Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-09-07
THE COUNTY CONVENTION.

THE COUNTY CONVENTION.
The County Convention of Mont
gOmery for the nomination of can
didate for Representative in the
State Legislature took place at the
City Hall, GAINESVILLE, on Monday,
the I'd inst. More than ordinary
attention was directed to this meet
ing in view of the transactions at
the Independent Convention held
on the Dist ult., of which we now
remind our readers. The first thing
in order at that meeting was the
reading a letter from the Chairman
of the Democratic Executive Com
mittee, Polk G. Johnson, Esq, and
the action thereupon. We subjoin
the letter:
John ". Jones, Esq, Chairman, ETC..
DEAR SIR-The recent Democratic cOnven-
/ ton at Nashville having referred the QueS-
ton of the State debt to the people, there
| seems TO be no longer any reason for a divis-
| ion of the party in the county, as we are all
| agreed upon Federal politics.
| With a view therefore of uniting all of our
/ party against the common enemy, you are
| earnestly requested TO meet us in conven-
/ ton, at GAINESVILLE, on Sept. 2, to nominate
\ a candidate for the Legislature; at Indian
/ Mound on Sept. Il, to nominate a Floater,
and in GAINESVILLE on Sept. 4th, to nominate
/ a Senator.
Should your party agree to unite with us,
/ il is hoped you. will secure a good attendance
/ at the meetings in the districts, in order
that the party may be properly represented
/ in the above conventions, and no cause of
complaint given.
| By order of Dem. Elk. Com.
| Polk q. JOHNSON, Ch'mn.
| GAINESVILLE, Aug. 20, 1878.
After some discussion the indie
pendent Convention adjourned, af-
ter having passed resolutions en-
dOrsing the platform and nominee
of the State GubernatoriaI COnven-
ton, adding as third resolution
This convention adjourns to meet in
| GAINESVILLE on the ID of September, for the
| purpose of harmony and union with the
/ regular Democratic party.
Many people were led by this
| procedure to anticipate reunion of
the Independents with the regular
Democratic party as a result of last
Mondays meetings, we were not
among the number, and those who
were, were disappointed. 1t is of
great importance that the failure of
this effort should be properly under
stood, and to that end we request
our readers special attention to the
documents above reprinted.
The chief thing to be noted is that
the invitation of the Executive Com
mittee was that the Independents
should cooperate with the regular
Democrats in the primary meetings
to select delegates 20 the regular
| Democratic Convention of last Mon
day, and so hold with them a united
| convention for the purpose of NOM
mating a candidate for the Legisla-
ture and electing a County EXecu-
tive Committee in common. 1t
will be seen that the Independents,
by failing to understand this invita-
ton in its plain meaning, acted so
as to make united action impossible.
We now commence a plain state
ment of what took place on the I'd
of September. The convention had
been appointed to meet at u NJ. at
the City Hall. Circuit Court had
been sitting there during the morn
ing, and Immediately after the adj
jOurnment Mr.. Yancey cried out
that delegates to the Independent
Convention would proceed to the
large room over COuts' furniture
store. He then left the room, fol-
lowed by several gentlemen, inferred
to be delegates to the Independent
Convention. This transaction by
itself damped the hopes of those
who had hoped for union as a result
of Mondays proceedings. The
thing proposed by the Executive
Committee had been that the old
Democrats and the Independents
should cooperate at the primary
meetings in electing delegates to
single convention. 1t now became
evident that this had not been done,
but that the original adjourned con-
ventiOn of the Independents eX
pected to treat with the newly
elected convention of the Demo-
Gratis. Now, this Independent Con-
ventiOn had not been elected with
Il view to such a fusion, nor the
Democratic Convention either; the
former had not been elected at all,
but appointed by committee, and
could not be considered a Demo-
cratic Convention, several known
Republicans sitting in its ranks,
and it was obvious that an elected
convention had not the right, if it
had the will, to admit to its voting
privileges a nOn-elected one. All
this being previously understood,
the proceedings of the Democratic
Convention 1--WE were not present at
the Other) can be understood from
a very brief statement.
Mr.. Polk G. johnson called the
meeting to order as Chairman of the
County Democratic Executive Com
mittee. He briefly stated the OBJ
jects of the meeting to be the nOmi-
nation of Il candidate for the Repre-
sentation of the county in the Lower
House Of the State Legislature, and
the election of an Executive Com
mittee for the ensuing two years.
He also stated that there were some
hopes of a reuniting of the whole
Democratic party in these two pur-
poses.
With the usual formalities, DR.. B.
w. Ussery was elected temporary
Chairman, and the editors of the
CHRONICLE and Tobacco Leaf tenn
pOrary Secretaries.
Messrs. II. Merritt, w. Green and
a. Lyle were then appointed Com
mittee on Credentials. They were
instructed to assign the voting quota |
of each district according to the ra-
ito of Democratic votes given at the .
last Presidential election. They /
reported as follows: