The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-01-24
HOW AUGUSTA BECAME THE CAPITAL,
IcoNrINuEp FROM FIRST PAGE.


| solve passed t6tails, was made, and The re-
Iuary Sth the co. engrossed again. On f rsiIs
| reported 1t prone}itte on engrossed Dilis
9Th the resolve waengrossed. But on sne
| amendments were &ailed up anu oe ~ naas
o. nays 81 OF the aY sedn, ~ w ev NAV only
| vile offered them and Nr. Cobb OF Water.
that the vote is much lkge tne osnst tsvs
| Waterville for Augusta. Nnat suussnuuSi ~,
probable that the House obs ny ga e. az aither
IN WEAKNESS or disgust ofna ras. from
yVe re;a,sonaele motive, deci in favor Of
Whatever was the cause, ano.o Journal
Of tne House gives not even an skIing Of
VINO participated In the debate,--E Honse
seems to have been persuaded to Race its
course. Perhaps George Evans arose al with
an nnanswerable marshalling of logics reas-
ons,such as he was no doubt capable of lev
ing, brought the House to its senses. b;o
seems probable indeed, for the clerk rec6ss
Ttne Dill was then referred to c0mmitE
composed of Messrs. Evans, of Gardiner
Osgood, of Fryeburg and Hayden of Wins
low"
On the afternoon of the same day this COM
mtttee reported the bill In new draft but
the records do not specify what changes had
been made. 1t is not at all improbable that
Augusta was substituted for Waterville, as
two OF the committee, Evans and Hayden
bad voted against Mr.. Cobb's proposition.
Whatever the change, the bill was passed to
be re-engr0ssed.
When the resolve came to the Senate on
February 9th the Senate at first ordered
IT'S re-engr0ssment in concurrence. but
later reconsidered and referred il to a
committee composed of Mess s. Williams
OF kennebec, Sweat Of York and Stebbins,
Of Lincoln. This committee reported on
Feb. 10th the bill in a new draft; the Senate
mad II engrossed in this form, and sent it
down to the House.
What the chanppe mazda hv th;c non, dra o.
were. does not appear from the Senate re-
cords. The resolve went to the House the
next day and by them was taken up on the 14th
ana IL was voted to adhere. So it is evident that
the House ana Senate disagreed, probably
the Senate was for Portland and the House
for Augusta.
When II came back to the Senate that body
receded, but passed vote postponing the
resolve indefinitely.
The House insisted on its former position
ana appointed as coDferees Messrs Evans, of
Gardiner, Adams, of Portland, and Chase of
Kittery. The Senate joined Messrs. Den
nett, of York. Kimball, of Hancock, and
Sweat, of York. The resolve was In confer
ence until FEB. 18th, when the .conferees re-
ported that they were unable to come TO an
agreement. and therefore they recommended
that the House take no further action npon
the subject. The House accepted the report
OF It's conierees. The Senate voted to adj
here TO its original proposition to postnone
indefinitely when it heard from its conferee.
ana the matter went do wn to the House.
This IL the last of the resolve Apparentlv
the friends of Augusta had been reoulsed.
and their effort failure.
,oi 5Ss on February 18th the very day the old
tween the two houses, Mr.. Cobb. of Dnr-
ham, laid on the House table a ssresolve fly
ing the place OF meeting of the next Legis-
lature.'. The records are meagre, but this
resolve seems to have fixed upon Portland,
xun ofk
engrossed in the House, it went np to the
Senate, we find an entry by the Secretary of
the Senate that mr. Southwick. Of Kennp-
pee. moved to strike out Portland and in
sert HallowelL This motion prevailed by
Ewell OF Lincoln, Gardner of Lincoln. South-
wick OF kennebec, Williams of Kennebec Fran
cl s q hennebec. Washburn of Oxford, Weston of
omerset, Bateman of Penobscot
= Nays-Dunlap OF Cumberland, Churchill of
cumberland. Dunn of Cumberland, bennett of
washington, Grover of ., ford
The Resolve went down to the House for
comingup for debate on the
z0tn. Mr.. Evans, who was leader Of the
house apparently moved to recede and con-
eur with the Senate, and the House SO voted
y TO %; the members dividing as follows:
Yeas York, 2; Lincoln. IS; Hancock. o: Wash.
pg on: q hennsebec, 10; Oxford 8; Somerset, o;
NAYS. York. III Cumberland, 2s; Lincoln. 4.
