Western sentinel. [volume] (Winston [i.e. Winston-Salem], N.C.) 1856-1886, 1860-07-13
l'he Convention.

In April last, the Democratic National
Convention met in the city of Charleston.
Its ranks were full. From the Atlantic to
the Pacific, from the Saint Lawrence to
the Rio Grande, no State was unrepresen-
ted, hardly a seat was vacant. OF the six
hundred and six delegates present, com
pact body representing between one hun
dred and twenty and one hundred and thir-
ty electoral votes went for douglas or no
body" and for Douglas and has interpre-
tation Q. the Cincinnati platform, or not
at all. BY adroit management this mi
nority of, the Convention obtained CO ntrol
rs a11 e
although outnumbered on the floor OF the
house. This was done by the operationof
the rule that each delegate should vote
separately, unless where fhe Convention
of his State had otherwise directed or pro-
vided but that where such Convention
had so directed or provided, the vote Of
each State should be cast as unit. The
effect OF. adroit nan@uvre was thatin egery
State where there was an anti-Douglas mi
nority, the voice Of euch minority was sup
pressed, while, in euery State where there
was Douglas minority. such minority
was allowed to poll its full strength. In
New York the voice of fourteen electoral
votes was suppressed. In North Carolina
and Virginia, even the one or two votes
that the DouSlas men could rally had its
full hearing. The ten Douglas votes of
Pennsy mia were counted, although a
minority. The fiVe anti-Douglas votes of
Indiana were suppressed, although bear
ing as large proportion to the Indiana
delegation as the ten Douglas votes did to
the PENNSYLVANIA delegation.
Iwiu was the position OF things at Charles
toTef ats shows the adroitness and unscru-
puFGno o.less Of the Douglas nanagers-it
does not prove, asserted by Douglas
and his supporters, that he or his platform
ever received bona fae endorsement at
the hands Of the Charleston Convention.
Tricks OF this kind neither make nor indi-
cate public opinion.
AS the first week of the Charleston Con-
vention wore on, it began to be apparent
that the fictitious power thus obtained was
to be used with the utmost rigor, and when
on MonSay6 of the eec6nd week. the crisis
did arrive, # was not Until the Southern
delegates had exhausted every @conceiva-
be effort to obtain such concession on the
question of platform as was essential to
their own honor, and due to the rights and
interests of their section-such concessions
too as the managers for Judge Douglas
might easily and fairly have granted
such concessions as they ought to have
granted, and aoou1d have granted had their
object been harmony, or had they not con-
sidered the rights and Interests of the Dem
ocratic party altogether secondary to the
promotion of that gentleman. And we
take occasion here to say that although
the delegates from North Carolina were
not originally Douglas men, yet they
went to Charleston without any pledge,
and generally withont any serious commit
tai against him. On any reasonable and
fair platform we were prepared to go for
Judge Douglas at any moment when our
vote might have sufficed to nominate him.
But his wire-workers at Charleston would
concede nothing, and when we use the
word sscencede" we wish it distinctly nm
de,stood that no one asked for or wished
for anythingsin addition to or in advance
of the Cincinnati platform. With that
the whole South was and is perfectly salts