604 



MAINE. 



against a policy calculated to prolong the war and 

 subvert the Constitution. 



This letter proving satisfactory to the con- 

 vention, Mr. Bradbury was nominated by a 

 large majority. A series of resolutions was 

 also adopted. The first three announced the 

 devotion of the Democracy to the Constitution 

 and the Union. The next announced that in 

 the opinion of the convention the war was con- 

 ducted by the present administration " not for 

 the restoration of the Union, but for the abo- 

 lition of slavery and the destruction of the 

 Union." The next declared that the "people 

 are the only lawful sovereign in this country;" 

 that public functionaries are but the servants 

 of the people, and, as such, responsible to them, 

 and that there is a manifest difference between 

 the Government and the administration of the 

 Government, the latter being merely the agents 

 of the people, subject to their approval or con- 

 demnation. The next was in the following 

 terms: 



Resolved, That whenever the people of the seceded 

 States or any one or more of such States, shall express 

 their desire to return to the Union, to be represented 

 in the Congress of the United States, and to resume 

 their obligations to the Constitution and the Union, 

 the Democratic party will hail their return with joy, 

 and will freely welcome them back under the protect- 

 ing folds of the national flag, " with all the dignity, 

 equality and rights of the several States unimpaired;" 

 and we condemn and denounce the new and startling 

 doctrine, now for the first time avowed by the organs 

 of the Republican party, that the extinction of slavery 

 in such States should be made a condition of their 

 restoration to the Union, as a violation of the public 

 pledges of the party, and as a wicked attempt to over- 

 throw the Constitution, revolutionize the Government, 

 prolong the war indefinitely, and finally to establish a 

 military despotism oa the ruins of our republican 

 Government. 



The next two resolutions protested against 

 interference in elections and martial law, to 

 which succeeded the following : 



Resolved, That we unite with the Democracy of 

 the other States, in denouncing the arrest and mock 

 trial by court-martial, and banishment of Clement L. 

 Vallaudigham, a citizen of Ohio, for no other reason 

 than words addressed to a public meeting, in criticism 

 of the course of the administration, and in condem- 

 nation of a certain military order, as a high-handed out- 

 rage upon the rights of the citizen under the Consti- 

 tution of his own State and that of the United States. 



Resolved, That the conscription law, in the opinion 

 of this Convention, is an unnecessary, unwise, unequal 

 and oppressive law deemed by many to override the 

 Constitution and the rights of the States, and to be 

 destructive of the liberties of the people. While the 

 Democratic party counsel obedience to the laws and 

 ' for the constituted authorities, and deprecate 

 all illegal and violent resistance to the execution of any 

 law, however unjust and oppressive, we believe that 

 common justice requires that the burdens arising un- 

 der this act shall be assumed and equalized by the 

 State, nnd we appeal to the administration to suspend 

 the enforcement of this law, until the courts of com- 

 petent jurisdiction shall have decided that it is a con- 

 stitutional enactment. 



The two concluding resolutions were compli- 

 mentary to the army, and to Gov. Seymour of 

 New York, who was thanked for his "able 

 stand taken and maintained in defence of the 



citizen and State as against the encroachments 

 of centralized power." 



The following additional resolution was also 

 adopted : 



Resolved, That the convention cordially approves 

 every effort of towns to enable, by bounties, its con- 

 script citizens to go to the war, or to obtain a substi- 

 tute, or to pay to the Government the $300 which it 

 asks in lieu of a substitute, because the conscript law 

 is in force and not yet judicially decreed unconstitu- 

 tional ; ana we recommend every town to elect to the 

 next legislature represeptatives who will support a 

 law to legalize, or to have adopted by the State all 

 such bounties and aid furnished by towns to the con- 

 scripts. 



The election was held September 14th, with 

 the following result : 



Samuel Cony, Union 67,916 



Bion Bradbury, Democrat 50,366 



Majority for Cony 17,550 



The total vote was 118,282, being larger by 

 30,643 than the vote of 1862. The legislature 

 elected at the same time consisted of, Senate : 

 Union 30, Democrat 1 ; House of Represent- 

 atives: Union 120, Democrats 81. 



During 1863 ten regiments of Maine volun- 

 teers were mustered out of the service of the 

 United States, the terms of their enlistments 

 having expired, and at the close of the year 

 there remained in active service sixteen regi- 

 ments and one battalion of infantry, one regi- 

 ment and one company of cavalry, one regiment 

 of heavy and six batteries of light artillery, 

 and one company of sharpshooters. At the 

 same date two veteran regiments of infantry, 

 recruited under the authority of a general 

 order from the War Department, a second regi- 

 ment and an additional company of cavalry, 

 and a battery of light artillery were nearly 

 ready for the field. A considerable number of 

 men also went into regiments in the field, 

 making between four and five thousand en- 

 listed under the October call of the President 

 for 300,000 men. In addition to the Govern- 

 ment bounty of $402 for veteran recruits, and 

 $302 for new recruits, the State, in October., 

 offered a bounty of $100 to all recruits entering 

 incomplete organizations then in the State, and 

 $55 to recruits entering regiments or corps in 

 the field, and, as in 1862, numerous cities and 

 towns paid extra bounties to recruits enlisted 

 within their limits, anticipating legislative 

 grants for legal authority in such cases. 

 These latter bounties were considerably larger 

 than in the previous year, and under the stim- 

 ulus to recruiting thereby afforded it was 

 hoped that the quota of Maine would be filled 

 without resorting to a draft. As in former 

 years, considerable numbers of the seafaring 

 population entered the naval service, for wh<uu 

 the State has not yet received credit in the ap- 

 portionment of her several quotas. 



The draft ordered by the President proceed - 

 ed, during the summer months, in a peaoeablo 

 and orderly manner, and the number of men 

 held for service, or accepted as substitutes, wa-J 



