Jasper Banner, Volume 4, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 August 1857 — Speeches of Gov. Walker, Secretary Stanton, and Gov. Ransom, the Democratic Nominee for Congress, Before the National Democratic Convention in Kansas. [ARTICLE]

Speeches of Gov. Walker, Secretary Stanton, and Gov. Ransom, the Democratic Nominee for Congress, Before the National Democratic Convention in Kansas.

Governor Walker’was introduced to the Democratic National Convention by the President, and his appearance greeted with warm applause. He returned his thanks to the national democratic party of Kansas Territory for the co-operation which they had extended to him in executing the territorial laws and preserving the peace of the Territory, and said he would continue to look to them for support in his efforts to suppress all difficulties and prevent collision. He expressed his determination to labor by all fair and honorable means, by argument, by appeals to reason, and to the patriotism of the people, to insure the peace of Kansas, and remove all cause of strife; and stated his entire concurrence in the resolutions just adopted, which reaffirmed the Cincinnati platform, and thereby declared the right of the people of Kansas to de-

cide for themselves what sbouM be their form of government and social institutions on the results of the convention, and expressed his entire approval of the nomination they had made, fie resumed his seat amid renewed and prolonged plaudits. In response to loud and repeated calls, Hon. F. P. Stanton, the territorial secretary, rose and skid: It gives me great pleasure, Mr. President and gentlemen, to reply to your call on this occasion, the more especially as J have felt the utmost gratification at the whole character and result of your proceedings, so far as I have heard them for myself this morning, and so far as I have been informed of them previously. It seems to me that from this time forward a new light will have commenced shining on the Territory of Kansas. I correct myself, gentlemen. I ought not to say that it is a new light, for, by your proceedings this morning, you have but readopted a series of resolutions which, at the beginning of the present year, were made the guiding-star of the national democratic party of the Territory. It is true that by reason’ of the difficulties that have surrounded you —the elouds which have overcast the political horizon--this light has not heretofore shone so distinctly and so brightly as I believe it will hereafter, illumining you path and directing you to victory and prosperity. - 1 can say nothing more on the present occasion, for the occasion calls for nothing more, than to assure you that with what feeble powers I possess, with such influences as I may command officially or privately, holding the object which you have in view to be the best interests of my country ; I say I can do nothing but assure you of my heartiest co-operation in everything—in every measure which will tend to carry out the principles which you have declared, and to secure their permanent ascendency in this Territory and throughout the country. The very distinguished gentleman whom you have nominated, though personally known for no very great length of time to me, yet is known to me as a true and faithful democrat, having at heart the best interests i of his party, having ability of the highest ; order, and possessing those personal ] qualities which, I think, will enaear him ! to the people of the Territory, and which j will make them feel confident, when they ( see and hear him, that the interests and i the honor of the Territory will be entirely ] secure in his hands. « I rejoice, gentlemen, at the harmony which seems to prevail here. I rejoice 1 at the patriotic and conservative spirit 1 which seems to have pervaded all your actions; I rejoice at the unanimity with 1 which you have affirmed the principles ' that have been Adopted hers to-day, and I have no hesitation in expressing the be- ' lief that these principles you are 1 bound to win the great fight in which you have been engaged for some time past, and upon which yott will enter with resowed vigor after the adjournment of thitconvention. - [Cheers.] Not only with renewed vigor, but, I believe, with an almost absolute certainty of success.— There is only one condition which is indispensable to success, and to-day I believe yon have secured that condition, and secured it fully—that is, the entire union and harmony of the national democrats of the Territory. ,[Ch§ers.] Ido feel, from what I have seen of the people of the Territory, from what l have heard from every quarter, from what I know of every county, whether organized or unorganized, and from every neighborhood from which I have heard at all, that the national democracy of the Territory, including men from the North, the South, the East, and the west are in a very large majority. I do firmly belive that these men who reject the laws and refuse to obey them, nojsy and boisterous as they are, and assisted as they have been heretofore by some misguided men formerly belonging to our own party—l say Ido believe they are in almost a contemptible minority. [Cheers.] And that when, by prudent counsels, wise and conservative measures, and by a firm course of policy, we succeed in arraying the whole democratic party on the side of law and order, in support of the government, and in support of democratic principles, we are sure to triumph, and may feel confident that the Territory will not only enjoy peace, security, and prosperity, but that she will organize herself as a State upon the principle of the right of the people to determine for themselves what their institutions shall be, and that upon that organization, proceeding fro® the Only legal authority—a convention called by the government and proved by the organic act of Congress—«he will be admitted into the Union as one of this great confederacy, and that star which is now but dimly shining in the horizon, its rays struggling through the clouds, and mist, and storms, will emerge from them all into the clear, blue ether, as bright and as beautiful as the brightest that adorns the glorious banner of our Union. [Enthusiastic and continued applause.]

