The Washington union., 1857-09-15

/
son and especially since it has been shown be uncon
stitutonal
But this candidate and his party are great ON consse-
cy They are In the habit Of arfaignng Mr. Buchanan,
Judge Douglas, and other democratic statesmen the
charge Of Inconsistency because at time they sus-
ained the policy of settling the slave controversy by
geographical division and have since embraced the poll
cy of referring the question to the people the Terrific
res to be settled they may deem best There very
little sense and less patriotism In such criticisms The
whole history of the subject shows that the controversy
at the different periods when the excitement attained 10
dangerous height treated a subject of compro-
mise implying at once the concession of principle and
peculiar views Statesmen and patriots felt required to
yield much in the way OF opinion, TO secure the of
the country Mr. Buchansh favored the Missouri line
80 long the policy Of settling the question by territorial
division was maintained and Mr. Douglas, in l848, pro
posed to extend the parallel of that line TO the Pacific
ocean as final adjustment of the dangerous eud But the
very men who now, and since 1854 have not ceased TO
bewai the abandonment of this policy were united in
their opposition to its extension and perpetuty on that
occasion. They repudated It, secuted and revled it,
Another mode OF settlement became absolutely necessary
to save the country from civil war; and that of nonner
vention, as now found in the Kansas law, wisely
adopted In 1850 and is maintained by the Statesmen
have named What Inconsistency is there In such actionH
And what 10 be said Tor the sincerity of those who
tnued to denounce the Missouri line up to this time of its
repeal that party who In Connecticut burnt James Ian
man in efhgy for voting for it, and Isaac Toucey
the same spot for voting to repeal it, and who abored to
reject the principle in 1S48 They not in condition
to talk about consistency Having conspired against
this mode of adjustment and secured its overthrow they
now have Mr. Wilmot engaged in clumsy imitation of
Mark Anthony with the dead body of Caesar by toting
the lfeess remains Of this unconstitutional from
place to place over the State giving uteranoe " his deep
grief IN pathetic appeals to the passions and pudccs of
the people, to draw down their vengeance the destroy
ers OF this once favorite scheme.
On Kansas affairs Mr.. Wilmot becomes quite bellige-
rent, and hurls vndictiye aspersons upon the national
administration. He talks as though he did not know
had been repealed by the last that his party friends In
Kansas are daiy aving themselves of these bogus laws
that Mr. Robinson the Topeka governor had petitoned
Mr. Stanton, when acting governor to confer the ap-
poinmen of commissioner to acknowledge deeds his
friend by virtue of the territorial laws He deter
mined to give the version of affairs that will best suit his
purpose. Having presented startling picture of the
wrongs and ouages which, according to his story have
been wantony inflicted upon the eeState party of that
unhappy Territory, he makes the following sweeping dec
laration:
81 affi,m that the administration knows all about
these outrages, and yet they uphold them. They
tain the Mssoua usurpaon and they dare not be just
because they the slaves of the slave power who created
them and upholds Them
This is terrific indeed, coming from candidate for
governor but Mr. Wilmots language is tame and feeble
compared with the sparkling rhetoric of Col Ket, of
South Carolina the other side of the question. The
Colonel in his letter dated at White Sulphur Springs,
mputes to the administration altogether different action
and purpose He alleges that its first act to appoint
governor to 'debauh Kansas from c7y;mcc 10 tbs South
and deicr her into the hands Of ree-sea fanatics and that
'o say that the Of tbs South lost in Kanws prior 70 The
appointment Of WdLk1 is 70 palate fraud by talseci
Here is wide difference between big doctors. But the
southerner to have the best of the contest Indeed
the best attempts of Wmot and his school of orators to
show the subserency of the administration to the slave
power fall far below the most ordinary efforts of Colonel
Keitt, the Charleston Mercury and the New Orleans
Delta to demonstrate its freesoil tendencies and its
treachery to the South. With such fires in front and
rear who will that Colonel Keitt may not reasonably
imagine the fantasies to be hereafter played by shvcr
ing cabinets" and .convusive administrations p
Then, again. Mr.. Wlmot and bis palty seem to be in
great trbuaton lest the slave power should deprive
of the citizens of Kansas of the opportunity of raising
their voices against the institution at the ballot box
lest be deprived of that high and sacred peroga
tive the right of suffrage They descant eloQuently
the sacedness of this light and hur destructive anahe
mas on the heads of all who shall attempt to restrict
usup this proud function of American feemen The peo
pie, and the whole people, must be heard Now this is
all very well, and they cannot go further this point
than will the democracy but does not this sickly
for the rights of the people come with exceeding bad
grace from Mr.. Wilmot and his party, who in the
vention that nominated Colonel Fremont laid it down
principle that not only portion, but all the citizens of
Kansas should be deprived of the right Of saying whether
they would have slavery or not They claimed that
right for Congress- and virtually held that though nine
tenths of the people might desire slavery the Introduction
of Congress should be conclusive. 1t no half way
business with them It part of their faith to deprive
all the people of the sacred opportunity which they
from some. They execrate the interference of Mis-
souri, in the settlement of the slavery question in
Kansas, and yet, according to their doctrine not
only Missouri but Massachusetts, and all the North
and South invited to interfere through their rep
resentatives in Congress The practical effect of
their doctrine being that the power to decide the ques
ton for Kansas is to be found everywhere else in the
United States except in that and the other Territories
that the people of the States who do go to Kansas
shall have voice the subject but those who d shall
not. How absurd then their affected Distress lest by
of the opportunity of giving effect to his will the sub
ect Why Mr.. Wilmot and his party will not
say that they will be content with the decision of the
people, and admit Kansas State, unless that decision
be against slavery They will agree to take her into the
Union when she obeys their dication and not till then
1t in this connexion in the contest of last fall that
rculed their pretensions to exclusive friendship for free
dom in Kansas whilst holding that the people should
be free to select their institutions We claimed that
the democracy the friends of ree Kansas"
because they wished to have her people perfectly free to
select all their domestic institutions They holding that
Kansas should not into the Union unless she adopt
ed their views and the democracy maintaining that she
should come in no matter how she might decide as to
slavery The question in the presidential issue not
whether she should be free slave but simply whether
her bona citizens should be permitted to decide
for themselves That question affirmed by the peo-
pie at the polls and Mr. Buchanan and his advisers, in
my judgment honestly endeavorng to carry out that
decision in good faith regardless of dcnunciaton from
the North South, and performing their whole duty
to the country.
Mr. Wilmot talks very positively about what is going
on in the Territory OF he knows but spent
weeks there this summer and found it difficult to
obtain accurate information That wrongs have been