USA > Maine > Maine; a history, Volume II > Part 9
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Somewhat later, however, the Whig expressed the opinion that if the Hunkers were to be defeated it would be unwise for the Whigs to endorse Morrill. That is, the Whig flag was to be kept flying not with a hope of victory but to hold together the conservative wing of the party and to prevent some of its members from voting for Parris.
The Whig convention met at Portland on June 29. A proposal that the chairman should nominate the county committees was voted down by a large majority and the power was given to the delegates of the several
'Whig, June 16, 1854.
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counties. The convention denounced the Nebraska bill, demanded that the fugitive slave law should be modified so that alleged fugitives might have a trial by jury in the district where they were found, and recommended that men of all parties should unite to choose Representatives in Congress who would be true and faithful in the approaching contest between freedom and slavery. The convention also favored the binding the States together by facilitating intercourse, a reference to the projects for a railroad to the Pacific.
The Democratic convention had said nothing about the prohibitory law. The Whig convention spoke in an uncertain tone to give the campaign orators ample chance to "hedge." The resolution which was drawn by the editor of the Kennebec Journal, declared "That we are opposed to the repeal or essential modification of any of the constitutional provisions of the Maine Law and are in favor of its judicious enforcement. throughout the State, until experience shall demonstrate that it is inefficient and un- wise."
The Whig regretted that the resolution was not more square cut but claimed that it was an endorsement of prohibition and that the con- vention meant it to be. .
The principal candidates for the nomination for Governor were Isaac Reed of Waldoboro representing the conservatives, and Noah Smith of Calais, a strong anti-slavery and Maine Law man. On the first ballot each received 210 votes. There were 43 for Edward Kent and 32 for G. W. Pickering, both of Bangor, and 19 scattering. On the second ballot Reed was nominated, receiving 288 votes against 267 for Smith, and 9 scattering.
Mr. Reed has been described as a man of "probity and property," and was highly esteemed by his neighbors. He had held no important office except that of Representative in Congress, filling a vacancy.
The nomination of Reed and the ambiguous resolutions regarding the prohibitory law was a triumph for the conservatives but it was a Pyrrhic victory. Party ties were fast losing all force and many of the radical delegates gathered in the corridors and agreed to support Morrill. Other organizations came to his assistance. The Free Soilers held a convention and on the motion of Ezekiel Holmes, who had been their candidate for Governor the two preceding years, nominated Morrill almost unanimously. The Know Nothings also endorsed him.
The Bangor Journal alleged that this action was not an expression of the views of the true Order; that the Morrill men had swamped the Order by, at the last moment, organizing lodges whose real purpose was not to help the Native Americans but to secure the nomination of Morrill; that when the endorsement of Morrill was passed, the Judge Advocate left his place and with many others went out in much anger. In after years the Democrats would doubtless have been ready to swear that Morrill was a loyal Know Nothing, while the Republicans were anxious that the whole matter should be forgotten.
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The attitude of the Whig papers, like their platform, was ambiguous. The Portland Advertiser said that Reed was a man in the prime of life (perhaps a hit at candidate Parris), conciliatory in manners and disposition and of prepossessing address; it acknowledged that there was no chance of his being elected by the people, but advised the Whigs to vote for him and combine with others in the Legislature. Later in the campaign, however, the Argus declared that the Advertiser would not say how its editor would vote.
The time was plainly ripe for a new party. The suggestion had been made by various bodies of men in different parts of the country that one should be organized and take the name of Republican. The national Repub- lican party is generally said to have been founded at a meeting held at Jackson, Michigan, in June, 1854.
What is regarded as the formation of the Republican party in Maine took place in the following month. During the summer it was decided by the leading anti-Democrats of Franklin county to form a new party. The committees of the anti-slavery Democratic, Whig, and Independent Demo- cratic parties published a notice in the Farmington Chronicle of July 27, inviting each of these parties to send a hundred delegates to a party con- vention. The conventions were held, they united and organized, and voted that the party that day created should be called the Republican party. But the allied forces that supported Morrill did not take this name until the following winter. During the campaign they assailed the Nebraska bill and defended the prohibitory law.
