Page images
PDF
EPUB

vote of said State, according to the Congressional basis; and in such cases as there are delegates from a district of the State present, said delegate or delegates shall be entitled to cast the vote of said district.

ANDREW E. CALHOUN.

Mr. Erwin upon taking the chair made a brief speech. were there to vindicate the Constitution and assert the South under it. He said further:

He said they

rights of the

"At Charleston we exerted ourselves assiduously, earnestly, for days and weeks, hoping that we might agree--that we might concur with the majority of that body-that they would concede to us what seemed, to our apprehension, to clearly belong to us. But, governed by objects of self-of personal aggrandizement-they sternly refused. We had no alternative left but to pursue the course that we did pursue, and we are happy now to announce that our conduct has been approved by our constituents. [Great applause.]

"It is proposed here, as I understand, that we shall not act definitely -that we shall make one more attempt at reconciliation. Gentlemen, I neither commend nor condemn that course. Every gentleman will be governed by his own views of what is right. But we must yield nothing, whether we remain here, or whether we go elsewhere. Wherever we go, we must demand the full measure of our rights. [Applause.] The serpent of Squatter Sovereignty' must be strangled. [Vehement applause.] What! are we to be told that we are not to go into the Territories and enjoy equal rights, when that principle has been settled by the Supreme Court of our country?"

Mr. Middleton of South Carolina stated the case of the New York Commissioners. He said:

"Mr. President, in going into this matter the committee was informed that the gentlemen therein named did not claim seats in this body as delegates and alternates, but came here simply as commissioners to advise with this body as to the course of its proceeding."

This it was proclaimed was done in "entire courtesy," but it was a quiet way of getting rid of the New Yorkers who were now, by resolution, invited to take seats upon the floor of the Convention.

Mr. Hatch-Mr. President, after consulting with the large number of delegates from the different States, I beg leave to offer the following resolutions, which, I believe, will accomplish the general purposes and wishes of this Convention :

1. Resolved, That as the delegations from all the States represented in this Convention are assembled upon the basis of the platform recommended by a majority of the States at Charleston, we deem it unnecessary to take any further action upon that subject at the present time.

2. Resolved, That when this Convention adjourn, it adjourn to meet in this city on Monday, the 25th inst.; provided that the President of this Convention may call it together at an earlier or later day, if it be deemed necessary.

An attempt was made to have it declared that, that Convention indorsed the majority report of a platform made at Charleston, but this was overruled, on the ground that it had, upon consultation by an informal committee, been determined to take no action whatever. tion to raise a select committee to consider what should be done, was

A mo

met by the assurance that an informal committee had gathered the sense of the Convention, and that it was agreed nothing was to be done. Mr. Hunter of Louisiana said in this connection, upon the proposition to indorse the majority platform reported at Charleston :

I was desirous that not one word should be said upon this subject, when the resolutions were reported, but that we should accept them in the spirit of harmony which has characterized our deliberations so far. I hope the amendment will not be pressed. There is no difficulty except upon one point, and I hope that amendment will not be pressed, for we desire earnestly that no discussion should take place in regard to the matter. We are satisfied with the resolutions, and will accept them; we do not desire to go further."

Some conversational debate occurred on the proposition to give the President of the Convention discretionary power in calling it together upon adjournment. Mr. Jones of Georgia, in the course of a speech, said:

We want other States to come in with us and have their voices heard in this important matter; we ought not to preclude them by any declarations in advance. That is all. What is fair, is fair. We ask Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Tennessee and Kentucky to come in here.

A Voice-Missouri and Delaware.

Mr. Jones-Yes, Missouri and Delaware unite with us in counsel. The first resolution was agreed to, and Mr. Mullins of South Carolina moved that the second resolution be amended by striking out "25th" and inserting "21st.' South Carolina called for the vote by States that that State might appear upon the record as opposed to adjournment. He withdrew his call, however, and the resolution was adopted by acclamation.

