The Kansas herald of freedom., 1857-12-19
From The Es,o York Courier and Eaqnirr.
The Kansas Constitution.

The Kansas Constitution.
The elections in every Northern State
are now over, and there is no further oc-
casion for fippant sneers about bleeding
Kansas" The time has come when the
actual condition of things in that Terrific
~ should be honestly recognized, and
| fairly dealt with, unless there be delib-
crate purpose to bring on bloody sequel.
It is infatuation, it is the very insanity of
folly, to imagine that the scheme con-
eocted by the Leeompton Convention for
fastening Slavery upon Kansas. will be
peaceqblv carried out. Just as sure as
there is a sun in the heavens, that plot if
sanctioned and consummated by the Fed
eral Government, will be resisted by the
people of Kansas, and resisted to the
death. To shut the eyes to this fact is
to trife with the vital interests of the
country.
What has that Convention done? 1t
has deliberately set to work to muzzle the
will of the people Of Kansas, and compe!
them to submit to an institution they do
not want and will not have. In seeking
to effect this, it has exercised an almost
internal art. To do something towards
saving appearances it has provided that
certain section of the instrument, expressly
legalizing Slavery and making Slave
property inviolable, shall be submitted to
the people for their approval or rejection;
but it has given the people no opportuni-
ty to vote upon the Constitution at large,
althoug Oh the instrument contains clauses
under which slaves may be held-one in
particular legalizing all the past acts of
the so-ealled Territorial Legislatures, the
Slave Code of course included. This
clause alone-especially when coupled
with the doctrine of the Judges in the
bred Scott decision, and of Mr. Buchan-
an in his Connecticut letter, that Slavery
exists in the Territories by force of the
Federal Constitution-would fasten the
institution upon the State. The new
State must inherit from the Territory ev-
erything that is not expressly prohibited
or superseded by the State Constitution.
The Lecompton Convention denies the
people all opportunity to establish such
prohibition, and thus rivets them to Slav-
cry. To make its work lasting, it has Or
dained that its Constitution shall be alb
solutely unalterable for several years, and
then only by two-thirds vote of the Leg
islature-first of the Legislature, and then
of the people Alive to the fact that the
new Territorial Legislature, clear of the
fraudulent members which were attempt
ed to be palmed upon it, and represent
ing the real will of the people of Kansas,
would put bar upon its iniquity, it made
haste to abolish that body and to provide
for the going into operation of the new
Constitution at day anterior to that
upon which the Territorial Legislature
will regularly assemble. 1t is said that
| the President of the Convention, Gen.
Calhoun, was appointed Provisional Gov
ernor until the State Government
should be organized. A movement to-
wards that end seems to have been made
in the Convention, but whether it pre-
vailed is yet uncertain. This, however,
matters comparatively little. 1t would
indeed be fragrant assumption of power,
but yet it is but one item in a monstrous
list of usurpations. Whether it is there
or not, the Ubiquitous aggregate is virtu-
ally the same.
A scheme like this for overriding the
popular will, would be sufficiently outra
geous, emanating from any body having
a title to act in the name of the people.
But coming from such body as this
Lecompton Conventions body elected
by an insignificant fraction of the people,
and adopted too only by positive minor
ity of the members thereof, the thing is
altogether past endurance. 1t will not be
submitted to by the people of Kansas. 1t
behooves the National Government to see
to it that the attempt is not carried out.
The people of KBnsas, it is stated, are
calling upon Governor Walker to con-
vene special session of the Territorial
Legislature in order that it may adopt
measures suitable to the emergency
Gov. Walker has already acknowledged
that body to be the real exponent of the
popular will, and if he is prepared to
make good even one-tenth part of his
protestations in favor of popular sover-
eighty, he has no alternative but to give
the representatives of the people an OPP
portunity to take action upon the diff
culties which now press them. We con-
fess, however, that we have our misgiv-
ings that Gov. Walker will do nothing of
the kind. He has already brought Gen.
sure upon himself from his chiefs at
Washington, for having refused to sane
ton the stupendous frauds perpetrated in
johnson and McGee counties at the re-
cent election and the prospect is not
very encouraging that he will subject
himself to further rebuke. 1t is our be-
| lief that he will make no interference, and
that he will content himself with being
mere King Log, in the territory. But
though Gov. Walker may decline to sum-
mon the Legislature in advance, nothing
can prevent the meeting of that Legisla-
ture at the regularly appointed time in
January, anything in the Lecompton
Constitution to the contrary notwithstand-
ing. The Legislature will meet, and it
will legislate, and what is of especial con-
sequence in this connection, its legislation
will be upheld and sustained by an i'm
mense majority of the people of Kansas.
This majority will take no notice of this
1hCy Will hui
| for moment entertain the idea of voting
upon the single section submitted to them;
for they cannot do it without making
themselves a party to the iniquity. To
smooth the way to settlement of the
difficulties, We have advocated that the
Free State Legislature should summon ne,o
| Constitutional Convention, or at least that
it should provide for submission of the
Topeka Constitution to the people for
third time, so as to extinguish forever all
doubt of its being their real choice; but
any farther concession than this we can
not ask. Our hand shall wither before
we solicit American freemen to submit to
tyranny. Government derives all of its
just powers from the consent of the gov
erned." So said our fathers, and it is
certain that no just power can be exer-
L Il n