The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-27 00:00:00

interview with the President at the end of last

month. The Report is dated September Ist.
It will be remembered that Congress appointed a
committee of its own members to proceed to Kansas,
in order to inquire into the respective claims of the
opposition legislatures,, and report upon these and
other specified matters. It will be remembere 1 that
these federal offieials, sent by Congress, and members
of that body, were in danger of their lives from the
Missouri. invaders—that the process of taking evi-
dence -was stopped by force—that the members of
the Commission were glad to get back iii any way
they could—and that the evidence was smuggled
across the Mississippi on the person of a lady who
intrepidly offered that service to her country. It
-will be further remembered that the ev;.de,aee was
conclusive in regard to the respecti:;o claims of the
rival legislatures ; there being' A'bundance of proof
that the pro-slavery laws which decreed various
barbarous punishment;, among which death was
not the heaviest, fqr the holding of anti-slavery
opinions, and which precluded non-slaveholders
from serving on juries, and from the commonest
social rights, were imposed upon the real inhabitants
of Kansas by invaders from a neighbouring State. It
was proved the.t every step was illegal; that qualified
voters were kept away from the polls, while strangers
who had no qualification were brought up in troops;
that the ballot was falsified, the assessors intimi-
dates", and the elections a mere pretension for the ad-
sniesion of ruffianism. The judiciary appointed by the
same means was as bad as the legislature and the exe-
cutive. All this was incontestably proved by the
evidence brought back by the committee and pre-
sented to Congress. - The legality of the proceedings
of the residents of Kansas was no lessclearly proved.
The report, the evidence, and the speeches in Con-
gress grounded on them, are on record, as materials
for the future historian.
The President changed the Governor of Kansas,
and, made no attempt to sustain the Chief Justice
'Appointed by the Border Ruffians. Not a day was
to be lost in ascertaining what he meant to du for
the defence of the territory against a threatened in-
vasion of Missourians, who declared their intention
of clearing Kansas of every free settler. The free
settlers had bought laud and built houses, and were
living on their own property ; and those who were
about to invade them had no business on the ground
at all. They had no property there—no claim of
residence—no title whatever to act beyond their
-own frontier. In this crisis, the Congressional Com-
mittee deputed three of their members to wait on
the President on the 30th of August, to "pray his
interposition against the threatened slave oligarchic
invasion of Kansas."
As the interview was an appointed one, and as it
related to the most important interest of the time,
it muss;; be assumed that the opinions and the words
of the President had been thoroughly considered.
The views expressed by him were these—as re-
ported by the deputation.
President Pierce declared that while he had been
-using the limited powers he possessed under the
constitution for the preservation of order in Kansas,
rebellion had been stirred up by the Emigrant Aid
Societies, which had facilitated the access of set-
tlers to the new territory ; that the residents of
Kansas, who had no concern with slavery, and
should have let it alone to cure itself, stirred up
trouble about it ; that the Border men, who were
wild by education and habit, were naturally in-
censed by opposition about slavery ; that the
Northern States should have forwarded men who
carried bibles and no rifles, and who would not
have opposed the Border men ; but that, instead of
this, armed men were sent, who boasted that they
could protect their own rights. If the settlers
had not presumed on their claim to protect them-
selves, he (the President.) might have interfered ;
but, as it was, they had, by their resistance,
tied his hands. The sufferings of the settlers are,
the President declares, their own fault, and the
legitimate consequence of their disposition to pro-
tect themselves. No doubt their is fault on both
aides. There is violent temper both at the South
and at the North ; but, if each party would get
rid of about a hundred agitators, all would come
right, and peace be restored. Both parties claim
theinterposition of the President, bringing precisely
the same charges against each other • and, dis-
tant as Washington is from Kansas, he declares
himself unable to decide between them. He can
be guided only by official reports. General Smith's
despatches have convinced him that no invasion
need be apprehended. (Tins was said on the very
day of the first'hattle under the new invasion.) If
any should occur, it would be duly punished. Tito
Federal troops are not there to repress outrages,
