Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1857-07-15

the DOT inuuencea OF dishonest intrigue and the
nsnipulstions Of an Official dsmsgogue.
Was it a part Of Governor Walkers official
duty TO court the loud caresses Of a PREDICATE
Erees0il rabbie? or was he instructed to gri-
mace TO Abolition rebels from the hastings at
Topeka? What right had be totske sides With
one Of the parties in the Territory, or 10 dc
tate 10 and threaten the Convention. ls Con-
gress subject to or the Convention under the
authority Of the federal appointee2 IL not,
what authority has be 10 declare what Con-
gress will do and the Convention must do?
Gov. Walkers duty in Kansas was to impair
TALLY administer the laws; and not to beg,
bribe. (by grants OF o~therwIse,) or to bully at
or to the polls. The case is a plain one. The
Territory OF Kansas had been organized, the
Territorial Legislature had been recognized,
and its laws pronounced valid and obligatory.
Among these laws was one calling a cOnven-
ton Of the people 10 frame a constitution for
admission into the Union as State, and around
this law was thrown all the safeguards, ~restric-
lions anj provisions which are deemed neces-
sary and proper. Now, what was Governor
Walkers concern with this matter? Only to
see the law executed. What rights were the
parties invested with The right TO register
and vote. Was it Governor Walkers duty to
order them 10 register and vote2 With all bis
pIo-consular airs, had he a right 70 make them
either register or vote? If any neglected OF
/ ltAuet4 70 ArEl1stA VI hNlr. hd 4 AUA AuElI con-
cernf Was Governor Walker, with the iusig-
MIA Of Office around him, to beat the bush, and
wriggle through Kansas to coax, wheedle or
drag FTeesOilers % the registry Office or the
polls? When competent authority has defined
the publication of suffrage, and made every
provision for its exercise, has it not done all
which a government should do in the matter {?
Is not any further interference by an executive
officer partisan intermeddling?
Il IL aArfsAaHb - Crvrrr,r Trcr n - Fhcsa
who neglect or refuse to vote acquiesce in the
decision of the majority who 90 vote, and
make that decision their own as completely as
if they had voted. When the Freesoilers. then,
in Kansas neglected or refused TO register OF
vote for delegates to the convention, did they
not legally accept those delegated as much as
if they had voted for them? Are they not as
much bound by the acts of the convention as il
they had voted II this neglect or refusal
then TO vote was equivalent to tie adoption Of
the result Of the majority Of those who did
vote, what could Governor Walker seek TO ac-
c0mplish by his official rambl,s through the
Territory, and his passionate arreai 10 the
FIeesoilers to vote? l. could be 40 more and
no less than the reversal Of the decision about
to be had ; and, as that was clearly pr0-slaYery,
be must have been seeking an anti slavery re-
suit.
It viii not do to say that Walkers object
was conciliation. The Administration and
Congress had recognized the Territorial Legis-
lature and its laws, and forcible resistance to
them was rebellion. With anything short Of
forcib'e resistance be had nothing T. do. Was
he sent to the Territory to abdicate the gov
eminent in a compromise with rebels? Or
was it his duty to solicit Freesoilers from their
acquiescenee TO the laws? II they acquiesced,
it was no concern of his-if they r~ebelied, the
bsyOnet was The remedy.
But Governor Walker also declared that the
Convention, after it frames a State c%onstitu-
ton for Kansas, must refer il back 10 all those
who may be in the country at that time, in
order that It may be ratified or rejected. Is
this necessary The constitutions Of one
half Of the States Of the Union have never
been referred to the votes Of the people OF
those States; and yet those constitutions have
never been supposed to possess less Of sanetity
or legitimacy than those which have been so
referred. Is this idea Of reference back to Tie
people founded in a true theoryf Organizh
sovereignty is the supreme authority known TO
public and statute law. Under our system,
this organized sovereignty resides in eonven-
ton. A convention is the embodied majesty
Of the people, and all other powers are either
suspended BY or subordinate to it. A refer
snce then from it to any other power is a
reference from a greater to a lees. The indi-
Vidnais IN a community are less as molecule,
than as an aggregate, or as an organized unit.
