The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-05-06

Stanton their official heads, as the Free State
men had told them it would, "the moment
they attempted to do right" They did attempt
to do right, and their removal from Office is the
forfeit. They learned, though little too late.
that they had been sent to Kansas on another
ana very different errand than to see that the
Free. State men should have fair play" in the
elections. Like their predecessors. Reader and
Geary-although all Of them were appo;nted 70
those important trusts as the special friends of
the Federal Administration; all of them the
friends and supporters of the principles of the
Kansas Nebraska bill, and tive of them South.
ern men, friends and advocates of the inst.
tuition OF Slavery, and would have been glad
to have seen it established ia Kansas. # Il
could have been done BY fair means. and with
the consent of the people-vet the moment
they manifested any regard to the dictates of
honor or conscience, or to their own selfrespect
and refused to prostitute their official functions
10 ana In carrying out any of these schemes of
fraud and viilainy which had been the order
OF the day IN that Territory--from that mo-
ment they incurred the bitter and open hostility
OF me rroSiavery party in Kansas, and fell
in'o disiavor with the Administration at Wash
ington. Thank God they cannot dishonor
them in the estimation of The American peo
pie. Comment, sir, is unnecessary. The simple
facts themselves carry with them their own
most pointed and significant commentary. I
Will only remark, that If the Administration
have had no completely with the reign of terror
wrong, and oppression, in Kansas, there is
some reason to fear that history will hardly do
them Justice.
Again, Mr.. President, we are not left here
even in regard TO the evidences of the will of
the people upon this subject. That will has
been expressed still later, and in a still more
emphatic form, in direct vote upon the Con-
situation itself. Acting Governor Stanton, see
ing the excitement and indignation of the peo-
pie at the manner in which they had been i'm.
posed upon, deceived and betrayed by the Con.
ventlon in Withholding the Constitution from
them, in violation of all the pledges which had
been SO publicly given, and mt the apparent
determination to have it imposed upon them
without hearing, as an act of prudence and
OF justice, aud with a view to allay the popular
Ieehng, convened the newly rejected Territorial
Legislature In extra session. Upon his recon.
mendahon, they passed an act by which the
people were authorized to vote upon the Consti
tuition, either for it or against it, on the 4th
January, that being the day appointed by the
Convention for the election of Governor and
Legislature under the provisional State Gov
eminent.
This afforded the people not only fair, but
II gave them the only opportunity accorded to
them, in which they could vote upon the cues
ton OF the ratification or rejection of that in.
strument The people improved that only
opportunity afforded to them for this purpose,
and the result was, msjority;of more than ten
thousand against the Constitution. That vote
stands unimpesched and unimpeachable. Do
you desire TO know the will of the people upon
this snbject2 Do you desire to know whether
IT Is their free act and deed Do you desire to
know whether they approve or disapprove it +?
have you any desire to know whether you are
about to do an act in fisgrant disregard of the ex
pressed will of the people Of Kansas There
you have their answer. There you have the
eVidence-decisive, unmistakabIe, and authori. |
tative. By more than ten thousand majority |
they repudiate this Constitution. By more than |
ten thousand majority they protest against its |
enforcement upon them. By more than ten |
thousand majority they solemnly protest against
Delng forced into the Union under it. / do not |
forget the vote for the Constitution on the 2lst
of December. That vote, as certified by Cal.
houn, was slightly over six thousand more
tEan half of which, it has been shown. were
clearly and indisputably fictitious and fraudu.
lent-a mere repetition of the Oxford fraud at
the October election. But, counting them all,
we have still an aggregate majority of near FIVE
against the Constitution. Is such an
expression of the popular WILL in reference to
the frame of government under which it is pro.
posed they shall live, to be utterly ignored and
Sir, what becomes of the great
fundamental principle of all republican govern
ment, that the majority must rule 2" Is this
your exposition of your boosted doctrine of
u popular sovereignty" Is this what You
mean by the right of the people to govern
themselves Is this your illustration of the
great principles of the Kansas. Nebraska bill
that " the people are left perfectly free to form
and regulate their domestic institutions in their
own way?" #~
Say, if you please, that the vote on the 4th
Of January was not legally authorized If that
were so, is 1t any the less clear and emphatic
manifestation of the popular judgment upon
the Constitution? Cannot you tell about as
we'll what the people think Of it, as if the vote
had been given under an act which was con.
fessedly validP Say, if you please, that the
Territorial Legislature had no authority to give
the people an opportunity to vote upon the
question of accepting or rejecting the Constitu-
ton (; If that were so-if such an absurdity be
admitted-is that vote any the less to be re-
gsrded as an expression of the public voice
npon the Constitution Is it any the less to
be regarded as an emphatic expression of the
public will
Sir, Congress have always heretofore said,
and Mr.. Buchanan himself said, in the debate
1pon the admission of Michigan, that mere
orms and modes of proceeding, to ascertain
he will of the people in reference to their
Constitution framed preparatory to admission
INTO the Union, were not to be regarded as es.
'ential, and might be dispensed with. They
have always said, the main thing, the essential
point of inquiry the material question, after
all, was, does it express the voice of the peo-
plef Is it the free act and deed of those who
are to live under it, and to be governed by itP
In the present case, the vote on the 4th of
January places this question beyond all posi-.
oiiity OF doubt or controversy. Never was the
sentiment Of people upon a vital question in
which they were 80 directly and so deeply in.
terested, manifested in manner more clear,
more decided, or more unquestionable.
Sir, the will of the people, say the will of
he people, when so clearly and audibly ut
Iered, upon question of this kind, must be
respected. The voice of remonstrance and of
when it breaks forth from the
spontaneous and aroused action of the people
when it breaks forth directly from the very
Sountain of power-from the independent, SOW.
sreign people themselves-in reference to their
proposed fundamental law, is as potential, and
As much commands our consideration, as when
t is addressed to US through the forms of con.
proceedings. The spontaneous voice
Of the people must be heard over and above
she voice of a usurping minority, though clothed
IN the form of Irregular proceedings" The
right OF petition, of remonstrsnce, of protest,
is right guaranteed to every American citi,
zen by the Federal Constitution, and awaits
not the permission of legislative enactment.
The people of Kansas had a perfect right, in
he absence of any special law, to express their
opinion, their remonstrance, or protest, against
his Constitution, either in this WAY. or in any