but to be on the spot in case of invasion or rebel-
lion. The civil courts are the proper resort for
redress (under laws, be it observed, which forbid
free-soil men from cut, ring the jury box) ; and the
President has never heard of any failure of justice
iu the Kansas courts :—if such a case occurred, he
should remove the judge. Ho does not see that
au escort should have been granted to an applicant
whose life was threatened. " General Smith
thought that if the applicant was smart enough
to find his way safely to him without an escort,
he ought to be able to find hie way back." If the
majority of the people it; Kansas had wauted peace
and quiet, they could have had it,—simply by
not making or permittino, any difficulty about
slavery. He had always felt anxious about the ter-
ritory, and was extremely uneasy when Lawrence
was sacked and burnt. That was not done under
his authority. He admitted that mistakes had been
made; but he had removed Shannon ; and now an
impartial man was gone to be Governor ; and he
would do justice to both parties, and hang any man
of either party who should be caught in the commis-
sion of violence. His opinions on certain points pro-
posed to him were these—that persons who suffered
violence on their way to Kansas could not expect
anything from the Government—they must apply
for redress to the courts of the State in which the
injury was sustained ; the persons who suffered
violence within the bounds of Kansas could not be
protected by him otherwise than through the courts
or under martial law ; that the federal troops Call
act only as a posse comitatus iu support of the civil
power ; and that Government having provided
courts and a military support of them, the citizens
ought to be satisfied, it being clear that any thing
they may suffer roust arise from their own disre-
gard of law, or their applying for military protec-
tion when they should rest upon the civil power.
Finally, persons entering the territory armed are
not to be supposed invaders on that acccount ; nor
are residents who carry arms to be supposed rebels
on that account. To bear arms is the privilege of
every American, and Government has no right to
disarm him.
Taus far the President delivers his views to silent
hearers. He had all his own way—omitting, it may
be observed, the somewhat important considera-
tion that of " the two parties" between whom he
strove to bo impartial, the one was the constitu-
tional citizenship of Kansas, and the other mere
lawless invasion ; omitting also another somewhat
serious consideration—that the civil jurisdiction
which he extolled as a perfect refuge was no con-
stitutional power at all, but an illegal pretence, im-
posed to deprive the citizens of justice and a re-
course to law and police—omitting also the consi-
deration that the subject of slavery was precisely
that on which it was imperative on every settler to
speak and act, the alternative left by silence being
simply that of becoming a slaveholder or a slave.
When it became the turn of the deputation to
speak, they put a question to the President, and very
pertinent was the question they put ; so pertinent,
that the Pr, s'dent declined replying. The depu-
tation inquired whether, 1 a all the powers of the
President, exerted from the beginning to preserve
order and obedience io the exis' ing laws, had
failed, so that the pr apsct wae now dcspeiate, it
was not apparent that the fault lay in the uncon-
stitutional and impracticable character of the laws
themselves ? This was a rational and obvious ques-
tion in a country where the citizens of each State
make their own laws, which are, as a matter of
course, obeyed and cherished by the great majority.
This question the President declined discussing.
Once more the deputation spoke. They pointed
out the horrors of life in Kansas while marauding
invaders pillaged, tormented, and slaughtered the
rightful inhabitants, so that the residents would
change for the better if transferred to Russia, Aus-
tria, Naples, or France ; and they inquired is bo-
ther, such being the results of Presidential met hods
thus far, there was any hope of a change in the
policy of the administration. The reply was—
"No ; there will be none."
Three days after this interview the President is-
sued his orders to the Governor of Kansas, prov i
for a 1c wy of militia and an addition to the Federal
force in the territory, for the purpose of supporting
the Border Ruffian party, and suppressing the iu-
habitants as
"insurgents." Kentucky and Illi-
nois are ordered to supply militia regiments, in aid
of the invaders against the citizens. We have
same doubt whether Kentucky, though a slave
State, will furnish any suchassistance. It is
highly improbable that Illinois well watered
as its soil is with the blood of martyrs in the anti-
slavery cause. This is for the future to show.
Oar present business is to mark the sayings and
• doings of President Pierce, in preparation for the