Washington Bee (Newspaper) - December 18, 1857, Washington, Indiana WOULD RATHER BE RIGHT THAN BE DECEMBER 18, 1857. 20. WASHINGTON EDITOR and OF copy one in in 50 20 Citizens of the House of obedience to the command of thn it has now become my duty give to information of the state of the and recommend to their consideration such measures as I judge to be aud and above our thanks are due to God fur the numerous benefits he bestowed upon this peop and our united prayers ought to to Him that He would continue to our great Republic in time to come as he has blessed it in time tlie adjournment of the last Congress piir constituents have an degree of The has her fruits and has bountifully rewarded tlie toil of the Our great staples have commanded high up to within a brief our and mechanical occupations have largely partaken of the general We have tlie elements of material in Mch and notwithstanding all our in its is at the present moment in a deplorable the midst of unsurpassed plenty in all tiie productions of agriculture and in all the elements of national find our tures our public works our private enterprises of different and thousands of useful laborers thrown out cf employment and reduced to The revenue of the which is chiefly derived from duties on imports from has heen greatly whilst the appropriations made by Congress at its last session for the fiscal year are very large in the a loan be before the close of your present session but although tobe deeply would prove to be only a slight misfortune compared the suffering and distress prevailing the With this the fail deeply to though it may be without power to extend is our duty to inquire what has unfortunate and whether their recurrence can be prevented In all former the blame might have been fairly attributed to a variety of but not so upon the present Itis apparent that our existing have proceeded solely from our extravagant and vicious system paper currency and banking exciting the people to wild speculations and gambling in These revulsions must continue to re cur at successive intervals so long as tlie amount of the paper currency and bank loans and dis counts of the country be left to the hundred irresponsible banking from the very law of thoir will consult tlie interests of their rather than the public friends of tlie when they gave to Congress the power to coin jind to regulate the value and prohibited the States from coining emitting bills or making but gold and a tender in payment of- supposed they had protected the people against the evils an excessive and irredeemable paper They are not responsible for tiie existing anomaly a government endowed with the sovereign attributes of coining money aud regulating the value thereof should have iio power to prevent others from driving this coin out of the country and filling up the channels of circulation with which docs uot represent gold and is one of the highest and most responsible Julies of the government to insure the people a the amount of ought to be adapted with the utmost possible and skill to the of internal trade aud foreign If this be cither greatly above or below the proper marketable value of every property is or in the same and injustice to individuals as well as incalculable evils to the community are the under the construction of the federal constitution which has now prevailed too long to be this aud duty has been from the coining and virtually transferred to mom than fourteen hundred State acting independently of each aud their paper issues almost exclusively by ft regard to the interests of their Exercising the power of a paper currency instead of coin for the the first duty these banks owe to the public is to keep in their vaults a sufficient amount of gold and silver to insure the of their notes into coin at all times and under all Jfo bank ought ever to be chartered without such restrictions on its business as to secure this All other restrictions are comparatively is the only true the only regulator of a paper only which can guard the public against overissues and bank As a collateral and eventual security it is doubtless and in all cases ought to be that banks hold an amount of United States or State securities equal to their notes in circulation and pledged for their furnishes no adequate security on the it may be perverted to inflate the it is possible by this means to convert all the debts of the United States into bank without reference specie required to redeem valuable these securities may be in they cannot be converted into gold and silver at the moment of as our in sufficient time to prevent bank suspensions and the depreciation of bank In which is to a considerable extent a paper money though vastly behind our own in this it was deemed anterior to the act of 1844, which wisely separated the issue of notes from the banking for the Bank of England always to keep on hand gold and silver equal to one-third of its combined circulation and this proportion was no mere thain sufficient to secure the of its with the of Great and to some extent tlie continent of Europe as a field for its Tendering it almost impossible that a sudden and immediate run lo a dangerous amount should toe made upon the same proportion would certainly be under our banking of our fourteen hundred banks has but a limited circumference for its and in the course of a very few days the depositors and note holders might demand from such a bank a sufficient amount in specie to compel it to even although it had coin in its vaults equal to one-third of its immediate I am not with the exception of the banks of that any State bank throughout the Union has been required by the charter to keep this or any other proportion of gold and silver compared with the amount of Its combined circulation and What been the consequence In a recent report made by the Treasury Department on the condition of the banks throughout the different according to the returns dated nearest to 1857, the aggregate amount of actual in their vaults is of their and of their deposits Thus it appears that these banks in the aggregate have considerably less than one dollar in seven of gold and silver compared their circulation and was that the very first pressure must drive them to and deprive the people of a convertable currency with all its disastrous It is that they should have so long continued to preserve their when a demand for ilie