Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1860 — COUNTY SEAT OF NEWTON COUNTY. [ARTICLE]

COUNTY SEAT OF NEWTON COUNTY.

[For the EcnsseUtrr Gazette.

Newton March 17, 1860. Messrs. Editors: As the Rensselaer Ga\zeite circulates generally among the citizens iof our new county, I am greatly moved to communicate some of our grievances through its columns. It is patent to every one in this region that we have succeeded, after many struggles, in erecting the new county of Newton out of the west half of Jasper. Our main reason for desiring the division of Jasper was, that it was too far for the citizens in j the west half to go to Rensselaer to do their j county business. Accordingly, feeling tho I inconvenience of going to the county scat of j Jasper whenever we had to attend court, pay taxes, &,c, we went to wor* with great unanimity to procure the divi ion of the cou Ty. Now, had the Commissioners appointed by Governor Willard located the county seat somewhere near the geographical center of Newton, we should have received simple justice, and the desires and requests of three fourths of the voters of the connty won id have been granted. Instead of that, the county seat .- as located in the extreme south-west-ern corner of the county, within two miles and a half of the Benton county line. It is within five miles of the south-western corner of the county, and some forty or forty-five miles from the north-’astern corner. Notwithstanding three-fourths of the voters petitiuned to have the seat located north of the Iroquois river, the Commissioners, without any regard to their wishes, evidently located it where they did from other motives than that of public good. The action of the Commissioners is an outrage on public justice, and ! they should be held up to public scorn. That the Commissioners were influenced * by pecuniary motives, or that they were j bribed, I do not undertake to say; but that their course was strange and unaccountable Ido say. 1 make an exception in favor of Mr. Allen ol Montgomery county, who fought to the Inst against the perpetration of the outrage. Another strange circumstance was the fact that the Governor of the State left the State'busmess to itself, and come out here with the Commissioners, evidently being afraid to trust them out ol his sight, He had no business hero, and his presence was an eye-sore to the people, who had fears that an outrage was being concocted when they sa.v him about. Another strange circumstance, (perhaps accidental.) was the location of the site on ) the east side of A. J. Kent’s land, as the Governor owns upward of half a section adjoining Kent on the east. This ruav be purely accidental, and the Commissioners may have been ignorant, that they were Jo- i eating the seat so contiguous to the Governor's land; blit it hardly appears probable that they were entirely in the dark. There must have been a secret motive for their action, as there can be no public motive for their doing as they did.

Those who desired the location of tbe county seat north of the Iroquois evidently made a mistake in proffering donations to the county, to aid in erecting public buildings, &.c. Many think that had they tendered their donations (ora the slif) to the Commissioners, success might have crowned their efforts. Who knows? The people here are indignant and Governor Willard and two of the Commissioners will receive a warm reception if they visit | us soon again. The people believe them to be public plunderers. Yours truly, Beaver Prairie. Our correspondent draws it as miid as though he was a “tender footed” Democrat: but be that as it imy he has hit oi the truth with regard to the influences that caused the Commissioners to r'gard Kent’s as the most eligible site for a county town. We believe however "hat the land spoken of as belonging to A. ?. Willard really belongs to the v,. ife of that functionary; and he, looking after the interests of his better-half, as evengood husband should, came out with the Commissioners to assist them in locating the county-seat; which he did by permitting them to look through his opera-glass, to-wit: his B >urbon bottle, through which they were able to see distinctly all the precious excelencies of ICen'’s, What other eye-openers were used we know not. Take it all in all it is one of the most outrageous uses of political influence to advance the pecuniary ! int erests of a few at the expense of the rights of the many that even our corrupt State admini tration has been guilty of. It is in keeping with the election of bright and Fitch, the disposal of the Swamp lands &cWill our friends in Newton endorse it by letting Willard, Turpie, and Co. carry the county in October and November? (t3~A fashionable young lady lately went into a store, in Norfolk, Va., entered into an extended examination of its contents, and then bought a dime’s worth of thread, which she requested to have delivered at her house a mile distant. The poli’e proprietor assented, procured nn express, which, on arriving at the door, the mailboard lowered, and all the motions incident to exrress business gone through with, including the collection of fifteen cents, the usual express charge.

following is a hitherto unpublished speech by a successful competitor for the prize at the Boston skate race, a tew days since: “Gentlemen —I have won this cup by the use of my legs; I trust I may never lose ths use of my legs by the use of thia cup.”