sentences:  Opposition to Garfielde's nomination was so strong that Alvan Flanders, the incumbent Territorial Delegate who had been denied renomination, and Christopher C. Hewitt, Chief Justice of the Washington Territorial Supreme Court, distributed a circular declaring the state Republican Party near collapse.They and the other signatories to the circular (which numbered more than 50 prominent Republicans) declared the party nomination process fraudulent and demanded radical reorganization of the party machinery.These and other accusations led to a significant backlash against the disaffected Republicans, who quickly retreated from their positions and declined to nominate their own candidate.