The daily Butte record., 1858-02-03
Resolutions OF Instruction.

We are pIehseu 10 notlce tnat senator
Ferguson, Of Sacramento, has introduced
resolutions instructing our Senator's and
Representatives in Congress to vote against
the admission of Kansas as State, under
the Lecompton constitution unless the same
shall have been submitted to the people. -
Mr.. Burch, of Trinity, offered substi.
tute, indorsing the supposed views of the
President. and favoring the acceptance of
the anti-repubican, unchangablc and eter.
nal provisions Of the Lecompton constitution.
alr. Chase, of Nevada, offered substitut e
requiring them to vote against the nccept-
ance Of the Lecompton constitution, unless
its provisions were changed 50 that it could
be amended by the people Of Kansas, imme.
diately after its acceptance by Congress -
The last mentioned substitute Is as seneless
as the course pointed out by the first substi-
tute is unconstitutional, illegal and anti
Democratic. The subject has been made
the order for Friday week.
We sincerely trust the legislature will
firmly adhere to the democratic doctrine of
popular sovereignty, and require our ma.
tional Representatives to vote so as to rem
der it applicable to Kansas. 1t was the cor.
rectness Of this great democratic principle,
and the oft-repeated pledges of the Democ-
racy that it should be applicable to Kansas,
that gave the present Legislature its polti-
character, and its duty to party and prin-
ciples, render it eminently proper that they
should now be re-afiirmed, when minority
arc asking the Federal power to assist them
in governing the majority Of q sovereign
people Of q sovereign State 1t is proper
that the Legislature should express its alb
horrencc of measure which Congress can
only force upon the people of Kansas by vi
Iolating the constitution of the United States,
the organic law Of that unfortunate Terri.
tory, and the sacred principles of the Ma.
tional Democratic faith.
1t is true, our National Representatives
should repudiate that unconstitutional, H.
legal and civil war-engenderng measure,
without instruction from their constituents :;
but as some of them are claimed as favor ring
it, and rs the ingenuity of reckless and un-
principled traitors to the Democratic faith
is being constantly exerted to turn them
from party fealty, it is proper that the Leg
islature should instruct them to cast their
votes against it, and permit the majority in
Kansas to rule. Whatever may follow
the Democracy of California will then be
blameless. They will not have contributed
to fasten an obnoxious constitution upon
sister State, but will have left her people as
the people of California wero left, free to
form their own institutions, and to fight
about it if they choose.
Senator Pugh. of Ohio, who at first sus.
tanned the Presidents views, acknowledges
that the Lecompton Constitution can not be
accepted in its present antirepublican form,
by introducing bill for its amendment. Is
not this an nti-democratic "intervention"
on the part of Congress
To show the correctness and democracy of
the resolutions introduced by Senator Fer
guson, and to show that the doctrine of in.
struction is also Democratic, we make use
of the following from our Legislative records
In the Legislature of 1856 on the 10th day
of January. Mr.. Brent. Democratic men,
Der of the Assembly from Los Angeles coun-
ty. introduced the following resolution.
ResolDed, by the Assembly, (the Senate
concurring) that our Senators and Repre-
sentatives in Congress, be requested to vote
against.any proposition made therein. deny
ing to the people of any of the Territories,
the right of deciding for themselves, ALL
questions or a domestic nature, subject only
to the provisions of the Federal constitu.
uon." lSee Assembly Journal. 1856, page
l24
On the 10th January, the question being
upon the indefinite postponement of the res
olution, the Noes were-Nlessrs. Beatty,
Boring, Brent, Brush, Bynum, Callbreath,
Covarrubias. Downey, Ewalt, George. Hunt,
kendrck, Lewis, Lippincott, Meloney,
Pearson, Shcrrard, Swan Taliaferro, aud
Winsor-20; being oil Democrats. except
Sherrard and Winsor. See Assembly Jour
nal, page 1907
1t will thus be seen what constituted Dem.
ocratic principles and policy when the party
in California was struggling against defeat.
That doctrine enabled US to achieve noble
triumph Let not the Democracy desert it
in the hour of their triumph, or the respou.
sbility of discord, disunion and civil war,
may rest upon them.