Record Data
Transcription
The Missing Walker.
One of the two Walkers has turned up: - but the other, the Governor of Kansas, is still perdu. The last that was seen of him he was entering a carriage for the purpose, as is supposed, of being driven to the boat. It is not known that he has anything more valuable about his person than the President’s Message, as published in the Times of that morning; - so that it is not apprehended he has suffered any violence.
The suspicion, which seems to prevail at Washington, that he has started back suddenly to his post of duty, has caused great anxiety in the Presidential circle. It was hoped that he had abandoned Kansas, like his predecessors, and had thus saved the President the necessity of inventing any excuse for his removal. The fact of his going back to his official duties could hardly be considered, even by Mr. Buchanan, to be valid cause of removal, and to wait until he shall actually do something worthy of removal, does not comport with the Presidential program.
We are inclined to suspect that the Executive will be relieved of his embarrassment by the discovery that Governor Walker has not, after all, returned to Kansas. We think it much more likely that he has gone to Philadelphia, or some other rural retreat, where he may devote himself undisturbed to the preparation of a Reply to the President’s message upon Kansas affairs. This will probably be issued in the form of an Address to the American people, or delivered as a speech at a public dinner which may be offered as a compliment to the Governor by his Philadelphia friends.
We presume that, in this document, if he is actually engaged in preparing one, he will make some rather startling revelations of the wholesale and unqualified manner in which he was not only permitted, but instructed, by the President to pledge his personal honor and the faith of his Administration, that the Constitution framed at Lecompton should be submitted to the popular vote. We have no doubt of his ability to show that it was only after repeated solicitations, and by this distinct and reiterated assurance, that he was finally induced by the President to accept the office. We shall look also for full statistics of the condition of Kansas,- a complete history of the Lecompton Convention and its leaders,- an exposition of the McGee and Oxford County frauds,- some startling illustrations of the violent temper of the people, and the difficulty with which the peace has been hitherto preserved, and thermometrical evidence of the fact that Kansas, having quite as rigorous a climate as New England, can no more be made a Slave State that Vermont or Massachusetts; and we think it not at all unlikely that he will show, perhaps to the satisfactions of the President himself, that the direct tendency of the policy he is now pursuing is to establish, upon the borders of the Slave States, as zealous, fanatical and uncompromising an Abolition community as can be found within the Union.
All these are important and interesting topics; and we have no doubt Gov. Walker can discuss them with great interest and ability. We should greatly prefer to wait for it, however, until after he had resumed his post of duty in Kansas, and done everything in his power to carry her people safely through the crisis upon which they are entering. It ought not be dated East of Lecompton, nor issued until after the receipt of an autograph letter from President Buchanan, informing him that his services were no longer required.
