The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1883-02-28

1t is said that amisfortuncs never

witness the novel proposition Whlch
is just now perplexing the minds of
the peoples representatives and con-
suming the precious time ofour State
legislature at Nashville, as 10 whe-
Their Polk shall be set free upon the
restoration of so much of his stolen
bonds and other funds as he may be
able 10 return to the State authori-
ties or not. Alas, poor Tennessee J
we involuntarily exclaimed when we
first read the proposal of the attor-
neys of Polk, accompanied by the
editorial comment of Gov. Bates
mouth piece, the World, counselling
the acceptance of the proposition
and the turning lose of the prisoner.
Time was, we think, even in the
memory of the men of this genera
ton, when it would have been es-
teemed a grave insult to that hon.
ored body, our State legislature, and
through them to the honest people
of Tennessee, men, women and chill
dren, for such paper to be sent up
for their serious consideration. Poor,
indeed, must be the sovereign State
of this great Union, and pitiable in
deed the pass to which its people are
fallen in their financial condition,
when, for the sake of getting back
few hundred thousands of its sto-
len treasure, it is found willing TO
sell out it's judicial integrity, shut
up its temple of justice, open the
door of its prison-house and turn
lose upon society arogue whose only
claim to public sympathy, il we may
Judge from the writings and sayings
of his friends (some of them, per-
haps, accomplices) is, that he hap
pens to be a scion of the Polk fam
lily! If ex- President Polk were alive,
we think we hazard nothing in say
ing that that great and good man
would be one of the first to speak
out against such a robbery of the
ends of justice, and such ii disgrace
to the State as such a settlement"
would be. If he were alive we be-
lieve he would sink the "kinsman
in the patriot, and say, in the Ian
guage of that expressive old Latin
axiom, which we give in the plain
English: LEI JUSTICE BE DONE
THOUGH THE HEAVENS FALL :"
In the eyes of honest, thinking
men everywhere it is not the Jail or
penitentiary that disgraces a man,
but the crime be commits against |
the laws of God and man that rem
ders him liable to punishment. The |
name" he bears has received all |
the damage it is possible TO infiict
upon it, in this case, from the expo
sure of his shameful theft of the
public treasure and the formal con-
viction of the criminal, and his ten
or twenty years service in the pen
itentiary will be rather a wiping
away of the disgrace he has infict-
ed upon the family escutcheon than
I'm adding thereto. If Polk were
really 'penitent thief as some of
his friends and interested parties
would make believe, he would come
up like a man, confess his guilt and
empty his pockets of the last nickel
Of the stolen property of the State,
turning it over into the possession
Of the rightful owner and then, like
)ther criminals whose tardy sense
Of honor and right returns to them
after arrest, he would have a show
Of a claim to the mercy of the court.
Asst is, he has none, in our humble
udg ent, but on the contrary this
4
DOL piece of effrontery upon his part,
,r that of his lawyers, ought TO set c
lie the case with him to the utmost
INIT of the law. Tennessee has an c
exhausted treasury, it is true-and
his man Polk was the exhauster of
t. Tennessee has heavy debt to I
,ay, even upon the reduced scale of q
he " settlement the legislature is q
proposing to the bondholders, and :
reeds all the money she can honest Ii
v cOmmand-but she cannot afford t
o get the stolen bonds and money C
,ack, or allow herself to be "bought a
ff' by the friends of the thief even !
hough they offered HALF A MILLION =
DR. his release from the demands of
lstice. The honest people of Ten s.
ssee-the great and good State of f
when uninfuenced by II
rickster politicians and ambitious T T
magogues-cannot afford TO be- W
ONE a party to theft or robbery a
f any kind at any price. Let the d
lajesty of the law be maintained 3 >
Since the above was put in type,
he proposition made by Folks at al
,rneys and friends has been virtu- q
ly rejected by the House. The g
ajority of the House, we are in n
rmed by the American, was evil a,
,ntly not in the mood to make a 70
This speaks well for
e intelligence of that body. Let 10
remain steadfast in sustaining the q,
ajesty of the law. ifs