The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1858-02-20

Z
cracy occupied prouder or more conquer.
ing position. Let those who doubt it be
warned in time.
GREAT LETTER FROM GOV. WISE.
RICHMOND, Va, Feb. 6, 1858.
Gentlemen In reply to your telegraph,
received this morning, have said that can
not attend the mass meeting of the Demo
cracy Of Philadelphia, proposed to be held
on Monday evening next. And | have
hardly time to respond to your letter, since
received, and TO request to present my views
on the question OF the admission of Kansas,
as State Of the Union, under the Lecomp-
ton Constitution, as presented to Congress
by the President of the United States. For
the last seventeen years | have been advo-
eating the nominatin OF James Buchanan
for the Presidency for more than twenty
years | have been his warm, personal
friend and am as responsible, perhaps, as
any other man in the United States for his
election, and as deeply anxious as any other
person tina. bis Administration shall be sue
cessful and above all, be worthy of conf
dence and respect. Ou- personal relations
are as nothing compared TO the importance
of supp rting his Administration on ques-
based IN its action on moral and legal right
Blt personal and administrative relations
combined are as nothing, on the other hand,
compared with great fundamental, moral
and poirical principles involved in the is
s>u-s now presented TO the country in the
question OF .dmitting Kansas under the
Constitution nov presented as the act and
deed OF her people, rs a. Instrument Repub-
iicaH IN forH,.
These are the two iss'-es now pending be-
fore Congress.
Ist. Is the Lecompton Constitution the
act and deed of the people of Kansas.
2d. Is it republican in form:
These arc the only two essential issues to
be tried. And with the view to faii, fair
and friendly verdict as to the fact, and judg-
ment as to the law of the case, have care
fully, patiently and repeatedly read the
Presidents message of the I'd inst in which
he recommends the speedy approval by
Congress OF the Lecompton Constitution,
and the reception of Kansas under it as a
State into her Unior. regret to say that
the earnest, honest convictions of my mind
constrain me differ from the president of my
choice, and to declare | cannot endorse the
Lecompton Constitution as the act and deed
Of the sovereign people, whose act and deed
] i
the mode in which it was pretended to be
sIbmitted to the people, as anti-republican
and oppressive, and offensive to the self-re-
spect and moral sense of free people.
These convictions of mine have been de-
lberately formed, aud | mean calmly to
maintain them, reasoning with friends, and
not backing from foes, though | stand alone
against host. Ipropose rapid review OF
the message Of the President; bu. before
doing so, ii is proper TO recur TO antecedcnt
facts which settled certain points OF princi-
PIE which are now the tests Of truth and
argument in the case.
Prior IL the act to organize the Terrific
rics of Kansas and Nebraska the course of
government had been to regulate by Con-
grcss the mode and manner of application
by new States for admission into the Union.
Amd the NJ ssouri Compromise had existed
from lSl?-'20, recognizing intervention by
Cnrgr, - IN a way deemed unconsiitutionai
aud highly obnoxious to the slavehOldng
States That art made revolution in ter
ritorial policy which is striking in three
particulars
lst. 1t repealed the Missouri Compromise,
and established the principle of non inter
rention by Congress with slaosry in the
States and Territories.
2i. 1t declared for the people Of Terrific
ries popular sovereignty and self-govern-
ment' by "lcaving them perfectly free to
FORM and regulate their domestic institutions
in their oon ray, subject only to the Co'ssti-
tution Of the United States"
Sd 1t repealed the territorial laws Of Lou
isiana, previously existing to 1920, protect
ing and establishing slavery.
Thus, if anything new, if anything valu-
bic, was established by this act, it was n0n-
lentiOn by Congress with slaaery in the
States and Territories; and, above all, the
"perfect" freedom of the people Ct those
Territories to form and regulate, not one,
but ell their domestic institutions. in their
onn tcdy, subordinate only to the supreme
law of the Union. They were to be tram
mclled 10y no views of eXpediency of the
Federal Government or any of its depart
ments; but the people for themselves were
to form and regulate their own affairs in
their own way, subject only to the Consti-
tuition Of the United Sta es. Popular So
ve,eigniy and the right Of seif-government
in the people of Kansas, then, is not an
open question now. 1t was closed by the
positive enactment Of this law, declaraiory
Of their rights. True. the people were, of
course, to exercise this sovereignty Of self
government in practical and usual mode.
They were left to pr mary assemblies, to
mObs, or aggregate meetings. The Ameri-
can mcde Of self government is by cOnven-
tional representative, or municipal bodies.
But all these bodies arc out agents, servants,
and representatives. When thev "form
and regulate" they still form and regulate
for the people, and not for themselves.
Tneir acts, at last, are but the acts Of the
people, and their deeds but the deeds Of the
people When, therefore, a Convention
send Constitution to Congress to be ap-
proved, and it goes up not as their act and
deed, but as the act and deed Of the people,
done and performed by them as their agents;
the question, then is always-not whether
the act and decd is the act and deed Of
Convention, but is it the act and deed Of the
peoplei and this, no matter whether the
instrument goes up from the Convention
proclaiming, or from the ballot-bo of the
people voting it. By the very Kansas act
itself, it is obliged to be the act and deed OF
the people-their, theirs, and none others
whether it proceed from them directly, or
through their representatives.
And for these reasons. had no difficulty
in determining that the act Of 1854. the
Kansas and Nebraska law was an enabling
act" It created no right not pre- existing
for popular sovereignty il self existing-but