The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1856-12-11

Z
be able to produce the supposed result, II
spite Of the assumed moral and neutral OBJ
stac les to lis accomplishment, and of III
more numerous population of the Northern
! States!
The argument Of those, who advocate III
enactment of new laws Of restriction, an
condemn the repeal OF old ones, in effec
AYERS that their particular views of govern
ment have no self.extending or sell sustain
ing power of their own, and will go nowher
unless forced by act Of Congress. Ii Con
gress do but pause for moment in the poll
cy of stern coersion; II it venture to try tn
experiment of leaving men to Judge for them
selves what institutions will best suit them
lift be not strained up TO perpetual legislativ
exertion on this point; it Congress procee
thus to act in the very spirit OF liberty, it i
at once charged with aiming to extend slav
labor into al. The new Territories of th
United States.
OF cour.e, these impatalions on the in
tentions of Congress in ibis respect, conceiy
ed as they were n prejudice, and disseminat
ed in passion, are utterly destitute Of any
justification in the nature of things, and con
trary TO all the fundamental doctrines anC
principles Of civil liberty ami self. govern
! ment
While therefore, in general, the people
OF the northern States have never, at any
time, arrUgated for the federal government
the power to interfere direct with the domes
tic condition of persons in the southcrH
States, but on the contrary have disavoweC
Ill such intentions, aud have shrunk from
CONSPICUOUS afiliaton with those few who
pursue their fanaticaI objects avowedIy
through the cOnte mplatcd means OF reyolu.
tionury change Of the government, and with
acceptance OF the necessary Consequence
Il civil and servle wur-yet many citizens
have suffered themselves to be drawn H..
to one evancscent political issue of ugiti.
tation after another, appcrtainng to the same
set OF oPinons, aud which subslded as rapid.
ly as they arose when it came to be seen, as
it uniformly did, that they were incompatible le
with the cumpacts of the Constitution and
the existence OF the Union. Thus, when the
acts OF st me OF the States to nuIiiy the eX.
isting extraction law imposed upon Congress
the duty OF passing new one, the country
invited by a9itaturs to enter into party
tryaLizrt'on for It's repeal; but that agitation
speedily ceased b. reason OF the impractical.
biity of its objects. So, when the statute
restriction upon the Institutions OF new
States, by geographical line, had been re-
pealed, the country wns urged to demand its
resturarlion, and that project also died al.
most with its birth. Then followed the cry
Of alarm from the North against imputed SOU
thern encroaClIment; which cry sprang in re-
aiity from the spirit OF revolutionary attack on
the domestic Institutions OF the South, and
after troubled existence uf Il few months,
las been rebuked by the voice Of u patriotic
people
Oi this last agitation, one Iamentable
feature was, that It was carried on ut the i'm.
mediate expense of the peace ard happiness
o. the people Of the Territory Of Kansas.-
That was made the battlefield, not so much
of opposing factions or interests within it.
self, as of the conflicting passions of the
whole people of the United States. Revolu-
tionary disorder in Kansas had its origin in
projects of Intervention, deliberately arrang-
ed by certain members of that Congress,
which enacted the law for the organization
of the Territory. Aud when propaganda
colonization Of Kansas had thus been un-
dertaken in one section of the Uhon, for
the systematic promotion of its peculnr
views of policy, there etsued, as a matter Of
course, "a counteraction with opposite views,
in other sections of the Union.
In consequence of these and other Incl
dents, many acts OF disorder, it is undeni-
able, have been perprtrated in Kansas, to
the occasional interruption, rather than the
permanent suspension, of regular govern.
ment. Aggressive and most reprehensibie
into the Terri ory were underta-
ken, both in the north and the south, and
entered it on its northern border by the way
Of Iowa, as well as on the eastern by way of
Missouri; and there has existed within it
state Of insurrection against the constituted
authorities, with countenance from incon.
siderate persons in each of the great Sec
tions OF the Union. But the difficulties in
that Territory have been cxtravuganty cx.
aggcrated for purposes Of political ugita.
ton elsewhere. The number ard gravity OF
the acts of violence have been magutied
partly by statements entirely entrue, and
partly by reiterated accounts OF the same ru.
nors or facts. Thus the Territory has been
seemingly filled with extreme violence,
when the whole amount of such acts has
not been greater than what occasionally
passes before u.in single cities to the regret
of all good citizens, but without being re-
garded as of generator political consequence.
Imputed irregularities in the elections had
in Kansas, like occasional irregularities of
the same description in the Stlles, were be-
yond the sphere OF action of the Executive.
But incidents Of actual violence or of organ.
lied obstruction of law, pertinacionsly re.
nCweG from time to time, have been met as
they occurred, by such means as were avail.
able and as the circum tanccs required; and
nothing of this character now remains to
effect the gencral peace O. the Union. The
attempt OF part of the inhabitants of the
Territory to erect reroIulionlry govern.
ment, though scdulousy encouraged and
supplied with pccunary aid from active
agents of disorder in some Of the States, has
Jailed Bodies of armed men,
'orcign to the Tercitory, have been prevent
ed from entering or compelleflo leave it -
Predatory bands, engaged in acts Of rapine,
under cover of the existing POLITICAL disturb
ances, have been arre, ted or dispersed
And every well disposed person is now en-.
lblea once more to devote himself in peace
to the pursuits OF prosperous industry, for the
of which he undertook to par.
licipate in the settlement of the Territory.
1t affords me unmingled satisfaction thus
20 announce the peaceful condition Of things
n Kansas, especially considering the means
o which it was necessary to have recourse
or the attainment of the end, namely. the |
employment of a part of the military force
If the Emitted States. The withdrawal Of |