Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1857-12-23
Resignation of GOV. Walker.


The Hon. R. j. Walker has resigned the Office
of Governor of Kansas, and written a long letter
to the Secretary of State, Gen. Cass, on the sub
iect. The letter is dated Washington city, De-
cember 10. We regret our inability to publish
the whole of it, but we give such extracts as We
have space for. Mr.. Walker says
1.-THE grounds assumed by the President in his
late message to Congress, and in recent instruc
tons in connection with the events now trans
piring here and in Kansas, admonish me, that
as Governor of that Territory, 1t will no Longer
be in my power to preserve the peace or pro-
mote the public welfare.
"At the earnest solicitation of the President
after repeated refu>als, the last being in writing
finally accepted this Office, upon his letter show
ing the dangers and difficulties of the Kansas
question, and the necessity of my undertaking
the task of adjustment Under these circum-
stances, Notwithstanding the great sacrifices to
me personal, political and pecuniary, felt that
could no more refuse such a call from my coun.
try, through her Chief Magistrate, than the sol.
der in battle who is ordered to command for
lorn hope.
81 accepted, however, on the express condition
that should advocate the submission OF the con-
stitution to the vote Of the people for ratification
or rejection.
"These views were clearly understood by the
President and all his Cabinet. They were dis
tinctly set forth in my letter of acceptance OF
this Office of the 26th of March last, and reitera-
ted in my Inaugural Address of the 9th of May
last"
He quotes from his inaugural address, in which
he promised that the constitution should be sub
mitted to popular vote, and says;
"These pledges cannot recall or violate with
out personal dishonor and the abandonment OF
fundamental principles, and therefore it is i'm
possible for me to support what Is called the Lee
compton constitution. because it is not submitted
to vote of the people for ratification or relec'
ton"
Mr.. Walker then refers to printed pamphlet
published over his name in June, 1856, to show
that his views have not been framed to suit any
emergency in Kansas, but were his lifelong prin-
ciples. He enters into an argument on the SUBJ
iect combating the Presidents position, and pro-
ceeds:
.sMost fortunately this is no sectional question.
for it belongs alike to the States admitted or in
choate, of the South as of the North. 1t is not
question of slavery, bnt of State rights and OF
State and popular sovereignty, and my objections
to the Lecompton Constitution are equally
strong. whether Kansas under its provisions
should be made free or a slave State. My OBJ
iections are based upon a violation OF the right
of self.government and of State and popular SOW
ereienty, and of forcing any Constitution upon
the people against their will, whether it recog
pized freedom or slavery. Indeed the first ques-
ton which the people ought to decide, in form
ing O government for an inchoate State, Is,
whether they will change or not from Terrific
rial to a State government. But be
sides the change from Territorial to a State
government, which the people alone have right
to make in framing State constitution, there
are many other momentous questions included
in that instrument. 1t involves all the powers
of State government. AS all free gov
eminent, as stated by Mr.. Jefferson n the De-
claration of Independence, depends upon the
consent of the governed how can 1t be known
whether the people would assent to the consti-
tution unless 1t Is submitted To their vote for
ratification or rejection2 But if acquiesence can
be presumed in any case, surely it cannot be in
that of Kansas, where SO many of the delegates
violated their pledge to submit the CONSTITUTION
itself to vote of the people, where the dele
gates who signed the constitution represented
scarcely one-tenth of the people, and where
nearly one half of the counties Of the Territory
were DISTINGUISHED, and, 10y no fault of theirs)
did not and could not give single vote at the
election for delegates to the convention?
* y
"On reference to the Territorial law under
which the convention was assembled, thirty-iour
regular organized counties were named as cleo
ton districts Tor delegates to the conyention.-
In each aud all of these countless it was required
nv law that a census should be taken and the
voters registered and when this was completed,
the delegates to the convention should be appor-
toned accordingly In nineteen OF these coun-
ties there was no census, and therefore there
could be no such apportionnent there OF dele
gates based upon such census. And IN hiteen oil
these counties there was no registry OF voters.
These fifteen counties, including many of the
oldest organized counties of the Territory, were
entirely disfranchised, and did not give, and 10y
no fault of their ownO could not give solitary
vote for delegates to the convention. This re-
sult was superinduced by the fact, that the Ter
ritoria legislature appointed all the sherltfs and
probate Judges in all these counties, to whom
was assigned the duty by law OF making this
census and registry. The officers were political
partisans, dissenting from the views and opln,,
ions of the people of these counties, as proved
nv the election in October last. These officers,
from want of funds, as they allege, neglected or
refused to take any census or make any registry
in these counties, aud therefore they were en-
tirely DISTINGUISHED, and could not and did not
give single vote at the election for delegates to
the constitutional convention. And here wish
10 call attention to the distinction, which Will
appear in my Inaugural Address, in reference to
those counties where the voters were fairly reg
istered and did not vote. In such counties,
where full and free opportunity was given to
register and vote, and they did not choose to
exercise that privilege, the question is very diff
f.rent from those counties where there Was no
census or registry, and no vote was given or
nould be given, however anxious the people
might BIZ to participate in the election OF dele
Gates to the convention, Nor could it be said
these counties acquiesced, for wherever they ell
deavored by subsequent census or registry OF
their own to supply this defect occasoned by
the previous neglect of the Territorial officers,
the delegates thus chosen were rejected by the
convention.
81 state it as fact, based on long and init
mate association with the people OF Kansas, that
an overwhelming majority Of that people are OPP
posed to that instrument, and my letters stale
tina, but one out of twenty of the press of Kansas
sustain it, Some oppose it because so many
counties were disiranchised and unrepresented In
the convention. Some who are opposed to pa
per money, because it authorizes bank of enor
nous capital for Kansas, nearly unlimited in its
issues. and in the denomination of its notes,
from one dollar up and down. Some because OF
what they consider Know Nothing clause, by
reouiripg that the Governor shall have been
twenty Years citizen of the United States.-
Some because the elective franchise is not free,
as they cannot vote against the constitution, but