Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-03-23

rere polled and the return should embrace a
,reater number, that he would take their state
nent as an amended return, and act accord
ngly. o. A /
This was fair and just. The said return had |
not reached him. He then announced that he |
would not issue certificates of election until |
satisfied as to the genuineness of the return in |
question Within few days thereafter he was |
furnished with voluntary statement under |
bath, made by all the judges and clerks of the |
Delaware Crossing precinct that their return |
sent to him was the true return, and that the
votes therein embraced were actually pOlled,
dc. This was accompanied by an affidavit of
Mr.. Garrett, the judge whcso statement had
been published by the Free State mob, that it
(that statemenD was obtained by threats and
menaces, and was given through fear of per-
sonal violence if he refused.
Upon the facts, and under the impression the
return from that precinct, over the proper sig
natures and official certificate of the judges,
embracing 379 votes, was their return and
would be indicated by them, he gave the as.
surance that the Democratic party had q ma
jority Of the Legislature. That impression
prevailed until after his arrival here For the
3I9 votes would have given our ticket in that
county majority of 259, and having eight
representatives and three senators decided the
political characterof the Legislature. 1t turns
out, however, that there were but 43 votes cast
at that precinct, and that if the return shows
more it has been changed and altered since it
left their hands. This gave new phase to the
whole affair, and induced Gen Calhoun, while
disclaiming all power to purge the polls of ille-
gal votes with view to giving certificates of
election to the proper persons, to announce
through the press his determination to see that
the returns delivered to him are genuine, and
that he should be governed accordingly.
In this, however much we of the South may
regret the result, he is clearly right, and no
fair-minded, just man could desire him to act
otherwise; as in doing so, he would have as
sumed the fraud of changing the return, and
made it his own. This principle he announced
six weeks ago; so that there is now no occasion
for surprise at his statement Of the result
There is a wide distinction between his power
to purge the polls and his duty to look to the
gemHineness Of a return. If he had received
and acted upon the return before notice that it
was forgery, he would not, perhaps, have
been censurable. But having notice that it
was forgery-that is, that it had been made
to embrace additional names of voters after it
had left the hands of the judges-placed the
matter in different light. 1t then became
his duty to investigate the matter and ascer-
tain the facts. That he has done as fully as the
means in his power enabled him to do; and
there being no longer room to doubt that there
were but 43 votes polled instead of 379 rs re-
turned, to relieve himself from the unjust i'm
putations constantly passed upon him, he felt
called upon to announce the result. No man
In or out OF Congress has more cause to regret
this result than Gen. Calhoun, for no one is
more deeply interested. No one is more cha
grined at it, for no one knows better than he,
that if the polls were purged of illegal votes
the Democratic ticket of Leavenworth county
is elected by from 800 to 500 votes, which
would give his party a majority on joint ballot
in the Legislature But in the execution of a
public trust, his own convictions Of duty, and
his firm adherence to principle, could not be
swayed by personal friendships or Influenced
by political aspirations and prospects
But we maintain that the election of the 4th
of January, the result, and all questions of
fraud alleged to have been committed in tina
regard, have legitimately nothing to do with
the question of admission. They are all local
matters, over which Congress have not juris-
diction, subject to determination by the loo a.
authorities. Public opinion all over the coun
try seems to be settling down to the conviction
that Kansas will be admitted under the Lee
compton Constitution. Indeed, we have never
for moment doubted it. And it is more and
more apparent, las the subject is being stripped
of the extraneous matter sought to be logged
into the Investigation and discussion of it, and a.
we receive fresh assurances from the free State
men in Kansas that majority of that party as
well as the united Democracy there desire it.
rs the quickest and best means of restoring
peace and quiet in the Territory that it is the
duty OF Congress thus to act. But though the
developments thus far demonstrate that we
have but little to expect from the Northwestern
Democracy, for their faith could never be more
clearly plighted than it was by the Cincinnati
platform to the admission of new States with or
without slavery as the people thereof should
determine, yet when the issue was fairly pre-
sented, when they believed the Democratic
party in Kansas, a majority of whom are pro-
slavery men, had carried the Legislature. they
broke that faith and violated their pledges by
opposing the admission Of Kansas because a
slave State. We feel quite confident that the
loss OF the Legislature will not affect the posi-
ton OF Southern members on the question of
admission. They stand committed to a prin-
ciple and although the admission of Kansas
will be to them barren victory, they stand
pledged to that principle, and unitedly, in our
opinion, will they redeem that pledge This
opinion is expressed with great confidence, and
rests upon two controlling considerations LIST.
to establish the principle that slave State can
be admitted into the Union; and ID that the
admission of Kansas will remove from Congress
this great distracting sectional question, take
it from the political arena in the campaign of
1860, and leave the Republican party without
capital in that canvass.
The REAL 1ssUE.-It can hardly be possi