Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1857-12-18

and deceptive section. Ana John CaihOnn
has the appointment Of Commissioners who
appoint all the election officers and Car
houn and two like him count aud deter
mine all the votes This is popular SOW
reignty"-to deprive the people Of elect
ting any of their officers! And no sooner
does See. Stanton, convene the first hon
es;ly chosen Legislature, than he is hurled
from office, and the meeting of such Le-
gislature to be prohibited |! Great is Dem
ocratic popular sovereignty
"The act of the territorial Legislature
had omitted to provide for submitting to
the people the constitution which might
be framed by the convention; aud in the
excited state of public feeling throughout
Kansas an apprehension extensively pre-
vailed that a design existed to force upon
against their will. In this emergency it
became my duty, as it was my unquestion-
able right, having in view the union of all
good citizens in support of tie territOrial
ia,cs, TO express an opinion on the true
construction of the provisions concerning
slavery contained in the organic act of
Congress of the 30th May, 1854. Con
gress declared it to be 'the true iutent
and meaning of this act not to legislate
slavery into any Territory or State, nor to
exclude it therefrom, but to leave the peo-
pie thereof perfectly free to form and reg
ulate their domestic institutions in their
own way Under it, Kansas, when ad-
mitted as State was to 'be received in-
to the Union, with or without slavery, as
their constitution may prescribe at the
time of their admission
"Did Congress mean by this language
that the delegates elected to frame con-
stitution should have authority finally to
decide the question Of Slavery, or did
they intend, by leaving it to the people,
that the people of Kansas themselves
should decide this question by direct
vote? On this subject l confess l had
never entertained a serious doubt, and
therefore, in instructions to Gov. Walker
of the 2S.h March last, l merely said that
when "A CONSTITUTION should be submitted
to the people of the Territory, they must
be protected in the exercise of their right
of voting FOR OR AGAINST THAT INsTRU-
MENT, and the fair expression of the pop
ular will must not be interrupted by
fraud or violence"
/ That is it, Mr.. President" THE
/ CONSTITUTION"-the fuudamen;allaw
not part of the Constitution, not
portion here and there, but the WHOLE
THING, was promised to be submitted to
the people. They, it was everywhere pro-
claimed, should have "the RIGHT to vote
for or against THAT INsTRUMENr'-not
for a section of that instrument that may
be doled out to them as special taror.
The world hold you and your party to a
strict construction of your carefully cho-
sen language, and an exact performance
of the specific promise upon which you tri-
umphed. No special pleading to mystify
the promise-no juggling to hide its full
proportions-will do. But let US proceed:
"In expressing this opinion, it was far
from my intention to interfere with the
decision of the people of Kansas, either
for or against slavery. From this l have
always carefully abstaiDed. 1ntrusted
with the duty of taking care that the
laws be faithfully executed, my only de-
sire was that the people of Kansas should
furnish to Congress the evidence required
by the organic act, whether for or against
slavery and in this manner smoothe their
passage into the Union. In emerging
/ from the condition of Territorial depend
ence into that Of a sovereign State, it was
their duty, in my opinion, to make known
their will by the votes of the majority,
on the direct question whether this in,por
tant domestic Institution should or should
not continue to exist. Indeed, this was
the only possible mode in which their
will could be authentically ascertained."
"Important," quotha. Here We begin
to see the arts of the partizan Jesuit.
You promised a vote upon "the COnstitu-
tion-that instrument" not upon what
you, or they of Missouri, or other out 81
de rs, might consider tie ''important part
of Constitution THE PEOPLE OF KAN
sAs are to judge for themselves what is
or is not "important," if they choose, but
the whole Notwithstanding less
was promised them. Of course, it is well
known that you and thousands like you
regard slavery-thc spread of the negro
'institu,ion"-a the most important
thing. Your administration, like your
predecessors, is prostituted to the some
idea," (and that above all law and con-
stitutions) of enlargipg the area Of human
bondage. But, sir, there is more than
the "nigger question" which concerns the
inhabitants of Kansas; there are many
domestic institutions" besides chattcl sla-
very; there are hundreds of questions en-
braced in or affected by a Constitution;
and your impudent assumption that only
Slavery is "important," shows only what
is uppermost in your own mind and in
the minds Of the slaveholdiug Cabinet
with which you have surrounded yourself.
With this "importaut" idea. let our read