Their opponents accused them of blind fanaticism. The Argus attempted to show that a speech of Dr. Nourse, a prominent Morrill Democrat, meant that the Constitution of itself carried slavery into the territories, and that in making this assertion the mad extremists of the North and the South joined hands. "But the Democratic party abjures the idea as revolting to humanity. We should as soon think to see poison rain down upon the earth, from out of a star-lit sky, as to see slavery dropping from the Constitution, on the land over which it is spread for protection." The Argus accused the Republicans of preferring the interest of their party to the welfare of the country. "They are unwilling," it said, "to have the slavery question withdrawn from Congress and the Executive, because they know that, with such withdrawal, they must lose forever the whole basis of their mischievous action."
The election resulted, as so often before in no choice by the people. Morrill had 44,565 votes, Parris 28,462, Reed 14,001, Cary 3,478. There were 127 scattering. When the Legislature met in January, the House gave Reed 115 votes, Morrill 106, Parris 52, and Cary I. Reed and Morrill were therefore the constitutional candidates and in ten minutes after their names had come from the House, the thirty Senators unanimously chose
'Hamlin, "Hamlin," 616-617.
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Morrill Governor. When the message announcing their decision reached the House, "Mr. Heald, of Troy, moved that this House now give three hearty cheers for the success of the new Republican party just organized in the State of Maine. Several members suggested that the motion was hardly regular, and the Speaker confirmed the objection."
Joy at the coming of the new day not only transported members beyond the cramping bounds of precedent, it even, as it were, made the dumb to speak, and almost to sing for gladness. A bill being before the House forbidding State officers to assist in the execution of the fugitive slave law, "Mr. York of Temple said that he had been an anti-slavery laborer for ten years and had not opened his mouth here but he could hold out (or in) no longer, had prepared his sentiments in rhyme. He wished to know if it would be in order to sing his song. Mr. Pike hoped that he would sing it. Mr. York, on the whole, preferred to recite it, which he did with much gusto."
The new party soon encountered an abundance of criticism and of practical difficulties to moderate the joy of their victory. They were em- barassed by the internal conflicts and the discontents which usually follow the success of a coalition. The Bangor Jeffersonian maintained that the Republicans were substantially the old Democrats, who, loyally adhering to the principles of their honored founder, had broken away from an organization that had deserted them; and that it was to express this idea that the name Republican had been chosen. The former Democrats there- fore demanded the spoils now held by the Crosby Whigs. But the Whig papers claimed that the Republican party was really the Whig party.
There was no doubt that many who had voted for Reed would come over if treated tenderly, and most of the Crosby office-holders were allowed to keep their places. The Argus did its best to stir the anger of the dis- appointed ex-Democrats. It asked what the Morrill men would do who found themselves treacherously transferred in a body, to the ranks of the Whigs to be at once marshalled into line, by the veteran leaders of that party.
It published a letter from "An original Morrill Democrat" who wrote: "We thought, at least most of the Morrill Democrats thought, that every Crosby Whig in office would be removed, and our Democratic friends would have some influence ; but now we find it is all gammon. Whigs are not to be removed. They hold office all over the State, and no Democrat- no one who labored for Morrill's election, unless Whigs, are to have any influence with him. Out on such hypocrisy. If such men as Kent, Goodenow, and Carter of the Advertiser are to arrange all the loaves and fishes, we want to see some good Democrat nominated in place of Morrill, who knows the right, and dare perform it too. Governor Morrill is a mere cypher, and can never build up a Democratic party in Maine."
The indignant correspondent asserted that Morrill, when land agent,
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had left the public lands open to trespassers, and that the convention which nominated him was practically a legislative caucus such as defeated Hub- bard, except for the presence of ladies and musicians.
The Ellsworth American declared that Morrill "refused to obey the wishes of the majority" in making the appointments in Hancock county.
