Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1858-04-28

100000 AAAAC1 ANANANL1AVhCL-
e frauds. Il is well known that even il whi
ut they say was true, still large mslority Of th
le legal votes at that election were cast in fave
be of retaining the slavery clause. Bnt caano
sn permit my iudgmen. to be Influenced by the un
AZ supported statement Of Messrs. Babeoclc an
81 Deitzler; there is strong eireumstantisI svi
as dence against it. in the fact that the pro- ssve
is ry vote on that occasion was actually smalle
is Than It was few days after in the election o
m State officers In the elections last fall, for
Territorial Legislature, there is evidence o
= fraud; and there appears to have been fraud
lie % some extent, Ia the election on tie 4.h o.
D January. But these elections, it must be re
e msmbersd, had no connection whatever Will
y the adoption OF the constitutions and in ID,
+ latter case, particularly, there is reason 10 be-
g lieve that the frauds arc as likely to have beer
/ committed on one side as on the other II /:
-e curious to observe how ready certain gentlemen
o are TO believe any charge Of fraud against the
;. law-abidiag men Of the Territory, and how
e slow they are to sse that the Iaw-resisting
r revolutionary men, who have committed %
? many OutTages, have ever winked az fraud.
= Why, sir, this cry OF fraudH was CON.
= msnced by the anti-slavery men here ia Con-
{ gress on the passage Of the Kansas Nebraska
r bill, and il has been kept up ever since. T
. biliwa itself called fraud. When the 4
. Territorial Legislature was elected il, too, Wss
( declared to be fraud, though no proof was
3 ever offered to show it; and Governor Reedsr
himself even certified to the correctness of the
returns. Indeed, the census taken at the time
( shows that there was a large majority Of
, Southern voters in the Territory, and no ne
eessi;y For fraud on the part OF the pro-slavery
Z men.
Mr.. Chairman, I call attention 70 the fact,
that al that point of time there was a majority
, OF Southern men there, BY the ofi-ial census
Of ihe Territory.
Mr.. BLArA- I ask the gentleman how he as
cert8ins that?
Mr.. ZoLLIcoFFER. ! understand it from a
passage ia the report Of the Republican inves
tigsting committee, at the last Congress. Il
quotes the census taken month before TIE
election.
Mr. BLAIR That there was majority OF
pro-slavsry men there2
Mr.. ZoLLIcoFFER. That there was a msl5r-
itr OF Southern men there.
Mr. BLAIR. Well; that is very different
sf-ir.
Mr. ZoLLIcoFFEK. I think there are very
few men from the South such as the member
from Missouri
MIR. BLAIR. That Is a matter Of opinion.
Mr.. Z1LLIcoFFER. Then If it is a matter
Of opinion yon need not have interrupted me.
When the Congressional Delegate was elected
when the second Territorial Legislature were
.
! held without authority Of law, or under the
/ Topeka constitution, this cry Of =" fraud0 hts
been kept up, until there are really honest and
good men who have had their minds misle ad
with the belief that the constitution was car
rieI By frauds. think there is no evidence Of
this that ought for a NON mt to shake our con
clusions upon this question.
/ The assumption that the vote on the Alb Of
/ January, taken under a so-calied law of the
Territorial legislature, upon the ratification OF
the constitution, is evidence that majority Of
the people are opposed to the constitution, is
quite erroneous. That law was itself Rullifv, l
and the Legislature that enacted It had no au-
thority whatever to intermsdais with the con-
stitution. The election was conducted alone
5y the Freesoil party, and we have no gusran-
Tee that the Tspatsd ten thousand votes east
were not spurious. A comparison Of the num-
Der OF votes cast with those cast at the same
precincts, at other elections, strongly indicates
this. There is reason 10 suppose that many of |
hose voters were Germans, who are not eiti- /
zeus OF the United States. have heard it |
said that there are 500 or 2 COO German
aliens there, who are not entitled to vote, bot
who are among the most noisy OF the men that /
follow Lane, and sustain the Topeka move /
ments OF those VINO are disturbing the peace Of /
the Territory, AMI sndeaYOriDg to run honest /
men out Of It. But the constitution had al. /
ready been adopted, and the whole work finish
ed, before this vote was taken. Every step 4
had been regularly taken The sense Of The 1
people had been aseertained, BY ballot, ir IA 1
Tor Of convention; the convention had been /
called and the delegates had been elected BY /
the people, with instructions TO make consti- !
