The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1856-12-10

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what institutions will best suit them if
be not strained up to perpetual lcgisla-
tive exertion on this point if Congress
proceed thus to act in the very spirit of
liberty, it is at once charged with aiming
to extend slave labor into all the new
Territories of the United States
OF course. these imputations on the
intentions Of Congress in this respect.
conceived as they were in prejudice, and
disseminated in passion, are utterly des.
titute of any justification in the nature
of things. and contrary to all the funda-
mental doctrines and principles of civil
liberty and self Government.
While therefore, in general, the peo-
| pie oe the Northern States have never, at
any time. nrogated for the federal gov.
ernmeut the power TO interfere directly
with the domestic condition OF persons iu
the Southern States. but on the contra
ry have disavowed all such intentions,
and have shrunk from conspicuous affilia-
ticns with these few who pursue their
fana'ical objects avowedly through the
contemplated means Of revolutionary
change of the government. and with ac-
ceptance OF the necessary consequence
a civil and servilo war-yet many cti
zens have suffered themselves to be
drawn into one cvanescent political issue
of agitation after anoth5r, appertaining
TO tho same set of opinions. and which
subsidized as rapidly as they arose when
il came to seen, as it uniformly did that
they were Incompatible with tho com.
pacs Of theConsiituionnl cxistancc of the
Union. Thus, when the acts of some
Of the States to nullify the existing ex-
tradition law imposed upon Congress the
duty Of passing a new one, the country
was invited by agitators to enter into
party organization for its repeal but
that agitation speedily ceased by reason
of the imprac'icability of its Object. SO,
when tho statute restriction upon the in
stitutions of new States, by geograph.
zeal line, had been repealed, the country
was urged to demand its restoration and
that project also died almost with its
birth. Then followed the cry of alarm
from tho North against imputed South
crn encroacbmcnts which cry sprang in
reality from the spirit Of revolutionary
/
South, and after troubled cxistance of
few months. has been rebuked by the
voice of a patriotic people
Of this last agitation, one lamentabe
feature was, that it was carried on at the
immediate expense Of the peace and hap.
rincss of the people Of the territory of
Kansas. That was made the battle field,
not so much Of opposing facticious or in
tcrcsts within itself, as for the conhic-
ting passions of the whole people of the
United States. Revolutionary disorder
in Kansas had its origin in projects Of
Intervention, deliberately arranged by
cert ain members Of that Congress. which
enacted the law for the organization of
the Territory And when propagandist
colonization Of Kansas had thus been uu-
! dcrtakcn in one section of the Union. for
the systematic promotion of its peculiar
views Of policy, there ensued, az mat
ter Of course, a condensation with op-
/ posite views. il other scctious of the L
Mon.
In consequence Of these and other in.
! cidcnts, many acts Of disorder it is un.
| dcniable, have been perpotratcd in Kan.
sas, to the occasional interruption, ra,h-
er than the permanent suspension, of reg
! ular government Aggressive and most
roprehcnsiGle incursons unto tho Terri
tory were undertaken both in the North
and the South, and entered it On its
northern border BY the way of Iowa, as
we'll as Oh the eastern by way of Mis-
souri,, and there has existed within it a
state Of insurrection against the consi.
tuted authorities, not without counter.
ance from inconsiderate persons in each
of the great sections Of tho Union. But
the difficulties in that Territory have
been extravagant!y exaggerated for pur-
poses of politiaal agitation elsewhere. =
The number and gravity of tho acts of
violence have been magnitied, partly by
statements entirely untrue, aud partly by
reiterated accounts of the same rumors
or facts Thus the Territory has been
see ecmiDgly filed with extreme violence,
when the whole amount Of such 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 perma-
nent political consequence,
Imputed Irregularities in the elections
had in Kansas, like occasional Irregular
tiles of The same description IN the States,
were beyond the sphere of action of the
Executive. But incidents of actual
violence or of organized obstruction of
law, pcrtinaeiously renewed from time to
time, have been met as they occurred, by
such means as were available and as tho
circumstances required; nothing of this
character now romans TO affect the gen
eral peace of the Union. The attempt
Of a part of the inhabitants of the Ter
ritory to erect revolutionary govern
ment, though seduloosly encouraged aud
supplied with pecuniary aid from active
agent Of disorder iu some Of the States,
has completely failed b dies Of arm
ed men, foreign to the Territory, have
been prevented from entering, or have
been compelled to leave it. Predatory
bands, engaged in acts Of rapine, under
cover of the existing political disturb
ances, have been arrested or dispersed. |
And every well disposed person is now
enabled once more to devote himself in