Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1858-02-16

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by voting under ita provisions. / have
vet received no official info nation of the
result of this election. AS question of
expediency, after right has been main
tanned; it may be wise to reflect upon the
benefits 20 Kansas aud the whole country
that will result from its immediate ad-
mission into the Union rs well rs the disas-
tcrs that may follow its rejection. Do
mestic peace will be the happy conse-
quence OF the admission, and that fine
Territory, hitherto torn by disscnsions,
will rapidly increase in. popRlation. and
wealth, and speedily realize the blessings
and comfort which follow agriculture and
mechanical industry. The people, then,
will be sovereign, and can regulate their
affairs in their own WY.
If The majority of them desire to abolish
domestic slavery within the State there is
no other possible mode by which it can
be effected so speedily as by its prompt
admission. The will of the majority is
supreme and irresistible when expressed
in All orderly and lawful manner. 1t can
unmake constitutions at pleasure. 1t
would be absurd to say that they can i'm
pose fetteres upon their own power which
they cannot afterwards remove. If they
could do this they might tie their own
hands just as we'll for a hundred as for
/ ten years. These are the fundamental
principles of America free eedom, and are re-
cognized in some form by every State
! Constitution, and if Congress in the act
of admission should think proper to re-
cognize them can preceive no objection.
This has been done emphaticaly in the
Constitution of Kansas. 1t declares in
! its bill of rights that "all political power
is inherent in the people" and all free
governments are found on their authori. y
instituted for their benefit, and therefore
have at all times an inaienable and in
dcfcasible right to alter reform and abolish
their form of government, in such
manner as they may think proper.
The great State Of New York is at this
moment governed under constitution
framed and established in direct opposition
to the mode prescribed by previous
constitution. If therefore, a provision
changing the constitution of Kansas after
the year 1864 could by possibility be con-
sti!uted into prohibition to make such
change previous to that per ID of prohi-
!
The Legislature already elected may at
its first session submit tie question to q
vote Of the people whether they will or
not have convention to amend their con-
s;tulion and adopt all necessary mea MS
for giving effect to the popular will.
1t has been solemniy adjudged by the
highest judicial tribunal that slavery ex-
lists in Kansas by virtue of the constitu-
ton of the United States. Kansas is
therefore ut this moment as much slave
State as George OF South Carolina. With
out this the equality of the sovereign
States comprising the Union would be vi
olated, and the nse and enjoyment of a
Territory acquired by the common treas
pry Of all that States would be closed
against ti.e people and property of nearly
one-half the members of the confederacy.
Slavery can therefore never be prohibi-
led in Kansas, exec pit through the means
of constitutional provision, and in no
other manner can this be obtained so
promptly, if the majority of the people
desire it, as by admitting her into the
Union under her present constitution -
On the other hand, should Congress reject
the constitution under the idea of afford
ing the disatfected in Kansas a third
opportunity to prohibit slavery in the
State, which they might have done twice
before, if i'll the majority, no man car
| foretell the consequences. If Congress ;,
for the sake of those men who refused to
vote for delegates to the convention, when
| they might have excluded slavery from
the constitution, and who afterwards re-
fused to vote on the 2lst of December,
when they might, as they claim, have
should now reject the State because
slavery remains in the constitution, it is
manifest that the agitation upon this sub
ject will lie renewed in more alarming
! form that 1t has ever before assumed.
Every patriot in the country had in
dulged in the hope that the Kansas-N Ne
braska act would put final end to the
slavery agitation, at least in Congress,
which had for more than twenty years
convulsed the country and endangered the
| Union This act involved great and fun
damental principles, and if fairly carried
into effect will settle the question.
Should agitation again be revived, and
should the people of sister States be again
estranged from each other, with more than
their former bitterness, this will arise
from n cause, so far as the interests Of
Kansas are concerned, more trifing and
insignificant than has ever stirred the ele-
mcnts of great people into commotion.
To the people of Kansas, the only prac-
: ticai difference between its admission or
rejection depends simply upon the fact,
whether they can themselves more speed
! i!y change tie present Constitution, if it
does not accord with the will of major
! ity, or frame second Constitution to be
submitted to Congress hereafter.
Even if this were n question of mere
expedency and not of right a small diff
ference of time one way or the other, it is
not of the least Importance when CON
trasied with the events which must nee
essariy result to tie whole country from