Lincoln telegraph. [volume] (Bath, Me.) 1836-1846, 1841-08-12
10 olitifal.
TO THE HON. JOHN FAIRFIELD.

Land Accent. in pursuance of the Resolve of Jan.
24th 1899, for the protection OF the timber OF the
State, was hasty, nconslderate ard badly digest
ed and, so far as the ostensihle object in view
was concerned, as the result shows, was a per-
fectly abortye measure.
The force employed was denomnated a civil
posse. EARNED or unarmed, the nature otthe
service in which they were engaged might re-
uuire, and were either military force under the
Land Agent, or posse, collected to aid Sheriff
Strickland in arresting the trespassers found dep
redating the territory OF the State. AS secre-
CIV and despatch were aimed at, that each of the
numbering parties that were trespasslng on the
public lands might be seized and broken up IN
detail, the magnitude of the force Tor such an OBJ
ect defeated its own purpose Tor the news oil
The preparations that were making went far
ahead Of the celebrity Of the movement, and gave
ample notice to these gangs of plunderers to re-
tire and the first we heard from that quarter
was the fact that the borderers on the British SIDE
of the line had armed themselves from the public
depot at Woodstock, and the arrest and transpor-
tation of the Hon. Rufus McIntire on a sled to
Fredericton. A few men to have gone quietly
to the scene of depreciation, armed with the au-
thority of the State, without the noise and pomp
of preparation and a train of artillery, would I'M
questionably have found these trespassers, en-
gagged in their numbering operations, and arrest
ed removed or dispersed them without resistance.
But it was the military character of the move
ment, the warlke demonstrations that could not
be kept secret, that reused up spirit of resist
ance, and united not only the trespassers but the
inhabitants along the whole line, who made
common cause With the trespassng lumbermen,
but with whom otherwise, they would have had
no interest and no sympathy.
If your obec, really had been to take military
possession of the territory, although the force en-
ployed was called civil force, and to make
military denomination of the power of Maine in
protecting her tights and her territory, it was as
abortive as a military movement, as 1t proved to
be as a civil aff.r, for it appears by your mes
sage addressed to the Legislature on the 18th of
February, tina, the whole force was then at
Township No 10, on the Aroostook, fortified and
anticipating anattack, near the line to which the
British claim, in the neighborhoQd of the Aroos-
took settlements, which Sheriff Strickland had
gone express to Augusta in pursuit OF Such to
this time and 10 this point was the result OF the
movement as military demonstration; the Land
Aren't seized, and Sheriff Strick land streaming
through the State on express to Augusta Tor re-
Inducements. Then it was in consequence OF
your first blunderng, inconsiderate and lll-di-
gested movement, that the affair assumed a.
threatening and serious aspect-and became iden
tilted with the dispute respecting the North
Eastern Boundary and the action and position of
Maine upon The subject. The Legislature and
the people ofthe State became excited, and were
full of zeal and enthusiasm to sustain the rights,
honor and dignity of the State, which by your
blunders and mismanagement were thus reckless
ly exposed and put in jeopardy. Although the
ostensbe object still to protect the timber
from depreciation, and as yet you were not autho-
rized to establish and maintain military force
on what was called the disputed terrtory-the
posse was reinforced, and Charles Jarvis, Esq
was appointed to lead on the expedition as provi-
sional Land Agent, and to command the civil
POSSE which with the reinforcement, amounted
to 550---" chosen men.
What was the purpose of this large reinforce
ment aud employment of such force as was pla-
ced under the command of the Provisional Land
AGENT Was it not to repel an actual or
threatened invasion of portion OF the State! IL
there was no actual or threatened INVASION, why
did you send reinforcement OF 0OO additional
men to increase the civil posse If the Land
Agent required additional aid to enable HIM to
carry into effect the Resolve Of the oath OF Janu
airy, vast WISDOM was it prudence to augment
the expenses Of the civil posse, to such an enor
nous extent, when you felt justified in calling
out the militia to aid and sustain the Land Agent:
If the circumstances were such as to justify the
intervention of the militia, why did you subject
the State to an additional expense of $2OO,UUO to
maintain the civil posse, when the militia We're or
dered out to aid the Land Agent?
Either the militia were not required at all, or
they should have relieved the civil posse, and
given such aid as would have enabled the Land
Agent to carry the purpose of the Resolve INTO
effect. If there was an actual or threatened m
vasion, TO Justify the employment OF the militia,
the whole civil posse should have been placed I'M
der military orders and command, or dismissed,
and the State relieved from the expense otprotec-
ting her territory from actual or threatened inVa-
sion You knew ought to have known, that all
the expenses incurred by the proper and JusttaDle
employment of the militia, would be refunded to
the State by the General Government; and
when the exigency arrived, which JUSTIFIED your
" order to Major General Hodsdon to detach one
thousand men, by draft or otherwise, properly
differed and equipped the civil department
should have been relieved and the whole suose-
uuent expense of the expedition should have been
transferred to the military department to whlchl
properly belonged, and the State would then have
had a claim on the General Government Tor the
whole expenses of the expedition, except the first
appropriation of 10, 600, which the Legislature
deemed ample to enable the Land Agent to carry
into effect the Resolve of January gath, so far as
the employment of civil posse concerned.
The whole character ofthe service was changed
from civil to military expedition, and the force
which the exigency required was military force,
and the expenditures should have been changed
from the civil to the military service, according
to the actual exgency and service for which
these expenditures were incurred And the sub
seouent Resolve of February Goth, 1889, regarded
the existing exigency as demanding appropri-
alton for military rather than civil expenditures.
But the whole spirit and purpose fthat Resolve
seems to have been disregarded or misapprehend-
b,y, &c forth