The Camden weekly journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1853-1861, 1860-03-06
Letter from General EsoEi,an, TO
Joseph ADncy, ESQ.
WASHINGTON CRY, February 2.I, 1860.

| DEAE SIR. UHaVOldaDlG circumstances llilNC
prevented my answering sooner Your letter
asking nv views rs to the Charleston Conycr-
ton. This must now be al: answer to yours
and to others making similar inquiries oLIthe
same subject.
r 1t il known to my constituents that favor
whilst DO not urge, the States being represented
in the Charleston Convention. The system
docs not command my appreciation as n mode
of selecting candidate. lft were a new qucs-
ton, I should not advocate its inauguration.
The congressional caucus system would at this
day be better, as the nomination would be made
alone by the representatives of democratic
constituencies. The fact that the democratic
Candidate, (NIr. Douglas not excepted, should
he be nom:natcd) will, in the next election,
probably not receive one of the ninety one
votes to Jc cast in the Electoral Colleges by
New England, New York, Michigan, Iowa, and
! Wisconsin, makes it still more Objectionable
even with the long settled two thirds rlic as a
part OF its organization.
Thinking we may stit+ t+participatc in their de-
libcrations, recent political events make ii, for
various reasons matter Of vast consequence
that the State should be correct Y represented
in the Charleston Convention.
Extraordinary efforts arc now being made to
secure the nomination of Judge DougIas to the
high office of President. And whilst there is no
little of hrag in the announcements made b"
partisan presses Of his strength before that body,
believe it is admitted that by aid of the votes
he will be able to get from the black republican
States above mentioned, and others, which will
probably go against the hcdcnocratic party in the
election itself, hc will go into the Convention
with a larger vote than any other candidate.
But let lis amalyzc this vote. The one hun
drcd and twenty Southern votes and the seven
votes of the Pacific slope Judgc Douglas cannot
obtain, in the first instance before the Couvcn-
ton; so that if he gets the remaining Northern
vote (Which is very impr .blc) he will enter
the Convention with ono hundred and seventy
six votes. Ninctyonc of these, as before stated,
neither he nor any othcrdcmocrat will probably
get in the Electoral Colleges. The remaining
cightr-ivc votes are from the doubtful States
of New jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois and Minnesota, onc-llaf of which, ut
least, will support the republican candidate for
President, and the other half would as soon,
perhaps sooner, vote for sound Southern
democrat than for Judge Douglas himself; so
that the probable available vo;c with which
Judge Douglas will enter the Convention will
not exceed fort-two. Laying aside the right
of the South to have the candidate the three
last candidates OF The party having been from
the North, with what propricty can it be asked
that the South shall accept Judge Douglas as
her candidate, when that South will have to
furnish thrce-tourths of:thc votes in the Ecc-
toraI Colleges which are to secure his election
Ii availability be the rule Judge Douglas should
not bc the candidate.
This contest should be raged s1uarcly upon
tic constitutional rights of the Souti-Lo COM
promise of principle GG4i;ietnd G4i or foe. If
lrillsiS|S;, j t:.rsle j, Of a cani-
the So,ltlI. f.q.
IT is an insult to the South to ask her to
vote for him, for implies that she will sell her
principles for Il false triumph, or yield them
through fear of her enemies. 1t is offering TO
force on her tile hmiliating alternative Of ac-
cepting Judge Douglas or a Black Republican.
lie has said he will be the candidate Of the
Democratic party on the Cincinnati: platform,
and not otherwise His construction Of that
platform is, that it recognizes his doctrine of
sqlmttcr or popular sovereignty, by which the
South would bc most cftcctually and, forever
deprived ofunv share in the common territories
of the United States. If the South accepts
him as her candidate for President under such
circumstances she ungucstionaby endorses
squattcr sovereignty. The distinguished Senator
from Indiana, Mr. Fitch, in his speech on the
I'd instant in the Senate, presented this matter
in its true light:
'lf the South nominate the Senator alluded
to, Mr.. Douglas, with its present views, the
entire North will dccmthc act an expression of
willingness upon their part that his views shall
become the future settled policy of the Govern
mcnt; ; the United North will act upon tllat
policy, carry it out to the full, and no aid must
he expected by the South from any portion Of
the North in any effort they may hereafter
make to prevent the progress ci' that policy to
the end When by such act it establishes his
policy, the South, and the Senator from Illinois,
Mr.. Douglas will lave done more to accom-
pIiS the favoritc and avowed Scheme Of the
Republican party than any effort of that party
could have donc-thc scheme of surrounding
the Southern States with free territory, and
starving out their institution; for under that
policy, organize Territory where yon may,
whether it be in Dakota OF the North, or
Ar;,zona of the South, the bold, adventurous
non-savchohling trontiersmen OF the West
whose moyahcs include 40 luxuries-whosc
ncccssarcs arc readily supplied by the axe and
the rifle, will 20 into the Territory, possess
themselves of its Legislature, and exclude
Southern property, while the owners OF that
property are packing up their household goods
and preparing their chattels for removal"
Lot The South claim the jnst measure OF her
rrhts under the Constitution in that con"cn-
ycntion, and accept nothing less. We can bet
ter sustain such measures before the country,
even at the North, than such as conccdc any
portion of those constitutional rights. The
friends we have at the North can better sustain
themselves at home OH such Il platform than
on one 'scctioually unjust and unconstiutlon-
al."
The gallant State Of Alabama has taken Il
hirh and patriotic stand in the defence Of the
South. and has instructed her delegates to the
Charleston Convention to insist upon the pro-
lection, by every department of the Govern
mcnt. of the rights Of the owners Of slave p,o-
pcrtv in the Territories; thatthc same shall be
part of the platform Of that Convention before
.roinr into the nomination for President and
Vice President; and upon the refusal OF the
Convention to adopt,in substance, the Alabama
platform, her delegates are instructed to with
draw thcrctrom.
Such should be the position OF every South
crn State; and if VIC caunot secure the appoint
q /. Z 1 i To-.