The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-08-18
Lynchburg Convention.

ZION cali fer more correct presentation.
ing body. which assembled in the Opera
Hall. ref cteL not only the sentiment OF
tn Republicans OF the State. but the legti-
mate authority Of the party. This was
they were on The ground. and were wei.
aware that the Convention which assem-
blei in II lc"mbe HILL. and was presided
.ncr by Col. JiS /. Wilson, was called
by the recognized Chairman of the
Republican State Central Committee,
the only authority vested with the right
to do so. They know that tickets were
prepared for each delegate bearing with
him proper credentials and that all who
called for them were admitted to the
Convention. All the order and all the COM
formity to uniform custom in party Con-
ventions. were with the HOlcombe Hall
body. Had the purpose of the revolution
lists who assembled in Opera Hall, been to
its organization and submit to its author
ty, there would have been but one assem-
blage calling itself Convention. and that
the one called to order by the regularly APP
pointed and acknowledged chairman Of the
State Central Committee.
But that as not the design of those who
directed the turbulent and revolutionary
proceedings of the meeting in Opera Hall.
r., g a., 4or th,
appointment of delegates to the adjourn.
ment of the pretended Convention of the
indictments, it was very evident that the
spirit to rule or ruin prevailed. From
great number Of counties contesting dele
gates appeared, who had no more right to
their claim than if they had not belonged
to the party. This was the result of pre-
conceived plan to bolt, if the coalitionists
failed to have a majority of the legitimate
delegates. A few coalitionists in each
county, overwhelmingly defeated in the
primary meetings, would assemble and go
through the farce of appointing delegates,
according to the forms and instructions sent
| to them from the Re-adjusters' headquar-
eral weeks ago. AS a part of the pro-
gramme, a separate hall was engaged, from
that secured by the Cha irman Of the State
| Central Committee. Their arrangements.
from beginning to end, were made with ref
erence to bolt, if they found they could
not control the convention by properly GER
titled delegates. This they soon found they
could not depend upon, and that in fair
| contest the chances were equal, to say the
| least, for the Republicans TO effect the Or
ganization and direct it's result. The time
| and place for the meeting of the Conven-
ton were made public by the Chairman Of
| the State Central Committee tickets were
prepared for each delegate and alternate.
and all that was necessary for the coali-
tionists to do was to apply for them. just as
other delegates did. The fact that they did
not do so, and that all their arrangements
had been made before the delegates reached
the city to bolt, and hold a separate con-
vention from that called by the Chairman
of the State Central Committee, sufficiently
| expose the revolutionary purpose which
controlled them. 1t acas determined to dis
'upt the Republican party, if it could not
be forced to submit to the authority of Gen.
| Malone and become a supple instrument in
| his hands to promote the interests of the
| most reckless and INSCRIPTIONS wing of the
| Democratic party. This was more clearly
shown in the revolutionary proceedings to
change the organiza ion of the State Gen.
trail Committee. Knowing that there was
nothing Legitimate or regular about their
proceedings that every step from the
primaries to the adjournment of their body
was irregular and revolutionary, request
came from nine persons, some of them claim
ing TO have proxies from absent members for
the State Central Committee to assemble
The Chairman of that Committee did not
respect the call, and very properly so, for if
even such proxies existed, they were never
given for the purpose of disrupting the Or
ganization, and placing the authority of
the party in the hands of those who were
meditating its destruction. There was no
sembance of order or legitimacy in their
proceedings. Like everything else from the
| inception of the bolt, il was revolutionary
| and carried with it no weight or authority
which any member of the party is in the
| least obligated to sustain. \
Their proceedings corresponded with the
anterior manipulatiOns of the primaries by
the underlings of the Marshals and the In
ternal Revenue Collectors, reaching in their
ramitications every county in the State.
and in the appointment of the coalitionist
delegates. They lid lot represent the SEN
| timent of the great mass of the Republican
party of the State, but were creatures OF
a pre-arranged plan to give Gen. Malone
some kind of an endorsement at Lynch
burg. The contingency of minority of the
legitimate delegates was provided for in
the innumerable contestants sent to Lynch
burg. When it was found that the Coali.
tionists did not comprise quorum Of the
properly authenticated delegates it was de-
termined not to obey the call of the Chair
man of the State Central Committee, but
to meet in separate convention. and then
admit all of these so-called contestants, SO
aS w iA1dhC q SuoWiiS vi ucltSdtiOIl
than that which met i'm the regular and
only properly called and organized con-
vention.
The only representative body of the Re-
publican party which met in Lynchburg on
the 10th was that called by the Chairman
of the State Central Committee and pre-
sided over by Col. Jos. II. Wilson. It was
the only body that represented the author
ity Of the party, and it was the only body
that reflected the sentiment of the constit-
uent elements. Without organization Or
leadership. primaries were called in almost
every county in the State, manifesting an
earnest hostility to surrender of the Re-
publican party to a revolutionary wing of
the Democratic party, and it was this well
known fact that frightened the coalitionists
and drove them to the revolutionary meth
DDS which they had from the first contem-
plated in the contingency of their defeat in
a properly constituted Convention. While
the Holcombe Hall Convention did not con-
tain majority of 227 delegates, whose Gre