Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1857-1865, 1858-04-23


their delegates, clothed with full power to
carry out their will, as by direct vote Of
the whole people Such mode had been
pursued in the adoption of the first Con-
sttution of more than one-half Of the
States Of the Union. 1t was the republi-
can mode, and that which is most COM
patible, perhaps, with the common usages
in representative government. Whether
it is the better mode or not, unquestion-
ably it is one Of the most stereotyped
processes known to the institutions of our
country.
Indeed, in the organic act of Kansas,
Congress had pledged itself to leave the
people perfectly free to form and regulate
their domestic institutions IN their oton tcoy,
subject only to the Constitution of the
United States" IF they have chosen a
way of their own, satisfactory to them
selves-the instrument being republican
and not yiolative of the Constitution Of
the United States-what right have per-
sons, outside Of the Territory, to object to
to it2 What right has Congress to inter-
pose, and prescribe to the people of a
State a mode different from that they
themselves select for forming for them
selves a State constitution? What right
to say to the people of Kansas-"True,
you have adopted constitution under the
full sanctions Of the organic Inv, without
violating either the principles of that act
or the Constitution of the United States
but you have not proceeded in the mode
we think preferable, and therefore we say
to you, your work shall be done over
again ?" 1t is conceded that this represen-
tative mode, adopted in Kansas, has been
pursued in majority of the State without
conplaiut-and who can doubt that but
for slavery in this case, this objection
would not now be heard?
1t is argued that large number Of peo-
pie did not vote, either upon the question
of calling a convention, upon the election
of the delegates, or in the decision of the
question as to whether it should be free
soil or a slaveholding State; and that,
therefore, this constitution does not en-
body the will of the people. The fact can
not well be doubted, that those who did
not vote were mainly mass of German
and native anti-slavery extremists--many
of them aliens-fOllowers Of Lane and ad-
herents to the revolutionary Topeka con-
stitution, who, from the beginning, have
counselled resistance to the government
established by authority of the United
States, even, to use their own language,
''to the bloody issue" If there were those
who were entitled to vote, and did not vote,
it is certainly because they refused to vote,
denying, as they did, the validity of the
Territorial laws, and openly resisting the
authority of the established government.
/ propose, in this connection, to give some
glimpses of history throwing light upon
the uniform conduct of such men as re-
fused to vote, and | appeal to gentlemen
| if, after contemplating such facts, they can
conscientously feel that they are in the
line of their duty in standing by this body
of law breakers against the whole mass OF
law abiding citizens of Kansas.
! Senator Dcnglas, who now opposes the
Lecompton constitution on the ground that
it does not embody the will of the whole
/ people, himself traced, in able reports in
the Senate, in 1856, step by step, the dis
ordely movements of these law violating
men down to the revolutionary constitu-
ton at Topeka, and their traitorous re-
solves that they "owe no allegiance" to the
Territorial Legislature-that the Terri
torial claws have no binding force" upon
them-that "every freeman among us is
at full liberty, consistently with his obliga-
tons as citizen and man, to defy and
resist them (the Territorial laws) if he
choose so to do'-that "we will endure
and submit to these laws no longer than
the best interests OF the Territory require,
as the least of two evils, and will resist
them to the bloody issue as soon as We
ascertain that peaceable remedies shall fail
and forcible resistance shall furnish any
responsible prospect of success-and that
in the meantime, we recommend to oul
friends throughout the Territory the
organization and discipline Of volunteer
companies, and the procurement and pre-.
paration of arms"
Mr., Douglas then informs us that "thOst
who were opposed to allowing the people
of the Territory, preparatory to their ad-
mission into the Union as a State, to de-
eide the slavery question for themselves,
'fnding opposition to the principles of the
! Kansas Nebraska) act unavalling in the
halls of Congress" resorted to "thC
machinery of emigrant aid societies. -
The plan adopted" he adds, twas to
make it the interest of large body O.
men who sympathized with them in the
objects of the corporation, to proceed tC
Kan7cs, and acquire whatever residence
and do whatever acts might be founC
necessary to enable them to vote at the
elections, and through the ballot-box, i
possible, to gain control over the legisla
ton of the Territory" "When the emf
grants" said he, "who had been sent GU
by the Massachusetts, Emigrant Aid Com
pany and their affiliated societies, passed
through the State of Missouri in large
numbers, on their way to Kansas, tn,
violence of their 'Nnguage, and the un
mistakable indica, MS Of their determined