The weekly Mississippian. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1859-1864, 1860-06-13

pite Of these nttiesFFahgeaents. Laughter. j
/ had here amongst my papers, think, the {
sueech of delegae, who explains this ma /
jority. a..
were said at Charleston, shall recollect it.
Mr.. Beniamin-Weil, sir, will state the
substance Of it | caurlot find the extract
had and shall have 70 atiix it to my speech.
Gentlemen have doubtlesseen It, Scarcely had
the Charleston Convention met, and a COM
mittee been appointed on ORGANIZATION, when
II reported an organlzatlohoi PRESIDENTS we
'.asidonts and secretaries, and sprung this
resolution on the convention l"stalher-the
convention had previously aaop'eu 'he rules
of the previous Democratic consehtlonS-
1.-THE committee further resonin,eha-
The subject was not coliii''''A " 'Ne'ii ~
all r,,o committee further recommend that |
the rules ard regulations adopOou Uy .ne
Democratic conventions OF Ioo- sau go =.
adopted by the convention LOT It's s''''""''
with this additional rule
THAT in any State when mas nv p -. H.
or directed by its State conVehtion III III =.
votes may be given, the conVeh'lon 80 ~
cognize the right oil each ueie5'''
individual vote" ,;da.as for
certain
AZ pras;Jarcy wherever those gentlemen
,rore in the majority. they had taken special
pains, by reorganization, to get Le -, ,be
paSsed at the State conventions instrucunS the
9aIorotes to vote as a unit, and thus they
c,stennd down every man in minority III tle
i United states who was opposed to the Sena-
tor from Illinois and in spite Of hlnseii gov
his vote cast for the Senator from ILLINOIS al
thouqh he was opposed to him. But olhcr
men in different parts OF the country, leaving
the Democratic organizations to the instincts
of their own Judgment; leaving the opera''on
the time-honored traditions of the party nov
| tvinp ND their delegations by instructions, lell
! them to act as they, the State delegauons'
might think proper and when they got 70
! Charleston, by casting the votes oi the mlnoii-
ties that were against Mr. Douglas, and Tree
ing the hands of all the minorities that were
| in his favor, he had cast for him all the mi
uorites. both those for him and those against
| him. in all the United States. That Is the
way he rot one vote more than half the con-
vention. Now, what | was looking for, was
this the distinct statement of delegate from
Massachusetts (Mr Butler) that there were
fifteen steady, persistent votes against the
Senator from Illinois from the State OF New
York alone | am telling you what Mr.. but
Ter said.
Mr.. Pugh-I read his speech last night. l
think he said twelve. g..
Mr.. benjamin. read it this morning 1t
said fifteen 1t may have changed since last
night
Mr.. Pugh-Very we'll fifteen delegates.
Mr.. Beniamin-He says there were fifteen
delegates from New York alone who were
steady persistent opponents of Mr.. Douglas I;
vet those votes were cast for him. 1bere
was a minority in Indiana; but those Votes
| were cast for him. There were minorties IN
other States. which added up and instead
! of having majority of the delegates OF the
! Democratic party throughout the nlted
States in his favor, Mr.. Douglas was in lean
minority of but one-third of the delegates. and
that one-tlird exclusively from Republican
States. The whole Democratic party oil the
United States, as its Democratic electoral
votes will testify, was opposed to him unani-
mously. Mr. Butler says so. My friend from
Minnesota Mr. Rice) has just handed me the
extract in the Constitution of this morning :
and will read, not the whole of it, but por-
tons of it, and if | am wrong in my memory
as to fifteen, | will give up.
! Mr.. Pugh-I read it in the Herald last
night.
