Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1858-02-25
r- r,,,x--, I,nEn FRoM rIasT PAeE.1

appointment OF Governor OF Kansas, ~ OF
fectuate it. The reason for selecting the
individual named, is to be found In the tact
that there was perfect agreement OF the
two as to the course to be pursued. This
is most evident from the letter of Governor
Walker accepting the appointment, and
from instructions issued to him. In the
letter alluded to Governor Walker says:
al understand that you and your Cabinet
cordially concur in the opinion expressed by me,
that the actual bona dc residents of the Terrific
~ of Kansas, by fair and regular vote, unaf-
fected by fraud or violence, must be permitted,
in adopting their State constitution, TO decide
for themselves what shall be their social insti-
tions. This is the great fundamental principal
of the act of Congress organizing that Territory
affirmed by the Supreme Court of the United
States, and is in accordance with the views uni
formly expressed by me throughout my public
career. 1 contemplate peaceful solution of
this question by an appeal to the intelligence
and patriotism of the people of Kansas, who by
a majority of whose votes the decision must be
made, as the only and constitutional mode of ad-
justment.
al will go, then, and endeayor to adjust these
difficulties, in the full confidence, as strongly
expressed by you, that will be sustained by
all your own high authority, with the cordial
corporation ofall your Cabinet"
The instructions TO this officer are equal
ly conclusive of the fact:
"The institutions of Kansas should be estab-
lished by the votes of the people of Kansas, I'M
awed and uninterrupted BY by force and fraud.
"Wh hen such constitution shall be submitted
to the people of that Territory, they must be
protected in the exercise of their right to vote
for or against the instrument and the fair ex
preston of the popular will must not be inter-
rupted by fraud or violence"
But the letter and instructions, as quo
ted, are proof of a much more important
matter than that for which / have used
them, for they conclusively establish that
there was then an anxious wish on the
part of the President that the people or the
Territory should be fully protected in the
exercise of their right to vote upon the
constitution. I repeat his words: "They
must be protected in the exercise of their
right to-uote for or against the instrument"
Not in their right to vote for or against
part of the instrument, but the Instrument
the whole instrument.
The Union, the organ of the Admins
tration, of the 7th of July last, seems fully
to appreciate the ground then held by the
President, and, in defending that position,
gives most satisfactory reason for assum-
ing it. / will read an extract from that
paper of the date named:
"When there is no serious dispute upon the
constitution, either in the convention or among
the people, the power of the delegates alone may
put it in operation. But such is not the case in
Kansas. The most violent struggle this coun-
try ever saw, upon the most important issue
which the Constitution is to determine. has been
going on there for several years, between par
ties so evenly balanced that both claim the ma
jority, and 80 hostile e one another that numer
Gus lives have been lost ir the contest. Under
these circumstances thee can be no such thing
as ascertaining clearly and without doubt, the
will of the people in any way except by their
own direct expression oft at the polls A con-
stitufion not subjected to that test, or matter
what it contains, will never be acknowledged
BY its opponents to be any thing but fraud"
1--WE do most de-
voutly believe that unless the constitution of
Kansas be submitted to direct vote of the peo-
pie, the unhappy controversy which has here
tofore ragged in that Territory will be prolonged
for an indefinite time to come"
It is no answer to all this to say that
other States have been admitted into the
Union without submitting their constitu-
tions to a popular vote. 1t would not be
an answer if such had been the case with
each and every one of the eighteen admit
ted States. If there were thousand pre-
cedent cases of States so admitted, where
there was no serious dispute among the
citizens as to the particular form of their
institutions, they would fall short of afford
ing an argument for the admission of one
where such difficulty does exist. Kansas
is case standing by itself; it has no par
allels; it is not to be illustrated by prece-
dent. Its feature are peculiar-anomalous
and the circumstances surrounding it such
as never before surrounded the inchoate
State. To it popular sovereignty most
specially applies. Congress, the dominant
political party, the President of the United
States, the Governor of the Territory, all
declared the people should have just such
republican institutions as they might desire.
All looked to vote of the people as the
means to determine the popular will. The
people now ask that such vote may indi-
cate their wishes. All sovereignty resides
in the people, and no admitted principle
refuses its exercise in the mode desired
Why shall they not, then, speak at the
pollsa
Here l pause for moment. In look
ing back from the point now reached, we
see the Democratic party and the Presi-
dent have alike pursued comparatively
new, yet well-defned and strongly marked
policy. The Missouri compromise line, af-
ter continuing for years, is found to be too
restrictive; the common territory of the ma
tion should be open to the occupancy of our
citizens in common. The Nebraska Kan
sas bill is enacted, and the people of Terri
ritories are to form" as they are to "regu-
late" their domestic institutions" In the
North and in the South the doctrine is ac-
cepted, and eagerly they push forward their
respective schemes for colonizing Kansas,
for now numbers shall control the insti-
tutions there. By river and by land
the emigration hastens forward, and the
cabin is scarcely prepared for shelter before
the struggle for power, for control, COM
mences, and it is grasped and held by the
friends of the South. 1t is alleged that
strangers to the soil, Missouri borberers, de-
dide the contest: the reply is, you shall not
inquire as to that, or any other matter; the
people rule. The hasty and superficial
observer declares the South has gained an
undue advantage over the North, and a
sound of exultation is heard around us and
in the distance. Thus baffled in the Terri