That
question the Judge well knew to be this: "If the people of Utah
peacefully form a State constitution tolerating polygamy, will the
Democracy admit them into the Union?" There is nothing in the United
States Constitution or law against polygamy; and why is it not a part of
the Judge's "sacred right of self-government" for the people to have it,
or rather to keep it, if they choose? These questions, so far as I know,
the Judge never answers. It might involve the Democracy to answer them
either way, and they go unanswered.
As to Kansas. The substance of the Judge's speech on Kansas is an effort
to put the free-State men in the wrong for not voting at the election of
delegates to the constitutional convention. He says:
"There is every reason to hope and believe that the law will be fairly
interpreted and impartially executed, so as to insure to every bona fide
inhabitant the free and quiet exercise of the elective franchise."
It appears extraordinary that Judge Douglas should make such a
statement. He knows that, by the law, no one can vote who has
not been registered; and he knows that the free-State men place
their refusal to vote on the ground that but few of them have
been registered.
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