GOVERNOR COLES BASHFORD.

that if he was sworn in and assumed the office no ecourt had
jurisdiction to enquire into his election. No force was used or
thought of to prevent his assuming the office. It was, however.
intended to use force to obtain the office after the court had de-
clared Coles Bashford's right to it, if not yielded peaceably.
For that contingency the forces were organized under Nat Dean
and the guns were in storage ready for instant use. But the
occasion for civil war happily was averted by peaceable acquies-
cence. During the same day Coles Bashford, with a few friends,
went to the Supreme Court room and took the oath of office
of Governor before Chief Justice Whiton. Three days later he
called at the executive office and made a formal demand on Mr.
Barstow for recognition as Governor, which was rejected. The
Legislature, in session, acknowledged Barstow as Governor. The
senate was seven Republican and twelve Democrats; the assem-
bly forty-four Republican, thirty-one Democratic and seven Inde-
pendents.
The next day after Coles Bashford had called on Mr. Bar-
stow, he waited on the attorney general and requested him to
file an information in the nature of a quo warranto. It was sup-
posed he would refuse, when under the statute Coles Bashford
could proceed on his own relation; but the attorney general
asked him to make his request in writing. Soon after a draft
of such a pleading as was desirable to have filed in the court was
delivered to the attorney general, who in a few days filed a more
general information, and on which the summons was issued
from the Supreme Court and served on Mr. Barstow.
The Supreme Court was composed then of three judges. Chief
Justice Whiton, originally a Whig, was now a Republican.
Justice Smith was an anti-slavery Democrat, but his opinion on
the question of the rights of the voter rendered in this case is
the very best text book on the fundamental principles of our
form of government ever written. Justice  Orsamus Cole, who
afterward became Chief Justice, was an old-time Whig and
then a Republican. The final decision of the case was unanimous.
The attorney general, William R. Smith, was elected on the
ticket with Barstow, and was a Democrat. History will not
give him a high place in this case either for tact or ability. The
counsel for Coles Bashford were the late Chief Justice Edward
G. Ryan, one of the greatest lawyers of his time; Judge Timothy
0. Howe, afterwards for eighteen years Unitedi States Senator;
Hon. Alexander W. Randall, afterwards the war governor of

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