The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1858-08-14

ieaot tEot 1ctu SeCttOut II SuiSy "So wv
long. But he did not read il. We have
however copy Of that 18th section, and in
ssrt it, and think its own language explains
sufficiently why Mr.. Trumbuh didn't find
time to read It. Here il is:
Sec Is. That the following propositions
be, and the same are hereby, offered to the
said Convention Of the people Of Kansas,
rejection, which if accepted by the Cenven-
ton, and ratified by the people at the election
for the adoption Of the Constitute shall be
obligatory on the United States apd upon
the said State of Kansas, &c.
What were the following propositions?"
They related to the grants of land, to the
usual per cent. on land sales in lieu of allow
ing the new State to tax the public lands,
&c. This 18th section said, III the convention
will accept these propositions" and they
are ratified by the people WHEN they vote
on the adoption Of the constitution, then
they shall be binding, &c. The clause had
no reference whatever to submitting the
Constitution itself to the people. On the
contrary, it took it for granted that there
was to be such submission-speakso of it as
matter of course, land supposes the "pro-
positions" are to be submitted in like man.
ner with the constitution. Judge Douglas,
or the committee on territories, saw no ne
cessity for submitting these propositions"
to the people. They were such propositions
as were made to all new States, had always
been accepted as matter of course, and had
never in the case of any other State, been sui.
mitted to the people with their constitution.
The words ''and ratified by the people at the
election for the adoption of the constitution"
were therefore stncken~~V.
Judge Trumbul WIS no) the first man to
make this tremenauosS discovery. 1t was
limited at, at the beginning of the late ses-
sion of Congress by Senator Bigler, of Penn
sylvania, and we all remember how SUDDEN
ly and effeetually Mr.. Bigler was " set
down" on that occasion. Judge D. prompt
ly and Indignantly denied that he, or a sim
gle man on the Committee on Territories or
in the Senate ever dreamed that the Consti-
tuition to be formed under the Toonbs bill
was not to be submitted to the people, and
pointed triumphantly to this 18th section
itself, to show that such submission was ia
ken for granted, and never doubted by Mr..
Tsmbs himself, or any man in the Senate.
The Nebraska bill itself, all supposed set
tied that matter.
And now what q spectacle is this Here
comes Trumbull among what he must have
supposed to be his ignorant and benighted
constituents retailing this bold and palpable
perversion. A mean, miserable sneaking lie
on the face Of it. The very documents in
which he falsely asserts prove it, disproving
it utterly. Judge I. is man of some tai
ent, but if he were the wisest man alive,
would not this act stamp him forever as al
- the meanest of manknd," There is
no language that can stismatize as it de
serves this most contemplate and dastardly
piece Of business.
We revert to one other point of his re-
the present In this grand conspiracy to
force slavery into all the new States and ter
ritories, he charged that the Supreme Court
Of the United States also bore q prominent
and controlling part. The proof was, their
decision in the bred Scott case. That decis-
ion was all concocted beforehand, all cut
and dred-all link in the chain Of meas
ures looking to the single object Of ensiaving
the territories And more: after the terri
tories are enslaved, Judge T. announces that,
as the next act in the drama, the Supreme
| Court are also to make decision that shall
carry slavery into the free Stated The
proof Of all these assertions is Mr.. Trum-
bulls say SO, and from the specimen above
of his veracity, we can safely estimate how
much that is worth. A certain cause has
been pending for three or four years in a
t Court in Missouri; it is finally on certain
points carried up to the Supreme Court OF
the U. S., and after year or two is there
decided. And all this is a prcconcerted-
cut and dried affair-a part Of grand con-
spiracy, the first inception, of which began
two years after this suit was commenced
| Truthful Mr.. 1rUmDuIi
Well, the bred Scott decision was made,
| and what is to be done about it? Oh it was
a dastardly, villainous decision; and now
for this outrage that court must be reformed.
All ha, that's it? Mr.. Trumbull proposes
that the republican party shall now take the
matter in hand, and vote these judges out OF
Office, and better ones in. Tho process it is
true, is somewhat dilatory and round about.
First, we must elect republican President ;
secondly, that President must wait until the
present judges die, and thirdly, when they
are dead and gone, he must find men to
take their places who are mean enough to
give pledges beforehand as to what will be
their decision On certain legal questions
afterwards to come before them. This is
Judge Trumbull's remedy. Permit US to
saw, this is not the way the Constitution
proposes to remedy abuses in that court
If tie judges make corrupt decision, the
Constitution provides for their impeachment.
Until they do something to deserve this
ordeal, we rather guess Mr.. Trumbu!l and
all the rest of the "great republican party
will have to quietly submit to their decisions
In stating the nature and effect of the
bred Scott decision, and indeed in ali bis
comments upon it, Judge r. was disinge
nuou. throughout as in the rest of his
speech. We have, however, already de.
voted more space to it than We had intended
and shall pursue the matter no further for
the present. We may recur to the matter
in our next.
The republican papers are parading with
a great flourish an article from the Mattoon