Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1880-01-08

TIE MAINE TRoUsLE.-The SUI
preme Court Of Maine has answered
the questions which Gov. Garcelon has
submitted to il and answered them adj
yerseIy to The pretensiOns Of His Ex-
sellency. We suppose this win be the
end OF the Maine trouble. Speaking Of
The character Of these questions and The
responses Of the Court thereto, he ksg
York World says
The questions themselves, Jet rs add,
were full and direct. There seems 10
be no subterfuge and no attempt to SET
trap for The Court IN any one OF them.
This sact does not tend TO prove that
Governor Garcelon and the Council
were In the right, but il does tend to
prove that they thought themselves to
be in the right. They really submitted
their case as they conceived il, with no
reservations Of any importance, and
now upon almost every point the Court
has decided against them. II - to be
regretted that the answers were not in
some cases more clearly expressed, bet
tits Of more consequence that they
should be judieislly considered and sap
ported with enough of argument aud
citation to explain them. These two
conditions have been complied with.
The judges talk like judges. and moi
like partisan politicians. They uphold
the sound Democratic principle that the
intention Of the voters, where Il can be
clearly made out must prevail, and that
the duties Of canvassers are ministerial
and not judicial. No other doctrine
than this was ever heardcT in American
politics until the Republican party found
IT desirable to intrust such me7 as Mad.
ison Wells with the power to defeat the
will of state by substituting what such
men thought the vote ought to have
been for what the vote actually was.
No other doctrine Is possible without
depriving legislatures Of their right 10
pass upon the qualifications of their own
members; without depriving the courts
Of their functions, and without convert
ing board Of partisans into tribunal
to decide all cases of contested elec-
tons. The doctrine laid down by the
Supreme Court of Maine is the doctrine
for which the Democrats coatended in
1877 before the Electoral Commission,
aud which the Republican members of
the commission discredited themselves
and secured the triumph OF their party
by overriding. IL the case upon which
the members OF the Supreme Court OF
Maine have just pronounced an opin-
ion had been regularly brought before
the Court itself, and the Court had held
that il was powerless TO inquire into the
manner in which Governor Csrcelon
and hrs Council had obtained their re-
suits, and that the people of Maine were
therefore without remedy, it would have
done very much the same thing that
was done by the Electoral Commission.
II Is not to be supposed that Governor
Carcelon and his Council, who by adopt
ing the methods Of Cipher alley have
brought this opinion on themselves, will
insist upon their position, in the face OF
the decision which they have invited.
There does not now appear to be the
slightest reason to fear Tor the preseIva-
ton OF the peace in Maine. There new
er was any reason to fear for it, except
from the action Of political mischief
makers like Senator Blaine and the
zealots who assisted him by uttering
diatribes in the pulpit with an eye to
riots in the streets Of Bangor.