St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1861-09-12
Correspondence of the Dubuque Times
Des MOineS Conventions.
Drs MoJxrs Aun Q 1891

The so-called Union" State Con
vention, under the auspices of WIN
Penn Clark of johnson county, an,
Thomas w. Claggett of Lee county
assembled in this city on the 2Sth inst.
but meagrc number of delegates
being in Attendance, it adjourned
until the next day, hoping NOR,
would come in, or that a junctio,
could be effected with the anti-Maho
ny Democrats who were to meet il
State Convention on the same day
Neither hope was realized. Forty
delegates, all told, protesting to rep
resent nineteen counties, were al
who were in attendance, and as.
suming to speak for the whole
State. these gentlemen nominated the
following State Ticket: For Govern
or, n. b. Baker (Dcm.) of Clinton
county; Lieut.-Governor, L. Dewey
(Rep.) of Henry county; Supreme
Judge, r. Noble (Rep.) of Clayton
county They also passed a series OF
Resolutions as a platform, in which
they expressed devotion to the Union
and prosecution of the war.
After the adjournment of the assem-
blage as State Convention, the dele
gates in attendance from the First
Congressional District thought it
would be a good time to nominate a
candidate to fill the vacancy in the
House of Representatives caused by
the resignation of Gen. Curtis, and
organized for that purpose. The pro-
ceedings developed this fact, viz !:
that John Edwards of Lucas, was
originally the Union" candidate for
Governor, but the Democratic portion
of the new party were anxious to
have a man Of their own party at the
head of the ticket, and had promised
Edwards that if he would stand aside
for Baker, they would nominate him
(Edwards) for Congress. Edwards
accordingly withdrew and when Baker
was nominated, claimed fulfillment
of the other portion of the contract.
At this stage of the swap, however, it
was ascertained that Thomas w. Clag-
gett had been arranging the little pre-
liminaries to secure the nomination
for Congress himself, and when he
learned of the bargain and sale that
had already been effected in the new
party, which was to be free from all
this sort Of thing, he furiously de-
nounced the whole affair, took his hat,
ard Indignantly left the Convention.
Under the shadow of such muss as
this, the Edwards men dared not bring
their candidate into the field, and the
Convention adjourned until the It'll of
september, when he will proably be
nominated.
The Democratic Convention was or
gained yesterday morning, j. G. Hall
of Des Moincs county, being elected
temporary chairman, and Lincoln
Clark, of Dubuque, permanent chair
man. When the list of counties was
called, it was found that the Mason
men had majority of the Convcn-
ton. The other portion, headed by
Coolbaush of Burlington, and Mills
aud Pollock of Dubuque, made hard
fight in Committee and in Convention,
to wipe out the doings of the Mahony
on the Gath of July but
it was no use. Their minority reso-
lutions were voted down, one by one,
by large majority, and Judge Clark
then left the chair, making a very
handsome speech upon the occasion.
this result, the Mason men
promptly elected Mr.. Dunlavy of Da-
Wis county as President, adopted the
majority or Mahony resolutions, re-
Mason for Governor, FL
wood for Judge, selected 1t. Col. Ii.
w. Merritt for Lieutenant Governor
in place of Fisher (declined), and adj
ourncd with the shrillest kind of
screams and cat-calls intended as
Qualification of Mason and Mahony
and the humiliation of the defeated
The former made no formal
withdrawal, but individually declared
(some of them, | think, stcore, that,
4" s. help 'em Cod" they would never
support the ticket ! They didn't or
ganize as separate body, nor en-
dorsc, as was apprehended they would,
the " Union" nominees, but will go
home and act independently, many of
them vote for Baker, some for Kirk
wood, and q few in their disgust and
anger, will not vote for State officers
at ALL
The impression here is that in view
of the letter recently published by
Reuben Noble, that gentleman will
decline the "'Union" nomination for
Judge, and that he will contnnc to
favor the support of Kirkwood, as
against Baker as well as Mason.
So you see that after all the labor
of sore-headed politicians who expect
ed to destroy the Republican party
under cover of super-extra devotion
to the Union cause, the people are
likely to adhere more tenaciously
than ever to that party as the truest
instrumentality yet developed for the
preservation of the Union now, and
the pcrpetuation of Freedom as the
basis of that Union, forever.
Yours in haste, Il.