The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-04-20
TERMS $500 PER ANNUM, IN ADVANCE.

adverse criticism. 1t required very little re-
lection to arrive at the conclusion that the act
could not have been inspired by any sympathy
for the criminal, for the Governor has been the
most active man in his party in bringing this
class of culprits to the dock. 1t is quite possi-
BILE the results anticipated may not be attained
| for everything pertaining to law is as uncer-
tain as it is slow, but the motive which
prompted Executive clemency in this instance
| is not fairly open to impeachment
The war against the "Canal Ring goes on
without abatement of zeal or advantage on the
side of the attacking parties. 1t is essentially
a Democratic fight. There are few of the
jobbers in this state work, who are classed as
Republicans, but they are every one of the
fishy sort who dropped out of the ranks alto
gether, or became lukewarm in the cause after
the purgation of 1871 and the consequent Sc
cession of Fenton and his followers Some of
them were shrewd enough to keep out of the
Cincinnati movement, foreseeing its hopeless
ness, but their incnations led them in that
direction, and they have held slight allegiance
80 the old party ever isince The leading
men in the Republican ranks have never had
any completely with or responsibility for the
transactions which Gov. Tildon so forcbly de-
nounces. The recognized head of the party,
Senator Conkling, has a fifteen years record of
hostility as strong and reprobation as scath-
ing of the practices of the canal contractors as
any public man in the state.
An extraordinary measure is now under dis
cussion in our Legislature. 1t proposes to
invest the Executive with the power Of ie-
moving state officers 1t is one of the eccen-
tricities of the law makers Of both parties, that
they make statutes to strengthen the preroga-
tive of a popular incumbent forgetting that in
the chances and changes of the ballot, he may
soon give place to a successor whose authority
they may find it more desirable to abridge than
to increase. 1t is very likely that the present
governor may be trusted not to abuse
any degree of domination that might be
accorded to him. But he has always dep
recated Capitalization as one Of the great
est perils to which free government is ex-
posed. And yet this scheme is one of the
most palpable forms of the evil against which
he has been warning his fellow citizens all his
life. 1t would be curious if the legislature
should enact and the governor approve law
which invests him with weightier functions
than have ever been conferred upon any Of his
predecessors. The state officers are elected by
the people and are removable by impeachment
There seems to be no present emergency CALI
ing for the proposed innovation. 1t probably
has its origin in disposition to manifest conf
dence in the wisdom, discretion and justice of
Gov. Tilden. 1t is not party question at all.
Ii it goes through it must be helped by Repub-
lican votes. The officials who would be affect
ed by it are Democrats. There might be no
great harm in comphmenting the Governor, by
the consummation of the project, were it not
that every such departure from first principles
is fraught with hazards in the future.
The Brooklyn trial was interrupted FOR two
days last week by the illness of Mr.. Fullerton.
These unconscionable delays have the effect Of
transferring the discussion from the court
room to the newspapers, and of still further
impairiDg the effect of any decision which may
ultimately be reached. The Plymouth people
are happy in the thought that it was not their
pastor, but his legal antagonist who first broke
down in the encounter of cross examination.
They interpret the vertigo of Judge Fullerton
as sign that he has not realized his expecta-
tions of .entangliDg the witness 1t is well un-
derstood that he has concentrated all his intel
lectual force and legal acumen on this branch
of the case. II Mr.. Beecher leaves the stand
unhurt, the crisis will have passed. So far he
seems to have suffered no essential damage
The object of his inquisitor is to show that the
expressions of SORROW and remorse in the let
ters are too extravagant to refer to any less Of
fense than the one charged. But the truth
about the theory is, that man actually guilty
of the offense imputed would be apt to avoid
the use of any language that could be con-
strued into admission of his fault. In other
words, it is to say the least quite as difficult, as
one of our ablest lawyers remarked the other
day, to account for the letters on the assump-
tion of guilt as of innocence. They have
camp-meeting flavor about them which renders
them absolutely impervious to criticism in q
merely literary point of view. Such self-ac-
cusations were never heard before outside of a
cloister or a gathering of revivalists. They
have no application to earthly affairs or human
experiences YARMOUTH.