The true Democrat., 1856-02-19
Special Message from the Presi-
 Heut

ue Suololne0 message from the President o the United States was transmitted to botl Houses of Congress on the 24th ult
 10 he Senate and House cf Representatives:
 Circumstances have occurred to disturb the course of governmental organization in the ter rtory of Kansas, and produce there condition Of things which renders it incumbent on me tc call your attention to the subject and urgently to recommend the adoption by you of such mea. sures ot legislation as the grave exigences of the case appear to require.
 A brief exposition of the circumstances refer red to- and of their causes, will be necessary tc the full understanding of the recommendations which it'i9 proposed to submit
 1 he act to organize the territories of Nebras- ka and Kansas Was manifestation of the le- glSIatlve opinion of Congress on two great points ot constitutional construction; one, that the de- slgnation of the boundaries of new territory and provision for its political organization and administration as territory, are measures which 1 ot right fall within the powers of the general government; and the other that the inhabitants of any such territory considered as an inchoate State are entitled, in the exercise of seIf-go vernment, to determine for themselves what snail be ther own domestic institutions subject only to the constitution and the laws duly en- acted by Congress under it, and to the power of the existing States to decide according to the provisions and principles of the constitution at what time the territory shall be received as a State Into the Union. Such are the great poi- tcal rights which are solemnlv declared and af- tirmed by that act.
 Based upon this theory, the act of Congress deilned for each territory the outlines of repub- Hcan government, distributing public authority " taI ,l; cial and legislative--to be appointed either by the general government or by the territory.-- The legislative functions were intrusted to a counciland house ofrepresentatives duly elect ed and empowered to enact all the local laws winch they might deem essential to their pros- perlty, happiness, and good government. Act Ing Tn the same spirit, Congress also defined the persons who in the first instance to be con- SldeTed as the people of each territory; enacting that every free white male inhabitant of the same, above the age of oftwenty-one years, being | an actual resident thereof and possessing the | qualifications hereafter described should be en- titled to vote at the first election, and be eligi- ble to any office within the territory; but that the qualifications of voters and holding office at all subsequent elections should be such as might be prescribed by the legislative assembly; l Provided, however that the right of suffrage and of holding office should be exercised only by citizens of the United States, and those who should have declared onSsoath their intention to become such, and have taken an oath to sup port the constitution of the United States and provisions of the act; And provided, further, that no officer, soldier, seaman, or marine, or other person in the army or navy of the Unit ed States, CT attached to troops in their ser vice, should be allowed to vote or hold office in either territory by reason of being on service therein
 Such of the public officers of the territories as, by the provisions of the act, were to be ap- pointed by the general government, including the governors, were appointed and commissions ed in due season; the law having been enacted on the 3Oth of May, 1851, and the commission of the governor of the territory of Nebraska being dated on the ? day of August, 1854, and of the territory of Kansas on the 2Oth day of June, 1854
 Among the duties imposed by all act on the governors was that of directing and superiutend- ing the pGtical organization of the respective territories. The Governor of Kansas was re- quircd to cause census or enumeration of the inhabitants and qualified voters of the several counties and districts of the territory to be ta- ken by such persons and in such mode as he might designate and appoint; to appomt and direct the time and places of holding the first elections, and the manner of conducting them, both as to the persons tosuperintend such cleo tions and the returns thereof; to declaref the number of the members of the council and house of representatives for each county or dis trct; to declare what persons might appear to be duly elected; to appoint the time and place of the first meeting of the legislative assembly. In substance the same duties were dcvolved on the governor of Nebraska.
 While, by this act, the principle of the con- stitution for each of the territories was one and the same, and the details of organic legislation regarding both were as nearly as could be iden- tcal, and while the territory of Nebraska was tranquilly and successfully organized in the due course of law and its first legislative assembly met on the l6th of January, 1855, the organi- ZatiOu of Kansas was long delayed, and has been attended with serious difficulties and en- barassments, partly the consequence of local maI-aiministrati0n, and partlyof the unjnstif- able interference of the inhabitants ofthe States foreign by residence, interests ant rights to the territory
 The Governor of the territory of Kansas, commissioned, as before stated, on tue 20th of June, 1854, did not reach the designated seat of his government until the 7th of the ensuing Oc- tober and even then failed to make the first step ill its legal organizaton--that of ordering the census or enumeration of its inhabitants until so late a day that the election of the mem- bers of the legislative assembly did not take place until the 30th of March, 1850, nor its meeting until the second of July, 1855. So that for year after the territory was constitut- ed by the act of Congress and the officers 10 be appointed by the federal executive had been commissioned, it was without complete go- vernment, 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 eX- ercising constant vigilance and putting forth all his energies to prevent or counteract the ten- dencies to illegaty,. which are prone to exist in all imperfectv organized and newly associated communities, allowed his attention to be divert ed from official obligation by other objects, and himself set an example of the violation of law in the performance of acts which rendered it my duty, in the sequel, to remove him from the office of chief executive magistrate of the ter ritory.
 Before the requisite preparation was accom- pshed for election of territorial legislature an election of delegate to Congress had been held in the territory on the 29th day of No- vember 1854, and the delegate took his seat in the House of Representatives without chal- lenge. If arrangements had been perfected by the governor so that the election for members of the legislative assembly might be held in the several precincts at the same time as for dele gate to Congress, any question appertalnlng to the qualification of the persons votnSas people of the territory would Have passed necessarily and at once under the supervision of Congress as the judge of the validity of the return the 1 delegate, and would have been determined be- fore conflicting passions had become infamed by time and before opportunity could have been afforded for systematic interference of the people of individual States.
 This interference, in so far as concerns its pri mary causes and its immediate commencement was one of the incidents of that perncious ag tation on the subject of the condition of the ] cnlored rersnns held to service in some of tho