Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1858-06-09
AN APPEAL TO PATRIOTS.
SPEECH oFHoN. A. BURLINGAME
OF MASSACHUSETTS,

Dearered IN The u. 5. House Of Repres sentoffues
March 81, 1858.
Mr.. CHAIRMAN 1T has been shown, in the
great debate which we have had, that the peo
pie of Kansas never authorized the Lecompton
Constitution that they never made it that
they never ratified it; that it does not reflect
| their will. 1t has been shown that the first
| Legislature was fraud that the second was
| fraud that test oaths and gag laws were put
| upon the people, SO that they could not vote ;
that then they were held responsible for the
| crimes of those who did; that when they were
persuaded to vote, they were cheated; that
when nobody voted, returns were made as
If from populous regions. 1t has been shown
that the honesty of the officers of the Govern
ment, who tried to stay the hand of these
| frauds, was considered an offence by the Gov
ernment. 1t has been shown that the people
nave been menaced in their property and their
| lives; that armies were sent there to vote
/ them down, or shoot them down, and without
authority of law. 1t has appeared, that the
/ men who did these things were held dear by
| the Government, and they are its officers to-
day. 1t has been shown that, through all this
| time, that devoted people has held itself in
| such an attitude as to win not only the respect
OF the people of the United States. but the
respect of the officers of the Government who
had been sent, from time to time, to persuade
| or to subdue them to the policy of the Gov
! ernment.
But, Mr.. Chairman, it is not my purpose
| here to-day to go over the history of Kansas
| affairs that has been done, as the gentleman
! from South Carolina (Mr. Miles) has Just now
| we'll said, sufficiently. Every fact has been
| stated; every principle has been argued. Day
by day, we have urged our cause with all the
! zeal of men who know they right. Every
| fact has been met on the other side. by some
| daring and insolent assumption; every argu-
ment, with scornful sneers, which no man can
answer. When we have offered TO prove facts
he WIZ Of tba Of ba IN;
reflected by the Representatives upon this
floor, has been baffled by parliamentary tactics.
Ies, you who belong to the party that went
behind the great seal of New Jersey as my
eloquent friend from Indiana (Mr. Colfax) very
truly said, you who go behind the certificates
OF the Governors of Ohio and Mary land, when
the interests of whole people are at stake,
and fraud is charged, you say You cannot go
behind the record; you say that you are estcp-
ped you say s'it is so nominated in the bond;''
you refuse to investigate, and propose speedily
to force upor the people of Kansas a Constitu-
tIon never made by them. Yes, you who say,
with us, that the people are the source of
power; you, who say that power should flow
forth from the people into practical govern
ment on the line of their desires; you, who
shouted your great radical rule of Democracy
in the ears of the country-Buchanan at your
head-to be this, that inasmuch as the people
are sovereign, inasmuch as that sovereignty
that it cannot be resumed when the safety of
the people shall require it, therefore it is for
them to determine at what time and in what
manner they will change their fundamental
law; that cds your radical rule of Democracy.
1t is now pronounced Dorrism by the Democ-
racy on this floor. You planted your rule in
opposition to the rule of the other great school
of the country, which rule was stated most
clearly by Mr.. Webster, in the great Rhode
Island case, to be this He said that the will
of the majority must govern; that it was as
potent the will of the Czar of Muscovy,
when it was legally ascertained. But how
will you ascertain it, said he it must be as
certained by some rule prescribed by previous
law. That rule, the fierce Democracy denoun-
ced as the rule of tyranny.
Well, sir, here we have case where even
the requirements of that rule have been met
by the people of Kansas. Their will was col
lected legally by legal Legislature and it
appears that their will, by 10000 majority. is
against your Lecompton Constitution and
yet, in the face of that declaration, you come
forward as rarty and propose to force that
Constitution, in defiance of your own rule of
Democracy, in defiance of the Federal rule,
upon that people aye, sir, worse than that.
you declare, through the lips of your boldest
and ablest leader, through the lips of the dis
tinguishedSenatorf romGeorgia, 4 MI. T oombs,)
through the lips of men upon this floor, through
the lips of the gentleman who has but just
taken his seat, if l understood him. that it in
wolves question of union or diisunion. L
agree with the gentleman from South Caroli-
ma, (Mr. Miles,) who said that we might as
well meet this question. /, for my part, am
ready to meet 1t now. | accept the issue
which is rendered. accept the more eagerly,
in the presence of this menace. A represen-
tative of the people would be craven, did he
shrink from his duty in the presence of such a
threat as that. What, you dissolve this Union
hooar hoy ,,rv tyit1 1,vin
You dissolve this Union because the Lecomp-
ton Constitution, born of fraud and violence,
is legally voted down in this House Has
your nationality no better quality than that 2
How will you do it? Who is to do it Whose
hand is ready to strike the first blow ? Where
is your army chest Where your battalions,
to cope with the people of this country You
cannot do it. 1t would be wrong to do it.. 1t
would not be legal. 1t would not be safe to
do it. tell you, that on the banks of the
Santee it would require no Federal army to
subdue rebellion.
The descendants of Sumter and of Marion,
as their fathers struck down the Tory spirit in
the brave days of old, would queli the spirit
of rebellion to-day. We have heard this
threat before. We have deemed it but the idle
vaunt of idle men but it comes now with an
emphasis and an authority that 1t never had
before. We find the fire-eater giving ms VIII
as the law of the great Democratic parry
He has the right to rule 1t, from MS courage
and his activity.
saw it comes with new emphasis when the |
leader of the Democratic party gets up IN the
Senate of the United States, and with delIber- /
ation-not acting on an impuse-declares, and
I.heard him. that this Union is NTH; that he |
has calculated its value; that The people OF
Kentuckv love it ssnot wisely, but too we'll 20
and that this Lecompton Constitution involves |
the safety of the Union; and when the gallant
Senator from Tennessee Mr.. Bell accepted |