The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1858-04-01

ries and States to the eztontof our Com
stituGonal power, force her into the Un-
iou2 What motive can we have, what
right motive, with the knowledge of
these facts, TO force them into the Union.
and 10 enforce upon them this Consi-
tution2 i cannotfeel myself authorized
to do such thing OF course do not
impugn the motives andviews of oth-
ers, who take q different view, act from
different motives from mine. They act
upon one view, Z upon another; but 10
seems TO me that to do this is a plain,
unmistakable violation of heright of
the people Co govern themselves
I have endeavored to show YOU, Sir
that this IS not tho Constitution of the
people Of Kansas. according to thn re-
corded evidence Of their viii. It seems
to me, furthermore, that this Cousttu-
tion is a fraud It Is not only not their
Constitution according 20 their will but
it is got up and made i'm fraud, and TO
deprive them of their rights i believe
that, and i think it can be shown.
A GLANCE AT FRAUDS.
The President Of the United States
has furnished us an argument on this
subject. and it has been olten-times re-
peated here I'm the dobate-of course O
/ plausible and ingenious argument, as all
must admit; even those who deny The
! solidity Of the reasoning What is The
argument The President says that the
sense of the people was taken, and
proved to be in favor of calling a Con-
vention The Convention was called;
delegates we're elected; those delegates
made a Constitution; that Constitution
was submitted to the people in part, and
approved by a vote of six thousand, ac-
cording to law. Well, all these, YOU
will observe, constitute a tissue q long
series Of little legalties, regularities,
and technicalities; and the reasoning Of
the President is founded on technical
points on each of these facts You must
admit all these facts--yes, Sir, the facts
. are all true; and if they alone coustitu-
ted the case, the conclusion would be
fair and right that this Constitution has
been regularly made; that this Constitu-
ton has been sanctioned by the people
as well as by the Convention; but is
there no more in the case than this?-
There is a great deal more in the case
= than this
q When frauds have been alleged and
p charged against this government of
q Kansas, gentlemen say, "Ah, but these
= frauds were in other elections; these
= frauds do not particularly and specific
ally touch this Constitution, or the pro-
ceedngs which led to this Constitution"
:. But suppose there were frauds in rcla-
. ton to it; is it not something if / show
~. you that, in regard to that part of the
Constitution which was submitted to the
people to be ratified by them, and was
. nothing until the people had ratified it
~ even according to the Coustitutionitself
y there was fraud in that election, and
~ abundance oflraud? So glaring, so i'm
y pudcut and so fearless had frauds in
. elections become thcre, that upon that
~ very poll-list, in one Of the precincts (L
forget whether it was in Oxford, or
~ Shawnee, or that other precinct that en-
. ulates these in its character for fraud,
=. Kickapoo,) you find that the President
! of the United States, Col Benton, and
" the gentleman from New York Mr.
g Seward were there, it seems, or hcti-
=, tious votes were put in for them by
" somebody, and a long list of persons of
-, that sort, figure on the poll book at these
miserable precincts as actual voters ~
That was the vote on the Constitution on
I. Dec 2lst; that was on the part submit
e ted to the people. They were the Con-
a. making power there, and there
~ I show you the fraud.
,o What further frauds there were I
know not; but this much is apparent
y! and later Developments show greater
"a frauds still-that in one single precinct,
:, where there we're only thirty or forty
-, votes to be taken legitimately, there
+; wero over twelve hundred; and under
% the investigation lately made by Com
- missioners in Kansas, that upon sworr
- testimony is stated to be the fact II
r. one precinct there were twelve hundred
~ fraudulent and fictitious votes ont O
- twelve hundred and sixty; seven hun
= dred in another; and over six hundre,
y in another, making in the aggregat,
i twenty-six hundred votes ia three pre-
y cincts, entirely iraudulentand fictitious
\, OF to a great extent fictitious, writer
- out by hundreds on the poll l-book afte
~ the election was over, put on withou
,s scruple upon the poll-book, upon tn
or election return, put down without scru
40 pie during the election, Of those VIII
:, we're qualified, and those who were no
~ qualified; and that is the way this Con
NJ stitution in part has received its sane
ton
HISTORICAL vIEW-TUE MAJORITY Dl
he PENDED.
ce, But Sir, I think we should take
co. very partial view of this subject, on
tu- very unsatisfactory TO our Judgment, i
-ou we were to isolate these facts whic
ow, have direct relation only to the forml
en- ton of this Constitution, and leave OF
ion ali the surrounding circumstances.
the seems to me that the proper and the ju
ten mode Of regarding this new Constit
op- ton, is to consider it as one Of a seri
low Of acts, and see if we can find that ii
eg- whole action and operation of al thel
NIT acts was to lead to one general purpo'
tell that Of maintaining by fraud and
ms, falsehood the power aud the goyer
Al n al nI