Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1858-02-04

ed to tell him he had forgotten it, and b
thought be would lie it through. Said tn
trader 10 him, ''Did you call at the bank !
ayes" add the cashier say it was a gen
uine bill?" aNo, he did not" sDid h
say it was bad one!" "No" aWel
what did he say?" "He said it was abou
midling-semi-genuine." [Laughter.]
have never learned to this day whether tina
was a good or bad bill. Lauhter.]E
They used to say, in General jackson
time, that he had a kitchen cabinet as wei
as regular one. This could not be
meeting of the kitchen cabinet, because i
sat in the parlor. Laughter.] 1t wa
semi-official in its character also.
Again, sir, there is another thing remark
able about this meeting. The Senate
says: sit was semi-oficial and called"-I
was called meeting; it was not mere
accidental gathering of few gentlemen
coming in to pay their respects to the dis
tinguished Senator in his hospitable man
sion; it was "semi-oficial and called."-
For whata "Called to promote the public
good" Yes, sir, semi official meeting
called to promote the public good; ane
what did it doa The honorable Senator
from Pennsylvania says: -.'oz
any recollection was clear that l left
the conference under the impression tina,
it had been deemed best to adopt measures
to admit Kansas as State through the
agency of one popular election, and that
for delegates to the convention. This i'm.
preston was the stronger, because thought
the spirit of the bill infriDged upon the
doctrine of nouintervention, to which 1 had
great aversion; but with the hope of ac-
complishing great good =
THE meeting was called for the "public
good" " aand as no movement had been
made in that direction in the territory, /
waived this objection, and concluded to
support the measure. | have few items
of testimony as to the correctness of these
impressions, and with their submission
shall be content"
Then be goes on to say:
81 have before me the bill reported
by the Senator from Illinois, on the 7th of
March, 1856, providing for the admission
of Kansas as State; the third section Of
which reads as follows: a1e ..f
"'That the following propositions be,
and the same are hereby offered to said
convention of the people of Kansas, when
formed for their free acceptance or rejection,
which, if accepted by the convention, and
ratified by the people at the election for the
adoption of the constitution, shall be OBJ
ligatory upon the United States and the
said State of Kansas
"The bill read in place by the senator
from Georgia on the 25th of June, and re-
ferred to the committee on Territories, con-
tanned the same section, word for word
Both these bills were under consideration
at the conference referred to;"- 5
Two bills under consideration at this
semi official meeting!
-"but, sir, when the senator from Illinois
reported the Toombs bill to the Senate,
with amendments, the next morning it did
not contain that portion of the third Sec
ton which Indication to the convention
that the constitution should be approved by
the people," 4ss4o. -
The result of this semi official meeting,
called for the public good, was that bills
came into the Senate the next morning
minus the clause submitting the constitution
to the people. 1t was stricken out; but
the honorable senator does not impugn
anybody nor his motives, because, he says:
"Who struck the words out, or for what
purpose they omitted, is not for me to an
swer." t' -
Ifit is not for him it is not for me; but
l thought he had given clew to the reason
why they were struck out when he said the
meeting was called for the public good
Undoubtedly they were struck out for the
public good. Who struck them out seems
to be mooted question rs uncertain of an
answer as that old question, "Who killed
cock-robins" [Laughter.] II has got out
somehow or other. did not see the Sen
ator when he delivered the speech. If 1
had I should have watched him closely;
and it is possible that by some gesture or
some shake Of the head he would have de-
termined who that awho" was; but we
are left in the dafk-we do not know who
it was.
You see, then, that this was not acciden-
tai. A semi-official set of patriots, friends
of popular sovereignty, and disciples of per-
feet freedom, called for the public good in
private room, met together, and for pc
culiar reasons is what the Senator
said-they determined to strike out of the
bill the only redeeming feature in it, and
that was the submission to the people of
the question whether they would have
slavery in the constitution or not. In that
secret conclave, that semi-official meeting
for the public good, these patriots put their
heads together to strangle at the birth the
only thing there was in their bill which
ought to commend it to the real genuine
friends of perfect freedom and popular SOW
ereignty. Well, sir, I am learning some
thing every day; but 1 did not know, till
that speech was made, that when we met
here in official meeting and matured bills
and put them in shape, they were to be
committed to the tender mercies of semi
official meeting 10 straugle and choke out
of them everything that was worth the
keeping the breath of life in. They. struck
down, then. that great principle of popular
soyereiguty-a principal iuestimable to
freedom, formidable only to semi-official
patriots. Laughter So that this was
accidental; it was purposely done; and
this too, was done in the name of popular
sovereignty!
DOUGLAS READ OUT OF HIS PARTY.