The committee on Credentials was now called upon for a report, and reported that the following States and districts are represented in this Convention, to wit:

Alabama, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, Florida, Second Congressional District of Tennessee, Seventh Electoral District of Virginia.

The Convention was proceeding to adjourn, when Mr. Baldwin of New York, an elderly gentleman with immense green-goggles, begged to be allowed to state the true position of New York in that Convention. He caused a very florid and inconsequential letter to be read. It conIcluded as follows:

"Here as Commissioners of Conference on a mission for party peace, and in national love, we are also here to give the assurance that should the crisis arise to test us, you may reckon on noble evidence, in the Empire State, of a loyalty which cannot be shaken in its allegiance to the Golden Rule of Democracy, and can never be corrupted in the good faith which should ever bind the true of the North to the true of the South."

He proceeded to talk of the great danger in which the country found itself, and was doing tolerably well in the way of a union speech, when he was called to order for talking on matters that the delegates had de

clined to talk about. He said he was there at the mercy of the Convention, and was told to go on. He was again talking of the horrors of disunion, when Mr. Barry of Mississippi called him to order by saying he had abused the courtesy of the Convention; and while the commissioner was begging forgiveness in the most abject manner, the Convention adjourned.

NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION AT BALTIMORE.

The Democratic politicians assembled in great force in Washington City the week before the Convention was called to meet in Baltimore, and caucused the matter in the usual way.

On the Saturday before the meeting of the Convention, the politicians concentrated in Baltimore, where a much greater crowd than that at Charleston came together. It was not, however, numerically so great, by many thousands, as that at Chicago. The weight of the outside pressure was for Mr. Douglas. The talk about the hotels was principally favorable to Mr. Douglas, whose friends were full of confidence and determination. It was evident that he could not be nominated without the division of the party, and placing two tickets in the field; yet his friends gave no symptoms of flinching from taking any responsibility. The hostile feeling between the factions of the Democracy was even more embittered than at the time of the adjournment at Charleston, and the more the points of difference were caucused, the more intense was the warfare. The debate in the Senate during the recess the speeches of Douglas and Pugh on the one hand, and Benjamin and Davis on the other had served to deepen and exasperate the controversy, and make it more personal in its nature, and therefore more incapable of compromise. The friends of Mr. Douglas, encouraged by the presence and support of Soule of Louisiana, Forsyth of Texas, and other strong Southern men, assumed an arrogance of tone that precluded the hope of amicable adjustment of difficul ies. As at Charleston, every person and passion and prejudice was for or against Mr. Douglas. The opinion was almost universal that the friends of Mr. Douglas would be able to nominate him, and they were certainly resolved to give him the nomination at any hazard or sacrifice. There was no question, however, that the New York delegation had the fate of the Convention in its keeping; and while it was understood that the strength of Mr. Douglas in the delegation had been increased, during the recess, by the Fowler defalcation (the substitute for Mr. Fowler being reported to be a Douglas man), and by the appearance of regular delegates who were for Douglas, and whose alternates had been against

him at Charleston, it was obvious that the action of the politicians of New York could not be counted upon in any direction with confidence. Rumors were circulated before the meeting of the Convention, that a negotiation had been carried on in Washington, by the New Yorkers with the South, the object of which was to sell out Douglas, the Southerners and the Administration offering them their whole strength for any man New York might name, provided that State would slaughter Douglas. On the other hand, it appeared that Dean Richmond, the principal manager of the New Yorkers, had been engaged in private cousultations with Mr. Douglas and his fast friends, and had pledged himself, as solemnly as a politician could do, to stand by the cause of Douglas to the last.

FIRST DAY.

MORNING SESSION.

The Convention assembled at ten o'clock, in the Front Street Theatre, the parquet and stage having been fitted up for the delegations, the dress circle reserved for the ladies, and the upper circles assigned to spectators, who were admitted by tickets, of which each delegation had a supply in proportion to its numbers. There was some` delay about calling the Convention to order, owing to a misunderstanding as to the hour of meeting.

