Year: 1859

We are perfectly at a loss to designate the Con.
vention which assembled here one week ago, and
put forth general ticket for the suffrages OF the
people. 1t is ali absurdity to call them Antl-Le-
compton Democrats The Lecompton Constltu-
ton IS dead Ii cannot be again resurrected.-
The appellat;on is meaningless. 1t can convey no
idea of an active and living party They may
say that they were opposed to the Admission of
Kansas with the LecOmpton Constitution. Very
well. The Lecompton Constitution is dead. 1t
would be just sensible TO dig up any of the
buried issues Of the past and attempt 10 make a
fight over them.-Sdc. STANDARD, (Lecomp.)


No doubt, You would be very glad to have
it believed that the Kansas issue was dead
one, dead and buried. 1t would be balm
to your souls, if the masses would only ac.
quiesce in your asseveration and say, "it is
dead, we will have no more to do with it."


But the fact is, the issue is not dead, and
and all your shouting and roaring will never
make the people think so. You are the same
party now that you were when the Lecomp.
ton Constitution was presented to Congress
You are the same party that cried. "hurrah
for Mr.. Buchanan" when he declared that





be compelled to live under a Constitution
which they had no agency in framing, You
are the same party that stood up and sane
toned with your applause the attempt of a
hoary-headed tyrant to override the most sa-
cred principle that ever found Judgement in
| Democratic heart You are the same par
ty that undertook to stife tho free express.
ion Of the sovereign will Of your fellow citi.
zens in Kansas, and to crush out rights and
privileges which are coeyal with the very
government itself


The past is not oblitcrated. The issue is
not dead.


Should you gain power hereafter, will
you not act in the same shameless and un-
principled manner that you did before If
you were willing to trample upon common
justice, and violate the most patent of Demo.
cratic principles, in the past, why will you not
be equally facile in the future? What guar
antee is there that you will not as soon out.
rage the moral sense OF the country at one
time as another? How can you be trusted


Why will you not be as willing to force
majorities to bow to minorities in the Terri
tories hereafter as you have been heretofore?
If you have wantonly trampled upon popu.
lar sovereignty once. why will you not do it
again You have the same principles now
that you had then. You have the same
loose notions about the Kansas Nebraska
Bill. You are the same obsequious, slavish
adherents of the doctrine that the King
king James, can do no wrong. For the
sake of organization" or office, you would
see the whole creed Of the Democratic party
ground into the dust beneath your feet. If
a hundred Lecompton Constitutions came up,
reeking with corruption. you would vote for
them all. If the people clamored at your
very doors for justice, you would heed them
not; you would fasten the yoke upon their
necks.


Lay not the flattering unction to your
souls, that the Lecompton issue is dead
When that question arose in the country, it
inaugurated an era in our political history.
1t drew the lines, both broad and deep. be.
tween Federalism on the one hand and Pop.
ular Sovereignty on the other 1t showed |
that there were men in this Government,
who were SO far tinctured with monarehical
leaningssthat they were ready to acquiesce
in anything, no matter what, that might be
dictated from the Executive Chair of the Ma
ton. 1t showed that there were men who
lightly regarded the great principle which
underlies free government, to.wit: that the
majority shall rule 1t showed that the same
old Blue Light notions Of distrust of the peo
pie in the mass were still entertained ly
many. 1t showed that portion of the De-
mocracy, or what was known as such, were
true to their principles and that Others again
were false. Those that were true and those
that were false still occupy their same res.
pective opinions They have not abandoned
their positions. The Lecomptonites still cry,
" hurrah for Buchanan and his Kensas poll
ey;" and the Douglas men still shout "hur-
rah for Douglas and his great doctrine of
Popular Sovereignty Until the Lecomp.
ton party openly renounco their endorse
ment of the Kansas policy of the President,
and repud.ate the Federalistic notions that
they entertained, when that policy was re. |
commended, it cannot be claimed by any
possibility whatever, that the Kansas issue is
dead. 1t is iring. and we, of the Douglas
party, are contendng this day against the
same odious and despicablc principles which
lay at the basis of that infamous and execra-
ble Buchanan policy The issue will be
dead when the Lecompton party is dead, not
before.


RATIFICATION MEETING AT TIMBUcroo.-It
Will be seen by certain resolutions, under
this heading, in another column. that the