not his strength, but yours-your intelligence, your sense of order, your instinct of self-respect. I rely, gentlemen, confidently upon you, not upon myself, for the prompt and parliamentary dispatch of the business of this Convention. Gentlemen, you bave come here from the green hills of the Eastern States-from the rich States of the imperial centre-from the sun-lighted plains of the South-from the fertile States of the mighty basin of the Mississippi-from the golden shores of the distant Oregon and California-[loud cheers]-you have come hither in the exercise of the highest functions of a free people, to participate, to aid in the selection of the future rulers of the Republic. You do this as the representatives of the Democratic party-of that great party of the Union, whose proud mission it has been, whose proud mission it is, to maintain the public liberties-to reconcile popular freedom with constituted orderto maintain the sacred, reserved rights of the sovereign States [loud and long-continued applause]-to stand, in a word, the perpetual sentinels on the outposts of the Constitution. [Cries of "that's the talk," and loud cheers.] Ours, gentlemen, is the motto inscribed on that scrool in the hands of the monumental statute of the great statesman of South Carolina, "Truth, Justice, and the Constitution." [Loud cheers.] Opposed to us are those who labor to overthrow the Constitution, under the false and insidious pretense of supporting it; those who are aiming to produce in this country a permanent sectional conspiracy—a traitorous sectional conspiracy of one half the States of the Union against the other half; those who, impelled by the stupid and half insane spirit of faction and fanaticism, would hurry our land on to revolution and to civil war; those, the branded enemies of the Constitution, it is the part -the high and noble part of the Democratic party of the Union to withstand; to strike down and to conquer! Aye! that is our part, and we will do it. In the name of our dear country, with the help of God, we will do it. [Loud cheers.] Aye, we will do it, for, gentlemen, we will not distrust ourselves; we will not despair of the genius of our country; we will continue to repose with undoubting faith in the good Providence of Almighty God. [Loud applause.] "Gentlemen, I will not longer detain you from the important business of the Convention. Allow me a few moments for the purpose of completing the arrangements with the elected officers of the Convention, and then the chair will call upon you for such motions and propositions as may be in order before the Convention." [Applause.] After the speech, some time was occupied in arranging the duties of the various clerks, so as to proceed with system and order, to business. Cushing had the good sense, while this was going on, to give the Convention a recess. The business first in order was the test struggle on the proposed amendment of the rules which had been incorporated into the report of the committee on Permanent Organization, but which had been gotten rid of for a time by the division of the question. A motion was made to strike out from the report of the committee on Organization the original rule, and the vote was called by States, resulting as follows: This vote is tolerably near a correct representation of the strength of Mr. Douglas, in the last analysis of the Convention, by the final struggle. The nays, those opposed to striking out the interpolation, are not all for Douglas now, by any means. Many of them are against him, so far as to have some other first choice. But they may, under the pressure that will come, be brought to vote for him. And we may add to them the vote of South Carolina. It is too soon yet for the delegation from that State to show its hand. To avoid scandal, it voted with the South, but it is of the Softs of South Carolina. The conclusions which I draw from this vote are very sturdily disputed here by the anti-Douglas men. And the New Yorkers and Kentuckians say they meant no such thing as I say. The first choice of Kentucky is Mr. Guthrie, and her second, Breckenridge,--but a majority of her delegates would acquiesce in the nomination of Douglas, and might, under pretext of saving the nation, vote for him in an extremity, to give him a two-thirds vote. And John Cochrane will lead the New Yorkers into the Douglas camp, the moment he can do so with the greatest eclat, and make sure of giving him the nomination. Then John will expect the grateful recognition of Mr. Douglas if he should become President. Douglas might, of course, afford to give the English mission for the vote of New York in this Convention, and enough besides of Federal fatness to buy thirty politicians of easy virtue. Poor Lafe Develin of Indiana gave one shriek for freedom to-day. He is hedged about by his colleagues, and iron-bound by the instructions of the State Convention of Indiana, that her delegation should vote there as an unit. Lafe has insisted that he would not be bound by State instructions, but I believe that in an "unguarded moment he voted in the Indiana Convention for the unity of the Charleston dele. gation. Lafe's zeal cooled, when Buchanan appointed the grandfather of the English bill U. S. Marshal of Indiana. But to-day he could not stand it, and shrieked loudly that he was authorized to cast two votes from Indiana. But he was put down. He fell in his tracks, as it were, and Freedom shrieked when Lafayette Develin fell. A portion of the Tennessee delegation squirmed at the vote thrown as above. Nearly half the delegation were determined to vote the other way, but the majority ruled. There are a large number of gentlemen here from Kentucky, working for John C. Breckenridge. Among them are Senator Powell, Gov. Magoffin, Burnet (Congressman), Preston, Minister to Spain, and others of distinction. But the Kentucky delegation stands firm for old Ironsides, that is to say, James Guthrie. The following committee was reported to-day : Committee on Resolutions and Platform-Maine, A. M. Roberts; New Hampshire, Wm. Beven; Vermont, E. M. Brown; Massachusetts, B. F. Butler; Rhode Island, C. S. Bradley; Connecticut, A. G. Hazard; New York, Ed. Cogswell; New Jersey, Benj. Williamson; Pennsylvania, A. B. Wright; Delaware, J. A. Bayard; Maryland, B. S. Johnson; Virginia, J. Barbour; North Carolina, W. W. Avery; South Carolina, J. S. Preston; Georgia, J. Wingfield; Florida, J. B. Owens; Alabama, John Erwin; Louisiana, H. A. Hunter; Mississippi, E. Barksdale; Texas, F. S. Stockdale; Arkansas, N. B. Burrow; Missouri, -; Tennessee, Sam. Milligan; Kentucky, R. K. Williams; Ohio, H. B. Payne; Indiana, P. C. Dunning; Illinois, O. B. Ficklin; Michigan, G. V. N. Lothrop; Wisconsin, A. S. Palmer; Iowa, B. M. Samuels; Minnesota, J. M. Cavanaugh; California, Austin