payment of of their immediate liabilities would have driven them into this is the Condition of the that four hundied millions of gold from California have flowed in upon us the last eight and tlie tide still continues to such has been the extravagance of bank credits that the banks now hold a less of either in proportion to their capital or to their circulation and deposits they did before the discovery of gold in in the year 1848 their in proportion to was more to one dollar for four and a in 1857 it does not amount to one dollar for six dollars and thirty cents of their In 1848 the specie was within a very small fraction to one dollar in five of their circulation and statement it is easy to account for our financial history for tiie last forty It has been a history of extravagant expansions in the business of the followed by ruinous At successive intervals the best and most enterprising men have been tempted to their ruin by excessive bank loans of mere paper exciting them to extravagant importations of foreign and ruinous and demoralizing stock the crisis as arrive it the banks can no relief to the In a vain struggle to redeem their liabilities in specie they are compelled to contract their loans and their issues and at in the hour of their when their assistance is most they and their debtors together sink into is this paper of extravagant raising the nominal price of every article far beyond its real when compared with the cost of similar articles in whose circulation is wisely has prevented us from competing in our own markets witli foreign has produced extravagant and has counteracted the of the large incidental protection afforded to our domestic manufactures by the present revenue But for tlie branches of our manufactures composed of raw the production of our own as and woolen not only liave acquired almost exclusive possession of the home but would have created for themselves a foreign market throughout the as may be our present financial may yet indulge in bright hopes for the No other nation has ever existed which could have endured such violent expansions and contractions of paper credit without lasting yet the buoyancy of the energies of our and the spirit which rever quails before will enable us soon to recover from our present financial and may even occasion us speedily to forget the lessons they have in the the by all proper means within its to aid iu alleviating the sufferings of the by the suspension cf the and the recurrence of the same in either aspect of the it can do but Thanks to the independent the government has not suspended as it was compelled to do by tlie failure of the banks in 1837. will continue to its liabilities to the people in gold and Its disbursements iu coin will pass into and assist in restoring a sound From its we be compelled a temporary it can be effected oil if be if then the amount shall be limited to the lowest practicable determined whilst no useful government already in progress shall be liew not already will be if this can be done injury to the Those for its defense shall proceed though there had been no crisis in our monetary the Federal Government cannot do much to provide against a recurrence of existing Even if insurmountable constitutional objections did not exist against the creation of a National this would furnish no adequate preventive The history of tlie last 13ank of the United States abundantly proves the truth of this Such a bank could if it would regulate the issues and credits of fourteen hundred banks in such a manner as to prevent the ruinous and contractions in our which afflicted us throughout tlie existence of the late or secure us In 1825 an effort was made by the Bank of England to curtail the issues of the country banks the most able paper currency had been expanded to a ruinous and the bank put forth all its power to contract it in o' der to reduce prices and restore the equilibrium of foreign It accordingly commenced a system of of its loans and in the vain hope that the joint stock and private banks of the kingdom would be compelled to follow its It that as it contracted they and at the end of the to employ the language of a very official reduction of the paper circulation was effected by tlie of England 1625) was more than made up by the issues of the country the Bank of the United States would if it restrain the issues and loans of the because its duty as a regulator of the currency must often be in direct conflict wilh the immediate interests of its If we expect one agent to restrain or control at least iu some de be But the directors of a Bank of the United States would feel the same interest and the inclination with the direct ors of the State banks to expand the to their favorites and friends with and to declare large Such has been our experience in regard to the last we must rely upon the patriotism and wisdom of the States for the prevention aud redress of the If they will afford us a real specie basis for our paper tion by increasing the denomination of bank first to and afterwards to fifty if they will require that the banks shall at all times keep on hand at least one dollar of gold and silver for every three dollars of their circulation and and if they will provide by a self-executing nothing can that the moment they suspend they shall go into I believe that such with a weekly publication by each bank of a statement of its would go far to secure us against future suspensions of specie in my possesses the power to pass a uniform law applicable to all banking institutions throughout the United and I strongly recommend its This would make it the irreversible organic lair of each that a suspension of specie payments shall produce its civil The of would then compel it to perform its duties in such a manner as to escape tlie penalty aud preserve its existence of banks and the circulation of bank paper are so identified with the habits of our that they cannot at this day be suddenly abolished without much immediate injury to the If we could confine them aud confine them to the functions of banks of deposit and relations with foreign governments upon the in a satisfactory diplomatic difficulties which existed between the governments ot the United States and that of Great Britain at the adjournment of the last Congress have been happily terminated by the appointment of a British Minister to this country who has been cordially