Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1857-12-31
NIr. Buchanan On his old Pint
form.

In 1886, when application was made
by Arkansas and Michigan for admis-
sion into the Union as States, the OBJ
lection was made that no enabling acts
of Congress had been passed prior to
these applications. Mr.. Buchanan was
in the Senate, and took an active part
in the debates. To show how %consis-
tently true to his own record he has been
in his late message on the Kansas ques-
ton we quote a passage from his re-
marks in 1886, in answer to the objec-
ton that Michigan ought not to be ad-
mitted because Congress had passed no
enabling act. He said:
"The first objection he should con-
slider was the one suggested, rather than
insisted on, by the Senator from Della
ware, (Mr. Clayton;) and that was, that
no act had been passed by Congress for
the purpose of enabling the people es
Michigan to form a State constitution,
in obedience to what had been supposed
to be the custom in regard to other
States that have been=admitted into the
Union. Now, was there, he would ask,
any reason for passing any such an act ?
Was it required by principle, or was it
required by former practice He ut
terly denied that it was required by the
one or the other before a new state may
be admitted into the Union; and wheth-
er it was given previously or subsc-
quently to the application of a State for
admission into the Union was of no
earthly importance. He Admitted that
the passage of such an act previously to
the admission of a new State was the
best course to adopt; but if a people had
formed a republican constitution, and if
Congress should think that they had
assumed proper boundaries, was there
any objection to their admission, wheth-
er the preliminary law had been passed,
or otherwise? But, in the history of
this government, they had precedents
to sanction this bill; and they had one
which applied expressly to this very
case; it being utterly impossible to draw
any distinction between the two, unless
in favor Of Michigan. He referred to
the case of the case of the State Of Ten
nessee, found in the second volume OF
the laws of the United States. The pre-
amble was short, containing but a few
lines, and he would read it. This brief
preamble was a declaration that, 'by the
acceptance of the deed of cession of the
State of North Carolina, Congress were
bound to lay out, into one or more
States, the territory thereby coded to
the United States. Congress, therefore,
upon the presentation Of a constitution
L. To--o..oo loolo,ol 4LoA Ckoka - L,
one of the United States of America, on
an equal footing with the original States
in all respects whateverby the name and
title of the State Of Tennessee"
M We arc sorry to observe in Ger
tain papers, indications that bear a re.
markable resemblance to an attempt to
dictate the course which Senator PUGH,
and other Democratic members of Con
gress from Ohio, shall pursue on the
Kansas imbroglio. This is not only in
bad taste, but should be checked at once
Let our Senators and Representative:
be left free to act as their pes judgement
shall direct after all the facts shall have
been fully developed and considered
If they look to the press for instruction
they will find the Ohio Democratic pa
pors far from unanimous on the subject
Some have taken strong ground in favor
of receiving Kansas in whatever way
she may present herself under the
Lecompton constitution. Others Ono
many however, have worked themselvei
into a fever under the fallacious ide;
that popular sovereignty cannot be ex
ercised through the medium of a dele
gate body chosen directly from the PEG
pie and by the people, for a specific
purpose. But by far the larger mum
Der Of democratic papers in Ohio, have
persistently declined to aid in the heat
ed and proitless agitation of this sub
ject. Nor has their action resulted from
an absence of feeling in the premises
Not a Democratic editor in Ohio blu
would have preferred that every .sylhabh
of the Lecompton constitution had beer
submitted by its trainers to a V ote O.
the people. They hold that to hav,
done so would have better accorded will
the genius of Democracy. But they
neither hold nor admit, that such sub.
mission was pledged by the terms of the
Kansas Nebraska act, nor by the plat.
form of the cincinnati convention. II
both cases, the great point sought tc
be enforced and established, was thai
Congress had no authority to legislate on
the domestic concerns of the States and
Territories themselves. This was the
pith and substane of the Kansas-Ne-
braska bill. 1t contained not a single
line saying ho,o the States and Terrto-
ries should exercise their right.
B@= The Buffalo Commercial says
that at present, all the roads leading
from that point are crowded to the ut
most capacity with freight; and there is
every prospect of an unexampled freight
business for the winter. The depots
ore crowded bevond their canacitv- and