Des Arc citizen., 1860-04-21
tI TO THE
 " OTE R s i. mTt AAr OF P R AIRIE COUNTY

I
 FRIENDS AND FELLow-C1rrzENs: -
 Monday next, is the day set by a portion o the democrats of our county who are in fayol of caucuses, to select man for you to vot,
 for to represent you in our next General As
 sembly. 4 portion of those proposing tc
 hold said caucus, it will be recollected, pro.
 tested, couple of weeks since, against the action of the State convention at Little Rock
 being delegates sent by caucus from thi:
 connty--however, l presume they feel them
 selves fully competent to hold convention ir Prairie county. Be that as it may, feel il
 my duty-a duty to myself as a candidate
 and to the people as voters-to call upon who.
 ever they may put out, to tell the people what
 he is in favor of. The latest improvement
 adopted by many caucus candidates, is to play
 "snut-mouth," except to claim to be the nomi-
 nee of the democratic party, the friends of
 whom may encourage one or two independent
 candidates to come out as Soft shells, Old-Line
 Wings, Americans, etc., as circumstances may require, each of whom is encouraged by those men, as their friends, to continue in the field.
 that their chances are exceedingly good-(deu say, with 300 democratic majority in the
 county). New accounts go to each one every
 few days of their gaining ground. All this, people of common sense know, to be for the purpose of dividing the vote with the non- l convention candidate, to put in their caucus
 nominee. And many other processes arc re-
 sorted to. In fact, their watch-word is, "we
 must succeed--we will rule p' What does l the most learned men say of such combina- Il tions? Mir. Calhoun of South Carolina, and Ia democrat, says the caucus system is calcula- 4 ted to undermine our form of government. for ' the reason that it took the political and gov Il ernlng power from the people, where the Con- I stitution placed it, into the hands of few \ designing politicians, who had their own
 selfish and ambitious ends to serve. It de- prives the unfortunate individual who may
 fall under its vengeance, of all public
 honors and emoluments, and consigns him, if l dependent on the government, to poverty and
 obscurity-while he bows down before it's
 mandates, it matters not how monstrous, se-
 cures to himself the honors of the State, be- comes rich, distinguished and powerful offices, jobs and contracts, flow on him and his connections. Judge Hanly, citizen of Ar | kansas, said to be as good democrat as any body, an old soldier in the cause for twenty five or thirty years past, and of first order of | talents, said in speech in Phillips county, a few months since, that he was in favor of conventions when they were necessary, and they were only necessary when there were two organized parties in the county-that
 where there is but one great party in exist ence, free fight and an open sea is the best policy. He read several pages from the writings of John c. Calhoun on conventions, and endorsed the sentiments expressed by that great statesman. What does the New York Day Book say? which paper is advocating
 Southern rights, and boldly fighting among the Northern abolitionists for the rights of
 the people as guaranteed in our Constitntion-- it says, for ten years past it cannot be disguis-
 ed that the caucus system has been made the means, to great extent, to defeat the popular will, or at all events to prevent the people from expressing their real convictions.
 Fellow citizens of Prairie, say let us have, as Judge Hanly says, a free fight and an open sea There is no necessity for any con vention. The idea of calling every democrat a disorganizer-placing him as a Know Noth- ] ing or Oppositionist-be he don't think it proper, under the circumstances, to join in great hue and cry about nothing, is certain
 ly, to say the least of it. very unjust. What
 would you think of parcel of men getting
 up company in Prairie county, and gathering
 up their guns-buying powder and lead-drill- ing-putting out spies-unfolding their flag to the breeze-exhibitng their bayonets, and | such like, making extensive arrangements to fight tremendous battle-and no one had de- clared war against them, or threatened, or done anything whatever to disturb them?
 This caucus to be held at Brownsville next Monday, iA my opinion, is not desired by one fifth of the democrats of Prairie county-this is my honest opinion--and not more than one half of those that go into that caucus, will
 come away satisfied. Were you satisfied, gem temen delegates to the State convention, held at Little Rock two weeks since? Certainly you were not-or you would not have entered your protest against 1t before leaving the place, after voting in it, holding up your right hand, as though you were about to swear by the powers that be, with fingers and the thumb spread out, as though you counted five sure, and yourself one. Then let me beseech you to stay out of that one at Brownsville,
 next Monday, lest you have to enter protest
 against that also. I say, stay out of the eau GUS. Let every free American citizen of | Prairie county that desires to run for office,
 do so. It is their right as free people, and yeu have no right to choke them down. Let ! the honest people as free American citizens exercise their own judgment in the selection of their officers, vote for who they please, and | I will venture all possess, they will elect democrats if they desire them. If this is not democratic, hope that some caucus will issue | instructions, as l, and very many others, may | not understand what democratic means, and
 if the caucus taking the matter under consid-
 eration, as body deem it unnecessaryto to issue 1 instructions, we hope some one of its would
 be officials, the great Am, would issue, in
 small convenient book form, slitely bound in calf, or dog, goat, cat, coon, or oppossum, alphabetically arranged, gilt edge, copy right secured, embracing exclusive privileges. But l am off from the subject. My object in ap-
 bearing in the paper, is to call upon the cau-
 GUS candidate, who ever he may be next MonA
 day, to let us know what he is in favor of be-
 sides caucuses, and by the way, give the peo,, l ple sketch of what 1 am in favor of, and
 will try to do should they think proper to l elect me to represent them in our next Legis- lature. will leave politics out of the ques-
 tion. When take the stump, as did two years ago, county and State policy will make up most of my discourse. will state that joined the democratic party four years ago,
 and cast my vote for President Buchanan.
 have never regretted my course. have been
 Whig all my life prior to joining the demo-
 cratic party, (except short while with the
 American party after the old Whig party had
 disbanded.) Seeing that the democratic party
 had adopted nearly all the principles of the
 old whig party, leaving but little differences between them, and in as much as the whie party had disbanded, thought the democratic party the best in existence and joined it. have to say never have set myself up as { politician-if thought proper might hold ;
 hand with some of the l Ans, even of th' | caucus party. But what is the use of politi
 cal speeches.? Who is opposing the demo , cratic party in Arkansas? With 12,000 ma iority for governor at our last election, and