The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-02-08
A Plain Statement.

Fractional Iniamy-The Conspiracy in the
Republican National Committee. The
purturbed condition Of what the writer
thereof would call his mind, and the har-
rowing manner in which he has given vent
to his outraged sense Of justice, ARE truly de-
plorable. We may assume, from casual
examination of the elaborate presentation,
that the writer was entirely ignorant of the
question he ostensbly pretends to discuss,
and that the real object OF the article was
to crafty a sentiment of personal hostility
to Gen. John A. Logan and Mr.. J. c. New.
Certainly there was nothing in the proceed !
ings of the Committee to justify the exhi-
bition Of so much wrath or to invite the ii.
rade of senseless epithets in which he IN
dulges. The complaint is. that the meth
cd of appointing delegates to the Nation
al Convention does not secure district rep
resentation in accordance with the instruc-
tions of the National Convention of1SS0, land
that Gen. Logan and Mr.. New were guilty. |
of an insidious conspiracy to defeat the
avowed object which the Committee was
called to consider. The observant citizen,
who may have read the proceedings of the
Committee as published, need not be in
formed that there is not particle OF truth
in the assertions of this writer, and that
the whole three column production is the
result of some personal feeling, having no
relation to the policy or the principles OF the
Republican party. The fact is, that neither
Gen. Logan nor Mr.. New made any sug-
gestion or proposition affecting the method
of appointing delegates to the National
Convention. Mr.. w. E. Chandler, as the
Chairman of the subcommittee to report
plan embracing the bas is of representa-
ton in the National Convention and the
method of appointing delegates to that
body, was the author of the method adopted
| by the Committee. In fact there was no OPP
position to it from any source. We do not
remember that Mr.. Logan or Mr.. New had
a word to say on the subject. While the
generally expressed opinion on the question
| favored separate district conventions, held
within the districts, the committeeman from
Mississippi and Texas objected to this plan,
not because of any injustice it would oper-
ate of itself, but for the reason that it would
be almost impossible in their respective
States to secure attendance on two district
conventions, the one to appoint delegates
to State Convention 10 select the delegates
at large, and the other to choose delegates
to the National Convention. In Difference
to the wishes thus expressed, it was deter
mined to leave it optional with the districts
to appoint their delegates to the National
Convention, in their Sc parate conventions,
or for the delegates to the State Convention
from the various counties composing the
district to subdivide and make their choice
of delegates in that way, to be accredited
by the officers of such convention of district
delegates. Gen. Logan offered no propo-
sition whatever on this subject, nor d id Mr..
New. Indeed, the latter gentleman did
to renew a motion which Gen. Logan had
offered and withdrawn, affecting the basis
of representation. and not the method of
appointing delegates.
Upon this proposition Gen. Logan. w.
D. Washburne, OF Minnesota, and Mr..
Pierce, of Rhode Island, were the princi-
pal speakers in support of the plan adopted.
Mr.. New uttered not sentence in its IA
vor, and the only connection he had with it
was to renew the motion for the adoption
of the successful plan after Gen. Logan
had withdrawn it. While all recognized
/ of ho of xUhi
cast Republican electoral votes fu Her rep
resentation in the Convention, there was no
! plan suggested that would have encom-
passed this end, and at the same time ear
ried out the instructions of the National
Convention. of 1880 to provide for district
! representation. The whole subject was
ably discussed in the committee, and de-
clsion reached upon the merits of the sew
eral propositions, without reference or allu-
sion to any faction of the party. or the rep
resentatives of any faction. No one enter
tanned suspicion that the personal follow
ing of this or that man was to be accom-
modated. The aim was to meet the expec-
tat ion and approval of the great mass of
the Republican voters of the country-to
pr Divide for fair representation of the dis
tricts of each State in the National Con-
vention, and 10 remove the cause OF dissen-
sion which disturbed the harmony of the
Chicago Convention.
lnasmuch as it was as to the basis of repre-,
sentation, and not the method of appoint
ing delegates to the National Convention,
fhofG nr7 + off
that the complaint of the Chronicle is
against the method of appointing delegates,
which was adopted unanimously by the
committee, and without conflicting prop
osition. we are forced to the conclusion that
the writer of the article we are considering
has availed himself of total IN isapprehen-
sion of the facts, to vent his personal
malice against Gen. Logan and Mr.. New
This is the more clear. when it is known
that Mr.. Washburne was the most effective
submitted as to the basis of representation,
and yet Mr.. Washburne is not mentioned
at all by the Chronicle. Mr.. New made no
speech. offered no motion except to renew
one that Gen. Logan had withdrawn, and
VIII ich half dozen others were ready to
make if Mr.. New had not done SO. and
which mot ion was sustained by the repre-
sentatives of larger popular Republican
vote in the Northern States than those rep
resented who opposed it.
If the Chronicle is really sincere in its op-
position to the method adopted to provide
for the appointment of delegates to the
Nat ;onal Convention, its assaults should be
directed against Secretary w. E. Chandler
and Hon. w. P. Frye, the former gentle
man having originated and supported the
plan and the latter gentleman advocating
it in very ingenius and forcible speech
Other committeeman spoke on the same
side, but these were the more prom inent
and could the better afford to endure the
terrible wrath OF this ELUSIVE and imagi.
lnatve writer. Certainty Gen. Logan
and Mr.. New, who offered no resolution on
the subject. made no speech affecting it,
and voted with Chandler and Frye for it,
as every other member of the committee
did, should be spared the coarse vitupera-
ton and malignant TRADE, which the Chron-