Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1860-09-28
Mr.. Douglas on Forced Nominations.


On the 9th Of July 1852, Hon. S. A.
Douglas addressed the Democracy of Rich
mond, Virginia, in the African Church
From the speech prepared by himself. pub
lishcd in the Enquirer of July Goth, 1852,
we make the subioined extracts. It will
be remembered that at the Baltimore Wing
Convention of 1852, the North demanded
the nomination o. Gen. Scott. and the
South resisted the demand Commenting
upon the sectional aspect of that nomna-
ton, and the deplorable results that would
come from it, Mr. Douglas SAID
We'll, General Scott received the NOM
ination .tGlaniBloasy,' according to the
official proceedings Of the Conyention.-
daughter Fellow citizens, did you ev-
er hear of a unanimous nomination which
was made in defiance of the fifty times re-
peated protest and circumstances of the
delegations from one half of the States of
the Union represented in the Convention!
Every Southern delegation voted against
him more than fifty times. day after day, and
night after night, and vet the nomination n
was unanimous. Great laughter. The
nomination of General Scott, therefore,
presents to the American people this ex
traordinary anomaly. For the first tine
in the history of our party contests has
sectional nomination ever been forced up
on either of the two great parties You
may talk Of the dangers to the American
Union, growing out OF partisan strife and
political contest you nay tremble at the
scenes through which we all recently pass
ed, connected with the slavery agitation;
yet there was nothing in all that so peril
Gus to the :acety of the Union as section
al nomination for the Presidency, where
the North demanded the nomination OF a
particular man on a sectional issue. And
the delegation from every Southern State,
without exception. resisted the nomination
as dangerous to their rights and institu-
tions. 4 nomination forced upon the
South by the free soil wing of the wing
party North, is now presented to the peo-
pie as a unanimous nomination.
1t matters not whether the North forced
the nomination upon the South or the
South upon the North, the danger consists
in the fact that q territorial line divided
mems opinions that Northern men were
one way and Southern men another. But
after the nomination is made, we are told
that it is a fair compromise, because the
South received the platform, and the North
obtained the candidate under the direction
of men who defy ana spit upon the plat
form Thus we have Winfield Scott before
US for the Presidency. After mature de-
liberation he proceeds to write the letter
which he had promised Mr.. Archer in the
private note that was found in Bolts
brooches pocket" Laughter.
IF the reader will substitute ''Stephen
4. Douglas for winfield Scott" he will
have just and complete condemnation of
his own nomination. Gen. Scott, he pro-
nounced, would ''convert a good General
into a bad President ;" and we may ask
if the result would not be equally disas-
trous to Senator,
If Mr. Douglas could urge the facts con
nected with Gen Scott's nomination as
dangerous to the South, from the divi-
sions that existed in Baltimore in 1852,
what circumstance would palllate the evil
from the same causes in the Democratic
party in 1860? 'tOut of thine own mouth
do we condemn thee"
ANOTHER AccEssIoN.-Peter Y. Sang,
Postmaster OF Lamartine, (Wis.) who has
been a resident of Wisconsin for twenty
six years, and always Democrat, amnoun-
ces that he is now for Lincoln and Hamlin.
He says he has his neck ready for The gull
lotine.