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THE BLESSINGS OF GOVERNMENT, I IKE THE DEWS OF HEAVEN, SHOULD BE DISTRIBUTED ALIKE UPON THE HIGH AND THE LOW, THE RICH AND THE POOR.
JOE W: SERIES.
EBEPf SBURG, DECEMBER 10, 1856.
VOL; . NO. 7.
1
TIIE DEMOCRAT' 'SENTINEL, is publish
ed every Wednesday morning, in Ebensburg,
Cambria Co., Pa;, at $1 50 per annum, if paid
is advance, if not $2 will be charged.
ADVERTISEMENTS will bo conspicuously in
serted at the following rates, viz :
X 1 square 8 insertions, $1 00
3$very subsequent insertion, . 25
1 square 3 months,
1 6
" 1 year,
col'n 1 year.
t
12
30
15
6
00
00
00
00
00
00
Business Cards.
ftTwelve lines constitute a square.
ElT G30US, XEt .
TIIE subscriber takes pleasure in announcing
to his numerous customers, and the public
generally, that he is now. opening one of the
largest and most desirul Ie stocks of
FALL AND W.NTElt GOOD3 I
ever presented to this community. Ia.s stock
consists chiefly of the following viz :
LADIES DKESS GOODS !
such as Talmas, Vizettes. Shawls, Silks, Meri
nos, Cashmeres, Woolen Plaids, De Laines, De
Itages, Alapacas, Ginghams, Calico i BONNETS
Ribbons, Collars, Trimmings, rc.
GENTLEMEN'S CLOTHING !
nch as Over Coats, Dress Coats, Pants, Vests,
Shirts, Drawers, ivc. Also a large stock of
DOMESTIC GOODS!
such as Brown and Bleached Muslins, Drills,
Denims, Skirtings, Checks, Kentucky Jeans, Safi
uets, Gassiineres, Flannels Limlseys, Ticking,
filankets, ifC Also
Riots, Shoes, Hats, Cops. Trunks, Hardware,
Queenaware, Glassware, Tinware, and a large
stock of
GROCERIES!
ITa would solicit farmers who are in want of
GOOD CORN SHELLEIIS t"5r STRAW CUTTEIIS
to cll and examine his stock ; he would wish
alio to inform them that he Las made arrange
ments to supply them with all kinds of FER
TILIZERS, such as Peruvian and Mexican Gu-
nos. iVc. lie invites one and nil to come and
examine his laryc and well selected Stock, before
purchasing elsewhere, as he is determined to 6ell
at smaller profite than ever before known in this
vicinity. The ONE PRICE SYSTEM will be
continued as heretofore, s that parents may send
their children to make purchases with a much
advantage as if thev went themselves.
DANIEL M'LAUGIILIN.
Tunnel Hill, Ocvat-jr 8, 1856.
GREAT EXCITE51 GST!!
t'GOGO WM mm 1 !
THE snberiber would respectfully inform the
good citizens of Ebensburg and the adjoin
ing vicinity that he has relumed from Philadel
phia, with the largest and mt varied assort
ment of CJHOCEHIES ever ofl'ered. The stock
consists a follows :
CJrocerles: SMasses. Sugars, Teas, Ttiec,
Candles,Soaps, Fish, Salt, Hacuti & Hams. Flour,
Oat Meal, Corn Meal, Tobacco, Peaches, Dried
Apples. Saleratus, Baking Soda, Dried Herrings,
Purkcu's Baking Powder. Sardh-es, Mustard, Sp:
ces, Holloways Worm Confection, Vinegar.
Coufecllonarles :
, Candiet,
Jt.dsins.
Orangos,
Lemona,
Citrons,
Frui.f.
Segars,
Fruits,
- Figs.
Nuts of all kinds,
Uqt'.Ol-s: Cherry Brandy, Blackberry Bran
dy, .Raspberry Brand v, French Brandy, Port
Wine. Old Rye Whiskey.
llrtiftlie, ftc, Ac : Ilorse.Swcepiiig, Dus
ting, Scrub and White Wah -Brushes, Bed Cords,
Twine, Corii broom., H.-iskcts of all kinds, Tubs
and Buckets of all kinds, Wash Board, Butter
llowls. Nails, Lamp Globes, Curry Combs, Carpet
Hammers aud Tacks, Window Glass of all kind.,
Arnold's Ink, Hover's Ink, Steel Pens, Station
ary of all kinds.
Together with a large assortment of ott.ti arti
cles not enumerated, which will 1. s.h. a cheap
ifnot cheaper than any establishment ir. tne
-county. BICHARD TUDOR.
Ebensbirrg, July 80, 1856 4 0.
