The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1860-06-28

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fast devotion, it was ominous that old Vir-
ginia should be the first to turn her back
upon the party in this hour Of peril.
You have had all the subsequent particu-
lars of the action of the two bodies both
claiming to be the "National" Convention
of the Democratic party with their respec-
tive candidates, but it may not be altogeth-
er useless to call the attention OF your read
ers 10 the immediate cause of the dissolu- |
ton. Though there were many attendant,
causes for the secession of the States, the al
lodged one was the adoption of the maj ori-
ty report, by which large body of rightful
delegates of the convention was excluded,
and bogus and unauthorized delegations,
without right and in defiance of party pre-
cedents, were substituted. If the allegation
is a correct one, there was good cause for
secession.
The minority report in a very able and
convincing manner sets forth the reasons
why the seeding delegates should be ad-
mtted, and why the contestants from Mas
sachusetts and Missouri were entitled TO
their seats The report perhaps may have
been prepared at Washington, under the eye
of Hunter Benjamin il Co.; at any rate it
report OF the majority does not attempt to
| answer it or to give reasons for the admis
sion of the other sets of delegates The
minority report bases one of the chief rea-
sons for the admission of the Charleston
seceders on the ground that hen they
withdrew it was we'll understood that they
desired instructions from their constituents;
that they retired to their respective States
and by regularly called State Conventions
| or other equally well-recognized party au-
thority, were re-appointed delegates to the
National Convention and accredited to Bal
timore and that their contestants were
either appointed by a small body Of boiling
members from the State Conventions or were
the delegates of bogus, unauthorized, and
insignificant meetings. According to es-
tablished Democratic precedents and au-
thority, undoubtedly the seceders should
have been admitted, and the South was
| iusti6able in regarding it as an outrage
upon their rights ard as an evidence of the
/ fixed and unalterable determination of the
| Douglastes to exercise their majority power
regardless Of right and the integrity Of the
party.
] Many of us think that the salvation and
| honor of the country depended upon this
! disruption and destruction Of the Democratic
| party, but if there is any responsibility and
crime attached to its Acknowledgement, even
a casual observer of the events and spirit
manifested at Baltimore, must know that
that responsibility and crime rest with the
| Douglas faction of the party. On the Fri
day, Saturday, and Sunday preceding the
! Convention, the New York and North west
delegates called upon Mr.. Douglas and it
| was an undisputed rumor at Washington
that lie had advised his friends to stand by
him uncompromisingly They came to
| Baltimore manifesting and utterng the de-
termination to have Douglas or no one. In
the Convention, from beginning to end,
they exhibited this spirit. Aware of their
power in the Convention, they refused to
| hear debate on every important measure.
| From the Douglas headquarters, on the steps
! of Hon. ReVerdv Johnson mansion, night
| after night, they proclaimed to the assembled
thousands, and in tle hearing Of the South
ern speakers, that they wonld have Douglas,
and no one else; that as sure as the morn
ing sun would rise, Douglas would be the
nominee, and that the South would be COM
PEELED to accent him. Notwithstanding the
| South declared they had no personal prefer
ences, and rendered to them Dickinson, Sey-
mOur, Breckenridge, Lane, Guthrie, Gov.
Wright or one of forty others, they refused
to listen to all proffers.
There seemed a general outside sentiment
that Douglas and his adherents had over
| shot the mark, that f" his vaulting ambition
had o'ereaped ITSELF" that his oyerweening
desire for the Office had destroyed the party
and procured for him the barren honor of a
sectional nomination. His conditional and
quasi letter of withdrawal was considered
as mere ruse, and did not appear until the
! mischief had been done, and the nomina-
ton made. The choice of Fitzpatrick for
! Vice President, shows eonclusively that it
was person and not principle for which they
| were contending. Mr.. F. has always been
regarded as an incorporating southern
! man, with clear southern record on the
slavery question, Lecomptonite, and vot-
ed for Daviss ultra slave-code resolutions in
the Senate few weeks ago.
Whence Mr.. Douglass electoral vote is to
come, it is hard to conceive. To listen to
his adherents at Baltimore, one would think
he would sweep the whole country like q
whirlwind. They were exceedingly prof.
cient at the game OF brag. One Of their
boasts was that Indiana was certain for him
by $4,000 majority. They said that thou
sands tens Of thousands Of Republicans IN
that State arould cote for him! By such
boasts they thought to influence his nom-
nation. But the Anti-Douglas men were
firm in their declarations that lie could not
carry a single Southern State, and that there
was not one Northern State certain for him
The popular sentiment in Baltimore is
decidedly against him; the enthusiasm
manifested for him there was foreign-from
the clubs Of Philadelphia and the North
west The Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Gin
cinnat and Chicago Brass Bands created
the principal Douglas enthusiasm.
The delegates are returning home with
They regard the party as hopefully distract
ed aud all prospect of the election Of either
of the candidates by the people as decidedly
gloomy. The Douglas men are very much
taken aback by the strength of the Seced-
ers ticket. : violent attemnt at cnthusi-