Hancock, 8; Kennehec, IL; Oxford, o SO.
The next day motion to reconsider failed
Is TO So
. February 22nd the Resolve came up for
bnal passage in the Senate and passed 10 to
>. This was the vote:
. Yeas -Stebbins of Lincoln, Parsons of Lincoln
Elwell OF Lincoln, Gardner of Lincoln. Williams
q q hennepee Francis Of Kennebec Southwick Of
erset, Bateman of Penobscot. -
Nays-Dennett of York, Emery Of York, Sweat
~ ap n9rR, punmlap Of Cumberland, Churchill of
GumDeflanu, Dunn OF Cumberland, Hathaway of
Hanct OK, Balkan OF Washington, Grover Of Ok
Portland had failed to keep the Legislature
Tor ne next session. The record of the
senate 3 Secretary says in conclusion sand
this Resolve was presented to the Governor
IoT MS appreciation and signature"
Mr., Vance Of Barring laid on the table Xiii
fixing the place of the permanent seat Of
government and prescribing where the Leg
islature shall hold its sessions"
George Evans moved its reference to the
next legislature: In the afternoon vote
was w taken and Evans was defeated. Yeas
Yeas-York, 6; Lincoln, 10; Hancock. 8; WASH
lpngtoh, kennebec' IL; Oxford, 2; Somerset, z;
Nays~York, ID; Cumberland. "a: Lincoln IN.
e Kennebec Oxford
= - L.
. The solid vote of Cumberland against re-
ierrlng to the next Legislature seems to in
dlcate that her Representatives did not want
The questions to be protracted. On second
Evans voted nay. and what seems very
strange, kennebec voted with him while
Cumberland voted yea
Yeas-York, 10; Cumberland, "a: Lincoln. II /.
= HANCOCK an II washington, 4; Kennebec, A; OK
Nays York, 81; Lincoln, 10; Kennebec. II.
oxford, 2; Somerset, 8; Penobscot 4,
The BIZ then passed to be engrossed and
went to the Senate.
In the Senate on the 23rd the bill passed
In concurrence by the following vote:
Yeas-Dennett,of York Sweat of York DunIan
OF cumberland, Churchill, of Cumberland, Dunn.
Of Cumoerland Gardner OF Lincoln Hathaway Of
hancock, balkham OF Washington, Williams, of
sc enePec, Toyer' Oh oxiord Bateman of Penob-
,Nays-stebbins; of Lincoln Parsons, of Lincoln.
Elwell, OF Lincoln, Southwick, of Kennebec
Francis, of Kennebec, Washburp. of ISyford
Weston, of Somerset.
!. On the oath the bill passed the Senate to
be enacted and went TO the Governor. nv
whom 1t was signed on that day. This Is
the act printed at the first of this article
WIN tne date OF Its approval. The next dav
the legislature adjourned.
, i, me votes on the second reading of this
Dill IN the House seem inexplicable. Wby
cumberland should favor the bill and Ken
nepcc oppose az THIS stage, there is nOexplana-
tion given In the records. The bill was hur-
ried through at the last moments of the SEES
sloD, after an attempt to pass a resolve to ac-
,omplish the same purpose had failed when
mere was plenty of time for discussion.
But North's history of Augusta supple
nents the official journals with an interest
ng account Of the debate and explains this |
lction. Portland had been regarded, accord
ng TO this history, as the temporary seat of |
government. In the legislature of 1927 the |
lr'enas Oh Portland were able to defeat the |
to make Augusta the ''perma- |
ient seat. they were not, however, able |
Q prevent the selection Of Hallowell as the |
em porary place OF meeting of the legisla- /
uIe. having failed to keep the legislature,
nougn tney had defeated the project to Sc
ect permanent seat at Augusta, the Cum
,erland representatives then gave their
assent to the removal to Angus |
a; THE question had heretofore BEEN"
aid North, zone of time when to move |
ather than the place where" When those |
Who opposed the fixing of another place than |
cortland found that their opposition had |
'hanged the temporary place of meeting, |
ney came cordially to the support of the |
measure establishing the capital at Augusta |
~ reference to the still more inexplicable |
Iote OF kennebec against the measure |
NoTth explains that the county was divided |
)y the interests of Hallowell. Somerset also |
vas divided by the aspirations of Water |
asset.
In those days of difficult communications |
cortland was plainly unsuitable for CAPT. |
al. IL was computed that the travel of |
MEMBERS TO Portland was in the aggregate |