The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1857-12-29

1 N''s ''"s~~s AS~ssSs W A&SDsB moshOus
WAsHINoroS, Thursday, Dec. IL.
The following is the letter of tho Hon
Robert J. Walker, resigning the office o
Governor of Kansas:
WAsHINoToN, Tuesday, Dec. Is.
Hon. Lesois Cass, Secretary of State:
SIR: ] resign the office of Governor o.
the Territory Of Kansas. have been mos,
reluctantly forced to this conclusion, after
anxious and careful consideration of my du
t. to my country, to the people of Kansas
TO the President of the United States, and
to myself.
The grounds assumed by the President
in his late message to Congi ess, and in re.
cent instructions in connection with the
events now transpiring here and in Kansas
admonish me that, as Governor of that
Territory, it will no longer be in my power
to preserve the peace or promote the pub
lie welfare.
AT the earnest solicitation Of the Presi
dent, after repeated refssals, 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 ad
justmcnt. Under these circumstances, not
withstanding the great sacrifices TO me,
personal, political and pecuniary, I felt
that could no more refuse such a call from
my country, through her Chief Magistrate,
than a soldier in battle who is ordered to
the command of forlorn hope.
1 accepted, however, on the erpress con-
difion that Ishould adyocate the submission
ofMe Constitution TO a vote ofMe people
for ratification or rejection. These views
were clearly understood by the President
and all his Cabinet. They were distinctly
set forth in my letter on my acceptance of
this Office, of the 26th of March last, and
reiterated in my inaugural address of the
9th of May last, as follows:
"Indced, cannot doubt that the Con
ventiop, after having framed State Con-
stitution, will submitit for ratification or
rejection bya majority Of the then actual
bona fide resident settlers Of Kansas"
With these views, well known to the
President and Cabinet, and approved by
them. / accepted the appointment of
Governor of Kansas. Ny instructions from
the President, through the Secretary of
State, under date 3Oth March last, sustain
the regular Legislature of the Territory in
assembling Convention to form Const-
tuition, and they express the opinion Of the
President, that
"Whcn such Constitution shall be SUBJ
mietcd to the people of the Territory, they
must be protected in the exercise of their
right Of voting for or against that instru-
mcnt, and the fair expression of the popu-
lar will must not be interrupted by fraud
or violence. repeat, then, as my clear
conviction, that unless the Convention sub
nit the Constitution to the vote of all the
actual resident settlers of Kansas, and the
election be fairly and justly conducted, tho
Constitution will be and ought to be rejec-
ted by Congress"
This inaugural most distinctly asserted
that it was not a question of slavery mere
ly, which believe TO be of little practical
Importance then in its application to Kan
sas, but Of the entire Constitution which
should be submitted to tho people for rat
ifcation or rejection. These wero my words
on that subject in my inaugural:
at is not merely thall Slavery exist in
or disappear from Kansas, but shall the
great principles of selfgovernmcnt and
State sovereignty be maintained or subver-
ted"
Tn that inaugural proceeded further to
say, the people "may bv subsequent vote
defeat the ratification of the Constitution"
/ designate this "a great Constitutional
right" and add "that the Convention is
the servant and not the master Of the pco-
pie" In my official dispatch to you ofthe
Cd June last, a copy Of that inaugural ad-
dress was transmitted to you for tho fur
ther information of the President and his
Cabinet. No exception was ever taken to
any portion of that address On the con-
trary, it was distinctly admitted by the
President in his message, with commcnda-
bic frankness, that my instructions in favor
Of submission of the Constitution to a
vote Of the people, were general and un-
qualified" BY that inaugural and sub
scquent address, was pledged to the peo
pie of Kansas to oppose, by all lawful
means, the adoption of any Constitution
which was not fairly submitted to their vote
for ratification or rejection.
These pledges cannot recall or violate
without personal dishonor and the aban-
donment Of mental principles, and there
fore it is impossible for me to support what
is called the Lecompton Constitution, be-
cause it is not submitted to vote Of the
people for ratification or rejection. I have
ever uniformly maintained the principle
that sovereignty is vested exclusively in
the people of each State, and that it per
forms its first function in forming State
Government and State Constitution. The
highest act Of ofsovereignty, in my judgment
can only be performed by the people them
selves, and cannot be delegated to Conycn-
tions or other intermediate bodies.
Indeed the whole doctrine Of the sovcr-
cignty Of Conventions, MS distinct from that
Of the people, of conventional or delegated
sovereignty rs contra distinguished from
State or popular sovereignty, has ever been
discarded by me, and was never heard of
to my knowledge during the great canvass
of 1856. Indeed this is the great princi
pie Of State sovereignty, maintained by the
Virginia and Kentucky resolutions Of 1898