The American. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1857, 1857-11-07
Gov. WALKER. KANsAe.

censure, and even denunciation. A conscien-
tious discharge Of his duties will not protect
him, and though he went to Kansas with
ever SO much popularity, he is likely to come
away with ss small share as did his two
predecessors, Reeder and Geary.
When General Gates took command of the
revolutionary army in the South, after having
commanded the troops to whom Burgoyne sur
rendered at Saratoga, some one of his friends
wrote to him to stake care or his northern
laurel would be converted into southern willow;
and SO it turned out.
Mr. Walker, by long services in the Senate
from the State Of Mississippi, and by the dis
charge of the duties Of Secretary of the Treas
ury, especially by being the author of the
tariff of '46, and consequently the overthrower
of that Of 40, won an enviable position in the
party he has always served; so high, indeed,
that he was confidently spoken Of and warmly
urged for the post Of Secretary Of State under
Mr.. Buchanan. Standing thus high in the con-
fidence Of the plumber party, especially of the
southern wing, and being man Of nerve, de-
cision, energy, ability, tact and address, it was
quite natural that Mr.. Buchanan should desire
him to accept the position of all others the
most responsible and difficult to discharge,
and one in the execution Of which Cancellation,
address, energy and firmness were SO essential.
Our own opinion is, that both Mr. Buchanan
and Mr.. Walker foresaw that Kansas would be
a free State !; and that it was their secret wish
that it should come into the Union as such;
but while this was to be favored, it was to be
done in such manner that the South should
have no ostensible ground for charging them
with playing false. They both knew that a
large majority of the inhabitants" Of Kansas
were in favor Of making it a free State, and
that if the principles what farce to call
them SO of the Kansas-N Nebraska act" were
honestly carried out-that is to say, if squat
ter-sovereignty" were permitted to take its own
course and do its own work, it would as GER
tainly exclude slavery from that Territory, as
that the sun would rise. Governor Walkers
role then was, and it was agreed upon before
he left this city, to secure to "all the iaha6i-
tants Of Kansas" the privilege of voting, to
keep out the Missourians, and to be sure that
the Constitution should be submitted to "the
Inhabitants" for their sanction or rejection,
before it should be sent here for the action of
Congress. Thus far Governor Walker has
faithfully carried out the views and policy Of
Mr.. Buchanan and himself; and now who
doubts that Kansas is to be free State? But
have the South felt quite satisfied with his
course, approved and sanctioned as it has been
| by Mr.. Buchanang Far from it. At one time
there were deep murmurings and loud rum.
blings in that section, as if portending a fear.
full storm; but they died away, in no small
degree, under the earnest and incessant objur-
cations and exhortations of the Union, the
Enquirer, the Examiner, and other leading
papers whose tender solicitude for the union Of
the party made them eloquent and even pa
| thetic.
But in becoming more quiet, the south did
not give up the hope that their own friends in
Kansas would be SO far countenanced and en-
couraged in their efforts to secure pro-slavery
majority in the Legislature, as would place
them in the ascendant in that body. They
now find that Gov. Walker and Secretary Stan
ton were not the men they could rely upon in
an emergency such as was lately presented in
that Territory, and that therefore the last
plank Of hope TO which they have been cling
ing with desperate energy. has been taken
from them They have nothing now to rest
hope upon. The beautiful HEsPERIpEs, as Kan
sas was represented to them, and believed to
be, with all its golden apples growing and
glowing in a soft and balmy climate, amidst
the luxuriance of perpetual spring, turns out
TO be, under the administrations of General
Pierce and Mr.. Buchanan, in plain homely
phrase, nothing but free-soil State, pretty
well filled with Yankees, Dutch, Irish, pump
kins, potatoes and cabbages mot exactly hes.
perian fruit, though one of these articles is
yellow, and all are globular. .#f.g
As might be expected from those who have
been so egregiously deceived and disappointed,
the rumblings of complaint and vexation, and
the muttering threats of anger are again heard
in the sunny South" but now, as before,
there are leading papers in that section that
come boldly and vigorously to the defence Of
Mr.. Buchanan and his friend, the governor. y
Among those who hold up the shield before the
president and draw the sword in his defence, is
the Editor Of the Richmond Examiner, who
comes out frankly and admits, or rather affirms
that there were most abominable frauds per.
petrated at the late election in Kansas But
the Editor shall speak for himself He says
| "That the most enormous frauds upon the
elective franchise have been perpetrated at the
late election in Kansas in the name and for the be-
hoof Of the South, is too plain to be denied Thai
they have brought reproach upon our cause in
that Territory and out Of H. and fixed a stigma Of
shame upon the face of every honest citizen and
friend of the South, is too true. That the truth
Of the adage, cheating never thrives," has been
illustrated in manner mournfny affecting to the
South and her cause, is felt too sensibly by us all
The nature and character of these frauds are such
as preclude the possibility of defence and extenua
ton. We shall not defend them; we will not,
cannot, e1tenuate them. The claim of the South
upon the nation was, that the people Of the Ter.
rtories should be left free 10 settle their institu
tons by the honest expression Of their win at the
polls and 1t is a mockery of every form of fair
dealing and an outrage upon the great principle Of
| popular sovereignty for which the South has con.