The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1858-02-22

III UoN w alker found diScontentS there, the n
promises of equity which he made in the
name Of the President, quelled the rebellion
by means of the ballot box. The waves s
never rise unless the wind blows. If the T
menace ofthc Lecompton Constitution seemed ,
likely TO excite disturbances. Governor Stan .
ton, TO his honor be it said, lulled the rising
commotion, net by calling in the Army of
the Unitsd States, but by peacefully convok-
ing the legal Legislature of the Territory.
There is now no instruction IN Kansas;
there is no rebellion there. Cease to dispute
the unquestionable right Of the majority, and
the star of peace will rise serenely, the storm
will be hushed, and the waves subside. The
Government will not find rebellion there;
let 1t not provoke one.
AM what contrast between a Governor
of Territory restoring peace through the
representatives of the people, and an officer
of the General Government, calling himself
President of Convention, taking an escort
from the Army Of the United States, 10 make
his entry into the capital Of Kansas amid
the murmurs of its people.
If to the question between the Lccompton
Constitution and the people of Kansas we
apply the test Of principle. we find that the
enforcement of that Constitution will be an |
act OF power against right; of the Army |
against the people; of force against reason;
of usurpation against the rightful will of a |
III Will DC NlOltllOu vi lilt Iull-
damental principle of free government, which |
is government by consent. 1t is directly at
war with democracy, whose cardinal point is
the power of the people. The supporters of
the Decompton Constitution have not one
square inch of Democratic ground TO stand
upon. constitution for its validity needs
the concurrence of the majority of the people
either silently, by general acquiescence, or
by an appeal TO the polls. Shall full and un-
Hnuhtp1 M of n
foot of land, or gift b. will of shilling.
Shall a merchant or banker have power to
stop payment of check fraudulentiy held,
and shall the people have no power to stop
their servants from sequestcring IL cir rights?
| Shall the most insignificant treaty of Min
lister Plenipotentiary want validity till it is
ratifedi And shall the highest treaty of the
| people with themselves be made in corner
| by their servants without their assent! Is
form everything and substance nothingl Is
appearance everything, and truth and right
and reality nothing!
There is not precedent for enforcing a
Constitution against the consent OF the people.
The principle of popular ratification is sane
toned in the Minnesota act.
| The President in his annual message en-
phatically declares that the example of sub
| hitting Constitution to the people is found
ed on nc orrect principle; so that his instruc-
| tons to Governor Walker ON that subject
were properly expressed in unqualified terms
Again: Congress has power TO admit States
but no power whatever to make Constitu-
ton for State still less to impose on a
State q Constitution which the majority Of its
people loathe and reject. The tendency to
the Capitalization OF power in the General
Government is rapid and dangerous. We
protest against its further increase and
against its present excess. The true basis OF
political organization between all parts Of
r the Union was, from its beginning, the rights
, Of the States, and that basis offers for the flu
tnre, as it has for the past, the most perfect
guaranty for security and Union.
Redress must come from the people of the
United States. They in their strength must
remedy the existing evil, by distinct ex-
: preston Of their will. The moment is
T iraught with dangers, which the adoption of
} the Lecomp,on Constitution would only ag
? gravate.
: A departure from the principles on which
q Government rests, is an evidence of its de-
cay. The violation of the principle of Pop
ular Sovereignty wastes the life-blood of the
& Republic.
Again: in popular Government, where
the rulers are but servants, anarchy steps IN
when principle is forgotten ard expedIcncy
e is made the guide.
Again: the concentration Of power in the
hands of u Convention like that of Lecomp-
. ton, is not an American idea. 1t is borrow
. cd from those republics OF Europe which
were not capable of existing long, for the
very reason that power was so concentrated.
n 1t sderived from the worst examples of the
worst periods of revolutionary France, when
4 minorities usurped power over a, nation by
terror and reckless daring. If the rule of the
{ minority Convention is now formally sane
' toned by Congress, it will be a most danger
I Gus precedent, an instrument ofwrath, treas
ured up for a day of wrath. We appeal
q against this system to the whole Democracy
; OF the country; we appeal to all people who
n love order, and justice and freedom.
4 We will not make an appeal to the South
f as such; but if any part Of the Union has
: cause for alarm ut an increase of the, power
Y OF convention suddenly called together, VIC
Z should say it is the Sontb and were Jeffer-
4 son alive, we should on this occasion have o
a protest from his pen. The guiding principle
n of his craftsmanship was to consult the peo-
pie aud to revere the people. But what do
"a sec? A voice comes to us from one of JEFF
o. fersons successors in the chair of state in the
!, Old Domain, and in clear and distinct terms
A he rejects the Lecompton Constitution as not
y the act and deed of the people of Kansas
and he rightly condemns the Lecompton
schedule as not republican, New York will
= respond to Virginia, and the great North
(, West will swell the echo.
n | HC lNiiNs Va bhO btSDilplOH
. Constitution on an unwilling people is Meth
: err wise nor expedient nor possible. Princi-
q pie is the true OWNERS wand by which the
President of free people sway, tho millions
4 and secures majorities for his measures in
o Congress. The neglect of principle for
!, temporiziug expedienty always looses the re-
4 spect of majorities in Congress and out of il.
n The ship of state is :waterlogged; throw the
3 fraudulent Lecompton Constitution over
: board; let principle take tile helm. and the
bark will spring forward on its way as in the
G best years of our republic. Ours is the cause
r OF peace, of order, of true democr lcy, OF
| union, of freedom. All good omens are
> with us. For our part we are resolved to
O walk in the central path of humanity, shun-
n ming sectionalism and fanaticism on the one
}. side, and suoservieney to dictation on the
), other. True democracy inscribes on its ban
Il ners the rights of the States and the sover-
4 eighty of the people; it upholds freedom to
i the individual in the State, freedom to the
IL State in the Union, and the indefeasible right
\ of the majority, whether in State or in o
V Territory, calmly, deliberately. and undis-
n turbed, to form and accept, or reject Con-
/. stitution for themselves.