, 1880-05-30

| 1LLlNUlh In IdE tUN f6NI4UN.
Gen. Logan and his confederates, inclus
tug Col. Fred Grant, affect to treat the col
troversy in the Illinois delegation rs a nle1
| question Of enforcing tile unit rule. But th1
is not the real question. The question prt
sented by the delegates from ten Of the Ill
nois Congressional districts, eight Of thel
being Republican, is that Of the right q
representation by districts, and the right G
each Congressional district to appoint It
own delegates.
The Republican party III Illinois held 1t
first State Convention III 1856. At that Con
yention, and subsequently, in 1SGo, 1S64, 1S6s
1872, 1876, and Iii 1850, the delegates to tn
State Convention from each Congressional
district met i'll u group or separate organize
meeting, and, by ballot or otherwise, electe'
delegates to represent such Congressional
district i'll the National Convention. A com
mlttee Of one member from each dtstric
! met and recommended to the Convention
| four persons as delegates at large to tht
| National Convention. These latter were ap
| pointed by the Convention, but the appoint
ments by the Congressional districts vert
merely reported to the Convention as a mat
| Lei VI IcColus 2ll4u WClE IltF6l SutCuVl1 ~ 41G
! Convention, their election being complete.
I In 1880, after the several Congressiona
districts had appointed their delegates to tht
| Chicago Convention, the State Convention
| (tliirty-six Cook County delegates being ex
cluded and their seats given to defeated call
] didates), on motion OF Logan, appointed {
committee to report the names Of delegates
from each Congressional district to the Ma
tional Convention. This committee discarded
and threw out the delegates chosen In ten
Congressional districts and substituted
twenty other delegates In their place from
the minority factions in those districts.
The case presented by Illinois is the right
OF majority of n State Convention to depose
the delegates appointed by the several Con
gresslonul districts, and to appoint others.
That is the usurpation committed by the
State Conyention,-an usurpation which
violates the entire traditions, usages, and
practices Of the Republican party i'll this and
III every other State, and which violates the
traditions, precedents, and principles Of the
Republican party Of the Nation.
Representation in the National Convention
Of the Republican party is based upon the
same general principles as representation In
the National Congress. It is apportioned ac-
cording to population. Each State is award
ed one Representative III Congress, to be
elected by the voters uf eacll lega1ly-dedned
Congressional district, and no persons save
voters resident In that district have any
voice in the choice Of that Representative.
Each State is entitled to two members III
the Sellate, to be chosen BY the Legislature
of that State. In the election Of Senators the
Legislature has exclusive jurisdiction. In
the election of Representatives the voters Of
each Congressional district have jurisdic~
ton.
The call OF the National Central Committee
fully recognizes this distinction OF the right
Of the districts to select their Delegates in
contradistinction to the authority of the
State Convention to elect delegates for the
State at large. The call says:
Republicans, and nil who will cooperate with
them in supporting tho nominee Of the party,
are invited TO choose tlrU delegates from cact CDn
two from cach Territory, and two from the Dis
trct OF Columbia, to represent them in the Con-
vention.
The call is not as Logan asserts, for a
convention Of States -; it is convention
Of Republicans, represented by delegates
chosen from each Congressional district, and
four from the State at large.
In the Republican National Convention the
awarded to each State and to each
Congressional district are double those in
Congress; the Territories are awarded repre-
sentation as in Congress, but have no dele
gates at large, as they have no Senators.
The right Of instruction has never had any
in the Republican party. 1t was
invented by the s1avelolding States rs q pro-
lection to slavery. III 4 few instances it was
obeyed by few Democratic Senators, but
never by any Republican Senator. The doe
trine of instructions even in the days Of its
highest recognition never included Repre-
1t only applied to Senators, who |
were Instructed by the Legislatures.
The State Conventions Of the Republican |
party stand towards the delegates to the !
National Convention Us do the Legislatures
Of the States towards the Senators. State
Conventions may Instruct delegates at large,
Is Legislatures may instruct Senators, and
IS the Republican party has always held the
instructions Of Senators by Legislatures III
so the Republican party should
ao1d the instruction even of delegates at
arge with no higher respect.
But never in the palmiest days Of the doc
rine of instruction was it ever claimed that
/ State Legislature had power to instruct the
representatives chosen BY the people of the
everal Congressional districts. These Repre-
owe no allegiance as such to State
Legislatures, nor are the Representatives to
he National Convention chosen by Congress
ional districts bound to obey any arbitrary
riders or mandates issued by the Bosses who
un State Conventions. The district dele
;ates are responsible alone to their con
tituents in their respective districts.
But in Illinois this principle OF representa-
ion was so grossly violated ut the late
Springfield Convention that there is no prec-
dent for even an attempt at such a pro-
eeding. Tho action of that Convention in
to depose the delegates to the
sational Convention appointed by half the
districts Of this State can
My be likened to a proceeding by the Legis-
lture OF Illinois to depose the Representa-
ives elected to Congress by ten of the Con-
ressional districts of this State, and the