Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-12-09
Presidents Message.

tett0r- CUI>cHs OF tHe Sehdtc ana HOUSE ot
Representatives.
When we compare the condition OF the cOun-
try at the present day with what it was 4 year
ago, at the meeting of Congress, we have mnch
reason for gratitude to that Almighty Provi-
dence, which has never failed to nterpoSe for
our relief, at the most critical period of our
history One year ago the sectional strife be-
tween the North and the South, on the dan
gerous subject of Slavery, had again become
80 intense as to threaten the peace ana perpe-
tuty of the confederacy. The application for
the admission of Kansas as 4 State into the
Union, fostered this unhappy agitation, and
brought the whole subject once more before
Congress 1t was the desire of every patriot
that such measure of legislation might be
adopted as would remove the agitation from
the States, and Conine it to the, Territory
where it legitimateIy belonged. Much has been
done, | am happy to say, towards the accom-
pIishment of this object during the last session
of Kansas.
THE KANSAS QUESTION.
The Supreme Court of the United States
had previously de cided, that all American Citi-
gems have all equal right to take into the Terri
tories whatever is held as property under the
property there under the guardianship of the
Federal Constitution, so long as the Territori-
al condition shall remain.
This is now a welI-established position, and
the proceedings of the last session were alone
wanting to give it practical effect. The pTn
eiple has been recognized, in some form or 9th
er, by almost unanimous vote of both Houses
Of Congress, that Territory has right to
come into the Union either rs a free or slave
State, according to the will of a majority Of
it's people The just equality Of all the States
has thus been vendicated, and fruitful source
Of dangerous dissention among them has been
removed.
Whilst such has been the beneficial tenden-
Cy Of your legislative proceedings outside Of
Kansas, their influence has been nowhere SC
happy as within that Territory itself Left to
manage and control its own affairs in its own
way without the pressure of external influence,
the revolutionary Topeka organization, and all
resistance to the Territorial Government eStab-
lished by Congress- have been finally abandon
ell And as a natural consequence, that fine
Territory now appears to be tranquil and pros
perous and is attracting increasing thousands
Of migrants to make it their happy home.
The past unfortunate experience of Kansas
has enforced the lesson so often already taught
that, resistance to lawful authority, under our
form Of Government, cannot fail in the end to
prove disastrous to its authors. Had the pcO-
pie OF the Territory, yielded obedience to the
laws enacted by their Legislature, it would AZ
the present moment have contained a large adj
ditional population Of industrious and enterpr-
sing citizens who have been deferred from en-
tering its borders by the existence of civil
strife and organized rebellion.
1t was the resistance of rightful authority
and the persevering attempts to establish re-
voutionary government under the Topeka con-
SttutiOn, which caused the people of Kansas to
commit the grave error Of refusing to vote for
Delegates to the Convention to frame a Con-
stitutiOn under law not denied to be fair and
just in its provisions This refusal to vote has
been the prolific source of all the evils
which have followed In their hostility to the
Territorial Government they dsregarded the
principle, absolutely essential to the workings
of our form of Government that majority of
those who vote-not the majority of those who
may stay at home, from whatever cauSe-mu>t
decide the result of an election For this rea-
son seeking to take advantage of their own err
ror, they denied the authority of the convention
thus elected TO frame o constitution.
The convention, notwithstanding, proceeded
to adopt constitution uneXceptiOnable in its
general features, and providing for the submiS
sion Of the slavery question to vote of the
people, which, in my opinion, they were bound
70 do under the Kansas ard Eehraska act.
Iri3 |ai :ha 8 important question wh;ch kc3