Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 10, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1858 — The Democratic Record [ARTICLE]

The Democratic Record

Plain Truths in Short Speeches. L [From the Kansas Nebraska Bill.} ! “It being the intent and meaning of this ■ bill not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State nor exclude it therefrom, but I to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject to the Constitution of the United States.” [Resolution of the Gin. Dem.-Convention.] 11 Resolved, That we recognize the right of the people of all the Territories, including Kansas ai d Nebraska, acting through the legally and fairly expressed will of a majority of actual residents, and whenever the number of their inhabitants justifies it, to form a Constitution, with or without domes- . tic slavery, and be admitted into the Union ' upon terms of perfect equality with the | other States.” [From President Buchanan's Inaugural.! “What a conception, then, was it for Congress to apply this simple rule— that the will ‘of the major ty shall govern— to the settle- | merit of the question of domestic slavery in the Territories! ” “But be this ns it may, it is the impera- , tive and indispensable duty of the government of the UniteffStates to socure to every i resident inhabitant the free and independent I expression of his opinion by his vote. This sacred right of each individual must be preiserved!” i ■"' r j [From Governor Walker's Letter to the President accepting his Appointment,] “I understand that you and your cabinet ) concur in the opinion expressed" by me, that the actual bona fide residents of the Territory I of Kansas, by a fair and Tegular vote, unat- ; fected by fraud or violence, must be permit- ! ted, Tn adopting their State Constitution, to • decide for themselves what shall be their social institutions. This is the great funda- ■ mental principle of the act of Congress organizing that Territory, affirmed by the Su ! preme Court of the United States, and is in accordance with the views uniformly expressed by me throughout my public carehr. I contemplate a peaceful solution of this, question by an appeal to the intelligence i-iind patrotism of the people of Kansas, who ‘should all participate freely aifll fully it this decision, and by a majority of whose votes I the-deersion must be made, as the only and Constitutional mode of adjustment. i “I will go and endeavor to adjust these I difficulties, in the full confidence, as strongly jexpressed by you, that I will be sustained by | all your own high authority, with the cordi- ; al co-operation of your cabinet.’’ [lnstructions to Governor “There are two great objects connected I with the present excitement, growing out ! of the affairs of Kansas, and the attainment I of which will bring it to a speedy teimina- • lion. These were clearly and succinctly stated in the President’s inaugural address, land I embody the paragraphs in the com- • munication, asking your special attention to them. It is declared in that instjaij ment to be imperative and indispensable I duty of the government of the United States Ito secure to every resident inhabitant the ; free and independent expression ot his opini ion by his vote. > This sacred light of each j' individual must be preserved; and that being I accomplished, nothing can lie fairer than to leave the people of a Territory free from all foreign interference, to decide their own destiny for themselves, subject only to the United States’. “Upon these great rights of individual action and of public decision rests the foundation of American institutions; and if they are faithfully secured to the people of Kansas, the political condition ot the coun rv will soon become quiet-and satisfactory. The institutions ol Kansas should be established by the vote of the people of Kansas, unawed and uninterrupted by force nr fraud. And foreign votes must be excluded, come whence they may, and every attempt to overawe or interrupt the free exercise of the right of voting, must be promptly repelled and punished. Freedom aiid safety for the legal voter, and excision and punishment for the illegal one—these should be the great principles of your administration.” [From Walker’s Inaugural Address, approved by the whole Cabmet ] “Unless the Convention submit the Co nstition to a vote of all the actual resident settlers of Kansas, and the election be fairly and justly conducted, the Constitution will be and ought to be rejected by Congress.” [From Gov. Walker’s Topeka Speech.] “I will say then to you. gentlemen, that if they do not appoint a fair and impartial mode by which the majority of the actual bona fide resilient settlers of Kansas shall vote, through the instrumentalities of imparitial judges, I will join you in all lawful opposition to their doings, and the President and Congress will reject the Constitution. “I say to you, that unless a full opportunity is given to the people of Kansas to decide for themselves what shall be their form of government, including the sectional question which has so long divided you—unless, I repeat, they grant you such an opportunity, I have one power of which no man or set of men can deprive me, and to which I i shall unhesitatingly resort, and that is, to join you in lawful opposition to their acts.” [From the Washington Unfon, July 7,’57.] “There can be no such a thing as ascertaining clearly and without doubt the will of the people of Kansas in any way, except by their own expression of it at the polls. A Constitution not subjected to that test, no matter what it contains, will never be acknowledged by its opponents to be anything but. a fraud.” [From the St. Louis Rep., June 16,’57.] “It would be the greatest politics Kjibsurdity ever enacted for Congress to be called upon to receive into the Union a State with a Constitution which, beforehand, it is proclaimed both North and South, the people of that State do not approve.” Macomb County Bank, Michigan, which resumed payment a few davs since, has failed again