New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-01-27

part Of the Democratic party, as well as the MUS
tee, of attempting to force Slavery on Kansas mas
of late been very actively employed In urging as
essential to the preservation Of the Democratic
party and the peace Of the country, the adml'-
sion of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution
Slavery clause and all. For each OF the par
ties interested in this question it has separate set
of arguments, which it reterates with an apparent
Inconsistencies how completely they annlhllate
each other The Northern Democrats are told
that unless the South be gratihed by the admission
Of Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution, not
only may disruption of the Democratic party be
expected in consequence of Southern disgust and
disappointment, but even disruption Of the Union
itself, at all events "a fierce and deadly sectional
agitation" At the same time The Herald displays
its own utter want of faith in any very deep-seated
or pervading Southern sentiment on this subject,
in its attempts to stir up the Southerners BY repre-
sensations that honor good faith, consistency and
sefrespect require them to insist upon this Le'
compton Constitution at all hazards, and THAT
"they cannot back out now without incur
90 ring the disgust of their friends and the
% contempt of their enemies" Yet, by
way of pacifying the friends of freedom
and free labor and preventing any opposition from
them, this Lecompton Constitution, the imposi-
ton of which by Congress on Kansas is urged as
absolutely essential to the honor of the South and
the peace of the Union, is simultaneously held up
BY The Herald itself as an abstraction"
"myth," mere piece of parchment under which
and tba Soufh faE ohaolutpIy
which the people of Kansas can and will, within
sixty or ninety days after their admission, tear to
pieces and trample under foot with every mark OF
disgust and contempt. And if to maintain to the
last consistency of disqualification, The Herald,
while it argues that within six weeks after the adj
mission of Kansas under the Lecompton COnstitu-
ton, everything will be quoted, and the whole
question will drop out of sight, yet exults in the
probability that such an admission WILL as between
parties in Kansas, be "the signal for the war
wboOp," and reOices in the prospect that hundred
or two of the leaders on both sides may be killed
off in the contest as the most prompt and satsfac-
tory means of rescuDg Kansas and the country
from similar partisan fury and fanatical madness.
1t is not to be supposed that The. Herald, how
ever disposed to make fools of other people, rests
its own support of the LecomptOn Constitution,
and its advocacy of the admission 'Of Kansas under
it, upon set of reasons which so completely an
initiate each other. Those reasons are merely
speeches to BuncOmbe, manufactured to be palmed
of upon Others For its OVID course in this mat
ter, it has reasons and satisfaction of it's own.
The preservation of the Union, the peace of the
country, the honor of the South, the interests of
the North, the harmony of the Democratic party, or
the balance OF power between Slavery and Free
Labor-these considerations, We apprehend, have
very little TO do with the support which The Herald
is pleased to extend to the Lecompton COnstitu.
ton. The decisive fact with that journal is that
Mr. Buchanan has committed himself to the policy
of admitting Kansas under that Constitution. In
its present loyal devotion to the President, that
fact alone is sufficient to decide its course What
more mertoriOus service could that journal perform
than to come TO the rescue of the President in the
present emergency, in which he seems in no little
Danger not only of being abandoned by large Sec
tons of his party, but of being even driven to
abandon himself The argument, however, upon
which The Herald undertakes to justify the position
of the President, in support of the admission of
Kansas under the Lecompton Constitution, is I'M
fortunately in no respect better than the rest of its
reasOnings upon this subject.
That argument is that the President aud Congress
have no alternative in the matter; that the Lee
compton Constitution stands on the ground OF an
enactment by body fully authorized to impose
Constitution on Kansas such terms and with such
provisos on the subject of popular consent as that
body might see fit; that this work was cOnsum-
mated and the LecOmptOn Constitution converted
into valid State charter by the election of the
2lst of December; and that neither the President
nor Congress can pay any attention to the popular
majority of ten thousand and more against il on the
4th of January, that election being dead letter"
latter the fact" 'mere surplusage," and of no
legal effect" But the fact is as The Herald
knows, or ought to know, that, even admitting all
that the friends of the LecomptOn Constitution can
claim for it, the popular vote OF the 4th OF January
was Just as much part of the legal action of the
people of Kansas upon the subject, and is just as
valid just legal, just as much to the purpose, as
any of the proceedings connected with the forma-
tiop of that Constitution from first to last. Not.
uithsauding anything that has hitherto been done,
il is still essential to the validity of this Constitu
ton, laying aside all objections to the origin of the
Convention by which it was framed, that it should
receive the assent of Congress. Till it receive
that assent, il is mere draft, "a dead letter."
and of "no legal effect" mere proposition upon
which Congress is to act Upon the question of
giving it validity there two points to be cOnsid
L, ron 49, ptio 81 70 ha IL
Does it please and satisfy the people of Kansas