The Kansas herald of freedom., 1858-01-02

ritory are as much bound BY its provi-
slons, and as incapable of abrogating
them, as the Legislatures and people Of
the American States are bound by and in
capable of abrogating the Constitution of
the United States. 1t is also a maxim of
universal law, that when particular thing
Is prohibited by law, all means, attempts,
| or contriyances to effect such thing are
also prohibited. Consequently, it is not
in the power of the General Assembly of
Arkansas to pass any law for the purpose
of electing members to form Constitu-
ton and State Government, nor to do any
o;ller act, directly or indirectly, to create
bsucR Bsw government Every st,ch.law,
even though it were approved by the
Governor of :he Territory, would be null
and void. If passed by them, notwith-
standing his veto, by vote of thirds
of each branch, it would still be equally
| void"
This was the ground taken by the Ad-
ministration of General jackson in regard
to Arkansas and the position is an un-
answerable one. Any law passed by the
Territorial Legislature of Kansas-which
possessed no greater authority than the
Territorial Legislature of ArkansaS-ini-
tiating Convention, is utterly null and
void.
The Attorney General then goes OF to
discuss the right of the people to petition,
and to get upa Government and present it
to Congress, asking to be admitted as a
State into the Union. He argues that
they have no power to put into operation
Constitution emanating from the people,
without congressional authority. but they
have the right to assemble and petition
fo- redress of grievances, and, if they
| think proper, to present their petition in
the form of Constitution, as the people
| of Kansas did the Topeka Constitution,
leaving it to Congress to determine to ad-
nit them or not. But this Convention
which met at Lecompton originated in a
call of the Territorial Legislature, and is
entitled to just as much respect, and no
more than would be a call emanating
from the same number of persons who
| are equally respectable, and not members
of that Legislature.
But, sir, there is other authority than
the Administration OF General jackson
and the opinion of the Attorney General
in 1885. We have authority which
apprehend will be satisfactory even to
| the Senator from Pennsylvania, Mr..
| Bigler, who indorsed this message in
! full. In the debate which took place
| upon the admission of Michigan into the
| Union, an objection was raised that the
| Convention which assembled in the Ter
ritory of Michigan had not been author
! lied by the Territorial Legislature, but
emanated from spontaneous meetings got
l.up.in the Territory--a sort of voluntary
Convention. Mr.. Buchanan answered
that objection.
Mr.. HALE. What Mr.. Buchanan was
! that ?
Mr.. TRUMBULL. Mr.. James Bu-
chanan, now President of the United
States. will read what he said from
the Congressional Globe of that day:
1--WE ought not to apply the rigid rules
of abstract political science too Vigorously
to such cases. 1t has been our practice
heretofore to treat our infant Territories
with parental care, to nurse them with
kindness, and when they had attained the
| age of manhood, to admit them into the
family without requiring from them a
rigid adherence to forms. The great
questions to be decided are I: Do they
contain a sufficient population Have
they adopted a republican Constitution +?
And are they willing to enter the Union
upon the terms which we propose If
so, all the preliminary proceedings have
been considered but mere forms, which
we have waived in repeated instances.
They are but the scaffolding of the build
ing which is of no further use after the
edifce is complete. We have pursued
this course in regard to Tennessee, to Ar
kansas, and even to Michigan. No Sena-
tor will pretend that their Territorial
! Legislatures had any right whatever to
pass laws enabling the people to elect
! delegates to Convention for the pur-
| pose of forming State Constitution. II
was an act of Usurpation on their part
| That was the language of James Bu-
| chanaD, now President of the United
States, who encamped his army round
about this Lecompton Convention, de-
clared it legal, and now talks about it as
! legitimate Convention, and speaks in his
message here of an election which is to
be held under its authority as legitimate
1t was an act of usurpation on the part
of the Legislature, to use his own Ian
guage, ever to have passed an act calling
into being Convention to form State
! Constitution. How idle is it then to talk
Of this Lecompton Convention as legiti-
mate one, emanatiug from competent au-
thority! In the same speech, from
which | before read, Mr.. Buchanan re-
! marked:
/ ''The Senator from Ohio Mr. Ewingl
| has contended that the second Michigan
convention had no power to assent, be-
cause the first convention which was held
had refused.
':BTr. Ewing said he had asked whether,
| if the fiIst convention had assented to the
condition proposed by the act of Congress,
| there would have been any objection TO
| this assent because it had been called by
virtue of an act of the Legislature"
| "Mr. Buchanan said certainly not IL
never could have been contended that this
act OF the Legislature had vitiated the
subsequent proceedings of the convention
Although it was not necessary TO give
them validity. yet it would not destroy
them II could reither make the case
better nor worse"
That was the opinion OF Mr. Buchan-
an in regard to the authority of Terri
torial Legislature possessing ali the powers
under the organic act which the Kansas
Territorial Legislature possessed to call a
convention to form a constitution. Now,
sir, undertake to say that this Lecomp-
ton convention was not legitimate con-
vention; that it possessed no authority
whatever, and that all its enactments
which it has undertaken to carry into ef-
/ feet. such as ordering an election to be
supervised By Its president, are void that
/ every act which it has attempted to es-
I ta5lish over the people of Kansas without
IL - oafif.z, fS in ff1 Ja,.