The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1858-04-06

pas, AT thls ecceiOu, hhJ put Whhtefd
for the admission of Kansas So far as the
destiny of Kansas is concerned, 1t makes not q
particle Of difference whether this bill or that
bIll be passed, or no bill at ALL Her destiny
and her institutions are permanently fixed by
the overwhelming ascendanoy of her free State
population. But 80 far as this question affects
the practical business Of Congress, the general
policy of the administration, and the agitating
schemes of disorganizing demagogues, it is of
the first Importance to clear the docket of this
Kansas impeachment While il remains upon the
calendar nothing else can be discussed
We have said that the administration cannot
recedc. Nor is it necessary that it should re-
cedc. 1t has done nothing in the case requiring
it to recede. 1t has no right to recede. The
duty Of the President Is to execute the laws 1t
is no part Of his duty, nor has he any right to
60 behind the record to see whether the law
making power has or has not been legally
elected If he had any right to do this he
might reject q law of Congress upon the plea
that member or two of either house consti-
tuting the majority in favor of some particular
bill were not legally elected, and that, therefore,
the bill must be vetoed. But having no
such legislative right, he was compelled to
accept and submit to Congress the Le-
compton constitution as 1t came into
his hands, covered, as 1t was, with all the
legal evidences and forms required to make q
legal document. He had no alternative. He
was compelled to accept and recommend this
Loo int IN bo "a aff
ton Of Congress. Having thus faithfully adj
hred to the line of its constitutional limita-
lions, the administration cannot recede, even if
it were so inclined.
But, notwithstanding all this, the Kansas
policy of the administration, while yet it had
the discretionary power to shape, to some ex-
tent, the organic law for the State, very clearly
indicates the way of escape to the conservative
men of Congress. In his instructions to Gov.
Walker the President distinctly favored the
policy of the full submission of the organic
State law to the popular vote. Gov. Walker, as
long as he kept within the strict limits of his
Office, was sustained by the President in all his
efforts to this end but, as the discretion of sub
mission or non-submission rested with the Con.
vention, and as the Convention thought fit to
make only partial submission, the President
was bound to accept and submit to Congress
this line OF action as the legal solu-
ton Of the organic Territorial laws
He saw that the Lecompton constitution
was republican in form, and really ex-
cellent constitution, too, notwithstanding the
direputable character of some Of the parties
concerned in its formation. And yet, in both
his messages to Congress upon the subject, the
President, while pleading the binding force Of
the law, has clearly indicated bis regrets that
full and absolute submission of the said consti-
tuition to the popular vote WAS not made.
Here, then, is the authority upon which the
Senate may act. 1t is within the province of
the Senate to accept or reject the Lecompton
constitution; and as the important principle of
slavery is not excluded from the Crittenden
substitute but is retained in it, as the destiny of
Kansas will be precisely the same under any
act, or in default of any act Of admission, and
as the only remaining consideration to every
peacemaker now is the speediest possible re-
moval of this bone of contention from Congress,
why should not the majority of the Senate re-
cede, or at least permit the Crttenden bill to go
through by default? 1t is not necessary that
any administration member should vote for the
bill. The absence Of eight Or ten Lecompton
men when the vote is taken will answer the
purpose
But the administration has substantially won
the victory, even upon this Crittenden
substitute. The steadine,s, frmness and deci-
sion of character exhibited by Mr.. Buchanan in
this controversy have compelled the whole black
republican phalanx Of both houses to recog-
nizc the principle that a slave State constitu-
ton shall be no bar to the admission of q new
State hereafter. Thus, at q single blow, the
whole anti slavery platform of ''no more slave
States--no more slave Territories has been
demolished, for the entire representation of that
party In both houses Of Congress has been
driven to the extremity of the clearest recogni-
ton of the broad principle of Congressional
non-intervention in the organization of the in
stitutions of q new State.
This Is one of the most remarkable political
achievements of the last half century. 1t is
equivalent to a political revolution. II Is an
extorted concession from the black republican
aDtl-slavery alliance, which secures the fullest
possible margin for the organization and i'd
mission of new slave States. The Northern
anti-slavery policy of excluding State be-
cause of q slave State constitution Ia aban-
doned. They have relinqulshed the right and
the power to exclude q new State on 40
count Of its recognition of slavery. They
are forsworn, in the most solemn
form, to the principle Of non-intervcntion
in voting for the admission Of Kansas
under the Lecomrton constitution, should that
constitution be ratified by the people of Kansas;
and the conservative people Of the North will
hold them hereafter to that agreement.
The great vital principle to the South in
volved in the Lecompton constitution being
thus fully conceded In the Crittenden bill, and