Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1858-04-15

President. / contend that that election is
decisive of ''the will Of the maiority;" that
that will has been expressed in an order
ily and lawful Manner that the people,
whom the President says '.can make or
.unmake constitutions at pleasure" have
decidedly unmade this one at an election
"'peaccably conducted under the Presidents
Instructions" and that if they ever did Sim
pose fetters upon their own power" by au-
lthorizing this convention to meet, 1T is
''absurd" to say that they "cannot after
wards remove them, as they have done
SO decisivcly by repudiating the convcn-
tion's work
must, before passing to another point,
expose the absolute, and emphatic contra
diction, on vital point, of the two cham
pions in Congress of this Lecompton con-
stitution | alludc to the authors of the
senatorial report from the Committee on
Territories, and the yet undelivercd House
report from the select Kansas committee. as
published by it's author, Mr.. STEPHENS, of
Georgia, in the Union. 1t is in regard to
the right and power Of the Legislature call
ing the convention, to restrict its autheri-
ty, or to stipulate, in advance, that their
work should be submittcd to the popular
vote.
Saws Senator Green, Says Mr. Stephens, of
of Missouri, in his report, Georgia., in his report
speaking OF the failure TO from the select commit
require the submission of tee the House:
the constitution: 'sThe Legislature did
"If the Legislature call a convention They
could direct the conven- could have required
ton what they should do them 70 submit their vote
on one subject, it might to the people, This was
with equal propriety have matter for their own
given commands ON all discretion; but this they
other subjects. This did not do-'
would have been fla - f~.I rtff
! grant violation ofa'l rules
of right and ofjusticc to
, the people"
| Iwould respectfully suggest that. before
these champions of convention omnipotence
go before the people on this issue. they should
revise their reports so as to make them a
gree instead of antagonizing on this essen
tial question: and settle the point, whether
condition that a constitution should be
submitted to the people who are to live I'M
der it, would or would not be "fagrant
violation of all rules of right and OF Justice
to the people"
Tho next question which confronts MS in
tho discussion of this question is, whether
the constitution is "republiean in form. y
The report of the Scnatc's Committe on
Territories, on page l0 after discussing the
slavery clause, says:
'"No real or valid exception can be taken
to another part OF the constitution. On
this subject President buchanan has well
said, in his message:
"'In fact, the general provisions of our
recent State constitutions, after an expert
encc Of eighty years, are so similar and so
excellent, that it would be difficult to 60
far wrong at the present day in framing a
new constitution
Yes, Mr.. Buchanan; but il there is one
provision, more than another, in our recent
State constitutions, in which there has
teen universal concurrence of sentiment,
it has been in their submission to the peo-
pie. All parties, all sections, all States,
have agreed upon this excellent" provis-
ion. Though in the earlier days of the Re-
public, when the public sentiment was .un-
equivocal, State constitutions were allowed
to go into operation, by general consent
and universal acquicscence, yet, for over
twenty years, no constitution has gone in
to operation, in any new State or old. with
out having leen submitted to the ordeal of
a popular ratification or rejection. This
forms the only exception, during the pres
cnt generations; and the following reason
very frankly given by the President, on
page of his Leconpton message, does not
strike m. as either excellent" or truly
Democratic: fo r 'fifsH eit
Had the tchole Lccompton constitution
been submitted to the people, the adherents
of this THE Topckai organization would
doubtless have voted against it, ''',
But, sir, besides the fact that the consti-
tion is not really republican, because it does
not represent the actual and well-known
will OF the people. l dissent from the scna-
torial report. in its assumption that ''no
real or valid exception can be taken to any
other part ofthe constitition,,' besides its
provisions in favor of perpetual and irre-
pcalable slavery s--~--
And first. the constitution fatty contra
diets itself on a most essential point. In
section one, of article seven, it is declared
that "the right of property is before and
higher than any constitutional sanction
Ia new higher law; while section two, ar
ticle twelve, authorizes even a soullcss cor
poration to take and pay for private prop
erty, even against the consent of the owner,
If a jury, which is usually rather inferior
npower to a constitution, only consents.
And secondly, these sagacious constitu-
tion-lnakers, in their deep interest for the
people, enact in section five Of article
twelve, that no bank bill shall 60 into force
unless it is submitted to vote of the peo-
pie, after its passage by the Legislature, and
shall be approved by majority of electors
voting at such elections, while they them
selves refuse to submit their own work,
binding up though it does all the institu-
tions, the legislation, and the interests OF
the people, to this testwhich they command
hereafter, on single question. Such gross
and shameless Inconsistency cannot receive
the sanction of my vote. To be consistent
with their idea of "fair{ submission, =
they should have provided that the Legis-
lature should order vote ''for banks with
branches and ssfor banks without branch
es, !" and exclude llivotes of allti-bank men
by requiring them TO swear fealty to the
4 banks before they could be calIowedtoc choose
between the two. - hF5ro TIE -so-t41Si.'1