Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1856-12-04


croachments which cry sprang in reality from
the spirit of revolutionary attack on the do
mestic institutions of the South, and, after a
troubled existence of few months, has been
rebuked by the voice of a patriotic people.
Of this last agitation, one lamentable fea-
ture was, that it was carried on at the imme-
date expense of the peace and happiness of
the people of the Territory of Kansas. That
was made the battlefield, not so much of op-
posing factions or interests within itself, as Of
the conflicting passions of the whole people of
the United States. Revolutionary disorder in
Kansas had its origin in projects of imterven-
ton, deliberately arranged by certain members
of that Congress, which enacted the law for
the organization of the Territory. And when
propagandist colonization of Kansas had thus
been undertaken in one section of the Union,
for the systematic promotion of its peculiar
views of policy, there ensned, as matter of
course, counteraction with opposite views, in
other sections of the Union
In consequence of these and other incidents,
many acts of disorder, it is undeDiable have
been perpetrated in Kansas, to the occasional
Interruptions, rather than the permanent sus-
pension, of regular government. Aggressive
and most reprchensble incurSions into the Ter
ritory were undertaken both in the North and
the Sonth, and entered it on its northern bor-
der by the way of Iowa, as well as on the cas-
| tern by way of Missouri and there has eX-
listed within it a state of nsurrection against
the constituted authorities, not without coun-
tenance from incOnsiderate persons in each Of
the great sections of the Union. But the diff
ficuties in that Territory have been extrava-
gantly exaggerated for purposes of political
agitation elsewhere
The number and gravity of the acts of yio-
lence have been magnifed partly by statements
entirely untrue, and partly by reiterated ac-
counts of the same rumors or facts. Thus the
Territory has been seemingly filled with ex
treme violence, when the whole amount of such
acts has not been greater than what occasion
ally passes before us in single cities to the re-
gret of all good citizens bnt without being re-
garded as of general or permanent 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
obstruction of law, pertinaciously renewed
| from time to time, have been met as they oc-
Cured, by such means as were available and
as the circumstances required and nothing of
this character now remains to effect the gene
raj peace of the Union. The attempt of a
part of the inhabitants of the Territory to
erect revolutionary government, though sedu-
lously encouraged and supplied with pecuna-
ry 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 i'll acts of rapine, under cover of the ex-
isting political disturbances have been arrested
or dispersed. And every well-disposcd person
is now enabled once more to devote himself in
peace to the pursuits of prosperous industry,
for the prosecution of which he undertook to
participate in the settlement of the Territory
1t affords me unmngled satisfaction tins to
announce the peaceful condition of things in
Kansas, especially considering the means to
which it was necessary to have recourse for the
attainment of the end, namely, the employ
ment of a part of the military force of the
! United States The withdrawal of that force
from its proper duty of defending the country
against foreign foes or the savages of the from
tier, to employ it for the suppression of domes-
tic insurrection, is, when the exigency occurs,
matter of the most earnest solicitude. On
|
done with the best results, and my satisfaction
in the attainment of such results by such means,
is greatly enhanced by the consideration, that,
through the wisdom and energy of the present
| Executive of Kansas and the prudence firm
ness and vigilance of the military officers on
duty there, tranquility has been restored with
out 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 appreciating at their lust
and the discussions of which the Government
of the Territory has been the subject
We perceive that controversy concerning its
future domestic institutions was inevitable
that no human prudence, no form of legislation,
no wisdom on the part of Congress, could have
prevented this.
1t is idle to suppose that the particular pro-
visions of their organic law were the cause of
agitation Those provisions were but the occa
sion, or the pretext of an agitation, which was
inherent in the nature of things. Congress
legislated upon the subject in such terms as
were most consonant with the principle of popu-
lar sovereignty which underes our government
1t could not have legislated otherwise without
doing violence to another great principle of onr
Institutions, the inprescriptible right of equal-
ty of the several States
We perceive, also, that sectional interests
and party passions, have been the great i'm
pedlment to the sautary operation of the Or
ganic principles adopted and the chief cause
of the successive disturbances in Kansas. The
assumption that, because in the organization
n q nf Nahr L.,
Congress abstained from imposing restraints
upon them to which certain other Territories
had been subject therefore disorders occurred
in flnn lnft l., l..