Randolph County journal. [volume] (Winchester, Randolph County, Ind.) 1855-1862, 1858-03-04

iatciN nhcmUcT VI OOugTess lrOln len
nessee, all agree. And | would not
fear to ask Denver, the present incum.
bent; he will certify that even frac.
ton of the party against the Lecomp-
ton Constitution is more numerous
than the whole of It's friends.
Fifth: The people of Kansas now
happily, thanks to Walker and Stan
ton, have a Legislature indisputably
representing that people; and SO soon
as they could lift up their voice, they
protested against the Lecompton Con
stitution.
Sixth: Those State officers who re-
ceived the largest number of votes at
the election on the 4th of January last,
have likewise sent their protest to Con
gress.
Seventh: The voice of the people Of
Kansas itself should be heard On
the 4th of January they repaired to
the polls under no ordinary circum-
stances of solemnity. The President
had sanctioned the proceedings by his
special protection; the Legislature and
Denver took care that the vote should
be an honest one, and by that vote il
appears that an overwhelming majori-
ty of the people of Kansas reject the
Lecompton Constitution.
So, then, we have seven sets of
witnesses against Lecompton: the
circumstantial evidence of the Lecomp-
ton Convention; the Kansas Press; the
Kansas Delegate in Congress; the
series of Kansas Governors-four in
one year; the Kansas Legislature; the
Kansas People. All, all declares that
the People of Kansas reject the Le-
compton Constitution.
If l could hope that the words Of
one so humble as myself could reach
the presence of one so high as the
President of the United States l would
entreat him to lend his ear reverently,
and hear and respect the voice of the
people of Kansas, however lowly they
may seem in the log cabins and homes
that they have made for themselves in
the wilderness. What they have ac-
complished there under unexampled
trials and difficulties is the miracle of
the age. A commonwealth in all its
fair proportions has grown up, as it
were, in the nighttime. If the Presi-
dent of the United States will have
peaceful Administration; if he will,
by and by, have dignity in retirement:
if he will stand well with the world of
mankind; if, like Washington and all
our great Presidents, he wishes to
stand well with posterity, let him re-
spect the will of the people of Kansas.
1t is said that the whole affair is of
little consequence; that the wrong, if
it be wrong, is small one. But
there is in political justice no such
thing as small wrong. A small
wrong contains within itself the seeds
of all evil.
1t is further said that the people
were factious, and as they meant at
any rate to reject the Lecompton Con-
stitution, it was right not to give them
chance to do so. But if the Consti-
tuition for any reason did not please
them, they had right to reject it;
nothing is more factious as a minority
attempting to rule a majority.
1t is said they should be punished
for not going to the polls at the bid
ding of men who were believed to be
disposed to defraud them. They went
to the polls the first moment that they
were satisfied of any chance of fair
return, even though suffering under
great disadvantages in the apportion-
ment of Representatives.
1t is said that the people of Kansas,
once admitted into the Union, may
change their Constitution. If this is
dishonesty said, l will not use the
language which would properly de-
scribe the proposition. If, as it is to
be presumed, it is honestly said, and |
am sure it is honestly said by the Presi-
dent, then why give to the men of
Kansas a reversionary right where
they have right of possession? Why
do wrong, simply that wrong may be
undone? If this is all that is intended,
if there lies nothing behind this, if
there are no indications of a wish to
perplex the national councils, and so
to pave the way for a change of the
national policy or for disunion, then
mischief has been done wantonly and
gratuitously; the country is convulsed
by its public authorities, for an issue
as ludicrous as it is wrong. 1t was
hardly worth the while to shatter the
Democratic Party for anything so pal
try. But while it is admitted that the
submission of Constitution to the
people is the correct principle, it is
said that fourteen States would be dis
pleased if this correct principle were
to be followed out. Now the South,
in the organic act for Kansas. obtained
all that it asked for, and the main re-
suit has been exactly what Southern
men foresaw. The South has nothing
whatever to gain by the adoption of
the Lecompton Constitution. 1t pre-
sents no question of practical advan-
tage to the South, and it can not be
pretended that the admission of Kan
sas under it will carry with it any ad-
vantage for the South. AS question
on the score of expediency, it does
nothing but injury to the South; the
issue presented as Southern one, is
untimely and mistaken, unwise, and
any thing but national.
And would it wound any at the
South less to have the people of Kan
sas, ms soon as the General Govern
ment is out of the way, undo all that
has been done? Is il not more re-.