Des Arc citizen., 1860-05-12

United states, auu lnlS OOnVeulOu hou
 no duty 10 perform in relation thereto, but
 to receive, confirm and publish the same, and caase it to be carried into effect where
 ever in the respective States the Demo cracy were able 10 enforce thelr decrees at the ballot. box.
 The undersigned are confirmed Tn thIs
 opinion by reference not only to the his,
 tory of the past, which shows that Tn all
 instances the sovereignty of the States, and
 not the electoral votes of the States, has
 uniformity been represented in the Com
 mittee on Platforms, and that the report
 of the committee has invariably been reg
 istered as the supreme law of the Demo- cratic party, by unanimous consent oi the
 entire Convention, without changing or Tn
 any manner altering any part or portion thereof. IL is asserted, as a part ot our
 traditional policy. and confidently believed that the Democracy of the Unlled States,
 by peculiar system of checks and bal
 ances, formed after the fashion Of the Fed eral Government, were contracted ana
 bound themselves to fully recognize the
 sovereignty of the Sales ID making the platform, and the masses of the States Tn
 banning the candidate to be placed on the
 platform. That many States have been unl- forrnly allowed to vote the full strength oi
 their electoral college in these conventions
 when il was we'll known that said States
 had never heretofore, and propably would
 never hereafter give single electoral
 vote at the polls to the candidate which they had so large q share m nominating
 cannot be accounted for on any other prln- ciple than that it was intended only as l.recognition of the sovereignty and equall- Ivy of said States.
 Would Il be right at this time for the
 numerical majority to deprive all the Black Republican States represented on this floor by their representatives, winch by
 custom they have so long enjoyed simply
 because it IS now evident that they are or
 will be unable to vote the Democratic ticket in the next Presidential election!
 By common consent we say that reck-
 less numerical majority should nol thus be
 allowed to tread under foot the vested
 rlgh,s of those States and the well estab-
 ished nsuages and customs ot the party
 If thus II be wrong for the numerical
 majority 10 deprive the Black Republican States of this long vested right, how much more unjust is il for .he numencaI maJerIlyI to deprive aiI the States of their vested right 10 make and declare the platform ID the usual and customary manner !-and when we call to mlnd that the numerlcal majority resides chiefly Tn the Black Re- publican States, to whom the South has uniformly accorded so high privilege, in naming candidates who were alone 10 be elected by Southern votes, we have much reason 10 believe that he to whom you gave an inch seems emboldened thereby 10 de- mand an ell
 The undersigned beg leave to state that many patriotic States Rights Democrats in t0e South have long contended that tbese Conventions. of the Democracy, re- in fact the whole consolidated strength of the Union acting through party sympathy upon the individual members oi society would ultimate in a despoic, colos- sal centralsm, possessed of power 10 over- ride and destroy. al its will and pleasure, the constitutions and reserved rights ot any md all the States. The South, however, las heretofore felt safe because of the checks and balances imposed upon the machinery of tie Conventions. The South et that where she retain7d an equal bower to write the creed of fajth, she could rust her Northern sisters, With thelr im- nense populations, to name the candidate; md all would alike support the creed and he candidate.
 The undersigned, well knowing the hostility of the Northern masses to the peculiar institutions of the South and .allng to mind the relative numbers ot he Northern and Southern States, assert with confidence that no Southern State in he Union would ever have assented to surrender so abjeotly and hopeiessly, all heir fortunes to the numerical majority who have just now voted 10 set aside the platform, unless by the full assurance that he States were entitled by agreement to make and establish the creed of faith and prescribe the rule of action. This viola ion of plighled faith on the part ot the numerical majority violation of the well established usage and custom of the party-drWe us to the conclusion that eve cannot longer safely trust the fortunes Of Stales 10 the chances ot the numerical majority in Conventions where all the Black Republicans of the Union, the immense populations of Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and other Northern States, are fully repre- sened, on the one side, against the small populations from tue slave States on the other Had these populations adhered strictly to the .usages and customs of the party, longer association might have been practicable; but annihilation IS staring us
 in the face, and we are admonished of our duty to stand upon our reserved rights
 We declare, therefore, that we believe our mission to this Convention al an end ::
 lst. Because the numerical majority have usurped the prerogatives of the States in set ting aslde the platform made by the States and have thus unsettled the basis of this Conven- tion, and thereby permanently disorganized it's convention. Its decrees, therefore, become null and void.
 2d. Because we were positively instructed