The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1857-12-26

Message n Gov. Stanton to the kansas
Territorial Legislature.
LgcoMprON, Dec. 8. 1857


Message 0f Gov. stanton to the Kansas
Territorial Legislature.
LkcoMproN, Dec. 8, 1857
Fellow Citise. of thc Council and
House Of Represe nfa'ires:
In the absense Of the Governor, who,
by leave Of the President, has gone, for
short time, to Washington, on impor-
tant public business, and while thus tenn
porarib clothed, by the Organic Act,
with all the powers aud duties OF the
Chief Executive Office of the Territory,
| find myself compelled, by sense of
duty, to call you together, in order that
you may adopt prompt Legislative meas
ures, to avert the calamities which i'm
mcdiately threaten the public peace
From the representations of majority
of your own bodies, as well rs from 9TH
or information of an authentic character,
| have reason to know, that recent events
have produced profound agitation Of
the public mind, and that sense Of
wrong and injustice, whether well or ILL
founded, and an APPREHENSION of greater
evils to arise therefrom, have aroused the
people of the Territory to a condition Of
dangerous excitement. The proceedings
of the late Constitutional Convention are
the immediate cause of this trouble and
alarm.
The law passed at the first session Of
the Legislative Assembly, providing for
organization of Convention to frame a
Constitution for tho government of Kan
sas as one of the States of the Union, was
adopted at period when, unfortunately,
the people of the Territory were divided
by bitter hostility, resulting from the
previous state of commotion and civil
war. In consequence of this embittered
feeling, and the mutual distrust naturally
thereby engendcred, one of the parties,
constituting a large majority OF the peo-
pie, refrained almost entirely from any
participation in the proceedings institu-
ted under the law aforesaid. The census
therein provided for was imperfectly OBJ
taned from IN unwilling people, in nine
teen counties of the Territory while, in
the remaining counties, being also nine
teen in number, from various causes, no
attempt was made to comply with the law.
In some instances, people and officers were
alike averse tothc proceeding; in others,
officers neglect or refuse to act; aud in
some, there was but a small population
and no efficient organization, enabling
the people to secure representation in
the Convention. Under the operation
of all the causes combined, a census list
was obtained of only nine thousand two
hundred and ffty-one legal voters, con-
fined to precisely ono-half the counties of
the Territory, though these, undoubtly,
contained much the larger part of the
popc@''ation.
TIE rote FIR Delegatc 10 he Lecon'ptoH
Constellation.
At the electioa which followed In pur-
suanec of the law, only two thousand two
hundred persons, being less than one
fourth of the registered voters partici-
pated in any manner, in the choice of
delegates, either by voting for those e g
ted, or for other persons. The aver aessl
aggregate vote, in favor of the success
full candidates, was about eighteen hun
dred
1t thus appears, that in the election
of the 10th of June last, for delegates
to the Convention, the great mass of the
people refrained from voting, and left
the whole proceeding, with all is i'm
tn tho mn
nority, under whose auspices the law
had been enacted, aud also executed, so
far as could have been done by the exec
tive othcer without the concurrence of a
majority OF the people.
lad the Coareatioa The Right 10 yorm a
Government?
IL a Convention, organized as this
was, can be considered as embodying
in itself the sovereignty of the people,
the difficulty is undoubtedly insuperable
and the omission of the majority to vote
last June, is past all present remedy
But, in my judgment, such a position
cannot be successfully maintained. The
fundamental principle of popular self-gov-
ernment, and especially that Of "repub-
lican form," which the Government of
the United States guarantees to every
member of the confederacy excludes the
possibility Of the delegation or transfer
of their sovereignty, by the people, to
any other power whatever. In its very
nature that sovereignty which crects
Governments and endows them with their
legitimate powers, can be exercised only
by the people. themselves Is incapable
OF alienation, and is as inseparably inhe-
rent in the body of the people, as are per-
sonal identity and indepenaant will, IL
each individual.
What is the Remedy?
What appropriate and efficient measure
can be adopted, in the existing emergen
cy, is a question not withou. difficulty
Some have propossdHaIspcal of the ae
of the last Legislature, under which tn
convention assembled and performed it
functions. But inasauch as that Law
has been partially executed, it is doubtful
whether an act Of repeal would have tn
effect intended 1t is certain, that
the Constitution were to be really sui
United to the people, and they shoul
ratify it by their vote, legislative repe'
, between the dates of the submission an
of the election, would not affect th
validity of the sovereign act OF rattle
ton,
The true purpose which, in my juds
ment, ought to control your legislatio
on the present occasion, and that whlc
is, perhaps, the most pertinent and pra
: ticable within your power, is to provic
Q for tho regular. and Legitimate exero''
0 Of the sovereignty Of the people, on tho
/ nnints In which the convention has 9