Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-05-25

charge OF the murder Of one Hilliard
In his selection of men to fill these i'm
Portant Judicial positions be did not con
nne himself to the legal profession
made some good appointms snts, 1t is true
Dut In two or thee instances he appoint
80 men who had received q law liceus,
only few days previous, for the purpos,
OF being appointed, vino haC
never had case in court, were totally
ignorant Of the law or the practice
and who did not know q plea in bal
from demurrer. la one case a mar
notorlously vsnal and corrupt, and In
another case for the RvoWed purpose Of
giving strength to his friend Howe fol
congress, and the chancellor, to secure
the seRding In Of his name for con.
hrmation, appointed Howe's brother
CLERK OF the chSnceFy court and clerk of
the board OF supervisors Of Pamela coun-
", for the express pu pose of prevent
ing an investigation OF Howe's indebt-
edness to Pamela county. In one case
ne appointed Mr.. PeytOn, son of the
| cnlef'Jushce, and then refused to send
MS name to the senate, becsuse he de-
cided case contrary to the governors
wishes, and, pending the trial of this
case, he sent for the chief Justice, and
de- ired him to control the sctiOn
OF bis son, the chancellor. This
aroused the honest indigp gtion of the
chief justice, and broke up the friendly
relations between them. The chief
Justice then dealt him a well-merited
castigstion, which resulted In the with
holding Of the name Of young Mr.. Pey-
ton from the senate.
THE COURSE OF GOVERNOR AMEs.
In December. 1874, troubles grew up
In N1cksburg. Indictments were pend
ing sgainst two or three of the cOuety
officers; complaints were made as to the
sheriff's bond as tax-collectOr; he was
ill-trested and forced to resign; there
was much confusion and aDarcny. The
sheriff fed to Jackson for advice andin.
structions, disregardiDg his resignation
made under duress. I do not know all
the advice the governor gave him, but
the presumption is that he received ad-
vice, as he returned and acted; notified
the cOlored people by circulars to come
to Vicksburg armed on Monday morn
Ing, which they attempted to do, and
nearly one hundred lives were lost in
the fight. How far the governor is re-
spOnsible for these lives, or whether re-
sponsible at sll, l cannot say, but Col
onel Wells has charged him In the pa
pers with the use Of language well cal.
culated in its nature to produce riot and
blOodshed, and he has never denied 1t,
and do not think he will. Since that
time he hes never conferred or advised
with me about anything or matter what
ever, being by law his legal adviser. I
speak of this to ssy that l will not be
held responsible before the country for
any of his bIunders. In January, 1875,
the legislature met (sfter short extra
session in d cember, 1874, and then the
friends Of economy and reform were
hopeful Of some legislation that would
give relief to the people, and give to the
party record that could be defended
before the country. The taxes
were too high, especially as the
property in the msin unproductive, and
relief was asked for by the whole people. !
few Of US were in earnest In our en-
treaties for good and honest State gov.
eminent, S much so that on the tenth |
Of February last L wrote an open letter |
10 Hon. A. Warner, a prominent Re- |
publican State senator, which was pub |
lished, and in which l gave him what l |
regarded as the duty of the party in the |
legislature. The lower house Endorsed !
my letter by resOlu iOr, and promised to !
act upon its suggestions. II advised q |
liberal ami honest policy, pointed out |
the danger OF defeat If we pursued the |
course Of other southern States, and pre-. |
dicted the the result that has ensued, |
begged the party to redeem its pledges if |
it would prOJract its lease OF power; that !
il it violated its pledges it deserved to be |
defeated, using every argument in my
power to induce the proper action on the |
part OF the legislature. Pointing out the |
means by which expenses could be cut |
off and the taxes reduced, advised 8 |
reducti in the matter of public print !
ing. The legislature passed a bill and |
the governor vetoed it. raymond was |
State printer l IadVised q reduction ia |
the salary of county superintendents of |
education. The legislature passed the
bill and the governor vetoed it. l ad.
vised change in the constitution so as
to give US biennial sessions Of the legis-
lature. (This would save nearly one
hundred thousand dollars per annum. |
We had pledged it in our platform; the |
governor had advised it In his
frat message. The resolution
passed the lower house and went |
to the senate; there the governor actually
lObbied the senate and advised his
friends to vote agsinst it, and defeated /
it by one vote. On the contrary, in his
aspirations for the United States senate,
1t seemed necessary to strengthen his !
hands by giving him more patronage
and power. At this time 1t may be well |
to note that quite number of the legis-
lators-having no interest, connection
with or in the State-were out OF en-
ployment except during the session, and
set about to create new offices, and did
create the office Of revenue agent, whose
duty 1t was to hunt up frauds, defalca-
tiOus, etc., and receive half that they |
collected as their pay, and the governor
appointed to these offices five members
of the legislature, in open violation OF
the expressed provision OF the oonstitu-
ton. They having created the offices,
could not hold them by appointment.
(See constitution, article 4, section 38l
This gave lucrative employment for his
friends while they could work for him
for the United States senate, and I be-
lieve that was generally q condition
precedent to his appointments. Again,
in the face of the constitution, his ad-
herents introduced q bill authorizing
him to appoint the tax-collectOr for each
county. They passed it after much eau
cusing, in which pistols II am informed
by mem5er) were presented to force
to pledge their support to the
bill. The governor approved it and
acted under it in one or two cases, and
the supreme court has set the law aside
as unconstitutional. (See Z. French u.s.
The State, MSS. opinion). Thus 1t will
be seen that the party in this State has
been governed and controlled by few
men, not to exceed half dozen, includ-
ing the governor, who have persistently
violated the constitution and the most
sacred pledges that the party had made
in its platform. Then, in two instances,
he approved two bills on the same day
which contradicted each other, and this,
with few other objectionable blunders,
caused the calling of an extra session Of
the legislature In July lsst without any
extraordinary occasion, thus giving us
three sessions in eight months instead Of
one in two years, as We had promised.