Muscatine weekly journal. [volume] (Muscatine, Iowa) 185?-1890, 1858-02-27
l:cy. IL. G. Dean on the LecOmptOn
IMilNitY.


years ago, had charge. of the Methodist
Church in this city. Mr.. Dean has rather
an unministerial penchant for politics, and
has distinguished himself more o late as an
active member and leader of the Democratic
party than as an expoundcr Of sacred truth.
He was originally Wing, we believe, and
it would seem that he now considers himself
as having been badly ''taken in'' when he
Joined the Democratic party.
Mr.. Dean dcnounces the Lccompton meas
urc without reserve. He revcrts to the
pledges OF the supporters Of the Nebraska
bill and the express language of that bill
itself, guaranteeing to the people of Kansas
the right "to form and regulate their domes-
tic institutions in their own way" He
sh WIS by numerous preccdcnts that by "peo-
ple' is meant the whole people, and not their
authority delegated to Il Constitution. He
regards the squatter sovereignty to which
Gen. Cass gave paternity as a ''S0vereign
humbug" SO far as it has been guaranteed
party in the following fatherly way:
1t is our duty as a party to redeem the
pledges which we have made to the people.
and to stand with Il clean record before the
public as the defenders of principle, scorn-
ing every expediency which compromises
principle.
Nor does Mr.. Buchanan highly estimate
his character as statesman when he admits
in his message the justice of the submission
Of the organic law wholly to the whole peo-
pie, and at the same time, for the sake of
expediency, recommends the adoption of the
Lecompton Constitution without first sub
hitting it to the people No expediency can
Justify this sacrifice of principle. N o ne
cessity can amply apologize for this sacrifice
of fundamental law.
1t is not unlikely, as a question of tenn
porizing with political rights, that our an
cestors could have paid the stamp duty and
tea tax even until now, at much less cost
than they incurred in the war of the Revolu-
ton. But there was involved this very
question of ''self government But it were
better to cast our money into the sea than
breathe out an eternity of bondage.
The Democratic party has only one course
to pursue. They must secure to the actual
residents an opportunity to ''fary" and ole
gally'' vote on the Constitution which is to
govern them.
Up to this time has this been done? Will
any fair-minded man dare say that it has
been done? What are the facts in the case
Have not four successive Governors, Demo-
Gratis of life time, been driven in disgust
from the scenes of carnage and fraud in
Kansas?
Has the General Government applied cor
receives? Has it not been notorious that
Lecompte has used the judicial authority Of
the Court to Cypress men for merely political
offences That he has let loose upon soci~
ETY. the most horrib felons on merely NOM
nal bail? Did not President Pierce remove
him for these very things and is he not yet
a Judge Of the United States Court in Kan
sas simply because Democratic Senate
refused to confirm the nomination of his
successor, though one of the purest men of
the State of Kentucky? Have the people
been allowed to vote on their Constitution
in any fair or legal sense? Is not the voting
capacity of Kansas $4,000 at least, and yet
is it not true that 1000 voters did not par.
ticipate in the election for delegates to the
, Convention? Is it not true that the people
were not duly or faithfully registered Is
it not true that gross fraud was contem-
plated in this election? Has not the whole
! history of Kansas elections been Il succession
of frauds, the character of which have been
well attested by all her Governors Is this
any more question Of doubt with any one
Is il not now proposed to palm this last and
their consent? VIII it be done? Can it
De done?
These are momentous questions to ask
| ourselves.
| Now propose to count up what thu Dem
ocrats of Iowa have gained by this struggle
and agitation:
When the Kansas Nebraska bill was
| brought before the two Houses of congress.
itarouscd the whole North into a flame TIE
Northern people are from education opposed
to slavery. Instead of looking at the prin-
! ciple involved in the bill, a principle which
| lies at the very foundation Of all Republican
govcrnment--the right of self government
itself-they were borne away upon the tide
of opposition to slavery, and many good
| Democrats would not so much as listen to a
defense of the great principle involved in
the bill, and therefore left the Democratic
party. And the result Of the passage Of that
/
| in nearly every STATE in the Northern section
of the Union, and nearly every county in
our State.
When Senator Harlan said boldly. pub
! licly, that from the beginning it was the in
tention to force slavery on Kansas,
promptly repealed the charge, but the same
charge was made by every Republican
| speaker Of the State, and as promptly denied
by every Democrat.
This negro question, with which VIC have
! legitmately nothing under the Heavens to
| do, has cost us two Governors, two U. S
| Senators, four congressman, the whole Of
! the Supreme Bench, and both Houses of the
Legislature for three successive sessions.
We have imposed upon us constitution in
which nothing but the negro question was
! fairly discussed before the people. We
have buried, in this general contention upon
Ike negro question, every question Of State
and National policy. We are without rep
rcscntation in Congress. We are without
power in all the councils Of the State. We
/ have nothing left us but our party platform
and our political integrity.
Are we coolly and deliberately to be re-
qucsted to abandon our political faith as
! pledged in cur platform, and fratricdaliy to
cut the threats OF our neighbors VINO have
emigrated to Kansas, because they refuse to
submit to an odious government, in the
making of which they have had no partici-
patton whatever? 1t strikes me that the
friends Of the Lecompton Constitution seem
! to have no further use for the Democratic
party, or they would not seek to embowcl 1t
in this manner.
Whoever contributes to The preparation of
this outrage is the enemy Of the Democratic
party. Many men act upon the principle
that Members of Congress and Presidents
have the prerogative Of making party plat
forms and changing party principles. Unle 5
this dogma is abandoned, our President will
soon be an elective monarch. The President
is bound by our party law, and ought to be
read out of the party for an infringement of
! its doctrines sooner than the humblest mem
Der Of the organization for the same offence
The Wing party abandoned Tyler, and
saved their party. They afterward, under
! similar circumstances, abandoned their party