The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1858-12-15
MrooItburp Rtoisttr
M I D d i i B RY:
WEDNESDAY. DEC. Is. 1858
Tho Presidents Message.

The great length of this paper makes
it impossible for us to give it entire; we
therefore give such extracts and abstracts
as will present its more important features.
1t commences with lengthy retrospect
OF the Kansas question. Expresses graf
itude for the repose from sectional strife
the country enjoys as compared with
year ago, and says:
The Supreme Court of the United States
had previously decided, that all American
citizens have an equal right to take into
the Territories whatever is held as prop
crtY under the laws of any of the States,
and to hold such property there under the
guardianship Of the federal constitution,
so long as the territorial condition shall
remain.
This is now Il well established position,
aud the proceedings of the last session
were alone wanting to give it practical eff
feet The principle has been recognized,
in some form or other, by an almost snan-
imous vote of both houses of Congress,
that Territory has right to come into
the Union either as a free or "A slave State
according to the will of majority of its
people. The just equality of all the States
has thus been indicated and fruitful
sourp Of dangerous dissension among
them has been removed,
He attributes the present tranquil con-
dition of Kansas to the establishment of
the position here stated. Attributes the
unfortunate experiences of Kansas" to
resistance to lawful authority" and ex.
presses the opinion that had the people
yielded obedience to Territorial law the
condition of the Territory would now be
much better than it is He speaks of the
Topeka movement as revolutionary, and
the consequent neglect to vote for dele
gates to the Lecompton Convention as "a
grave error"
The convention, Notwithstanding, pro-
ceeded to adopt constitution unexcep-
tional in its general features, and provid-
ing for the submission of the slavery
question to vote Of the people, which,
in my opinion, they were bound to do I'm.
der the Kansas and Nebraska act. This
was the all-important question which had
alone convulsed the Territory and yet
the opponents of the lawful government,
persisting in their first error, RETAINED
from exercising their right to vote, and
preferred that slavery should continue
rather than surrender their revolutionary
Topeka organization.
He narrates the history of the election
following, by which the Free State party
obtained control of the Legislature and
commends their course as wiser and bet.
ter and thinks that had the State b.en
admitted under the Lecompton Conatitu.
ton, the people could very readily have
amended it to suit their mind" and
thus the Kansas question would have been
Immediately and finally settled" He re-
verts to his submission Of it to Congress.
and his strong recommendation p" of it
with heartfelt satisfaction" He would
have preferred that it should have been
submitted in all its parts to the people,
but there was no power to rejudge the
Constitution without violating the Kansas
Nebraska act, the principle of popular
sovereignty and many presidents, /" COM
mencing in the best ages of the Republic"
He laments that question SO insigni6.
cant in its practical effects should have
made so much disturbance, and argues
that by either course the same result is
ultimately reached with only difference
of time.
My recommendation, however, for the
immediate admission of Kansas, failed to
meet the appreciation of Congress. They
deemed it wiser to adopt different meas
uro for the settlement of the question.
For my own part, L should have been
willing to yield my assent to almost any
constitutional measure to accomplish this
object. l, therefore, cordially apquiesced
III Hhut mas pcch Odllcu tnc EugllSn COm-
promise, and approved the Act for the
admission of the State of Kansas into
the Union" upon the terms therein pre-.
scrbed.
He then narrates and justifes the con.
ditiOns of the English bill as it respects
land grants.
An election was held throughout Kan.
sas in pursuance Of the provisions of this
act, on the second day of August last, and
it resulted in the rejection, by large ma
jority, of the proposition submitted to the
people by Congress. This being the cast,
they are now authorized to form another
constitution, preparatory to admission in.
to the Union, but not until their number,
as ascertained by census shall equal or
exceed the ratio required to elect a mem.
Der to the House of Representatives.
He presumes that otter their sad ex-
perience, they will not again make
movement in defiance of Congress, and
that as they have already nearly occupied