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

might happen, calling to their recoliec
tion the grievances 10 which they wer'
exposed in an Eastern State, and from
which they only escaped by the refer
ence of the Constitution to the people
We call on our naturalized citizens {,
reflect on their danger from the princi
pie involved in accepting the decision
of Convention as final, and without
appeal. Our country is subject to pc
riodical excitements on the franchise o
naturalized citizens; and it may hap
pen that Convention possessed O
his absolute power, may seek to per
petuate themselves and their party il
Office, by one sweeping disfranchise.
ment of the foreign born. We call or
the poor, and on the laboring men, tc
come up to the rescue; for, in the di-
vision that prevails on universal suf-
frage. sooner or later a Convention
would be foumd ready to limit the righ,
to suffrage, and to maintain the limi-
tation by force. We claim the aid Of
every Irishman to man, and every
descendent of an lrisIman: for Ireland,
through three centuries, shows the
bitter fruits Of government imposed
by the completely between shameless
minority and the central power.
We will not make an appeal to the
South as such; but if any part Of the
Union has cause for alarm at an in
crease of the power of convention
suddenly called together, we should
say it is the South; and were Jefferson
alive, we should on this occasion have
a protest from his pen. The guiding
principle of his craftsmanship was to
consult the people and to revere the
people. But what do | say? A voice
comes to us from one of Jefferson's
successors in the chair of state in the
Old Dominion, and in clear and dis
tinct terms he rejects the Lecompton
Constitution as not the act and deed
of the people of Kansas, and he right
ly condemns the Lecompton schedule
as not republican. New York will re-
spond to Virginia, and the great North
West will swell the echo.
The policy of enforcing the Lecomp-
ton Constitution on an unwilling peo-
pie is neither wise nor expedient nor
possible. Principle is the true divi-
ner's wand by which the President Of
free people sways the millions, and
secures majorities for his measures in
Congress. The neglect of principle
for temporizing expediency always
loses the respect of majorities in Con-
gress and out of it. The ship of state
is water-logged; throw the fraudulent
Lecompton Constitution overheard; let
principle take the helm. and the bark
will spring forward on its way as in
the best years of our Republic. Ours
is the cause of peace, of order, of trne
democracy, of union, of freedom. All
good omens are with us. For our part
we are resolved to walk in the central
path of humanity, stunning sectional
ism and fanaticism on the one side,
and subserviency to dictation on the
other. True democracy inscribes on
its banners the rights of the States and
the sovereignts of the people; it up
holds freedom to the individual in the
States, freedom to the State in the
Union, and the indefeasible right of
the majority, whether in State or in
a Territory, calmly, deliberately, and
undisturbed to form and accept, or re-
ject a Constitution for themselves.