The Portland daily press., 1882-08-29

| pc7sihle in any election il Maine to cast vote
| which is not of interest in Ohio apd which
does not in fact affect the interest OF the IRON
tiersman who is hewiDg down the fore1s on the
Tar off Puget Sound, or the ranchmsn VINO is
| watching his herds in the valley OF the Rio
| Grande.
| We are one people and the election you are
| about to decide is one which affects the whole
| people of the United States, and they who go
aDont telling you, or attempting 10 t5il you
| that 1t is mere State Issue which the 6epuD-
licans are anxious to avoid mistake the fact, for
there is certainly nothing before the people OF
| Maine as important as IS the choice OF Iour
Representatives in the national Congress and
| OF a Legislature that shall choose Senator OIL
! the United States that; shall, in otRer Words,
| re-elect VIM. p. Frye. Applause,
But Governor Plaisted IS traveFslng the stare
| to-day, and will speak to you shortly in this
city, telling you that there are very lmpt rtant
| State issues which should first and foremost be
| decided by the paople of Maine. For one am
| quite ready to meet the Governor on that issue,
| and if there were not national question en-
| gaging the attention of the people OF Maine,
| there is enough in the attitude of Gov. Plaist-
! ed in his disregard of law, in his trampling
under foot the constitution of the State, III his
| rebellion against the constitution and order of
| the government to call out the earnest atten-
| tion and the quick vote of every citizen of the
| State.
| The constitution of Maine has been held in
of it for their own, and the whole drift OF 1t as
| a model,-the constitution of Maine has been
| held by these who have given attention to or
| ganic law to be one of the wIsest and soundest
| and best balanced that is enjoyed by any one
OF the thirty eight States.
In that constitution the trainers OF it thought
| fit to place provision which IN forty Instances
since the government was organized mas been
called into profitable use. That provision ls in
these words:
fhn n
Supreme Judicial Court-"They shall be oblig-
ed to give their opinion upon important ques-
tions of law, and upon solemn occasions, when
required by the Governor, Council, Senate, or
House of Repress natives.
read that over and had occasion to turn to
Webstsrs Unabridged Dictionary to see what
light definition of the leading words would
give. The word "obige" is a very strong word.
The first definition given OF 1t by webster Is
''To constrain Shy physical, moral, or legal
force;' so that the Judges OF the supreme
Court, when called upon, are constrained oy
moral force to drop everything else and give
their opinion upon the question submitted; ;
"They are required, ,"-and Webster says
that require means "To claim by right
| and aulhority" SO that this great de-
partment of the government claim by right
and authority to constrain the judges TO drop
every other issue that may be upon the dock
cts of their courts and answer at once upon
what may be submitted to them. There have
been as / have said, these forty instances; IN
The first ten years OF this government, when
we had William King and Albion x. Paris and
Enoch Lincoln for Governors they mad more
than one important question every year ana
great many points in the constitution were sol
tied in their practical applications oy the
opinions that were thus INVOKED anu tnus
given.
For the first time in the history of the State
we find Governor who thus speaks OF this
great power. Gov. Plaisted says "Ihe pro
vision of our constitution which permits OF the
executive or the legislature to call upon the
court on any occasion, solemn or otherwise,
for this opinion seems to me as wrong IN prln-
ciple as it is dangerous in practice That is
his opinion upon constitution Sixty years oiu
and sanctified under list of Governors than
whom no other State can present more honor
able and more illustrious.
Under this provision the Governor says
"questions are referred to the court, not Tor
their decision but only for their opinion which
the executive or the Legislature may take for
what they are worth, follow them or disregard
them at will as has sometimes happened III our
history
When, Gov. Plaisted did it sometimes happen
ia our history? When did 1t happen that
Governor of this State called upon the Su-
preme Court for its opinion and then disre-
garded it?
1t happened in the case of AlonZo Garcelon,
who, admonished by the Supreme Court that
the State steal was an organized crime, threw
aside the opinion and persisted in the crime,
but by every other Governor that called upon
thu Supreme Court from the organization OF
the government to this hour the opinion was
taken without any cavil or quibble whatever
Let me call your attention, those of you who
belong to the older class of my audience, and
if the younger cla1s have not heard it, beg to
call their attention by way OF instruction to
very illustrious instance Of this kind.