ALL pwns indebted t the estate of Milton
Roberts, dee'd, for cost3 as Prtheotary and
Clerk of the Quarter Sessions "are hereky notified j
o make payment v ithout delay, as it will be ve
ry unpleasant for me to have to resort to compul
sory measures and thereby add costs, which trill
be imperative uuk-es paid shortly. '
Howard J. Roberts, of this borough is duly au
thorized by ine to receive said foes and rece pt fcr
the same. He wi'.l attend for that purpe, a
the Prothonotar y'a office, m Ebensburj, at the en
liuin Court in DecemWr next.
JOHN WILLIAMS, Ei'r.
Ebensburg.-Oct. 25. 1856. -tf.
Valuable Real Estate
FOU SALE.'
I will sell at private sale that large and com
modious BRICK HOUSE, situate on High street,
in the Borough of Ebensbujg, I dng the property
-occupied by Milton Robetfs. dee'd., at the time
of his death. Also, a vattsailfX OTof Oil 0 USD
situate on the Clay Pike, aObTlt one half mile from
4aid Borough, containing 2 J acres enclosed and
n a good state of cultivation.
For terms apply to the subscriber residing on
the premises, or to John William, in Ebensbnrg.
MRS. MALYINA ROBERTS.
Sept. 17, 1856.-tf.
NEW ARRIVAL !
i! CICIRIIS! GROCESES!!
AST & BR0., would respectfully inform
their old customers as well as many Dew ores
that they have received a large quantity of Gro
ceries, which for quality and cheapness cannot be
excelled by any similar establishment west of the
Allegheny mountains. We are determined to
sell lower than the lowest, We have also, on
band .
20,000 CIGARS
which we will dispose of wholesale or retail.
CART & BRO.
July 9, 1856.
SOSrS OK TEMPRASCB.
?f7A Highhwd Division, No. 84, Sons of Tem
Ji&jperance meet at their Hall evory SATUR-
'"-DAY ewiing. in tbo upper story of R
av4' buiWJng.
PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.
FcUoic-Citizens of the Senate ?
and if the House of Kejorcseniaiu c s
The Constitution renuires that the Presid .nt
Iiall, from time to time, not only recommend . to
the consideration of Congress fuch measure s as
be may judge necesary and expedient, 1 ut also
that he shall give information to them of the
state of the Union. To do this fully involves , ex
position of all matters in the actual conditio! i of
the country, domestic or foreign, which ea en
tially concern the general welfare. Whil p er
forming his constitutional duty in this respe- st,
the President does not speak merely to exprt ss
personal convictions, but as the executive mi a is-
ter of the government, enabled by his positio n,
and called upon oybia official obligaUoi. i
scan with au impartial eye, the interests tf th e
whole, and of every part of the United states.
The condition of the domestic interests of th 3
Union, its agriculture, mines, manufactures, navi -gation
and commerce, it is necessary only to saj '
that the internal prosperity of the country, its ;
continuous and steadv advancement in wealth
and population, and in private as well as publh
vf.ll-lxinr attest the wisdom of our institutions .
and the predominant spirit of intelligence am 1 -
patriotism, which, notwithstanding occasioni.l
irregularities of opinion or action resulting from
popular freedom, has distinguished and charac
terized the people ot America.
In the brief interval between the termination
of the last and the commencement of the present
session of Congress, the public mind has been oc
cupied with the care of selecting, for another con
stitutional term, the .President and Vice Presi
dent of the United States.
The determination of tlie persons who are of
right, or contingently, to preside over the admin
istration of the government, is, under our sys
tem, committed to the States and the people.
We appeal to them, by their voice pronounced
in the forms of law, to call whomsoever they
will to the high post of Chief Magistrate. And
thus it u that as the Seuators represent the re
spective States of the Union, and the members of
the House of Representatives the several constitu
encies of each State, so the President represents
the aggregate population of the United States.
Their election of him is the explicit and solemn
act of the sole sovereign authority of the Union.
It is impossible to misapprehend the great
principles, which, by their recent pofitical action
the people of the United States have sanctioned
and announced.
They have asserted the constitutional equality
of each and all of the States of the Union as
States ; they have affirmed the constitutional
equality of each and all of the citizens of the
United States as citizens, whatever their religion,
wherever their birth, or their residence; they
have maintained the inviolability of the consti
tutional rights of the different sections of the
Union ; and they have proclaimed their devoted
and unalterable attachment to the Union and to
the Constitution, as oijects of interest superior to
all subjects of local or sectional controversy, as
tbe safeguard of the rights of all, as the spirit and
the essence of th liberty, peace and greatness of
the Republic.