tuition. The only question which bad produced /
division had been submitted to a popular vote,
aud settled accordingto law; aud the time, and /
all the circumstances. had transpired, when,
according to the letter Of the instrument ITSELF
fufio rttaf1 fatra -~E nj l.. frN
force" How, then, could Territorial Legis-
lature subsequently, interpOse q process 70 an
Bul the constitution II hat Legislature
could do so, 30 could those which nav come
after it; which assumption places the Legisla-
tuTe at all times above the sovereign power.
which IS competent TO make and unmake con
stitu,ions. Such an assumption would at any
time place it in the power of the Legislature
to deprive the people Of a constitution By
mere accidental legislative majority and, II
put In force in The State governments, would
soon render our durable written constitutions
as ehangeable and uncertain ss the ststuary
laws.
Il has been osJectsd that, in the flsl vote
upon the constitution, on the 2lst OF December,
the voters were required 10 swear that they
wsuid support the constitution, when adopted
This, it is said, was a great hardship upon the
free state men. I 90 not so understand it, IL
they were really law-abiding men. They were
then themselves deciding the question. by their
votes, whether IL was to be a free OF slave
State. If they held a majority, they could
make it free State, aud cheerfuliy support it.
IL they bad not a majority, and it were made
slave State against their votes, STILL in Justice
thew should have been wiling 20 support il.
Il was at lesst as hard upon one side as upon
the other. As to Lanes men, who had so
violently resisted all government upon that in
algurated at Topeka, il was but Iust that they.
n a
BE- required to swear to support il when adopted.
Their past eOndnet had made this eminently
proper.
Complaint is also made, that the schedule to
the constitution provides that all who are in
Office shall mold their Offices, and all laws in
existence shall continue in existence, until /
changed by laws enacted under The State con-
s'itution. Yet such provision az this is al
most universally incorporated, IA the several
States, on the adoption OF new constitution I;
snd it is wisely done to guard against any de-
Tangement, incident 10 fundamental change
Of government.
The truth is, that when gentlemen say thev
will never vote for the admission Of another
slave State into the Union, they DO but Law
bare that leading sentiment which prompts
majority OF those who oppose the bill. They
are wholly unwilling to give to the Institutions
Of ths South A fsT snd equal chance in the
territories (which belong Ia common to all.
When the South agreed, 10 1870, to the drawing
the line OF 80 deg 30m., for the sake Of peace
and compromise, the North did not become sat
is6ed, but the very next year, BY majority Of
her representatives, voted to violate A. From
that day to this, there never has been an in
stance in which slave State has asked for
admission into the Uaion, whether north or
south of that line, in which Northern men
have not opposed Il, on account Of slavery, re-
gardless of that compromise a compromise
4 D a. se-I.. Il q, %
aud gave no security for its establishment
south Of that line. The North was unwilling
to extend that line 10 the Pacific, or to give tbs
South any respite from the struggle to restrict
slavery south Of the line where it had been es-
tabiished. Hence, 10 1850, Southern men be-
gan to ask themselves is this fair? Then il
was that Henry Clay said in the Senate
~ put It to gentlemen Of the South. are they
prepared 10 be satisfied with the line Of SO deg.
30m., interdicting slavery north Of that line,
and giving them TO security for the admission
Of slavery south Of that line ?''
Mr. Clay stated that, in considering a plsn
OF eompronise in 1850, " the idea Of the Mis-
sour COMPROMISE, as it has been termed, cane
under nv 1his1 review, was considered nv me. |
Thin and finally rejected" And be added
:: It vas high time that the wounds which the
Wilmot proviso had Inflicted should be healed
up and closel and that to avoid IN all future
time the agitation which muss be produced By
the conflict Of opinion on the slavery question,
the true priacipls tchieh ought 70 rrgHlafe fks
action Of Congress ia forming territorial gov
ernmeBts fof each newly acquired domain, Is to
refrGia from all legislation The sabjeef in the
territory acquired so long it retaiHs the tern
tOriat form Of goVsrnmeAt"
. THIS - true principle" ba1iog been applied,
and the anti-slsverY restriction line having
been removed in 1854, those Northern men who
had been unwilling to give the South peace
while that line was established as a com7ro-
mise, suddenly discovered that theywsre great
" outraged By its repeal. They have kept up
the agitation ever since. With or without
compromise line, under any and all eircum-
stances, they have aereT been willing, and ariH