In the Legislature OF 1854 William
Fitt Fessenden (applause) YVES Repre-
sentative in the Legislature from Port
land and Lot M. Morrill, was Representative
from the city of Augusta. MIR FesSenden was
elected as a Whig and Mr.. Morrill, as a Demo
crat. A great controversy arose as to the or
ganiZation of the Senate, aud upon the dsei-
sion OF that question it was thought depended
the political complexion OF the state. Mr.
Fessenden was the candidate Tor Senator OF
the United States before that Legislature, and
after the Legislature had been kept for four
weeks in sta g of disorga nization he himself
nroposed and drafted the resolve
with his clear legal mind where he himself
prouosed to submit the question in dispute be-
tween the two parties to the Supreme Court OF
the State
The Supreme Court of Maine at that time
contained seven judges Of whom five were
Democrats, Ether Shepley, Samuel Wells,
Joseph Howard, Joshua W. Hathaway and
Richard d. Rice. TIVE were Wings, John s.
Tenney and John Appleton, the present chief
Justice of the State.
Mr. FesSenden drew the order submitting
the question, and when the opinion came IN It
was against his view. If you chose 10 divide
it bysa political designation it was on the
Democratic and lot on the Whig side OF the
issue What did Mr.. FesSenden do? Did he
do as Gov. Plaisted says w ny this Is mere
opinion, am not bound to obey 1t; TINS OPINION
goes against my interest; it interferes with my
prc 3pects to be a Senator of the United States.
This opinion is at war with the Whig doctrine;
this opinion is one which will not sustain.
Did Mr. Fessenden say that? L have an ex-
tract from his speech Mr.. Fessenden believed
then and believed to the day of his death that
the Supreme Court was wrong. He was not
bound to change his individual opinion. He
argued clearly that the Supreme Court in his
Judgment was wrong; and when the opinion
came before the Legislature this IS wnat MI.
Fessenden said. l quote from his speech
rerorted in the Legislative Journal which was
then Democratic paper, the Age, in the city
of Augusta
ssThe Justices of the Supreme Court lslid Mr.
Fessenden, .'were by the constitution made the
advisers of the Legislature or either branch OF
it, and of the Governor and Counc1l; he had
concluded that it was best to ask their opinion
upon certain points, as the House had asked 1T
and the Court had given their opiniou; while
we are bound by it therefore he would say so
far as action was involved, we have no idea of
opnosiDg it because we are disposed to obey
the law, and to yield to the constitutional ex-
pounders of tae law; he would go further and
say in the language OF another after hearing
the discision of the Court in a certain case,
it is the law tc day but it was not the law yes
tefday; that it was the law to-day because the
Supreme Court had p' onounced it so, but if
asked whether he retracted his own individual
opinion as to the true Interpretation of the con-
stitution he would reply that as an individual
he had a perfect right to his opinions, that
they were not changed, but he would not treat
the Court with disrespect, he would bow to
the Bench and to the men who were on the
Bench; that was his duty as good citizen.
(Applause.)
That is William Pitt Fessenden's nterpreta-
tion of the constitution. And l think before
the people of Maine, with all due respect to
Governor Plaisted that William Pitt Fessen-
den, though dead, yet speaketh and speaks to
more people in the State of Maine, and
with greater authority than Gov. Plaisted can
ever aspire to WELD. (Applause)
1t may be late and out of place to euloglze
one who has been euiogized SO often; but 1t
nay be we'll here, to remind us for State
pride that next to Mr.. Webster, who ranks in
history as the leading Senator of New England
and of the Union, that next to Mr.. Webster
Maine has sent the two greatest Senators that
have ever sat for New England in the Senate
of the United States, men of the old Wing
| party, George Evans and William Pitt Fessen-
den. (Applause)
| Now the occasion of this is that Gov. Plals-
| ted insists that he has right to remove GER
| tam officers without asking the Executive
| Council and when called upon by the Coun-
| Gil the Supreme Court say that he has not.
The Supreme Court has given its opinion