Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1882-09-13

part OF lne interest upon the puDllc ueDS
! which accrued during the Tar and the period
of reconstruction
This bill was thrown into the fire, or some
place else, after the election, and a new one
substituted that inciudcdthc irar interest and
did not submit the quest ion to the people al all.
| This little fraud only put on us,i we were
right, rs we thought, about s. 100000 more
than we promised to pay. Who got the
benefit OF this slight change from the old to
the new bill know not. At least, asI claimel,
the matter should have been submitted TO
the people, as we promised, and maybe the
real facts would have come out. | declare
to my readjuster friends that the debt que:
ton was not settled on the basis we promiS-
ed them. There is difference of about
$500, 900 against us. Why this was done has
never been explained to me. 1t was one OF
the arrangements of the 18th of November.
It's ostensible patron-Riddleberg
not even make it Il caucns measure. 1t had
already been cut and dried. 1t was supposed
under the caucus tyranny it would PASS
without objection. / objected, however II
was then taken to the caucus that night, as
| understood, to be discussed | rose to pro
test against this new bill, but had hardly
made q starting i'll the discussion when the
gavel of the chairman informed me that nv
l!lllC Wis u WHICH III Sllu WIS i've
minutes. | had not heard Of this rule 1t
was the only instance | ever heard of in this
i caucus. Thus by q deliberate gag Il discus
sion of the only great question that created
the party was ended in five minutes. The
bill was then passed, but with my protest
against it. and 4 deliberate cheat and fraud
upon the people who sent our party to the
Legislature was then and there deliberately
perpetrated.
There wa; so much ofthisbusiness done in
the same line. and with the same abject sub
mission to what | might call the Star Cham
Der etllcts Of November, 2Sth that | can't
take time TO explain. But it was all done
in the same submissive spirit to the one man
power.
There certainly was money somewhere in
the measure for the Richmond and DAN
vile railroad paying its debt to the State.
This was Il debt due to the State from this
road amounting to about 1926 ,000-borrow-
ed money not yet due by about four years.
This debt was bearing 6per cent interest
Senator Walker, OF Chesterfield, proposed to
allow this road to pay at once this debt in
consols-tcn forties and pcclers at par At
the time OF this proposition the average val
lie OF these securities was not over forty cents
i'll the dollar The meaning of it was that
this road could on the morning before the
PISA Of the bill go into the market with
less than $4,000, and buy enough of the
old State bonds to pay off the debt due the
State Of S425, OGO, and thus saveand make
the nice little sum of $3.50 900 so soon as the
bill was passed. opposed the bill. So did
General Ncwberry The measure would
have succeeded had it not been for the big
-Four. Oar measure was for the road, if so
anxious 10 pay its bcbt four years before its
maturity, TO pay Il IN money, as it was amply
able to do, and let Us take up the b0nds-thus
the money would have purchased about
81 100000 of our indebtedness-thlis saving
to the State between 100000 and $500, 600.
The Walker scheme was advocated by Sen
ator Riddlcbcrgcr, the deputy father OF
reimbursement. This early move taughtso,ac
OF us what REIMBURSEMENT really meant. |
have i'll my possession the Walker bill No.
80 to prove this statement. Our opposition
to this bill was one of our acts of TREASON );
We committed several acts of this sort.
But the main ones for which we are arrairn
ed before the public in the ''Rcadiuster add
dress and the people called upon to "ad-
judge the enormity Of our breach offaith and
to inllict the penalty" are the tenure-of- Of
flee BILL the judiciary bill, the bill to relis-
trct the congressional districts, and the gem
eral CONFERENCE.-The BILL
The tenurc-ol-olice bill never rearhed
the Senate. 1t was passed in the House on
~. This thing was Il cool. deiberated as
sertion by the House committee eel Chairman.
}. {. Taylor) that decision of the Court of
Appeals tcr prrtc Meredith and Harrison,
NXXlli Giattan p. ll9) is not law. The
House adopted this extraordinary report,
but they were afraid to bring it into the SEN
ate. 1t is only necessary for any one to read
this report and sections ), IL, l3 of Article
VI. of the Constitution to be perfectly salts
lied that decision is the law-th constilu-
tional daw--of this State. But if not the
Interpretation ofthe Constitution, wheie is
the right given in the Constitutions for tho
Legislature to sit judgment as il court of ap-
pcals to the lawful Court of Appeals and re-
verse this decision ? The Bill of Rights and
the Constitution forbid this assumption of
legislative power. The very foundation of
our liberty depends upon the independence
OF the Judiciary. The purpose and intent of
this audacions measure was by one bold
revolutionary blow to crush the courts and
make them mere political suhordnates of
Malone. Acting upon this idea Judges
were elected to fill vancances that do not
exist in order to get rid Of Judges obnoxious
to the new party and its master. There
were many eases of the sort in the State
where constitutional judges were turned out
to give place to subservient Mahoneites
Hinton was elected to fill Judge Burk's
place, to take effect the 1st of January next
BliTksS term does not expire till 1854 by the
Constitution aud according to the decision of
the Court Of Appeals in the Weldon and
other cases.
The next measure we are denounced as
traitors for defeating was to readjust the
judicial circuits. This scheme was to re-.
duce the existing circuits to twelve in
number. and the counties so taken in the
new circuits by gerymander that two ofthe
existing judges should, as far as possible. be
included in each of the new circuits. This
was done IN order to lcgislate both out, as
the Constitution required the Judge of each
circuit to reside in the same. the pro.
Founders OF the measures arguing that if
. they could so fix it, that neither could hold
the court in the new circuit, as two judges
resided init. This was the Infamous scheme
to lepSlate out of office nv ipdiroot;on 81