The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-04-29
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SPEECH Of HON. HENRY WILSON.

SPEECH Of HON. HENRY WILSON.
OF MASSACHUSETTS,,
In Reply to the Hon. J. II. Hammond. of south
Carolina, in the Senate, March 20, 1858. On thu
Bill to Admit Kansas under the Lscomnton
Constitution.
Mr.. President: This protracted debate. in
which so many Senators have participated. il
Fastening to its close. Hundreds of thousands
of the American people have watched its pro.
gress with the most intense and painful solici.
tude. When the President precipitated the
question upon the country in his annual message,
we were oppressed with the most profound ap-
prehension for the result Hardly ray of hope
illumined our pathway. We heard the mpe-
riops voice of that gigantic power which sways
the National Government, demanding the con-
summation of this crime against the people of
Kansas. We saw the Chief Magistrate of the
Republic holding in one hand honors and pat
ronhge, to seduce aud corrupt; and in the other,
power to smite down him who would not Weld
to bis glittering Establishments. During these
hundred days of conflict, we have seen the
honors, the patronage, and the power of this
Government openly prostitutsd by the Presi
dent to seduce the weak, and to strike down
lifelong Democrats who could not be won by
corruption. Never has this nation witnessed
such shameless and indecent prostitution of Elk.
ecutive power. Never have we witnessed such
reeking corruption or such abject and unblush.
ing servility. In spite, however, of the potent
influences of Executive powers of corruption
and vengeance, of servility and treachery, our
tears have yielded to our hopes, and our hopes
are last ripening into convictions, that this Lee
cotapton Constitution can never receive the
sanction OF the Congress of the United States
Our hope Is now strong that this Lecom pton
Constitution, the Slave Power, and this Admin.
istration, will be consigned to that grave which
knows no resurrection. The Administration
may, by the corrupt appisnces of Executive
power, win barren and feeting triumph, but
the signs all around US indicate that it is doomed
to utter defeat; that the Slave Power will fall
with it, to rise not again and that the intelli-
gent and patriotic men Of the country, who love
Liberty and loathe fraud-men who are loyal to
the Constitution and the Union, to law and Or
der-will take the helm and guide the ship of
State hereafter on her course
Sir, that pure, patriotic, and ilustrious states
man, John Quincy Adams, has left recorded in
his diary these pregnant words: at is among
the evils OF Slavery, that it taints the very
sources of moral principle" establishes false
estimates OF virtue and vice." and "perverts hu.
man reason" Day by day, as have watched
the startling events which have transpired in
the ill-starred Territory of Kansas-day by day,
as have listened to the studied perversions Of
these deeds of fraud and violence, trickery and
falaehood, l have been reminded of the signifi.
cant words OF the great statesman, whose rich
lesrning, varied and vast acquisitions, ripe ex-
perience, and matured intellect, were devoted
to the high service of the Republic, at home
and abroad, for half q century. In this age,
and in this land, where the lights of Christian
civilization are flashing upon our pathway, that
moral nature must be tainted, that heart must
form false estimates of virtue and vice, and that
reason must be perverted, before any citizen OF
America could be impelled to enact such crimes
as have been enacted in Kansas, or uphold, de-
tend, or apologize for them. Perverted reason
and tainted moral principle may lure or impel
to the commission of such acts as have stained
the history of that Territory; but let Presidents
and Senators remember, that from the hour the
temPter gided into Paradise, and Kissed into
| the too willing ear of the mother of mankind
disobedience to the "higher law" to the con.
summation of this work, no genius, no learn
ing, no eloqsence, could
Bazon evil deeds consecrate a crime"
Great advocates have won fame before the IN.
dicial tribunals of the world in defence of great
criminals, but that page of human history is
ring fame of statesmen won in the vindication
of crimes against the rights of the people.
The right OF the people to frame their own
forms OF Government, as to them shall seem
most conducive to their happiness, is an achieved
American right. 1t was won, not by your
kansas-N ebraska sct-it was won eighty two
years ago, in the fire and blood of the Reyolu.
ton. In amending old Constitutions, or in
framing new ones, we should, either in the
State or in Congress, rise above little techn.
calities and forms. We should remember the
words of James Madison, "that forms ought to
| give way to substance; that a rigid adherence
to forms would render nominal and nugatory
the transcendent and precious rights of the peo-
ple." The "Old Thirteen" received their char.
tiers from the Crown of England; and when IN
dependence was proclaimed, they changed their
| forms OF Government in their own time and way
Eighteen new States have formed, some by
spontaneous movements of the people, some by
legislative authority, and some by enabling
acts, Constitutions, and Joined this sisterhood
OF free Commonwealth. The statesmen of the
country have generally risen above little tech
nicalities and forms; they have generally sought
to learn the will of the people Of the new States
and of the country, and to see if the Constitu.
tions presented were republican. Never have
we witnessed such an exhibition of special
ties and technicalities as in this case of Kan.
sas. Sir, the records of both Houses of Con.
gress, and the archives of the Executive de.
partment, will bear to all future time evidences
of what Mr.. Madison called "the little ill.timed
scruples, and the zeal for ahhering to ordinary
forms, under the masks of which" the rights
of the people have been sacrificed and their
will baffied. The people of that Territory have
been stigmatized in official papers, and in both
Houses of Congress, as "rebels," and revolu.
| tionists," and "traitors," for exercising the
clearest rights of American citizens. The Con.
gress OF the United States is not the place for
these exhibitions of the little technicalites and
specialties of third.rate county courts.
Senators gravely insist upon the most rigid
adherence to the forms Of laws, when they
know that the transcendent and precious rights
of the people have been, and viii be, sacrificed
by adherents to forms. They boldly deny es-
tablished historical facts, because these facts
are not officially proven and they will not al
low them to be officially established. Fraud
taints everything-all legal proceedings and
contracts, even the marriage confectionery
thing except this Lecompton Constitution and
fraud seems to sanction this deformed monstros.
ity. Sir, there is not Senator here, there is
not an intelligent man in America, who does
not know that this Lecompton Constitution is
not sustained by the people of Kansas There
is not an intelligent man in America who does
not know that this Constitution is tainted and
vitiated by frauds and by violence. The evi.
dence of this is as conclusive a. is the evidence
that the armies of England, France, and Rus
sia, met at Sebastopol; that the light brigade
charged at Bslaklava; that the Redan and
Mslakof were stormed- The acts of violence
and fraud in Kansas are matters of history,
proved by Congressional investigation; by the
evidence OF Governors Reeder, Geary, Walker,
and Stantoni by Legislative inquiry, and by the
admission of the actora them .alvas. ,at tha.a