Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1858-09-09

to support the measure 9 Ihaye few items
of testimony as to the correctness of these
impressions and with. their submission |
/ shall be content | have before me the
bill reported BY the Senator from Illinois
on the 7th Of March. 1856, providing for
the admission of Kansas as State. the
third section Of which reads as follows:
That the following Propositions be, and
the same are hereby offered to the said con-
vention ofthc people Of Kansas, when form
ed, for their free acceptance or rejection
which if accepted by the convention, and
ratified by the people at thc election for the
adoption of the constitution. shall be OBJ
ligatory upon the United States and the
said State of Kansas -
The bill read in his place .by the Sena-
tor from Georgia ON the 2eth of June. and
referred TO the committee on Territories,
contained the same section. word for ord
Both these bills were under consideration
at the conference referred TO; but, sir, when
the Senator from Illinois reported the
Toombs bill to the Senate, with amend
ments, the next morning it did not contain
that portion of the third section Which in
Edicated to he convention that the consti
ton should be approved by the people. =
The words "AND RATIFIED By THE
PEOPLE AT THE. ELECTION FOR
THE ADOPTION OF THE CONSTI-
Tu Flo NJ had been stricken OUT
ant not now seeking to prove that
Judge Douglas was in the plot to force a
constitutions upon Kansas without allowing
the people to vote directly upon it, | shall
attend to that branch Of the subject by and
by NV object now is to prove the exist
.ence of the plot, what the design was, aud
ask i'll have not already done So Here
are the facts: the INTRODUCTION of bill by
Mr.. Douglas on the 7th of March, 1856,
providing for the calling Of convention in
Kansas to form State Constitution, and
preyisliug that the Constitution should be
submitfelto the people FOR adoption; an
amendment to this bill. proposed by Mr..
| Tooinbs. containing the same requirement;
reference Of these various bills to the
committe on Territories; consultation of
Senator'S TO determine whether it was ad-
visable to have the Constitution submitted
for ratification. the determination that it
was not advisable; anta report of the bill
hack the next morning, with the clause
proviling for the Submission stricken out.
Could evidence be more complete to estab-
iish the first part OF the charge have made,
Of plot having been entered into by some
body, to have constitution adopted with
out submitting il TO the people? Now. for
the other part of the charge, that Judge
Douglas was in this plot, whether know
inyIy or ignorantly. is not material to my
purpose. The charge was that he was an
instrument cooperating IN the project to
have Constitution formcd and put into
operation, without affording the people an
opportuuity to pass ppse IL The irsf fev-
idence to sustain the charge is the fact that
he reported back the Toombs amendment.
with the clause providing for The sublnis
sion stricken out. This in connection with
his speech in the Senate OF the 9th of De-
cembcr, 1857. Congressional Globe, part
|, page Is, wherein he stated
That during the last Congress, (Mr.
Douglas reported bill from tho commit
tee on Territory to authorize the people Of
Kansas to assemble and form a constitution
for themselves. Subsequently the Senator
from Georgia, (Mr Toombs) brought for
ward substitute for i.y bill, which. AF
TER HAVING BEEN MODIFIED BY
HIM AND MYSELF IN CONSULTA-
rION, was passed by the Senate"
This of itself ought to be sufficient to
show that my colleague was an instrument
to the plot to have constitution put in
force without submitting it to the people;
and to forever close his mouth from at
tempting to deny it. No man can reconcile
his acts and former declarations with his
present denial, and the only charitable con
clusion won;d be that he was being used
BY others without knowing it. Whether
he is entitled to the benefit of even this ex-
cuse. you may Judge on candid hearing
ofthe facts | shall present. When the
charge was first made in the United States
Senate. by Mr. Bigler, that my colleague
had voted for an enabling act which put q
government in operation without submit
ting the Constitution to the people, my
colleague, Cong Globe, last session, part
l, p. 2l. stated:
II will ask the Senator to show me an
intination, from any one member of the
Senate, in the whole debate on the Toombs
bill, and in the Union from any quarter,
that the constitution was not to be sub
mit:ed to tile people. Twill venture to say.
that on allsidcs of the chamber it was SO
undcrsto od 1.-THE time. II the opponents
of the bill had understood it was not, they
would have made point on it; and if they
had made it.. we should certainly have
yielded to it. and put in the clause. This
is a discovery male since the President
found out that i was safe to take it for
granted Thar that would be done, which
ought in fairness have bern DONE ss.
/ knew at the time this statement was
made, that had urged the very same OBJ
lection to the Toombs bill two years be-
fore, that it did not provide for submis-
sion of the constitution You will find my
remarks, made on The 2d of July. 1856. in
the appendix to the Congressional Globe of
that year. p. 179. urging this very obiec-
ton. Do you ask me why l did not expose
him at the. time! / will tell you--Mr
Douglas was then doing good service o.
gainst the I.ecompton iniquity, The Re-
pablicans were then engaged in a hand to
hand fight with the National Democracy,
to prevent the bringing of Kansas into the
ITp;op &c n clavo State arainet the wtel,.e