The Ten Thousand Union Democrats That Weren't
A political correspondent mocks the failure of a planned 'Union Democrat' meeting in Vancouver, where thousands were promised but only a handful appeared.
The agony is over. The great meeting to make preparations for 'Glory to be revealed on the second Monday in July,' met on the 24th inst. by order of 'Ten Thousand Union Democrats,' but all of the 'Ten Thousand' weren't there. Each 'Ten Thousand' sent one delegate. It was a mass meeting, you know, and there would have been at least a thousand people present, but nine hundred and ninety didn't come. They appointed a committee of seven to draft resolutions. The chairman of said committee was the 'young man of the lager beer persuasion.' You know he is very anxious to forego party and unite a Union party. Well, he is a funny young man. One day he writes an article denouncing the bogus Union men, as he calls them; the next day he is an 'Unterrified Democrat'; and another day comes and he is patriotic, and dodges around with a 'call' for a Union meeting; and anon, he writes an article which he can't find a name for, and he borrows somebody's Blackstone and calls it a 'Replycation,' and last of all he is on the 'Glory Committee.'
“It was a mass meeting, you know, and there would have been at least a thousand people present, but nine hundred and ninety didn't come.”
Political theater and the dilution of party lines have been features of Washington civic life since territorial days. This account highlights the persistent tension between the Democratic and Unionist factions in Vancouver during the early years of the Civil War.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.