In doing this, they have, at the same time,
emphatically condemned the ulea of organizing
in these United States mere geographical parties .
of marshalling iu hostile array towards eac a
other the diileient part of the country, North or
South, E.ifct or We.t.
kkheroes of this nature, fraught with inca'
lable mischief, and which the considerate s fliSe
of the peplii has rejected, could have had r coun
tenance iu no part of the country, had the y not
been disguise I by suggestions plausible i ji ap
pearance, acting upon in excited state of the
mind, induced by causes temporary in th jjr cha
racter, and it is to be hoped transient in t ieir in
tluencc. ,
Perfect liberty of association for poli tieal ob
jects, and the widest scope of discussio- j, are the
received and ordinary conditions of g vernment
in our country. Our institutions, frar jed iu the
spirit of confidence iu the intelligence and integ
rity of the people, do not ijibid cit; sens either
individually oi associated together, t. i attack by
writing, speech or auy other metho U short of
physical f rce, the Constitution and foe very ex
istence of the Union. Under the sh titer of this
great liberty, and protected by the 1: r.vs andusa
g s of the government they assail, associations
have been formed, in some of the Sta tcs, of indi
viduals, who, pretending to sect: only to prevent
the spread of the institution of slave fy into tho
rrisMit. nr fntiirn inolionte Stutpa :f llu lTninr
are really inflamed with desire to chaog-e the do !
mcstic institutions of existing htatxa.
lo ac-
complish their objects, they dedicate themselves j
to the odious task.f deprecating th J government
organization which stands m their way, and of
in their wav. and nf
calumniating, with' indiscriminate inveciive. not I
e, not
only the citizrnstf particular States, witli whose 1
laws thev find fai.lt, but all others of their fellow- .
citizens throughout the country, wh'i do not par- !
ticipate with tl em iu thoir assaults upon the Con- j
stitution, framed and adopted by our fathers, and i
claiming for the privileges it has secured, and the
blessing it has conferred, the steady support!
ami grateful reverence of thoir children. They .
sc-k an object which they well know to. be a re- .
volutunaiy one. j
They are perfectly aware that the chance iu
tne relativ
ces in the
promote, is ueyono uieir lawiui amnonty ; mat -
to taem is a lore.gu object ; that it cannot be ef- :
through burning cities, and ravaged fields, and
slaughtered populations, aud all there is most
terrible in foreign, complicate! with civil and
Sfrvi'.e war ; am; that the firt-t step in the attempt
is the forcible disruption ut" a country embracing
ia its broad bosom a degree of liberty, and an
amount of individual and public prosperity, to
which there is no para'hl in history; and sub
stituting in its place hostile governments, driven
at once and inevitably into mutual devastation
and fratricidal carnage, tiaisformin? the now
peaceful and felicitous brotherhood into a vast
permanent camp of armed men like the rival
monarchies of Europe aud Asia. Well kn wing ,
that such, and such only, are the means and the f
consequences, of their plans and purposes, thev
endeavor to prepare the people of the United
States for civil war by doing everything in their I
power to deprive the Coustitutiou and the laws of
moral authority, and to undermi
the. nion b7 appeals to passion and sectional i
prejudice; by indoctrinating its people with recio-!
rocal hatred, and educating them to stand face j
to face as enemies, rather than shoulder to shonl. 1
It is by the agency of such unwarrantable in
terference, foreign and domestic, that the minds
of many, otherwise good citizen?, have been go
inflamed into the passionate condemnation of the
domestic institutions of tbe southern States, as at
length to pass insensibly t j almost equally pas-
e condition ot the white and black ra- rather than improved hv the Mates nf 1hf
slave-holding States,'vbich they would ; Unioh. It stood on the statue books, howev
fectcd bv anv T;ofnl tnstrnmentalitv of Ihpira
thai for them, and the States of which thev ara .' C"meDr ot 11
ciliz''l! t':o on'.v o:lb to ita Acrnmrdishment i ' OtatO Ot lCXOS:
sionate hostibv towards their fellow citizcw of
those States, an thus finally to fall into terupo
rary fellowship wh the avowed and active ine
raies of . the Constitujon. Ardently attache to
liberty in the abstract, they do not stov to lon
Bider practically how the, objects they -would it
tain can be accomplished, nor to ieect, thsfc,
even if the evil were as greu as the y deem t,
they have no remedy to apply, and that it cai
be only aggravated by their violence and tmeoi-
stitutional action. A auestion. wh'wh ia
the most difficult of all the problems of socijl
institution, political economy and statesmanship
tbey treat rrith unreasoninsr irjtomnernc f
thought and language. Extremes beget extremes
Violent attack from the North and its inevitirbli
consequences in the frron-tJi r.f ,n;-;t. r
defiance at the South. Thus in the urom-ess of
toeyentsrwluid reached that v? summation whica
the voice of the Dconle has
buked of the attempt of a p- rtion of the States,
by a sectional organization . amd movement, to
usurp the control of the go ernmcnt of the Uni
ted States. '
I confidently believe th at the great body of
those who inconsidenitel y took this fatal step,
are sincerely attached to t Jie Constitution and the
Union. Thev would. .