The Legislature, as well as the Governor, gave offense in many quar- ters. A bill to allow the unclaimed bodies of paupers to be given to doctors for dissection purposes raised a perfect storm and it was first modified, and then dropped entirely. Various academies applied for liberal grants of land, some obtained them, others failed. The cry was raised that the lands would be sold for a trifle, that the State would be deprived of its domain for the actual benefit not of education but of scheming politicians and land sharks. A geological survey which it was proposed to continue had proved very expensive and was regarded in many quarters as a waste of money.
The Know Nothing section of the Republican party procured the passage of a law forbidding naturalized citizens to vote unless, at least three months before the election, they had submitted their naturalization papers to the aldermen, selectmen or assessors of their city, town or plan- tation. If the authorities were satisfied that the papers were legal and belonged to the person presenting them they were to enter a description of them in a book and place the applicant's name on the voting list, there to remain during the period of his residence. No person, however, was to lose the right to vote by the non-acceptance of his papers but his claim was to be determined as heretofore. The Democrats violently attacked this law, claiming that it discriminated against one class of citizens and was therefore unconstitutional.
The prohibitory law gave offence to many who were not rummies. The act granted extensive powers of search and many felt that private rights were invaded. A cry was also raised that the law as enforced was hurting business. But far more injurious to the Republicans was a liquor riot in Portland in which the militia were called out, the mob fired on, several persons injured and one killed. Liquor had been bought for the city agency and it was claimed that technically Mayor Dow was the owner and had violated his own prohibitory law.
Handbills scattered throughout the city asked, "Where are our vigilant police, who are knowing to the above facts, and who think it their duty to move about in search of the poor man's cider, and often push their search into private houses contrary to every principle of just law? Why are they so negligent of the weightier matters and so eager for the mint and cummin? We call upon them by virtue of Neal Dow's law to seize Neal Dow's liquors and pour them into the street. The old maxim reads Fiat justitia ruat coelum, which means, 'Let the lash which Neal Dow has prepared for other backs be applied to his own when he deserves it.'"
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The opponents of the Maine law were much excited. They considered it a most outrageous and inquisitorial statute which established arbitrary and unreasonable presumptions of guilt and that it had been enforced by Mr. Dow in a very severe manner. The report that he had been caught in his own trap and might be publicly proclaimed and punished as a violator of his own law was received with the greatest joy. On June 3, three men, all thorough-going opponents of the prohibitory law, appeared before Judge Carter of the Police Court, made oath that they had reason to believe and did believe that Neal Dow had liquors intended for illegal sale in the State, in the basement of the city hall; they had brought with them a constable and they demanded that warrants to seize the liquor and to arrest Mr. Dow be issued at once and delivered to their constable to serve. The Judge issued the warrant but refused to give it to their constable on the ground that fees would be saved by giving it to the officer of the court, Deputy Marshal Ring. The Judge detained the deputy marshal until court ad- journed, saying that he ought to remain in attendance. The deputy then proceeded to the city hall, as the casks were not directed to Neal Dow he hesitated about seizing them, but after consulting the county attorney he did so. Believing that they were as safe where they were as in any other place he did not remove them but left them in charge of an officer. He properly gave Mr. Dow time for arranging for bail before arresting him.
Meanwhile a crowd had collected near the city hall and much impa- tience was expressed because the liquors were not seized. Reports of an attack on the agency were brought to the city marshal, the mayor and certain aldermen. Two companies of militia, Captain Green's Rifle Guards and Captain Roberts' Light Guards were called out. The first company appeared at the hall but with ranks by no means full, was pelted with stones and withdrew; Mayor Dow having given and then countermanded an order to fire.
The excitement of the mob increased, stones were thrown at the agency, forcible rescues were made of men who were arrested by the police, an attempt was made to break down a door of the city hall and get at the liquor. Within were a number of police and the city marshal. The crowd was repeatedly warned to disperse and that any of them entering the build- ing would be shot. One man who was part way through the half broken door was wounded and there was a general discharge of revolvers by the police. Reinforcements were also coming from the militia. About two hours after Captain Roberts of the Light Guards received the order from the magistrates, calling out his company, some thirty of his men had assembled at the armory of the Rifle Guard, but they had no ammunition suitable for their guns. Mayor Dow demanded the guns of the Rifles. They were refused and by his direction the Light Guard took them from the racks. Information had come that without prompt assistance the city hall would be stormed and the police sacrificed. Mayor Dow led the
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troops to the city hall and found one of the doors broken and stones flying through the room. Some of the police had been hurt. No further warning was given to the mob to disperse but the militia drew up at an open door looking out on Middle Street and fired by sections through the room and the broken door. After this the mob gradually quieted and were then dis- persed by the militia. One life had been lost, that of Jonathan Robbins of Deer Isle, a sailor from a vessel in the harbor, and seven of the rioters had been wounded.
