The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1884-06-25

speeches, and he was chosen by reclamation.
The result Of the vote was received with a
round Of hearty. applause. A motion to adj
journ till two o'clock was lost, and the con-
vention proceeded with the nomination of state
officers. Judge Dunton of Rutland nominated
for lieutenant-governor Hon. +. J. Ormsbee of
Brandon. Hon. John V. Carney of Benning-
ton named Hon. J. K Batcheder of Arlington.
Each speaker vouched for his candidates. worth
and excellence and with conventional oratory
rehearsed the events in his toilsome career
up the sleeps where Fame's proud temple
shines afar" Each was numerously Sec
onded. The Ormsbee men put in their work
with the mechanical precision, formality and
smoothness OF veterans. Inch by inch the
Batchelder boys contested the ground with the
spirit inspired by good cause and a gallant
candidate. The argument was theirs but prov
idence and the most ballots were on the side of
Rutland county, as the following report Of the
vote disclosed:
Whole number of votes. $40
Necessary 70 choice; 26s
Mr. Batchelder had. NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.. 233
Mr.. Ormsbee's nomination was made unani-
nous. Hon. W. II. Dubois of Randolph was
nominated for treasurer by reclamation. The
convention was hot and hungry and motion
to adjourn for dinner was carried by go.as-
| you-please break for the hotels.
AFTERNOON SESSION
The delegates reassembled at two o'clock
with presentiment that the significant con-
test of the day was before them in the nomi-
nation of a candidate for the office of secretary
of state. General P. P. Pitkin of Montpelier,
| in short and business-like speech, asked for
Charles W. Porter, Esq, of Montpelier, during
nine years the deputy, the nomination to the
chief place in the office of secretary of
state, recounting the splendid equipment of
the candidate and extoing him for his
The presentation of Mr.. Porters name
was received with rounds Of enthusiastic APP
plause. Mr.. D. L. Cushing OF Windsor and
George K. Lawrence, Esq, of Rutland hand
somely seconded the nomination of Mr.. Porter.
From one of the front seats arose venerable
man " who had not only come down from a
former generation" but who was lawyer in
the maturity OF his fame and powers when Mr..
Porter first became candidate for christening
rites With characteristic force and originality
the white-hared Bliss N. Davis of Danville
gave the son Of his old-tme friend, Judge Por-
ter, fatherly and effective send-off. Ex-Gov-
ernor Roswell Farnham of Bradford presented
the name of Hon. George Nichols, and
the good will and number of the doctors
friends were made manifest by rounds OF earnest
applause. Governor Farnham eulogized his
candidate, recited his long period of nineteen
years Of efficient service at an insufficient sal
airy, and claimed his continuance in the office
in pursuance of the principles of civil-service
reform. The doctor had done vast amount of
party work without pay-how much he knew
from personal experience four years ago, when
his own majority was due to the secretary of
states skillful management of the canvass A
secretary practiced in political management
and organization was necessary to maintain
the republican majority in Vermont which this
year, more than ever, 1t was desirable to sus-
tain. Nominate Dr. Nichols and the majority
in this state may be $4,000 or $1,000; reject
him and put in new man, and 1t may not be
%, 600. In the system Of political organization
the state sustained close relations with other
states, and it would be disastrous to exchange
an experienced manager like DR.. Nichols for
any new man at this crisis. Perhaps the re-
suit OF the presidential election hung upon his
being continued in his office. The speaker
understood that the action of Washington
county was the result of personal pque; that
the delegates of that county had thrown him
off the state committee; that the county had
come up here to pay off some grudge against
DR.. Nichols; and he appealed to the convention
not to suffer him to be thus sacrificed. Hon.
+. Z. Woodbridge seconded the nomination OF
DR.. Nichols. He rung the changes upon the
doctors long and valuable services, demanded
his nomination as an act of civil-service reform,
rehearsed the Importance to the republican
party Of the state of keeping in the office OF
secretary of state an expert political manager
in order that Blaine the plumed knight and
Black Jack of Chicago might go into the
White House with a majority that would be
immense. He characterized as "clap-trap ="
the reasons which had been given for the pro-
motion of Mr.. Porter. He wanted to know who
this Porter might be; he didn't know him. He
declared that the true inwardness OF the whole
thing was found in Montpelier's Unsuitable
NAV. She wants everything and always has
whereat smile circed round the convention
and delegates seemed to detect vein Of per
sonal bitterness in the remarks OF G. W. Will
lard's distinguished and versatile predecessor
in congress. j. G. Baker, ESQ.,, of Rutland was
responsible for one of the most interesting in
cidents of this occasion. Detailing the fire.
J Quent and important correspondence the mem
beers of his profession have with the office OF
secretary of state he bore emphatic testimony
to the promptness, fullness, accuracy and cour-
tesy with which all letters were answered; and
when the friends of the secretary applauded
appreciatively in the pause the speaker art
fully made, he added" and these commune
cations have been invariably signed c. w.
} Porter, Deputy Secretary Mr.. Baker also
cleared up the fog which seemed to shroud the
minds of Messrs. Farnham and Woodbridge as
to the functions of the office of secretary of
state and those of the partisan position OF
chairman of the republican state committee
Young c. M. Wilds of Mddlebury made a
dashing onslaught on the vulnerable clap
trap" argument of the aged Woodbridge, and
! his hoary antagonist was put h0rS dU combat
, with more expedition than ceremony. Hon
A. G. Stafford OF Burlington, in spirited speech
, showed how four years ago. and again two
years ago, and still again the present year, Mr.
Porter had been brought out by DR.. Nichol:
himself as candidate for this office. DR.
NICHOLS NOMINATION. WIS IurtntT stcOuuou ny
} Hon. o. II. Austin of Barton, DR.. A. ii. Ches-
more of Huntington, c. G. Austin of Highgate
Hon. Charles Thatcher of Bennington, J. II
circuit of Mortified, Colonel U. A. Woodbury.
of Burlington and Colonel. J. J. Estey of Brat
tleboro. Amid loud cries OF Question, ques
Q tion," HON w. P. Dillingham; OF Waterbury
rose to speak. Dillingham;, hear Dillingham;,
t interceded many delegates, and the Wash
ington county orator WAS instantly accorded al
= attentive and expectant audience MIR. billing
, hams purpose was TO set Washington county
right, to take her out from under the gratut
8 GUS aspersons and gross Misrepresentation
5 of Messrs. Farnham and Woodbridge. Hi,
= speech was clear and compact statement Of
+ the manner in which Dr. Nichols had an.
, nounced his determination to abdicate the
4 office OF secretary of state and how MIR. Porte
: had thereupon been entered by his friends as 1
candidate for the office; how Washington
5 county men had been willing to take off theil
Q coats to help DR.. Nichols to the governorship
! and how, without consulting man In Wash
ington county, he had withdrawn from the can
0 vass for that office; aud how 1t came out aftel
: the state convention at Montpelier, the last o
April, that, without the knowledge of hi
o friends in the county, he had re-enteret
= the canvass for his present office. Washington
= county had no quarrel in this matter. DR.
J, Nichols had not taken the county into his coun
], sells. The county had pledged its support Il
|