with unaffected horror fr r m any conscious act of
uisumon or ciyu war. But they have entered
into a path which leads nowhere, unless it leads
10 civu war ana diunic;a, and which has no oth
er possible outlet. Th r f have proceeded ihus far
m tbat direction, ia co nsequence of the succes
sive stages of their pro gress having consisted of
a series ol secondary y ssues, each of which pro
fessed to be confine J within constitutional and
peaceful hmits, bat t ,hich attempted indirectly
what few men were i willing to do directly, that
is to act aggressivel y against the constitutional
lights of nearly one- half of the thirty one States.
In the long sorieg of acts of indirect aggression,
the first step was t'ae strenuous agitation, by citi
zens of the north ru States; in Congress aud out
of it, of the quest , l0u of negro emancipation in the
southern States.
The second i Cp in this path of evil consisted
of acts of the Teople of the northern States, and
in several iny t ances of their governments, aimed
to facilitate - J je escape of persons held to service
in the soutr rn States, and to prevent their extra
dition w he Xi reclaimed accordiiig to law, and in
virtue of express provisions of the Constitution.
To prom ote this object, legislative enactments
and othe t means were adopted to take away or
defeat i ights which the Constitution solemnly
guarant 1. ln order to nullify the then existing
act of Jongtess concerning the extradition of fu
gitives from service, laws were enacted in many
States - forbidding their officers, under the several
penal' jC8j iQ participate in the execution of any
act of ; Congress whatever. In this way that sys
tem jf harmonious co-operation between the au
thor itieg of the United States and of the several
Stat for iie maintenance of their common in
Ktlt utions, which existed in the early j-ears of the
re public, was destrqyed ; conflicts of jurisdiction
c june to be frequent ; and Congress fuund itself
iOmpelled, for the support of the Constitution,
anc tne vmoicaiiou of u (wwu, to iuul)orU tbe
nppointment of new ofiiccrs charged with the ex
ecution of its :cts, as if they and the officers of
the otates were the mimsters. respectively, of
foreign governments in a st'to of mutual hostility,
rather than fellow magistrates in a common
country, peacefully subsisting under the protec
tion of one well constituted Union. Thus here,
also, aggression was followed hy jcaction ; and
the attack.: tipon the Constitution at this point
did not sei-e to raise up Lew barriers for its de
fence and security.
The third stage of this unhappy sectional con- i
troversy was in connexion with the organization
of territorial govr rnments, and the nd mission of I
new Mates into the Union. When it wr.s propo
posed to admit the state of Maine, hy separation
of territory from that of Massachusetts, and the
State of Missouri, formed of a portion of the ter-
ruory ceteu by franco to the bmtod Sfates, r- ,
prcsentatives in Congress objocksd to the ndmis-
sion of the letter, unless with conditions suited to
particular views rf puttie policy. lhc impotti- i
tion of si!ch a c ndi:iors'v;-i? snccessfplly resisted. .
But at the same peiiotl, tho question" was pre- :
Jented of imposing restrictions upn the resid ie
of the territory cedel b' Frnnce. That question i
was, for tho time, disposed of by the adoption of -a
geographicn line of limitation.
In this connection it should not be f 'rg tten
that France, of h.cr own accord, resolved, for con- 5
siderations of the most far-sighted sagacity, to
cede Louisiana to the Ui.ited St.ites..'nnd "thai
accession was accepted by the United States, the i
,atter expressly engaged that "the inhabitants of ?
the ceded territory shall be incorporated iu the
union ot the Lmted blatos, and admitted as
soon as possible, according to the vrinendos of
, xe,;erai institution, to t::e enjuyrocnt ot all
. n - A 1 -
t,'e,rigts,
t,ie nSnts? advantages and immunities of citizens
OI tnc. united fctates i and in the meantime they
. a11 be maintained and protected in tho free en- .
J'ment of thfir liberty, property, nnd the religion
1 rrofoss" thnt is to say, while it remains in ;
a Hrr.ltoris-1l condition, its inhabitants arc main- :
ta"?od and protected in the Trea' enjoyment of;
tl)C,r. "berry and property, with 'a right then to i
Pas3 the condition of States on a foot:.ig of i
I1 el08lity with the original States.