A convention IS all the people, and all the GEO.
pie IN their highest conceivable political Ca
pacity. An act Of sovereignty carries with it
its highest ratification. This theory Of referr-
ing an act back from conventions TO individuals
at the ballot-box is French red-repubIican
growth. II is founded in the idea that indigid-
uals in their separate are above themselves in
their aggregate character ana that the mere
units in a community are above the whole az
gregate Of the community. massed into one
grand and final political whole. Some Of the
ablest expounders Of this theory were some Of
the sGas-sulOtfee philosophers Of France in
'F9S," aud others may be found more recently
among the socialists and red-republicans.
The object Of Gov. Walker IN referring the
constitution back TO the vote Of all who nav
be in Kansas at the time Of the reference, is
obvious enough. The convention frames a con-
stitution for Kansas, as Kansas is at the time.
Those who subsequently 90 to Kansas, 20 there
as they would go into any other OF the States
of the Union. They must obey the laws, and
il they DO not like them, they must change
them in the mode prescribed. The convention
embodies the sovereignty Of Kansas, and that
covers all who are in the Territory ; and it is
immateTial whether they were there when the
delegates 70 the Convention were elected, or
whether they came a~fterwari. They are Just
as much represented in tie eonRtitptisn Of Kan
sss as they would be IN that o. any State in
The Union into which they came after The adop-
ton Of lis constitution. The reference OF the
constitution backtO the popular vote 10, l hold.
unealled for. But It's reference to any other
than the q~ualiAed YoteEsis debauehery. They
gere the only agsRcy competent to organize
the State, and they are the only political ele-
meuts known in the act OF Organizing il. IN
til the organization is complete aud settled,
they are The only source Of power. To make
It otherwise is to make a constitution as tickle
and mutshle as mere statute. Il is, in fact, to
have no organic act or law. II those who
upon the soil IA the interval between the
Of delegates to a ~coRyentiOn and the
of the constitution, have : right to
ratify or reject that instrument, why shall not
those who come in the next year, or the year +.
thereafter, have the sans right? They will be
subject 70 its provisions; and this great
should no more be denied to them than to
others. This theory ~unsettles society aud de-
az fVadsm mental law. Il is the offspring
81 French and Northern society /; not Of Elg-
.ish OF Southern society. 1t belongs 10 a tur-
1ulest society, where the wholesome restraints
d law are impsired, without the development
IF individuality. And in France it eliminated
a a revolution 70 iiFide property, aud struggled
% until it was pressed b4ek into the gutter by {
be hayoaet. I
Gov. Walker can only urge the right OF the
Intermediate ssitlsFs in Kansas in order TO make !
a FTeesoii State. VIII not believe (
Mr.. Buchanan an aceomplice in this policy ]
sufficient proof. If there be any enn- i
,licity, however, rny deRunciations will be none
be less earnest. The resolutions Of the Dem (
cratic party Of Georgia. in convention at Mil !
a few days ago, % tie Kansas policy
{ Gov. Walk y, express Dy views clearly i
nougb. The administration should absolve .
tself from Walkers trescheTy. II viii do so, )
an sure, unless it means to be responsiblefo for {
The seeond allegation il, that ] am hostile E
o the national Demnarstie party. I have c
ever sbaiested my Independence, aud put Oh d
be collar Of the Democratic party, and ! 4
ever mean 70 do 30. ! support the party
hen Ithink it right, and Ioppose il when
link i wrong. Ihzve some but not absolute, A
il the national Democratic party.
o have an absoluts confidence Ia il | must be- a
eve both in its adherence to the Constitution, e
nd its ability 10 protect that instrument. q
ass by its basis Of principles as periodically l
Promulgated, and look for 4 moment to some e
Z the acts OF sore Of its leaders and mem- II
ere. End them 4. .. some Of its leaders and 81
ANY Of its followers,) for a high protective 2
: srapendous scheme OF internal y
and tor tie peger Of Congress to b
nact the Wflmot Pfoviso, although its enact b
tent, they admit, would be unjust and unWiys. Il
find many Of them voting against the extern "a
on of the line OF 80 dec. 80 mia., 70 the Pacific q
lsfs and 49," 4 quote the years from Ii
iemsry) ane sosing IN " 1870" to dismember D
sovereign State, sBS devote the mntilated P
to free soil, and for tEs illicit admission Q
2 California into the Union as a fses State, P
ID for a stigma upon slavery through tbs &
Of the slave trade in the District Of d,
IN 1854, ! 6nd ALEC one-half, minus th
Of the DenoerStie members Of TIE House Of
ON the free States, yoang against the Kansas A
bill, although K Vas made a test, Of
I'd voting against it because It was supposed II
be favorable 70 the South The GoFERey x