New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-06-06
THE CONVENTION YESTERDAY.

The preliminary organization of the Chi
cagO Convention has occupied nearly four days
"a period unprecedented in the political an
nails of this country. The work was done so
thoroughly and so equitably that when the Con-
ventOn was ready to begin ballOting, the great
principle of district representation and the free
and voluntary action of every delegate in the
Convention had been recognized and reaffimed
as the fundamental law of the party Spacious
arguments had been pulled to pieces, the
bosses had been disciplined and Inundated,
gag law and the unit rule had been brushed
aside rs unwhOesOme fctiOns of O disOrdered
partlsanship, and the right of every Congress
sional district to send to the Convention Its
own representative, and the corresponding
right of that representative to vote rs he saw
fit, had been indicated. That great crime
against Republican constituences-the rape
of the Illinois distrcts-had been sterny re-
buked, and Senator Logan had been taught
that minority cannot be suppressed, nor
| O great party bulied into surrender of its sa-
cred rights. While exception may be taken to
the action of the Convention in the West Viz
| ginia case, the outcome of four days of Com
mittee work and Convention debate is the es-
Enlistment of the great principles of district rep
resentatiOn and individual liberty of delegates.
The next Republican National Convention
will be organized more easily. There will be
no more conspiracies against constituencies on a
grand scale. The rights of delegates and dis
tricts will be respected hereafter.
| The anti-Grant contestants from Illinois
were seated after midnight of Fri
day. When the Convention assembled
in the forenoon yesterday the Kansas,
West Virginia and Utah contests had
not been acted upon. The Grant con-
| testants were seated in the first instance
| in accordance with the general principle OF
district representation recognized in the Ala
| bama and Illinois cases. In the other cases
! the minority reports of the Committee on Gre
| dentials were taken up and adopted, unseat-
| ing four Blaine delegates and substituting
for them two Sherman and two Third Term
men, The vote on the West Vir-
ginia case WAS the first indication
of a combination against Mr.. Blaine, mas
much as the Edmunds and Grant men voted
in the main for the Sherman con-
testants. The next roll-call emphasized
the fact that Mr.. Blaine had become the
leading candidate before the Convention. The
Grant leaders then made a last desperate
| BtanU IOr INC EU0 CHo
| ton. General Sharpemoved that the Convention
should proceed at once to the nOmi-
nations without waiting for the report
of the Committee on Rules. This motion
was defeated by vote of 479 to 276.
The majority against the Third Term
had risen from SO on the first test
vote to 143 on the Alabama case, and
now had got rs high as 2O3. 1t was no
longer defeat it was a rOut.
From this point the business of the Con-
vention ran on more briskly. The report of
the Committee on Rules multiplying the
unit-gag- law was adopted, the platform was
submitted and the work of the Convention
brought squarely up to the nominations.
The evening session was occupied with the
presentation of the names Of the can
didates. There was no balloting. The
Convention will reassemble on Monday.
After four days of scheming and obstruction
the Third Term leaders find themselves beaten
at every turn Of the proceedings and
are forced to acknowledge that Sena-
tor Blaine is the foremost candidate
before the Convention. Sunday will give
them breathing space. Plotting is no
longer of much avail. Will they have
time for new combination And if they
make it, can they force it through