Tbe enactment, which estaolished the re- j
strict ive geographical line, was acquiesced in
cr f0r a number of vears :,and the Deonl
tbQ resr,af.t:rft Kfut ' nt.nn:nA :
lie principle as applied k the
and it pronosed to acquiesce
In ls 'Urther application to the territory c
j quired by the United States from Mexico.
j But this proposition wis successfullv resisted
by the representatives from the ".Northern
States, who, regardless of tho line, insisted up
, on applying restriction to the new territory L
' generally, whether lying North or South of
. it, thereby repealing it as a legislative com- :
promise, and. on the part of the North, per- :
sistently violating the compact, if compact
' there was.
. Thereupon this enactment cease 1 to have !
, binding virtue in any sense, whether a.- ri-
spects the North or tho South : and so in t f ;
!'fct it was treated on the oceas'on of t:i ad
mission of the State of California, and '.'.. or
ganization of the Territories of New Mexico,
Utah and Washington.
Sueh was the State of this noes! ion when ;
the time arrived for tho orjMnization of the :
Territories of Kansas and Nebraska. s In the l
e ti ;; .l Mfl. .
tion. it had now at lenght come to be seen j
clearly that Congress does not possess consti-
tut lonal power to impose restnctions of this
character upon any present or future State of
the Union. In a lotg series of decisions, on
the fullest argument, and f ftcr the inost tle-
e of 1
liberate considerations the Supreme Court of
tue unitea state had hnaily determined this
point, in every iorm jjnder which the question
ceuld. arise, whether as affecting public or
private rignis in questions ot the public do
main, of religion, of navigation, and of sur
vitude. . " -
The teveral States of the Union are, by
force of the Constitution, co equal in domes
tic legislative power. Congress cannot change
a law of . domestic relation in the State of
Maine; no more can it in tho State of Missou
ri. Any statute which proposes to do this is
a mere nullity; it takes away no right, it con
fers none. If it remains on the statue book
1 unreyealad, it remains there only ; as a monu
I tent bfTMTOr, antJ a beaeoo D(img44U
I legislator and the statesman. To repeal it
will be oaly to remove imperfection from the
; statutes without affecting, either in tbe sense
ot permission or of prohibition, the action of
the Stales, or of their citizens.
Still, when the nominal restriction of this
nature, already a dead letter in law, was in
terms Repealed by the last Congress, in a
clause f the act organizing tbe Territories of
Kansaa, and Nebraska, that repeal was made
the occasion of a wide spread and dangerous ;
agnation
It wa alleged that the original enactment
being a compact of perpetual moral obligation,
its repeal constitutedjan odious breach of faith.
An a? of Congress, while it remains unre
pealed, uore especially if it be constitutional
ly valid ii the judgment of those public func
tionaries, whose duty ie is to pronounce on
that pout, is undoubtedly binding on the
conscience of each good citizen of the Repub
lic. But in wbatseDfe can it be asserted that
tbe enactment iu question was invested with
perpetuity tnd entitled to tbe respect of a sol
emu compact? Betwet n vrhoni was the com
pact? Xo distinct contending powe-s of the
government, no scperate fcections .of the U
nion, treating as such, entered into treaty
stipulations of the subject.
It was a mcro clause of an act of Congress,
and like any other controverted matter of leg
islation received its final shape and was pas.
sed by coojpiomise of the conflicting opinions
or se.ntiments of the members of Congress.
But if it had moral authority over men's con
sciences to whom did this authority attach ?
Not to those of the North, who had repeated
Ij refused to confirm it bj extension, and who
had zealously striven to establish other and
incompatible regulations upon the subject.
And if, as it thus appears, the supposed com
pact had no obligatory force as to the North,
of course it could not have had auy as to the
South, for all such compacts must bo mutual
and of reciprocal obligation.
It has not unfrequently happened that law
givers, with undue estimation of the value of
the law they give, or in the view of impar
ting to it peculiar strength, nmke it perpet
ual in terms ; but they cannot thus bind the
conscience, the judgment, and the will of
those who may succeed them, invested with
similar responsibilities, and clothed with equal
authority. More careful investigation may
prove the law to be unsound in priuciple. Ex
perience may fchow it to be imperfect in de
tail and impracticable in execution. And
then Loth reason and right combine not mere
ly to justify, but to require its repeal.
