Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1859-08-24

18th District Vances majority, 1896
The understanding in 1852, when the Districts
laid off, was that each party would have four;
the Democrats the Second, Third, Fourth, and Sew
enth and the Whigs-for there ,cere Wings in those
days-the First the Fifth the Sixth and the Eighth
BY great efforts the Democrats gained two of these
Districts, the First and the Sixth, and held the
Eighth, which was Whg, as long as Mr.. Clingman
remained in the House The Seventh District was
barely Democratic, yet Mr.. Craige has held that
with maortes ranging from three hundred to twenty
five hundred At one time there was but one Know
Nothing member Mr.. Gilmer; but afterwards Mr.
Vance elected and by the loss of the First and
Sixth Districts two more Know Nothings have been
added to the delegation.
In 1853 DIR. Shaw carried the First by 81 majori-
ty; in 1866 he was defeated by Col. Paine X. n,
by 346; and in 1857 he was elected by So majority.
The most extraordinary and unjustfable means
were rcsorted to by the Know Nothings in this Dis
trct during the late contest The staple of the
appeals of Mr.. Smith and his partizans was State
debt and federal extravaganza. The cry was
"Smith and low tares," and this cry acquired force
from the fact that Mr. Smith had voted in the Leg
islature against the bill to raise money to pay the
State debt And as evidence of the inconsistency
of the Know Nothngs and of the demagogism of
their conduct we state that in the Eighth District
the Democrats were held responsible for the failure
of the bills to aid the Western Extension, and no
doubt lost many votes on this account. In the East
the Democrats suffered account of appropriations
for internal improvements; in the West they suffer-
ed because the appropriations were regarded as in
sufficient. Let the Western people remember this.
Let them remember that the watchword of Mr..
Smith and his party in the late contest opposi-
ton to their interests and that too though his
ton has recently received handsome amount in
aid of their Canal. Let Western Know Nothings,
If hey can, rejoice over Mr.. Smiths success In
addition to this, we learn from the Murfreesborough
Citizen, that fraudulent votes were poed for Mr..
Smith, and that numbers of inoffensiye Democrats
were kept from the polls by threats and intimida-
ton. That paper says
ave believe that this election has been carried
by fraud and intimidation. A purgation of the
polls would show that scores, if not hundreds Of
illegal votes were thrown for Mr.. Smith. Besides
this, we believe that many honest but ilterate De
mocratc voters were imposed upon with spurious
tickets. To our knowledge several Democrats vo
ted, in a single precinct on last Thursday, for Mr.
Smith, under the suppostion that they were voting
! for DR.. Shaw"
That paper adds
"The menace of violence, thrown out in the
Winton convention of last May, although it seemed
at time unlikely to be carried into effect has
nevertheless been thoroughly fulfilled. The mos
disgraceful scenes have been witnessed from one
end of the District to another. The canvass has
been signalized with affrays and assassin-like at
tacks to which not the animus of murder, but only
the strength or the nerve to execute was wanting.
There are other facts which we might mention
but we have said and quoted enough to show thai
Mr. Smiths victory was not fairly achieved.
In the Sixth District Gen. Leach and his partzan'
were, if possible, more unscrupulous than the Know
Nothings were in the First Every device and al
kinds Of false statements were resorted to to deceive
and mislead the uninformed. The expenditures o
the federal government, the pension bill, the pay
members Of Congress, specific duties, the Pacific
Railroad the thirty million bill,-all these thing
We're handled by Gen. Leach and his friends in ,
way which rendered it for the time being impossible
for the truth to keep up with them 1t was falsely
charged, too, and no doubt believed by some Of tn
"oiiS, tilaI Houcy hdu ucen ScilC Oi iTOiH w ash
ngton City to be used against Gen. Leach. Still
Mr.. Scales runs but fifteen votes behind his vote il
1857, when his majority was 729. Gen. Leach
clear gain in Iredell and Davidson is sO2 lacking
only one hundred of his majority in the District
Ills votes in these two Counties are cery large
larger than have ever been given to others Of hi
party. We do not know but we trust, for the char
acter of the District and of the State that they ar
all genuine votes.
We deeply regret the defeat of those worthy mel
and, and sterling Democrats Shaw Scales Coleman, AM
Williams; but, looking to the future, we are not a
all depressed by the result. "Sweet are the uses
suVerslty" We now know the ground we occupy
"e Danger that threatens, and the amount of worl