Cfor. Ransom was introduced’ to fee convention amid vociferous cheers. Be said: Mi*. Cmttmiitfn aud Onmoto ; I *ssore you that I «W hardly select for mj use terms adequate to* express the aentimewts t feel upon this occasion. To say that I feel the profonndest gratitude for this token of the pubfie Cotmrfente of the people of Manshs Territory would be entirely too lame. Not, Mr. President and gentlemen, that 1 have desired this office. have not; Every dtiSttf of Kansas, us #eff as the members of this convention, will testify, 1 think, (butt ao far as he or they may know, 1 have sewer solicited the position from* any man, which is the truth. It was entirely unsolicited by me, as H is entirely unexpected. This morning was- the first ntoment at which I had any reason to' sup* pose that my name would; be presented to the people of Kansas Territory as their standard-bearer in the coming election ; and were I now to be governed by my own feelings and by my own choice, I should most preemptarily decline the nomination, because it involve* a personal sacrifice that lam illy able to make. But 1 hold, as I hare always held throughout my life, that a member of the democratic party, or any citizen l of the Union, indeed, is not at liberty to consult his own personal interests in* acty public exigency—that he is, in at degree at least, the property of his party aad the property of his country, end* that if his country requires his services, be is bound to render them as best he may, in any position, high or humble, to which they may please to assign him. That is the doctrine upon which I stand,- and upon that ground, and that alone, I accept the nomination which is now so flatteringly tendered. [Cheers.] I suppose, Mr. President, it will not be expected from me on this occasion to enter into a general discussion—certainly not in detail—'-of the great principles involved in the administration of our government. I have no concealment* to make in regard to my views. At few time I think they are well known, having been so fully enunciated in this neons upon a former occasion, when many of the persons now present were also them present, that it can hardly be necessary tor me to go over the ground again, aad it will hardly be expected of me, I repeat, to enter into a lengthened and elaborate discussion of these principles nod questions. I will take occasion to say, however, that the opinions which I enunciated here at the convention held on the 12th of January last are entirely unchanged. I occupy the same ground, and 1 entertain the sentiments and view* which I then very fully expressed. They are unqualified, and, as I said before, they are unchanged. I am wedded strongly, and, I thud*, unalterably, to the great doctrines of the national democratic party of this Union, Upon that ground 1 placed myself then; upon that ground I stand now; and that is the ground I have occupied, not only since 1 have been in public litis, but smew I have been a voter. That, 1 assure you, gentlemen, is moat emphatically true. I subscribe to every doctrine enunciated ha the Cincinnati platform. I subscribe most unqualifiedly to the doctrine# emaciated in the resolutions of the convention of die 12th of January last. I subscribe fully and unqualifidly to the doctrine of the Kansas and Nebraska net. Upon that ground J have ever stood, ’from the time it was first promulgated is the Congress of the United State*, I then adopted it as the sound aad correct exposition of the constitution upon that question. I have never seen reason to change my views upon it; they are unchanged now. Upon it 1 stand, and, whatever may be the result of the oow ing canvass, so far as I am concerned, I shall take the field upon that ground—--1 mean upon the‘doctrines of the Kansan - Nebraska act, and of the Cincinnati platform. lam a Union man, a Union-loving man, and a conservative man. Indeed, a love of the Union has almost been n pnesion with me, and sometimes I have thought almost a disease. Ido not believe, and never hare believed, that there was any equivalent value for the Union; that it was not only not time to begin to calculate its value, but, aal have already said,-1 believe it to be impossible to put a value upon it. It is priceless to tth country. Ite value cannot be eetimated. Consequently, in the ham, ble part that 1 have been called upon to take in the administration of public affairs everywhere during my lifetime, my whole effort has been to maintain the Integrity of the Union. It will be so still. And ifawoiam fellow-citizens of Kansas differ wife me upon that question, as 1 know % portion of a certain party pppapit to me do differ wife me, I MfeMfe but I cannot help it. Batee~i* *■ it is possible, I era, in the oourueof the coming canvass, do what 1 earn to correct what 1 call these straweous opinions, and to call those men, seat-

tend and astray « they are, back to the true aheepfold. Upon the question which has moat unfortunately long agitated the publio mind in thie Territory, 1 suppose it is unnecessary for me, at this time, to go into details. I have already said that upon aM the questions which are being agitated before the people here, I stand upon the Kansas-Nebraska act and upon the Cincinnati platform of the national democratic party. These contain my creed upon that whole subject. I hold most emphatically that the principles of the decision of the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case were correct upon that question, and that the true principle is to leave the matter entirely to be |Bettled by (he people who are to be affected by it in their particular localities. I believe the people of each State have a right, and an indefeasible right, to settle that question according to the dictates of their own judgment, and according to what they believe to be condncive to their own interests ; and that there is no right and no power residing anywhere to interfere with the exercise of that right by the people ; and, so far as it will be in my power, I shall do all that in me lies to maintain in its integrity and purity that great and all-important principle. Repeating, gentlemen, what I said at the outset, that I am profoundly grateful to this convention for the token of their confidence and approbation manifested by the nomination which has been tendered to me, I close by saying that, whatever my personal interest and convenience in the matter, I bow submisively to the determination of the convention. I shall go into the field as a laborer. I shall put the harness on ; I shall wear it; I shall work in it till the end of the canvass, and do all of, which I am capable to insure the success of the Democratic party, of its great principles, its measures and its men. (Loud aud reiterated cheers, during which Governor Ransom resumed his seat.)