Preble County Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1857-1859, 1858-02-11

WIS SAS PlOPAI4OuO WOu1Cul
for settling all the difficulties of Kansas
this Is the time for abandoning the
revolutionary Topeka organization, and
for the enemies of the existing govern.
mont to conform to the laws and unite
with its friends in framing a State Con
stitution. But this they refused to do,
and the consequences of their refusal
to- submit to the lawful authority and
vote at the election for delegates may
yet prove to be of the nest deplorable
character. Would that the respect for
the laws of the land, which so eminent
l. distinguished the men of the past gen
Grafton, could be revived. 1t is disre-
gard aud violation of law which has for
Years kept the. Territory of Kansas-in a
state of almost open rebellion against its
goveruinent-it is the same spirit which
has produced actual rebellion in Utah.
Our Gully safety consists in obedience
and conformity to the law. Should a
6 neral spirit against its enforcement
prevail, THIS will prove fatal to US as a
nation.
We acknowledge no master but law,
and should we cut loose from its re-
straints, and every one do what seemeth
good in his own eyes, our case would in
decd be hopeless. The enemies of the
Territorial government determined still
to deny the authority of Congress
They refused to vote for the delegates
to the Convention, not because from
circumstances, which I need not detail,
there was an omission to register the
comparatively few voters who were in
habita nts of certain counties in Kansas
in the early spring of 1857, but because
they had determined at all hazards to
adhere to their revolutionary organiza-
other Constitution than that which they
had framed at Topeka. The election
was therefore suffered to pass by default;
but of this result the qualified electors
who refused 70 vote car lever justly
eumplain. m this review it is mani
fest that I'D Lecompton Convention,
according q Try principle of constitu-
tional law, was legally constituted and
invested with power to frame a Consti-
tuition, se
The sacred principle of popular sover-
eighty has been invoked in favor of the
enemies of law and order in Kansas !;
but in what manner is popular sover-
eighty to be exercised in this country
If not through the instrumentality of
established Law? Certain small repub-
lies of ancient times did assemble in pri-
mary meetings, passed laws and direct
cd public affairs In our country this
is maniiestly impossible. Popular over-
eighty can be exercised here only
through the ballot !; and if the people
Ill .1E,,N H. o-a,.o - - - KIie rao-
ner, as they have done in Kansas at the
election of delegates, it is not for them
to complain that their rights have been
violated. The Kansas Convention, thus
lawfully constituted, proceeded to frame
a Constitution, and, having completed
the work, finally adjourned on the 18th
of November last. They did not think
proper to submit the whole Of this Con-
stitution to the popular vote, but did
submit the question whether Kansas
should be a free or slave State to the
people. This was the question which
had cenvuised the Uuion and shaken it
to its very center.
This was the question which had light
ed the flames of civil war in Kansas and
produced dangerous and sectional party
strife throughout the confederacy. 1t
was of a character so paramount in re-
spect to the condition Of Kansas as to
riyet the anxious attention of the peo-
pie of the whole country upon it alone.
No person thought of any other ques-
ton. For myown part, when Instruct
ed Governor Walker, in general terms,
in favor of submitting the Constitution
to the people, 1 had no object in view
except the all-absorbing question of sla.
very. In what manner the people of
Kansas might regulate their other con
Germs was not the subject which attract
cd my attention. In fact, the general
provisions of recent State Constitutions,
after an experience of eighty years, are
Be difficult to go far wrong, at the pres
'ept dry, in framing a new Constitution.
I then believed, and still believe. that
under the organic act the Kansas Con-
'Yen'ion were bound to submit this all
important question of slavery to the PEG
pie.
1t was never my opinion, however,
that independently of this act they would
have been bound to submit any portion
of the Constitution to a popular vote in
order to give it validity. Had 1 enter
tanned such an opinion, this would have
been in opposition to many precedents in
our history, commencing in the very best
age of our Republic. 1t would have
been in opposition to the principle which
pervades our institutions, and which is
every day carried into practice, that the
people have a right to delegate to the
Representatives chosen by themselves
their sovereign power to frame a Con
stitution, enact laws, aud perform many
other important acts, without requiring
that these should be subjected to their
subsequent appreciation. 1t would be a
roost iuconvenient limitation of their
cwn power, imposed by the people upon
themselves, to exclude them from exer,
cising their sovereignty in any lawful
manner which they think proper. tits
true that the people of Kansas might, if
they had pleased, have required the Con-
v~ention to submit the Constitution to a
popular vote, but this they have not
done.