Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1889-01-17

the winning Point = A Notabio
Caucus.
lstan Correspondence Of Gazette and Journal
Down, Jan. 9.--The opening battle of
the constitutional convention campaign
Sas been.fought, and, II success In carry
ing out their caucus programme in its
entirety means Whist it looks like, the Be
publicRns have carried the outworks to-
day. Bot there are no dead or wounded
visible the defeated Democrats are, so
far as surface Indications 90, as happy to.
night as the victors, II not more go. They
declare that they have placed themselves
on record by word and vote and are
ready TO acknowledge that the ms ority
is against them, while they assert that
the Republicans, on the other hand, have
got hold Of o pretty big elephant md
don't know what 10 do with the animal.
The House gallery wss filed and in
tereet In what was about to be developed
was disputlng with senatorial gossip for
the Rseendanoy when Speaker Lewis Of
the Senate asoended the House platform
iand, taking the ohhir OF authority, with
Speaker Hoffeoker seated ct his left,
icalled the Joint session TO order. Tne
,preliminaries were soon disposed of and
the sparring for position began. Repre-
sentative Downham, who led the Repub-
lican side, proceeded to get in the reso-
iutions agreed upon in the caucus of
Monday night They were as follows;
WHEREAS, Under and by virtue Of the
provisions OF an act Of the General As
sembly OF the State Of Delaware, entitled
"An act 10 provide an unexceptionaole mode
OF sscertainlng the sense OF the peoplsupon
s,r,Ha al
'vention, passed ut Dover. Aprll 9Th, 1887"
an election wRs held on the frat Tuesday, In
November, A. D., 1887, for the purpose OF
asoertaining the sense OF tina people OF this
State upon ;ha question Of calling coa-
vention to change, alter aud amend the
constitution Of the State; and
> WHEREAS, Under and by virtue OF further
provisions OF said act the certificates OF
said election have been duly returned by
,thsproper officers 20 this General Assembly;
land
! wHEREAs, We, the menbers Of the Senate
and House Of Representatives, OF the Gem
leral Assembly, to whom the said certificates
ihave been delivered, are now met on We'd
,nesday, January 9th, A. D. 1889, being the
second Wednesday after our Organization,
In joint session In the hall OF the House OF
Representatives, as by said act we are re-
iqulred to do, for the purpose Of aeertaining
the result Of the vote cast az said election
upon the calling of the convention; now,
therefore. belt
Resoluei, By the mentors OF the Senate
and House OF Representatives OF the State
of Delaware In said Joint session assembled
that we have inspected the certificates of
said election so returned to Us, and have
sscertained the result Of the vote cast on
the question OF calling convention, and
that It appears from the certificates so re-
turned, us Aforesaid that a majority Of all
the cltissns In the State having right to
vote for representatives, have voted for q
convention. And be It further
Resolued, That this General Assembly
should by statute duly enacted proceed to
call convention. and provide for the hold
ing Of an election Tor delegates 20 said con
Vention, ....
The chair, however, deciiEs7 10 snter
tain any other business until the tellers
Messrs. Downhpm and Crossan, with tn,
assistance of the clerks Of the two House,
(Rnd, unofiicially, the important aid o
such capable and experienced ooadjutor
ss ex-OleTks Moore and Cooper had OK
amined aud computed the returns OF tn,
election OF November LIST, 1887. Thi
was soon done and the total passed up Il
Speaker Lewis.
''Tne returns show" said he, IN sub
stance, "that there were IA, $50 votes cas
for . convention end 467 against con
NenSion."
The crisis was reached. Would tn,
speaker, IS presiding officer, go on to de
clare that, convention not having re
ceived the requisite number of votes,
had fallen through? Had no not tn
authority and did not his record wsrrsn
the expectation he would SO declare
When he sits in the same chair as presid
ing officer Of the two houses assemble
IN joint session this day week to choose
United States senator, he will, II dec
sive ballot is reached, officially soy tina
Mr.. Massey, or Mr.. Treat, or Mr.. smith
ers, having received a majority of th
votes cast, 81 now declare MIN Unite
States Senator" 80. Possessing the IL
disputaoie authority TO announce In thi
capacity that an election has bean mad,
did he not, in q like capacity, hold Ii
Fightful authority this morning TO deciar
that an election failed? II is mic
point, but the point ia there.
The speaker reBumss his seat, with IL
declaration unuttered. The crisis is owe
Mr.. Donahoe gets up and puts in Oh
resolutions finally agreed upon by th
Democratic caucus, which bad aijourne
from last night to o 30 this morning t
complete ito work. These resolutions
offered as q substitute for the DoWnhsi
ones, read as follows!
WHEREAS, Il appears by the certificates
the election held on the Atst Tuesday
November, A. D., 1887, Ia pursuance of ii
act to provide an uneXcenttonabls mode
Rscertainlng tho seusa OF the people upo
the question OF calling constitutional eel
Vention, passed Gu tho 9Th day Of April,
ID. 1887 that the number OF votes nast for
convention was u 4hj, and tho number
votes CASE against convention was i67 nv
WHEREAS, l. also appears oy the uf1icl
returns OF the electipna held IN 1882, tSS
1886, In the month Of November III each
those years respectively, BccOriicg to u
constitution ard laws, tho following ~ ygr
gate vote was cast Tor representative
namely 1882, 81 ~; 1884, 20, S29; 1856. 9
0l3 Therefore be- It
ResolUed, BE- the General Assembly
t0int session met tdat II IL manifest fro
the foregoing recital Of facts that the nul
Der OF votes oaat for a convention ut 4
aforesaid election on the first Tuesday
November, 1857, Is less them the 3 gh5
nuInber Of votes east Tor Representatives
the election held as Aforesaid IA the ye
1882 and according TO tho method pr
vlded 10 Article TX Of the Constitution, q
also BY the aforesaid act OF assembly
RscertAtning whether majority OF all I
citizens OF The State eutitled to vote
representatives cast at the lEst mention
election Tor convention It appears Il
such majority did not 90 vore.
What surprise party "Maniiee,
that the number of votes csst--is Il