Weekly Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1853-1861, 1856-06-05
VOLUME XVI.
IFrom the CINCINNATI Enquirer. !
The True State of Affairs in Kans.

forcible opposition to law, npon any preteXt
is utterly unjustifable and wrong. In othel
natiOns-where these safety-valyeS OF public
opinion are not provided-it is sometimes JUS
tiiable and necessary to resist the execution
of what are regarded as tyrannical laws, but
il is not SO in the United States. Here, il
laws are not acceptable to the people, they
can be rejected at the next election. If they
are outrageous in their character, or were
fraudulently passed by an illegal body, or ia
any way infringed upon the rights Of persons
or property, they can be set aside or invali-
dated by the courts upon simple judicial Is
sue being made up. We rejoice to say that,
in the United States, the preservation of the
law is justly regarded as the only way by
which the bl essings of liberty can be preserv-
ed. Were resistance to the legal or constitu-
tional expression of the popular will to be toll
Grated or encouraged ~ laws -would soon
become dead letters and we should have gen.
cral license and anarchy.
Ever since our constitution was formed
these principles have been carried out. Laws
have been passed that were offensive TO large
bodies Of people and to different localities,
and which were deemed unconstitutional, but
they have always been executed nevertheless.
Whenever resistance has been made, it has
been feeble and soon put down. AS instances
of this, we may allude to the Whiskey Re-
bellion in Pennsylvania, the Modification Re-
sistance in South Carolina, and the opposition
to the Fugitive Slave Law in some parts of
the North. In all these cases the suprema-
CIV of the law has been maintained. So it
will be maintained in Kansas where the PIES
ent difficulties have originated, because a
party there resorted to force to resist the law.
1t is true it is claimed by the Lawrence
people, and by the Black Republicans in the
States, that the laws Of the Territory were
made by body which they regard as ille-
gally elected that Missourians took part in
the voting for members.of the Legislature
Now, this question of legality is one for the
courts to settle. Even if they are right in
their belief, it sffords no justification whato7-
er for forcible resistance to statutory enact
ments. 1t is here that the Free State men
in Kansas have made a fatal mistake. By
declaring that they would not obey the laws
Of the last Legislature--that they would set
them at defiance, by resisting the officers
charged with their execution-they have
raised question that causes the one to be lost
1
is, they have lost much of the sympathy
which they would have had if they had re-
sorted to judicial means to contest the action
of the last Legislature. Upon demagogues
in the States and outsiders the responsibility
of this unfortunate determination to defy the
Territorial and Federal officials must rest
It is they who, for the worst of political pur-
poses, have invited and encouraged this ap-
peal to force Many of the Black Republi-
cans, from the commencement, have mani
tested painful anxiety to get up civil war
in that Territory, under the idea that it was
their trump card for the Presidential election.
They have done everything in their power
by their belligerent meetings in the Free
States-by their wholesale denunciation of
the people of Missouri-by their inaamma-
atory and lying letters from Kansas-to effect
such result. Had outsiders left the Terri
tory alone. and not resorte1 to these repre-
hensible schemes of interference, affairs in
Kansas would have gone on as smoothly as
they have in Nebraska.
But they wanted agitation-they wanted a
political issue for the Presidential election
In comparison with this object they cared not
whether it was a free or slave State Indeed,
all their intrigues and movements, as devel-
oped by their tools and instruments, Reedor,
Lane and Robinson, havo been admirably cal
culated to effect the latter object, and have
greatly strengthened the slavery party in the
Territory.
If such result should happen-if blood
should be shed in Kansas, before high Heaven
they will be responsible for it. Had they
contested the validity of the Shawnee Mis-
sion Legislature in legal manner, and not
combatted it with brute force, they would
have occupied the underground. By rashly
venturing upon forcible resistance, they
have been driven from that position and
placed themselves entirely in the wrong
This must be evident now to those who un-
fortunately in the Territory committed them
selves to the support of the sham Topeka
State government.
Ii the news from Lawrence should turn
out to be correct, that portion of the town
has been destroyed, it was because "border
ruffians" there refuse TO obey the laws. This
is evident from the following letter of Gov
ernor Shannon, which has been recently pub
lished, and which will be read with interes
at this time. The citizens of Lawrence
Kansas, received the following note, dateC
the 18th inst, from Governor Shannon, il
reply to a request from them to protect then
against invasion
" "GESTLENES Your note of the llth is re
ceived, and in reply have to state that ther,
is no force around or approaching Lawrence
except the legally constituted posse of the Uni
ted States Marshal and Sheriff of Dougla.
county, each of whom, / am informed, have
M fNf
against persons in Lawrence. | shall in nj
way interfere with either of these officers in tn
discharge Of their official duties. If the citi
zens Of Lawrence submit themselves to tn
Territorial laws, and aid and assist the Marsha
and Sheriff in the execution of processes il
their hands, as all good citizens arc bound t.
do when called on, they, or all such, will en-
title themselves to the protection of the law
But so long as they keep up military or arme,
organization to resist the Territorial laws an,
the officers charged with their execution. shall
not interfere to save them from the Legitimate
consequences of their illegal acts.
"I have the honor to be yours,
with great respect,
WILSON SHANNON.
| The above presents the question now a
issue in Kansas in o nutshell and that j
whether the laws shall be obeyed until the,
are repealed, or until they are set aside b
the courts. The character of the enactment
has been much misrepresented by the Blacl
Republican press. They have publishes
many pretended laws, whish turned out L
be forgeries. In this, as in everything elst
they have resorted to a wholesale system o
deception. IL some of them are outrages, a
they allege, they would be declared uncon
stitutional by the courts Their reluctanc
to appeal to those tribunals for relief j
strongly against them; they flee from ther
rather than to them.
Nothing can be more reprehensible tina
the effort which is being made by certai
partisans to give aid and comfort to the be
ligerents in Kansas. Even, as we have sal
before, if they have the merits Of the case
regard to the legality of the Shawnee Nil
sion Legislation, they are taking the wron
way to prove it. They have got to bac
down from their untenable position-appes
to the courts rather than to Sharp's rifles fc
redress. Those who are obstinate and stan
out, deserve to and We hope viii be scverel
punished.