The Portland daily press., 1863-01-09
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
Gentlemen of the Senate and House of Rep

corded as the most Important anu crlticai III
the history of this State and nation. A war
of gigantic proportions has been raging for a
period of twenty-one months, with varying
fortune. with combatants constantly increasing
in number, and with a stake at issue whose de-
csion may affect for veal or woe, not only
ourselves and the unborn generations of our
people, but popular rights and free institu-
tions throughout Christendom.
In a contest of such magnitude, involving
such monentous results, our own State has
participated to the full extent demanded by
her patriotism and her duty. From the hour
that troops were first summoned by the Fed
eral Executive for the defense OF the national
life, down to the present moment, our State
has been zealously engaged in filling the ranks
of the Union army. Within the entire period
we have enlisted and sent to the field twenty
eight regiments of Infantry, one regiment of
Cavalry, six Batteries of Light Artillery, and
one company of Sharpshooters, besides fur
nishing four companies of Heavy Artillerlsts
to man and guard the principal forts on our
extended seaboard. These several Regiments
aud companies, including the recruits that
have been raised for them since they entered
upon active service, present an aggregate OF
33.l37 men as Names direct contribution in
defense of the Union. In addition to this large
body of volunteers our citizens have enlisted
in the regiments of other States and in the Reg
ular Army to the number of 294I men, accu-
ralely estimated from the returns made by
towns in answering the demands made upon
them under the late calls of the President for
troops.
The total quota of troops demanded of Maine
up to this time by the War Department,
amounts to something less than the number
we have actually furnished. The patriotism
of our State has even surpassed the demands
which the national exigency has made upon
it. We have not only sent all the men asked
of US, but we have sent good men and brave
men. In a contest where all the loyal States
have responded so nobly, it would be nvidious
and indeed positively offensive for one to arro-
gate peculiar and superior merit. We only
claim with others to have done our part and
we recur with undisguised pride to the fact
that on every battlefield where Maine troops
have been called TO participate, they have ac-
quilted themselves with valor and with honor
making record of patriotic herosm which
it will be alike the pride and duty of the State
to cherish and perpetuate.
In addition TO the men which Maine has fur
nished to the army of Volunteers, we have
contributed to the Naval and Marine serv-
ice more largely in proportion to our popula-
ton than any other State. The habits and &C.
cupation of a considerable number of our peo-
Pile fit them pre-eminently for this service, and
it is gratifying to know that our shipping ports
and coast towns have sent forth swarms of
hardy and well-trained seamen to maintain
the honor of our flag upon the ocean, 1t is
greatly to be regretted that the mode of en-
listment in the Navy Department does not ac-
curatey if at all, exhibit the nativity and cit
izenship Of those who enter its service. If it
did we should find, according to our best esti-
mates, the names of at least four thousand
Maine men enrolled in the Regular and Vol
unteer Navy since the war commenced. For
| this large contribution the State has received
no credit in any of the calls for volunteers
for the army. and the result has been that in
our maritime towns the call for troops has OPP
Grated with peculiar hardship, though in al
most every instance 1t has been responded To
with the most patriotic readiness. Should the
vicissitudes of war necessitate further call
| for troops, it is respectfully suggested that in
apportioning the quotas of the various States,
an allowance should be made to Maine for the
number OF men she has contributed to the Ma
/ val service.
| Very full and satisfactory details of all that
relates to our troops, the mode of their en-
/ listnent, their numbers, their condition and
| their achievements, will be furnished in the
| forthcoming Report of the Adjutant General.
/ Among the most gratifying facts exhibited is,
| that the immense host which has gone from
Maine, amounting in the aggregate for all
| branches of the service, to 40,0S4, is literally
an army of volunteers. The men have been
| raised without resortng, in any appreciable
! degree, to the draft. Indeed il may be said
! with truth that every soldier from Maine is a
volunteer, for in the few towns where a draft
| was ordered, bounty was given to those who
were selected with which to procure substi-
| tutes, if they were reluctant TO enter the serv-
| ice The fact that our quotas have thus been
filed, is an honorable proof of the patriotism
| of our citizens, and will ever form one of the
| proudest chapters in the history of the State.
| In several of our sister States provision has
| been made for allowing those absent as sold
| iers in the Union army, to vote at the general
| election. l think this practice is wise, expedi-
ent, and just 1t would seem absolutely un-
fair and unequal that those who are periling so
much for the common veal should be depriv-
| ed in the slightest degree of the common BEN
! eits and the common privileges of the citizen.
\ We all owe an immeasurable debt of graft
! tude to those who are battling in the field for
| our civil rights and our nationality, and it GER
| tainly becomes us 10 manifest our appreciation
| of their heroic devotion and patriotism, not
by mere words OF eulogy or thanks, but by
substantial tokens of our sympathy and our
regard. l recommend, therefore, that ade
| quate provision be made for allowing our sold
iers TO vote while in Service, and il the extern
sion of this privilege should even require
| change in our State Constitution, it would, |
think. be wise to make il. This necessity
might involve delay, but it would have a com
pensating advantage in the fact that the change,
when made, would embody the direct will of
the people, and would have the stability of Or
ganic law.
STATE FINANCES.
The condition of the State Finances will be
fully exhibited in the report of the Treasurer,
soon to be laid before you. Our expenses
| have been increased in varsus ways by the
existence of the war, but not in such a man
ner as to embarras the Treasury, oppress the
| people. or affect our credit. Indeed at no pre-
| vious period have our State bonds command
! ed so high a premium in the market as they
have during the past year. Let it be our con-
slant aim, by prudence and economy in our
expenditures, and by the most rigid observ-
ance of public faith, to maintain our State
credit untarnished through all the mutations
and trials TO which we may be subjected
At the outbreak of the rebellion, our State
| debt amounted to s699,000; of this sum $780,
| 600 was on account of the Massachusetts
j lands purchased in 1858, and the remainder
was incurred during the Aroostook war and
in the years anterior thereto During the year
1861, war loans were negotiated to the gross
amount of SS00.0OO, while in March last the
maturing installment OF the old debt, amount
ing to $4,000, was paid. The precise bonded
debt of the State at this time, therefore, is
! $1469,000.
The total outlay from the Treasury on ac-
count of the war, up TO the close of the past
year, amounts to 1,127, 1852. 1t is conf
IDENTIFY asserted that these expenditures have
| been characterized by the most judicious eco
nomy, and the accounts have been kept with
fain nod