The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1883-10-02

More than two thousand years ago a
philosopher, who could not otherwise ac-
count for the self.ruinous eccent ricity of
men, said: "Whom the gods would de-
stroy they first make mad" Who will
doubt that it is in vein OF madness that
Ex-Governor Harrison Reed voluntarily
comes out of his retirement" out from
the merciful obscurity in which he has
latterly been hidden, and challenges the
light to fall upon his record? Is it not
mere madness that he should desire the
men Of to-day to gee him as he was seen
before, when he was driven into what
should have been welcome obscurity,
overwhelmed with the burden of his po-
litical and official misdoings? If he is
not mad why should he invite publication
of the chronicles of his dishonor-the de-
tails of the fraud in which he participated
of deciding to the 1" notorious Gleason "
over thirteen hundred thousand acres of
public land of his aiding the attempted
steal, by the ridiculously infamous
Aquatic and Tropical Plant Propa-
eating Company" of the whole of Dade
county and all of the unsurveyed land
south of the Caloosahatchie, in which
slippery Billy Purman was a co-conspira-
tor; of his action as Governor, and Presl-
dent of the Board of Trustees, with S. B.
Conover, Treasurer, J. B. c. Drew, Attor-
ney General, and J.SS Adams, Commits
sioncr Of Lands and Immigration, consti-
tuting majority OF said Board, in entering
into an agreement with II. s. Littleield
by which they sold to him aAthe lands held
by them IN trust, or which might there
after be patented to the State under the
swamp land act, Including, Of course,
the unsold internal improvement lands
which were granted to the State on her
admission into the Union) the considera-
ton for the ten mil ion acres for which
the State then held PATENTS, and to which
four million have since been added, being
the "agreement IF Littlefeld to dis
charge 100000 liabilities Of the Internal
Improvement Fund. pay it 100000 ad-
ditional, and build arailroad from Qui,,cy
to Mo6ile!' Only interference Of the
courts saved the State from this attempted
wholesale robbery in which Harrison
Reed aided his friend Littletield.
Is be not mad to invite investigation
Of his record which will prove that when
Governor he would pocket the cash Of
the State and settle with the State in
scrip, then at a large discount? Does he
want to read full ventilation Of his cele-
brated earns and accoutrements pur-
chase the cold army musket" swim
die? Does he want to read choice extracts
from the records of the Z. S. Circuit
Court, the Supreme Court, the Treasurer
Office, the Journals of the House and
Senate How by the Courts, the action
which he authorized was decided as fraud
ulent-how he, then Governor, was ar
rested under attachment for contempt ?
How by the Treasurer's records, his pecu-
lations were proved? How by the Jour
nails, his crookedness was shown up, and
how finally he was unanimously i'm
peached by the House for high crimes
and misdemeanors ?" The man certainly
is mad to invite the raking up Of such a
record, and to challenge comparison of
Democratic administration with his ad-
ministration This is the mana man
upon whom the charge of deliberate false
hood has been repeatedly tixed-that the
Economist calls respectable oppo-
nent," courteous Adversary" What
next The independents are indeed in
desperate strait if they have to employ
as advocate Harrison Reed, Of whom hon
est Republicans are ashamed. We have
given but partial synopsis of charges
that are at command, with sustaining evil
dence. This unsavory fossil of the carpet
bag regime must not be exhumed to be
again an adverse factor in the vital poll
tics of our Florida.