Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1858-02-26

polls. Shall full and undoubted evidence
be required for a decd Of foot of land or
gift by will Of shillingi Shall bank
or havo power TO stop payment of check
fraudulently held, and shall the people have
no power to stop their servants from sedues-
tering their rigbtsl Shall tho most insip-
nifcant treaty of Minister Plenipotcntiary-
want validity till il is ratified And shall
the highest treaty of the people with them
selves be made in corner by their servants
without their assent! Is from everything
the substance nothingl Is appearance .ov-
erything and truth and right and reality
nothingl
There is not precedent for enforcing a
Constitution against the consent of tho peo-
pie. The priaciple of popular ratification
is sanctioned in tho Minnesota act.
The President in his annual Message en-
phatically declares that the example Of sub
hitting Constitution to tho people isfoun-
ded on correct principle; so that his in
structions to Gov. Walker on that subject
wore properly expressed inunqualiied terms.
Again: Congress has power to admit
States, but no power whatever TO mako a
constitution for State; still less TO impose
on State n constitution which the maiori-
ty of its people loathe and reject The
tendency TO Capitalization of power in the
general Government is rapid and danger.
Gus. We protest against its further increase
and against present excess. The true basis
of political organization between all parts
of the Union was, from its beginning, the
rights of the States, and that basis offers for
tho future, as it has for the past, the most
perfect guarantee for security and Union.
Redress must como from the people of
the United States. They in their strength
must remedy the existing evil, by distinct
expression of their will. The moment is
| fraught with dangers, which the adoption of
the Lecompton constitution would only ag-
gravate.
A departure from the principles on which
a Government rests, is an evidence of its
decay. The violation of tho principal OF
popular sovereignty wastes the life-blood OF
the Republic.
Again: In popular Government, where
the rulers are but servants, anarchy steps in
when principle is forgotten and expediency
is made the guide.
Again; The concentration Of power in
the hands of a Convention like that of LIE.
compton, is not an American idea. 1t is
borrowed from those republics Of Europe
which were not capable Of existing long, for
the very reason that power was concentra-
ted. 1t is derived from the worst examples
of tho worst periods of Revolutionary France,
when minorities usurped power over ma
ton by terror and reckless daring. If the
rulo of the minority Convention is now for
mally sanctioned by Congress, it will be a
most dangerous precedent; an instrument
of wrath, treasured up for day of wrath
We appeal against this system to the whole
Democracy Of the country; we appeal TO
all people who love order, and justice, and
freedom. This city, for its numbers, is tho
wealthest in tho world. ] call on the men
of wealth in this great city to take to heart
the danger of establishing as principle
that majority of single body, elected to
a convention perhaps in times of high excite
ment, filled, as will sometimes happen, with
men desperately daring and corrupt, anima-
ted as men under such circumstances are APT
to be, by personal and party passions, should
assume the absolute right to change the
fundamental law of the country without q
reference to the people.
If they are not alarmed on account o
their own fortunes, / ask them TO consider
what disposition, under such an absolute
convention might be made of corporate
property-what changes intho management
of trust funds set apart for purposes Of char
ity, or education, or the support of religious
worship. Especially, speaking in sober earn
estness to rcfecting men, l remind the
Catholics of what might happen, calling tc
their recollection the grievance to which
they were exposed in an Eeastern State
and from which they only escaped by the
reference Of the Constitution to the people
We call on our naturalized citizens to rehec
on their danger from the principle involved
in accepting the decision of convention a.
final and without appeal. Our country i
subject to periodical excitements on the fran
chise of naturalized citizens; and it may
happen that convention possessed of thi;
absolute power may seek to perpetuatt
themselves and their party in office by on
sweeping disfranchisoment of tho foreigr
born. We call on the poor and laborin,
{ mon to como up to the rescue; for, in th
division that prevails on universal suffrage
sooner or later a convention would be foun
ready to limit the right to suffrage, and {
maintain the limitation by force. We clair
the aid Of every Irishman to a man, an
every descendent of an Irishman for Ire
land, through three centuries, shows til
fruits of a Government imposed by the CON
plicity between shameless minority an,
, the central power.
7 We will not make an appeal TO the Sout
as such; but if any part of the Union ha
cause for alarm at an increase Of the powe
of Convention suddenly called together
, we should say it is tho South; and wer
, Jefferson alive we should on this occasio
have protest from his pen. The guidin
i principles of his craftsmanship was to cor
, suit ae people, and to revere the people,
But what do sayl A voice comes to u
from one of JeGerson's SUCCESSORS in Cha
of State in the Old Dominion, and in clea
{ and distinct terms he rejects the LecomI
ton Constitution as not the act and deed {
the people of Kansas, and he rightly col
, demns the Lecompton schedule as not r.
D publican. New York will respond to vi
: ginia and the Northwest will swell tho ech
G The policy of enforcing the Lecompto