The Portland daily press., 1876-06-27
The Congressional Canvass.

|
The Congressional Canvass.
To the Editor of the Press
The Republican voters of the city of Portland
| are invited to meet in caucuses this Tuesday
evening to select delegates to the Congressional
| Convention. The issue is, particularly, whether
| the present incumbent, Mr.. Burlegh, or
Thomas B. Reed of this city, shall receive the
Republican nomination to represent the First
District in the forty-ifth Congress. Both gen.
tlemen are we'll known in this community
| Mr.. Burleigh has represented the District for
| four years in Congress; and Mr.. Reed is Port
| land boy, born and brought up, who has
achieved an envable reputation throughout the
state for integrity and ability. Under ordinary
circumstances, there would be but little doubt
| but that the Republican voters of Portland
! would hasten to put their townsman into a po-
| sition where-his most bitter opponent does
| not deny-he would reflect honor upon his ma.
| tive city and state.
But the contest is liable to be sharp Mr.
Burleigh, who is Gin and wishes to stay "in,''
enjoys the substantially solid support of the
| gentlemen who reap the honors and emolu-
| ments of the Federal offices in this city, and
occupation. These gentlemen enter into the
canvass with an adroitness in caucus manage
| ment which, in actual results, outweighs the
| opposition of many times their number There
| is perhaps no valid objection to the activity
| which government officials are apt to display in
manipulating, caucuses and conventions. A
| Republican is none the less entitled to his opin-
| ion and vote in Republican caucus because he
| holds Federal Office. But the danger of this
zeal on their part, for or against any particular
| candidate, arises from the fact that, after six-
| teen years of service, however honest and
| praiseworthy, in an office originally bestowed
| as reward for partisan services, the average
| ofice-holder.is apt to forget that there is any
higher aim in party organization than the per-
| petuaton of his own official existence. They
naturally therefore, under the present vicious
condition of our civil service, regard congress
| sional convention as of great practical import
ance to them, and the unanimity with which
our Federal ofice-holders support Mr.. Burleigh
is suggestive of that peculiar kind of political
| gratitude which is known as lively anticipa-
tion of favors to come. With these gentlemen
are associated in opposition to Mr.. Reed, not
few disinterested citizens who are irff1uenced
through arguments, devised by these officials,
at once plausible and ingenious and as various
as those minds they are concocted to coe-ce
But the principal argument urged for the re-
nomination of Mr. Burleigh is not such as ad-
dresses itself with much force to intelligent
men. No one pretends that he is better quail
fled than bis competitor for Representative in
Congress. His warmest friend does not pre-
sumo to urge that the general influence and
| reputation of Maine in Congress will be i'm
| paired by the substitution of Mr.. Reed for Mr..
Burleigh. To the contrary, even our worthy
Postmaster, who supports Mr.. Burleigh with
that earnest devotion expected from the recipi-
ent OF four thousand dollar Office for his ben
efactor, will not deny that Mr. Reed is quail
| fed by natural ability, education and expert
ence to lift at once the first district of Maine
into its proper position of influence and promi-
nence in the national councils.
The grounds upon which it is hoped and
urged that the citizens of Portland should sup
port Mr.. Burleigh are that Mr.. Lynch having
had four terms in Congress, Mr.. Burleigh is
entitled to three. The fallacy in this argument
lies in the assumption that Mr.. Lynch was al
lowed four terms eitheriby virtue of his resi-
dence in Cumberland county or by reason of
some personal claim he had on the office. 1t
is not necessary to remind those citizens of
Portland who repeatedly gave Mr.. lynch their
enthusiastic support that they gave it for no
such miserable reasons, And the friends of
Mr.. Burleigh in claiming his denomination, be-
cause he lives in York county. or upon some
| personal right which he imagines he may have
to the Office for another term, find no parallel
for such claim in the support which this dis
| trict gave Mr. Lynch for four successive
terms! Mr.. Burleghs claim therefore mast be
| judged by its own merits, for it is without a
| precedent in the history of the district. Mr..
Lynch was repeatedly returned because he was
regarded as an able and valuable representa-
tive, and no one supported him for the reason
which is now urged in behalf of Mr.. Bur.
leigh.
| 1t is said that York county puts in claim
which should not be .disregarded. But the
| gentleman who is to be nominated in the con-
vention next Thursday will be selected not to
represent county in Congress.-for county
ines are there unknown-but rather the one
hundred and forty thousand people, more or
| less, who live in the first district of Maine!
| Politicians may, for their own selfish purposes,
seek to draw and establish such arbitrary lines,
but the mass of the voters, who are to review
| the action of that convention, care not whit
| whether its candidate, so that he be able and
| honest, reside on one side or the other cf a
| line which is established for local and not for
| national purposes. They care little where the
| representative in Congress may live, but they
are anxious that he shall be in some degree
worthy of the confidence which once sent
William Pitt Fessenden to Congress.
| The grounds upon which Mr. Burleigh's
| friends claim his denomination were once SOL
emnly repudiated by Republican District
Convention, which resolved that the Congress
| ional district is unit, and that county and
municipal lines are, and of right ought to be,
| ignored in selecting representative in Con-
gress! And the people of the First District
endorsed that position at the polls
The logical result of the recognition of this
so'caled claim of courty, is the ultimate
recognition of similar claims on tie part of
every town and ward and school district in the
two counties. The district is as really made
up of the school precints within its boundaries
as it is of the counties which it includes within
its lines. And the establishment of such
| doctrine would result in sending to Congress
from this important district such men as
| might obtain some little local influence, in
stead of men whose character and ability entitls
them to the confidence and respect of the whole
district The demoralizing tendency of this
argument of locality" can not be under esti-
mated. If Mr.. Burleigh is better qualified