it is greatly to the as I am convinced it is the sincere of the governments and the people of the two countries to be on terms of intimate with each it has been our misfortune almost always to have had some if not outstanding question with Great the origin of the we have been employed in negotiating treaties with that and afterwards in discussing their true intent and In this respect the convention of April 19, 1850, commonly called the Clayton and Bulwer has been the most unfortunate of because the place directly opposite and constructions upon its first and most important in the United we believed that this treaty would place both powers on an exact equality by the stipulation that neither will ever or or or exercise any over any part of Central it is contended by the British government that the true construction of this language has left them in the rightful possession of all that portion of Central America which was in their occupancy at the date of the in that the treaty is a virtual recognition on the part of the United States of the right of Great either as owner or to the whole extensive coast of Central sweeping round from the Rio Hondo to the port and harbor of San Juan del together with the adjacent Bay except tlie small portion of this between the arston and Cape According to their the treaty does no more than simply prohibit them from extending their possessions in Central America beyond the present It is not too much to assert that if in the United States the treaty had been considered susceptible of such a it never would have been negotiated under the authority of the nor it have received the approbation of the The universal conviction in the United Stales that when our government consented to violate its traditional and time honored and to stipulate wilh a foreign government never to occupy or territory in the Central American portion of our own continent the consideration for this sacrifice was that Great Britain in this respect at be placed in the same position with Whilst we have no right to doubt the sincerity of the British government in their construction of the it at the same time my deliberate conviction that this is in opposition both to its letter aud its the late administration negotiations were instituted between the two governments for the if of removing these and a treaty having this laudable object in view was signed at Loudon on tlie 17th of 1856, and was by the President to the Senate on the following lOth of this either in its original or amended would have accomplished the object intended without giving birth to new and embarrassing complications between the two may perhaps be well Certain it it was rendered much less objectionable by the amendments made to it by the The as was ratified by me on the 12th of 18.57, and was transmitted to London for ratification by the British That government its willingness to concur iu all the amendments made by the Senate with the single exception of the clause relating to Ruatan and the other islands in the Bay of The article iu the original as submitted to the after reciting that these islands aud their inhabitants been by a convention bearing date the 27th day of 185G, her Britannic Majesty and the Republic of constituted aud free under the sovereignty of the said Republic of stipulated that the two contracting powers do hereby mutually engage to aud respect in all future time the independence and rights of the said free territory as a part of the Republic of an examination of this convention between Great Britain and Honduras of the 27tli 1856, it was found the Bay Islands to be territory un der the sovereignty of the republic of it deprived that republic of rights without which Its sovereignty over them could scarcely be said to It divided them from the re mainder of and gave to their inhabitants a separate government of their with and judicial officers elected by deprived the government of Honduras of the taxing power in every and exempted the people of the island from the performance of military except for their owu exclusive It also prohibited that republic from erecting fortifications upon them for their pro leaving them open to invasion from any it provided that shall not at any time hereafter be of the and which might be contained in a future convention between the same to sanction them in fact that when two nations like Great Britain and mutually desirous as they and I trnst ever may of maintaining the most friendly relations each have unfortunately concluded a treaty which they understand in senses directly the wisest course is to abrogate such a treaty by and to commence Had this been done all difficulties in America would most ere liave been adjusted \o tlie satisfaction of both The time spent in discussing the meaning of the Clay ton and treaty would have been devoted to this praiseworthy and the task would have been the more easily because the interest of the two countries in Central America is being confined to securing safe transits over all the routes across the entertaining these I shall nevertheless not refuse to contribute to any reasonable adjustment of the Central American questions which is not practically inconsistent wilh the American of the treaty Overtures for this purpose have been recently made by the British Government in a friendly which I cordially but whether this renewed effort will result iu I am not yet prepared to express an A brief period will our ancient relations of friendship still continue to The French government have in several recent instances which need not be evinced a spirit of good will and kindness towards our country which I heartily It much to be regretted that two nations whose productions are of such a character as to invite the most extensive exchanges and freest commercial should continue to enforce ancient and obsolete restrictions of trade against each Our commi roial with France is in this respect an exception from our treaties with all other commercial It jealously levies on tonnage and on the or manufacture of the one arriving in vessels belonging to the than forty years on the of 1815, Congress passed ait offering to all nations to admit their vessels laden their national productions into the ports of the United States upon the same terms with our own provided they would reciprocate to us similar This act confined the reciprocity to the productions of the forsign nations