516 



MAINE. 



MAEYLAKD. 



mischievous agitation of demagogues in and out of 

 Congress for measures which, if adopted as the pol- 

 icy of the Government, would bring permanent dis- 

 order and ruin to business, discredit and dishonor 

 upon the nation, and tend to subvert many of those 

 principles which are fundamental to the existence 

 of civilized society. 



The evident purpose of the Democratic party, if it 

 should come into full power, to pay the hundreds of 

 millions of suspended war claims of disloyal men 

 already presented to Congress, or awaiting the fa- 

 vorable moment for presentation, makes it doubly 

 important, now that the Seriate is to pass under 

 Democratic control, that the House of Kepresenta- 

 tives to be chosen in the coming elections should be 

 under Republican control. 



The navigation laws which were enacted in the 

 infancy of the republic have proved their wisdom 

 by long and varied experience. They embody the 

 matured judgment of three generations of commer- 

 cial men. Any radical change in these laws, espe- 

 cially in regard to the enrollment of shipping, would 

 be detrimental to the highest interests of American 

 commerce, and a damaging blow at the naval inde- 

 pendence of our country. 



Governor Selden Connor was renominated 

 for the same office by acclamation. 



The popular election on September 9th was 

 for the choice of 'Governor and State officers, 

 and members of Congress and of the State 

 Legislature. The following was the vote given 

 for members of Congress : 



The Committee of the Legislature, after can- 

 vassing the votes for Governor, reported the 

 result as follows : The whole number of votes 

 was 126,169. Of these, Selden Connor had 56,- 

 554, Joseph L. Smith 41,371, Alonzo Garcelon 

 28,218, J. L. Smith 2, Samuel Jordan 1, Joseph 

 Smith 2, Frederic Eobie 17, scattering 14. Thus 

 there was no choice by the people. 



The State Legislature was divided as fol- 

 lows : 



The Legislature assembled on January 1, 

 1879. J. Manchester Haynes, of Augusta, was 

 elected President of the Senate, and Melvin P. 

 Frank, Speaker of the House. As there was 

 no Governor elected by the people, it became 

 the duty of the House to go into the election 

 by ballot of two persons from the four having 

 the highest number of votes on the list for 

 Governor, and make return thereof to the Sen- 

 ate. On the 3d this election was held, and re- 

 sulted as follows : Whole number of votes, 149 ; 

 necessary to a choice, 75. Joseph L. Smith 

 and Alonzo Garcelon had each 85 votes ; Sel- 

 den Conner and Frederic Kobie had each 64 



votes. On the same day the two names having 

 the largest number of votes were reported to 

 the Senate. In that body the whole number 

 of votes was 31 ; necessary for a choice, 16. 

 A. Garcelon had 21 votes and J. L. Smith 10. 

 Mr. Garcelon was therefore declared to be 

 elected Governor for the ensuing year. Sub- 

 sequently the following State officers were 

 elected : Secretary of State, Edward H. Gove, 

 of Biddeford; State Treasurer, Charles A. 

 White, of Gardiner; Attorney General, Wm. 

 A. McLellan, of Belfast; Adjutant General, 

 Samuel D. Leavitt. 



The following amendments to the State Con- 

 stitution were also submitted to a vote of the 

 people : 



No person shall vote at any election in this State, 

 unless he has paid a poll-tax within two years pre- 

 ceding the election in which he proposes to vote, 

 provided said tax has been legally assessed upon 

 him. 



_ Np^city or town shall hereafter create any debt or 

 liability, which, singly, or in the aggregate with pre- 

 vious debts or liabilities, shall exceed 5 per cent, of 

 the last regular valuation of said city or town ; pro- 

 vided, however, that the adoption of this article shall 

 not be construed as applying to any fund received in 

 trust by said city or town, nor to any loan for the 

 purpose of renewing existing loans, or for war, or to 

 temporary loans to be paid out of money raised by 

 taxation during the year in which they are made. 



The vote on the former was: for, 20,530; 

 against, 25,242 ; and it was rejected. The lat- 

 ter was adopted : for, 39,300 ; against, 5,882. 



MARYLAND. The regular session of the 

 State Legislature assembled at Annapolis on 

 January 2d. The Senate elected Edward Lloyd 

 as President ; and the House, Fetter S. Hoblit- 

 zell as Speaker. 



One of the earliest proceedings in the House 

 was the presentation, by Montgomery Blair, of 

 the following resolutions and accompanying 

 memorial : 



Resolved by the House of Delegates, the Senate con- 

 curring, That the following memorial be signed by 

 the President of the Senate and Speaker of the House, 

 and copies thereof be transmitted to the President 

 of thellnited States Senate and to the Speaker of the 

 House of Representatives. 



2. Resolved, That our Senators and Eepresentatives 

 in Congress be and are hereby instructed and re- 

 quested to favor the object of the memorial, and that 

 copies of the same be forwarded to them. 



The following is the memorial : 



To the Senate and House of Representatives in Con- 

 gress assembled : Your memorialists, the General As- 

 sembly of the State of Maryland, represent as fol- 

 lows : 



By the terms of the act of the Forty-fourth Con- 

 gress establishing the Electoral Commission, it was 

 provided that no decision of the Presidential election 

 under that act should preclude a judicial decision of 

 the question. 



The obvious intent of this provision was to assure 

 the people that the question should be determined 

 on its merits, by the proper -judicial tribunal, in the 

 event that the Commission should hold itself incom- 

 petent to render such decision. 



By its proceedings it fully appears that said Com- 

 mission neld that it was incompetent to inquire 

 whether the formal returns of the several States, 

 which were submitted to it, were true or false. 



