The weekly Floridian. [volume] (Tallahassee, Fla.) 1867-19??, 1882-06-06
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suc " III inc kenlhnty OL 00S chtaate, nj. lamp
bell would be just the man to prescribe laws
and customs for the SANTA Bot unfortunately
this is not the case. Like other States and coun-
tries Florida has large sprinklng OF the sons
Of Adam who persistently decline TO obey the
beck and call Of any man 10 come up and be
blessed with good thing. I'VE believe the bulk
OF the Democratic party are heartily In favor Of
Constitutional Convention, but unfortunately
there are just Independents enough in the
party TO take the bit in their mouths and run
away when il comes to the test! We have tried
TO convince these Independents of the error
of their ways, but up to date our arguments
have been unavailing. We know that the bulk
of the party in the negro belt are bitterly OPP
posed to Convention, and suggest that Mr..
Campbell turn his batteries upon them. The
Democracy of Escambia, to q man, favor the
Convention; the Republicans all oppose IL. We
would suggest to Mr.. Campbell THAI here also
is field for his missionary work Let him carry
the war into Africa, and make converts among
the opposition, instead of arraigning the Dem
ocratic party for not doing something it was un-
able to do, and at the same time maintain its as
tendency. To our notion there will be but two
political parties in Florida for several years to
come, the Democratic and Republican. Our ma
jority is TOO small for US to try any dangerous
experiments. Mr.. Campbell may rest assured
that whenever the experiment can be tried with
any assurance of success the Democratic party
in florida will put in its heaviest ticks for
Constitutional Convention.
Mr.. Campbell anticipated the sugges-
ton of our esteemed contemporary and
partially turned bis batteries" against a
portion Of the party in the negro belt :"
before he received the hint to do so.-
He, however, concentrated his fire mainly
in one direction, whereas he should have
let the party" feel his wrath all along
the line He in effect charges the De-
mocracy of Middle Florida with the re-
sponsibility of defeating the convention
movement in 1880, but in this he is as much
mistaken as he is in many other things.
1t is true that large majority of the
Democracy of the accused section did not
take kindly, for good and weighty reasons
as they thought, to the convention scheme,
but an examination of the figures shows
that Middle Florida contributed less to
defeat the convention than the same num-
Der of counties elsewhere. Middle Flor
ida, for instance, contains nine counties,
to-wit: Liberty, Gadsden, Leon, Wakulla,
Jefferson, Madisons Taylor, Lafayette and
Hamilton. These counties gave Bloxham g.
O62 vOtes-agdinSt convention 8,544 votes,
for convention $500 votes. On the other
hand, the nine counties of Alachua, Co
lumbia, Duval, Escambia, Jackson, Ma
rion, Nassau, St. Johns and Monroe gave
Bloxham 10 754 votes-Ggai'sst convention
l,23l votes, for convention 3,517 votes
Here it is seen that the percentage of
votes az favor of convention was greater
in Middle Florida than in the same num-
Der of counties elsewhere. Mr.. Camp
BELLS own county gave Bloxham l,466
votes and only 933 in favor of his "One
Idea" Had he not better berate the rec
reants under his own nose before be lee
lures the irreconcilables abroad? Will
he charge nearly forty per cent. of the De-
mocracy of Escambia with having formed
a coalition with Republicans to defeat a
measure which was not made a party
question and about the wisdom of which
differences of opinion must be tolerated
Mr.. Campbell is no doubt a good law
yer, but when that is said all is said.
None but the most partial of friends will
claim that he is either statesman or an
astute politician. In fact we have heard
it said that his judgment is rarely con-
suited on political matters in his own
county. Be this as it may, in this very
letter he shows want of information on
current events, as is shown in his singing
out the Democracy of Middle Florida and
making an attack on such portion thereof
as did not favor his pet "Idea," and at
the same time proves how unsafe he
would be as a party leader. No incon-
siderable portion of his letter is devoted
to condemnation of the action of the
last State Convention in recommending
that a vote be taken in the several coun-
ties to designate who are the most desir-
able persons for county officers, which &C
ton he denounces as obnoxious alike to
the existing Constitution and sound NOR
ais" The resolution advising such &C
ton was offered by a delegate from a
Southern county and was adopted unani-
mously, conventionists and anti-conven-
tionists alike voting for it. 1t was not
offered for the purpose of "plaoating -
anybody, but as the best available means
for collecting public sentiment on a mat
ter vital to good government. The reso-
luton was in the following words:
ResOlUed That this Convention recommend
| the appointment of such county officers as may
| be chosen and elected by the Conservative Dem
ocratic voters assembled in their several counties
on the day of the general election such election
| to be by ballot, and to be conducted ia such q
manner as to obtain full and free expression OF
the wishes of the voters who act with US In sup
| porting the nominees of this Convention.
This resolution has worked well in
practice, giving as general thing good
class of officers, and producing no dissat-
| isfaction except with Mr.. Campbell and