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for him if he could have maintained friendly relations with the Librarian and thus secured the use of the books in his office without any friction. Mr. Tillinghast, the gentleman then holding that position, was a man of great influence throughout the State, and country members often consulted him, especially on matters within his line such as how they should vote on appropriations to publish. I do not imagine that Mr. Tillinghast ever actively exerted himself against Mr. Goodell, but their relations were such that he could not be relied upon to do anything to aid in securing appropriations for the publication of the Province Laws. Then there was the Secretary of the Commonwealth, who had charge of another set of records and also of the archives. The books from the archives were constantly in use in Mr. Goodell's office. It would have been impossible in any event for Mr. Goodell to have searched these volumes in the manner in which he was accustomed to without provoking friction, even had the relation between the two offices been absolutely friendly. As it was the heads of the two departments were not on good terms, and the Secretary of the Commonwealth, who was a man of considerable political influence, was not only not to be relied upon to aid in securing appropriations for Mr. Goodell's work, but he was at all times in favor of securing the work of publication for his own office. He was at that time engaged in publishing a set of laws, which he called "Old Laws," and he thought that the work being done by Mr. Goodell belonged in his department.

Such was the condition of things during the latter part of the time Mr. Goodell was in office. His friends were obliged to go to the State House every year when the question of the appropriation for continuing the publication came up, and the clamor against the dilatory nature of his work increased from year to year.

In 1896, after the usual fight before the committee, the House of Representatives passed the appropriation for the publication of the laws. When the bill reached the Senate the motion was made to strike out a clause in the bill which placed the supervision of the work in the hands of the Governor and Council, and to substitute for that purpose the Secretary of the Commonwealth. This amendment failed of passage, but a second amendment was made to reduce the appropriation to the sum of $4400, which was simply adequate to provide for the clerical and incidental expenses and

salaries of Mr. Goodell's office up to and including June 30th. This motion prevailed and was accepted by the House.

On the 19th of March Mr. Goodell was instructed by the Governor and Council to go ahead and print all the unpublished resolves up to 1780 and not to allow any annotations to delay the publication. He was further ordered not to make any corrections in stereotyped plates without first having obtained authority from the Governor and Council and he was directed so to prepare his copy as to preclude the necessity for so many corrections in the proof as he had been in the habit of making. The order as to corrections of the plates embarrassed Mr. Goodell in his relations with the State printer and immediately after its adoption he applied for a modification of it so as to permit the work then in the printer's hands to go ahead. Not receiving any reply to this he wrote again on the 23rd of April and again on the 30th of the same month. On May 8th the Governor and Council granted him permission to make the changes. Meantime the Governor and Council consulted the Attorney-General as to whether the manner in which the work was being carried on was in accordance with the spirit and letter of the original law authorizing the publication. The Attorney-General reported that he did not think it was.

On the 22nd of May an order was issued to bring out and publish Volume 6 immediately. This involved an abandonment of the work upon Volume 9 which was then being prosecuted under the previous order of the Governor and Council. On the 16th of June notice was given Mr. Goodell that the appropriation of $4400 covered work only to the 30th of June and would then expire; therefore all duties of the officials and clerks in his office would then cease. Mr. Goodell contended that inasmuch as the act originally authorizing the publication was still in force, the mere failure to provide the means of paying the clerks and officials in the office did not of itself terminate their connection with the work, and therefore that the conclusion of the Council as to the termination of his office was not warranted, and he offered twice to carry on the work himself on Volumes 6 and 9, provided the Governor and Council would agree not to oppose him if he should ask the Legislature the next year to provide for his advances in the Deficiency Bill. To this the Governor and Council returned no answer, but on the 16th of July, fifteen days after the

date when they had notified him that his duties would cease, they informed him that, as he seemed to have some doubt as to the meaning of their previous communication, in which they stated that the duties of all connected with his office would cease on the 30th of June, they had passed an order that the office of the editor should be discontinued, and the editor and his assistants discharged, and they further ordered that all property and materials in the office should be turned over to the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms.

