The Portland daily press., 1869-07-01
.,ning mp OF she Rnngor Convention.

SCENES AND INCIDENTS.
BANGOR, June 90, 1862
Democratic State Convention has done
crk and passed into history That it has
the strangest day ever passed by the par
the State, is plain to all who were here.
. was little they could have done which
promise of success. Indeed, tes"pick the
and try it again" was not enough, however
itmight have been done. They needed lock,
and barrel new, if they really meant bus-
No party in the State was particularly
off for overshadowing issues; but the De-
Tracy had fewest; and besides, were loaded
Vn with unpleasant "reminiscences of these
ast dark years, in which old traditions went
for naught.G And they have not been unmind-
a ful of this. Especially have the young men
felt it in abiding force They have been out
spoken in behalf of speaking we'll and doing
well for the Republic, and they were found
here to-day in goodly numbers. A glance over
the Convention would have satisfied anybody
that change had been wrought in its COM
plexion from former years. 1t is only little
while since the patriarchs took formal possess
sion of these conventions against the new
growths that would not down at their dicta-
ton. Their very presence was ancient and ex-
elusive. Four out of five were bald as to
bumps of veneraton and self-esteem, and these
combined surfaces glistened like the sheen of
silver plating. i remember with great dis
tinctness how this sea of upturned caputs used
to look from the galleries of Deering Hall, and
how wondered whether it was not some part
Of the ritualism of these terrible old chaps and
their worship at the shrine of political Jugger-
naut.
But time beats in all races, and with time
has passed away great number of these old
managers, and the Convention of to-day was
very largely composed of young men,-a fact
not to be forgotten by the most careless OBJ
server. need not recapitulate what 1T did.
Mr.. Kimball could have saved the strength of
the party, at least so far as one could Judge,
had he taken the nomination; but when he
refused, such was the temper of the hour that
virtual disaster was the order of affairs. 1t
looked as though there might be an adjourn
ment without a choice and, indeed, many de-
sired it. But, as you have been told by tele-
graph, Gen. Smith was taken and the people
turned away, chastened and sorrowful, but not
cut off from final redemption. No speeches
were made no discussion had but finally there
was something like CLEAN Of sunshine when
the good General Smith did not have an on
portunity to say that he declined, which am
now told he would have said had he been in
the hail. 1t was rumored all about this eve
ming that he would decline, but that does not
prove true. He has accepted, but says he
should not have done it if he had been present
After the adjournment strange sights and
sounds sbounded, although there was less of
talk than there would have been had all been
able to do justice to their feelings. AS it was,
there was a rattle of small arms, while ever
and anon a crash from some ancient columbiad
broke in upon the rising din. 1t was positive
y alarming to find how few people knew this
smith from the great number of that large
family, and with splenetic expletive ventured