The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-01-07
THE DECISION is FINAL.
Boston Herald. Qnd),1

But, after all, the most interesting question
is What effect will this decision have upon
Gov. Garcelon' He can no longer claim that
in doing what he has done, he has acted in
strict conformity to the law, for the highest
law authorities in the State have pronounced
unanimously against him, and their decision,
on point of law, must be accepted as final.
But will he abide by it? We do not see how
he can justify himself in doing anything else,
To ask certain fundamental questions Of a
grave judicial body, in crisis like this, and
then to utterly ignore the answers, because
they prove to be adverse to the position taken
by the asker, would be as gratuitous as it
would h insulting Surely, if Gov. Garcelon
had not intended to act on the decision of the
Supreme Court, he would not have been so
foolish as topropound his list OF interrogato-
ries That he was to some extent forced to
make these inquiries does not in the least
lessen the necessity he is now under to abide
by the decisions that have been rendered, let
the result be what it may. The same popular
demand that insisted that the questions should
be asked will act with redoubled force IN de-
manding that the answers received shall be
made a basis for action. Viewed from the
Governors own standpoint, he may have been
impolitic in putting in putting his case to this
test, but, having once taken the risk, even
no line of retreat left open to him. In another
aspect of the case, we look confidently for
happy results. In the face of this decision,
they will be bold men who will undertake to
assume seats in the Legislature which ma
jority of the people believe they are not right
fully entitled to. 1t seems to us that no man,
ambitious of future political preferment, or
concerned for his reputation, could, under the
present circumstances, do so unwise an act as
to present himself at the State House for quail
cuppnrtad OOlv bV Gov (NarcelOQ'S
"counted-in" certificate The rumors that
this one .and that one had resolved to decline
to be an alder and abettor in the desperate
scheme of the Governor of Maine, to which
currency was given in the telegraphic
dispatches of yesterday, do not in the
least surprise us. On the contrary, we
shall be astonished if any considerable
number of men, in defiance OF public opinion
and in contempt of the laws OF the common
wealth, as interpreted by its highest judicial
authority, shall assume to represent districts IN
which their claims have been practically and
legally repudiated at the polls. We feel, there
fore, well assured that the political muddle In
Maine is at an end. Itmay take a few days or
few weeks to settle the confusion, but we
cannot bring ourselves to believe that, under
the circumstances, the State government Will
be organized on the plan that seemed probable
two or three days ago. The Fusionists have
prided themselves all along on their strict adj
herence to legal forms, but now that this sup
port has been knocked out from under them
by their own hands, as it were-there will be
nothing left for them to do but to retire from
the contest as gracefully as they can