Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1860-08-22

| OF the CniVarOuS SOutu Tic WOutu-Oc SIco' os,.
! ern metropolis. .+s. =, a. -'4ssts4 - .
MANY Of the seceders manifested rancorous bit
terness against Northern Democrats and Judge
| Douglas which I have never witnessed in any pot
ical contest and was astonished, as well as graft
fed, at the patience and forbearence with which II
was endured. r. p $50.
The crisis of the Convention came upon the intro
duction of the reports Of the committee on plat.
FORMS You have frequently seen these reports, and
think it unnecessary to repeat their substance
The Cincinnati platform was adopted, with some ad
ditional resolutions, which were contained IN both
reports The Northern men did not ask US to sub.
scribe to their opinion on popular sovereignty,
and they did not wish to be bound by the anti
Democratic doctrine Of Congressional Intervention.
| regret that direct vote not taken on the so
called majority report, as am well satisfied that
the Intervention doctrine would not then have been
sustained by the conservative South.
Upon the adoption of the platform the seceders
left the Convention, saying, in substance, that as
honorable men they could not longer remain How
was their honor affected? 1t was the old Democrat
ic platform, and contained nothing which they had
not recommended and often subscribed to- They
left because planks were not put in, squared and
shaped according to their particular views, without
reference to the opinions of Others They were
largely in the minority, and even the gentlemen
from the -" Cotton States may sometimes be wrong.
They certainly ought not to set themselves up as
the unfailing and unerrng oraces Of the Democratic
party and turn deaf ear to every voice that comes
not from their own shrnes. If they desired to pre-
serve the unity Of the party, it would at least have
been generous in them to have made some little
cession to the opinions Of their less enlightened
brethren.
Upon leaving the Convention, the seceders formed
themselves into new sectional party organization.
The little Yancey caucus was suddenly transformed
into the Constitutional States Rights party, and af
ter a little "vamping up" by the seceders Conven-
ton at Baltimore, and the South Carolina Conven-
ton at Richmond, it has assumed the name of the
National Democratic party. What
"Tall oaks from little acorns grow"
After the seceders left, peace and harmony could
have beer restored but for the tremendous sectional
outside pressure which surrounded the convention,
and embarrassed its deliberations. Virginia de-
manded, as condition upon which she would re-
main in the convention that the "two-thrds rule !"
should be so construed as to require candidate to
receive othrds of the votes of the whole Electo-
raj College before he declared the nominee of
the party This was forced construction Of that
rule contrary to justice and the usages of the
party and yet Northern men voted for it. and sub.
mtted to it. to restore harmony, when they knew
that it would defeat their favorte candidate re-
qured him to receive fourths of all the votes cast
This certainly was not uncompromising devotion to
one man. They would not entirely surrender their
principles, but were willing to give up their man as
a sacrifice to appease the fierce spirit of sectional
ism.
have often heard it charged that the Douglas
men were determined to have him nominated at eve
nv hazard. The charge is untrue. | will speak
first for myself was willing at any time to give
up Judge Douglas when stronger man was present.
od 7 nto6 trith my for tI,a,
wanted. The South could not agree upon any can
didate. Judge Douglas received majority Of fifty
over all the other candidates combined. Would it
have been Just and right in his friends to Withdraw
his nane when he had majority of the whole elcc-
toral college, and there Was no other man on whom
his opposers could agreey Virginia and Kentucky
both continued to vote for their favorte candidates
during the whole ballotng-when neither received
half as many votes as Judge douglas, and yet no
complaint is heard against them. have often
heard it said that justice was blind and | am sure
it is so, if she has at any time presided over the
bitter councils of sectonalism.
The Douglas men are also charged with having
unfairly adopted rule to favor his nomination.
The rule allowed every delegate to vote as he pleas
ed. unless he was instructed by his State conven-
ton. The rule was adopted by large majority,
and voted for by many rampant seceders. 1t was
ernnently just and proper. 1t prevented some anti
Douglas men from voting as they wished, but it
also sti1ed the voice of many friends of Judge
Douglas in Southern delegations He lost more
than he gained by the rule and yet it is attributed
to the unfair management of his friends Well,
politicians never look except upon their side of
question.
was sorry to hear the bitter taunt so often cast
into the teeth of the Northern Democrats by the
generous sons Of the South: 1--WE are the Demo
cratic States and ought, therefore to rule" When
was this principle ever adopted? In ls4S the North
gave seventytwO electoral votes for the Democratic
candidate, and the South only fifty-fve. In 1859
the North gave more votes for Gen. Pierce than the
South. Did the North ever in the time of Demo-
cratic ascendency deny to North Carolina or any
other Wing State equal rights in National Con-
vention? The warm-hesrted and genial South
ought certainly to have been as generous and mag
unanimous as the bleak, cold North how have
the Northern Democrats lost their power? Look
to their votes on the Wilmot Provso the Fugitive
slave law, the Kansas-Nebraska act and on various
other important questions when they stood side by
side with their Southern brethren, and you will
find the cause. They went down before Northern
sectional storm. They were deprived of all places
Of honor, profit and trust,-they gave up every
thing but honor to maintain their plghted faith to
the South. To maintain holy and inviolable the
sacred covenant of "nonintervention," they cheer
fully sacrificed themselves for an ultimate good
They have fought the battle for rights long and
well, and in the very hour of triumph the trophies
of victory snatched from their grasp by of
their companions in arms. If they had yielded up
the principle Of nonimterrention at the demand Of
the seceders they would have been dishonored
men. Men of the South you ready to break
faith with the gallant men of the North? They
have been true to you in every trial-will you dis
own them now as your friends? If you yield now
to the power of sectionasn, it is but natural that
the North should De governed by the same influen.
ces, and both sections will become estranged and
bitterly hostile and then we will soon rush into the
madness of fraternal strife. Men of North Carolina
you willing to dissolve the Union of fathers
in order that you may follow the hayward fortunes
and destines of the "Cotton States?" The issue is
upon you, and you must decide now and forever.
After session of ten days the Charleston Con
vention was adjourned, on the motion of Virginia
to meet at Baltimore on the Sd Monday of June. =
We all hoped that time would cool down our excited
feelings and the "sober second though" would re
store harmony to our party. Provision was made
to supply the yacancies occasoned by secession that
we might have n trulv national convontion W.