Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1856-05-29

ton.
Mr.. President, [ would ask the indul-
gence of the Convention for few moments,
briefly to state the plain process by which I,
as Conservative Wing, have come to act
with the National Democracy; and, with
out meaning to make any undue ~assump-
ton, believe / shall speak the sentiments
of large majority of the Wings Of South
ern Maryland. Applause.l Sir, when
recently it became our duty to survey the
field of our politics with view of taking
positions on the new issues, it became evil
dent, in the first place, that the Wing Par
ty, considered as substantial fact and liv-
ing power, was clean gone. Many still ad-
hered, it is true, to those of its principles
which they imagined still existed. Many
others still clung fondly to it's name and
were 10th to give up the prejudices and
watch-words with which they had become
identified, and in this hesitation not a few
were disposed to become confirmed when
|, they remembered the glorious position which
the Whig Party once occupied, and those
illustrious names that were it's boast and
which will follow it into history. Sir, you
can readily conceive, and this Convention
will not be slow to realize, how difficult a
thing it was, and must ever be, for men to
surrender the names and associations of a
lifetime. which have come to sound like
household words. Such attachments spring
from the best impulses of our nature, and
address themselves to our most generous
feelings. They are'the poetry of politics,
and will linger around the heart long after
their representative principles shall have
ceased to bind the judgmcnt And to men
who had been enlisted in SO pure cause
as the Whig Party once represented, how tru-
ly great might the struggle reasonably have
been, when they were called upon to make a
stern and imperative choice between the glori-
Gus memories ofdays gone by, and the solemn
duties of the days that are. But, Sir, the
Wings of Southern Maryland, while they
deeply cherished these feelings, yet with
that patriotic and conservative impulse for
which [ may be excused for saying, they
are distinguished, Iapplause were prompt
to recognize the broad distinction between
old memories and old principles-between
reverence for great deeds and great men
that were and are not, and the pressing con-
ficts of these perilous times in which, as
patriots, they could not stand idle. Ap-
plause. We could easily see that, of the
old Whig principles, some had been mani
festly abandoned some had become evident
ly against the policy of our section, and
therefore could not be supported by any par
ty.; while most Of them had undergone f.
nal solution by Legislation amounting in
many cases to a reasonable compromise be-
tween the extreme views Of the Wings and
the extreme views of the Democrats, and
were therefore driven from public attention
as having been definitely settled. Thus did
it appear that, en- all questions Of vital con-
cern, On all matters except mere names and
preiudices, the old Wing and the old Dem
ocratic party, after fighting desperately for
twenty-five years, had, in the year '55,
come down to common points having
nothing in the world to fight about, very
sensibly abstaincd from fighting at all
Applause. Sir, the people Of Southern
Maryland at least were not the people to
prolong a war when they beheld all the sub
stantial evidence of peace; they were not
the thoughtless citizens to incite domestic
quarrels in the city when an enemy lay in
waiting at the gate; applause, they were
not the men to stand apart for the sake Of
old prejudices, when common sense and the
perils Of the times babe them stand together
for the sake Of the country Loud ap-
plause. Of how thoroughly they have
made sacrifice of private dislikes on the
alter of public duty, you have abundant ev-
idence in the many Old Line Wings who
sit in this Convention, devotedly attached
as men can be to the essential principles Of
the Democratic Party as it now exists
Renewed applause,
In the meantime another Richmond had
entered the field of our politics, armed for
contest with every living champion and rea-
dy for any sort of work which did not require
him to show his face in the light of day ! al
lude, Of course, to notorious Sam-an indi-
vidual who will live in our history to ad-
monish our descendants how poor figure
politicians make when maddencd by fanati-
cism and hungry for the spoils of Office
Laughter and applause. When we first
saw the Know Nothing party, its face was
flushed with victory, and lit up with the
prospect OF political revolution and glo-
rious feast on the-loaves and fishes. Ap-
plause. 1t met the Wings who were walk
ing abroad and without acquaintance with
them, either by sight or congeniality of
habits, laughter, boldly offered its hand
and with characteristic impudence claimed
our fellowship without the formalitv of an
Introduction, as being section of the old
Whig family. Laughter and applause /
being willing to commit breach of polite
ness, we kindly consented to examine the
credentials of the stranger, to determine his
right to our hospitality. need hardly say
we quickly concluded that if he were of
Wing descent at all, he must be bastard.