Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1858-03-18

award them all Que praise, V hen We sha "
have been successful, for their large share
Of merit 10 ns deliverauce.
VIII yea tell me that i, is difficult to ill.,
ducc The Senate and the House of Repre-
sentstives to take that shor; backward s,ept
On the contrary, the hardest task that an
executive dictator ever set, or parliamentary
manager ever undertook, is TO proven, this
very step from being taken. Let the Pre-
sident take of his hand, and the bow, bent
20 long, and held to is tension BY So hard q
pressure, Will relax and straighten Itself a.
snce.
Consider now, if you please, the conse-
sueIces Of your refusal. If you sttenp: TO
coerce Ksns s into the Union, under the
Lecompton Constitution, the people of that
Territory will resort TO civil war. You are
pledged to put down that revolution by the
sword. " i'll the people listen to your voice
amid the thunders o: your cannon! Let
but one drop of the blood of e free citizen
be shed there by the Federal Army. and the
countenance Of every representative Of q
Free State in either House OF Congress
will blsnch, and his tongue will refuse to
utter the vote necessary to sustain The Army
In the butchery of his fellow-ci;izen.
Practically, you have already one intes-
tine and Territorial war. A war against
Brigham Young in Utah. Can you carry on
s~s, and confne the strife within the Ter
r~itOries! Can you win both, A wise ma
ton will never provoke more than one en-
envy at one time. ] know that you argue
that the Free-State men of Kansas are i'm
practicable, f%sctious, seditiousl Answer ne
three questions: Are they not a majority.
and 80 proclaimed by the people of Kansas,
ID not this quarrel. for the right of COVER
ming themselves. conceded by the Federal
Constitution! Is the tyranny of forcin. 9
hateful Government upon them less ~intuler-
able than three cents impost on q pound
Of tea. or five cents duty upon a promissory
note! YOu say that they can change this
Lecompton Constitution when it shall once
have been forced upon them. Let it be
abandoned now. What guaranty can you
give against your own intervention to pre-
vent that future change! What security
can you give for your own adherence to the
construction of the Con.tilution which you
sdops. from expediency, today! What bet.
tsr 10 . constitution than a bylaw of & cor
Poration, if it may be forced on q State to-
dsy and rejected Tomorrow, in derogalion Of
js express inhibition!
perceive, Sir. President, that in the way
Of argument. ] have passed already from the
ground of expediency, on which I was stan.
ding, to that Of right and justice. Among
all our refnements of constitutions learn.
ing, one principle, one fundamental princi.
pie, has been faithfully preserved, namely
That the new States must come voluntarily
into the Union; they mu t Lot be forced in.
to it. Unite or DIE" vas the motto I'D.
dressed to the States in the time of the Rev
olution. Though Kansas should perish, she
cannot be brought into the Union by force.
So long as the States shall come in b.
free consent, their admission will be an &C,
OF union, and this will be a Confederacy.-
Whenever they shall be brought in by fraut
Or force, their admission will be an act o
consolidation, and the nation, ceasing to b,
Confederacy, will become in reality al
Empire. All our elementary instruction !:
wrong, or else this change Of the Con.titu
ton will subvert the liberties Of the Amer
lean people.
You argue the consent of Kansas fror
documentary proofs, from her forced an
partial acquiescence, under your ~tyrsnnica
rule, from elections frauduIently conducted
from aer own contumacy ,&'rem Your ow n r
eordsmade.up here agsins: her.sI answer tn
whole argument at once: Kansas pro, est
here, and stands, By your own confession
in an attitude of rebellion at home, to resis
the annexation which you contend she i
soliciting at your hands.
Sir, if your proofs were q thousand time
stronger, | would not hold the people O
Kansas bound by them. They all are con
tradicted by stern fact. A people can b
bound by no a, ton conducted in their name
and pretending to their sanction, unles
they enjoy perfect freedom and safety II
giving that consent. You have held tn
people Of Kansas in dureSs from the frs
hour of their attempted organization as
community. To crown this duress by al
act at once forcing Slavery on thsm, which
they hate, and them into a union with yyu
Do terms which they abhor, would be but Il
illustrate anew, and on a grand scale, III,
maxim
"Prsspsrum ct JeiiI seslus, oirtus uoeatur."
Mr.. President, it is an occasion for jor
and triumph when a community that ha
gathered itself together under circumstance
of privation and exile, and proceeded through
q season of Territorial or provincial depen
denee on distant central authority, become
State, in the full enjoyment of civil an,
religious liberty. and rises into the dlgnit,
of member of ,his Imperial Union. But
in the case of Kansas, her whole existenc,
has been, and it yet is, a trial, . tempest
. chsos-and now you propose to make he
nuptials q celebration of the funeral of he
freedom. The people of Kansas are emit
tied to save that freedom, for they have VOL
it back when II he'd been wrested from
them by invasion and usurpation. Sir, 20,
are great and strong. On tins continen,
there is no power to resist you. On an,
other, there is hardly a Power that woul,
not reluctantly engage with you; but yo'
can never, never conquer Kansas. You
power, like a throne which is built of pine
boards, and covered with purple, is weak
ness. except it be defended by people conf
ding in you, because satisfied that you ar
just and grateful for the freedom that. IN
der you, they enjoy.
Sir, in view once more of this subject o
Slavery. ] submit that our own dignity re
quires that we shall give over this cham
perty with shareholders, which We practice
In prescribing acquiescehce in their rule a
q condition Of federation OF self government
In the Territories. We are defeated in I
We may wisely give it up. and admit Kan
sas as a Free State, since she will conseu
to be admitted only in that character.
Mr.. President, if | could at all suppose i
desirable or expedient to enlarge the fell