Weekly Council Bluffs bugle. (Council Bluffs, Iowa) 1857-1860, 1858-01-06
TO 0REAT seEEca4
or
DOUGLAS,
EaeGemge ~ RwpuAar sgverefgm-
s. and Tsae WaKa OF sfae MAJ
baRAEa.
N sENATR pEoEMRER e.. lssg

~sAAt1sANzAs y Ns~S@e&S @NsS F@A9 - fsz%ss ys~e
docunenaa, with afteen thsuaand sxtra
copies.
/ Ma. DoueLAs. air. President, when
yesterday the Presidents Message waa
read st she clerks desk, I heard il bat
| imparfecsly, and was OF thaimpFesaioG
that the President Of the United States
had approved and endorsed the action ot
the Lec0mpton Convention IL kansaa,--
Under that impression, | feIs IL Hsy duty
to state that, while eonearTad n the
gsneRal visws Of the Message, Jet so faz
a. il appxnvad or endorsed The aQlion Of
| that ConTention, | entirely nisaenaed
kran iAs and w0zld ayail mssasf og -
early oppoI tunity 10 state uay reasons for
my dlssena. Upon q more careful aad
critical examination OF the Message,
am raioiced Eo find that the President OF
the United States has not recommended
thaa Congress shall pass Law to receive
Kansas INTO the Union under the Constl-
| tuition formed at Lecompsoa, It is true
| that the tone Of the Message inaiea a
| willingness an thn part Of the PrseidanE
to sign bill If We shall see proper 10
EEs4s&9
andsr thai Isanssisatiou. But, sir, il is
fast Dc great Significance, and worthy
of consideration, that the President Aas
RETAINED from the eudol sement OF shn
Convention, and from any recommends
tion as the course Congress should pursue
With regard to the Constitution there
formed.
The message of the President has
made an argument-an unansHera5ie Q
argument in nv opinion--against that
Constitution, which shows clearly ,wheth-
er intended to arrive at that result or not
thA&, consistently With his views and
principles, he cannot accept Ihat Con-
stitution. He has expressed his deep
modification and disappointment, that
the Constitution itself hzs not been sub
mittsd to the people Of Kansas for their
acceptance or rejection. He infoEms as
th&t he has unqaalifedly expressed hiS
opinions on that subject in bis iRstruc-
tons TO Gov. Walker, assuming, as a
matter Of course, that the Constitution
was to be Submitted to thepeople before
il could have any vitality or validity
He goes further, and tells US that the ex-
ample set by Congress in the Minnesota
e2ae, BY inserting a ssause IN the ena-
bli2E act requiring the Constitution 10
be sab aItted to the people, ought to be-
come o &RiEorm rule, not to be departed
from hereafter ia my case. On these va
? iGus prOros jtia0s ERgree entirely with
tbs President Of lka United States, and
| ata prepared now to Sustain that uni
form rule which be asks IA 10 pursue, in
all other cases, by taking the AinQesota
provixio On as our example.
! geioIcs, on q careful Perusul Of the
message, - fud so much less ~ dissent
from than ! gAs under tas impression
there was. from abs hasty reading and
imperfect hearing Of Iae message N the
frat instance. In effect, he refers that
doeameAE 10 the Congress Of us United
Statos-as the Constitution OF the Uuttsd
s tates refers tt--for as 70 decide upon it
under our responsibility. It Is proper
that be should have tgus FgfgrT eu Il to rs
rs matter for Con%ressi0aak action,
and not is al administrator DE Execu-
tive measure, for the reason tha4 tke Con-
sLitution Of the United States says th&s
& Co4oreag Nay admit new States into
the Union" He4sae we knd the Kansas
q aestion before Us say, not as an Ad-
measure, nst ~ an EZeru-
tive measure, ba. as measure coming
before Us far our free actlon1 without aLy
or interference, direct
" or indirectly, by the Administration
nov in nay Possesslsa Of the Federal Gov
ernment. Sir, propose 20 examine this
question calmly and fairly, Is see wheth-
eF or not we can properly receive ka2sas
issEo the UniaH with the Constitution
f9Taed At LecunPl9D.
The President, after expressing his re-
gret and modification aA4 dlsapOoInt-
ment, that the Constitution haA aQf been
to the people, in pursuance Of
hts instructions 30 G0Y. W NaIGGr, and IN
pursuance of Governor Walkers assuT-
ances to the people, sAgs, however, that
tIv tho ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS a2J the slavery
question sHIy was required to Ea FefaETcd
ID the pgJpIe, and the remainder OF the
Was not thus required to be
submitted. He acknowledges that, as q
general rule, Oh general principles, the
The whole Constitution she4i5 be sub
aitted: but according 10 hIs undsfstHGd-
ing Of The organic act Of Kansas, there
wSs a. imperative obligation to submit
the slavery question to their approval or
disapproval, By! 20 obligation TO sub
init the entire Constitgti0n. In other
words, he regards the organic act tbe
Nebraska bill, 81 having made AZ eI
ception of the slavery clause, and pro-
yided fJr the disposition Of that question
in mode different from that in which
other domestic or local, as eontradlstin-
guished from Federal questions, should
be decided. Sir, permit me 10 say, with
profound respect for the President of the
Cpised Skatasv~that / conceive that on
this point be has committed fundament-
al error, an error which lies et the fuun.
dAtion Of his whole argument on this
matter.
1 can we'll understand how that dis
tingxiskAd statesman came to fall into
this error. lie was not in the country
at the time the AeeFssks BILL was ass
ed he was not party 10 the toNtsqFsrsy,
and the discussion that took place during
ita massage. He was then representing
the hoaaS and dignity Of the country with
greas wisdow end distinction at foreign
Court. Thus assFlg engrosssd, his whole
energies were absorbed ln conducting
greaS diplomatic questions that dysste3
6ir afasation from the mere territorial
and discussions taep going on
"a the Senate and House Of Representa-
tivea, and before the peoPlb al home
Under khass circumstances be may vel
have fallen into an error, radical and
fundamensal As it is, in regard 20 the OBJ
isct Of shs Nebraska bill aud ths prinel-
pie asserted in it,
Now, sir, what was the prinelple enuns
eiated bv sac authors and supporters Of
thai biiT wheR it was broamht forward
Did We nos come before the country and
say that we repealed the Missouri re-
ssTiction Cor the purpose oE submitting
and carrying out ~ . general rule the
great principle Of salf-goyeEBment,
which left the peopis Of each State and
each Tsrritory free % Eorm ami F. kutats
their domestic institutions in their own
wnv. subject only to tbs Constitution Of
he United States In support Of shaE
peopositton it was argaed here, and |
have GEgpad il wherever l havs spoken,
in various States Of the Uaion, at home
and abroad, everywhere | base epdsay
ored 70 prove that there vas no reas "a
Why aa exception should BE- made ia re-
gard "a ghg slavery qucssiep. hare ap,
nealed 10 thu people If va did not All
sas. wsn of all psTtiss, lhas all other
aoeal azd dsssass4ie questions should be
sahnsitsed 70 tbs psopls. ssid 70 Eben,
IL we agree that the paople shall d eide
FOR themselves whaG kind 81 Judiciary
= steln they will bare w@AgfeB thas The