 |
| Metropolitan Hall.2 |
June, 1860. |
This text is part of:
Table of Contents:
[25]
was respectable in talent, but small in numbers, and wicked in conception and design.
On motion of a son of John C. Calhoun, who was chairman of the Committee on Organization, John Irwin, of Alabama, was chosen president of the Convention.
It the proceeded to action, under a little embarrassment at first.
There were delegates from the city of New York begging for admission to seats.1 They were finally treated with courteous contempt, by being simply admitted to the floor of the Convention as tolerated t commissioners, “and were regarded by some as spies.
In this matter, as in others, the proceedings were cautiously
managed.
The leaders allowed no definite action.
An expression of opinion concerning the platforms offered at Charleston was suppressed; and on the second day of the session, while a” Colonel Baldwin, “of the New York” commissioners, “smarting under the lash of W. L. Barry, of Mississippi, who charged him with abusing the courtesy of the Convention” by talking of the “horrors of disunion,” was asking forgiveness in an abject manners,3 the Convention adjourned, to meet at the same place on the 21st of the month.
Most of the delegates then hastened to Baltimore, pursuant to the plan of the Congressional conspirators, while the South Carolina delegation, who assumed to be special managers of the treasonable drama, remained in Richmond, awaiting further developments of the plot.
The adjourned Democratic National Convention reassembled in the Front Street Theater, on Front Streets.
“, opposite Low Street, in Baltimore, on Monday, the 18th day of June.
The parquette and stage were occupied by the” delegates, and the dress circle w as filled by spectators — a large portion of whom were women.
The delicate and difficult question concerning the admission to seats in the Convention of representatives of States whose delegates had withdrawn from that body, was the first to present itself.
1 These delegates appear to have been representatives of an association of some kind in the city of New York, who sympathized with the Secessionists. They exhibited, as credentials, a certificate of the “Trustees of the National Democratic Hall” in New York, signed by “Samuel B. Williams, Chairman, M. Dudley Bean, Secretary of the Trustees.” It was also signed by William Beach Lawrence, Chairman, and James B. Bensel, Secretary, of an Executive Committee; and Thaddeus P. Mott, Chairman, and J. Lawrence, Secretary of the Association, whatever it was. These certified that Gideon J. Tucker and Dr. Charles Edward Lewis Stuart had been appointed “delegates at large from the Association ;” and that Colonel Baldwin, Isaac Lawrence, James B. Bensel, and James Villiers, had been appointed Delegates, and N. Drake Parsons, James S. Selby: M. Dudley Bean, and A. W. Gilbert, Alternatives, “to represent the Association at the Richmond Convention for the nomination of President and Vice-president,” &c.
2 this building was formerly occupied as a Presbyterian Church, and known as that of Dr. Plummer's.
3 Halstead's History of the National Political Conventions in 1860, page 158.
Scanned printed text.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.