Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-08-13
THE BROWNSVILLE BEE AND THE
CONVENTION

we regret W hhu III tnS
Bee, hitherto staunch Democratic jour
nal, an article bitterly opposing the call
for a convention made by the member
of the Central Democratic Committee
for this District The article in question
must have been written on the impulse
of the moment, and without mature de-
liberation, as it is hardly characteristic
of the gentleman who has SO ably con-
Quoted the Bee for some little time. 1t is
shameful to observe true Democrats thus
kicking up in the harness, without regard
to the i'll consequences that may follow
from it. The authority of Mr.. Stewart in
calling the convention and naming the
place for its meeting cannot be correctly
questioned. He is the member of the
Committee for the Eighth District,
and is in position until con-
yention of the Democratic people shall
meet and supercede him by the APP
Monument of another. 1t is no assump-
ton on his part to call the people OF this
district together in convention, the state
ment of the Bee to the contrary not
outstanding One of the chief objec-
t;ons of this disconnected little weekly
sheet TO the convention is, that 1t has
been called TO meet in one corner OF the
district Well, that may be the case, but
then il is not an obscure corner, and
is convenient to all, for the reason of our
superior railroad facilities. reaching out
to every county in the district As to
this objection, it is futile and renders its
author ridiculous in the extreme. But
further on in its article the Bee has
slipped something more that is distaste-
full 10 its delicate palate. The basis
of representation is thought to be
a serious drawback to the Convention.
We are not able to see things in that
light, since it is known the Convention
has sovereign authority over the matter
when it shall come together, and may
establish just such a basis as is thought
proper and just for each and every
county. Shelby county asks nothing
more than her Democratic vote entities
her to-; but demands her full and COM
plete rights in that respect. The Bee I'M
Justly desires that the last apportionment
of delegates be adopted, when in 1868,
half of our people were disfranchised
and unable to exercise at the polls the
common rights of freemen. We will
agree to nothing of the sort, as Demo
crat in Shelby is as good and entitled to
as much as another in Haywood
or any other place of Gods crea-
ton. All we ask is justice to Shelby
and every county in the district |
If the vote of Haywood was not brought
out at the late judicial election, then let
her delegation show by figures and proof
sufficient what the real Democratic |
strength of the county is, and upon that
basis she may be admitted into the Con-
venton. But for the editor of the Bee
to say that the people of his county |
will not take part in the Convention
to meet here on the LIST of September,
it is goinga little too far for good Dem
ocrat. And we have no idea the people
of that county can be put into the pocket
of any single individual at his pleasure,
but will have the good sense to act for
themselves in a matter that is fraught
with the most portentous interest to all
of US.