Weekly hawk-eye and telegraph. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1855-1857, 1856-02-06

4 - = z.
We organic hv. i may be conceded tha, each
House Of the A&smbsy mast hare beer, cota.,e.
tent To determine, the last rcsors lie u,a!,s
CATIONS and the eIecsian OF It's rpesns,ers The
subjset was, By In nature, one sp.xr,.,n;r,y =.
ciGssveiy 20 the jurisdiction of The local autiar
tee Of the Territory. Whatever irrseui.ri.ies
may have occurred In the elections. it seems too
lac fsos TO raise that question az 10 which. pe;
,hef Bow nor at any previous iim1 has The eas.
n'sssoie legal authority been possessed by the
President of the uni.ee States. For all t,-ese NJ
purposes the Legislative body, tlias construed
and elected, was Che legitimate assembly Of the
! Territory
Accordingly the Governor, bT proclamation,
| convened the Assembly thus elected to meet 81
place called Pawnec City. The two House
met and we're duly orgaMzea in the ordinary par.
.iamentsry form; each sent to and re.ei set from
I The Governor the official communications lfs,sai
4 on such occasions: an elaborate Message omen
| ing the session was communicated by the Goeer
nor; aud the general business Of legislation wa.
entered upon by the Legislative Assembly.
But, after few days, the Assembly resolved
10 adjourn 10 another place in the Territory: A
law was accordingly passed, against the consent
OF the Governor, but in due form otherwise 10
1 remove the scat 6f government temporarily to
the Shawnee MaDnal-labos School, Tor mission. ]
and thither the Assembly proceeded. After this.
receiving bill for the establishment of ferry
at the town OF kickapoo. the Governor refused
TO sign II, and, by special message assigned for
reason of refusal, not anything objectionable in
The bill itself, nor any preteuse of the Illegal
ty or incomPeteney of the Assembly as such.
| but only the fact tina; the Assembly had by ts
act transferred the seat of government tempo.
rar1ly from Pawnee City TO Shawnee Mission -
FOR the same reason he continued to refuse TO
sign other bills, until, in the course of few
| days, he, by official Message communicated to
| the Assembly the fact that he had received mott.
ncation OF the termination OF his functions as
Governor, and tina; the duties of the Office were
legally derolved on the Secretary of the Terrific
ry thus to the last recognizing the body as
dniy-elected and constituted Legislative Assem-
| bly,.
II will be perceived that If any constitutional
defect attached to the legislative acts of the As
'embiy, 1t is not pretended to consist in irregu-
'arity OF election or want of qualification of the
members, but only in the change of its place OF
session. However trivial the objection rua,
'eem to be. it requires to be considered, because
ipon 1t is founded all that superstructuse of acts
plainly against law, which now threatens the
oeace not only of the Territory of Kansas
out of the Union.
saIn an o9lectioh To the proceedings Of the
Legsause Assembly was of exceptionable orr
5'' ior t'ie reason that, by the express terms OF
he organic Law, the seat of Gorernmen. of the
territory sas "locatea temporarily at For
Leavepworth," aud ~ Cnparnor himself re-
FAMED there y ye' VIC ,on,hs and Of hi.
men, >. on transferred the seat OF t'oVerh
g,, q the Shawnee Mission, where IT IN lac
at the time the Assembly were called to
meet at Pawnee City, If tlft Governor had an!
such right 70 change temporarily the seat O.
