Squatter sovereign., 1857-10-24

act which YOU call usurpation in the case |
supposed What is j, but setting up
Government claiming authority, and laws +
demanding execution, which IN the nature
of the case, can claim no authority aud
are opposed To existing authority Il you
would call this . usurpation' in CoHnectl-
cut, Il. it would :. destroy all legal author-
ity and produce universal anarchy, what
is this but the very act which Missouri in-
vaders have perpetrated In Kansas F.
There was Government in Kansas-Go Gov-
ernmen. under the authority of the United /
States. Law was there also, a law for /
the organization of Government By the
people of the Territory. Right TOO. was
there. the inviolable right of the people TO /
make their own laws and elect their own
rulers. In opposition to the existing Gov
ernment, in violation of that existing law,
tramplIng upon those inheren rights. Mis-
souri, invaders have set up a bloody tyranny
which has, in fact, produced anarchy and
bloodshed. If you condemE the one. con-
denim the other also Your Memorialists
have nothing to ask of you in this matter
but consistency of principle. Condemn
the same principle in both cases; put down
the usurpation in Kansas, and the friends
O. truth, Justice, and of the country, would
lrejoice.
| Your Memorialists again ask whether
a case can well be imagined, to which the
name of authoritative government could be
applied with more palpable impropriety
~ al rsrI Nnrr.
ernment of Kansas a. Nigh. not even
political shaneessness blush TO call it by
such name? Was not the true and only
character of this Government known 10
you and the whole country before your IN
auguration. and during the Presidential
Icanvass? Did you not, with the full knowl-
edge of it, accept your nomination, which
you were free TO decline, and thus avoid
1.-The responsibility of executing those me-
fafieus laws? Or did you suppose that
the oath of office would exempt you from
this responsibility You admit the Con-
sttutionai duty of the Presiden, to " take
care that the laws be faithfully executed" !"
) And now, without holding you responsible
for anv acts OF your predecessor, for which
, Iyou are not willing to be responsible. an |
which you have not sanctioned, your Me
norialsts would ask was there no law 10
5 be aiken care of. by preventing we'll
. known projected invasion of the political
, rights of the people of Kansas? No law
. to be taken care of afterwards by expe-
, Hing the invaders from the Territory? No
law to be taken care of in respect TO the
i thefts, the robberies. the incendiaries and
: the murders that were perpetrated
> "a No law to be taken care of In the
Emode OF civil administration adopted
/ tby Federal officials? No law to be taken
i care of in not appointing officials whose
hands were red with innocent blood ? or in
= REMOVING bribed and perjured judges? Nc
law to be taken care of by securing to the
!. people that fundamental right of the Con
stitution--a right guarded by an express
b law of Congress-ihe right "to make
their own laws and electt their own rulers?'
No law to be taken care Of in giving to
: Congress information at least, of the state
). of the Union, and in recommending nee.
]. essary and expedient measures for the re
d lief of the people of Kansas from the in
!. Justice, the oppression, and the barboriiie.
- s,l11iioolfff theY> Yy>Eere subjected Had ther
!. fa1fsa, Britain =
;. of in France when the present Empero
o was enthroned there by usurpation. a
It these which our Government-our Presi
IS dent--was bound take care Of in our owl
n Territory In utter neglect of these laws
have you not. with full knowledge of I'll
II nature of this usurpation, its progress, an
a violation of Constitution and Of fundaanen
he al rights, its violence. its rapine. its mas
D. sacres, its conHagrations and its shan.
n sustained at every step its authors an
a, abettors to this hour? Have not you sane
ps toned such conduct by placing, or retain
n. ing, prominent leaders therein In oflicii
,e istations
,d Again, are the troubles and calamilie
a. of Kansas the legitimate results oil tn
e. wise administration-of the true and rigl
or working in such an exigency-of our ia
tional Government? the most perfect spe'
he linen of human Government the world ha
MS seen-to onr own admiration the periet
,2 ton of excellence. Surely, such result
he bespeak some arrangement, some disturb
ed ing force in the evoiutions of machine
of ry so fitted to do good, so powerful TO i
e. high design.
ch But if your example in administrator
he and that of your predecessor In Office a
r.. Ito be followed in future, whenever simil;
a cases Shiii ocCuf-i every uSufpa'ion
,ir power, when it has gained temperar
~ success, is thencefor.h to be backed by Il
ii. whole force of the Federal Government
in and forced upon the indignant people /
whom, by fraud or violence, it had in
n. posed itself. where will the end be Ho
,ot often will such crises actually occur r.
or sulting from the very nature of our Go
IS ernment, with such principle in its a.
I'M ministration to originate and foster then
I'm What temptation to party spirit. thas Vi
e restrained, emboldened, upheld by Il
,ly Government of the nation, would be fu
I'm nished to carry out its schemes and its ir
or umphs in violence and bloodshed 2 VIII
nm shall hinder2 Let the administration
It's the Government change hands-and su,
be changes may be frequent-how sure