The delegates entitled to seats all presenting themselves at a quarter past eleven o'clock, the Convention was called to order by the President, and opened with prayer by the Rev. John McCron, whose prayer was very touching and beautiful.

THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS.

At the conclusion of the prayer, the President stated the condition of business before the Convention in a clear, sharply-defined address, speaking so distinctly that every man in the Convention heard every word. He said:

GENTLEMEN OF THE CONVENTION :-Permit me, in the first place, to congratulate you upon your being reassembled here for the discharge of your important duties in the interests of the Democratic party of the United States; and I beg leave, in the second place, to communicate to the Convention the state of the various branches of its business, as they now come up for consideration before you.

Prior to the adjournment of the Convention, two principal subjects of action were before it. One, the adoption of the doctrinal resolutions constituting the platform of the Convention; the other, voting upon the question of the nomination of a candidate for the Presidency.

In the course of the discussion of the question of a platform, the Convention adopted a vote, the effect of which was to amend the report of the majority of the committee on the Platform, by substituting the report of the minority of that committee; and after the adoption of that motion, and the substitution of the minority for the majority report, a division was called for upon the several resolutions constituting

that platform, being five in number. The 1st, 3d, 4th and 5th of those resolutions were adopted by the Convention, and the 2d was rejected. After the vote on the adoption of the 1st, 3d, 4th and 5th of those resolutions, a motion was made in each case to reconsider the vote, and to lay that motion of reconsideration upon the table. But neither of those motions to reconsider or to lay on the table was put, the putting of these motions having been prevented by the intervention of questions of privilege, and the ultimate vote competent in such case, to wit, of the adoption of the report of the majority as amended by the report of the minority, had not been acted upon by the Convention. So that at the time when the Convention adjourned, there remained pending before it these motions, to wit: To reconsider the resolutions constituting the platform, and the ulterior question of adopting the majority as amended by the substitution of the minority report. Those questions, and those only, as the chair understood the motions before the Convention, were not acted upon prior to the adjournment.

After the disposition of the intervening questions of privilege, a motion was made by Mr. McCook of Ohio to proceed to vote for candidates for President and Vice President. Upon that motion the Convention instructed the chair (not, as has been erroneously supposed, in the recess of the Convention, the chair determining for the Convention, but the Convention instructing the chair) to make no declaration of a nomination except upon a vote equivalent to two-thirds in the Electoral College of the United States, and upon that balloting, no such vote being given, that order was, upon the motion of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Russell), laid on the table for the purpose of enabling him to propose a motion, which he subsequently did, that the Convention adjourn from the city of Charleston to the city of Baltimore, and with a provision concerning the filling of vacancies embraced in the same resolution, which resolution the Secretary will please to read.

The Secretary read the resolution, as follows:

Resolved, That when this Convention adjourns to-day, it adjourn to reassemble at Baltimore, Md., on Monday, the 18th day of June, and that it be respectfully recommended to the Democratic party of the several States to make provision for supplying all vacancies in their respective delegations to this Convention when it shall reassemble.

The President-The Convention will thus perceive that the order adopted by it provided, among other things, that it is respectfully recommended to the Democratic party of the several States to make provision for supplying all vacancies in their respective delegations to this Convention, when it shall reassemble. What is the construction of that resolution?—what is the scope of its application?—is a question not for the chair to determine or to suggest to the Convention, but for the Convention itself to determine.

However that may be, in the preparatory arrangement for the present assembling of this Convention, there were addressed to the chair the credentials of members elected, or purporting to be elected, affirmed and confirmed by the original Conventions, and accredited to this Convention. In three of those cases, or perhaps four, the credentials were authentic and complete, presenting no question of controverting dele

« PreviousContinue »