Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1858-1860, 1858-04-06

ground of popular sovereignty Happily for
the authors of that measure, the zealous and
energetic resistance of abuses pracficed under
1t has so fa- been effective that popular sove-
reignty in Kansas may now be made fact,
and Liberty there may be rescued from danger
through its free exercise. Popular soye-
reignty is an epic of two parts. Part the
first presents Freedom in Kansas lost Part
the second, if you will so consent to write it.
shall be Freedom in Kansas regained. 1t is
on this ground that hail the eminent Sem
ator from Illinois Mr.. DoUGI.Asl and his as
sociates, the distinguished Senator from Mich
igan, Mr.. STUART and the youthful. but
most brave Senator from California, Mr..
BRoDERIcK.l The late Mr.. Clay told US that
Providence has many ways for saving nations.
God forbid that should consent to see Free
dom wounded, because my own lead or even
my own agency in saving it should be reject
ed. / will cheerfully cooperate with these
new defenders of this sacred canse in Kansas,
and will award them all due praise, when
we shall have been successful, for their large
share of merit in its d,liveraDee.
Win you tell me that it is difficult to induce
the Senate and the House of Representatives
to take that short backward step? On the
contrary, the hardest task that an Executive
dictator ever set, or parliamentary manager
ever undertook, is to prevent this very step
from being taken. Let the President take of
his hand, and the bow, bent so long, and
held to its tension by so hard pressure. will
relax, and straighten itself at once.
Consider now, if you please, the conse-
quences of your refusal. II you attempt to
coerce Kansas into the Union, under the lie.
compton Constitution, the people of that Ter
ritOry will resort to civil war. You are
pledged to put down that revolution by the
sword. Will the people listen to your voice
amid the thunders of your cannon? Let but
one drop of the blood of free citizen be shed
there. by the Federal army, and the counter
ance of every representative of free State
in either House of Congress, will blanch, and
his tongue will refuse to utter the vote neces
sary sustain the army I'm the butchery Of
his fellOw-citiZens.
Practically. you have already one intestine
and Territorial war. A war against Brigham
Young in Utah. Can you carry on two, and
confine the strife within the Territories? Can
you win both? A wise nation will never pro-
woke more than one enemy at one time.
know that you argue that the Free State
men of Kansas are impracticable, factious
seditiOus? Answer me three questions: Are
they not majority, and so proclaimed by the
people of Kansas! Is not this quarrel, for the
right of governing themselves, conceded bv
the Federal Constitution? Is the tyranny Of
forcing hateful Government upon them. less
intolerable than three cents impost on a
pound of tea, or five cents stamp duty on a
promissory note? You say that they can
change this LecOmptOn Constitution when it
shall once have been forced upon them. Let
it be abandoned now. What guaranty can
you give against your own intervention to
prevent that future change? What security
can you give for your own adherence to the
construction of the Constitution which you
adopt, from expedency, to-day? What better
is a Constitution than a by law of corpora
ton, if it may be forced on a State to-day,
and rejected tomorrow, in derogation of its
own express inhibition?
Iperceive, Mr.. President, that, in the way
of argument, have passed already from the
ground of expediency, on which was stand
ing. to that of right and justice. Among all
our refinemC nts of constitut onal learning, one
principle, one fundamental principle. has been
faithfully preserved. namely: That the new
States must come voluntarily into the Union;
they must not be forced into it, "Unite or
Die" was the motto addressed TO the States in
the time OF the Revolution. Though Kansas
should perish, she cannot be brought into the
Union by force.
So long as the States shall come in by free
consent, their admission will be an act of
union, and this will be a Conftderacy. When
ever they shall be brought in by fraud or
force, their admission will he an act of con-
solidation, and the nation, ceasing to be a
Confederacy, will become in reality an En-
prc. All our elementary instruction is
wrong, or else this change of the Constitution
will subvert the liberties of the American
people.
You argue the consent of Kansas from doc
umentary proofs. from her forced and partial
acquescence, under your tyranical rule. from
elections fraudulently conducted, from her
own cOntumacy, and from your own records,
made up here against her. Ianswer the whole
argument at once, Kansas protests here and
stands, by your own confession. in an atti-
tude of rebellion at home TO resist the annex
alton which you contend she is soliciting at
your hands.
Sir, if your proofs were thousand times
stronger, would not hold the people of Kan
sas bound by them. They all are contradicted
by stern fact. \ people can be bound by no
action conducted in their name, and pretend
ing to their sanction, unless they enjoy per-
feet freedom and safety in giving that con-
sent. You have held the people of Kansas in
duress from the first hour of their attempted
organization community. To crown this
duress by an act, at once forcing Slavery on
them, which they hate, and them into a union
with you, on terms which they abhor, would
be but to illustrate anew, and ON grand
scale, the maxim
a. IrospeTin, ct feIir sccIus, pi,tES uocrtsr'