402 



MAI:N T E. 



manner in which prohibition is set at naught in many 

 parts of the State, in consequence of the unfaithful- 

 ness of legal officers, by combinations of liquor-deal- 

 ers and their sympathizers, and, in too many cases, 

 influenced to this dereliction of duty by wealth and 

 social power ; such defiance of law not only secures 

 license under the name of prohibition, and opens the 

 flood-gates of intemperance, but also tends to under- 

 mine all law, and to destroy the foundation of good 

 government, bjr encouraging the lawless to believe 

 that the authority which makes laws does not possess 

 the power to execute them. 



Resolved, That while it is the duty of every good 

 citizen to assist those in authority in executing the 

 laws, yet we regard it as much the duty of the State 

 to see that the laws for the protection of its citizens 

 are enforced as it is to enact them, and that the State 

 government which should look on and see its laws 

 openly defied, through the power of criminals or the 

 inefficiency 01 local officers, would be faithless to the 

 trust reposed in it, and unworthy the confidence of 

 the people. "We can, therefore, but regard it as not 

 only the right but the duty of the power that makes 

 criminal laws to provide some means for their en- 

 forcement in cases where it is not secured by local 

 officers, and we most respectfully pray the Legisla- 

 ture of the State to provide such a system of State 

 police as shall secure the faithful, impartial, and con- 

 stant enforcement of all the criminal laws of the State, 

 and particularly those against which are the cupidity 

 and the immense influence of ponderers to vice, and 

 the depraved appetites of the vicious. 



Resolved, That while it is our earnest desire that 

 the necessity for the existence and enforcement of 

 laws prohibiting the liquor-traffic should be so gen- 

 erally recognized by all parties that there may be no 

 necessity for friends of temperance to organize polit- 

 ically in defence of cherished^ principles, and much 

 as we should deplore the arraying of any political or- 

 ganization against those cherished principles, whether 

 through platforms or nominees for office, yet, should 

 this be done, it would be our solemn duty to meet 

 such an attempt to overthrow or disarm prohibition 

 with counter-organizations, and counter political ef- 

 forts. We trust, howeverj that all political organi- 

 zations will recognize the vital necessity of advancing 

 the principles underlying the temperance reform, by 

 supporting and encouraging the execution of the laws 

 against the liquor-traffic, and by nominating for 

 office such men as not only sympathize with those 

 principles, but also give to them the important sup- 

 port or example. 



Resolved, That the sincere thanks of every friend 

 of temperance are due to General U. S. Grant, Presi- 

 dent-elect, and the Hon. S. Colfax, Vice-President- 

 elect, for giving the weight of their powerful exam- 

 Ele against the use of wine, and other intoxicating 

 quors, on social and public occasions. "We hail such 

 an example as the indication of a new and vital step 

 in the temperance reformation, whereby the virtue 

 of strict total abstinence shall be added to the other 

 qualifications regarded as desirable, and we trust as 

 indispensable, to commend a candidate for office to 

 the suffrages of the people. 



It does not seem to have been the intention 

 of the convention assembled at Augusta to or- 

 ganize a separate political party in order to 

 secure the success of their principles. But 

 subsequently the expediency of organizing a 

 third political party was discussed at the 

 annual session of the " Grand Lodge of Good 

 Templars," which opened at Richmond, on 

 the 14th of April. This meeting was re- 

 ported to be one of the largest and most en- 

 thusiastic temperance gatherings ever held in 

 the State. The reports of committees were to 

 the effect that there was much intemperance 



in all parts of the State, except in a few coun- 

 ties ; that there was almost an entire negelect 

 to execute the law against " tippling-shops ; " 

 that a large majority of the political leaders 

 of both parties were using their influence, 

 either directly or indirectly, to discourage the 

 execution of the law; and that, unless the 

 State should provide a police to execute the 

 prohibitory law, most of the communities 

 would soon be overrun with liquor-saloons. 

 It being necessary, in the judgment of the 

 convention, to take some action looking to 

 a remedy for these evils, the following resolu- 

 tions were adopted : 



Resolved, That the exigencies of the cause of tem- 

 perance at this time require that its friends should 

 make organized resistance at the ballot-box, to all 

 candidates for public office, of whatever political party, 

 who are^not practical supporters of the cause, or who 

 in the discharge of their official duties would ignore 

 the temperance sentiment of their constituents. 



Resolved, That the Grand Lodge respectfully re- 

 quest the general State Temperance Executive Com- 

 mittee to immediately call a State Convention of the 

 friends of temperance for the purpose of consulting 

 with reference to the present condition of the cause, 

 and of deciding upon such measures as may be deemed 

 necessary to advance the interests of a movement 

 more important in its financial, social, and moral 

 bearings, than any other question before the public. 



The action of this convention caused much 

 comment on the part of the press of the State, 

 and many journals, which were not hostile to 

 the cause of temperance, opposed the forma- 

 tion of a -new party, on the basis of temper- 

 ance alone. The sentiments of many who 

 favored the cause of temperance were ex- 

 pressed in the words of one of the local papers : 

 " Whatever the object of the temperance men 

 may be, their wisest and best policy is to seek 

 it through the Eepublican organization, and 

 by educating the people up to their ideas. Let 

 them work through the caucuses and conven- 

 tions in a legitimate way to secure representa- 

 tive men, and, when they have convinced the 

 mass of the people that a State police or any 

 other measure proposed in the interest of tem- 

 perance will be salutary, they will have no 

 difficulty in getting such measures enacted by 

 the Legislature." 



As both the temperance advocates and the 

 Democratic party were waiting to see what 

 action the Republicans would take in their 

 coming convention, great interest centred 

 upon this event. On the 24th of June the 

 Republican State Convention assembled at 

 Bangor, and was attended by 1,172 delegates 

 nearly every town in the State having a full 

 representation. Lot M. Morrill was chosen 

 as president of the convention. There were 

 two candidates for the nomination of Governor. 

 Joshua L. Chamberlain received 694 votes and 

 Sidney Perham received 375. Mr. Chamber- 

 lain, therefore, was the choice of the party as 

 candidate for Governor. The following reso- 

 lutions were unanimously adopted : 



1. That we hail with joy the restoration of peace, 

 and the supremacy of the Constitution. 



