Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-04-11

Conventions what Rule Of Represen-
tarson shall Governq

question has heen presented ~ 70 the correct
basis of representation IN the State ana DisTice
Conventions Of the American party Inc p'lne'.
ole established heretofore Is, that each msmDer "
the party shall have voice in the seecs'on o. cs.
didatea This principle is sound. Just and repaof-
can. There has been filling back upon the forms
Of the old mode Of selecting delegates TO Fepresen.
the nssaes in Convention; bot we should De careful
70 DO Justice 10 al nv adhering TO the principle es-
tabliahed-that the voice Of n majority OF the 70
ters shan BE- fairly reflected in the Convention. Each
county should be entitled 10 Convention 70 voice
through it's delegates prOportionate either to the
aooreca,e number Of American voters IN the coun-
~ or 70 the aggregate voting population of the
county But ss to which Of these bases Is most pro-
per there Is some question. We incline to the far
mer as most Amer can and just Suppose. for en-.
ample, the American party shed 90 nominate a
candidate for State S,nate IN Senatorial District
composed Of two eounties--oRe having 1000 voters,
Of whom hut 500 were Americans, and ,he other
having 5000 voters, Of whom 1870 were Americans;
how could the sense Of the party be aseertaineds
Unques,icnahly by sllowiRg each Of the lh00 Amer
can voters 10 the latter and each of the 500 Amer
can voters in the former county to woe and none
other. But suppose that delegates we're sent 20
represent the masses Ia Convention, how ough,
those delegates to be apporlOReds Ought the 500
American voters In thu former eoaHtv 90 have
twice as many votes as she former m Felv because
they reside iE a county having double the votns
population We think not II appears 60 Us plain
that the 1900 American voters IN the smaller eoun'
~ should have voice In the Convention, as against
the 500 in the larger county, proporiionae 70 their
relative party strength. This Is the principle as.
serted BY the American party in their party nom'
nations, and We presume our friends viii adhere TO i
10 all cases.
We republish the foregoing article from
the Republican Banner of yesterday for the
purpose of endorsing its sentiments, and Of
urging upon the American Party in all its
Conventions to adopt such rules of repre-,
sentatioD as shall be just and equal, giving
to every county its due weight, in proper.
ton to the American vote. This principle
was one of the corner stones of Che organ.
ization. Under the old convention system,
an adroit or INSCRIPTIONS aspirant for Office,
might manage to defeat the popular will by
packing a convention with a majority Of
his friends, and denying populous counties
their full representation. To avoid this the
American organization resorted to the sys
TEN of polling the entire strength of the
party, thus giving to every individual an OPP
portunity to make his influence felt through
his vote But this system has now beer
abandoned. Nevertheless, the principle
should be adhered to andcarried into effect
as fully as possible in other NODES BY way
of illustration, the Banner gives an imagin
airy example. We propose to illustrate the
question by giving this Congressional Dis
trict as an example. The following is an
analysis of the vote of the several counties
COMPOSING the district in 1855.