FLORIDA. 



call on the 17th of March for a State Conven- 

 tion to be held on the 81st of May. Sum- 

 question was raised as to the authority of this 

 omimittee, the opposition coming from sup- 

 port ITS of Simon B. Conover for Governor, 

 and several contesting delegations to the con- 

 vention were chosen. The State Central Com- 

 mittee hold a meeting on the 7th of April, and 

 recognized the validity of the call of the Exec- 

 utive Committee. It also adopted the follow- 

 ing resolution : 



Jfaolved, That this committee do now adjourn, 

 to meet in Madison at 9 A. M. ou the 81st day of 

 May next, then und there by a majority vote of the 

 members of the State Central Committee, origi- 

 nally elected in 1872, actually present, to decide 

 equitably who shall be entitled to participate in the 

 temporary organization of the State Convention ; 

 but in said State Convention no proxies shall be al- 

 lowed, nor shall any person be permitted to act as a 

 delegate or alternate unless he is a registered voter 

 of the county which he claims to represent, but the 

 delegates or alternates present may oust the whole 

 vote of their county. 



STATE SEAL Of FLORIDA. 



The convention met at Madison on the 81st 

 of May, and consumed four days in accomplish- 

 ing its work. The first day and a half were oc- 

 cupied by the Central Committee in determin- 

 ing the right of delegates to take part in the 

 temporary organization. It decided against 

 the contesting delegations from seven counties, 

 and its action was ultimately ratified by the 

 convention, thus excluding most of the sup- 

 porters of Conover. The organization was 

 not completely effected until the morning of 

 the fourth day. On that day Marcellus L. 

 Stearns was renominated for Governor ; David 

 Montgomery was nominated for Lieutenant- 

 Governor ; W. H. Holden, 0. H. Pearce, T. W. 

 Long, and F. C. Humphries, were nominated 

 for presidential electors ; eight delegates were 

 chosen to the National Republican Convention, 

 and a State Executive Committee of the party 

 was appointed, consisting of seventeen mem- 

 bers. The following platform was adopted : 



Rtsolced, That we, the Republicans of Florida, in 

 State Convention assembled, reaffirm our confidence 

 in, and inalienable attachment to, the principles of 



the national Republican party, believing them to b 

 in accordance with the jut and enlightened wsnti- 

 inentH of mankind, and largely answerable for mate- 

 rial, intellectual, and moral progress throughout the 

 world. 



Jtetolved, That the wide-spread demand for econ- 

 omy, integrity, and paternal devotion to the inter- 

 est, protection, and progress of all the people on the 

 part of the national and State Adminihtrations, 

 meets our hearty indorsement us being in full accord 

 with the principles and genius of republicanism, 

 and fundamental to progress under peaceful con- 

 ditions ; and we respond to the sentiment with em- 

 phatic unanimity, desiring nothing more than the 

 enforcement of just laws, the preservation of rights, 

 and efficient protection in their enjoyment secured 

 by the omnipresence of the law's majesty. 



Ifaolved, That we indorse and approve the ad- 

 ministration of our State government as being wise, 

 just, economical, and progressive. It has given un- 

 precedented encouragement to immigration by its 

 judicious devotion to all material interest ; has 

 brought the credit of the State to a ground of con- 

 fidence equal to that of any other State in the Union ; 

 and has, by its loyalty to principle and to the best 

 interests of all the people, contributed largely to the 

 utter obliteration of causes of dissension, distrust, 

 and prejudice, between difterent race*, and the heal- 

 ing of those unwise divisions which are fatal to 

 genuine progress. 



Resolved, That in the maintenance of our free- 

 school system, untrammeled by sectarian influences, 

 we secure that method whicfi will make the near 

 and remote future of our country blessed and sub- 

 lime, and we pledge to ii our constant and undeviat- 

 ing support. 



JResolved, That we unqualifiedly favor a speedy re- 

 turn to specie payments, and hail with satisfaction 

 the unanimity of the national Republican party on 

 this important subject. 



Resolved, That in sending delegates to the Nation- 

 al Convention at Cincinnati we trammel them with 

 no instructions, confiding in their loyalty to their 

 country and the great party whose standard-bearer 

 they will help to choose. 



The Democratic State Convention was held 

 at Quincy on the 7th and 8th of June. George 

 F. Drew was nominated by acclamation as the 

 candidate for Governor, N. A. Hull for Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor, and Robert Bullock, Wilkin- 

 son Call, Robert B. Hilton, and James E. 

 Yonge, were named for presidential elec- 

 tors. Sixteen delegates to the National Demo- 

 cratic Convention were chosen, and a State 

 Executive Committee of five members was 

 appointed. The following was the platform 

 adopted : 



The Conservative Democratic party of the State 

 of Florida, in convention assembled, arraign the radi- 

 cal party, which has had uninterrupted control of 

 the General Government for the last ten years, for 

 having brought the Government as well as the indi- 

 vidual citizen to the verge of bankruptcy, destroyed 

 our commerce, fettered the industries ol the people, 

 squandered the public money and the public lands, 

 multiplied public offices for party ends, demoralized 

 and debaucned the Government service to an unpre- 

 cedented extent, culminating in the present Admin- 

 istration, the most disgraceful known to American 

 history. 



We arraign the State government for its corrup- 

 tion, oppression, and extravagance : for its reckless 

 disregard of the rights of the people; for adminis- 

 tering the government as if created for the benefit of 

 the rulers nd not of the people. ^ 



For these and other considerations we pledge our- 

 selves to work unceasingly and earnestly for the 



