The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1858-04-06

leagues, when candluates lot seats III that
convention, pledged themselves that the
constitution to be framed shall be submit
ted to evsry bona hde actual citizen Of
Kansas, Gin order that the said constitu-
tion may be adopted or rejected by the ac-
tual settlers of the Territory, as tho ma
jority of voters shall decide" Here were
pledges and assurances made and renewed
to the people of that Territory, that they
should have the privilege of ratifying. or
rejecting the instrument that was framed
by the convention. How were those
pledges redeemed! Was this constitution
submitted by the convention to the popu-
lar judgment? Never; the submission
under the schedule was most transparent
fraud and swindlc. 1t provided that the
resident might vote constitution with
slavery" or "constitutinn with no slavery"
but for the constitution he must vote in
any event. No matter how obnoxious the
provisions Of that instrument may be to
him, he cannot vote against it, He can
not express his dissent on any question of
finance, or taxation, or schools, or bank
ing, or tho numerous qucs.iv"o .'."t enter
iuIo e,ato policy and politics. In reference
to all those matter, he must take this in
strument just as it came from the hands OF
its trainers. He cannot even vote to make
free state of Kansas, Ivy ballot for the
constitution with no slavery" for the
schedule provides that if the votes for the
CONSTITUTION with no slavery" prevail, then
slavery shall no longer exist in the state
of Kansas, except,'-now mark the words
"ercept that the right of property in slaves
now IN the Territory shall a., no manner
be interfered aoith." In other words, the
shareholders in the Territory were made Sc
cure in the right to their slaves and their
increase for ever; and the only effect of
vote for the "constitution with no slavery"
was to determine the future source of sup
ply, namely: that it shall be by increase
of the slaves within, and not by importa.
ton of slaves from without. AS has been
well remarked, the only question submit
ted was whether Kansas should be slave
state with the slave trade, or slave state
without the slave trade.
Such was the submission of the slavery
question: mockery and an insult. 1t
gave no power to the people of the Terri
tory to prohibit African slavery; but it
fastened it upon them for all time to como.
1t bound them hand ard foot, and placed
them at the feet of Calhoun and his con.
fcderatcs. And yet the President adds in
suit TO injury by telling them and us, that
at that election every citizen had "an op
portunity Of expressing his opinion, by his
vote, whether Kansas shall be received in
to the Union with or without slavery"-a
statement which the facts show to be utter
ly without apology or excuse.
But passing from the form Of the sub
mission, Jet us ] ok at the manner. The
president of the convention, John Cal
houn, appointed three commissioners for
each county. These commissioners estab-
lished precincts for voting in each county,
as they deemed proper and selected in
spectors Of election for the several precincts
then the returns were to he made to this
John Calhoun, who determines tho result.
Sir, when this scheme was devised for
holding an election, it needed no prophet
to forcte.1 the result 1t was already
foregone conclusion. The history of Kan
sas elections, under the control of those
men, had been history Of villainous fraud,
unknown before in the experience Of the
Republic, and this election was no rxcep
ton to the rule. The creatures whom John
Calhoun placed as inspectors at the Oxford
precinct returned thirteen hundred votes
for the constitution with slavery" when
a census, subsequently taken, establishes
the fact that there were only fory-two
white male inhabitants in the township
over twenty-one years of age. His inspec
tors at Shawnee returned over one thous-
and votes for the constitution with slave
ry," when the same census shows but one
hundred and fifteen male inhabitants of
legal age IL the township; and the return
from Kickapoo was likewise threefold the
actual number of its legitimate voters; and
by such unblushing frauds vote of some
six thousand has been. returned for the
constitution with slavery"-a vote more
than double the real pro-slavery strength
of the Territory.
Nor did these men content themselves
with retaining in their own hands the en-.
'ho VI bHiS eIcCllOli,
but they prescribed test oath for the ex-
press purpose Of repelling free state voters.
The ninth section of the schedule provides
that
"Any person Offering TO vote at the aforesaid
election, upon said constitution shall he chal-
lenged to take an oath to support the Constitution
Of the United States, and 10 support this const
tuition, under the penalties of perjury unde' the
territorial laws" 'f.'f
Yes, sir, the man who went to the polls
to deposit his ballot is met by an oath that
he will support this constitution, under the
pains and penalties. Of perjury. He must
make an unconditional surrender at the
very outset. He must submit to the hu.
initiation of bowling down before his OPP
prcssors, and calling Heaven TO witness
that he recognizes, acknowledges, and will
support, the work Of their hands. He
may be man whose instincts and impuls-
es arc all on the side of freedom and hu-
manity, but before he can vote, he must
swear fealty to an instrument which de-
clarcs the right Of STAKEHOLDER TO be in.
yiolable, and tho institution Of slavery to
be before and higher than any constitution
al sanction. All this must he DO, in de-
fiance Of his own conscientious convictions