might enter into the proposed arrangement with the United Thj act of May 24, 1828, removed this and offered a similar reciprocity to all such vessels without reference to the origin o' their err Upon these our commercial treaties and have been except with and let us hope that this may liot long relations Russia remain as they have ever the most friendly The present as as predecessors have never when the occasion to manifest their good will to our and their friendship has always been highly appreciated by the and people of the United all other except that of our relations are as peaceful as we could I regret to say that no progress whatever has been since the ad of toward the of any of the numerous claims of our citizens against the Spanish the outrage committed on our flag by the war frigate the high off the coast of in Ma 18r5, by firing into the American El ai d detaining and searching remains unacknowledged and The general tone and temper of the Spanish government toward of the United States to 1 e Our present envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to madrid has asked to be and it is my purpose to send out a new minister to special instructions on pending between the two aud with a determination to have speedily and amicably if this be In the mean whenever our minister urges the just claims of our citizens on the notice of the Spanish he is the objection that Congress his never made the appropriation recommended by President Polk in his annual message of December 1847, be paid to the Spanish government for the purpose of distribution among the claimants in the Amistad A similar recommendation was made by his immediate predecessor in his message of 1853; and entirely concurring with both in the opinion this indemnity is justly due on our own as well as of the empire of difficulties with New a time since bore so threatening an it is to bo in a fair train of settlement in a manner just aud honorable to both Isthmus of Central including that of is the great highway between the Atlantic and over a large portion of the commerce of the world is destined to The United States are more deeply interested than any other nation in preserving the freedom aud security of all communications across the It is our to take care that they shall not be either by invasion from our owu country or by wars between the independent States of Central our treaty wish New of the 12th 1846, we are bound to guaranty the neutrality of the Isthmus of through which tlie Panama as well as the of sovereignty and property which New Grenada has and possesses over the said obligation is founded upon equivalents granted by the treaty to the government and people of the United these I recommend to Congress the passage of an act authorizing the in case of to employ the land and naval forces of the United Stales to carry into effect this guaranty of and 1 also recommend similar legislation for the security of any other route across the iu which we may acquire an interest by the independent republics on this continent it is bolli our duty and interest to cultivate the most friendly We can never feel indifferent to their and must always rejoice iu their both for them and for our example and advice have lost much of their influence in consequence of the lawless expeditions which have been fitted out against some of them within the limits of our Nothing is better calculated to retard our steady material or impair our as a than the t of such in violation of law of is one of the first and highest duties of any independent in its relations with the members of the groat family of to restrain the people from acts of hostile aggression against their citizens or The most eminent writers on public law do not hesitate to denounce such hostile acts as robbery and mur and feeble like those of Central may not feel themselves able to assert aud vindicate their The case would be far different if expeditious were set on foot territories to make private war against a powerful If such expeditions fitted out from abroad against any portion of our own to burn down and plunder our and usurp our we call any power on earth to the strictest account for uot such since the administration of General acts of Congress have been in to punish severely the crime of setting on foot a military expedition within the limits of the United to proceed front thence against a nation or stale with whom are at The present neutrality act of April 1818, is but little more than a collection of pre-existing Under this act the President is a of their under the there was no question then before Hor indeed has there since been except that relates to the of after an and excited finally determined by a majority of only to submit the question of slavery to the though at the last of the fifty delegates present affixed their signatures to the large majority of the convention were in favor of establishing slavery iu They accordingly inserted an article in the Constitution for this similar in form te those adopted by other Territorial In the for the transition from a Territorial to a State question has been fairly and to the people whether they have M constitution or It before the constitution adopted by the convention be sent to Congress for admis ion into the as a an election shsU be held to decide this at all the white male inhabitants of the Territory of twenty-one are entitled to areto vote by aud ballots cast at said election shall be indorsed with and no If there be a majority in favor of the then it is to be transmitted to Congress by tiie President of the convention ill its original on the be a majo with no appropriate and prevent them from administering toe th spirit of wild aud reckless speculation by extravagant loans and they might be continued wilh advantage to this I after long and much if experience shall prove it to be impossible to enjoy the facilities well-regulated banks without at the same time suffering the calamities which the excesses of the banks have hitherto inflicted upon the it would then be far the lesser evil to deprive j them altogether of the power to issue a Honduras ratified this she would have ratified the establishment of a State substantially independent within her own and a Stale at all times subject to British influence and had United States ratified the treaty with Great Britain in its original we should have been bound recognize and in all