The Constitution, supreme as it is over all
the departments of the government, legisla
tive, executive and judicial, is open to amend
ment by its very terms ; and Congress or the
States may, in their discretion, propose amend
ment to it, soloniu compact though it be be
tween the sovereign States of the Union. In
the present instance, a pelitical euaetment,
which had ceased to have legal power or au
thority of any kind, was repealed. The posi
tion assumed, that Co-teress had no moral
right to enact such repeal, was strange enough. '
and singularly so iu view of the fact that the . m Kausas had its ongiu in projects of iutcr
arguuieut came from th'osa who oponly rcfus- t vention, deliberately arranged by ccrlaia
ed obedience to existing laws of the land, hav- members of that Coagross which ennited the
ing the
e s-ime popular desiguation and quality j
promise acts nay, more, who unequiv- !
as comprouu
oca Ily disregard and 'condemn tho most post- ;
live and obligatory injunctims of lhe Co.isti-
tution itself, and sought, by every u eans with- 1
iu their reach, to deprive a portiou of their '
fellow-citizens of the equal enjoyment of those
rights and privileges guaranteed alike to alt ;
by the fundamental compact of our Union.
This argument against tho repeal of the
statute line in question, was accompanied by
.
another of congenial character, and equally -
with the former destitute of foundation in rea-
son and truth. Ic was imputed that the meas
ure originated in the conception of extending
th limits of slave labor beyond those previ
ously assigned to it. a ad thitsucli was its nat
ural as well as intended efL-tt; and these base
less assumptions were made, in the Northern
States, the ground of unceasing assault upon
constitutional right.
The repeal in terms of a statute, which was
already obsolete, and al?o null for unconstitu
tionally, could have no influence to obstruct
or to promote the propagation of conflicting !
views of political or social institu'ion. When
the act organising tho Territories of Kansas !
and Nebraska was passed, the inherent effect
upon that portion of the public domain thus j
opecd to legal settlement , was to admit sot
tleis from all the States of the Union alike,
each with his convictions of public policy and
priva'e interest, there to found in their dis
cretion, s ubjf etc to uch limitations as the
Constitution and acts of Congress might prc-
bcni'c.
iuto to
States, hereafter to be admitted
tiir;
U
ni;
It
was a five field, open alike to a'.l, wheth- i
sr the statute Hue ffa-ohuaied restiicticn were i the Ephere of the Executive. But incidents ', nit for calm reflection and wise legislation
repealed pr not That repeal ditinot open to j of actual violence or of rgauiaed obstruction j either the legislative assembly of tho Territo
free comjHititiou of the diverse opinions and j of law, pertinaciously renewed from time to , ry. o- of Congress, will see th .t no act shall
domestio institutions a field, which, without i'time, have been met as they occurred, by sncu j remain on its statute book violative of tha
such repeal, would have been closed against
tbem ; found that field of competition already
opened, iu fact and in law. All the repeal
did was to rclievthe statute book of an objec
tionable enactment, unconstitutional in afiect
and injurious in terms to a large- portion of
theStatf - :
Is it the. fact that, in all the unsettled re
gions of the United States, if emigration be
left free tor act in this respect for itself, with
out legal prohibitions on either side, slave la
bor will spontaneously go everywhere, in pre
ference to free labor Y Is it the fact, that
the peculiar domestic institutions of the South
ern States possess relatively so much of vigor,
that, wheresoever an avenue is freely open to
all the world, they will penetrate to the ex
clusion of those of the Northern States ? Is
it the fact, that the former enjoy, compared
with tho latter, such irresistibly superior vi
tality, independent of climate, soil and all
other accidental . circumstances, as to be able
to produce the suppossed result, in spite of
the as8umw moil ,jtd na.tnr.L obstacles to
its accomplishment, and of the more numer
ous population of the Northern States ?
Uf course these imputations on the inten
tions of Congress in this respect, conceived
as they were in prejudice and disseminated in
passion, are utterly destitute of any justifica
tion in the nature of things, and contrary to
all the fundamental doctrines and Drinci Dies
of civil liberty and self-government. ,
lhe argument of those who advocate the
enactment of new laws of restriction, and con
demn the repeal of old ones, in effect avers
that their particular views of crovernmcn' have
no self-extending .or self-sustaining power of
their own, and will go nowhere unless forced
by act of Congress. And if Congress do but
pause for a moment in the pob:cy of stern co
ercion if it venture to try the experiment of
leaving men to judge for themselves what in
stitutions will best suit them if it be not
strained up to perpetual legislative, exertion
on this point if Congress proceed thus to
act in the very spirit of liberty, it is at once
charged with aiming to extend slave labor iii
to all the new territories of the United States.
