The Kansas herald of freedom., 1858-04-24

crimes like these. Would we not be-
come accomplices of these crimes if we
should aid in the establishment of al
Government based upon them I? If sue
cess can be achieved by these and kind
red atrocities, and the high sanction of
Congress can be obtained for them, do
we not open forever the food gates of vice
and immortality :? Republics are based
upon public virtue, and when this is
subverted, the vital spark of liberty viii
have been extinguished. The psrch-
ment upon which the Constitution is writ
ten may still remain, but the life-giving
principles of popular freedom and public
virtue will have gone forever.
But although the justice of the princi-
pies for which we contend may be ad-
mitted by our adyersaries, yet it is con-
tended that it is expedient to disregard
them now in Kansas. The sanction of
.crimesand injustice can never be expedi-
ent. We should never do wrong, in the.
hope, perhaps, vain and iIlusory, that it
may be hereafter corrected. We.should do
always what is right and just, in all our
acts, whether in public or in private, and
leave the result in the hands of that over
ruling Providence, who can never give his
sanction or ultimate success to crimes or
injustice. The Territorial Legislature of
Kansas is now in the hands of maiori-
ty of her people. The control was OBJ
tanned in October last, in an election in
which both parties participated, and free
ly measured their strength. Let the Le-
compton Constitution be defeated, and
the Territorial Government so long as it
exists,w be conducted in peace and qui-
ct until It's superseded by Constitu-
ton legally framed under call of the Ter
ritorial Legislature, ratified by the peo-
pie, and adopted by Congress, all which
may now be done in few weeks or
months, and the great doctrine of popu-
lar sovereignty have been vindicated.
But force this Constitution upon the
people of Kansas now against their will,
and no mortal vision can prenetrate the
dark abyss in which lay hidden The deep
disasters now menacing Kansas and our
country. / cannot take this dark leap
into such vortex of crime and uncer-
tainty. If the people of Kansas submit,
nevertheless the damning truth will still
remain, that the State had been forced
into the Union against the will of her peo-
pie. She would enter the Union, not as
the peer and equal of her co-soyereign-
ties, but she would be driven into the
Union disgraced by the chains of an
usurping minority, and covered all over
with shame and degradation. The very
parchment upon which her Constitution
was written would be stained by crimes
and forgeries. The signet of the people
would never have been affixed to the in
strument, but in its place vile counter
felt would have been substituted, there to
remein forever upon our and her archives
as perpetual record of her disgrace and
our injustice. The thirty-second star Of
our heretofore glorious constellation would
not have risen above the horizon in all the
brightness of newborn liberty, but il
would come in shorn of its lustre, and
casting its darkening shadows over the
receding glories of the Republic. The
fatal example never could be eraced, We
could never recall the past I; we could
never retrace our footsteps. But onward
still onward, and downward, our move
ments would be toward the destiny which
must ever attend outrage, crimes, aud in
justice. And why should we encounteI
these dreadful hazards What is unjust
can never be expedient. Expediency ha:
been the plea of tyrants in every age and
country. Ithas placed and retained the
crown upon the monarch's brow. 1t ha:
governed the world by swords and bayo.
nets. Ithas covered the earth with vio.
lence, fraud and injustice. May my coun.
try avoid the retributive penalties, which
in the righteous providence of God, soon.
er or later are sure to follow the perpe-
tration of wrong and injustice! Let us
do what is right, and we may look with
assured confidence to speedy and happy
exit from all our difficulties. Let the
great principles of State and popular soy.
ereignty be maintained, and they will car.
ry us safely through all our difficulties
strengthened, and purified by all the tri-
ais through which we shall have passed
standing out a bright example of public
virtue and intelligence, and still recon.
mending by an augmented moral power
our institutions for adoption to progres-
sive and enfranchised humanity.
The Democracy of Ohio present now a
proud example for imitation by her sister
States. You stand on the solid granite Of
the Constitution; your hands are upon
the holy altar of virtue, justice and mo.
rality. Your conscience is free from re.
proach; unterriied By menace, unseduced
by power or patronage, you adhere tc
the great principle of State and populal
sovereignty.
Ohio entered the Union as a sovereign
State there she stands in that proud at.
titude, cheered by the glad voices ot
more than two, millions of freemen and
she intends that in like manner Kansas
shall come into the confederacy, by the
| free will only of a majority of her people
Ohio will not sanction the violation OF
the elective franchise. She viii not stair
her bright escutcheon by the approval ol
| frauds of forgeries. The will commit nj
spoilation upon the most sacred rights fol
! which her fathers fought aud conquered
in the days of the Revolution, but vii
transmit the priceless heritage of self
government, in all its original brightness
and entirety, to her remotest posterity
Coon then,noble Democracy of Ohio, in
the cause of trnth, of justice, and o
freedom, and glorious victory awaits
your efforts. Most respectfully, your fsl
| iow-citizen. r. j. WALKER.
erAdispatch from Washington. dated
April LIST, says