The Van Buren press., 1874-11-17
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
STATE OF ARKANSAS,
Little Rock, November IL, 1874. J

III communicating with you, in th'
manner provided in the constitution o
the state, cannot but congratulate yot
at the close of my term of office, on til,
favorable auspices under which you have
assembled for such legislation as the pub
lie needs may seem to demand. The new
constitution has lately been ratified by
very large majority of the electors of thu
state, and has become the Fundamental
law of the land--the great charter of pri
vate and individual liberty The popular
will, thus signally manifested, sufficient
ly evinces the fact that it is well suited
to the necessities OF the country and tho
habits of the people for whom it was
framed Owing to the political troubles
which have so long afflicted this state,
that instrument has been attentively scru-
! tinized, both at home and abroad; and.
although it has met with determined
hostility on the part of office holders and
those immediately subject to their con-
troll. yet il has not been made the subject
of any adverse criticism. While it APP
plies the great level of the law to all men,
knowing no distinction Of rank or race,
it defines, with great precision, the pow
ers of the government, and OF each de
partment thereof, in suchwlsc as to sc
cure harmony, economy and efficiency in
the operations Of all the branches of the
public service. The results of our un-
happy experience are embodied in the
axiom that power cannot be anywhere so
safely lodged as in the hands of the com
mon people, without discrimination Of
class. AS the laws which they make
must largely influence their individual
and collective prosperity, or misfortune,
the vast power which the people have
.hus reserved to themselves will call for
a more general and graver attention to
public affairs, the exercise of which
should naturally conduce to educate the
popular mind to the advancement of all
the important objects for which govern
ments are established, SO that the mis-
takes of the present may be rectiticd and
amended by that wisdom which is the
fruit of renewed efforts and experience.
The practical working of a government
affords the highest test Of civilization,
The organic law, although cordially &C
cepted by the people, may be attributed
TO the sagacity Of few cultivated and
deliberate minds 1t is for the people
alone, by unceasing vigilance, a spirit of
mutual concession, and an habitual obe-
diencc to the laws, 10 manifest their de-
votiVn TO the best interests Of society,
and to energize the fundamental princi
pies Of government, in order that they
may procure their legitimate fruits OF
peace, associated with intellectual, moral
and physical advancement
1t should be a matter Of common con.
graduation that Notwithstanding every
effort made to SOW the seeds of discord
and propagate violence, the period OF
transition from the old government to
the new has been one Of unusual good
order and quietude, showing that the
strong desire of the people is for peace
and good fellowship. The prospect of a
new constitution, guaranteeing fair elec
tons and just administration of the gov
erument, was at once accepted as com
pensation for all temporary evils grow
i ing out of the known defects of the con.
stitution Of 1868, ana various improper
aud oppressive laws enacted under the
same. That constitution, the product OF
all the exciting passions aroused by civil
war, was armed with despotic power. II
eflectually divided the people into two
classes by lines of demarcaten not in
tended to be easily eilaced--the govern
ing and the governed. To the former
were given very large appointing pow
er, and system Of registration which
made the popular elections variable only
at the will Of returning officers who wcr(
entirely subject to the control Of the chic
, executive; for the latter it provided /
constantly decreasing prosperity. the in
cyitable Accomplishments Of bad laws ant
heavy taxation, corrupt courts and ire
sponsiblc officers, while they were made
the subjects of such abuse as was deemed
most likely to palliate and withdraw at
tention from such an anomaly of govern
ment, Extraordinary circumstances haC
placed few men in power to whom it
exercise was unfamiliar; they adopted
extraordinary means for keeping it
Owing no favors to the people, they re
pudiatud the ties by which, in republican
governments, society is bound together
and conceded them no rights The skill
ful arts of the demagogue, by which h'
flatters too willing populacc by fals'
attributions Of wisdom and virtue, hav
long supplied a fruitful theme for patri
OTIS and moralists. But whoever on tha
account should attempt to degrade botl
: the hatterers and the battered, could no
but concede that the picture is suggestiv
of the most important fact in the histor.
and Institutions of any people, namely
that the people in question are tree; tha
by long series OF proud revolts the.
have broken the iron bands ofdespotisn
which encirclc the past of every race
, and have thereby conquered the sover
eign right to be addressed in terms of re
spect. For the past few years thos
claiming right to hold office perpetual
ly in this state, have for the most par
made themselves conspicuous 10y vitu
t pcra,ion of those they pretended had ele
waited them to official position.
In Ia monarchy the sovereign may re
gard his realm as a patrmony to b
transmitted, unimpaired, to his posterity
and his government may be marked by
c severe regard TO economy; but extrava
gance is the natural concomtant of dcs
potism when vested in the hands of ad
venturers, whose precarious tenure, at
CURED by the violent combinations o
revolution, is derived from no paterna
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