The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1857-12-17

lfoVed the actlon Of the LecomPton Lon |
rehtion, and under that Impression he felt II !
10 be'his duty to state while he concurred in
.he general views Of the message, yet so far
as il did approve or ei dvrse the action Of that
he entirely dissented from 1t,
and would givehis reas Ons fOt such dissent.
Upon a more careful and critical cxamina
tion Of the message, he was rcjoiced to find
that the President had net entilel ppIroved
of the action Of that Conversions; he was
also rf1oiced to rind that the President had
not recommended thai Congress should pass
laws receiving X .Lsas into The Union as q
State under the Constitution framed at lie.
compton. 1t is true tie tone Of the mes.
sage indicated willingness on the part OF
the President 10 sign, any bill Congress
might pass, receiving Kansas as a State
into The UGiIn under that Constitution, bot
il was a very significant fact that the Presi-
dent had reirained from any endorsement Of
the Convention, and from any recommends.
ton as TO the course Congress shoHldpursue
in regard to the admission OF Kansas; in
deed, The President had expressed deep NOR
'tificdtion and Disappointment that the Whole
Constitution was not submitted to the people
of'Kansas for'ther acceptance or rejection.
Mr. Douglas proceeded to show that
Congress could not properly receive Kan
sas fnto the Union ukder the Lccompton
Constitution; not only the slavery question,
tut all Others must be Submitted TO the
people ef Kansas, as they are qualified to
establish ail'tReir domestic institutions for
themselves. On this principle the Whole
Constitution must'be Submitted, TO ascer-
tain whether or not it meets with theirnp-
probation. Sir. Douglas contended that
the people of Kansas ought to nave an op.
portunity to vote against the Consttution'tf
ihey' choose to do so. He comparedl the
freedom allowed 6y the Lecompten Con-
vention 10 the reedom at the election IN
Paris, when Louis Napoleon was elected
President. The reason assigned why The
people OF Kuns6s were not allowed o'vote
on the &C ceptance OF the Constitution pre-
pared, was, that il they had the chance
they would vote it down by an ovtrwhe I'm
ing majority. He believed that they would
and thought that il was.a clear violation Of
the organic act thus TO force the obnoxious
Con stitution'ueon the mtjurity.
When Mr.. Douglas concludod-his speech,
there was great applause in the gallery.
'Mr. 'Bigler replied to Mr.. Douglas, say
ing that the Convention was called accord
ing to law, and had been recognized by the
President and the Governor OF the Teirilo.
ry: it was their right to Submit The Constl'
tution'to the people, or to send it to Con-
gress without submission. If it was right
in itself, rt publican in form, and the people
had fdirly' decided the slavery question, it
would not be wise to keep them out oil the
Uni.n simply because the whole Constlta
ton had not been submitted to tbcmi 10 do
so would be INCONSISTENT ,h the doctrit e
Of non intervention. There was nothing
in the past History of ihe c6uLtry to Justify
such course. 1t wou I'D be the duty Of
Congress to look at the question as it came
before them, and do the best they could,
looking at the happi ess Of the entire
country. He had long been uider the i'm
preston that it would be best tor the Union
AID for Kansas that the State should be a1
mtted at the first allowable opportunity IL
order to Iocuize tic strife. Mr.. B;glel
would have pre!erred that The whole Con
s,tution had been submitted to the people
but persons outside Of the territory have ne
right 10 interfere with tks'oluvery question
there IIebeiieved tha!the people OF Kan
sas now have an opportunity 10 decide
! neither to idys free or slave Siate. He
w6n d not, however, determine his entire
course until they shall make such decision
Mr.. Bigler said that the position Of Mr.
porgts toby Wds.'in otter derogation o.
! that. With he occupied when he voted fol
Mr.. Toombs' bill, which proposed to make
! q State Constitution and put it into opero
ton without submitting t to L vote 81 Tie
people, and this was only short time sgo
He could not understand how Mr.. Duuglli
! had so readily become sensitive in regard I,
the rights OF that people, after having 1T
tempted such an infringement upon them.
Mr. Douglas.-I am certain that NJ. BIZ
ler did not speak for the President; know
! that; for the President has just spoken fo
himself in his Message l., which he Con-
demns the Convention fur not submitting
the Constitution to the people, and refuse
to recommend me 10 receive it. The Pres
i'd MT is bold, frank man, and II he intend
ed to give US an administration measure h
would say so. 1t is not respectful to as
~st.thc we Will do what he will not recon-
mend US to do. or Course, know that tn
Senator of Pennsylvania did net speak b.
dhtkorify. .
G1r. Bisler.-1 think I am safe in suyin
and ! think the Senator from Illinois will
agree, that the President upholds in hi
Message the doctrine, that the Conventio
had Tight 10 form Constitution and sub
nit it to the people for approval or send
up to Congress for approval. I think, it
dedutble from the Message that the Pres
dent does not hold that because the entr
Constitution was not submitted to the pee
pie of Kansas, that Kansas sheula 'be kcf
out Of the Unioh. =.
Eir. Doug las.-I infer from the Message
: that The President does hold that the Cor
! vention had right to form Constitutio
r and send it here, but that was only the risl
10 petition for fedfcss of grievances undt
, the federal Constitution, and not becou:
the Legislature had power to c"nsti'u'
that legal Convention.
Dir. ,Bigler.-Where did you pet thatl
Sir. DJhg7as replied: gentlema
(mesning Mr.. TrumbulD yesterday ret
him speech made by Mr.. Buchanan twei
ty years ago, to show that the Legislntu
had no right to create convention to supe
cede territorial government, and that
attempt it would be gross usurpation. tt
Democratic ptrty has held that doc,rir
: ever since, and asserted it year ago BY oil
b dorsipg his {Air. D.uslas9 report from Il
y Committee OH Territories; three hundr,
thousand copies were circulated as par
document, and he kimself p1id for a hui
, dred thousand Of them. a(Laushter.)
blr. 'sisler entered his protest, and cluiu