The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-03-25

inquiry. If, then, the lsecomp IN c institution
does notcome here recot ,mende by IT ssuthority
Of law, / desire to knob whetb it {. pines here
as the choice of q me iority the people OF
that ill-fated Territory l desi p to Enov 1t the
want of legal authority to frap this Constltn-
ton is cured, as it ma be, by the sect that 1t
is the voice of the peopl whose ightsi Is assumes
to regulate and contro = Or, Whether We are
not called upon to for,s upon an ppwiling, .
protesting, and RESISTING people IRENE OF gov
eminent founded neitl er upoI theslaW under
which they live, nor thu will Of thos. on whom
it lays in letters? -
This is q question OF fact, ard must depend
upon the testimony ; it ia question, too. which
underlies all the others. To every ope who be.
lieves that all Govern aents derive their just
authority from the consent of the goferned, no
question can be rsiset in this controversy OF
greater magnitude thas whethes thy frame OF
Government about to be fastened upon the
people of Kansas has t,eir assaet, and embod'
les their will. All infoi malities may be waived,
if it be but the people chat speak. Compared
with thus question, it r,atters tile where TINS
Constitution originated. -wheth, in the city OF
Washington or in the Office o the Surveyor
General of Kansas. B It it does matter, unless
we care to forego and iorget tie fundamental
principle of all free gi,vernme 1T, whether the
Constitution, desire it G.; not. One would sup.
pose that, before recon nendinl the admission
of Kansas under and subject 70 this Constitu-
ton, the Executive would have saared no pains,
nor omitted any effort, to have made certain,
and communicated to this House, the one grand
and transcendent fact, before which all oppo-
Bition should have paled and covered, that the
people of the Territory desire to take upon
themselves this as their organic law. Yet, sir,
when we turn to the message for information
upon this point, we find that the President has
none to give. There is . great deal else In that
document, but not one word oa the question
whether the people of Kansas eslly do or do
not want this Government. there, is much
special pleading in it, as to ho< a people may
seem to want what they really 10 not want
how they may be estopped fro saying what
they do want, and as to whosei Sault it is that
this or that thing has been done; ,r has not been
tlone-but not one word, fcom . beginning to
he end of the message, which. sould Indicate
he Presidents own opinion up. D this, the one
;,reat fundamental question in y % controversy,
Whether the people of Kansas emselves have
breathed the breath of sife ID this instru.
rpent-whether it stands forth g othed with the
popular will, quickened oy thu pulsations of
the popular heart, and speaks 3 the popular
voice. Nor has the President fled his finger
to ascertain from Kansas what Is the popular
will He has communicated to the call OF the
Senate his correspondence, with Che Governors
,f that Territory, and the ordets and instruc
tons which have been is sued Is them. And
there is not to be found ,moni them all the
4 esire expressed, on his art, + know what is
the real popular will in th,t Tel eitory in refer
eace to this instrument. In Communicating
tjis Constitution to US, " tn hit recommends
on that Kansas be adm ted uader and sub.
1Dct to it, he nowhere tells US thit it is an ema-
nation from the popular wi |, or u at it is submit
ted to us in obedience t, that WILL On the
contrary. he says he has ,ceivei it from John
Calhoun, and that John slhous, hopes he will
submit it to as. Here Is his CT appliance with
Cslhoun's request: 1
"Ihave received from J Calho In, Esq, Pres.
ident of the late Constit, tionae Convention of
kansas, a copy, duly ce titled oy himself, of
the Constitution framed by tina: body, with the
expression of hope thai / VIC Id submit the
same to the considerable of ingress, with
'the view of the admissioa of ansas into the
Union as an independent State"
1t is fit that such msn shout be the bearer
Ct such an instrument. "l'it hes for ft body"
he man who has been ccmpell to fee from
sc Just Indignation of tho Peep ; he is betrsy-
i,g, guarded by United ,tates iragoons; the
nan who dare not to-day saow he head an hour
10 that Territory, except Il be thin hollow
square of soldiers, comes as mt ar IS any one
man can of personifying the tr' relation be-
tween the people of Kansas and that Constitu.
ton. They hate him, az the cb eff instrument
chosen by their oppreseors to % their work,
aud they detest and loashe and hate this, the
workmanship of his hands. N w, ia it not q
little remarkable that the Chief ,agistrate of
PEOPLE which achieved itJ nation j exi tence in
tae assertion of the principle thit all , athority
eyer freemen obtains its life fro the consent
81 the governed, should aave ha, his mind 80
tsrned away from this, the tru. issue, as not
esen to have raised tho inquir :, whether the
teople who are to live tHder tb Constitution
% themselves actually choose it Or noe2 Is it
Eot stranger still, that tie ear o. the President
kss become so dull to the Ike; note of that
grand old anthem sung in Indef sndence Hall,
Tat he has never heard that, fhile we have
teen discussing this subject in this body, the
fseemen of Kansas have walke up to the bal
EJtbox, ten thousand strong, a d set the seal
q their condemnation apon IL very instru-
t1ent he is urging US to impose pom the necks
q the very people who have Jus rejected it
nth scorn and contempt?
l cannot stop to criticize the Presidents ex.
Case for not having heard of thj Judgment en-.
t9red up against the Leg ompton Constitution
tIat he "had received / o officis information"
q IL; nor to reconcile that exi use with what
le does communicate th 1t he has heard, trans
/ ring at the same elect ion: of large maiori-
- of the opponents of I lis Cons tuition voting
snder it for State Officers. Can he not hear OF
re one vote as well as I ,e other happening on
: e same day? If he b. We any. Their ears than
fetal ones, it may vel be at sed why they
have not caught the tht nder to les Of the ten
teousaud majority again IT the L ecompton Con.
slitution, as we'll as the insight can't incensst.
ency with which he b 8 trout led himself of
i-ree State men at that anne ele .tioH. in voting
st against the Constitution, al d I'm for off.
,rs under it. If this cs,n reacl him from I'm.
dficial sources, has be no ear to bear that
Cher solemn, allcontrolling INDICATION of
tie whole people agains this in truraent2
: But another chapter in this his Sry here opens
ss marvellous as any which hi We preceded it
snd in perfect keeping sith tn. n all. In the
Profound silence of the fnessag upon the ex.
Lressed will of the peop e, in Il strs,nge reve
l,tions of the Executiv, docun ents hat not
snger has been raised aor an ear ,pened to
Earn that will; and in the pl essen of that
1fher fact, which has !ravelle he without.
executive aid, and in slste of yecu i've docu
gents piled up to wall t out, lat ae people
Fave written on that inst ument, let ers which
gill burn through it, tn, { by ter tho, sand ma
prity they have register ed their vow that they
tlii never submit to it; and b I'VE riven the
entity perpetrators of this outri ge ,on their
Lights IN ignominious fight from thej borders !,
/ enid all these facts ant allegat ons aore seri-
gus, the friends of the admins ratit rush to
-'e aid of the Executive in atte, apti, to stihe
~ inquiry as to what al these thin< 3 mean !;
: ad whether we are moi called opop TO fasten,
81 the strong arm of power, :, Co stitution,
,shieh they loathe and ,te, upoa ,ople who