The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1859-11-25

Igrant you that il each Congress
ional District elected its own dele
gates, as 1t does the member OF Con
gress, there might be some excus,
for adhering to the old way;" bu
when the electors are chosen by the
vote Of the state at large, instead o
by districts, it strikes me that tn.
Ipower OF electing a President is no,
lequal in tho same party, as yon say
in all Districts; and only in proper
tion as that power is equal, whethe'
Republican or Democratic-sbould
they, in my opinion be represented
in any party Convention. For in.
stance. the ninth district in Illinois
polled last year but about 2, 500 Re-
publican and Opposition votes, while
the third district cast about ten times
that number of straight Republican.
M, MY ,bait il Ras, bs syds99. jan, n529tis With
and other popular districts of the
state, the elector in the ninth dis.
trict could not succeed.
Suppose there were but two Con
gressienal Districts in IA state. and
the first district cast but 900 Re
publican votes, and 10000 Demo.
cratic votes, and that the second
ldistrict cast 25 900 Republican votes,
and only 1900 Democratic votes.
would y ou insist on the 1000 Re.
publican voters in the first district
having An equal weight in the coun
ellis OF a Republican Convention with
the 25 900 Republicans of the second
district, bv whose votes the four
e'rctors OF the state must be elected
II at alll II the old plan which YOU
favor shall be adopted by the Ma.
ti"nal Committee. the ,lispropor.ion
and unfairncss will he still greater
in nearly oil tho districts in the
Southern states than the above, for
most Of the districts in said states
wi be unabl,. to give one hundred
votes and many not even ten votes
for any Republican candidate nomi
mated, while there are no districts in
any "f the Northern states that will
not poll thoulands-an1 many Of
them IA high "a twenty five and
80 900 true r publican votes.
In no Southern state can we re.
cn,ve single electoral vote for any
Republican candidate in 1860. while
by constituting the Convention as
yon propose, they will, il fairly re
presented, have the power by co
operating with delegates OF conserv-
ative and anti Republican proclivi.
ties who will probably get into the
Convention as they did in 1856 from
Republican states, to dictate nom
ination obnoxious to majority Of the
earnest Republicans OF the only
s,";oa ul"Ia whose voto We can "a n
party rely for success. In which
event there could be no doubt bnt
that the canvass would result disas.
trously. Ii ia the part ol wisdom TO
adopt all honorable means to prevent
any such contingency-and in my
opinion it can be done in no other
way 30 safely and :airly as by al
lowing those who compose the party
~ be represented in tho Nominating
Convention in proportion to their
numbers in the several states and
Congressional Districts, that by no
means can give us an electoral vote,
one delegate for each district, with
ont any regard to the number o'
residen. Republican voters. and an
equal Senatorial Delegation. | think
no fair minded man would Object
Above all. do not believe our Re.
publican friends I'm the South will
for while no state or district wou,c
be excluded by my plan, the South
, ern states would have more delegates
in proportion to the Republican vote
II hundred fold, than oi any OF til,
free states.
The question narrows itself dowr
simply to this: shall the members O
, the Republican party make thei
own nominations, or shall they pu
the power to make their nomination
into the hands of those who hav
I never acted with the party. Is it
correct principle that minorities shal
r dictate to and be equal to majoriries
, II it 10. then the OLD plan for electin,
I delegates is right; il not, then tn
/ old plan i'd most assuredly wrong -
, And the principle that the member
, ofany organization, whether politica
or otherwise, should be represente,
in their Conventions in such man
I ner as to give them in every localit
I as nearly as possible their proper
tionsl strength and no more, is tn
= correct one. This is all hav
i urged, and how the adoption of sue
plan is to cause dissatisfaction, an
end, as you say, in destroying tn
r hnrmony OF the party, is something
n cannot comprehend. n,
;. Thanking you most cordially fc
Il your friendly notice,
d l ain very truly yours,
q j. NJ. ASHLEY.
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