The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1858-08-29
THE PRETEXT OF THE ATTEMPT TO REVIVE THE
KANSAS AGITATION.

lfeless Kansas agitation by improvisng, if possible,
another constitution for that Territory already shin
gled over four or five deep with paper governments
and bogus State organizations; and by raising ciamor
for admission at once in disregard of the English
hill The keynote in which the new camor for
bleeding Kansas (which will be faint, feeble and
futile one) is TO be made was sounded by Judge |
Douglas on his return to the Northwest, and has
since been taken up in chorus by every back-re-
publican editor and speaker that has studied his
speech at Chicago. The ground of the new agita-
ton was promulgated by the senator in these words:
1.-THE mode of reference and the form Of submission
Iunder the English bill not such as could sane
ton with my VOTE for the that IL Disseminated
between free States and slave States providing that ii
they in with the Lecompton constitution they could
be received with 80, 900 but ii they chose to demand
another constitution consistent with their sent
ments and their feelings they should not be received into
the Union until they had SO 400 inhabitants. Cheers
al did not consider that mode of submission fair, for
the that any election is mookery which is not
free any election is fraud upon the rights OF the people
which holds out inducements for affirmative votes and
penalties for negative votes L do
not believe that either the penalties the hand
the inducements the other are going to force that
people to accept constitution to which they rrecon
GLADLY opposed.
Adopting the suggestion of the Illinois senator
the republican party have made this pretext of dis
elimination in favor of slavery, the prominent fea
ture of their speeches and resolutions IN denuncia
ton Of the English bill and they have been second
ed in the movement by the Americans of the
northern States wherever these last have been able
to drum up a meeting or get together a convention
AT the recent meeting Of the American council OF
the State Of New York at Albany, Mr.. Erastus
Brooks declared with abored emphasis that che was
willing to grasp hands with any man any body of
mon, who were opposed to the odious principle that
it should require only ten thousand inhabitants Of
Territory to claim admission State with slavery
constitution, and hundred thousand to admit
State without slavery"
And the council itself adopted, among their reso-
buttons, one protesting against this discrimination"
of the English bill with much indigniy of language
Regarding the attempt made to discriminate against
free institutions in of the Territories both anti
republican and hostile TO the principles of nationa
ty we stand ready to resist it attack upon the
freedom of the States and the sovereignty of the people
Here, then, is pretext for reviying the
Kansas agitation furnished to the enemies of the
democratic party by Senator Douglas, which has
been eagerly and hopefully caught up by all phases
of the opposition, and heralded grievance in
which redress is due to her, and is sought by the
new movement AT the risk of shocking the sens
bilities of the few journals at the South which deem
it monstrous to disrus the Illinois senator fidelity
to the democratic cause, must needs examine the
validity Of this objection to the English BILL and the
Justice of this charge against the democratic party,
of unustly discriminating against freedom in favor
of slavery in the admission of new State.
We deny the charge, and alege that the great eff
fort and study Of the democratic party for ten years
has been to establish rule under which the adms-
sion of new States, with or without slavery, would
depend absolutely upon the action Of their local con
stitutonal authorities and not at all upon the caprces
or partalities of Congress in respect to slavery.
While this has always been the endeavor of the
democratic party pursued in good faith in every
case of the application of State for admission, that
of Kansas included and while this has, in fact been
its honest aim and study, yet it easy to show that
if appearances alone consulted and not the real
facts fhisory, there is ground for the charge
that lis discrimination" have been against slavery
than against freedom.
In support of this declaration it is only necessary
to appeal to the notorious fact, that slave
not at the time of admission contain population
equal to the quota of representation prescribed for
members in the lower House of Congress: and to
the equally notorious fact, that the only new State
which has been admitted with population less than
this quota was non-slavehoding. We allude, of
course to the of California, which was brought
into the Union by the democratic party in opposition
to the votes Of the abotonist members of Congress-
wthless than fifty thousand inhabitants, of the worst
class. If we are not egregiously mistaken, there
has been but one solitary instance in which
State has been admitted without the representative
quota of population and this was the instance of
nop-slaveholding State in which the democratic
party was chiefly instrumental in procuring admis-
sion in opposition to the efforts of the reesoi party
resisting it,
The effort to bring Kansas into the Union before
it contained the requisite quota OF population, 80
far from commencing with the democratic party,
commenced with the opposition, in the Topeka
movement, which occurred early as 1866 be-
fore the Territory contained population of twenty
thousand inhabitants. 1t was in consequence of a
clamor persisted in by the abolitionists for long
time, that the democratic party at last indicated its
Willingness TO admit the State, with less than the
requisite population which they did in the Toombs
l,x II in,