Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1848-08-10
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, Is4S.

guided by the will of the people, as express
ed by their Representatives On the other
hand, what says General Lewis Cassl lie
denies that the will of the people shall gov
ern. He. maintains the high federal doc
trines of ancient days, that the President
Of the United States, with his veto power,
shall control the will of the people. He
stands up as the champion of Executive
power, and has received his nomination
from party convention, under clrcumstan-
ces which think, when carefully examin-
ed by the American people, will seal his
fate as a candidate before them. What
were the circumstances ? The very first
rule adopted by the Convention assembled
at Baltimore was, that the will of the ma
jorlty should not goyern--that the vote of
two-thirds should be necessary TO nominate
the President They had lGd down that
doctrine before on memorable occasion.
| refer to the Baltimore nomination in 1914.
The result reminds us of one of those games
at cards which is called /" Solitaire" in
which you know IL man plays against him
self Did you ever see man sit down to
play that game who did not cheat himself !
The Democratic leaders, on this occasion.
undertook to play Solitaire"-the Wings
were not present to be cheated-and the
very first act or decree was one amounting,
IN my judgment, TO most hagitious fraud,
not only upon the country, but upon the
party itself. 1t ordained that the will ofthe
people should not govern, and that no man
without the vote of two-thirds of that Con-
NoU /
ny body knows what was the consequence
in this case)-the necessary consequence
of the establishment of such principle by
any party! We can all very well estimate
the power of one hundred thousand Office
holders, many Of them anxious to perpetu-
ate their dynasty. They can pack Dem
ocratic convention with more than one-third
of its members, though they might not be
able to control majority. They can send
on their relations, their friends and depen-
dants, as delegates, and, under the opera
tlon Of this two-thirds rule, govern the con-
vention. All the gentlemen who composed
the convention went to Baltimore bound to
nominate some candidate for the Presiden-
cy. To fail to nominate by convention
would be to dissolve the party. They were
compelled, therefore, to make nomination,
and when they entered the convention, they
were met with a rule declaring that the
vote of two-thirds was necessary to nomi-
nate their democratic candidate for the
Presidency They knew that within the
walls of the convention there stood pack
ed minority, of more than one-third, repre-
senting the oifice-holders of the country,
who would veto or negative the nomination
of any man not subservient to their views,
or who would not perpetuate their dynasty,
and continue them and their friends in Of
flee. The candidates all understood this
beforehand, and on such occasions he who
makes the most satisfactory bargain with
this clique or Observation-Disclosures more
than one-third, but not one-half of the con-
ventlon-is sure to receive the nomination.
No other man can get it. | say again. eve
ry candidate understood this, and every fu-
ture candidate will, in all future democratic
conventions, understand it. Each of them
will know it is impossible for him to pro-
cure the nomination unless he can secure
the services of those who come there for
the purpose of sustaining themselves in Of
flee. He is bound then to lend himself to
all their views. If they desire to establish
a platform Of political faith, he must sub
scribe to it. He has no option. He must
either relinquish all hope of the nomination,
or subscribe to every dogma that this clique
may choose to lay down. Under these cir
cumstances, ask, what is the inevitable
tendency of the party which has nominated
General Lewis Cass Does it not directly
tend to the rule of the few over the many,
and eventually to monarchy? 1t tends to
the establishment, in the first instance, of
an olgarchy, or an arstocracy of Office
undesirable to dictate the nomination of
any man they please They have veto on
the acts of the convention as absolute and
efectual as that which the President of the
United States, whom they may nominate
and elect under the magic name of demo-
crat, may have upon the laws Of Congress
and the will ofthe people.
Undoubtedly the great mass ofthe Demo-
cratic party is honest and patriotic. We
who are Wings, and opposed TO them in
politics, are entitled to free expression of
their opinion in making party nomination;
and Wings, as well as Democrats, are de-
frauded by this political legerdemain-this
hocas p0cus-introduced by some political
magicians into that party within few years
past, which compels that party to accept a
nomination made and forced upon them by
minority. Such were the circumstances
such was the fraud-such was the estab-
lished rule and iron law under which Gen,
Cass received his nomination.
Let us inquire, in connection with this,
what are some of the other doctrines of the
party to which General Cass has been COM
PEELED 10 subscribe, Among other things,
there stands prominently the assertion of
the great right aud duty of the President of
the United States to exercise the Veto Pow
er, without reference to the limitations pres
cribed by the fathers of the Constitution
Every one who has perused the "Federalist"
knows that Mr., Madison and his associates
uniformly maintained that the great object
OF the veto was to enable the Executive of
the United States to defend the Consttu-
ton and the executive power within its linn
its. No man of their day pretended it was
designed that the veto power should be ex-
tended, as it has been, to every act of ordi-
nary legislation, and every instance in which
party might by the aid of it elevate or sus-
tain itself against the interests of the whole
country. Ii never was imagined by any