The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1858-03-23

there, in robes which yet exacted public
reverence. The people. unaware Of tho
import Of whispcrings carried on between
the President and tho Chief Justice, and
imbued with vcncration for both, filed the
avenues and gardens far away as tho eye
could reach. The President addrcssed
Them in words as bland rs those which the
worst of all the Roman Empcrors pro-
nourced when he assumed the PURPLE
Ho announced Vaguely, indeed, but
with self satisfactorily the forthcoming
extra judicial exposition of the Constitu.
tion, and pledged his submission to il as
authoritative and final. The Chief JUS
tice and his Advocates remained SILENT
The Senate, too, were thcrc-constitu-
tlonal witnesses of the transfer Of admin
istration. They too wore silent, although
the promised usurpation was to subvert the
authority over moro than half Of tho en-.
pire which Congress had assumed cotem-i
poraneously will, the birth Of tho. nation.
and had exercised without interruption for
nearly seventy years. 1t cost tho Prcsi-
dent, under the circumstances, little excer-
else Of magnanimity, now to promise to
Tho people of Kansas, on whose neck he
had, Will the aid of tho Supreme Court,
hung the milestone Of slavery, fair rial
IN their attempt to cast it off and hurI It
to the earth, when they should come to
organize state Government. Alas that
even this cheap promise, uttered under
such solemnitics, was only mado to be bro.
ken! Tho pageant ended. On the 5th OF
March, the Judges, without even cxchang-
ing their silken robes for courtiers' gowns,
paid their salutations TO the President, in
the Executive Palace. Doubtlessly tho
President received them MS graciously as
Charles l. did the Judges who had at
his instance subverted the statutes Of Eng
lish liberty. On the 9th Of March, the
Supreme Court dismissed tho negro sutor,
Dred Scott, to return to his bondage p
and having thus disposed of that private
action for an alleged private wrong, on tie
| ground of want CT jurisdiction in the case,
they proceeded with amusing s,lemnily 10
pronounce tho opinion that if they had
had such jurisdiction, still tho unfortunate
negro would have hud to remain in bond
age, unreleived, because the Missouri pro.
hibition violates rights of general proper
ty involved in slavery, paramount to the
authority of Congress. A few days later
copies of this opinion were multiplied by
the Senates press and scattered in tho
name of tho Senate broadcast over the
land, and their publication has not yet
been disowncd by tho Senate. Simul-
taneously, Dred Scott, who had played
the hand of dummy in this interesting pol
itical game, unwittingly, yet to the COM
pletc satisfaction of his adversary, was
voluntarily emancipared, and thus rccciy-a
Cd from his master, as a reward, tho FREQ
dom which the Court had denied him as
right. .sss es galo.
The new President of the United Statea.b
having organized this formible judicial
battery at tho Capitol, was now ready to-
begin his active demonstrations of inter
ventlon in the Territory. Here occurred,
not new want, but an old one revived
a Governor for Kansas. Robert J. Walker
born and reared in Pennsylvania, a FREQ
State, but long a citizen and resident of
Mississippi, Slave state, eminent for tai
ent and industry, devoted to the President
and his party, plausible and pcrsevering.s
untiring and efficient, seemed just the man
to conduct the fraudulent inchoate pro.
ceedngs of the projected Lecompton Con-
vention to conclusion, BY devi'lng tho
friends of Free Labor in tho Territory, OF.
by casting upon them the responsibility Of
defeating their own favorite policy by i'm
practibility and contumacy. He wanted
for this purpose only IN army and full
command of the Executive exchcquer, Of
promises of favor and Of threats of punish.
ment. Frarick p Stanton of Tennessee,
honorable and capable, of persuasive ad-,
DRESS but honest ambition was appointed
his Secretary. The new agents soon found,
they had task that would tax all their
energies and require all their alrointness.
On the one side, Slave Labor party weSsl
determined to crcumvcnt the people, and
secure, through tho Lecompton Conveu-
ton, Slave State. On tho other, the
pcopld were watchful, and determined
not to be circumvented, and in no case to-
submit. Election for delegates to that
body were at hand. The Legislature had
required census and registry of voters
TO be made by authorities designated BY
tself, and this duty had been only PARTIAL
y performed by fifteen of the thirty-four'
counties, and altogether omitted in thS
other nineteen. The party of Slave La
Dor insisted on payment ftaxes as q oou--
iitlon of suffrage. The Free Labor party
ieemed the whole proceeding void, by
reason Of the usurption practiced and Of the
le fective arrangements for the election.
They discovered design to surprise in the
efusal of any guaranty that the Constitu-
ion, when framed, should be submitted
o the people, for their acceptance or rejec-.
ion, preparatory to an application under
for the admtion Of Kansas into the I'm.
on. The Governor, drawing from the am
lie treasury Of tho Executive at his com.
nand, made due exhibitions Of the army,
nd threatened the people with an accep-
ance Of tho Lecompton Constitution, how
yer obnoxious to them, il they should re-.
use TO vote. With these menanccs, he.
mingled promises of fabulousi
uantities Of land for the endowment of
Dads and educatson. He dispensed with
he test oaths and taxes, lameutcd the
effects of census and registry, and prom~'
h. <f Al