The Portland daily press., 1880-02-21
Expenses Of the Conspiracy.
WHERE THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR
THEM LIES.
Speech Of Hon. Eugene Hale of Els
worth.


In the House Thursday, speaking on the
motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill
to pay the expenses incurred by the conspiracy
to defeat the election, Hon. Eugene Hale OF
Ellsworth in reply to Perry and Plaisted, said;
The gentlemen from Camden and Lincoln are
absolutely incurable. They are afflicted with
an itch for speaking. There are some snDIects
those gentlemen ought to let alone, Inc suo1ec.
Of the eventaprevious TO and succeeding the nrst
Wednesday Of last January and the expenses
growing out of the extraordinary conditions
during that tiIne is subject they ought 70 De
glad to let alone. AS had been said, NOBODY
can dance without paying the fiddler. AND
the people Of the State, rich and poor nave
got to pay for the dancing of the gentleman
from Lincoln and the gentleman from Camden
and their associates If it we're possible that
the men who brought about these events could
be made to pay the bills, there would be some
nostic justice in it, But it cannot be done.
We must all help pay hem. And these gen.
tlemen, whenever these subjects come up.
anght to be very glad to let them go in sill
ence.
We sit here as legal legislature. recognized
by everybody, with the exception of a few
members who have Staid out. 1t Is body or
ganized as other Legislatures have been in
wears past. 1t is Legislature meeting under
htl0 SbICliOl Vi inc ,uprculo OOurb, anu, Wlidt
is more, made up of the men elected last Sep
TENDER. Commonly at this time in the session
members are doing the business of the State,
and are not considering cases of extraordinary
events. How does it happen that today we
are considering these questions? Because by
the high hand OF power against law and jus-
ii e the men who sat here and in the other
chamber prevented the organization of this
legislature, we had right to organize it. on
the first Wednesday of January. And there is
not a cent CT expense coming in here that does
not lie at the door of the men who prevented
this organization now set up and recognized by
the people. Every dollar of it lies at the door
If the obstructionists and the revolutionists
Who sought to break up the legal legislature.
~ ""thing is so we'll known today as this by
the people.
-Al,ense came from the military and ex-
ira force Invoked for the protection of the
peace and the public property, by the order of
the last Democratic rennback Governor, is
order, ISSUED not by Republicans.) in the ne xt
succeeding IA or Is days, brought this expense
upon us in saving the government. The
minority came here defantly and illegally ON
the first "Wednesday Of January and set up an
illegal legislature. Gov. Garcelon had turned
over the executive power to Gen. Chamber
ain, who had maintained it, holding it by the
strong hand of executive force for the protec-
ton of peace and property down to the 18th or
18th OF January. His services did not cease,
'HChlIy iOT t1o commonwealth, W06Q CiOV.
Garcelon died by the force of the law; but he
sat in his office below guiding and directing
forces all through those notable weeks, until
the legal legislature was set up and Governor /.
elected and installed, and amid shouts and ac-
claims that representative of Maine entered
forthwith into the duties of his office. And
until that time Gen. Chamberlain, under Gov.
Garcelon, was representing the government,
and was calling upon men to maintain the
peace holding these corridors free from in
terruption and dispute, expeling gangs of
,rmed men, Stale prison convcts that had dis
graced this State and this building by their
presence, taking from here arms that had been
brought, nobody knows for what purpose and
sending them back where they had rem aimed
in peace and security for years. All these
nay it. and these gentlemen bite and writhe
against it because they believe it their bounden
duty to talk whenever anything comes up.
1t has been said that the expense incurred
under Gov. Garcelon before be went out of
office has been paid. This was another SUBJ
ject the minority had better let alone Every
appropriation remaining over with dollar
left in the treasury was seized upon by the
Governor and Council and pillaged, so that
mot cent was left had occasion the 9TH
er day to look at an appropriation for the fe-
male visitor to the insane hospital, and only
about third of it was drawn for its legitimate
purpose; but every dollar of the rest was
drawn out by the Governor and Council for
otner purposes. On0 man naQ drawn SZUUU
from the high school fund for advance work
that had never been done. These things are now
in the way OF inves gation, and will be gone in
to root and branch. Every one of these appropri-
ations was pillaged, with no vouchers, so that
nothing was left. This bill must be paid and
we must appropriate the money. If they had
left anything when they rid the State of them
selves it might have been paid with that. So
far as money was concerned they left the treas
ury almost bankrupt.
When he heard gentlemen talk as they had
he could not believe that they appreciate the
tremendous magnitude of the events we have
passed through. He did not believe they had
even put their foot into the waters of that ma
iestc current that at last brought the State
out from anarchy and danger of revolution.
They haven't even padded their toes in that
stream. They don't appreciate what it was
this State went through. This State was
racked with apprehension and with danger
that tried mems souls and disturbed mems
slumbers as nothing hasedone since the great
rebellion. The whole frame work of our gov
rrnment tottered almost to its foundation.
The whole experiment of a republican
government was on trial here, and for
lays it hung in doubtful balance.
And at last, because good sense got uDpernost
and because patriotism was imbedded in the
minds of the people and not disloyalty and
revolution, and because that great tribunal
which settles at last all these disputes for the
state, did go fundamentally into the great
he roar of appiauding voices sustaining the
court was heard and listened to and obeyed by
these men who came back here into this body,
We came out at last safe, aud today there is in
the minds of the people such profound graf
itude at this emergence as the gentleman
fro n Lincoln and the gentleman from Cam
den are not capable of approaching. That
feeling of gratitude is not confined to men
who sympathze with the Republican party,
but il is entertained by men of all sentiments.
politically. The Democrat thanks Providence
that the State is safe from disgrace and that
the wheels of the government run peacefully
on. The Greenbacker. alike interested with
the Democrat aud Republican, is glad of this
energence. And the Republican has quench.
ed the exnltation that superior and victori-
Gus party frequently shows, improperly and
unwisely, in his silent gratitude that the con-
sentative forces operating in She State, brought
us out of this dread peril. And these men,
one and all, are willing to pay the bills and
thank the Lord the danger is past. They will
make no protest if it is $4,000 or $3S 0OO
But they will not forget in the generation
to come the men who brought it upon them.
And while there will be no undue exultation,
the silent majesty of the peoples indignation
will rest upon these men until at last they go
down as setting suns never again to be trusted
by this State. He hoped that the rules would
be suspended.