The Portland daily press., 1880-05-18
Boston Herald.
Once More.

The late Governor of Maine and his council
ors have made one more attempt to explain
away, and argue away, and scold away, the
terrible array of facts which faces them. Their
latest statement would make page and a
half of the Herald. 1t has been in manuscript
for nearly month, but with some excepted
portions which the Herald has printed, it did
not find publicity until yesterday. Having re-
fused to appear before the legislative investi-
eating committee, the councillors now "deem
it duty to submit statement as to the way
in which their official duties were performed.
1t comes too late 1t is too long, 1t is neith-
er fresh, bright, short nor thick enough to have
any effect upon the public mind. People have
formed their opinions as to the rightfulness or
wrongfulness of the contingent business, and
since life is short, they are not likely to change
them after perusing twelve or fourteen-col-
umn article. This document is not the weak
est which has been published upon the subject.
1t makes every point that can be made, and
some of them are good ones. 1t reviews Re-
publican precedents and practice, alleges irreg-
ularities in the past though none by which
the will of the people of the state was over
thrown, goes over again the familiar history of
the events of last November and December,
takes up in detail the well-worn "Skowhegan
case" and Harrington case," and all the rest
of the cases, expaines for the hundredth time,
as Gov. Garcelon and his associates were wont
to explain last winter, the principles of action
by which they were guided, and working in
accordance with which they were sol fortunate
as always to be able to count out their enc
mics and count in their friends. In this there
is nothing new. The old, old story is told once
more, a little more methodically and good
deal more verbosely than ever. Then comes
brief recital of the events at Augusta, after the
meeting of the Legislature, adorned with con-
siderable criticism of the court and cursing of
Chamberlain. The rest of this strange con-
glomeration of history and imaginative work
is devoted to a criticism of the Hale commit
tee. 1t would be dull business now to take up
these matters one by one and go over them in
detail. 1t is enough for the ordinary man to
know that the councillors deny Indignantly
that any alterations of, or tampering with the
returns took place after they had reached
them. The members have always individual
ly done this as we know. But the probabili-
ties are against them. The report of the Hale
committee charging these things is against
them, and when it appears, with its fac SMILES
of altered returns and amended names, the
even more strongly than now. Mr.. Eugene
Hale, who had charge of last Winters inves-
tigation, attaches no importance whatever to
this new defence of an old crime. He expresses
himself now as thoroughly satisfied of the ac-
curacy of the conclusions at which his COM
mittee arrived, and entirely unmoved
by the remarks of Messrs. Garcelon
and company The insinuation that changes
| if changes exist at all in the returns, were
made after they passed into the hands of the
Republicans, he pronounces, with undoubted
correctness, as absurd in the extreme. All of
| these alterations were of one characterize be
useful in helping along the defeat of the Re-
publicans They were all used for that pur-
pose. In no other way can they be explained,
and nobody has yet limited how that party
could have hoped to make anything by a series
of crimes of that kind.
The reply is a failure. 1t dwells too much
upon such points as we have referred to and
| too little upon others of which something
might have been made--such as defence Of
Gov. Garcelon from the wild charges of dis
honesty in the expenditure of the public mon
ey and the like, which have been so freely
made by some party organs. 1t will be read by
| few but those whose minds are already made
up in sympathy with it, and it will change no
votes. The document is understood to be the
work of Hon. S. S. Brown. If he had enjoyed
| a newspaper training Mr.. Brown would have
'bolled it down." But, seriously, until these
gentlemen have something new to tell, they
would do better by keeping silence. They help
neither themselves nor their party by appear
| ing before the public when they have so little
| to say.