Arkansas true Democrat., 1858-12-22
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
fettow- Citizens of the Senate
 nnd Nouse nf Renl.es sentntil.

and House of Representatives.:
 When we compare the condition of the coun- try at the present day with what it was one year ago, at the meeting of Congress, we have much reason for gratitude to that Almighty Pro- whence, which has never failed to interpose for our relief, at the most critical periods of our history One year ago, the sectional strife be- tween the north and the south on the danger ouS subject of slavery, had again become so in- tense as to threaten the peace and pcrpetuatv of the confederacy. The application for the admission of Kansas as a State into the Union, foStered this unhappy agitation, and brought the whole subject once more before Congress It was the desire of every patriot that such mea- sures of legislation might be adopted, as would remove the excitement from the States, and confne it to the territory where it legitmately belonged. Much has been done, am happy to say towards the accomplishment of this ob- Ject, during the last session of Congress- The supreme court of the United States had previously decided, that all American citizens have all equal right to take into the territories, whatever is held as property under the laws of any of the States, and to hold such property there under the guardianship of the federal con. stution, solong as the territorial condition shall remain
 This is now well established position, and the proceedings of the last session were alone wanting to give it practical effect. The princi- pie has been recognized, in some form or other, by all almost unanimous vote of both houses of Congress, that territory has right to come in- to the Union, either as free or slave State, ac. cording to the will of a majority of its people, The just equality of all the States has thus been vindicated, and fruitful source of dangerous discussion among them has been removed. Whilst such has been the beneficial tendency of your legislative proceedings outside of Kan I'sas, their influence has no where been so happy as within that territory itself Left to manage and control its own affairs in its own way, with out the pressure of external influence, the re- voutionary Topeka organization and all ress- tance to the territorial government established by Congress, have been finally abandoned. As natural consequence, that fine territory now | appears to be tranquil and prosperous, and is attracting increasing thousands of immigrants to make 1t their happy homes.
 The past unfortunate experience of Kansas has enforced the lesson so often already taught, that resistance to the lawful authority under our form ot government, cannot fail in the end to prove disastrous to its authors. Had the peo- pie or the territory yielded obedience to the laws enacted by their legislature, it would at the present moment have contained large ad- dltlona population of industrious and enterlris- Ing cl'lzens, who have been deterred from en- tering ts borders by the existence of civil strife and organized rebellion.
 It was the resistance to rightful authority and the pefseverng attempts to establish a revolu tlonary government under the Topeka constitu- | " Ipb 4l
 mt the grave error of refusing to vote for dele gates to the convention to frame constitution. under a 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 fol- lowed. In their hostility to the territorial go- vernment, they disregarded the principle, abso-
 utelv essential to the working of our form of go vernment, that a majority of those who vote not the majority who may remain at home, from whatever calise-must decide the result of an election. For this reason, seeking to take al vantage of their own error, they denied the au- thority of the convention thus elected to frame a constitution.
 The convention, notwithstanding preceded to adopt constitution unexceptionable in its general features, and providing for the submis- slon of the slavery question to vote of the peo- pie, which, in my opinion, they were bound to do, under 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, presisting in their first error, refraned from exercising their right to vote, and preferred that slavery should continue, rather than surrender revolutionary Topeka or 1 ganization.
 A wiser and better spirit seemed to prevail before the first Monday of January last, when an election was held under the constitution. A majority of the people then voted for a Cover nor and other State officers for member of Congress, and members of the State legislature.