The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-03-25

philosopher was prosecuted and beaten and cast
into prison, till he was compelled to deny
himself; but the earth moved on, nevertheless,
and the great truths he had enunciated took
upon themselves immortality, regardless of his
own puny efforts to call then back. There is
an Immortality Of, infAmy % we'll Is of glory.
No matter by what party thumbscssw you may
subject the refractory, or BY what arts you may
ply the supple, TILL by your votes the record shall
show no evidence of the foul wrong withia this
Hall; still it viii work no change on these
truths, and the outrage remains, nevertheless,
bald and naked, never to pass out of sight till
This very attempt to stiHe investigation and
choke inquiry, 10 itself confession. 1t is not
because investigation will refute, but because
it will sustain these charges, that it is resisted.
The reason Why men love darkness rather than
light is made no more certain BY the pen of
inspiration than by the course of the Admins
tration upon this question. The very message
under confederation contains ample proof, not
only in what it takes vain care to conceal, but
also in what it makes haste to communists, of
the truth of the charge of attempting, through
the Lecompton Constitution, to crush out pop
ular sovereignty and the right of selfgovern.
ment in Kansas, which il now laid at the door
of this Administration. The President cannot
state his case, but he states himself out of court
When he tells Us that the people of Kansas are
in state of rebellion, and acknowledges the
difficulty of making the American people real
ize the fact attributng it to great delusion,
let him show what the people of Kansas have
70 rebel against, if they have been left perfect
" free to form their own institutions in their
own way" and he will remove the delusion.
Men do not rebel against themselves, nor the
work of their own hands. When be tells us
that the established order of things in Kansas
would have been long since subverted " by
any portion Of the people sufficient to subvert
it, had it not been protected by United States
bayonets, he proclaims, in the same sentence,
that the power which created, as we'll as the
power which sustains, that order of things, never
emanated from the people of Kansas. For
men do not pillage, nor pollute, nor pull down,
the temple OF their own rearing. When he an
nounces that form of government, twice
ratified by the people, lis in direct opposition
to the existing Government" and that it
requires, to keep it down, the constant presence
of United States dragons in Territory cleft
perfectly free" to manage it's own affairs in its
own way, he confesses, in the same breath, that
the standing army has been used to crush out
the exercise of that right of selfgovernment,
the struggle to achieve which commenced in
Yorktown. Why is it that this home Govern
ment of ours does not require the constant
presence of armed men to preserve and protect
it? Why is it not necessary for the Chief
Magistrate of the nation, when he goes forth
upon the Avenue, to surround himself with
gems darmes, bristling with steel, to protect and
rescue him from the deadly missives of the
populace? Why is it that the approaches to
this Hall are not guarded by soldiers, between
whose bsyonets we might march in and out
from our deliberations here, shielded from the
passions of men without? Why is it that the
Judiciary, from the highest tribunal at the Cap
itol to the humblest magistrate in the remotest
hamlet sits secure in the seat of justice, calmly
celebrating and fearlessly pronouncing DEGREES
to which all the people bow in silence? Why
is it that a standing army, equal in numbers and
power to the extent and greatness of this Gov
eminent, is not spread over the land, from this
centre to the outermost borders, to uphold, by
its strong arm, the authority of law, and to awe
by its imposing presence the people into sub
mission The answer to all this is apparent
and invoke its application to Kansas. The
strength of this Government is in the consent of
the governed. Without this allpervading ele-
ment, it could not survive an hour. The fair
fabric would tumble in ruins over our heads,
and the bonds which bind US together would
part like smoking fax. No matter in what
garb this Constitution comes here, nor from
what authority it processes to emanate, if it
requires the continual presence of the army to
preserve and protect that authority among the
people of Kansas, then, 1 say, it never came
from that people. When, therefore, the Pres
ident declares, in this message, that the army
is necessary to maintain that authority, he con-
fesses that the people never breathed into it
the breath of life, and all the world will enter
up Judgment upon that confession.
The Lecompton Constitution, therefore, comes
to us without the sanction of legal authority;
and equally without that other sanction-the
will of the people-which, under the circuna.
stances, is higher and more sacred than all the
forms Of law. Without this seal, cannot take
it; without this baptism, can hold no com.
munion with it; and without this amounting,
eschew it.
Now, sir, the real reason why this Constitu-
ton is thus urged upon rs, is Just as apparent
as the falsity of the pretended one. 1t banishes
free institutions, and forever fastens Slavery
upon that virgin soil. No man who has eyes
to see, or ears to hear, need fail to understand,
whether it be to justify or to condemn. No
man can longer doubt, but at the expense of
his common sense. / can understand and ap-
preciate the zeal of Southern men for the cen.
summation of this work. 1t is the legitimate
fruit of Slavery. That institution can bear no
better. And when Q man has lived all his life
among slave institutions, and has never seen
the effect of freedom upon the whole man
physical, intellectual, and moral-never him.
self breathed the inyigorating atmosphere of
free institutional can understand how such
man may come to actually believe that the
forms of "a republican Government, sur
rounded by slave institutions, would be the
highest type of civilization" Mr.. LAMAR.
And / may respect him for the frankness of
the avowal, however much / may regret the
misfortune of his life which has led to such con.
victions. / can even hear from the lips of
man of such an education and life, that he has
=" q sovereign contempt for the memory of the
Pilgrim Fathers" [Mr. SHORTER with no
other emotions than the one of pity for him,
and the other of gratitude to God, Is one of the
descendants of that immortal band, that their
memory does merit the contempt of the lords of
the lash and the founders of q colored aristocra.
cy. But / fail to comprehend how it Is posi-.
BILE for man now in the decline of life
which had its origin in one of the noblest of
the free States-who was reared under the
shadow of free institutions-has watched their
growth in all that makes State great and
glorious-has witnessed, under their expand
ing influence, Comnonwealths spring out ofthe
wilderness into the full maturity of manhood,
guarantying to all the people thereof the God.
given rights of freemen, all the branches of in
dastry taking life and bearing fruit in their
soil, and comfort and competence smiling on
every hearthstone in all their borders-I say,
cannot understand, it is utterly incomprehen-
sible to me, how such man, false to all these
noble afinities, can undertake, from high posi-.
ton and power, to crush out free institutions,
and force in their stead, upon an unwilling
and resisting people, Slavery. With all its at.