San Andreas independent., 1858-09-04
A. 1853.
The Election.

ular Sovereignty" as vindicated by Ste
phen A. Douglas, of Illinois. The doc
trine was irresistible; and those who, in
the beginning, most strenuously opposed
it by denunciations and vituperations,
gladly endorsed Douglas and his princi-
pie before the people from the forum and
at the ballot box.
At the time the Administration papers
of this State began the war upon Doug
las, we, as an Independent Journal, de-
clared that Popular Sovereignty would
be endorsed by the people; and when
they assailed and maligned Douglas, and
by every means sought to ostracise him
and those who professed to believe as he
did, we denounced the prescription and
called upon the people of the county to
sustain the champion of their inalienable
right; and, if the county officers elected
believe and will act upon the doctrines
advanced by those who have conducted
the canvass, the people of the county
have done as we expected. We have,
therefore no cause to retract anything we
have said politically.
When the first convention of this coun-
ty met at Murphy's, we were decidedly
of the opinion, that Federal patronage and
designing politicians intended to carry the
county against Douglas, and in favor of
the Administration upon the Kansas
question. And from the expressions of
political leaders in this county, and the
tone of the different Democratic organs
of the State, at that time, we supposed
the war between Douglas and Buchanan
was to be fought here upon our hills and
among the placers, to the hilt. We un-
derstood that convention as inviting the
contest, and selecting their candidates for
the struggle. We were, therefore, pleased
when we saw large portion of our fel-
low citizens, who were as deluded as we
were upon that score, hastily organizing
convention to convene at Angels, for
the purpose of contesting the question
before the people, and we readily lent
what aid we could, by placing all the in
formation we could lay our hands upon
before our readers. We thought, too,
from the denunciations against Douglas
in the Democratic State Convention which
first assembled, that the war was to ex-
tend over the length and breadth of the
State; but, it appears that whatever
course the people have pursued elsewhere,
the fight in this county was simply be-
tween the two Conventions, without any
issue of principle.
We must confess, that from the first
political addresses made at this place
during the canvass by Messrs. Hardy,
Burdick and others, we were astonished
at the love professed for Douglas and
popular Sovereignty" and instead of
taking issue with their sentiments, we
most happily concur and so during the
entire campaign we have proudly listened
to the advocates of the two wings in our
county vie with each other in declaring
that Mr. Buchanan had done wrong in
endeavoring to force the Lecompton Con-
stitution upon an unwilling people, and
in lauding Mr.. Douglas to the skies as
the greatest statesman of the age, and
the most eloquent advocate of Popular
Sovereignty in our government.
Whatever others may do, we feel proud
of consistency everywhere, and under all
circumstances and we know full well
that the success of the nominees of the
Murphy's Convention is to be attributed
to the fact that the candidates elected are
all Douglas Popular Sovereignty men, or,
that they have been SO represented to be
by those who spoke for them in this coun-
ty. We do not profess to say that they
were nominated upon that question, but
whatever their feelings and prejudices
may have been, if they were not before,
they became upon the approach OF the
election, sworn to those sentiments, and
compromised to Douglas. We believe
that such of the petulant partlzans who
could not be trusted for want of proper
discretion, were kept quiet for fear that
an issue would be made against Douglas
by them. However, if there was an is
sue contemplated, it was not made, and
as both wings were strong in the advo-
cacy of Stephen A. Douglas and Popular
the county may be set down
as an unit upon that question. The po-
litical fight here was as to which conven-
ton should be sustained-the first, or last.
We cannot say whether we have been