sent, would be obliged to go through the streets till he had found the absentees. The law of the last session of the territorial legislature did not deprive the convention of the privilege of electing such officers as were necessary for the successful prosecution of the business before the convention.

Mr. Kellogg thought the law was binding, and that it provided for all necessary officers. He could not do otherwise than abide by it.

The amendment was lost.-Democrat, Oct. 10, 1846.

Mr. Baker moved to amend the resolution by striking out the word "two" before "doorkeepers," and inserting "one. The law of the territory under which they had met provided for but one doorkeeper, and that law in his opinion should

govern.

Mr. John Y. Smith said the law was before the committee at the time of drafting the resolution, and they had come to the conclusion that no law of the territorial legislature could so far bind the convention as to compel them to employ so few officers that the necessary business of the convention could not be properly done. There were two doors to the hall, at the opposite sides, and it would be impossible for one man to attend to them both. It might be said that the sergeant at arms could perform the duty of doorkeeper, but this he could not do, since it might often so happen that a call of the convention would be demanded, and that officer be sent after the absentees, when the door would be left unattended.

Mr. Kellogg was of opinion that the law of the legislature was binding on the convention, and he should therefore vote to strike out.

The question was put and lost.

The resolution as reported was then adopted.—Argus, Oct. 6, 1846.

Mr. Elmore moved that the convention do now proceed to the election of a president of this convention by ballot. Mr. Ryan moved that the convention adjourn, which was disagreed to.

W. R. Smith thought the action premature-that they should wait the action of the committee.

Mr. Ryan had an objection. Most of the members of the convention had for the first time met. He was a stranger to many members. The convention should pause and deliberate, and not proceed with such party steps. It was an important point who should preside over the deliberations of this body. If this resolution be adopted we might be obliged to vote before we had a chance to become acquainted so as to determine who is the most popular person to place in that station. He did not wish to see the old Democratic rule violated. The ruling party, according to custom, selected the officers of all legislative bodies. There was nothing to be gained by discarding this rule but many reasons why it should be sustained. The interests of the convention required time, and [he believed] that an adjournment would effect much good. By adopting this motion we abandon an old and proper usage. He moved to adjourn to ten o'clock tomorrow. Motion rejected.

Mr. Judd was in favor of waiting for the report of the committee, but was not willing to adjourn. The old rule of not delaying till tomorrow what can be done today was applicable to this convention. He was not one of those who wanted anyone to choose a man for him to vote for. He was willing to proceed immediately to the election. The candidates were all known.

Mr. Lovell moved to lay the matter on the table. Lost.Democrat, Oct. 10, 1846.

The question then recurred on the motion of Mr. Elmore and was decided in the affirmative.

The President stated that the question was on the original motion of Mr. Elmore.

Mr. Marshall M. Strong said that at the present time reform prevailed. That his own experience in '38 and '39 proved to the convention the practicability of caucus regulations. That from Monday to Friday the time was lost in fruitless ballotings. That the caucus system had been adopted by Congress and by the New York convention, and that thereby much time had been saved. Suppose that on the final ballot it appears that one Democratic candidate receives forty votes and his suc

cessful competitor forty-six, six of which are cast by Whigsthe will of the party is defeated. It is a matter of much moment to the people whether the germ of the Wisconsin constitution be laid in Democratic measures. We were chosen on party grounds-chosen to represent the principles of our party. We abandon the principles of party by this procedure. Mr. Baird was sorry to see the question of politics brought into the convention. He was a representative of the people and hoped that politics would be discarded at once. He would like to know if this rule in Democratic caucuses to select officers was carrying out the will of the people. He was from a Democratic county, he was proud to say. He went for measures whether from a Whig or Democrat. He was sorry to hear such doctrines. He called upon them not as the representatives of the Democracy, old or young, but as the representatives of the people, to remember that they were to form a constitution for the whole people. He called upon gentlemen not to waste time. The majority could not quarrel with the few Whigs who were here; and if they had feuds among themselves, they should have been settled before coming here. He cared not who the president was if he was qualified, faithful, and honest. No man had been named as yet for that high station whom he did not believe qualified and [whom he was not] willing to see in the chair.

