The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1858-04-20
HON. JOHN w. ELLIS.


this article is now the acknowledged standard
bearer OF the great Dcmocratic-Party of North
Carolina. ~
<frevlOus to the nomination of Judge Ellis we
were silent as to our own preference for candi-
date. We pursued this course because we thought
we could best promote harmony in that way, and
be better prepared to give the claims of every gen
tleman due consideration. But row that the nonli-
nation Is made, we hesitate not to say that judge
Ellis was not our first choice but up to the tine
of his nomination no one in the State knew wheth-
er we were for him or not We did prefer anoth-
er gentlemen; not because we doubted Mr. Ellis
democracy, or his ability to bear the standard of
our party through the State in triumph, but be-
cause we thought the gentleman we had in view
as much entitled to the nomination as any other
man. We mention this fact now only for the pur-
pose OF dispelling any idea that we were waiting
to trim our sails to the popular breeze. We claim
no credit for having preference, inasmuch as we
did nothing to advance the prospects of the gentle
men whose nomination we desired, having taken
no part, either publicly privately, to influence
the action Of the Convention.
Now that Judge Ellis has been selected no one
will give him more hearty support than ourselves,
and the Western Democrat will be found battling
for the man aad for the principles of the demo-
cratic party. In presenting his name to the peo-
pie of the State candidate for the high and
responsible Office Of Governor, We feel that we are
presenting man every way worthy their conf
dence and support; one who is we'll known to every
section, from the seaboard to the mountains. He
needs no euogy from US. The learned counsel, the
profound and impartial urist, the patriotic states
man, the sincere friend his nomination will be
hailed with pride and pleasure throughout the
State.
Judge Ellis is native of Davidson County.
Soon after entering upon the duties of his profes
sion he settled in Rowan, which county he repre-
scented in the Legislature at successive periods I'M
til the session of 1913, when he was elected of
the Judges of the Superior Court, to ill the vacan-
cy occasioned by the promotion Of the Hon. r. NJ.
Pearson to the Supreme Court Bench, which high
and exalted position he has held from that time to
the present, discharging his duty-his acholc duty
with marked ability, calmness, fairness and I'M
partality, acithout fear and 'oithout reproach.
As politician, Judge Ellis has always been a
Der, when nothing but mere boy, hearing the
old farmers from Rowan in the streets and stores
of Fayetteville, recitc the thrilling incidents con-
nected with the clectioneering campaigns Of John
W. Ellis in Rowan. Contending then against a
focman worthy ofhis steel, he bore the democra-
tic standard triumphantly in every contest He is
standing to-day before the democratic party of the
=, in hat
weather-beaten and time honored flag, under which
the national democratic party have been, and still
are battling for the rights of the States and the
preservation of the Union, calling upon every pa
triot and lover of his country to rally, not to him
individually, but to rally around the standard of
their country, before the sun of its glory shall
forever pass the meridian OF its splendor and set in
darkness to rise 1t is no mere partizan
cause that he advocates but the cause Of North
Carolina-the cause of our common country We
belive that the Black Republicans of the northern
States have become so blinded by fanaticism and
so bent upon the destruction of the South and her
institutions that the only hope of the Union is in
the success of the democratic party. We believe
that unless this storm Of fanaticism is checked, the
day is not far distant when an oppressed and i'll
suited South will be united in the destruction Of
that glorious fabric reared by the great and illus
trous dead, even if they themselves should perish
amid its ruins To avert this calamity let us rally
around the only banner that dares to unfold itself
upon the stormy winds with State Equality and
Constitutional Liberty inscribed thereon, and
buckling on the impervious panoply of democracy,
go forth determined to
"Strike till the last armed foe expires,
Strike for the green graves Of our sires,
Strike for our affairs and fires,
God and our native land