Mr.. Beniamin-Mr. Butler, in giving an
account to his constituents at a meeting called
to censure him. but which approved and in
dorsed him after he was through, said
I'm New York there were fifteen opposed
to Judge Douglas from first to last yet her
thirty-five votes were cast for him on every
ballot-in Ohio SIX votes
Mr.. Pugh-Not one.
| Mr.. Benjamin
In Indiana, five votes, in Minnesota, two
votes opposed to him, vet by that rule cast for
him, so that the majority was more apparent
| than real'
leave out the six votes from Ohio. The
/ Senator from Ohio, who was a delegate him
SELF must certainly know better than the del
egate from Massachusetts,, and | abandon the
point to his superior knowledge; but here,
without counting any more, fifteen in New
! York, five in Indiana, two in Minnesota make
TWENTY-FIVE Take twenty-five from one hun
dred and tifty-two and there remains one
hundred SOD kiaasts -:
~ WIS utssSi-1es him from the State oil Ohio.
! But, sir, will not enter into these minutie,
/ which ought not to be entered into the Senate,
and which | certainly never would have
! thought Of speaking of but for the constant
vaunt of the Senator from Illinois that the ma
! iority was his, and he was entitled to a nomi-
| nation that the party had backed his prin-
ciples, and that we were all rebels against his
high majesty. l should not have inquired in
to this matter but for that. And, now, what
! does this delegate say as to the sum total Of
what occurred He says:
"Now, with the South opposed to Judge
Douglas, even to disruption Of the party |;
with every Democratic free State voting
against him +; with two-thirds of the delegates
of the great State of Pennsylvania firmly
against him, one-half nearly in New York
hostile, New Jersey divided, and the. only
State in New England where the Democracy
can have much hope (Connecticut) nearly
equally balanced, what was it the part of
wisdom for your delegate to do ?
That is the question Mr.. Butler presents to
his constituency. What does he say ?
Il found also that Judge Douglas was in
opposition to almost the entire Democratic ma
iority of the Senate of the United States.
No matter who is right or who is wrong it is
not pleasant position for candidate of the
Democratic party"
This is Mr. Buffers language:
Il found him opposed by very large ma
iority of the Democratic members Of the
House of Representatives"
We have watched him here
be SO, yet so it is. l have heard that the
sweetest wine makes the sourest vinegar, but
| never heard of vinegar sour enough to make
sweet wine. Cold apathy and violent oppos-
ition are not the prolific parent of votes. |
found, worse than all for Democratic candi-
date for the Presidency, that the clerk of the
Republican House Of Representatives was
openly quoted as saying that the influential
paper controlled by him would either support
Douglas or Seward, thus making himself APP
parently, an unpleasant connecting link be-
tween them.
"With these facts before me, and Impress
ing upon me the conviction that the nomina
ton of Judge Douglas could not be made with |
any hope of safety to the Democratic party, |
what was | to do? viii tell you what |
did do, and am afraid it is not what ought |
to have done. Yielding to your preference, l !
voted seven times for Judge Douglas, although |
nv Judgment told me that my votes were |
worse than useless, as they gave him an APP
pearance of strength in the Convention which |
felt he had not, in fact, in the Democratic |
party"
That is the gentleman who stands Up here,
and as the embodiment of the Democratic party
challenges the entire body of his Democratic
fellowSenators.
Now, Mr.. President, all that have said
has been said somewhat in indignation. 1t
was not in human nature not to feel indigna-
ton at the charges so profusely scattered
against me and my friends, and my State;
but still, sir, after all "more in sorrow than in
Up to the years 1857 and 1858 no
man in this nation had higher or more ex-
allied opinion Of the character, the services, and
the political integrity of the Senator from IL
linois than had. can appeal to those who
may have heard me in the last Presidential
canvass, in my State, where, for months to-
gether, day and night was travelling in sup
port of the Democratic party, and helping, as
Gar as my humble abilities would admit to
break down the Know-Nothing party, which
had then decided majority of the votes of
our State inscribed in its lodges, We sue
,eeded IN that contest. The canvass was
successful one; and it did so happen that, in
he course of that canvass, | had again and
gain to appeal to my Democratic fellow-citi-
,anS Of the State of Louisiana IN stand IN, tha |