Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1871-09-07

. ss..suts.a1sa PsAalAsi = - keen
ossr fve nssals ago. and tse .sasis q
mare 10 advsaes Of any epen opPositisa 10
he policy = desocsssie party soossnsra-
s;ss u cur county So legislsaivs md lseal
positions. dat e. on the oth Of April,
alt. which has had the god Sbstu.s. 4
seems. to i've througAsss The ssnner and
to b remembered in Scptenber. Il was
Published undcs the "a. De pixms Ct Con-
p'o=s- and was accepted 1t the time %
furnishing very strong. ifnot eoseiusive,
ssgument in favos Of legislaEive and local
Nominations. Whether conclusive o. not.
it, reasoaisgs we're s1asssd 10 70 out 10
the public without answer Or cppos;t;os,
asa i b fAir 10 eoselsds thas tAsy
we're not vithost soeet IN ds1ssuinisg
denoessss 10 sdopt The sall Subsequently
nsde By The Centsal Committee Of our
county. Be this - il may. both written
and oral requests from diaerent sections q
our county are upon rs at this moment to
rcpublish this communicatiou. Under the
circumstances. We have not thought our
selves at liberty to decline these requests,
and We consequently re-sabmit the article
in question 70 the thoughtful attention Of
our readers.
A. Ed'tor.-will you permit plain
man Who is disposed 70 look calmly al the
political outlook in our county, and who
has certainly no axe to grind 1t any polit-
ical grindsione. to deliver . few blunt
thoughts TO your readers on the question
raised BY your correspondent" Leonard
socn." in late issue Of the Beacon? I
profess to be able neither to see deeper
into . milestone than the picker Of il nor
to deciphcr remote contingencies more
clearly than my neighbors. Nevertheless,
believe know hawk from handsaw
and also that certain effects are practicable
from certain causes.
The question Of Convention or no Con-
vention in our county ought not to be set
tied before ii Is sifted. and even then it
ought not to be settled in the special interest
OF any man or any ring Of men, but ses-
tied according to the general interest. Is
1t to the general interest in the present
condition Of our county that Convention
should be convened :? 1t will be my en-
deasor to prove that it il.
In the first place, the democratic party
OF our county cannot aroid calling Con-
vention to send delegates 10 State Con-
vention to nominate candidate for Gov
ernor. None who oppose County Con-
vention for other purposes, oppose it for
this purpose. Itdoes not follow, of course,
that party Conventions may not be proper
for some purposes and improper for other
purposes, but, surely, If it is proper to call
. Convention to aid in nominating a man
who is to execute the laws Of the State, it
cannot be much out Of the way to nominate
people who are to make the lars which that
man Is to execute.
The general rule Of our party in county
matters Is. that where the party IL not
likely to be injured or its supremacy to be
jeopardized BY the free fight system. the
"free fight system ought TO obtain. The
reason for this rule Is, that the leaders Of
party ought not to restrict. and the men,
bers of n party ought not 70 allow them
selves to be restricted, by party action.
except in clear cases where the party vel.
fare would be compromised by non-action,
IAN restraint upon human action not in
tended and calculated TO meet and correct
evils, present or remote. il usurpatiou
that should be resisted" Granted. A
nominating Cooventiou is restrictive. at
least, in 4. limited sense, and the question
rccurs. Is > nominating Convention In the
present political situation Of our county .
necessity demanded BY the party welfare I
/ believe am under, rather than above
the mark. when say that the republican
force in our county is thousand votes
In free fight, there is certain 10 be At
least twice as many candidates for Office as
there are Offices for these candidates to gil.
In such fight, and between any two DEM
ocrats who may be consesting for the same
Office. the democrat who is stronger with
his own party is likely to prove the least
acceptable to the party Of the enemy. But
the force Of the enemy Is 20 large in the
county that. il il unites upon and 10 made
to assist the weaker candidate, that can
ialaSe Is almost certain to be elected
Thus, tho republican party. though in .
minority in the county and though. per-
kaps. afraid to make an open contest with
us. will, nevertheless, dictate both who
shall represent ~ At Annapolis and who
shall administer our affairs at home. But
il may be asked-what matters Il who
represents rs, 90 We are represented BY
democrat Much more. am afraid. than
most people think. But win not dwell
upon this point. Suppose IN the begin
ming. il does not matter. how long viii Il
continue not TO matser7 Can any thing
to more certain than that the republican
party. finding that il holds the balance Of
power between two democrats contesting
for the same oiice, win demand conditions
as the price Of lis favor? II this Is GER
tain. i It unlikely that more than one Of
the eoutcsting democrats aforesaid viii in
dignantly refuse 10 accept these conditions?
Il Il not likely that both win consider them
o. pretend 10 consider them and that each
viii end BY making the best bargain he
can for himself or Tor his faction I Humsn
nature is very much the same al the world
over, and il would be difficult to show that
the human nature represented By politi.
clans l. less accessible 10 bargaining and
corrupting Influences than the human ma
ture Of the mass Of nankinj. lead ~
not into temptation" is reminder that the
the best Of N should cultivssc md keep -
m ever-,tteudine suulcs IN 81 kessts and