MAINE. 



523 



panies of coast guards. These, with the recruits 

 constantly sent to reenforce the ranks in the 

 field, and the naval enlistments, formed an 

 aggregate of 71,658 men, being more than one- 

 tenth the population of the State. At the com- 

 mencement of 1866, there still remained in the 

 service five regiments and one battalion of 

 . infantry. Of the numbers above given 8,446, 

 nearly one-eighth of the whole force, perished 

 either on the battle field or from wounds or 

 disease; and 6,642 were mustered out for disa- 

 bilities resulting from casualties occurring in 

 service or from sickness. No measures have 

 yet been taken by the Legislature to afford per- 

 manent State aid to soldiers disabled in the war, 

 although the subject has been recommended to 

 its attention by the Governor. 



The political campaign for 1865 opened on 

 August 10th with the meeting of the Eepublican 

 Convention at Portland. Samuel Cony was 

 renominated for Governor by an almost unani- 

 mous vote, and a series of resolutions were 

 adopted, of which the most important were the 

 following : 



Resolved, That the citizens of Maine renew their 

 emphatic endorsement of the principles and measures 

 of the administration of Abraham Lincoln, who was 

 stricken down by assassination, for his signal devo- 

 tion to human freedom and the American Union, and 

 that this Convention expresses its entire confidence 

 in the honesty, integrity, and patriotism of President 

 Andrew Johnson, believing him to be sincerely de- 

 sirous of restoring the just rights of all parties, and 

 in behalf of the Union citizens of Maine we pledge to 

 him our cordial support in the great work of securing 

 national restoration and equality of human rights and 

 an enduring peace. 



Resolved, That if, in attempting to reorganize any 

 State and restore it to the Union, it should be found 

 that the character of the people is such as to render 

 them unsafe depositors of a free republican Govern- 

 ment, it is the duty of the United States to hold such 

 State under a provisional government until all its 

 inhabitants shall furnish satisfactory evidence of loy- 

 alty and attachment to free State institutions, and a 

 sincere disposition to secure all loyal persons in their 

 States equal political rights. 



Resolved, That in reorganizing the States lately in 

 rebellion, it is the right as well as the duty of the 

 national authorities to demand as a condition prece- 

 dent to their resuming the exercise of their political 

 power, that they shall ratify the Constitutional Amend- 

 ment abolishing slavery, that they shall remove all 

 the disabilities which, under that system, attach to 

 another class on account of color, and secure to all 

 loyal persons perfect equality before the law. 



Resolved, That we earnestly endorse the sentiment 

 of President Johnson that the American people must 

 be taught, if they do not already understand, that 

 treason is a crime and must be punished, and we 

 believe that now is the time, if ever, when the law 

 against treason should be enforced ; that those who 

 have controlled that treasonable organization lately 

 known as the " Confederate civil and military govern- 

 ment," have committed that crime under circum- 

 stances of the most aggravated atrocity, and that 

 they should be made an example of, which shall in all 

 coming time deter others from committing the like 

 crime. 



Resolved, That in administering the law of treason, 

 principals in crime should be made the first and 



S [eminent objects of punishment ; and until Jefferson 

 avis and other rebel chiefs are tried and punished, 

 .ittle good will be accomplished by trying and pun- 

 ishing the men who have been only their instruments. 



Resolved, That the Constitution of the United Statci 

 should be so amended as to secure equality and uni- 

 formity of the right of suffrage and representation 

 of the several States in the National Congress. 



Resolved, That the Emancipation Proclamation of 

 President Lincoln, the enlistment and efficient service 

 of more than 100,000 colored troops in the army of 

 the United States, the good faith maintained by the 

 whole race amidst treason and the most threatening 

 dangers, the acts of Congress giving them pay and 

 rant with white officers and soldiers, and the post 

 of danger and honor assigned those troops in some 

 of the most desperate battles fought against the 

 rebels during the war, have pledged the national 

 honor that these people shall be free in fact, as they 

 are in name, and that there shall be conferred on 

 them all the political rights of freemen, and that this 

 great pledge, so officially and solemnly made by the 

 Government, the people of these United States will 

 redeem. 



The following aditional resolution was pro- 

 posed, but rejected : 



Resolved, That all tests, disabilities, and discrimina- 

 tions based on color or race are unjust, anti-republi- 

 can, and pernicious, and ought to be prohibited by a 

 constitutional amendment. 



The Democratic Convention met at the same 

 place on August 15th, and renominated for Gov- 

 ernor Hon. James Howard, of Portland, who 

 had been their candidate in the previous year. 

 The following are the most important of the 

 resolutions adopted : 



Resolved, As within the scope of sound constitu- 

 tional principles and to reestablish at the earliest 

 practicable period, it is the duty of the Federal 

 Government acting with as little executive and legis- 

 lative interference as possible, to observe the tune 

 constitutional relations between itself and the revolt- 

 ed States, and to execute all legitimate power and 

 influence to promote and perpetuate that universal 

 harmony, fraternity, and unity, which are essential 

 to the peace, happiness, and glory of the republic, 

 now destined to be " one and indivisible" forever. 



Resolved, That the Democracy of Maine do here re- 

 assert and declare their fundamental principles of 

 action to be equal and exact justice to all men of 

 whatever State or persuasion, religious or political ; 

 peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all na- 

 tions; entangling alliances with none ; the support of 

 the State Governments in all their rights as the most 

 competent administration of our domestic concerns 

 and the honest bulwark against anti-republican ten- 

 dencies ; the preservation of the General Government 

 in its whole constitutional vigor as the sheet anchor 

 of our peace at home and our safety abroad ; a jealous 

 care of the right of election by the people: a mild 

 and safe correction of abuses which are left by the 

 sword of revolution ; where peaceable remedies are 

 unprovided, absolute acquiescence in the precisions 

 of the majority the vital principle of republics, from 

 which there is no appeal but to force the vital prin- 

 ciple and immediate parent of despotism; a well-dis- 

 ciplined militia our best reliance in peace and in the 

 first moment of war; the supremacy of the civil over 

 the military authority. 



Resolved, That the ballot is the right of every 

 American citizen, to be restricted only by limitations 

 as the public safety may require, and that the Con- 

 stitution recognizes the right of the people of each 

 State to prescribe the qualifications of electors, "a 

 power the people of the separate States comprising 

 the Federal Union have rightfully exercised from the 

 origin of the Government to the present time." 



Resolved, That the sums advanced by States, and 

 by county and by municipal organizations, to aid in 

 suppressing the rebellion, are a legitimate and equi- 

 table charge upon the Federal treasury, to be borne 



