The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1857-12-31
Later from Hon. ]. S. Black.
g, -. wAsnNoroS, Dec. %, 1856;


meeting OF Monday next. / cannot be there but be-
lieye your purpose to be just and trust not with
out good reason fer the faith that is within III the
President has done his duty WELL his fellow-citizens
ought to express their appreciation freely. That he
has meant well for his country will not be denied by any
reasonable who knows him. He has object Of
earthly ambition, except to perform the functions Of
his good Office that when he retres from it he may
read his history in the eyes of conented and prosperous
nation a t,as .1. N. 'la&rt $3.50 81 ay.laaFaa
What has he done in this affair of Kansas that is
worthy of death bonds Difficult, complicated and
cntangled that subject has always been, wherein
has he failed TO meet it like patriotic statesman Let
his stand forth and specify what act he has
committed which should forfeit the confidence of the
democracy in the leader they love- and the chief they
admire. (" ..aa... .5. 81. a... l s.ra.a.... a.t.a
When his administration began he found portion of
Kansas, like Utah, in state of organized and open
bellion against the laws The most infamous crimes had
been habitually committed. Murder, arson and robbery
were things. Some of the immigrants bad
men, and went there for base purposes They would be
ruled by nothing but the bayonet and accordingly two
thousand bayonets there keep them in order
But the very latest adyces show that the of
the army has not been sufficient to them into sub
mission, prevent them from committing the most afro
cious outrages The natural desire of the President
heart and every honest heart in the country to put
end to the reign of terror oonagaton and blood
possible, and to substitute in its place the
preme and peaceabe rule of the law. The army might
do for a while; but it disgrace to the Amer
lean name that military force necessary to keep
portion OF the people from cutting the Threats Of
another. s.a..., .-' a.a.g# 30 ...I .5ea,e4
1t plainly by every who took the trouble
to think about it that progress could DC made in sup
pressing these disorders while the and the
for them remained So far they not prompted by
the love of plumber and blood they were the off
springs of relentless feud fatal dispute arising
out of single subject and that subject negro sla
very This split the people asunder and made them hate
each other with the deepest intensity of hatred There
other division among them Every band of com
batans ranged under pro-savery anti-savery
ham nft M ~
by of these parties against the other When life
lost the of the victims death always
companied by of the side he had taken the
slavery ISSUE If general riot took place. the killed and
wounded enumerated according to their classification
this question The abolitonis organized their party
into the form Of State government, with all its machine
ny, civil and military, and ranging themselves under it
they fierce defiance and deadly hostility TO the
uary constituted authorities of the United States simply
because of their views slavery This was not all The
contest extended itself from Kansas to the ueost ends
of the country 1t became great sectional controversy
and everywhere the burden of all that said and sung
upon it slavery. The Union itself in danger
in great and imminent danger; and no one dreamed of
scrbng that danger to any cause except the unsettled
condition of the slavery question in Kansas su.
In these unhappy circumstances the legal and satsfac
tory settlement of this exasperatng dispute
summation most devouly to be wished. To extirpate
this Of bitterness the first thing to be done to-
wards paeifcaton But how it to be effected Our
political opponents thought suppose still of
the opinonthat the people of the United States
through their representatives in Congress- might decide
it without consulting Kansas, whose people, according to
their theory, should be treated with utter contempt But
the democratic party determined to leave it with those
who alone directly concerned in it, This latter doc
trine tumphantly sustained in Congress, at the
polls, and by the judiciary After that the general gov
eminent could do more than protect the people of
Kansas in doing the work assigned them. How they
should do it, by what agents organs not pre-
scrbad they were to do il sin their way'--by
representatives they might proper to choose
But unfortunately the abolition party had become
rancorous that the olive branch offered them in vain
They nsulted and blasphemed the laws which left the
matter to their decision. The regular authorities
could do no more than give all fair chance Of voting
The legislature first passed law submitting the question
of convention or mo convention to popular vote
The next legislature afterwards in accordance with the
known wishes of the people, and by virtue of their
rghtfu authority enacted another law for the election of
delegates to convention The delegates chosen at
fair and free election after full notice to all the
voters. Whether the vote was large small it is not
possible to deny the right of those who chosen To
say that portion of the electors by asenng themselves
from the polls cou inyaldate election otherwise legal
and regular is simply absurd
The members of the convention thus chosen met at
Lecompton and then raised the alarm that the
delegates, of them, intended to make slave
stution in opposition to what they knew to be the viii
of the people While the President that he had
right TO interfere between the people of Kansas and their
own representatives, and while he knew very well what
known to every other lawyer and statesman in the
country that for the convention TO shape the
sttution and TO decide the submission
he nevertheless expressed his opinion freely, that in the
circumstances of the case and with reference to that
question of slavery the constitution ought to be submit
ted 1t submitted-so submitted that If there
majority opposed to slavery they had nothing in the
world to do but go to the polls and say 49,
But the moment the abotonists saw the whole dis
position of the slavery subject placed in their hands,
they abandoned apparently all their hostility to it. They
will not condesccndnot theyto vote on question so
trihing The principle for which they were willing to
drench the country in blood has all at become too
insignificant to be worth ballot Something else in the
organic law thought of before, and not specified
now, has suddenly become so important in their
eyes that the slavery question may be decided against
them for aught they about it, unless this and
underlined and unexpessed grievance be edressed at the
same time To it perfectly clear that conduct
like this must be prompted either by prejudice almost i'm
sane else by hypocrisy shameless beyond the reach Of
comparison. sa5 H GaG-stGr .t.. e.ftaI #u.a9ua
If the convention has legal authority to make
constitution without submitting the whole of 1t to pop
uar vote then this constitution ought to be treated
nuty But whatsoever denies the general power of the
people TO clothe their representatives with full authority
to make constitution binding themselves and their
constituents knows not whereof he airms All reason
we'll as precedent Is against him. N.5..i h,.e
The power of the Lecompton convention certainly
not restricted except the subject of slavery But if
its members abused their authority by haudulenty in
setng any other provision which they knew TO be wrong
or believed to be dsapproved by their constituents and
dishonesty refused 10 submit it, then it should be regard
cd with the contempt due to cheat But where is
the evidence of any such fraud The convention had
motive TO commit it, They and their constituents did
not differ on the necessity of having constitution,
ito On