While, therefore, in general, the people of
the Northern States have never, at any time,
arrogated for the federal government the pow
er to interfere directly with the domestic con
dition cf persons in the Southern States, but,
on tbe contrary, have disavowed all intentions,
and have shrunk frOm conspicuous affiliation
with those few who pursue their fanatic:.! ob
jects avowedly through the comtefiplated
raans of revolutionary change of the govern
ment, and with acceptance of the necossary
consequences a civil and seivile war vet
many citizens have suffered themselves to "be
drawn into one evanescent political issue of
agitation after another, appertaining to the
same set of opinions, and which subside as
rapidly as they arose when it came to be seen,
as it uniformly did, that they were incompati
ble with the compacts of the Constitution and
the existence of the Union. Thus, when the
acts of some of the States to nullify the ex
isting extradition law imposed upon'Congress
the duty of passing a new one, the couutry
was invited by agitators to enter into party '
organization for ita repeal; but that agitation
i i ii , ..
revolutionary attack on -the domestic msti
usutu-
tions of the South, aud, alter a troubled exis
tence of a few months, has been rebuked by !
the voice of a patriotic people. !
Of this last agitation oue lamentable fca- '
turewas, that it was carried on at the iiiiUiC- j
diate expense of the peace aud happiness cf j
the people of the territory ofKausas. That;
was made the battle-fi jld. not so much of n- '
noainff
factious or interests within
i o
?is
o;
the couSieting passi
ns of the wh j'e people of
the United fc'iates. Revolutionary disorder-
law for the organization of tho territory. And
idien propagandist colonization of Kinas
lll.v 1 a A
'"us Dcen under taiicu iu one sect;j:i ol
the Uuiou, for the systematic promoti m of
iis view6 of po'ic', tuere cu-ueJ, a wutloi- of
course, a counteraction with opposite views,
ia other sections of the Uniou. .
In consequence of these aul other incident,
many acts of disorder, it is understoo , have
beeu perpetrated in Kansas, to the occai mi .1
interruption, rather than the p2a.nau.Mir sui
pens - ton, oi regular government. aggressive
and most rer-rtdienslble incursions iuto the
Territorv were undertaken, both iu the North !
and the South, and entered in on its northern
. .. . ... '
border by the way ot lowa, as well As on tne
eastern by the way of Missouri ; and there
has existed within it a state of insurrection a-
- . it. . 1?. X-J . ?.t 1.
gainst ine const' rutea auiuonues, nos wiruous j
countenaneo from incousidcrate persons in ;
each of the great sections of the Union. Hat
the difficulties in that Territory have been ex- ;
travagantly exaggerated for purposes of polit- j
teal agitation elsewhere.
The number and gravity of the aets of vie- t
lence have been magnified partly by state-
tnents entirely untrue, and partly by reitera-
tea accounts or tne same rumors m i.-ia.
Thus the Territory has been seemingly filled
with extreme vio.ence, when the whole a-
mount of such acts has not been greater than
what occasionally passes before us m single j
cities to the regret of all good citizens, but j
without being regarded as of general or per- :
manent political consequence ;
Troputed irregularities in the elections held :
'in Kansas, like occasional irregularities ofthe j
same discription in the btates, were txon.t ,
bpeeuuy ceasea oy reason or tne lmpractica- , iu upou lucm 10 wnicu certain otner
bility of its object. So, when the statute re-' Territories had been subject, therefore disor
strlction upon the institutions of new States, : cr3 occurred in the latter Territory, is eni
by i geographical line, had been repealed, th? ' phatically contradicted by the fact tbat none
country was urged to demand ita restoration, bavf occurred in the former. "
and that project also died almost with its birth. ' . Those disorders were not the consequence.
Then follows the cry of alarm from the North . a Kansas, of the fredotn of self government
agaii at imputed Southern encroachments ; conceded to that Territory by; Congress, but
which cry sprang in reality from the spirit of' uj'jost inicrfeience on the part of persons
means as were available and as tne eireum- provisions of the UonsUtntion, or subversive
stances required ; and nothing of this eharac- J of ih? great objects for which that was or
ter now remains to affect the general peace of , da;ne l and established, and will take all other
the Union. The attempt of a part of the in- necessary steps to assure to it inhabitants tl:
habitants cf the Territory to erect a rvo'u- , enjoynieut, without" oustmeitoas or abrM-o-
tionary government, thongn- scdulous y cn- !
