Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-12-11
NDIANA NU1RER a0. $

casional interruption, rather than the perma
nent suspension of regular government Ag
gressivQ and most repreheusible incursions
into the Territory nere undertaken both II
the North, aud the South, and entered it OF
its northern borders BY the way OF Iowa, a'
well as on the Eastern by the way Of Mis-
sour; ana there has existed within il "a state
/ Of insuTectlon against the c0ustitnded an.
thorltieS, not without ccuutenauce from in.
( inconsiderate persons in each of The grea
sections of the Union. But the difficulties
in that Territory have been extravagantly
exaggerated for purposes of political agitation
I elsewhere The number and gravity of the
acts of violence have been magnideG partly
Of statements entirely untrue, aud partly by
reiterated accounts Of the sams runsors oi
/ facts. Thus the Territory has been seeming
| ly filled with extreme violence, when the
amount of acts has not been greater than
what occasionally passes before US in single
cities TO the regret of all good citizens. but
without being regarded as of general or per
manent political consequence.
Imputed irregularities in the elections had
in Kansas, like occasional irregularities of the
same description in the States, were beyond
the sphere of action of the Executive, But
incidents of actual violence or of organized
distinctions Of Law, perniciously renewed
from time - time, have been met as they oc.
cured, by such means as were available and
as the circumstances required; and nothing OF
this characte remains to affect the general
peace of the Union. The attempt of apart
of the inhabitants of the Territory to effect
a revolutionary government though sedu-
lously encouraged aud supplied with pecu-
mary aid from active agents of disorder in
some of the States, has completely failed.
Bodies of armed men, foreign to the Terri
tory, have been prevented from entering or
compelled to leave it. Predatory bands, en-
gagged in acts of rapine under cover of the ex-
isting political disturbances S, have been ar
rested or dispersed. And every well dispos-
ed person is now enabled once more to de-
vote himself in peace TO the pursuits of in
dustry. for the participation of which he un-
dertook to participate in the settlement of
the Territory.
1t affords me unmingled satisfaction thus
to announce the peaceful condition of things
in Kansas, especially considerings the means
to which it was necessary to have recourse for
the attainment of the end, namely, the en-
ployment of a part of the military force of
the United States. The withdrawal of that
force from its proper dnty of defending the
country against foreign foes or the savages of
the frontier TO employ it for the suspension
of domestic insurection, is, when the ext
gency occurs, matter Of the most earnest So
hcitude. On this occasion ofimperative ne
cessity it has been done with the best results,
and my satisfaction in the attainment of such
les h. Loo
hanced by the consideration, that through
the wisdom and energy of the present Ex-
ecutive of Kansas, and the prudence, firm
ness and vigilance of the military officers on
duty there, tranquility has been restored
without one drop OF blood having been shed
in its accomplishment by the forces of the
United States.
The restoration of comparative tranquility
in that territory furnishes the means of OBJ
serving calmly, and appreoiating at their
just value, the events which have occurred
there, and the discussions of which the gov
ernment of the Territory has been the sub
ject.
We perceive that controversy concerning
its domestic institutions was inc table; that
no human prudence, no form of legislation,
no wisdom on the part of Congress, could
have prevented this
It's idle to suppose that the particularpro-
visions of their organic law were the cause
of agitation. Those provisions were but the
occasion, or the pretext of an agitation, which
was inherent in the nature of things. Con.
gress legsiated upon the subject in such
terms as were most consonant with theprinci-
pies of popular sovereignty which underlies
our government. 1t could not have legislat-
ed otherwise without doing violence to an
other great principle Of our institutions, the
imprescriptble right Of equality os the several
States.
We perceive, also, that sectional interests
and party passions, have been the great inn
pediment to the salutary operation of the or
ganic principles adopted, and the chief cause
of the successive disturbances in Kansas
The assumption that, because in the organi.
zation of the Territories of Nebraska and
Kansas, Congress abstained from imposing re-
straints upon them 10 which other Terrific.
ries had been subject, therefore disorders oc-
CURED in the latter Territory, is emphatically
contraditced by the fact that none had occur.
ed in the former. Those disorders were not the
consequence, in Kansas, of the freedom o
self government conceded to that Territory
by Congress, but of unjust interference on the
part of persons not inhabitants of the Terri
toay. Such interference whenever il has ex.
hibited itself, BY acts of insurrectionary char.
acter, or of distractions TO process of law, has
been repelled or suppressed, by all the means
which the Constitution and the laws placed
in the hands of the Executive.
| In those parts of the United States where, BY
reason of the inAamed state of public mind
/ false rumors and Misrepresentation have tn,
greatest currency, it has been assumed that i
was the duty of the Executive not only to sup
/ press insurectionary movements in Kansas, bu
also to see to the regularity of local elections
/ 1t needs little argument to show that the Presi
dent has such power. All government il
the United States rests substantially upon pop
ular election. The freedom of elections is liabl
to be impaired by the intrusion ofunlawful vote
or the exclusion of unlawful ones, by imprope
influences, by violence or. by fraud But tn
people of the United States are themselves tn
all sufficient guardians of their own rights, ant
to suppose that they will not remedy. in du
4 season, any such incidents of civil freedom,
to suppose them TO have ceased to be capable Q
self government The President Of the Unite
States has not the power to interpose in elec
tions, to see to their freedom, to canvass thei
votes, or TO pass upon their legality in the Tel
ritores any more than in the States. Ifhe ha
such power the government might be republic i
form, but il would be Il monarchy in fact an
if he had undertaken to exercise it in the cas-
of Kansas. he would have been Justly subject
the charge OF usurpation, and of violation {
the dearest rights of the people of the Unite
States.
Unwise laws. equally with irregularities {
! elections, are, in periods of great excitemen
the occasional incidents of even the freest an
, best political institutions. But all experienc
demonstrates that in a country like ours, whei
the right of self constitution exists in the con
pletest form, the attempt to remedy unwIs
legislation by resort to revolution, is totally OF
of place inasmuch as existing legal institU
tions afford more prompt and eficacious mean
for the redress of wrong
{ | confidently trust that now, when the peac,
full condition of Kansas affords opportunity fC
calm reflection and wise legislation either tn
legislative assembly Of the Territory, or Con
gress, will see that no act shall remain on il