponeth
sayeth not. OF all the farces and bur-
lesques ever enacted upon the political
stage, this is the most c~onsummate. Never
did more Christophero Slyes. Fl nd their
way into an unknown chamber. A more
complete farce was never known or record
ed in the annals of political comedy
This Legislature has no more conception
of'the extent and character of its duties,
the wants, demands and exigencies of the
people, taking their legislation as a critic
rion, than the untutored, wandering Bush
man of Ethiopea, has of the Atonement.
the Life and Resurrection. They plunge
ahead into every excess of la~w-making, as
needless of consequences, as a herd of
frightened buffalo, careering over the plain,
bordered by a fatal precipice. Undo what
has been done, and do what has not been
done by the preceding Republican Le-
gIslatures. is their motto, aim and action.
In as much as n bill or resolution contem-
plates the resembling of any bill or resolu-
ton passed by a Republican Legislature,
it is cancelled Immediately, regarding de-
bate and argument as Legitimate work
of su~pererogation. And so it is, for no
loyal sentiment can breathe in such a pu-
trid atmosphere of Democratic r%ottenness.
The imbecility of the present Legisla-
ture is so notorious-its commissions and
omissions 80 fragrant and inimical to popu-
lar interests and its corruptions so mani
fest and undeniable, that ever the orators
and newspapers of the party dare not de-
fend them. To defend their iniquities
would be like placing a picket fence around
a volcano to stay the flow of its liquid
belchings-a dam of reeds to impede the
current of the Mississippi, or placing a
sun-glass in direct ray. to dissolve the
SHOWS that eternally crown Mount Blanc.
This Legislature has enacted nothing but
folly. With stole and unreaecting %consis-
teney, it has kept the path that leads away
from thrift, progression and prosperity
It's imbeciIity is so manifest, its corrup-
ton so fragrant, and its iniquities 50 mani
fold, that the GAINESVILLE Tobacco Leaf,a
rampant Democratic sheet, is compelled
to break forth in the following denuncia-
ton speaking of this Legislature
"What little brains and honesty there
are in the Legislature, are obscured by
the overshadowing p~reponderating element
of %asinine stupidity and corruption"
Certainly no Democrat can take excep-
ton to this testimony, coming from a Dem
ocratic source. What has tie present Le-
gislature done? Absolutely and vehement
ly, nothing. 1t has not raised itself above
the level Of a cross-road brawl, nor aspir-
ed to the dignity of a drunken Democrat
ic convention. 1t has plunged into the
treasury, snatching up its effects as hungry
wolves the bones Of a deserted tent. 1t
has Frustrated the State credit to an ex-
tent that it is perfectly worthless, and to-
day there is not a dollar in the Treasury
to pay our indebtedness. DIR. Morrow has
49, 80
tried in vain to borrow money to pay our
current expenses, and failed, and at the
same time the calamity of a debt of thirty
millions of dollars hangs over us.
Such is radical rctrenchment and re-
form under the administration of the De-
mocracy. We seriously ask the question,
is this state of affairs not unprecedented
in the history of the State?