The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1873-09-06

we will not have the hoofs of these beasts OF
our necks any longer.
large-handed robbers your grave masters are
And pill by law
Hyou would not have this degrading SLAYER,
fastened forever on your children, rise now
throw off your shackles hew them link from
INK. But You won't do it ; it is not in you.
not only decline to argue the facts, but
mean to be silent upon the priuciple and policy
OF this amendment. Ii any man thinks it gooC
TO i've under a government which habitually
betrays and plumbers him, let him enjoy il
peace the huge satisfaction which Harrisburg
will afford him. Besides, cannot argue with
man who believes legislative corruption is 6
thing to be defended or tolerated i'll civilized
and Christian community. If gentleman
wishes to debate the morality of murder, OF
rape, or robbery, or horse-stealing, or arson,
Will endeavor to prove that all these are very
hurtful crimes, and as gently as possible | vii
try to ylndicate the laws which forbid them
But bribery and corruption in the making OF
our laws is not open to discussion; | will moi
hear and will not answer any defence of ii
which can be made-no, not if an angel from
heaven would make it.
! But there is another question upon which
we divide. Shall we swear the members OF
the Legislature to execute their trust 7 Will
We make the oath iron-cad! Will we compel
them to take it when they go in and wher they
! come out, and make it so plain that if they
commit any act of unfaithfulness they will see
| that 1t exposes Them to all the penalties OF
| perjury in this world and the next! Will We
so shape it that it must speak to their con-
sciences of penitentiary and disfranchisement
as we'll as damnation to their eternal souls
| The Convention will probably anwser this in
the negative. Among our leading men here
! there Is manifest opposition to any specific
/ oath for legislators which might impede their
! intercourse with the base miscreants Of the
! lobby. 1t is not oaths III general that are Oh
jected to. We all admit that judges, jurors,
| and witnesses ought to be sworn. We do not
! let an arbitrator or road viewer undertake
| his duty without putting him under oath. The
smallest private trust is guarded by oaths of
great solemnity. An executor, administrator,
| or guardian must promise on oath beforehand
| that he will be faithful, and afterward he
must swear again to every transaction, item
| by item, that he has honestly executed his
! trust. ALI this is admitted to be necessary
and proper. But when it comes to swearing
| a member of the Legislature that he has not
| betrayed or will not betray the high and sa-
| cred trust repOsed in him, then this Convcn-
! tion raises its hands and turns up the whites
of its eyes in holy horror. Whenever an oath
is proposed that abridges the corrupting in-
tiuenee of the lobby, then the piety OF some
gentlemen gets awfully shocked, and they
have tender religious seruples against the
multiplicity of oaths It is impossible even to
pacify them by assuring them that in their
1t is especially necessary that this oath
against receiving gifts shall be taken, il. view
OF the condition in which your Constitution is
put by the thiftieth section of the article on
legislation. There is definition of bribery
there which makes any gift of money to a
member of the Legislature perfectly innocent
and legal unless you can connect it with words
or acts which express or imply contract be-
tween the giver and receiver, that the money
is paid for a vote and the vote given for the
-
rupt bargain. The mere receipt of money from
an interested party is not bribery. This is al
entirely new rule, and gives unlimited license
othe most open and shameless corruption.
Sir Robert Walpale said that every man had
his price and he bought the House of Com
mons by putting Bank of England bill for
the proper amount into each members vest
pocket, without saying word. Under your
new Constitution, that would not be bribery.
The gifts bestowed ON Lord Bacon were not
one of them accompanied by contract that
he should decree in favor of the donor. They
professed to be merely presents !; and lie de-
ciared to the end of his life that he never was
in fact influenced by them Yet he was found
guilty on his own confession. Il do acknowl-
edge" said he, " that | am guilty of corrup-
tion.n
If it be true that money in large amounts
was openly distributed at Harrisburg to the
members at the taverns, on the streets. and
in the halls of the two Houses. at the time
when the tonnage tax was repealed, it did
not come within your definition of bribery.
Caldwell, Mcdonald, Patterson fall disciples
of the Harrisburg school-| never gave bribe
or took one before or after their election to the
United States Senate. Ames and Alley, and
the whole Credit Mobilier set, are guiltless be-
cause they made no bargain for the votes they
bought with the stock which "they placed
where it would do most goed.H
Why, Mr.. President, if the new Constitution
passes in its present shape anybody that
pleases may set out table, piled with green
backs, in the rotunda OF the State Capitol,
and with perfect impuuitF hand them ont to
the members of both Houses as they pass
through, provided he does not do or say any
thing that can be construed as bargain for
votes. / have no right to say that the section
/ allude to was designed by its fralner to have
this scandalous effect. 1t looks like mere
ignorant bungle. If it stands, it will disgrace
tie intelligence. if not the integrity of this
Convention forever.
Let me be understood. assert that the
mere naked receipt of money, property or
other valuable thing, By an officer, judicial
executive or legislative, from a person who
has an interest in his official action, is aoso
JGcto bribery, though it be not given for a vote
or a Judgment, but wholly without any under
standing of that kind or of any kind. Nay, if
the officer declares that he will act against
the interests of the donor, and even if he does
actually vote or decide against him, it is still
Df1DBfYt upon tAC SStlitN buIc5 tUUu-
sand years ago, that "a gift bhndeth the eye
and peryerteth the Judgment of the righteous"
have referred to this part of the article on
legislation to show that unless you swear your
legislators against taking gifts, you have no
protection ut all against bribery. You must
hare sernet hing 70 eannferact the corruption
which that article invites, unless you desire
to threw the reins loose on the neck OF these
scoundrels, and let them carry yon whittier
soever they please.
III it be your will, and the will of the people
you represent, to have no check upon the ram
pant corruption that reigns and riots at Har-
risbrg, you have given yourself much unneces-
sary trouble about election laws and the APP
portionment of the districts. What matters
it how the Legislature is chosen if the lobby
is to govern us anyhow They may as well be
the spawn of fraudulent ballot-box as not.
But am not speaking with the remotest
prospect that this measure can be carried. We
are out on b forlOrn hope. From the time it
was first proposed until now. the foremost
men of this body have given it every possible
mark of their dislike Itwould be received,
am sure, with almost rapturous approval by
the honest people Of the State, hnt it Is not
intended here that the people shall have
chance TO express their opinion on 1t. Tho
utmost expect is a square vote against me-
But the record will attest that / have done
my duty faithfully, though feehly. The prop
osition viii be voted down; corruption will be
throned and sceptred and crowned; the lease
of power will be Indefinitely extended to the
men who now rule us for their pleasure and
plumber us for their profit. Let all the Rings
rejoice
The section was finally carried.
The joke -fend of the ST. Louis Democrat
haartlessIy says: 4 Mr. Carpenter, of Marquette,
Michigan, had not the slightest idea he was
about to create an atmospheric disturbance
when he knocked the ashes ont of his pipe on
the head of q nnWder. keg And when d fell