Litchfield enquirer., 1858-12-09

ion, however small may be the number of it's inhabitants, yet this power ought, not, in my opinion, to be exercised before the population shall amount to the ratio required by the act for the admission of Kansas. Had this been previously the rule, the country would have escaped all the evils and misfortunes to which it has been exposed by the Kansas question.
 Of course, it>would be unjust to give this rule retrospective application, and exclude a State which, acting upon the past practice of the Govefnment, has already formed its Con stitution, elected its Legislature and other of hcefs, and Is now prepared to enter the Union,
 The rule ought to be adopted, whether we consider its bearingson the people of the Ter ritories or upon the people of the existing States. Many of the serious dissensions which have prevailed in Congress and throughout the country would have been avoided had this rule been established at all earlier period of the | Government
 Immediately upon the formation of new Territory, people from different States and from foreign countries rush into it, for the lut- able purpose of improving their condition Their hrst duty to themselves is to open and culti- vate farms, to construct roads, to establish schools, to erect places of religious worship, and to devote their energies generally to reclaim the wilderness and to lay the foundations of a Hourshing and prosperous commonwealth. If, in this incipient condition, with population of few thousand, they should prematurely enter the Union, they are oppressed by the burden Of State taxation, and the means necessary ft r 1 the improvement of tie Territory and the ad- vancenient of their own interests are thus d- verted to different purpose.
 1 The Federal Government has ever been a liberal parent to the Territories, and gener- ous contributor to the useful enterprises of the early settlers. It has paid the expenses of their Governments and Legislative assemblies out of the common treasury, and thus relieved them from a heavy charge. Under these cir cumstances nothing can be better calculated to retaro their material progress, than to ai- vert them from their useful employments by prematurey exciting angry political contests "mong themselves, for the benefit of aspiring leaders. It is surely no hardship for embryo Governors, Senators and members of Congress, to wait until the number of inhabitants shall equal those of single Congressional District. They surely ought not to be permitted to rush half of several of the large counties in the in- tCtioi Ol SOiIIC Ol CIIc StdGtS. HIS WdS GHt condition of Kansas when it made application to be admitted under the Topeka Constitution Besides, it requires some time to render the mass of population collected in new Terri tory at all homogeneous and to unite them on any thing Ike fixed policy. Establish the rule, and all will look icrward to it and govern themselves accordingly.
 But justice to the people of tie several States requires that this rule should be estab- lished by Congress. Each State is entitled to two Senators and at least one Representative in Congress. Should the people of the States fail to elect Vice President, the power de- wolves upon the Senate to select this officer from the two highest candidates on the list. In case of the death of the President, the Vice President thus elected by the Senate, becomes President of the United States
 On all questions of legislation, the Senators from the smallest States of the Union have an equal vote with hose from the largest. The same may be sad in regard to the ratification of treaties, aud of the Executive appointments. All this has worked admirably in practic", while it conforms in principle with the charac- ter of a government instituted by Sovereign States. presume no American citizen would desire the slightest change in the arrangement. Still, is it not unjust and unequal to the ex st. ing States to invest some 10000 or 50,000 people collected in a Territory with the attr;- butes of sovereignty, and place them on an equal footing with Virginia and New York in the Senate of the United States
 For these reasons I earnestly recommend the passage of general act which shall pro vide that, upon the application of Territorial Legislature, declaring their belief that the Territory contains number of inhabitants, which, if State, would entitle them to elect a member of Congress, it shall be the duty ot the President to cause census of the inhahl-. tants to be taken, and if found sufficient, then by the terms of this act. to authorize them to proceed Gin their own way" to frame State Constitution preparatory to admission into the Union. 1 also recommended that an arpro- priation may be made to enable the President to take census of the people of Kansas.
 The present condition of the Territory of Utah, when contrasted with what it was year ago, is a subject for congratulation. It was then in a state of open rebellion and cost what it might, the character of the Govern ment required that this rebellion should be suppressed, and the Mormons compelled to yield obedience to the Constitution and the laws. In order to accomplish this object, as informed you in my last annual message, I ap- pointed new Governor instead of Brigham Young, and other Federal officers to take the place of those who, consulting their personal safety, had found it necessary to withdraw from the Territory. To protect these civil officers, and to aid them, as a posse comitatus, in the execution of the laws, in case of need, ordered detachment of the army to accom- pany them to Utah. The necessity for adopt ing these measures is now demonstrated. On the 18th September, 1857, Governor Young issued his proclamation, in the style of an independent sovereign, announcing his pur- pose to resist by force of arms the entry of the United States troops into our own Territory of Utah. By this he required all the forces