New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-07-09

The observing reader will have had his attention
arrested by the following significant passage which
makes part of The Unions recent manifesto on
Kansas affairs, purporting to be defense OF Gov.
Walker:
1--WE think, for these reasons, that Gov alker, IN
advocating submission Of the Constitution to vote
of the people acted with wisdom and justice, and fol-
lowed the only line of policy which promises to settle
this vexed question either rightly or satisfactorily In
this respect at least he has done nothing worthy OF
death or bonds.
"But who are the people, What shall be the quail
icatons of voter on the Constitution when it comes
to be submitted We answer hat his IS far the Con-
rention TO settle. Those who think that the Conven-
ton might declare the Constitution in full force by vr-
tue of their own will can hardly deny that they might
append to it condition requiring it to be first ap'
proved by the people. If they can do Thu, they can
also sag what classes If persons shall be counted as
Jetng part Of he people, The Convention that formed
the Federal Constitution exercised this power when
they referred ii TO their constituents the StatesJ, and
prescribed that their appreciation should be given or
withheld by State Conventions. The Constitution OF
Virginia was submitted to the votes of men enfran-
chsed by the Convention for the first time. or course,
the Kansas Convention will see that every proper
guard is thrown around the legal voter and that his
bona fde intention to remain in the Territory is tested
by previous residence of sufficient length. We
should cay that the qualifications required 10 make
legal roter under the Constitution ought to snt'te an
iahabitant 10 rote upon h-,for or against "s ATOP
tion."
In other words: the bogus Convention just
chosen by less than two thousand of the twenty
thousand adult male American freemen now re-
siding in Kansas, can determine at pleasure who
shall and who shall not vote upon the adoption or
rejection of the Constitution they are about to
frame, and none whom they choose to exclude can
have any voice in the matter. And The Union pro-
ceeds to hint, most Enthusiastically that the Conven-
ton will be justified in combining the Right of SUI.
frage in the premises to those now enrolled on the
bogus Registry lists, who comprise less than half
the rightful electors, and majority of whom may
not be One-fourth of those electors
Now compare this extraordinary position into
which the Administration has been buled by the
fbustering of the South Carolina Press and the
Georgia and Mississippi Democratic Conventions,
with the ground taken by Mr.. President Buchanan
in his Inaugural on the 4th of March last:
st is the imperative and indispensable duty Of the
Government of the United States secure to ecery
resident inhaJt0nt the free and Independent express
sion of his opinion by his vote. This sacred right Of
each indiridual must be preserved. This being ae-
complished, nothing can be farer than to leave the
People of Territory free from all foreign interference
to de eide their destiny for themselves, subject
only to the Constitution of the United States. The
whole Teri Oral question being thus settled upon the
principle Of Popular Sovt regnty- principle as
ancient as free government itself-everythirg of a
practical nature has been decided and other ques
ton remains for adjustment, becsnse all agree thst
under the Constitution Slavery in the States Is beyond
the reach Of any human power, except that of the re-
speetive States themselves wherein it exists
We might amplify and fortify this by extracts
from Walkers Inaugural and bis Topeka Speech,
pledging himself to oppose and do his utmost to
have Congress reject any Constitution which shall
not have been freely and fairly submitted to the
whole People of Kansas and ratified by them; but
we choose to rest on this distinct pledge of the
President himself put forth in the most important
State paper which he has yet had occasion to sub
NIT to the American People. Will Mr.. Buchanan
stand by this pledgel Does he now adhere to the
unmstakable positions of his Inaugural with re-
gard to Slavery or No Slavery in Kansas Will
The Union explicitly answer