Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1858-04-03
NUMBER IA.


for the protection of their lives and of their
property. The validity of the Legislature
is sustained by as many sanctions, if VIC
! look to the forms Of Law for evidence, as the
Legislatures of, Virginia or Massachusetts,.
But suppose chat thes, gentle men were
right; suppose there were some irreguari-
tbs ii the election of this Legislature still
there is one great fact which is indisputable.
ani that is, that it was the only government
in Kansas, and thst it had al the authority
/ OF 8 geTe~nment dc fucto. Now, sir, We
know that all civilized nations and all pub
licists recognize TIE authority Of govern
ment Gc Jacto. They recognize that au-
thorlty because, as was well said by Presi-
dent Polk when he declared that the militia
ry government in California was the only
government in existence, unless You &C.
/ knoTledgs sach government you permit
anarchy; and civil societies not only pre-
sumo against 1t, but they uuGIiu rlru...~-luoa
against anarchy as animated beings protect
themselves against death. 1t is the very
necessity Of their existence The law Of
their being requires them to do so. | say
then, that if it were not a government de
,,jurc, it was irdisputably government de
.}facto, ard according to all the prescriptions
of society according to all the maxims Of
Law, its actions must be recognized as valid,
for there was no government in that Terrific
ry to dispute its authority. .y
Then, sir, if its action was valid it was
by law that it ordered the sense of the peo-
pie to be taken in regard to convention;
it was by law that it ordered members I'd
be elected to that convention: ard it is no.
thing to say that majority Of the people Of
Kansas, although allowed to dc so, refused
to vote at that election. There is nothing
in this objection, becaifse it is everywhere
admitted that those who do not vote in
free representative government are bound
by the action of those who do. What is
the right Of . majority according to those
who claim most for it :? The right of Il ma
jority is to determine question which is
submitted to the vote of a people for dccis-
ion it is their right. too, to elect the men,
bers when they are to be elected by popu-
lar vote but that is the full extent Of all
they can claim. A majority have no right
to say that they will refuse to vote. and
thereby create anarchy, chaos, and confu-
sion. No such right could be acknowledged
consistently with the existence of rcpresen-
tatiye government itself and yet it is pre-
cisely this which is claimed in this case
The very existence of free representative
government itself requires that you should
insist that the majority, who could con
troll if they would, must be governed By
the minority who do vote, if they them
selves refused to act. This is necessary be-
cause the Government must go on; and you
must presume against anarchy, and save
civil society from it's evils.
/ It is nothing, then, that these persons re-
fuse to vote at time whon they might have
! done so. | know that is said. in relation to
the question whether there should be con-
yention, that there were some tests requir-
ed; but the same cannot be said in regard
to that election in which members Of the
convention were chosen. Tie majority, if
i existed, could hare controlled things as
/ they desired. The right to control has new
er been disputed that right has never been
taken away from them; but when they come
here and claim more, and affirm the right
by refusing to act, and refusing to dis
charge their legal duties, to create state
Of anarchy in a community, they claim what
never can be and what never ought to be
accorded to them.
| In regard to the other objections, that
some of the counties were unrepresented, it
has been so fully ard completely answered
| that think need rot take UP your time
by further adverting to it for it has been
shown that it was minority Of the people,
at best, who lived within them that if the
census was nc. tsk6r there, it was because
the free State party would not permit it to
be taken and that, in any point of view,
| there were not persons enough in these
counties to have affected seriously the rep
resentative character cf the convention.
come now to the ether class Of object
crs to those v Ito object to the authority Of
this convention because it wanted the sup
port of an enabling act on the part of Con-
gress. What, let me ask, are the func-
tons Of an enabling act2 IN enabling act
is, in the first place, a declaration On the
part Of Congress, that within certain boun-
daries there is people who are sufficiently
numerous and matured as society to claim
admission irtc the Union, if they present
constitution republican, in It's form. 1t is
also an invitation to those people thus to
meet and present their constitution for adj
mission. When they dc that, Congress is
bound in good faith to pass whatever fur
ther acts may be necessary, in order to adj
nit them into the Union.
But Mr.. President, oil that is necessary
in order TO- justify the admission, is that
there sEould be tie application of people
who, within proper boundaries, are suff-
GENTLY numerous and sufficiently matured
as a society to qualify them for entrance
into the Union. and that their constitution
should be republican in IT'S form. When
ever Chat case is presented, there is the JUS
LITIGATION for Congress to enter into the COM
pact with the State which is, necessary in
order to admit it "a compact to which there
are two parties-the people of the State APP
plying for admission on the one hand, and
the Congress If the United States agree
ing to Admit eli the other. The difference
between shc two eases is, that in the enc
Congress ss morally bound by its previous
pledge, and in the ether it acts merely up
Oh The propriety of the application, julging
it by the circumstances under which t is
made. Asa proof that it is 50, we have
! been referred over end over AGAIN to the