Portland gazette and Maine advertiser. (Portland, Me.) 1805-1818, 1816-05-07
SEPARATION.

question OIL separation. III COMES out al tiliS
late period, too late to be fully answered !;
and, indeed, as we know of no writers zOho
are paid to oppose separation, it is hardly TO
be expected that any one will write volume
to oppose the volume in question. But there
are some statements in it SO gross, SO utterly
destitute OF truth and fairness, that it may be
worth while TO notice them. Take, for ex-
ample, the following. :. The policy Of Mas
sachusetts is to prevent the District of Name
from growing too rapidly" And again
|:sYet Massachusetts, has not changed her pol-
/" icy. Her policy is to sell 10 the monied
"speculator at the highest price she can OBJ
" tain," &c." Mark how plain tale shall
put him down." Massachusetts has sold no
land to spectators for more than twenty years,
and has, at the last winter session, passed
law " for promoting the sale and settlement Of
the publick lands in the District Of Maine as
liberal, in every point Of view, as could be
wished, especially to actual settlers, who are
TO have the first five thousand acres in each
township by 100 acre lots, only paying five
dollars for the survey al each lot, and instead
Of " seling to the monied SPECTATORS, /" not
| more than five hundred acres shall be sold to
any one person or association in any one
township without the special order Of the Le-
gislature." The law also provides that tive
out Of three Commissioners, who are to see
the law executed, shall be inhabitants of
Maine that certain great roads shall be made
through the land, the whole surveyed, &c. &c.
at the expense of the State. Yet the author
Of that pamphlet coneeals all this, and abuses
the Legislature as destitute of 'a liberal, en-
Eshseea aad generous fseliejf" !,
fairness will enable those who may not see
the pamphlet 10 judge of its merits.
This writer has the folly to labour through
several pages to prove that Maine is a loosen,
in point OF expence, by belonging to Massa-
chusetts, and that our part of the expences Of
government amount to more than 5 Ill, 900
each year, when we know that the State tax
upon the whole Commonwealth amounts an
nually to only 1884 dollars, of which
Maine pays less than one fourth. AS to the
tax on banks, which he adds to make part of
bis sum, it is not a tax On the people of Maine
generally. but on a lew who enjoy "excIu-
slve privileges" He complains that the money
does not all come back to Maine, though he
admits that more than 5 10000 does every
year. The western or southern counties
might as we'll complain that they don't have
all their money paid back to them-or, in
other words, that the government costs any
thing at all. Maine undoubtedly receives
more money from Boston than any other part
OF the State in proportion to its taxes. This
writer mentions TIE grant of 5000 dollars an
nually, made to Bowdoin College as unequal
because Harvard College and Willamstowh
College together, had more. He makes out a
high charge Of this, and says il is four or FIVE
hundred dollars less than our proportion. If
il were necessary to measure such donation,
1t is well known that Bowdon College had as
much as WiIlianistown College, which has
many more students, and so great funds.
Take another specimen ofthe fairness and
accuracy Of this writer. I" 1t appears from
" official documents, from facts which cannot|
" be controverted, that the District of Maine
)" not only supports all the poor within her
" own limits, but actually contributed in one
year S 1888 40 for'the support sfthe poor
OF old Massachusetts" Does not the au-
thor OF the pamphlet know that The state pau
pers are a stdte burden, and that il we were
to become a separate state we must take our
proportion of the existing debts and burdens
as well as Of the state property
lt'is not proposed TO examine all The SUBJ
jects brought forward by'this writer-but the
Strange cavalier style in which he treats the
coasters, and coasting interest, deserves some
notice. He says the third aad last class of
coasters (Which he separates from the most
[" valuable and respectable coasters consisting
I" principally Of vessels employed in carrying
wool, lumber and lime to Boston, whose
" return cargoes are Of very trifling amount,
" is the only class of coasters which would be
" affected by separation. Now the truth is
that their less respectable coasters are
nearly all we have in Lincoln, Kennebec,
Hancock and Washington, and great major
ity of the other parts OF the Disrict-He
says the individuals among us who are own
"ers or part owners OF this third class of
coasting vessels, do not exceed FIVE hundred,
!" probably not half that number. "-If he
means by among u.s. some particular Sec
ton Of the country, he may be correct, but i'll
he means the whole District of Maine, he is
inconceivably wild. He then goes on to rid
'cule the coasters and diminish the Importance
of the cOastiny interest H.. does not kno,r