E. Smith; Oregon, James J. Stevens. COMMENTARY ON SECOND DAY'S PROCEEDINGS. CHARLESTON, S. C., April 24th (at night). The advantages gained by the Douglas men in the Convention today were important, and will, in my judgment, certainly result in Mr. Douglas receiving a majority of the votes in the Convention. Then the struggle to give him two-thirds will be tremendous, and in spite of the bitter opposition of the ultra South, and of the Administration, President, Cabinet, and Senators, he may get two-thirds, and it is my present impression that he will. The friends of Douglas have not only the strongest compact body of delegates, but have thus far displayed the best tactics. The South has been not only divided in counsel but deficient in judgment. The current has run steadily for Douglas from the first. It was apparent several days ago, that the outside pressure was for him. Every Southern man of any force, who is for Douglas, though in a small minority at home, and repudiated by the Conventions, has been summoned here to manufacture public opinion. This has been done calculatingly and systematically, and bas its effect. There are men here from every Southern State, working directly or indirectly for Douglas. The first gain of the Douglasites was in the action of Judge Smalley, in admitting the Cagger, Cassidy, Richmond, and Cochrane New York delegation, and the Douglas Illinois delegation to seats, and excluding Fernando Wood, Ike Cook, and their followers. The next gain was in the confirmation of this action of the Executive committee, by the Convention yesterday, which was not so important in itself, as in the weakness of the ultra South exposed by it. great gain to-day was in passing a rule allowing single delegates in The States not instructed to vote as an unit, to vote as they please. This will add about twenty-five votes to the Douglas strength and will give the current which is running toward his nomination greater impetuosity and more formidable power. There is a great deal in this current, in a Convention in which, as in this, the mere politicians largely predominate. There are many eager to make themselves conspicuous in the eyes of the man upon whom they look as the next President. He bas offices within his gift, foreign missions-and all that. You know how it is you know how it was in the Cincinnati Convention. There are several Southern States whose delegations are "unsound." Even the Alabama delegation contains two Douglas men. They have to vote with the rest, but their presence is influential. The ultras of South Carolina, standing upon their dignity, did not go into the Convention for the nomination of delegates to the National Convention. Their virtue was superior to the blandishments of a National caucus. The consequence is, Mr. Orr, whose position I detailed you in another letter, comes here with the vote of the State in his hand-and I am now convinced that Douglas can get it whenever it would give him the nomination. The New Yorkers, of both factions-and Fernando Wood has no chance-are purchasable. Some of the delegates are government officers, but the last sands of this administration are running out, and its displeasure is no longer feared. The eyes of Federal gold worshipers are turned to the coming man, and when Douglas can be nominated by the vote of New York, he will get it. And so of other States. But there will be a rupture. There is a portion of the South, as represented here, that cannot and will not submit to Douglas on a platform that tolerates the notion of "Popular Sovereignty." A great battle is to be fought on the platform. It is, I believe, as I write, being fought in the committee on Resolutions. There are radical and inextinguishable feuds in the Democratic party, and they must come out here and now. THIRD DAY. INSTITUTE HALL, There was much noise and confusion about town last night. The Southern men kept up their spirits by aid of a band of music, and speeches by the leaders of the fire-eaters. The speakers were very severe on the "bobtailed pony from Illinois. Fernando Wood was serenaded, and made an able and adroit response, which was entirely acceptable to the South. He was looking forward to an explosion of the Convention, and his nomination as Vice-President by the Southern leaders. It is the general impression this morning, as I have just informed you by telegraphic dispatch, that there will be an explosion of the Convention that it is indeed inevitable, and that the Convention is only held together now by endeavors of the various factions, which are irreconcilably hostile, to make a record suitable for their ulterior purposes. The hall is very much crowded. Those who have tickets, send them out after they get in, and others come in. In this way every body who understands the trick, and nearly every body does, gets in. So there is an infernal crowd. Fortunately the atmosphere is much cooler than beretofore. The ladies have become anxious on the subject of the Con vention. Their gallery is as full as possible, and still crowds of them are besieging the stairways. The Convention was opened with prayer, which is presumed to have been very solemn and fervent, but nobody heard it. The first thing in order was to inquire whether there was any committee ready to report. There being none, the unfinished business of yesterday was taken up. This was in relation to the adoption of a rule that, in debate, no delegate should speak more than once, nor more than fifteen minutes. Proceedings were interrupted by a gallant gentleman from Missouri, who proposed to relieve the ladies who were "hanging on the stairways. The Convention invited the ladies to come in and take seats in the chairs under the galleries. The immoderately anxious Douglas men wanted the fifteen minute rule adopted. They were too anxious to put down the screws, however, and were defeated. The vote was 121 for the fifteen minute rule, and 182 against. Now, according to the rules adopted-being those of the House of Representatives-the hour rule is in force. The vote as taken by States stands as follows-not a test for or against Douglas-but a test of prudence: It is a general remark that the Convention has narrowly escaped doing a very foolish thing. It would have been unsafe to have choked down debate into fifteen minute speeches. It would not do to bottle up wrath so intense. It is now hoped that the South's fire will pale in long speeches, and become ineffectual in the course of their hour harangues. A debate followed, on the propriety of gag laws. It was said, on behalf of the South, that eloquence must be resorted to. The State of Alabama must not be gagged. Her eloquence must be allowed to flow. Lowry of Indiana thought it a very equivalent compliment to the del |