The Abbeville banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1847-1869, 1856-02-07


commissioned, as before stated, on the Goth
of June, 1854. did not reach the designated
seat of his government until the 7th of the
ensuing October; and even then failed to
make the first step i'll its legal organization
that of ordering the census or cnumera-
tion of its inhabitants-until so late a day
that the election of the members of the lc-
gislative assembly did not take place until
the 3Oth of March, 1856, nor its meeting
unit; the second of July, 1855. SO that,
for a year after the Territory was constituted
10y the act of Congress, and the officers to
be appointed 10y the Federal Executive had
been commissioned, it WAS without COM
plcte government, without any Legislative
authority, without local law, and Of course
without the ordinary guarantees Of peace
and public order.
In other RESPECTS, the governor, instead of
exercising constant vigilance and putting
forth all his energies to prevent or counter
act the tendencies to illcgality, which arc
prone to exist in I'LL impcricctly organized
and new y associated communities, allowed
his attention to be diverted from official
obligation 10y other objects, and himself SET
an example OF the violation of the law in
the performance of acts which rendered it
my duty, III the sequel, TO remove him from
; the office OF chief executive magistrate Of
the Territory.
Before the requisite preparation was ac-
! comlp'ishcl for the election of IL territorial
Legislature, an election of delegate to Con-
grc>s had been held in the Territory on the
29:h of N"veMb.r, 1854, am,! :!:c delegate
! took his seat i'll the House Of Representa-
tlv"s without challenge. If arrangements
had been perfected 10y the governor so tha,
th;: election for members Of tn. Legislative
assembly might he held in the several pre-
clncts at the same time us for delegate to
Congress, any question arpcrtaning to the
qualification of The persons voting us pro-
pie OF the Territory, would have passed nee
ts:';ifiIy ai,d at once under the supervision
Of Congress, rs the Judge of the validity O.
the return Of the delegate, and would lave
been determined before conflicting passions
had bccome inllancd by time, and before
opportunity could have been afforded for
systematic interference Of the people vi i'll
dividual States.
This interference, in so far rs concerns its
primary causes and It's immrd late com
mcncclncmi WIS one Of the incidents Of
that pcrncicus agitation on the u!.ject OF
the condition of the coored persons held
to service i'll some Of the States, which has
SO long disturbed the repose Of our country,
and excited individuals, otherwise patriotic
and law-abiding, to toll with misdreced
zeal in the attempt to propagate their So
cial theories by the perversion and abuse
of the powers Of Congress. The persons
and the parties whom the tenor of the act
to organize the Territories of Nebraska and
Kansas, thwarlcl in the endc:lvor to i'm
pose, through the agency Of Congress, their
particular views Of social organization on
the people of the future new States, now
pcrceivng that the policy of leaving the
inhabitants Of each State to judge for them
selves in this respect was ineradicubly
rooted in the convictions Of the people Of
the Union, then had recourse, in the pur-
suit Of their general object, to the ex,raor-
binary measure OF propagand;st colonization
of the Territory Of Kansas, to prevent the
free and natural action of its inhabitants in
its internal organization, and thus to antic-
pate or to force the determination Of that
question in this inchoate State.
With such views, associations were Or
gained in some of the States, and their
purposes were proclaimed through the press
in language extremely irritating and Often
sive to those Of whom the colonists were to
become the ncighbors. Those designs and
acts had the necessary consequences to
awaken emotions of intense Indignation on
States near to the Territory of Kansas,
and especially in the adjoining State of
Missouri, whose domestic peace WAS thus
the most directly endangered; but they
are far from justifying the illegal and
rcprellensiLle counter movements whcl,
ensued.
Under these inauspicions circumstances,
the primary elections for members of the
legislative assembly were held in most, il
not all, of the precincts mt the time and
the places, and by the persons deslgnted
and appointed by the Governor according
to law.
Angry accusations that illegal votes had
been poIled abounded on all sides, and i'm
putations were made both Of fraud and VIC
lence. But the Governor, in the exercise
of the power and the discharge Of the duty
conferred and imposed 10y law on him
alone; officially received and considered
the return; declared large majority of the