Year: 1867

Il
ems destruction to the Union party of that
State. The excitement grows out of the
nomination of George G. Gorham, a small
beer politician, for the Office of Governor,
and the balance Of the tckes made up of
equally Objectionable material. The Saora,
mento Union, leads off in denouncing the
nominations, and says: ''The nomination
of George C. Gorham by the Union State
Convention, for the high Office of Governor
of California, encounters the protest of thou.
sands who have hitherto acted with the
Union party from considerations of patriotic
duty and love Of I. insipie, and without re>
gard to the spoils Of place. AS citizen,
aside from his association with gang of
plunder-seekers, Gorham is socially clever,
and is known to possess fair capacity. He
has chosen to identify himself with league
OF bad characters, who have followed the
Union party, like the camp-followers of an
army, with greedy eye for booty, to become
their candidate and representative man, to
adopt their peculiar tactics for preventing a
| free expression of the will of the people, and
to give the State the most fragrant illustra,
ton Of the power of such a crowd to wrest
a nomination from an unwilling party that
| has been witnessed for years. Beginning
with the State Central Committee, Go-ham
and his friends deprived the Union men of
the interior of their proper representation in
! the Convention. Thence they proceeded to
secure the County Committees, and prescribe
minor programmes of fraud, to got up pri-
mary elections which were palpable mock
cries of free choice, and, with the money of
scheming corporations, to buy up delegates
who were selected by interior constituencies
to vote for rival candidate. And when the
Convention, thus fraudulently planned, had
| assembled and it was found that a nomina>
ton depended upon the twenty-one votes of
Sacramento county, the league determined
to admit delegation from that county which
they knew did not represent five hundred
legitimate votes out of forty-three hundred.
A convention thus made up can have no
valid title to be regarded as an exponent of
the wishes of the Union party, and the nom
ination of Gurham must be looked upon as
fraud, from its inception in San Francisco
until it was coDsummated at the Capital.
And now in what position does this action
place those honest citizens who have lithS
erto affiliated with the Union organizations
They are not only asked to indorse with
thniS rntes the means by which the nomina.
ton or UUTHan was pIUUureu, UuU-UU PIdve
in power at the State Capital, for four years,
the whole league of spoilsmen, schemers and
corruptionists with which he has chosen to
identify himself and for which he has been
an active lobby agent. We need not again
do more than refer to the Western Pacific
Rsilroad swindle, for which Gorham UNDER
took to secure the sanction of the Governor,
as fair sample Of tho sort of legislation
which he would approve.


Gorham's siren 9Th in seeking a nomination
has consisted largely of the knowledge or
belief that he would aHix his signature to
all similar bills. and they have many such,
involving millions, at the Bay. Now, elect
Gorham and let u Legislature as plant as
the the last one be obtained-and that is, of
course, the next object of the combination
and the State will be bled to bankruptcy
within two years, while the pressure OF tax
alton upon every interest will become intol>
cradle to the people. AS
last consolation, there is such thing as dy-
ing with deceucy, leaving an honorable name.
| In anv event, however, and whatever course
partisans AMI their organs may see ht to
pursue, the duty of the Independent Press,
in such emergencies as this, is to look after
the interests of the State and the people.


Protesting against the nomination of Cor
ham before it was consummated, we stated


the considerations which would render the
nomination calamity to the party now DOM
inant in the State. As the same reasons


would make his election disastrous to the


people, we repeat our protest, now that the
| Convention has done it's work. We find no
pleasure in the performance of this task. 1t
is, indeed, sorrowful to be compelled to witt


ness the wreck of party which has bright
record of service, and, if properly guided,


might still lend potential aid to the cause of
true progress and good government. But
if the machinery of the organization is to be
intrusted to wicked engineers, and the Union
party is to be run for the mere benefit OF
corrupt schemers, though we may regret the
consequent blghtng fmany cheering hopes,
we must expect to see the people who don


want to 90 10 ruin, take passage in safer


political conveyance.