The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-05-06
THE NATIONAL ERA: WASHINGTON, d. c, MAY 6, 1858.


submitted by this bill, and have also proved
that it ia 80 submitted. Here is paradox
case in which each of two propositions is true,
while the propositions themselves are as irrec-
oncilable as free viii and fate, the great antag-
onisms which so much perplex the theologians.
1 am not willing, however, to stop where the
theologians stop, without trying to harmonize
the conflicting elements. / am determined TO
find ont bow it is that this bill does not at all,
and vet does, efectualy submit the Lecompton
Constitution to the people of Kansas. think
have found it. The honorable Senator from
Missouri, chairman of the conference commit
tee, Mr.. GREEN, has helped me out Of the d.
lemma. BE has told us that, although the life
or death of Lecomptcn hangs on the accept,
ance or rejection of the dowry of the people OF
Kansas, yet that result is only consequence
of the acceptance or rejection of that dovry ;
and what have Congress to do With such remote
and consequential consequences as that The
real consequence of the bill, the consequence
which Congress looks to, is the FIRST conse-
quence merely, dowry or no dowry. If after
and beyond that there shall come further con-
sequence for good or for evil, which Congress
did not choose to care for, Congress have moth
ing at all to do with it. This Is a convenient
way of disposing of the paradox, and beg to
recommend it to the theologians, for their use
in reconcsling the existence of evil with the
benefcenee of God. Just limit the responsible.
ity of the Creator to the first consequence OF
each cause, and let all later consequences 60
over to the arch 6end of evil to defend or an.
swer for. This explanation of the honorable
Senator, although it seems perfectly clear to
me, yet was not quite satisfactory until had
cast around to see how effectual it was in COM
posing other perplexed minds. Sir, the first
member Of Congress who in the House Of Rep-
resentatives broke ground against any Kansas
bill that should not submit the Lecompton Con-
stitution to the people, is an honorable gentle.
man of Ohio, representing, I think, the Capital
district of that great State. He defended his
position and mine in language 30 strong, with
q tone so bold, and with logic 80 triumphant,
that cheerfully contributed something from
my own means to give wide circulation to his
impassioned and conclusive address. It has
thus been scattered with my own agency broad
cast over the land. Certainly he is q man who
could not be made satisfied of the equal truth
of two conflicting propositions by any ineon-
elusive argument. | think it due to him that
in this poor way Ishould aid him in giving to
the world his explanation of the harmonies of
this new bill, which has his full support.
Mr.. Cox said he was first in the House to
oppose the Lecompton Constitution, yet he
had come to the conclusion to sustain the re-
port. Proper considerations had actuated him
throughout. Though the Constitution was not
to be submitted, the report provided for OBJ
tanning the sense of the people upon it."
There, Mr.. President, is an explanation as is
an explanation; an explanation most satisfac.
tory-most triumphant. A process has been
provided for obtaining the sense of the people
OF Kansas on question which is not submit
rod To fhap, Gsr - ~ o. I. = IL
could have provided the logician who could solve
this hard problem with the singular felicity thus
displayed. Well, Mr.. President, being q little
inquisitive, have looked farther to End out if
l could the nature and form of this process by
which the sense of the people in regard to the
Lecompton Constitution is obtained, without
submitting the question to them. Ihave found
out the secret. can't describe it otherwise than
by an illustration or example. suppose that in
a Know Nothing or Masonic Lodge it is proposed
by some that q certain candidate shall be ed.
nitted. All are unwilling to give offence by
rejecting, and Yet majority are unwilling to
accept him. They have in those societies, as l
understand, bal of two colors, white balls and
black balls, which they use az tokens in casting
votes. Now, thu society inpeniously resolves,
that whereas there is difference of tastes
among its members, some prefering to use
black balls and others to use white, therefore
they will ignore altogether to question of ad.
vote to settle the dispute about the balls
The members SHALL severally deposit white
ball or black enc in the urn, just which he
pleases. If there are more white balls than
black, the white balls have the preference, and
the candidate nominated shall come in; but If
more black balls than white ones shall be depos-
tied, then it shall be deemed and taken that
the Lodge prefer black balls to white and not
only this, but it shall also be further deemed
and taken " that the candidate was a very un.
worthy person, snd he shall thereupon never be
admitted at all, Or at least until he shall have
grown ten years older. Laughter
Mr. President, to use equivocstion in legis-
lation is an act of immortality deserving of sc.
we're censure. What reverence, what respect,
what submission what obedience, can you expect
from the citizen, if Legislatures resort to such
reprehersible practices in making the laws
There are very bad consequences of this i'm
moral transaction lying in the future, if they be
not prevented BY the vigilance and resolution
of the people. The measure in that case will
draw after it, not merely the admission of one
more slave State into this Union, to increase
already our too serious endorsements result
ing from antagonisms between the States, but all
the grave consequences which must result from
the establishment Of q belt of slave States in
the centre of the continent, from our Northern
to our Southern border, directly across our
great highway from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
You have only by this, or by any other means,
direct or indirect, to fix Slavery there, and you
will have raised wall of separation between
the Eastern and the Western, the Atlantic and
the Pacific portions of the empire, more insur.
mountable than the ridges of the Rocky Noun.
tains, or the snow.clad SUBMITS of the further
range that projects its shadow far abroad upon
the waves of the Pacific.
Sir, it amuses me much when l hear patri.
otto and sagacious men predicting the removal
of this capital from the falls of the Potomac to
the junction of the Allegheny and Mononga-
hela, or sometimes, with a longer forecast, to
Cincinnati, the Queen City of Ohio, or farther
on to st. Louis, and so settling and fixing the
centre of power in the valley of the Mississippi.
Sir, if you will only con6ne this institution of
Slavery within its present ample boundaries,
giving it no further room nor verge, the Cspi.
tai Of this country may remain where it is, but
the centre of the Union will fall nearer the val.
ley of Mexico than the valley of the Mississippi
pi. Then that Federal authority will grasp the
equator on the one side, and the northern poe
on the other. But no suoh promise, no such
hope, awaits the Republic, if you separate the
free Atlantic States from the free States of the
Pacific coast.
Sir, while this bill ignores the actual dispute
out of which it originated, it suppresses with
double care the great controlling political fact
which lies everywhere just beneath the surface
Of the whole debate. If Kansas shall come into
the Union under the Lecompton Constitution,
she will come as q slave State. If she come
under any other Constitution, it ID hoped by
those who advocate Freedom that she will come
as free State. This bill gives to Kansas the
choice of being q slave State, and only that
choice. You have already induced the Supreme