The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1884-03-13
avox Populi."

ssVox Populi."
We publish on the first page of the VIR-
GILMAN of this date communication
signed "Vox Populi,n under the rule we
uniformly observe of allowing both sides
of any mooted question of public inter-
est to be courteously discussed through
our columns. The statements contained
in it do not present the facts in reference
to the Lynchburg Convention of 1881, as
we understood them, nor in such a way as
to convey a correct impression Of the Sic
gitimacy' Of the several bodies which
there convened to determine the destiny Of
the Republican party Of Virginia. The
Republican State Central Committee which
called the Lynchburg Convention was
that formed in the Convention which as
sembled in 1880 in Staunton, of which
Hon. j. F. Lewis was chosen Chairman.
When the Committee met for the purpose
of calling the Convention of 1881, Mr..
Lewis resigned and Mr.. J. w. Cochran
was elected to fill the vacancy thus occa-
stoned. There was but the one committee
in existence at that time. 1t was the re-
cognized and only authority of the party.
1t, through its chairman and secretary, is
sued the call for the Lynchburg Conyen-
tion. Its chairman engaged Holcombe Hall
as the place for the Convention to meet
All the delegates selected to attend it's sit.
tings, were chosen under the authority Of
that Committee and ID conformity to its
order. There was an issue in the party as
to whether the Republicans of Virginia
should maintain their distinct identity
and place Republican ticket in the field
for State offices, or coalesce with the Re.
adjusters in support of the nominees OF
the Readjuster Convention, which had
been previously announced. In support of
the latter movement, nearly the whole Fed
eral machinery of the State was dedicated.
The Internal Revenue organization and
the Deputy Marshals of the State, the
two departments. Having representatives
in every county in the Commonwealth,
were energetic and Industrious in packing
the primaries and disregarding the popular
will in the selection of delegates. 1t was ear
ly foreshadowed that the defeat Of the Re-
publican organization had been determined
on, and in sympathy with this policy, an
other Hall was secured, preparatory to a
Convention outside of the Republican or
ganizati0n and in defiance of the only le-
Ultimate authority of the party. The del
egates who were appointed through the
Federal machinery, above referred to,
never took their seats in the Hall selected
by the Chairman of the Committee for the
Convention to assemble in. They met in
another House, and without the shadow of
legitimacy in the organization effected,
proceeded to institute proceedings indie
pendent of the lawful convention of the
party, assembled under the call of the only
State Central Committee known to the
Republican party. The assemblage was
thus the offspring of revolutionary action
in fragrant defiance of the legitimate
authority of the party, and organized with
ayiew to disrupt and destroy the Republi-
can organization of the State. Certainly,
if the delegates in that convention
constituted majority of the properly
accredited delegates, as claimed by our
correspondent, they could have con-
trolled the policy of convention COM
posed of all the delegates, and this, too,
in legitimate manner, and either COM
PEELED the minority to endorse their action,
or bolt the party.
Having preserved none OF the papers
which related to the two Conventions, we
are not prepared to state the number Of
properly accredited delegates that assem-
bled in each. or formally and accurately
confront the citations of our correspondent,
as they affect the comparative strength of
the delegations which participated in the
proceedings of the respective bodies. We
believed then and believe now that the
Holcombe Hall Convention represented
theregular Republican organization-that
it was the creature of the only legitimate
authority Of the party, and that the other
body was irregular in its formation and
the offspring of revolutionary action
Whatever may have been the strength of
the participating delegations in the sew
eral conventions, we were satisfied then
and are satisfied now that the Holcombe
body represented large majority of the
Republican following of the State-re-
flected the sentiment of the great mass of
the party, though suppressed through the
Intervention of the Internal Revenue ma
chinery, manipulated by methods known
only to the initiated. employed both at the
primaries and after the delegates had ar
rived in Lynchburg. But that Convention
did not contain majority of the delegates,
which should have been appointed from
the several counties, and for that reason
the gentlemen composing the ticket for
State offices presented did not accept the
nominations. Neither of them aspired to
the position for which he was designated :;
neither wanted any recognition of the kind
even if the Convention had contained
every delegate from every county in the
Stats, and it had been the unanimous wish
of the party. There was no stampede of
delegates from the Hall, however, when
their declensions were announced. 1t
was the most. earnest, determined body of
men we had eyer met with, and nothing
but the absolute refusal of the nominees
to allow the use of their names, under the
circumstances. prevented an overwhelm-
ing rebuke at the polls to the action of
the boiling convention. Had the nomi-
nees accepted and gone before the people,
it would have been found, we believe, that
the great mass of the party would have
supported them, and that the other con-
vention, only representing the Federal ma
chinery in the State, would have been
forced by public sentiment to have rel
nounced its action.
So far as the statements of the New
York Times and Tribune are concerned, to
which our correspondent refers, they
to nothing. Those correspondents |
were sent to Lynchburg to write as they |
did. They were committed to the line of |
they made before the Con-
yentions assembled, and did not discover
their error until months afterwards, when |
both of those journals were as fierce in
their denunciation of the Coalition as /