St. Mary's beacon., 1853-04-21
TOTHE DEMOCRATIC
VOTERS OF cf1ApffcU bIsrnrc-


VOTERS OF cf1Apf'ic6 DISTRICT
MELLOW CITIZENS I, !, du. "a
you, a. veil rs ourselves, that Won
should be informed why The delegates
Won elected % the Convention az Ieona ri
Town did uot and were not suffered "a
perform the duties for which You elected
them. We proposes. BY plain state,nen:
OF facts. give you the history of tina,
Conventisn.
The chairman OF the Cent raj Commit.
tee. NJ Benjamin G. Harris, called a
IneetiEg Of the Democrats in each cleo
iton district for the purpose Of efeciinp
Ave delegates to assemble in convention
at leonard Town. with the view of 70.
conmending to the President applicant.
# Offices in 81. Mary's county. On The
Jay appointed. the Democrats Of the dis.
1ttici assembled at Chsptico. A meeting
was called, when Mr.. r. IT. Miles OF.
Tered certain resolutions which were
adopted. We will here state. that Mr..
Harris, a. chairman Of the Central Com.
.nisIees was called Hpou for the poll hooks,
and otEeE r. sasd stf.v fIsss
been carried OF by DIR Jones so that
we have not had the advantage OF exam
lining any Of them. What riRIii Dr.
Jones had to them. or FIR what purpose
ne carried them of, We VIII leave to Mr..
Harris to explain. The substance OF one
of these resolutions was, that The judges
should purge the polls as the ballots pro.
ceeded and Of another. that in the even,
OF tie. the judges should decide. Both
oFthe resolutions were unanimously adoo.
ted. On motion Of Mr.. Miles, Mr.. Charles
Morgan was appointed chief Judge of
the election. with the power Of selecting
two associate judges. Mr.. Morgan Sc.
lected Messrs. P. g. Love and George
Gibson. The meeting adjourned, and
the voting commenced. II was distinct.
ly understood that the qualification of a
voter should be an affirmative answer TO
the question, afe you a Democrat 81
There were two tickets run. The un.
dersigned, by the return OF the Judges,
were eiectci upon one ticket, aud Mr.
Alfred BuEch upon the other. Messrs.
Miles, Cotton, G. w. Morgan, and DR..
Neale, were defeated upon their own
ticket, and Mr.. Love upon ours. A few
days after the election, meeting of the
Democrats OF the district was called by
Messrs. Miles and Co, for the purpose,
il was said, OF contesting the right Of the
members elect to seats In the Convention.
The honorable contestants most signallv
failed there. Not O half dozen Demo
Gratis were present, which was Of itself an
indignant reproot Of their conduct.
Nothing more was said OF contested seats.
We supposed that the attempt was aban.
doned, but, IS The event has shown, we
were lulled iato false security. We
thought that our opponents were gentle.
ment, high. toned Democrats. Was il not
'ss--'nsnabia IN s,fnDose. then, that cnnr- n,
sy, a sense oil justice, OF propriefy, OF
Common decency even, would have
prompted them 10 haze informed us, that
they intended TO contest our seats, so that
we might meet them fairly and honora
bly, Did they do this? No. Silently
they pursued their course, and the frs,
intimation we had Of their intention was
after the Convention met.
The Convention was organized by ap.
pointing Col. Billingsly. President, and
DR.. Jones. Secretary. Then IL was that
Messrs. Miles. Morgan. and Neale ap.
peared, and said they intended to contes,
The seats Of the Chaptico delegation.
Even then they did not say tcaose seats
they intended TO contest. Mr.. Harris
moved that the chair appoint committee
on credentials. to consist Of one member
from each delegation. The motion was
adopted. What did the honorable chair.
man dot Contrary to all parliamentary
law and precedent, he appointed Mr..
Burch, a known opponent OF the sitting
members. and known friend OF the con!
tes,ants, on the committee. In Chaptico
district, as above stated, there were four
delegates elected on one ticket, and one
(Mr, Burch) on the opposing TICKET WHY
did the chairman select the only one com,
posing the minority, and known oppo.
nent OF the sitting members =? Was il mol
sheer injustice, and q total disregard
Of parliamentary law 2 Would you place
q Judge upon The bench who had sworn
TO hang the criminal We do not wish
to charge the chairman with ignorance,
still less 50, with premediiated wrong.
We will pass 10 the action Of his commit.
tee. They, instead Of summoning us face
to face with the contestants, gave them
the hearing first, mark you. in our alb.
senee, and. after hearing all they had TO
say, (and we know no, to this day what
they did say, summoned Mr.. John II.
Key before them. And upon what
grounds did they contest his seats Upon
the base and contemplate grounds Of not
voting for General Pierce. Mr. Keys
thorough democracy is known from one
end Of the county to the other. The
democrats Of Chaptico had chosen him to
represent them by a decisive majority
over all in The field. Yet these contes
tanls had the assurance to insult the dem
ocrats OF Chapiico and common sense by
bringing such charge. Il was TOO 40.
surd even for that committee, and the
missile aimed al Mr.. Kew, Ia wing missed
ies nnark wac fuPnad nnon oahaes IT,