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

from its proper duty Of defending the
country against foreign foes or the saw
ages of the frontier to employ il for the
suppression of domestic insurrection, is,
when the exigency occurs, a matter OF
the most earnest solicitude On the oc-
casion ofimperativc necessity il has been
done with the best results and my sat
is'action in the attainment of such re-
suits by such means is greatly enhanced
by the consideration, that, through the
wisdom and energy of the present Exec
utive of Kansas, and the prudence firm
ness and vigilance of the military officers
on duty there, tranquility has been re.
stored without one drop of blood having
been she'd in its accomplishment by the
forces of the United States.
Tho restoration OF comparative tran
guilty in that territory furnishes the
means of observing calmly, and appre.
ciating at their Just value, the events
which have occurred there, and the dis.
cussions of which the government of the
Territory has been subject. a...'
| We perceive that controversy concern.
ing its future domestic institutions was
inevitable; that no human prudence, no
form OF legislation. no wisdom on the
part Of Congress could prevent this.
1t is idle to supposc that the particu-
lar provisions of their organic law werc
the cause of agitation. Those provi-
sions were bnt the occasion, or the pre-
text of an agitation. which was inherent
in the nature Of things. Congress legis-
lated upon the subject in such terms %
were most consonont with the principle of
popular sovereignty which underlies our
government It could not have legisla-
ted otherwise without doing violence to
another great principle of our institn-
tiona. the imprescriptitle righ. of equal
ity of the several States.
We perceive, also, that sectional in.
terosts and party passions have been tho
| great impediment to the salutary opera
tion of the organic principles adopt.
ed, and tho chief cause Of the successive
distut hances in Kansas. The assump.
tion that, because in the organization Of
tho territories of Nebraska and Kansas,
Congress abstained from imposing re-.
straints upon them to which certain 9TH
er territories had been subject, therefore
disorders occurred in the latter territory,
is emphatically contradictcd by the fact
that none have occurred in the former.
The disorders were not the consequence,
in Kansas. of tho freedom of self.govern-
ment conceded to that territory by Con-
gross but of unjust interference on the
| part Of persons not inhabitants of the
territory. Such interference, wherever
it las exhibited itself, by acts of iRsur-
rectiouary character. or Of obstruction TO
processes of law has been repelled or
suppressed, by ali the means which tho
Constitution and the laws place in the
hands of the Executive.
In those parts of the United States
where, by reason of the inhamed state Of
the public mind, false rumors and mis-
representations have the greatest curren.
cy, it has assumed that it was the duty
OF the Executive not only to suppress
insurrectionary movements in Kansas,
! but also to sec to the regularity of 10.
cal elections. 1t needs little argument
to show that the President has no such
power. All government in the United
States rests substantially upon popular
election. The freedom of elections is
liable to be impaired by tie intrusion of
unlawful votes, or the exclusion Of law
full ones, by improper infuer ces, by vio-
! ence or by fraud. But the people Of
the United States are themselves the
all-sufiiciont guardians of their own
rights, and to suppose that they will not
remedy, in due season, any such incidents
of civil freedom, is to suppose them to
havo nnoca1 10 ho aon.b1, of elf noy
ernmcnt, The President Of tho United
States has no, power to interpose in g.
lcctions to see to their free edom, to can
vass their votes, or to pass upon their le-
gality in the territories any more than
in the States. If be had such power the
government might be republican in form.
bat would be monarchy in fact and if
he had undertaken to exercise it IN the
case Of Kansas, he would have been just
ly subject to the charge Of nsurpetion,
and of violation of the dearest rights Of
The people of the United States.
Unwisc laws, equally with Irregular
ties at elections, are, in periods of great
excitement, the occasional incidents Of
even the freest and best political insti-
tutions But all experience demonstrates
that in country like ours, where the
right of self constitution exists in the
completest form, the attempt TO remedy
uuwise legislation by resort to revou.
tiop, is totally out OF place ipasmuch
as existing legal institutions afford more
prompt and eficBcious means for the re-
dress of wrong.
confidently trust that now when tho
peaceful condition Of Kansas affords op-
portunity for calm reflection and the wise
legislation. either the legislative assem-
bly, Of the Territory, or Congress, will
see that no act shall remain on it's stat.
ute book vicative Of the provisions Of
Constitution. or subersive Of the great
objects for which that was ordained and
established, and viii take all other nee.
essary steps to assure to its inhabitants
the enjoyment, without obstruction or
abridgmcnt, Of all the constitutional
rights, privileges, and immnnities of ciii-
zens Of the United States, as con,empls-
ted by the organic law of the Territory.
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