Volume 6 was then completely in type, all the stereotyped notes having been abandoned and marginal references substituted. When Volume 7 came out in 1892, Mr. Goodell had announced that he would make in his preface to Volume 6 some necessary explanations relative to the private acts. He therefore prepared a preface in accordance with that promise and to it he added a history of his connection with the publication of the laws, including all the events that had occurred that spring and including also the various letters that had been sent to him from the office of the Governor. He closed the preface in these words: "This presentation, inadequate as it must needs be under the circumstances is as full as the brief time at the editor's disposal allows before yielding up the keys of his office to the Sergeant-at-Arms, whose demand for them followed within a few minutes the last of the foregoing orders of the Council. Beside this enforced haste the want of opportunity for a new comprehensive study of details as above named must be his apology for disappointing the scholars who have been expecting more satisfactory results." This preface including this last clause was dated on the 16th of July. He sent it to the State printer, and it was printed and submitted to the Governor and Council for approval. Portions only were permitted to appear in the official edition of the volume. All the personal part was expurgated and only such matter as was deemed of value was published with a statement that these were extracts from a preface written by Mr. Goodell. A limited number of copies having the original as well as the expurgated preface were distributed by Mr. Goodell among his friends.

For three years after this there was no publication of the Laws. In 1899, however, Governor Wolcott communicated with Mr. Charles Francis Adams and urged upon him to report to the Gov

ernor and Council a scheme for renewing the publication of the Province Laws. This Mr. Adams declined, at first, to do, but the Governor, not content with this refusal, a second time appealed to Mr. Adams for his aid in securing the publication of the Laws. In response to this second appeal of the Governor, Mr. Adams told him that if he would refer the matter to a committee of three, consisting of himself, Mr. John Noble, clerk of the Supreme Court for Suffolk County, and Mr. Andrew McFarland Davis, he would undertake it. The Governor at once appointed the committee and a meeting of the same was promptly called by Mr. Adams to be held at the office of Mr. Noble. The three members of the committee were of one mind that it was desirable that the publication of the laws should go on, and that it was of the utmost importance to the state to secure the services of Mr. Goodell as editor if possible. There was therefore no occasion for discussion. When the committee met, Mr. Adams at once moved that Mr. Davis be made chairman, and having carried his point it was agreed that Mr. Noble should act as secretary. It was then formally voted that a report should be made to the effect that the committee recommended that the best method of renewing the publication of the Province Laws was that the office of editor should be conferred upon Mr. Goodell. And it was also agreed that the salary he had been paid heretofore, $2400, was too small, and the committee recommended in case of his appointment that the salary of the office should be raised to $3000. Mr. Davis was designated to prepare this report. At a subsequent meeting of the committee the report was submitted. Mr. Adams said that so far as the contents of the report was concerned, it was all right, but he would like to add a little snap to it, and he did so by making a few of the phrases commending Mr. Goodell's work somewhat stronger than they were in the original. This report was sent by the committee to the Governor and a copy was forwarded to Mr. Goodell. A short time after this Mr. Davis was summoned to the Governor's office and was asked if he knew about the preface Mr. Goodell had written which the Council were unwilling to publish. Mr. Davis replied that he knew something about it, but was ignorant of the details. He added that whatever the relations between Mr. Goodell and the Governor and Council might have been at that time,

the committee were of opinion that it was of the utmost importance that the State should avail itself of the services of Mr. Goodell to carry on the work. After some discussion the Governor said he was willing to lay aside his feelings and would recommend to the Council the adoption of the report. A short time after this the entire committee was summoned before a committee of the Council, where the report came up for discussion. Mr. Davis was called upon first and stated in a general way what lay at the basis of the report which they had submitted, namely, their belief that the State ought to avail itself of Mr. Goodell's services. One member of the Council said, "Mr. Davis, you know that we discharged him just a short time ago," and Mr. Davis replied, "Yes, but it is nevertheless true, that if the State wishes to renew the publication of the laws and wishes to secure the best equipped man to be had for editor Mr. Goodell must be appointed to the place." A member of the Council then said "you don't expect us to hire him over again after we have discharged him and then give him an increase of pay?" to which again reply was made, "that is precisely what we recommend, for you did not pay him enough before. His services were worth more than you paid him, and if re-employed he ought to have more." Following that, both Mr. Adams and Mr. Noble were called upon and added to what had been said the weight of their approval. As a result of it all the Governor and Council authorized the committee to renew the publication of the Laws and Resolves with Mr. Goodell as editor at the same salary that he had before. Thereupon the committee tendered the appointment to Mr. Goodell on those terms. In reply to a communication officially tendering him the position of editor, Mr. Goodell said that he would accept the place only upon the condition that the salary be raised to the sum that the committee had endeavored to secure for him. He asked permission to appear before the committee and argue the question. He was told that it was of no use, that everything had been done that could be done. Nevertheless he insisted upon appearing and on an appointed day did appear, but inasmuch as his refusal to accept the office except with increased pay seemed to preclude the possibility of getting him for the editorship, Mr. Davis shortly thereafter wrote to him, saying that inasmuch as he declined the office it became the duty of the committee to

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