The Davenport gazette. [volume] (Davenport, Scott Co., Iowa) 1841-185?, 1852-07-01
MAJOR JACK DOWNING's ACCOUNT OF THE
DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION.
BALTIMORE, SATURDAY NIGHT, June 5, 1852.
To loSuua DowgtNt ESa

/
and its been about the toughest week I
work that ever | did. I've sweat like
tiger all the week, and I'm as hungry as ;
bear; not but what there's been vittles
enough, plenty Of it, and good too. an
plenty Of liquor too, more than the Maine
liquor law could upset and spill in 81
months, but the trouble is, we had so mucl
TO do we couldn't get tine TO cal. CUES
I've made out to ketch lunch Ct a lev
mouthfuls about twice day, and got !
chance to sleep upon an average about two
hours night. After I've writ this lette
10 yon, ! mean TO turn IN ind sleep owe
till Monday, and then streal. il home, ant
help to ge, up the mass meeting to ratii,
the non:inat tlon--thc ratification of Down
Iingv;le mus; be q roarer. You better be
getting things ready for it till ! Come.
sish could give you some idea Of the
weeks wor!; We have had here. I've
worked in the logging swamp, and know
what It's to handle logs, and pile 'em on ibt
bank, and roll 'em into the river; and Iyt
worked on burnt fields in clearing up, anc
know what It's to chop and pile from Mon
day morning till Saturday night, bot de.
clare TO man his has been the ,ntfest weel
of log rolling | ever see But don't be
grudge the work a bit, we've made sucn d
nice job of it, and saved the country
We've put life into the Democratic party
again, that we thought last fall was as deaf
as door mail. We've killed off Abolition
we've checked to death Secession, and cir
Ereesoil the lits; and expect we've thun
ldersiruck Whiggery 50 that it never'll get
lover il. We've got the Democratic par.s
fairly on its legs tgain. standing on The
good old platform that Gineral jackson
left il on; that is, agin the Bank, ugin ihe
Tariff, and agin Internal Improvements
and now we've nothing to do but 90 ahead
The FIRST real hard piece of Shedding we
come across was the platform business ;
that is to say, the question whether we
should 90 TO work and make platform first,
or take right hold and to nominate first
|, was a kno,tv question, and seemed to
bother some ot the members good deal
Mr. Nabers and Mr. Wise, and some others
insisted upon i, that we should begin the
foundation, aud make platform first tol
the Democratic candidate to stand on. and
then make candidate to fit to it. No
work would ever stand well unless YOU be-
gin at the bottom aud lay good founda-
ton first. Here's dozen parties here,
every one fighting for their own particular
candidate, and each one hoping to get the
nomination. AS long as that hope lasts il
will hold 'em al! together, and We can make
'em all work 10 help build platform. -
But the moment one gets the nomination
The res. will all fv off in a tangent; there
will be no moro working on platform, anC
your candidate will be left standing on
nothing Bu, Mr. Soule, oi Louisiana, and
Gov. FLOYD, of Virginnv, rowed just as
hard t'o,ber way. They declared we
could never make platform first. II we
undertook TO go 10 work upon It now, every
one Of the dozen parties would be pulling
and hauling ngn each other, and each one
hewing and cutting and carving to make
the platform to suit bis own candidate. In
Iibat way we never could make a platform
if we should work from the first Of June 4
the end Of time. The fact is The platform
must be made for the country; that is, tor
ihc Democratic party, and not for a candi
date a. soon as the candidate is ketchec
aud battered and tied to stump, we can
all set down almly and work together. and
make platform to suit the whole Democ
racy. The dispute went on pretty hlet
nearly all day, and was got over al las
by sort Of compromise TO have the plat
form and the nomination both going on To
gether So committee Of one from eacl
State was appointed TO 90 to work building
the platform while the Conv ven,ion went OF
! to nominate; then, as soon as the candidate
; was nominated, the platform could b'
, ready TO Sc, him right on to it.
Then come the nominating, and thai
was all an up hill business for about three
days and two or three nights. 1t was
found on the first pull that the Old Fogie'
was good deal too strong Tor Yonng Amer
Iica, and if there hadn't been so many Old
Fogies in the field we should got candi'
date on the first haul. Gineral Cass and
Mr.. Buchsnan each started with strong
: team Mr. Cass was little ahead, anc
he kept the lead for about twenty pulls
: and we thought by sticking to him like
wax we might be sbleto ge, him over the
hill. But his team began to lag after ter
or dozen pulls, and now at the twentieth
Ipull it seemed to be slowly backing down
bill, and the Buchanan team struggled ant
got ahead Then we thought we had bet
ter hitch on to Buchanan, and may be We
nigh, fetch him over the bill. We spurred
up for Il few pulls pretty well, but dldn''
get near to the top before the Buchanan
team got stuck, and then began TO back
down the hill, and all we could do sc
couldn't start it ahead again. But the
Cass team, which had backed down almost
to the bottom of the hill, after resting anc
breathing little, now took fresh start
to come up Al that we hitched on again
and determined, if possible, to shove hn
over this time. We whipped, and spnrred
=. aud pulled, aud pushed, and hollered, anc
: screamed, aud the team hauled we'll
Tho old ox.bows creaked, and we begun Il
J think We should reach the top. But whet
we got about twoJhirds the way up, tbs
team got stuck agin; and though II ioob
| eight or ten smart pulls after this, it ddn'
/. get any higher, but every time backed
, down little.
. Ii was pretty clear after this that it wa
oone ronse with tho Old Fogies. we