The Bedford gazette. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1805-current, 1858-01-08
Topeka convention

Topeka convention.
| do not understand the honorable senator from
Illinois to hold an enabling act 10 be indi spen-
sable in all cases He cannot hold this in The
face of the numerous precedents to the contra
~: but he certainly does maintain that in the
case of Kansas, all that the people have done
hall be dlsregarded, not because they have done
il according to law, bnt for the reason that, IN
his opiuion, they have not done il in the right
way. Waiving for the present the question as
| o whether their way was right or not, the first
Question that suggests itself 10 the mind is, what
has become of the great Kansas-N Nebraska law;
! hat new charter Of rights 10 the people of the
Territories, which declares that it is ''not in
ended 10 legislate slavery into any Territory,
br exclude il thrrefrom, but TO leave the people
perfectly free 10 make their domestic institu-
I'D, and thus summarily pronounced failure q
Be that as it may, he cannot convince me that
/ he people have not the right 10 make their
domestic institutions in their own way, until
ne rspeals so much Of the organic act as says
! hey shall do this precise thing.
! 1t has conferred upon the people not only all
he powers Of Congress possessed under the
Constitution as 10 the kind OF institutions which
ho0ld be made, but also, and just as expressly,
IS to the mode, manner, and way of making
hem. The SENATOR proposes to reject what
he people have done, and confer upon them
srw grants of power; and yet, If there is any
tne thing clear in all this Kansas question it is
nat as to The kind of institutions the people
hall have, ana the way IN which they shall be
made they already have complete authority
L is true that Congress still has the power TO
av shat Kansas shall not come into the Union;
lut | cannot Spe how that body can contr9 any
additional authority a. 10 the way IN which she
shall br prepared to )me in. ! will not be
contradicted when say that the question be-
tween the friends aud PnpmieS OF the Kansas
bill was, whether the people OF the whole u
nou, aclng~through their representatives IN
Congress, should lpgslate on slavery 10 the
Trrrtory-no one ever claiming the right to
lrgiSatp on any other domestic instltutlon-or
whether the QUESTION should be dealt with by
The people of the Territory in their own way,
through local representatives. OF their own So
lection. The question was settled as no other
QUESTION had ever been settled brforr-bv the
cqSg, c54ss. l BY 81 Qqs 4y s FRA r.
dietary, and By the people at the polls. And,
Mr.. President, must confess to great amaze
mrnt when I heard the honorable Senator as
sump, the other day. that the people OF Kansas,
acting under his boasted grant Of ''periect free
dom," could not. IN the matter OF making
government for themselves, rise above the Dig
nifty OF supphcantS to Congress 10 ratify their
irregular and unauthorized proceedings; not on
the ground. even, that what they had done was
itself entirely lHadmsSble, but bpcause II had
not been done in the right way. The organic
act says that they shall do this thing ''in their
own way Will the Senator say the way they
have embraced was not the way Of the people
VIII he contend, IN the face Of his Springfield
speech, TO which shall allude more parlcu-
Iariy hereafter, that the people have not had
fair opportunity to reflect their wall through
the baIot-box; or, ifa portion of them refuse to
do this when invited, because they are deter
mined % disregard their own local laws, that
the responsibility is not their own! Certainly
not
Wherein, then, is the case of the convention
defective? | deny IN toto the senator's right
to 60 behind the legal and authorized aspect OF
the case. Congress is not hereafter TO deal
with the question of making institutions IN Kan
sas, either as to their character or mode OF for
nation. The rights of the people as 10 this mat
ter are circumscrbed by thr Constitution only;
and when an issue between their action and that
instrument shall arise, 1t must be question for
the judiciary, and not for Congress: and SO the
senator from Illinois has often held, especially
on the question OF squatter sovereignty. when,
therefore, the people apply to Congress for ad-
mission as State through the agency OF con-
vention Of delegates selected by themselves IN
a legal and orderly manner, under the broad
terms of the organic act and, in these days OF
non-interyention, having decided the slavery
question by popular vote, the only proper lnqul-
ry for Congress will be: Is the constitution
republican? Mr.. Madison's discussion OF the
obligations of the federal government, to be
found in the "FederaIist," )" but which is too vo-
luminous for use on the present occasion, is, 10
my mind, clear on this point.
The honorable senator has resoTted to mnsty
authorities to sustain his new position; out am
not disposed 10 resort TO means OF that KIND 70
controvert them. Indeed it would De hardly
fair in these days of non-in,ervention. had
supposed that, after the PIa OF bis new doctrine,
old relics would be forgotten, and that we were
to have simple, plain system for the lerri'o-
ries, TO Wit that the people from all ne olateS
should 90 into the Territories with all their pro-
perty, including slaves, and leglslatr for then-
selves up 10 the full measure allowable oy the
Constitution of the y. States, without revision
or interference bv Congress; and that, IN their
own time and in their own way, they Shooio
be allowed TO prepare for and ask admission as as
States. Besides, it is extremely dlffcuit TO tell
exactly what the Precederts OF Congress, States
and Statesmen, would teach on this SUBJECT
I have taxed my brain to the utmost to make
fair deduction from this complicated contest
and find it exceedingly difficult TO show decisive
authority for any of the points involved: l
discover that the States of Maine, Michigan
Vermont Arkansas. Tennessee, Texas, Iowa,