The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1872-05-06
AFTER THE CONVENTION.
An Inside History Of 1t.
The Influences that Produced thu
Results.

The Influences that Produced the
Results. ..r'
(From our Special CorcepOndPnt)
CINCINNATI, May 8, 1879.
Now that the struggle Is ended and the
result known as far Us the late Convention
is concerned, 1t may be interesting to you
to hear something about the men'anrl in.
fluenCes which were observable in that
Convention. An matter Of course, the
men differed as match in their desires
and convictions as in their domicile
and character. The influences were d.
verse in their nature and tendency, as
might be expected in q Convention OF this
sort. It's 10 be remembered that 1t was
an attempt ~ secure substantial unanimi.
ty as to essential principles and in the
choice Of leaders, from misrepresentation
Of a new party, which was without any
previous declaration Of principles and
whose members had never consulted,
much less acted, together. Much more
independence and obstinacy Of opinion
were therefore found in this Convention
then could be found in any Convention Of
an established party, accustomed to think
together on most topics. Nor was this
diversity decreased, as it sometimes is
under such circumstances, by the knowl.
edge that The party was young and weak,
and the certainty that defeat was be.
fore them. On the contrary, most Of
the participants on entering the Con.
vention felt as certain of victory as
the members Of the Philadelphia Con-
vention will, when they enter that, and
believing the new movement is to succeed
each Of its supporters wanted his ideas
and his man 10 reap the benefits Of that
success. Many of the men in this assem-
hlage too were men of positive views
and were not backward in expressing
them, even at the risk oil provoking strife
To that Convention came the men who
called it, the managers OF the Missouri
movement, whose principal but not only
desire was to secure an expression in fa.
vor Of free trade or revenue reform, which.
ever you may choose TO call it. Next
then were the extreme wing Of free ira.
dcrs, men like Hoadly, Matthews, Wells,
Atkinson, Harris, and their immediate
supporters who had no other real desire
in tho whole matter, than to enlist the
movement in the interest of free trade
and II that could not be done, favored its
nominee no more than they did Grant;
the larger majority, however, while they
differed in some other things, sought as
their main object an organization that
should overthrow the present administra.
ton, and avow principles, which If sue.
Cesstul would render forever impossible
the existence of another administration
like 1t. What they insisted on was the
one term principle, civil service reform,
universal amnesty and such other
ideas as they felt to be distinctiycly
opposed TO the Objectionable ,.prac.
tices of Grants administration. They,
therefore, trowned on every proposition
which like protection or free trade
plank was not Of this character, and
threatened TO produce division.
The New England delegations were
largely under the lead Of Wells and At.
kinson, and while they favored Mr.. Ad-
ans as candidate, did SO in an easy,
lackadaisical way, as il his nomination
was secondary consideration, and as il
the only thing worth fighting for was q
tree trade plank. That was the only
thing they did light for. II one fourth o.
their work in behalf had been devoted &c
the personal interests oil Mr.. Adams, he
would have been the nominee. So to q
considerable extent in the Ohio delega,
ton, which was almost solid for Mr.. Ad.
ans, The bitterest FREQ traders in tho
Convention were from Cincinnati, and
while they voted for Mr.. Adams, cared
less for him than his New England sup
porters. When 1t came to nominations
the real purpose Of the Ohio delegation
and some others was to nominate General
Cox, and their definite intention was
whenever the vote for Adams should fall
of, to makea break for Cox, in which ii
was hoped enough others would jointo
make It a success. But there was con.
tingency they had not provided for, and
thatwas theAdams vote Tonight steadily in.
crease and yet he might not be nominated.
And BIT happened. The vote for Adams
steadily increased, but the vote for Gree.
ley increased faster and nominated him,
while their programme kept the Ohio
men from voting for their own man and
likewise prevented everybody else.
Illinois came there divided in itself, with
three candidates from her own soil. Hel
efforts were'wasted in domestic quarrels
and her influence was not felt by the Con
venuon. The Trumbull vote was some
thing like that for Adams, a sort Of intel
lectual compliment to its fayorite, butsao
hearty homage, Two or three days bcFor,
the nomination, tho Davis strength hat
been broken. Largely factitions from thu
start manufactured BY, noise and the in
trigues of Democratic Congressman, ant
perhaps by means even more obiectiona
BILE, supported more than any other by the
political free traders, Of whom there were
many present, inside and outside the Con.
vention, 1t fell to pieces as soon as these
facts became known. In reducing the
Davis vote TO the small number that an