The Portland daily press., 1890-08-29

DANdSAOt0 muulClpdl OONio
have never been enfranchised The Argus
admits that, for it says Recently adecision
OF our Supreme Court had set the matter at
rest by deciding that they had not been le-
gally admitted as citizens" Not having
been enfranchised 1t is of course impossi-
BILE for the Biddeford aldermen or anybody
else to dIsfranchise them.
Now what the aldermen did, or attempted
to do, was to enfranchise these men. The
laws of the United States provide that aliens
shall be enfranchised only by certain speci-
fed tribunals. Boards of Aldermen are not
among them. Yet in defiance of the laws
of the country the Biddeford Board of AL
dermen did undertake to make these men
voters without particle OF evidence that
they had compiled with the law of Con-
gress, and With conclusive evidence that
they had not. 1t undertook to override the
Congress of the United States, the United
States Circuit Court and the Supreme Coust
OF Maine, and to proclaim itself indepen-
dent OF all OF them and amenable to none.
This Is no exaggerated statement of the case; ;
it is the exact fact.
Neither did this board act as it did in igno-
rance of either the fact or the law. 1t
knew both. 1t knew that no man who
is not citizen of the United States Is en-
titled to vote. 1t knew that these men
had been declared by the Supreme Court of
Maine sitting as law court, not citizens of
the United States. 1t knew these things
not merely by common report for the deci-
sion of the court was expressly served upon
it and its duty under 1t was clearly pointed
out. There was some excuse for the aliens
who voted in Biddeford at the last municipal
election. They had, they supposed, COM
piled with the requirements for citizenship.
Men in whom they were justified in having
confidence told them they had the right to
vote And besides at that time it had not
been settled by any court of last resort that
they did not have the right to vote. The action
Of the aldermen, COO, at that time in assist
Ing these men to vote admitted of some palli-
alton. But the action Of the Board of Alder
men in depositing on the eleventh day of
August with the city clerk the voting lists
bearing the names of all these men whom
the courts had declared not to be citizens of
the United States was an open, deliberate.
and intentional violation OF law.
The Argus says the duty devolved upon
the aldermen with regard to the voting
lists, up to within four days of election, is
merely perfunctory. All they are expected
TO do, remarks our esteemed contemporary.
Is to take list prepared by the assessors and
certify it to be correct In purely perfume
try manner and then deposit it
with the city clerk. Now the statutes show
very clearly that the duties of the aldermen
10 regard to this voting list are not, as the
Argus declares, purely perfunctory. Section
1. of Chapter A. provides that the assessors
on or before the first day of August in each
year In which an election Of governor, sena-
tors and representatives Is held, shall pre-
pare list of the persons whom they judge
to be constitutionally qualified to vote"
Section 2 provides that the 'the selectmen in
every town. on or before the eleventh
day of August in every year, shall
prepare corrected list of per-
sons so qualified" 1t will be seen that
eleven days are allotted for what the Argus
declares is the purely perfunctory duty of
swearing that the assessors returns are cor
rect 1t will be seen also that the aldermen
are directed to ''prepare corrected list
They are to take the assessors list, go
through 1t and correct 1t as far as they can.
Here is duty enjoined which does not ad-
NIT of a perfunctory performance. Perfume
tory performance is non-performance. 1t is
obvious from these statutes that il was the
duty of the Biddeford selectmen after they
received the list from the assessors to
correct it. They deliberately neglected to
fla; d,,tu hat
were some five hundred names on that list,
which the Supreme Court of Maine had
decided ought not to be there, and yet
they left them there. Now what was the pur-
pose Of leaving them there, for no sane
man will contend that they were left
there inadvertently? Only one explanation
is possible. They were left there in
order to assist them to vote Illegally.
The conduct of the aldermen in neglecting
to correct the lists was in viola
lion of law, and its inevitable tendency was
to assist and encourage the commission of
crime And as every sane person is sup
posed. and rightly, to intend the natural
consequences of his act the conduct of the
aldermen had about il all the essential ele-
ments Of crime against the State. A due
regard for the peace and good orde of the
State demanded their arrest and punish
ment. The Argus calls their arrest an out
rage. But would not much greater outrage
have been committed IL these men, who had
deliberately attempted to set at defiance the
laws of the State and the United States, had
been allowed to proceed with impunitye
The Argus intimates that the Board was 60
ing to begin to take notice of the laws of the
country and the decision Of the courts four
days before election. We don't know what
they intended to do four days before
election, but what they did do
about thirty days before we do know.
They set at defiance the constitu-
ton and the laws of the State and nation
and set up sort of Independent government
of their own in which their will was the only
law that counted for anything. Probably
their arrest will not retard any meditated
repentance on their part. On the other
hand we are inclined to think it will hasten
it. If their arrest has the effect also to deter
other men in Biddeford from defying the
laws, so much the better, To restrain per-
sons who may mediate unlawful acts is one
of the recognized and legitimate objects of
the arrest and punishment of men who have
been guilty of lawlessness.
There is room for sympathy for the men
who, by the decision of the court, find them
selves deprived of privileges which they
have been enjoying. Every facility should
be afforded them to regain those privileges
in legal way. They should not be dealt
harshly with for any violations of law of
which they may have been guilty while
striving to maintain what they conceived to
be their rights. The men who are knowing
ly and deliberately encouraging them to con-
tinue to commit illegal acts are the ones who
should be made to feel the heavy hand of
the law. They are the real sinners in this
caea