Morning journal and courier., 1880-01-24
News by IGleggpaDl!
 FROM ALL QUARTERS.
 DIVlDHD FUSlOyI.sFs UNABLE TO DEEEgsMINE. A
 COURSE OF 4 ZION. Unsettled OH ! 5ry Point, A DlSEUSSlOA 9F THE SUPREME
 couRV MATTER.
 Troops s26n~enee |. Augusta Others Ordered to Hold Themselves / in Readiness.
NEW ENGLAND.
Maine.

| The Legal Legislature-Conside | Routine Business TransacGcd-The | FusiOnists Spend Their Time in Talk l ing-DIvidcd as to AAlking the Courts | DecisIon-Report of the Special Conn | Inittee-The Matter Laid on she Table l Troops Ordered to Augusta-Others
 Directed to Hold T Themselves i'm Read- l inesss
 | AUGUSTA, Jan. 23.-In the Republican
 Senate the Finance Committee was directed
 to examine the accounts of the State Treas
 urer. It was voted to give notice to absent
 Senators requesting them to come in and take | their seats in the Senate to which they were
 chosen. In the House the Committee on the | Judiciary was ordered to inquire as to an
 amendment of the Constitution, so that cer- | tificates of election of Representatives shall
 issue directly from municipal officers. The
 Judiciary Committee reported in a new draft the resolution providing for an amendment to the Constitution so thatth Governor shall be
 elected by plurality instead of majority l vote The rules were suspended and the res olution was passed to be engrossed. The Senate concurred. Both branches adjourned | until 8. m. tomorrow.
 The fusionists met this morning at Union Hall with only few members present, and but little business was transacted. In the Senate the president announced the standing committees. There was much fault found by l the fusionists because, as they said, they have
 been refused the privilege of taking their sta tionery from the State House. In the House Mir. Dicky moved that P. A. Sawyer, Seoreta- ry of State, be directed to notify the municipal officers of the towns and plantations of the | State that new valuation of the State is to | be made by the Legislature that said officers may appear and be heard and that particu- lar notice with the broad seal of the State af- | fixed be forwarded to the towns of Ellsworth and Brunswick that their Representatives have withdrawn themselves from this House. Both branches then adjourned until 2 o'clock, to hear at that time the report of the committee on questions to the Supreme Court.
 The House committee to consider the con stitutional condition of the fusion Legislature | and the present situation submitted a state-
 ment of facts with three questions concerning | the legality of both organizations at | the meeting this afternoon. After the
 reading of the statement, which was accepted | and adopted, MT. Perry, of Camden, moved | to lay the rest of the report, 1. @. the ques. tions, upon the table, stating his object to be
 to give m opportunity for full discussion of
 the advisability of submitting the questions | to the court. Chairman Ingalls, opened the | discussion, saying the present state of things | was not at all desirable, and he was In favor | of giving the court an opportunity to place themselves squarely on record. The Republi. | cans have got an opinion on certain assumed | differences. The difference between an opin- ! ion and decision is only technical, for if we know the opinion of seven arbitrators | we know what their decision would be. MT. Insals soid ha womb mt the facts and ques- tions fairly to the court; then if they decide the fusion organization illegal, no single act ! they may pass will be recognized. It will l take three or four years to get 8 decision from | the United States courts, and what good will ! 1t do us and what harm in putting the ques- tions The committee can decide, after we know whether the court will consider them or | not, what we will do. It is difficult to get at a solution except right here in our minds. If | the court refuses to receive the questions we shall be no worse off than now. MT. Wilson. ! of Orono, sustained this view of the case and argued at length in favor of sending the ques- | tions before the court The judges stated | that their opinion was based on the assump- | ton that the facts put before them were cor \ rect, but this was 8 violent assumption. MT. Wilson did not believe the court will attempt I to resist the facts prepared by that commis- { sion. Up to last Monday when re- fused admission to the State House but that aroused the tiger within him, and like the Penobscot Indian whose ordinary weight was one hundred and thirty, when mad he weighed a ton. He had the highest regard
 for the judges before they gave their partisan opinion. He was amazed at their partisan ship. Now, he would give them an opportu- nifty to retrieve themselves. MT. Perry, of Camden, said he would as soon have the ques- tions answered by the Kennebec journals as by the Supreme Court Major Dicky, of Fort Kent, opposed submitting the questions MT. Hill, of Corinth said he proposed to be law abiding. If the questions were not submitted to the court he should go into the other body to protect the interests of his constituents in fixing State valuation. MT. Robinson, of Thomaston, said the other day he favored putting the case to the court, but his constit- uents forbade it. Mir. Milliken, of Durham, and Haskell, of Turner, declared it necessary to put the questions to the court and abide by it's answer. MT. Styles, of Westbrook, would put the questions on condition that the court should answer them and no others. Mr. In gals said it did not help matters if dozen good sound lawyers disagreed with the court. If the fusionists should go on and pass an act, it would not be worth the paper it was written on. MT. Hill, of Exeter, said the question was one of great magnitude and he thought the matter should lie on the table until Monday to give time for careful consideration. It was voted to lay the question on the table, A to 21. Most of the Senators were in the House during the discussion and the report of the committee was not presented in the Senate. Both branches adjourned to Il B.. m. to-mor- row.
 The committee appointed to consider the question of the organization of the fusionist fairs, find these facts in regard to the action of the Governor and Council in relation to the returns of votes for members of the Senate and House of Representatives of the Fifty-ninth Legis- lature of Maine On the 18th day of Novem- Der, the Governor and Council commenced to open the returned copies of the lists of votes for Senators and Representatives. They then proceeded to examine said returned copies of ! said lists of votes for persons that appeared | to be elected to the Senate and House of Rep resentatives, by plurality of all the votes returned. They heard counsel in argument | in all cases in dispute that arose during their examination of the returns, when it was desired, at such time as con- venient to the Governor, and in no instance | was any party interested or their counsel ex- ! cluded from hearing, except for few days when the Governor and Council commenced | to open the returns, and before they had | themselves examined them to perceive upon I what points doubts might arise as to the cor 1 rectness of the returns. Copies of the records made up in open meeting, as the Constitution | requires, were presented to them from 8 large | number of cities and towns of the State, all ! of which were carefully examined by the l Governor and Council, and all the | testimony and argument offered con- cerning them heard and considered. Records were afterwards presented which had been made up by Town and City Clerks long ! after the original records were made, and in | most instances after the returns had been | opened. Such new records the Governor and | Council decided were not admissible to cor l rect the returns. Twenty six days before the | first Wednesday in January, 1880, the Gov ernor and Council issued ssummonses to such persons as appeared to be elected thereto by 8 | plurality of all the votes returned to attend | and take their seats in the Senate and House of Representatives as the Constitution re- quires. The Governor and Council examined | the returns from the cities of Portland, Rockiand, Saco, Lewiston and Bath, and found
 that said returns did not show that the Alder | men of either of said cities did, in the pres
 ence of the City Clerk, open, examine and | compare the copies from the lists of votes given in the several wards of said cities, or that the City Clerk of said cities made rec l ord thereof, and that the returns thereof were
 made in the Secretary of States office in the
 same manner as the Selectmen of towns are
 required to do. The Governor and Council made report to the Secretary of State in due form | Nze u 1I.-