Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1858-03-17

act of 1854, organizing the Territories of
Kansas and Nebraska, (for which I had the
honor of voting that the people of those
Territories should be at liberty to form their
own institutions in their own way subject on
~ to the Constitution of the United States.
1t Is also u fact, which no one will venture to
deny, that IN pursuance of legitimate author
lty a convention of delegates was elected to
frame Constitution of Kansas, under which
py regular proceedings on the part of Con-
gress, 1t was to be admitted sovereign
St;.te into the National Confederacy. The
members of that convention were elected by
the people with a full knowledge of their sem
timents upon this and all public questions in
volved in the case, and especially in reference
to the introduction or exclusion of slavery, as
one of the domestic institutions Of the new
State. Now, does it at all affect the validity
of those proceedings. that when the people
were afforded an opportunity, by the only
thority legally competent to do so, of deter
mining by their own votes the political COM
! pieXlon OF the convention, and so of the char
acter of the constitution to be formed by them
that portion of the people, for whatever
| purpose choose to absent themselves from the
! polls, ana allow to their adversarles the VIC
! tory The convention so elected was still a
! legal convention the constitution adopted by
! that convention was legal constitution and
| if perchance 1t embodies the views of mi
nority, 1t was the fault of the majority who
! voluntarily absented themselves from the post
| of duty, 10 allow another sentiment to prevail.
Surely their negligence or wilful direlection
| OF public duty Is no reason why others sho'd
! fail to meet the question manfuIly and deci-
| sively.
But why should it be Insisted on as so es-
sential in the case of Kansas alone, that the
whole constitution should have been submit
ted to vote of the people, when the practice
as settled by precedent, shows the point to be
one wholly of discretion. There is nothing
IN the terms of the Kansas and Nebraska
/ law. nor III the CINCINNATI Platform nor in
| the act OF the Kansas Legislature, authori-
| zlng the election of convention which ex-
acts such submission. The proposition is an
after thoug ut, and the test a new one (Great
applause.) What is there in the case of
Kansas which requires different rule from
! that which was applied in the case OF Yer
| mont, of Kentucky, of Tennessee, of Mis-
souri,, of Indiana, Of Arkansas, of Ohio Is
a punctilious compliance with her caprices
due to the rebellious attitude which she has
occupied towards the Federal Government,
! from the time of the formation of the Terri
tory down to the present moment Although
! l-and | have no doubt. all of you-would
/ have preferred, with the President, in his
Annual Message, that the whole constitution
! should have been submitted to a popular vote
I we must still regard the action of the conven-
/ ton as the legal expression of a sovereign
/ people ntervention-popular sover-
! eignty-forbids en9uiring beyond that ex-
preston. Such inquiry would be papable
usurpatlon OF authOrity-a virtual condemna-
tIon Of the great principle which the Denoc-
racy has struggled to establish.
As practical question, then, what have
| the people of Pennsyl lvania TO do with it, ex-
! cept to insist upon It's speedy settlement. to
/ uphold, sustain and approve the course of the
National Administration, its patriotic deter
nination TO accept the constitution, so as to
/ entltie Kansas 10 prompt admission into the
/ family of States ?
There is one other point which I will no.
tlce III connection with this subject and that
Is, that the admission of Kansas. even with
! an Objectionable constitution by no means
! fixes permanently the character of her insti-
tutlons but. on the contrary, it withdraws
her from the national arena, III which, as the
President has said, she hasoccupied too much
:
ests OF the country and it will give her the
separate and independent existence and organ
lzatlou of a sovereign State 1t is the best
enabling act that can be passed by Congress
Let this be done, aud Kansas, in her soy
erelgn capacity, which invests her with the
right at once-and without delaying until
1S64-to retain or abolish slavery-proceed
to strike out the obnoxious provision This
will give peace and security TO Kansas, peace
70 the whole country, and stability to the
y ational Administration
Gentlemen, the integrity of the Democratic
party, the memory of Its former triumphs and
glorles demand that We should stand firm and
united IN urging Its speedy settlement
(Applause) There never was time In nv
opinion, when 1t was more the duty of the
citizen to look before him and around him, to
examine the security of the ground upon
which he stands, and whittier his pathway
directs him. The occasion may be momen-
tary 1t is not to be disguised that their is
a party in the North, as well as in the South,
who consider the dissolution of the Union as
the sovereign remedy for every real or imagi-
nary grievance Let us suppose for moment
that the Union were destroy ed, and that an
East and West line marked tie limits of free
and slave territory from the Atlantic to the
Rocky Mountains. BY this arrangement,
the subject of slavery south of the dividing
line forever passes from the control of the
North. ln this condition of things the South
would have a community of interest which
would render her unit upon every question
OF vital Importance and L hesitate not to say.
that she could form a new and stable govern
ment In a months time. The idea so popu
lar in the North that the South is dependent
upon the North for protection of slavery,
would then be found TO be delusive one.
Whatever the evils of the institution may be.
within her own limits q common interest