The riot had occurred on Saturday night. On Monday a public meet- ing was held, and F. O. J. Smith, Nathan Clifford and others, made vehement attacks on the Mayor. Mr. Smith said that the Mayor's resigna- tion should be demanded and intimated that if necessary forcible measures ought to be taken to obtain it. The meeting unanimously passed resolu- tions reported by a committee which was unfavorable to the Mayor, and provided for a committee to investigate the affair of Saturday. A resolu- tion was offered from the floor and unanimously passed calling on Mayor Dow to resign on account of his conduct in purchasing the liquor.
On Tuesday Mr. Dow was tried in the municipal court on the charge of having liquor in his possession intended for illegal sale. Nathan Clifford appeared for the prosecution, William Pitt Fessenden for the defense. Judge Carter ruled that the city had authorized the original purchase and dismissed the respondent. An inquest, held on the body of Robbins, de- clared that he came to his death while engaged in a riot. Another coroner's jury was formed composed of enemies of the Mayor, who reported that Robbins had been illegally killed and called on the grand jury to determine if the Mayor should be indicted and, if so, whether for murder or man- slaughter, but the grand jury took no action. A committee of investiga- tion was appointed by the city council. Some of its members, such as William Willis and Rev. Dr. Dwight, were among the most respected citi- zens of Portland, but they were generally friends of prohibition. Their report fully endorsed the action of the Mayor.
The papers of the city in discussing the riot divided on political lines. The Democratic Argus and the Whig State of Maine bitterly condemned Dow; for the course of the latter paper there was at least excuse, since the owner, John A. Poor, had received a bullet through his hat, the night of the riot.
The Argus in describing what it considered to be the temper of the mob, said: "There was a pretty strong current of feeling, that no great moral or legal wrong would be done by letting Mr. Dow's liquor into the gutter (the common receptacle of the article here, and no doubt the best one when properly got into it), and it was this feeling on the part of a few, and curiosity on the part of the others, which caused the assemblage on Saturday night. The worst that any one of those assembled had in view-was the spilling of a little liquor-a few panes of glass broken, and ME .- 25
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some other injuries done to the door of the liquor store, would have been all, and the crowd would finally have dispersed of themselves."
The Advertiser, on the other hand, took the attitude adopted by the investigating committee appointed by the city council who said, "Here was a question not merely whether a quantity of liquor should be destroyed, for that would be of comparatively small importance, but whether law should be vindicated and triumphant, and the peace and property of the city be preserved, or whether mob violence should rule the hour, trample upon law and order, and break down the great barrier which protects the life, the property, and the happiness of our people."
There was much dispute as to the character of Robbins, and also as to whether he was killed by the police or the militia. The latter point would have been important had the Mayor been tried for murder or man- slaughter, but as he certainly ordered the military to fire it has little bear- ing on his moral guilt or innocence. There was the dispute usual in cases of riot as to the size and ferocity of the mob. It is possible that a small body of police well drilled and well handled might have dispersed the mob earlier in the evening. Attempts were made to make arrests and warnings were given to the rioters to disperse, but there seems to have been no action by the police in a body. It is fair to remember that the police were few in number; that they had no uniforms, only a badge, and there was contra- dictory testimony as to whether one of them, who was the most active, had his badge on or not. It is doubtful if Mayor Dow was warranted in his first order to fire. Had it been obeyed there would probably have been a dreadful slaughter. Alderman Carleton, who was with Dow and was a supporter of his measures, said that he would not have given such an order. And without the consent of two magistrates it would not have been legal. Moreover, the Mayor had no right to call out the militia. He acted in good faith but investigation showed that the statute on which he relied had been repealed by a later act. It is possible also that during that exciting night Mr. Dow was guilty of a technical violation of law in demanding the muskets of the Light Guards. On the other hand, the opponents of the Mayor violated the spirit of the law in the original prosecution of Mr. Dow, and it is probable they had arranged for the liquor to be taken from the constable whom they brought to serve the warrant, and spilled into the gutter. If the Mayor bore the loss he would be $1,600 out of pocket; if the city assumed it, this could be used against the Mayor politically. But these men played with fire. The mob spirit once roused cannot be con- trolled and the devisers of the original comparatively innocent plot against the Mayor must bear a considerable part of the blame of the tragedy that followed.
