The western Democrat. [volume] (Charlotte, N.C.) 1852-1870, 1857-12-29

! Topeka State government then assembled
in legislative session would have been put
into immediate actual operation. and that
sanguinary collision with the federal army
and civil war must have ensued, extending,
it is feared throughout the Union.
Indeed the whole idea of an Inaugural
address originated in the alarming intelli-
gence which had reached Washington city
of the perilous and incipient rebellion in
Kansas. This instruction was rendered
still more formidable ON my reaching the
Territory by the near approach of the as
sembling of the revolutionary State legisla-
ture, and the very numerous mass conven-
tons by which it was sustained. In truth
l had to choose between arresting that insur-
rection, at whatever cost of American blood
by the federal army, or to prevent the ter
rible catastrophe. as did, by my pledges
to the people of the exertion of all my pow
er to obtain a fair election and the submits
sion of the constitution to the vote of the
people for ratification or rejection:
My Inaugural and other addresses were,
therefore, really in the nature of proclama
tions, $50 often issued by Presidents and
Governors,) with view to prevent, as they
did in this case, civil war and insurrec-
ton.
Now, by my oath of Office, was sworn
to support the Constitution of the United
States. which l have shown, in my judg-
msnt, required the submission of the Con-
stitution to the vote of the people. | was
sworn also to take care'' that the Kansas
and Nebraska bill "should be faithfully
executed, which BILL in my judgment, as
heretofore stated, required that the Con-
stitution should be submitted to the vote
of the people, and was therefore only per-
forming solemn duty, when, as Governor
of the Territory, to whose people my first
obligations were due, l endeavored to secure
to them these results. The idea enter
tanned by some, that / should see the fed
eral Constitution and the KansasNe-
braska bill overthrown and discharged, and
that playing the part of mute in panto-
mime of ruin, should acquiesce by my ST.
lence in such a result especially where
such acquiescence involved, as an immedi
ate consequence, disastrous and sanguin-
airy civil war, seems to me most preposterous,
Not drop of blood has been shed by the
federal troops in Kansas during my admin
istration. But instruction and civil war
extending, l fear, throughout the country,
were alone prevented by the course pursued
by me on those occasions, and the whole
people, abandoning revolutionary violence,
were induced by me to go, for the first time,
into a general peaceful election.
These important results constitute suf
ficient consolation for all the unjust assaults
made upon me on this subject. do net
understand that these assaults have ever re-
ceived the slightest countenance from the
President on the contrary, his message
clearly indicates an approval of my course
up to the present most unfortunate differ
ence about the So called Lecompton Con-
stitution. Inasmuch, however, as this diff
terence is upon vital question, involving
practical results and new instructions, it is
certainly much more respectful to the
President on my part to resign the office
of Governor, and give him an opportunity
of filling it, as is his right under the Con-
stitution, with one who concurs with him
in his present opinions, rather than go
to Kansas, aud force him to remove me by
disobedience to his instructions. This
latter course, in my judgment, would be
incompatible with proper respect for the
Chief Magistrate of the Union. inconsis-
tent with the rules of moral rectitude or
propriety, and could be adopted with no
other view than to force the President to
remove me from office. Such a course, it
is alledged, would present me- to the public
as a political martyr in the defence of the
great principal of self-government; but to
go to Kansas with any such purpose, or
with a certain knowledge that such result
must follow, would be alike unjust and
improper. My only alternative, then, is
that of respectful resignation, in the hope
that Kansas and our beloved country may
be shielded from that civil war with which
I fear both are threatened, by any attempt
to force the So called Lecompton Constitu-
ton upon the people of Kansas.
l state it as fact based on a long and
intimate association with the people of
Kansas, that an overwhelming majority of
that people are opposed to that instrument,
and my letters state that but one out of 30
of the press of Kansas sustains it. Some
oppose it because SO many counties were
DISTINGUISHED and unrepresented in the
convention. Some who are opposed to
paper money, because it authorizes Bank
of enormous capital for Kansas, nearly un-
limited in its issues and in the denomina-
ton of its notes, from one dollar up and
down. Some because of what they consi-
der a know-nothing clause, by requiring
that the Governor shall have been twenty
years a citizen of the United States. Some
because the elective franchise is not free,
as they cannot vote against the Constitu-