Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-02-07

sense, confers any such power as that now claim
ed by mere party in the Territory. In fact,
what has been done is of revolutionary charac-
Ter. 1t is ayowedly so in motive and in aim
as respects the local law of the Territory. It
will become reasonable insurrecton if it reach
The length of organized resistance by force to
the fundamental or any other federal law, and
to the authority of the general government.
In such an event, the path of duty for the
Executive is plain. Theconstitution requiring
him to take care that the laws of the United
States be faithfully executed, if they be oppo-
sed in the Territory of Kansas, he may and
should place at the disposal of the Marshal
any public force of the United States which
happens to be within the jurisdiction, to be
used as portion of the possee comitatus, and
if that do'not suffice to maintain order, then
he may call forth the militia of one or more
States for that object, or employ for the same
object any part Of the land or naval force Of
the United States. So, also, if the obstruction
be to the laws Of the Territory, and if it be
duly presented to him as case of insurection,
he may employ for its suppression the militia
of any State, or the land or naval force of the
United States. And if the Territory be inva-
ded by the citizens of other States, whether for
the purpose of deciding elections or for any
other, and the local authorities find themselves
unable to repel or withstand it, they will be en-
titled to, and upon the fact being fully ascer-
tanned they shall most certainly receive, the
aid of the general government.
But it is not the duty of the President of
the United States to volunteer interposition by
force to preserve the purity of elections either
in State or Territory. To do SO would be
subversiye of public freedom. And whether
law be wise or unwise, just or unjust, is not
question for him to judge. If it be consti-
tutional-that is, if it be the law Of the land
it is his duty to cause it to be executed, or
to sustain the authorities of any State or Ter
ritory in executingit it in opposition to all insur-
rectionary movements. ..
Our system affords no jurisdiction of revolu-
tionary acts; for the constitutional means Of
relieving the people of unjust administration
and laws, by change of public agents and by
repeal, are ample, and more prompt and effec-
tive than illegal violence These constitution.
al means must be scrupulously guarded-this
great prerogative or popular sovereignty sa-
credly respected.
1t is the undoubted fight of the peaceable
and orderly people of the Territory Of Kansas
to elect their own Legislative body, make their
own laws, and regulate their own social insti-
tutions, without foreign or domestic molesta-
ton. Interference on the one hand, to pro-
cure the abolition or prohibition of slave labor
in the Territory, has produced mischievous in
reference on the other, for its maintenance or
introduction. One wrong begcts another
Statements entirely unfounded, or grossly ex-
aggerated, concerning events within the Ter
ritory, are sedulously diAused throug II remote
States to feed the fame of sectional animosity
there; and the agitators there exert themselves
indefatigably in return to encourage and stim-
ulate strife within the Territory.
The imaammatory agitation, Of which the
present is but part, has for twenty years pro-
duced nothing save unmitigated evil, North
and South. Butfor it the character of the do
mestic institutions of the future new State would
have been matter of too little interest to the
inhabitants of the contiguous States, personal
ly or collectively, to produce among them any
political emotion. Climate, soil, production,
hopes ofrapid advancement and the pursuit of
happiness on the part the settlers themselves,
with good wishes, but with no interference
from without, would have quietly determined
the question; which is at this time of such dis
turbing character.
But we are constrained to turn our atten-
ton to the circumstances of embarrassment as
they now exist It is the duty Of the people
of Kansas to discountenance every act or pur-
pose of resistance to its laws. Above all, the
emergency appealsto the citizens of the States,
and especially of those contiguous to the Ter
ritory, neither by Intervention Of non-residents
in elections, nor by unauthorized military
force, to attempt to epcroach upon or usurp
the authority of the inhabitants Of the Terri
tory.
No citizen of our country should permit
himself to forget that he is part of its gov
ernment and entitled to be heard in the deter
mination of its policy and its measures, and
that, therefore, the highest considerations OF
personal honor and patriotism require him to
maintain, by whatever of power or influence
he may possess, the integrity Of the laws Of
the republic.
Entertaining these views, it will be my i'm
peritive duty to exert the whole power of the
Federal Executive to support public order in
the Territory to vindicate its laws, whether
federal or local, against all attempts of organ
lied resistance and so to protect its people in
the establishment of their institutions, undis-
turbed by encroachment from without, and in
the full enjoyment Of the rights of self-govern:
ment assured to them by the constitution and
the organic act of Congress.
Although serious and threatening distur-
Dances in the Territory of Kansas, announced
to me by the governor in December last, were
speedily quieted without the efusion of blood,
and in satisfactory manner, there is, l re-
gret to say, reason to apprehend that disorders
will continue to occur there, with increasing
tendency to violence, until some decisive mea-
sure be taken to dispose Of the question itself,
which constitutes the inducement or occasion
of internal agitation and of external interfer-