Mayor Dow is undoubtedly responsible for the firing of the militia through the agency door, but the conditions were such as to justify him. The riot proved very injurious to the Republicans, their opponents resort-
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ing to the grossest misrepresentations concerning it. Mr. Dow says in his reminiscences :
"The country districts were flooded with circulars full of mistatements and pictures representing officers shooting women and children who had gathered to see liquors seized or who were passing the stores where liquors were kept. One of these is before me while I write, representing a com- pany of uniformed soldiers firing under my orders into a throng of men, women and children, passing on the opposite sidewalk, peacefully attending in broad daylight to their legitimate pursuits."
But the Democrats had their troubles also. Maine was specially inter- ested in obtaining compensation for the French Spoliations. A bill similar to that vetoed by Polk was passed by Congress, to meet a like fate at the hands of Pierce. The Advertiser attempted to show that slavery was responsible for the veto. The Argus, however, replied that anti-slavery Senators like Felch of Michigan, Benton of Missouri and Wright of New York, had disapproved of the paying of the claims.
But far more serious than the spoliation question was the fact that "popular sovereignty" in Kansas had proved a farce and a cheat. At the election of a territorial delegate in the autumn of 1854 the Missourians had swarmed over the border and secured the choice of a pro-slavery man. In the following spring the operation was repeated and a pro-slavery Legis- lature was chosen. The Governor, Reeder, in some cases, refused to give certificates of election, but he took a hesitating, half-and-half course and the bogus Legislature over-rode him and filled the statute book with pro- slavery laws copied word for word from those of Missouri. Indeed, so great was their haste that they sometimes forgot to use the word Kansas instead of Missouri. Reeder's attempt to make popular sovereignty a reality brought on him the anger of the South and the President. Some of his other acts may have been justly open to criticism and in July, 1855, he was removed from office. The Argus had said in the fall that the people of Kansas were much more interested in their title to their lands than in the remote danger of slavery being fastened on them, and after the election of the Territorial delegate expressed its confidence that the Administration would severely punish any frauds that might have been committed. Later it excused the Missourians on the ground that so much feeling had been stirred up by the abolitionists that they feared that their slaves were not safe. It said that the dispute between Reeder and the Legislature was unfortunate, which it certainly was, both for Kansas and the Democratic party, that Reeder was willing to be removed, and finally that he was removed because he had engaged in land speculations.
The majority of the Democratic party and Democratic papers had rallied to the Administration. Ephraim K. Smart published a letter in defense of his change. He quoted Emerson on the evils of consistency, and urged that the Wilmot Proviso forbidding any extension of slavery was
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an answer to the claims of the South that all new territory was slave terri- tory by virtue of the Constitution, but that now extreme views had been surrendered and all met on the moderate ground that the question should be left to the people of the various territories. At first all the Democratic papers in Maine had approved the Proviso. Soon some gave way; others followed; the Augusta Age made a gallant fight but yielded at last and was rewarded with government patronage. The Jeffersonian, the Oxford Democrat, and the Democratic Clarion of Skowhegan remained firm the Democrats who continued their opposition to the Nebraska bill were 1 minority but they were formidable in their zeal, and the influence and ability of their leaders. When the Democratic State convention met there was a long dispute over the platform, the discussion being very acrimonious but also unusually able. The committee on resolutions reported one praising the national Administration.
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