The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1858-03-24


Mr.. Buchanan's Administration. We
elsewhere give quotations from the last
For sale by A. H. Copeland
The following is the Boston Jonr-
nal rs abstract of speech in the Senate,
by Mr.. Crittendeu, of Kentucky, on tho
bill for the admission Of Kansas
lie referred to the right of the people
to govern themselves as the great princi-
pld applicable to the present circum-
stabces. The President, he said, has rec
ON hended with unusual earncstness the
adm ission of Kansas. 1t was question,
in His mind, only of the fact whether the
Lecpmpton Constitution comes with such
auth ority and sanction from the people as
obliges us to recognize it as the constitu-
ton of Kansas. He thought it did not,
and said that the evidence of Messrs.
Walker and Stanton show it to be against
the will Of an overwhelming majority of
the people of Kansas. He recapitulated
| the statements as to the various frauds
committed at the elections, and then ex-
amined the legality of the Lecompton
Constitution, declaring that it was not the
constitution of Kansas, but only of the
Convention which framed it
The vote of ten thousand against it on
the fourth Of January, shows that it is not
the constitution of the people. They tell
you it is particularly obnoxious to them,
because it is tainted with fraud. 1t is
one of series Of frauds instigated for the
purpose of getting and keeping possession
of the government of Kansas, from the
first election, carried by armed invaders
| from Missouri, down to the present day.
Hence he concluded that to impose it on
Kansas would be plain and palpable vi
olation of the right Of the people to gov
ern themselves. But, continued Mr.. Crit
tenden, the Lecompton Constitution car
ries on its face the evidence Of corruption.
Those who framed it knew it contained
provisions which the Free State men could
not assent to. Therefore none were al.
lowed to vote unless sworn to support it
slavery provisions and all. The six
thousand votes shown in its favor were
put in with the view Of exhibiting a suit
able majority, and in order not to make
the fraud too monstrous. They went Just
beyond the line; the fraudulent intent
was apparent throughout. And how, he
asked, can gentlemen ignore these frauds
in the face of internal evidence and con.
current testimony? The people of Kan
sas say it is not their constitution, and ask
US to send it back to be submitted to
vote Of the people, Can we, he asked,
refuse such a request ? Can Senators
turn from such evidence to legal technic.
alities and Prescriptions of law? They
ought to look to truth and principle, with
out searching for Prescriptions and pre-
cedents. Holding these principles, he
said, he could not put his hand to the ad
mission of Kansas into the Union under
the Lecompton Con. titution.
After an interruption. Mr.. c. resumed,
contending that the majority of the people
of Kansas should be allowed to make such
a Constitution as they please. That, he
said, is the great American principle. That
is the principle of the South itself, he spoke
discursively on various topics. He was,
he said. according to the terms now used,
Southern Democrat. He had lived all
his life in southern climate, and was
ready to defend his rights there but in
the same resoute spirit in which he would
defend his own rights, would he defend the
rights of others. He repeated that he did
not believe that Kansas could be Slave
State. The South was deceived in that
respect. Referring to the Missouri Com.
! promise, he said it would have been bet
ter to let it stand. The South could gain
nothing by it, nor the North, but it was
hallowed as bond of Union. It's accom-.
plishment was hailed as one of the great.
est acts Of that great leader, Henry Clay.
1t brought peace to the country by locali-
zing slavery, and it should not have been
broken. He was growing older and less
susceptible to new impressions, and would
have been content to have rested upon
that compromise. Has its repeal brought
us peace? Tho very reverse of peaceSit
has brought us trouble.
Turning to Kansas, he said he would
voe for her admission if he thought it
would bring peace, but he did not believe
it would. 1t is said that the admission
will localize the question of slavery in that
territory. He did not believe it. If that
question is to be debated, it will be deba-
ted here-but it must be debated in the
right way. There should be no excite
ment. Why should his friends at the
North use such invectves, he must say Of
q most atrocious kind2 Why should we
not live in peace and harmony as our faith
ers did? We are united in language and
and in blood, and yet the great destinies
of the future are forgotten, while this petty
subject Of disagreement is nursed into CO.
lossal proportions.
Abiding to the previous debates, he
said he was much gratifed in learning
from them the comparative resources Of
the two sections of our country. The Sem
ator from South Carolina had detailed the
resources of the South, and the gentleman
from Maine had given those of the North
and while listening to them it seemed to
him that this was the most natural union
in the world. If either of these sections
was apart, it would mako a nation of
which any man may be proud to be a eli.