St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1876-04-07
The State Convention.

+ >IIAEr NREAIG\MENT RN THE PRESS.
From rh, burlington Free Press.
"Captulrd 10y hummrr> i What
people SAY of the State C"n,emtinn :
and it must Ice ON ned that there Is too
much ground ton the comment. The
general capture began hv the capture
of the state Committee. in the matter
of selecting the President OF the Con
Vrntiou. The selection i 10y usage con
coded to the rnmmittc. The convention
/ had Il right To expect from the commit
tee the nomination of Il man for prcSi-
dent with Il personal character above
rcpIuach. of recognized high standing.
with Il prominence gained 10y something
better than tIlckcIN and low intrigue.
with some qualifications for the position
other than mere readiness as Il chair
man one who could and would strike
the keynote of the convention in Il
manly and able opening speech. In
stead OF this the committee gave the
convention "RuISS Taft" The nominal
ton was received with surprise and dis
gust and the speech. with lis clumsy
sentences. its feeble platitudrS and its
in~inccIc tribute to Grant and ''Grant-
ism" We SAY in>inccIc. toI few men in
Vermont have >ucrrcd more at Cen
Grant than Mr.. Taft fell like "A wet
blanket on the convention. We wish
To he understood in what we say. The
Republicans of Vermont are not .'dnwE
uu" President Grant. They believe him
honest they remember his services
'rhcN have nothing to apologize for in
their support of him. But they do not
think his practical wisdom or success.
III selecting his advisers and in his APP
puintmcnt> to office. has on the " hole
been 81 striking that it is best To- spend
much breath at this time in talking
about it. They are looking ahead and
not back and the men of the c"nycn-
tion would have z Nen more for ring
ing declaration in favor of ''>rnding
hummcrS to the rear. and of taking for
every position of honor and trust the
clcancSt and best men of the party,
than tor all the talk about the past or
praise of the Administration that could
have been crowded into its entire ses-
sion.
The next capture was that of the
First District. 1t would seem incredi-
bile. II we had not seen it. that Mr.
Woodbridge should present himself to
represent the Republicans of Vermont
in their National Convention, at "A time
when every honest man in the party is
crying ont for purity and reform. What.
pray, can the little honor of being ii
district delegate to Cincinnati he worth.
coupled with such an arrangement in
the convention. with charges met only
10y his own unsupported and reckless
denial, with an election secured only bv
the technical doubt of the power of the
convention at large over the nomination
of the district, and with the revival of
the memory of the whiskey speculationS.
the Cuban bond schemes the things
we need not enumerate them-which
have given Mr.. Woodbridge his notori-
Gus reputation in Washington We
have nothing to say against Mr.. Wood
bridge as long as he remains in private
life but when he proposes to represent
the Republicans of Vermont in any
capacity, we must say that we believe
the tdctS to he very much against him
that Whatever the facts may lie, his
reputation Is against him and that, as
Capt. harrington said. he is not the
kind of man we wish to represent us.
We understand that his representation
10y the First District was secured by
sharp practice; that he had but II votes
out of the ID delegates from his own
county; that his nomination was carried