Mr. Ryan was the first to introduce politics into the discussion, and he supposed he must bear the censure of the gentleman from Brown. Every member here was elected on strict party politics. He (Mr. Baird) represented the people of Brown on Whig principles. We represent the people of Racine on Democratic principles. He never saw such an animal as a representative who discarded his political principles under any circumstances. He knew nothing more sacred than his party principles. Was he not to represent his politics in convention? Was he not sent to incorporate those politics into the constitution? He was not satisfied with the election of any man. It was a matter of the first importance who presided over the deliberations of this body. We were sent here as Democrats and Whigs to regulate all preliminary considera

tions as well as to frame a constitution. The Whigs did not expect to elect a Whig president. But they had the power by the division that might exist in the Democratic ranks to elect whom they pleased. Ought they to have the choice? The Democrats had four candidates, and there were Whigs enough to decide who should be the president. He did not mince matters; he wished the motion lost for the purpose of going into caucus to allow the Democratic members to select who should be elected to this station. He came here to make a constitution on the political principles of himself and his people. He had gone so far to test whether the good old Democratic rule should be sustained, and he therefore moved to adjourn. Lost-54 to 37.

The original motion was then put and carried.-Democrat, Oct. 10, 1846.

Mr. Marshall M. Strong: In 1838 the Council of Wisconsin went into a ballot without having first consulted in caucus on the proper course to be pursued or the man to be selected. Party politics was then unknown. The result was that the Council voted in the dark and at random for a whole week before a choice was effected. A perfect waste of time was the result.

Such has been the case with all other bodies with which he had been acquainted, and the holding of caucuses had become. the practice of both political parties in all political bodies. A different course would enable the Whigs to foist upon the Democratic party a man whom they did not prefer, or to defeat any election by voting for a third man. If an election was then gone into he did not believe there would be a choice, and the necessity of an adjournment would become apparent. Nearly all if not all of the members had been chosen on party grounds and he believed that the party principles ought to be carried out by them; one of the greatest of these was to be effected by the election of the president, while a different course might be to abandon the principles on which they had been elected. If there were family feuds among Democrats, he wanted them all settled among themselves. These were some

of the reasons that would induce him to vote against proceeding to the ballot at that time.

Mr. Baird did not belong to the same political party with the gentleman who had just taken his seat, though he had been elected from a county where the Democrats were the dominant party. Therefore he was on this floor representing no particular party or set of men, and to promote the interest of those constituents and do the business of the country would be his object aim while here. Sorry he was to see at this early day the apple of discord, party politics, thrown into the midst of the convention, and he hoped it would be met at once and driven from the hall. The interests of the people would be best served by proceeding at once to the election of a president, without the dictation or delay of a caucus, and that course he called on gentlemen to pursue. If there be feuds among Democrats-family quarrels-let them settle them at home or out of this place. To elect a Whig was out of the question, and for one he could say that among the men spoken of by Democrats he would be content with one they might choose, and he was now prepared to vote for the man he preferred without further loss of time.

Mr. Ryan was the man who first broached the subject of party politics in this hall, and as such he took to himself the greater share of the lashing of the gentleman from Brown. He came here to represent the people of Racine as much as the gentleman did those of Brown, but that county had elected him on account of his political predilections, and they expected him to carry them out. He could not believe that such a nondescript as a no-party-man could be found at this day. Every man belonged to some political party. For himself he was free to confess that he belonged to the great Democratic family, and that he came here to carry out the measures of that party. Much depended on the man placed in the presidential chair; the appointment and character of the committees depended entirely on him; for that reason he did care for the man. He appealed to Democrats to say if they were prepared to leave it to the Whigs to say who should be the presiding officer of the convention. For one he wanted to pursue the old method