Government, still more had the Legislative AS
.embly. The objection is OF cxceptionaDie orr
y;n for the further reason that the place ndca-
ed by the Governor, without having an exela,
i've claim of preference in itself, was proposeo
own site only, which he and others were al
empting to locate unlawfaly upon land within 6
military reservation, and for participation IL
which illegal act the conmnndant OF a post,
superior officer of the Army has been dismissed
Dy sentence of court-:nartal
Nor is it easy to see why the Legislative As
,embly might not with proprlety pass the Terri
orial act transferring its sittngs TO the Shawnee
Mission. If it could not, that must be on ae
count of some prohibitory or incompatible pro
vision of an act of Congress. But no such Prov
sion exists. The organic act, us already quoted
-ays 'the seat Of Government is hereby LOCATED
temporarily at Fort Leayenworth;" and it thci
| provides that certain Of the public building
| here "may be occupied and used under the di
| rection of the Governor and Legislative Assem-
, | ply." These expressions might possibly be con
| ,trucd to imply that when, i'll previous seeuol
| IF the act it was enacted that "the first l.egs
| alive Assembly shall meet at such place and o,
| Such day as the Governor Shall appoint, th'
word "place" means place at Fort Leavenworth
lot place anywhere in the Territory. If so, .th'
| Governor would have been the first to err in Thu
nattcr not only in himself having removed til
! seat of Government to the Shawnee Mission, bu
: | q. tlt.r.
VAS any departure from the letter OF the law
therefore, it was his in both Instances
But, however this may be, it is most unreason
! Ibc 10 suppose that by The terms of the organi,
| lct Congress intended 10 do impnedly what /
| aas not done expressly Is, TO forbid to tbs
Legislative Assembly the power to choose an,
place it might see fiji rs the temporary seat of il
{ deliberations. That is proved by the sgncan
| language OF one OF the subsequent acts OF Con
gress on the subject, that of March s, 1857
, which, in making appropriation for public builG
: ngs of the Territory, enacts that the same shal
) | not be expended ''until the Legislature OF sal,
: | Territory shall have fixed by law the permanen
; seat of government" Congress, in these expires
sions does not profess TO be granting the powc
: 10 fix the permanent seat of government, but re
: cognzes the power one already granted
I But how? Undoubtedly by the comprehensive
provision of the organic act itself, which dc
clares that the legislative power of the Terrific
~ shall extend to all rightfu subjects of legisla
non consistent with the Constitution of thu
United States and the provisions of this act
IT, in view of this act, the Legislative Assembl,
had the large power to fix the permanent sea
IF Government at any place in its discretion, o
: course by the same enactment 1t had the les!
, | md the included power to fix it temporarily.
Nevertheless, the allegation that the acts o
| he Legislative Assembly were illegal by reason
, Of this removal of its place of session wa;
brought toward to justify the first great move
nent in disregard OF law within the Territory
)ne of the acts of the Legislative Assembly pro
ided for the election of Delegate to the pre-
sent Congress, and Delegate was elected under
ha, law But, subsequently to this, portion
If the people of the Territory proceeded, withou
tuthoriiy of law, TO elect another Delegate.
! Following upon this movement was another
, ana more important one OF the same genera
: haractcr. Persons coniesScdly not constituting
lie body polite, or all the inhabitants, but mere
y party of the inhabitants. and without law
ave undertaken 20 summon convention tol
he purpose of transforming the Territory into L
State and have framed a constitution, adopted
| Il and under it elected Governor and other
officers and Representative to Congress.
In eAteuuatiou of these Illegal acts, it is al
legged that the States of California. Michigan, and
Others were selforganized and as such were
admitted into the Union without previous ena-
bling act of'Congress. 1t is true that, while in
majority of cases II previous act of Congress
has been PASSED to authorize the Territory to
present itself as State, and that this is deemed
the mos. regular course, yet such an act has not
oeen held 10 be Indispensable, and in some eases
tl,e Territory has proceeded without it, and has
nevertheless been admitted into the Union asa
State. 1t lies with Congress TO authorize before
land, or to confirm attcrward, in its discretion ,
hut in no instance has u State been admitted
upon the application of persons acting agains'
authorities duly constituted by act OF Congress.
In every case it is the people of the Territory,
not party among them, who have the power to
| .orm a constitution and ask for admission as
State. No principle of public law, no practice
or precedent under the Constitution OF the Uni
| led States, no rule OF reason, right, or common
sense conters any such power as that now claimed
| by a mere party in the Territory, In fact, what
has been done is OF revolutionary character It
| IS ayowedly so in motive and in aim respects
! the local law of the Territory. 1t will become
reasonable insurreStion ii it reach the length .!
| organized resistance by force TO the fundamental
or any other federal law and to the authority OF
The General Government.