The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1857-12-23
frp1 bas NON the n Y. Evening Posi-, "a Rep
OFFICIAL DIsINGENUoUSNESs.

aargfERI baR IRON the N Y. evening Post. fB Rep I
OFFICIAL DIsINGENUoUSNES6.
r our readers have the kindness 10 read the follow
W,ac from the President late message 10 Congress
~ note carefully HIS version Of the instructions be gave
70 e DECLARED II 10 be the true intent and mean
D. "a his 1.-THE Kansas territora act not 70 legislate
" INV Territory or State, TO exclude II thercfron,
~ 10 leave the people thereof perfectly free TO form and
uste their domestic institutions In their own way
H. a Kansas when admitted State, to be
LIVED into the Union, with or without slavery. as
Nil constitution may prescribe at the time Of their ad
. hid Congress mean by this language that the dele
~ elected TO frame constitution should have author
= 6nay to decide the question Of slavery OF did they
Tend BY leaving IL 10 the people that the people Of Kan
- themselves should decide this question by q direct
s, On this subject confess had never entertained
.erio doubt and therrfore In my instructions 70 Gov
walker Of the 2etn March last mrs'y ad that when
cust;tuor shs,s be submitted 10 the people of the
rtary they nl be protected IN the exercise OF their
rht 81 voting fer - sgainst ~ instrument, and the
AZ expression Of the popular viii NUT not be interrupted
~ fand or violence. -
pSow Mr. President permit us to ask whether you said
dy that In your instructions Here Is extract from
those instructions which conveys TO or mind different
impression
roUe Of the Territory they must be protected in the
re Of their right of voting for or against that nstru-
,nt and the fair expression Of the popular will must
not be interrupted by fraud violence repeat then,
a INV clear conviction that unless the convention submit
ne constitution to the vote of all the actual resident set
% az Kansas and the election be fairly and justly con-
dncted the constitution wH Be, and ogt 70 BE- rejected BY
Congress. 81
This is fair illustration Of the manner in which
The President is msrepresented just now on the sub
sct Of Kansas, and shows how the opposition are
driven in order tie frame even plausible attack up
1, lar ba
used and sentiments he never entertained. The al
legged extract from Gov Walkers instructions, which
!, parsded in the preceding article as proof OF "o
cal disingenuousness," is proof only Of editorial
ignorance or editorial deception. No such paragraph
can be found in Gov Walkers instructions, or any
paragraph with similar meaning. The President
merely said" in those instructions exactly what he
himself made public this point in his annual mes
sage and the remaining sentence, as quoted by the
Post belongs exclusively to Gov. Walker-as any
body will see by referring to his letter when such
constitution shall be submitted to the people Of the
Territory, tsaid President Buchanan, they must be
protected in the exercise Of their right voting for
or against that instrument and the fair expression of
the popular will must not be interrupted by fraud
violence" 1t is Gov. Walker who adds, "that I'M
less the convention submit the constitution to the
vote Of all the actual resident settlers Of Kansas, and
the election be fairly and justly conducted, the eosst'
oa ,ciH BE- and ought 10 Be, rejected BY Congress
this The President never pledged himself to OPP
pose the constitution unless it was submitted to the
people, This pledge was among the indiscretions Of
Gov Walker, and involved the absurdity of deter
mining the legality OF the convention by the charac
ter Of its action If the convention shall act in ac
declared its action shall be maintained but if not
then the whole convention is swindle and fraud,
and It shall have no chance in Congress-. The mere
statement Of this position is sufficient demonstra-
ton of its folly and do not propose to waste any
tbs Of more consequence to point out to our read
ers that the policy of Gov Walkers instructions is
precisely the policy which Gov. Walker resigned
rather than execute. What had he to do in the Ter
ntory if he had remained there Nothing more
than what he was told to do when he first went to
Kansas. He was to keep the peace. He was to pre-
the security of elections. He was to see that
violence restrained the fair expression of the pop
ular will. The convention had met and done its
work and adjourned. 1t was legally-authorized
convention. II had been recognised by the Pres
dent, and SO recognised by himself In the exercise
Of its discretion, it had not submitted the constt,i-
ton to the people For this result Gov. Walker had
no responsibility, nor, governor Of the Territory
had he any official right to interfere with it. The
convention did submit to the people the question of
savery-the great, exciting question which has
given to Kansas it's chief interest and the only ques
ton which, in the judgment of the President, it was
required to submit by the terms of the Kansas bill
1t remained only for the people to have fair vote
on that question, and then the constitution was to
be sent to Congress, with without slavery as that
vote might determine. The President issued in
sructions accordingly. He was still for peace
In Kansas. He still wanted fair election. He
still respected the authority of the convention,
and he still hoped that It's action might have
a favorable result What inconsistency is there
between this policy and the instructions Be-
tween Gov. Walkers conduct in Kansas and the
Instructions under which he went there, there may
be some inconsistency but between his instructions
and the Presidents message there is no
at all. What was the President to do? Was he 10
treat the Kansas convention as having never oc-
CURED Was he to ignore it's action altogether ?
VI what is more monstrous yet, was he to take the
held against it, and attempt to prevent it from