Kenosha tribune & telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1856-1859, 1858-03-18

now De only TO divide the Union. VIII
they not need some fairer and more
plausible excuse for a proposition SO
desperate? How would they improve
their condition, by drawing down q GER
tain ruin upon themselves Would they
gain any new security for Slavery?--
Would they not hazard securities that
are invaluable? Sir, they who talk so
idly, talk what they do not know them
selves. No man, when cool, can prom
Use what he will do when he shall be
infiamed; no man inflame6 can speak for
his actions when time and necessity
shall bring reflection. Much less can
any one speak for States in such emer-
gencies.
But shall not insist now on so rad
ical measure as the restoration of the
Missouri prohibition. l know how diff.
icult it is fer power to relinquish even
a pernicious and suicidal policy all at
once. We may attain the same result,
in this particular case of Kansas, with
out going back so far. Go back only
to the ground assumed in 1884, the
ground of popular sovereignty. Hap
PLY tor the authors of that measure, the
Jealous and enegetic resistance of abuses
practiced under it has so far been eff
fected that popular sovereignty in Kan
sas may now be made fact, and Lib
erty there may be rescued from danger
through its free exercise. Popular SOW
ereignty is an epic of two parts. Part
the first presents Freedom in Kansas
lost. Part the second if you will so con-
sent to write it, shall be Freedom in
Kansas regained.
1t is on this ground that hail the
eminent from Illinois (Mr. Doug
las) and his associates, the distinguished
Senator from Michigan, (Mr. Stuart,)
and the youthful, but most brave Sem
ator from California, (Alr. Broderick.)
The late Mr.. Clay told told us that Prov
:dence has many ways for saving ma
tons. God forbid that should consent
to see Freedom wounded; because my
own lead or my agency in saving it
should be rejected. | will cheerfully
cooperate with these new defenders Of
this sacred cause in Kansas, and / will
award them all due praise, when we
shall have been successful, for their large
share of merit in it's deliverance.
Will you tell me that it is difficult to
induce the Senate and House of Rep
resentatiyes to take that short back
ward steps On the contrary, the hard
est task that an Executive dictator ever
set up, or parliamentary manager ever
undertook, is that to prevent this very
step from being taken. Let the Presi.
dent take off his hand, and the bow, bent
so long, and held to its tension by so
hard pressure, willrelax, and straighten
itsef at once.
Consider now, if you please, the con-
sequences of your refusal. If you at,
tempt to coerce Kansas into the Union
under the Lecompton Constitution, the
people of that Territory will resort to
civil war. You are pledged to put down
that revolution by the sword. Will the
people listen to your voice amid the
thunders of your cannon? Let but one
drop of the blood of free citizen be
shed there by the Federal army, and the
countenance of every representative of
free State, in either House of Con.
gress will blanch, and his tongue will
refuse to utter the vote necessary to
sustain the army in the butchery of his
fellow citizens.
Practically, you have already one in
tsstine and Territorial war. A war
against Brigham Young III Utah. Can
you carry on two, and confine the strife
within the Territories? Can you win
both? A wise nation will never pro-
woke more than one enemy at one time.
| know that you argue that the Free
State men of Kansas are impracticable,
factious, seditious. Answer me three
questions: Are they not majority, and
so proclaimed by the people of Kansas?
Is not this quarrel, for the right of gov
erning themselves, conceded by the
Federal Constitution? Is the tyranny
Of forcing hateful Government upon
them, less intolerable than three cents
impost on pound of tea, or five cents
stamp duty on a promissory note? You
say that they can change this Lecemp-
ton Constitution when it shall once have
been forced upon them. Let it be aban-
doned now. What guarantee can you
give against your own Intervention to
prevent that future change? What Sc
curity can you give for your own ad-
herence to the construction of the Con-
stitution which you adopt, from expe-
diency, to-day? What better is a Con-
stitution than bylaw Of corporation
if it may be forced on a State to-day,
and rejected tomorrow, in derogation
of its own express inhibition?
Iperceive, Mr.. President, that in the
way of argument, have passed already
from the ground of expediency, ON which
l was standing, to that Of right and JUS
tice. Among all our refnements of
Constitutional learning, one principle, has
been faithfully preserved, namely:-That
the new States must come voluntarily
into the Union: they must not be forced
into it. "Unite or DE-" was the motto
addressed to the States in the time of
the Revolution. Though Kansas should
perish, she cannot be brought into the
Union by force.
So long as the States shall come in by
free consent, their admission will be an
act of union, and this will be Con-
Confederacy. Whenever they shall be
brought in by fraud or force, their ad.
mission will be an act of consolidation,
and the nation, ceasing to be Confed-
eracy, viii become in reality an Empire.
All our elementary instruction is wrong
or else this change Of the Constitution
will subvert the liberties Of the Ameri-
can people.
You argue the consent of Kansas
from documentary proofs, of her forced
and partial acquiescence, under your
tyranhie rule, from elections fraudulen-
tIv conducted, from her own contumacy
annd from vour own records. made mn