couraffod
ana
BUppIietl , w;ta -pecnsia.y a.u
from active agents of disorder in some of the
States, has completely failed. Bodies of arm
ed men, foreign to the Territory have been
prevented from entering or compelled to leave
it Predatory bands, engaged in acta of rap
ine, under cover of the existing political distur
bances, have been arrested or dispersed. And
every well disposed person isnow enabled occe
more to devote himself in peace to the puisuita
of prosperous industry, for the prosecution of
which, he uudcrtook(to participate in the set
tlement of the Territory. . - ;
It affords me nnmiugled satisfaction thus
to announce the peaceful condition of things
iu Kansas, especially considering the mean
to which it was necessary to have recourse for
the attainment of the end, namely; the employ
men t'cf a part "of the military force of the Uni
ted States The withdrawal of that force from
its proper duty of defending the country against
foreign foes cr the savages of tbe frontier, to
employ it for suppression of domestic insurrec
tion, is, when the exigency occurs, a matter
of the most earnest solicitude
On this occasion of imperitive necessity it bas
been done' with the best result?, and my satis
faction in tha attainment f such results, by
such means is greatly enchanced by the consid
eration that, through the wisdom and energy
of the present Executive of Kansas, and the
prudence, firmness and vigilance of the mili
tary officers on duty there, tranquihiy has been
restored without one drop of blood having
been shed iu is accomplishment by the forces
of the Utited States.
The restoration of comparative tranquility
in that Tenitiry furnishes the means of ob
terving camly, and appreciating at their just
value, the events which have occurred there,
and tbe discussions of which the government
of the Territory has been the subject.
We perceive that controversy concerning
its future domestic institutions was inevitable;
that no human prudence, no form of legisla
tion, no wisdom on the part of. Congress,
could have prevented this - .
It is idle to suppose that the particular
provisions of the organic law were the cause
of agitation. These provisions were but the
occasion, or the pretext of agitation, which
was inherent in
the nature
of things.
Con-
rcsi legislated
upon the subject
in such
leruis as were most consonant wua tne prin
ciple of popular sovereignty which underlies
our government. It could not Lave legisla
ted otherwise without doing violence to auo
ther great principle of our institutions, the
inprescriptiblc right of equality cf the several
States. "
We perceive, also,' that sectional interests
and party passions, have been the great im
pediment to the salutary operation of the or
ganic principles adopted, and the chief causa
of the successive disturbances in Kansas.
The assumption that, because in tbe organi
2a
zation of the Territories of XehraW mnA
"-;
ansas Congress abstained from iinnosinff
i i-i . ..
not inUabitants ot the lerritory. Such mter-
farence, wherever it has exhibited itself, bv
acts of insurrectionary character, or of ob
struction to processes of law, has been repel
led cr suppressed, by all the means which the
Constitution and the laws place in the hands
of tbe Executive. . - .
In those parts r f ha United States where,
by reasou of tbe i fl imed state of the publio
min J, false rnuifTi nnd misrepresentation have
'he greatest currency, it has been assumed
ihct it was the d ity of ths Executive not on
ly tj suppress insurrectionary movements in
Km;i?, but aloo to see to the regularity of
1.1-1.- r. .....
tueai en cious, if needs little
argument to
Ci. -HV 1 I, f t 1 a 1 TV
tow that Use i'i-csiderft has no suea now.
cr All government in the : United States
!" Si?"
OsJaiitially uprm popular election. Tha
i :"C
ed.i-u of dec: ions js liable o be imr.a.rA.1
by the i.itrusion of unlawful votes, or the ex
clusion cf lawful ones, by improper iHuwuces,
by violence or fraud. ' .
13ut the pepleof the United States are
themselves the a!l-sunMeu guardians of their
owa rights and to suppvsi til it they will not
raniidy. ia due season, any suo'a . incidents of
civil f.'ceJom. is to supp so them to have ceas
ed to be capable of self-govern meet Tha
Prcsiient of the United States has not nower
to imerpoo in elections, to see to their freo-
A .1. .
dom, ti canvass their votes, or to pass upon
tncir legality in ine .territories
than ii) the States.
any uore
If I had saih power the government mighi
be republican iu form, but it would bs a mon
archy in fact: and if he had undertaken to
exercise it in the case of Kansas, he would
have been ju 4ly subject to the charge of usur
pation, and of violation of tha dearest ri"hU
oi the people of the United States.
Urfwise laws, equally with irreglarittes at
elections, are, in periods of preat excitement
h occaSiO...l ineidentq of vn tha fro.k
an j hest political institutions. But all expe-
rience demonstrates tbat in a eountry like ours,
where the rih nf Plf Mn.titntmn
thc COu?p!tttesr form, the attempt to remedy
uawisa legislation bv resort to revolution, is
out of place ; inasmuch as existing le-
gaj i.'stlturious auord more prompt and effic-
cious mena for the redress of wronsr -: '
I confidently trust that' now when tha
peaceful condition of K nsas affords opportu-
ment. cf all the consti tv.Iiiti5il rights, priI-,
icges, aa l immunuics cr vH iz.is- ..G-tbc V-I-
ii