, 1880-05-23
CONTEST THE BULLD0ZERS!

It is the duty of the anti-Grant delegates
chosen by the ten disfranchised Congressional
districts in this State to take their appeal
from the bulldozed Convention at Spring
field to the National Convention at Chicago.
And it is the duty, as it will doubtless be
the pleasure, of the disfranchised Repub-
licans of those districts to give to their
chosen representatives every possible aid in
the prosecution Of their appeal.
The outrage Is Of the aggravated charac-
ter. The assumption of the State Convention
to speak for the delegates In their district Ca
pacity, to override their expressed will, is an
application to Republican party administra-
ton of the Southern State-rights theory
in its most radical and most offensive
form. It is an assertion of the ex-
treme State-riRhts idea that the citizen
has no right to exert his individual influence
directly upon National affairs; but that he
shall speak, if at all, through the machinery
Of the State. To the fat denial of this theory
the Republican party owes its origin and its
continued existence. In support of its de-
NAL it offered battle to the Democratic party
in the field, in the Office OF the Chief Mag
istracy, and in the halls of Congress, and in
its long contest it has been uniformly sus-
tanned by the people. The action of the Con-
vention at Springfield in disfranchislng ten
Congressional districts is a traitorous stab at
the vital principle of Republican-party life.
The Convention stultiied itself in the very act;
for in the Cook County contest, previously
decided, it recognized the right to repre-
sentation Of q local minority. It again stulti-
fed itself in the establishment OF a certain
rule with regard to one set of districts, and
directly conflicting rule with regard to an
other set of districts namely: 1t conceded
the right of every Grant district to select its
own delegates to the National Convention,
while it denied the right to every anti-Grant
district The case needs no amplifcation.
Merely to state it is to present it in its most
repulsiye aspect, to exhibit 1t in all its native
deformity, as an act OF unparalleled tyranny
and usurpation.
It is sought to absolutely disfranchise ten
districts Of the State OF Illinois in the Ma
tiona1 Convention, and eight Of these are the
strong Republican districts in the State It
Is In these districts alone that the Republican
party of the State and the Nation can be
saved from defeat. The Republican Presi-
DENTAL candidate cannot possibly be elected
without the vote of the State Of Illinois, and
the loss of these districts certainly involves
the loss Of the State.
But the dominant faction of the Springfield
Convention has said{ and said with the en-
phasis Of contempt and dfsdain, to the Re-
publicans OF these districts: ave assume the
responsibility of denying you any voice In
the selection Of the Presidential candidate.
We assume the responsibility Of violating
your expressed will. !You have selected anti
Grant delegates to the National Convention.
We assume the res possibility OF refusing
them credentials to that body. We go far
ther: we assume to select delegates for you,
and instruct them to oppose your wishes, vio-
late your will as expressed at the primary
meetings and reiterated By your chosen rep
resentatives. We have allowed districts in
favor Of Grant to select their own delegates,
but you are opposed to third term Of Grant,
therefore ne not only disnanchfse you, but