Boon's Lick times. [volume] (Fayette, Mo.) 1840-1848, 1848-08-19


minds me of one ofthose games at cards
which is called "Solataire," in which you
know man plays against himself Did
you ever see man sit down to play tina,
game who did not cheat himself? The dem.
ocrailc leaders. on this occasion, undertook
to play "Solataire"-the Wings were not
PRESENT. to be cheated, and the very first act
or decree was one amounting, in my Judge
tnent, to most flagilious fraud not only
upon the country, but upon the party itself.
II ordained that the will of the people
should not govern, and that no man should
be nominated for the Presidency without
the vote of two thirds of that Convention.
Well, now what must be (every body knows
what was the consequence in this case) the
necessary consequence of the establishment
of such principle by any party7 We can
very well estimate the power of one hun
dred thousand office holders, many of them
anxious 10 perpetuate their dynasty. They
can pack Democratic Convention with
more than one-third of its members, though
they might not be able to control a major.
ity. They can send on their relations, their
friends and dependents, as delegates, and,
under the operation of this two-thrds rule.
occasion. All the gentlemen who compos.
ed the convention went to Baltimore bound
to nominate some candidate for the Presi-
dency. To fail to nominate by a conven.
ton would be to dissolve the party. They
were compelled, therefore, to make nomi.
nation, and when they entered the conven-
ton they were met with the rule declaring
that the vote of two-thrds was necessary
to nominate their democratic candidate for
the Presidency. They know that within
the walls of the Convenlien there stood
packed minority of more than one.third.
representing the office holders of the coun.
try, who could vote or negative the nomi.
nation of any man not subservient to their
views, or who would not perpetuate their
dynasty. and continue them and their friends
in office. The candidates all understood
this beforehand and on such occasions he
who makes the most satisfactory bargains
with this clique or MISUNDERSTANDING
more than one-third, but not one half of the
convention-is sure TO receive the nominal
nation. No other man can get it, say
again, every candidate understood this, and
every future cdaidate will, in all future
Democratic conventions, understand it.
Each of them will know it is impossible for
him to procure the nomination unless he can
secure the services of those who come there
for the purpose of sustaining themselves in
office. He is bound then to lend himself to
all their views. If they desire to es ablish
platform of political faith, he must SUBJ
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
cumslances, | ask, what is the inevitable
tendency of the party which has nominated
Gen. Lewis Cassl Does it not tend to the
rule of the few over the many and even
tualy to a monarchy! 1t tends to the es-
Enlistment in the first instance. of an oil
garchy, or an arstocracv of office holders
able to dictate the nomination of any man
they please. They have a veto on the acts
of the convention as absolute and effectual
as that which the President Of the United
States, whom they may nominate and elect
under the name of Democrat, may have
upon the laws Of Congress and the will of
the People.
Undoubtedly the great mass of the Dem.
ocratic 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 nominations;
and Wings as well as Democrats are defrau.
ded by this poli,ica gerdeman-this hocus
pocuS-introduced by some political ma
gicians into that party within few years
past, which compels that party to accept
a nomination made and forced upon them
by the minority. Such were the circum-
stances, such was the fraud, such was the es.
tablished 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 ofthe
party to which Gen. Cass has been com
PEELED to subscribe. Among other things,
there stands prominently the assertion of
the great right and duty of the President of
the United States to exercise the veto power
without reference TO the limitations prescri-
bed by the fathers of the constitution
Every one who has perused the Federal
isl" knows that Mr. Madison and his asso-
ciates uniformly maintained that the great
object of the veto was to enable the Exc
culive of The United States TO defend the
constitution and the executive power within
its limits. No man of their day pretended
it was designed that the veto Fower should
be extended as it has boon TO every act OF
ordinary legislation, and every instance ir
which party might by the aid Of it elevate
or sustain itself against the interests of the
whole country. 1t never was imagined by
any member ofthe convention which form
ed the constitution that the voto clause r
that instrument could be so construed b,
, the most latiludinarian exposition, as tina