Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1860-03-03
The BALTIMORE CONTEST.
Correspondence Of The STAR


The readers Of your spi rited sheet are of course
aware that the Democracy Of this city have, du-
ring the past ten days, been agftated and excited
70 an unusual degree, owing to the interest which
centres upon Charleston, relative to the Presiden-
tai question. A portion of our party friends have
been, through the intriguing and Vaccinations of
few restless political spirits, arrayed in open
hostility to every Democrat who will not loud
mouthed, curse and abuse the Administration
The parties who have fomented this political
quarrel here. since that-to the Democracy-un.
fortunate day upon which they abjured the old
VIII faith and allied themselves to our party for
tie reason that In this direction lay political DOW
er in their every act attesed that their motto is
We would rather rule in hell, than serve in
Heaven" Ever aiming at powef they have
turned their gaze upon what they conceived to be
rising political star, and, unfortunate for Sem
ator Douglas, have allied themselves to his poit-
ical interests-for man must truly possess super
| human political strength in this community to
| bear the weight Of their approval
| AS you are already aware, in the fourth con-
2ressi onal district there has been a separation Of
the delegates chosen to select the delegates to the
| National Convention. The facts attending this
unhappy state OF affairs have been 30 perverted by
those who produced the result, by the sending of
of false kilograms, &C, to demand the telling
OF "a plain, unvarnished tale, that the minds Of
| the Democracy elsewhere may be dsabused and
| recognizing The Star as a Journal devoted to the
cause Of truth, propose to furnish YOU and your
readers with such history of the affair az the
record, In Its every particular, will fully sub
stantiate.
Long before the Presidential campaign was re-
garded as demanding the especial atent on of our
people, the leaders Of this turbulent faction organ
lzSd what Is known as the Jefferson Rotation
Democratic Association {" This organization en-
bodied all those who failed to obtain great ap
Pointments from the President, as its leaders and
directors, and such as Were UNSUCCESSFUL Ioca, an
4 Dill ants Its WORKING bOdy nd fnra
| they have, Known, tIinJ like held secret meet
ings, and lured and enlisted unthinking Demo
crats into their Organization byaPpeaing to their
worse passions, and infaming them to an inveter-
ate to these of their old party friends TO
whom had been accorded the local appointments
Conceiying, few months since, that their power
was SUN clent to deter rsa! Democrats from ayow-
Ing their adhesion to the Administration the
managers devoted it tO<he cause Of Senator Doug
las, In the furtherance Of their selfish interests
and to wreak their vengeance upon the Admins
tration because they could not control its patron
age The primary elections held by them on the
ruth ultimo were by them rendered a moe kerry
every know-Nothing Club in the Fourth Conyret-
sional District being enlisted into their service,
for hire-the contest being Douglas and Rotati on
vs.. Fealty to the Adm nstration Both parties
claimed the victory and will simply give the
record below: and leave your readers to determine
where the victory lies
On the night Of the 23d ultimo, the district
convention then elected, comprising the twelve
upper wards Of the city, met for the purpose of
selecting two delegates to represent the district at
Charleston, the convention having been direc ted
by the Democratic City Convention to organize at
o'clock Ten minutes before the hour fixed
the Douglas delegates attempted to obtain the adj
vantage OF the temporary organi zation with
view to the admitting Of all their deleg ates from
all the wards contested which comprised one
half the district. Here a scene Of much confu
sion ensued, the Administration men warmly Cd
posing this move. The excitement was kept up
until the proper hour arrived when the Admin
istration delegates succeeded in Organizing the
convention. This being done, the Douglas men
renewed the proposition to organize the conven
ton with their friends, which they did. AS soon
| chair, the Administration delegates proceeded to
business, and successfully adopted resolutions for
the appointment of committee on credentials
and the adjournment Of the convention until the
following day at II O'Clock, whereupon the Ad-
mlnistration delegates from six Of the twelve
wards left the ball
The Douglas delegates remained, and admitting
delegates from all the disputed wards, they pro,
ceeded to elect Robert J. Brent and Tnoma. M
l.anahan to represent the district at Charleston
those acting in this body claiming to represent the
Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, Thirteenth. Four eenth
Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth w ards
Inc n ght OF these delegates to seats will be here
after shown.
The following day the convention again met.
the committee on credentials having found that
delegates had been legally elected I'm all the wards
except the Ninth, Tenth, Eleventh, and Thir-
teenth where the stutting Of the ballot boxes and
the operations Of the Know Nothing clubs had
vitiated the result The convention then perma-
nently organized, with full delegations from the
i "elfth, Fifthteenth, Sixteenth. Seventeenth,
Eighteenth, and Twentieth Wards-thos. from
toe Fourteenth and Nineteenth. the remaini NO two
wards where legal elections had been held not
appearing In the convention. The convention
then proceeded regularly to elect two delegates to
the Charleston Convention, the choice falling on
Ex-Gov. Philip Frank Thomas and Charles J. Nj.
Gwinn.
those whom the Douglas wing admitted and acted
with. At the primary elections already alluded
10, the same delegates from each ward were
charged with the double duty of representjnp
their respective wards in district conventions
and in general city convention to select dele
gates to the State Convention to chose the two
senatorial delegates to Charleston. This general
convention met on Monday night last, and by a
unanimous tote admitted to seats al the delepates
who had acted with the Administration partv in
the district convention, while. by the same vote
enteenth and Eighteenth Wards who had acted
In the Douglas body, had no right to represent
these wards, and threw them out thereby attest
ing that the Proceedings of the friends Of Douglas
keiatlve 10 the Douglas resolutions adopted on
monday night 1t Is only necessary say that thew
were oneIed at time when one third Of the dele.
gates had LEFT the hall, and that the bulk of the
vote Tor them was cast by delegates I'm this CON
ventlon from the first eig hit wards which are in
tne thrd congressional district and that the reso
iutlons were offered by delegate from that dis
rict, they undertaking to decide upon an ;ssua
pertaining entirely to the fourth district in the
matters Of which they had really no more right to
interfere, officially, than have the conventions If
another state All these facts attested by the
record, ana Will he sustained before the Charles
TON Convention. Yours &c, OBSERVER.
EMBRYO PRESIDENTS AND VICE PRESIDENTS
IL I" we'll known in political circles here that
Senator Douglas and his leading sdheren.s have
played very bold and really amusing game with
more than score of gentlemen in public life
no" or ambitious again to be in public life He
and they have pledged the reverson Of his
strength in the Charleston Convention to at least
six would-be candidates for the Democratic Pres.
1dential nomination, and his support, and that Of
mis- party, for the Vice Presidential nomination.
10 full twenty-five. His condition made for the
reversion Of his Presidential nomination strength
is that the promised recipient Of 1t Is to labor with
might and main to secure him as heavy compli
mentary vote in the first few balottings as posi-
bic With those he tickles with the Vice Presi
Dental straw, the condition is, virtually that his
partizans In the convention Will vote for the nom
ination Of him who is most efficient i'm securing