future these stipulations to the of Being in opposition to the spirit and meaning of the Clayton and Bulwer treaty as understood in the United the Senate rejected the entire and in its stead a simple recognition of the sovereign right of Honduras to these islands in the following two contracting parties do hereby mutually engage to recognize and re spect the islan Is of Bar and situate iu the Bay of and off the coast of the Republic of as under the and as part of the said Republic of Britain rejected this assigning as the only that the ratifications of the convention of the 27th 1856, between her and had not been owing to the hesitation of Had this been it is stated that government would have had little difficulty in agreeing to the modifications proposed the which then would have had in effect the same signification as the Whether this would have been the effect; whether the mere circumstance of the exchange of the ratifications oi the convention Honduras prior iu point of time to the ratification of our treaty with Great Britain have had same signification as the original and thus nullified the amendment of the may well It fortunate that the question has never British government immediately after rejecting the treaty as proposed to enter into a new treaty with the United States similar in all respects to the treaty which had just refused to if the United States would consent to add to the clear aud unqualified recognition of the sovereignty of Honduras over the Bay Islands the following conditional and so soon as the Republic of Honduras shall have concluded and ratified a treaty witli Great by which Great Britain shall have and the Republic of Honduras have accepted the said islands subject to the provisions and conditions contained in such proposition was of course After tlie Senate had refused to recognize the British convention with Honduras of the 27th 1856, with full knowledge of its it was impossible for necessarily this indemnity is justly due under tl treaty with Spain on the 27th 1795, earnestly recommend an appropriation to the consideration of treaty of friendship and commerce concluded at Constantinople on the 13th 1856, between the United States and the ratifications of which were exchanged at on the 13th of 1857, and the treaty was proclaimed the President on the of 1857. it is will prove beneficial to American The Shah has manifested an earnest disposition to cultivate friendly relations our and has expressed a strong that we should be represented at Teheran by a Minister Plenipotentiary and I recommend that an appropriation be made for occurrences in China have been unfavorable to a revision of the treaty with that empire of the 3d J 1844, with a view to the security and extension of our article of this treaty for a revision of in case experience should prove this to be which case the two at tlie expiration of twelve years from the date of said treat amicably concerning the by means of suitable persons appointed to conduct such twelve years expired on the 3d of 1855 but long before that period it was ascertained that important changes in the treaty were and several fruitless attempts made by the Commissioners of the United States to effect effort was about to be made for the same by our in conjunction with the ministers of England and but this was suspended by the occurrence of hostilities iu the Canton river between Great Britain and the Chinese hostilities have necessarily interrupted the trade of all nations with is in a state of and have occasioned a serious loss of life and the within the against the existing imperial still and it is difficult to what will be the these I have deemed it advisable to appoint a distinguished citizen of Pennsylvania Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to proceed to China and avail himself of any opportunities may to changes in the existing treaty favorable to American He left the United States for the place of his destination in July in the war steamer S. Ministers to China have also been appointed by of Great Britain and our Minister here has been instructed to occupy a neutral position in reference to the existing hostilities at he will cordially co-operate with the British and French Ministers in all peaceful measures to secure by treaty stipulations those just concessions to commerce which the nations of the world have a right to aud which China cannot long be permitted to assurances I entertain no doubt that the three ministers wdl act in harmonious concert to obtain similar commercial treaties for each of the powers they cannot fail to feel a deep interest in all that concerns the welfare of tlie to employ the land and naval forces and the militia the purpose of preventing the carrying on of any such expedition or enterprise from the territories and jurisdiction of the United and the collectors of customs are authorized aud required to detain any vessel in port when is reason to believe she is about to take part in such lawless it was first probable an attempt would made to get up another unlawful expedition against the Secre of State issued instructions to the marshals and district which were directed by the Secretaries of War and the Navy to the appropriate array and navy requiring them to be and to use their best exertions in carrying into effect the provisions of 1818. Notwithstanding these the has escaped from our Such enterprises can do ho good to the but have already inflicted much injury both on its interests They have prevented peaceable emigration from the United States to the States of Central which could not fail to be highly beneficial to all parties In a pecuniary point of view our citizens have sustained heavy losses from the seizure and closing of the transit route by the San Juan tlie two leader of the recent expedition was arrested at New but was discharged on giving bail for his appearance in the insufficient sum of commend the whole subject to the serious attention of believing that our duty and our as well as our national require that we should adopt such measures as will be in restraining onr citizens from committing such regret to iu you that the President of Paraguay has refused to ratify the treaty between the United Slates and that State as amended by the the signature of which was mentioned in the message of my predecessor lo Congress at the opening of its session in 1853. The reason assigned for refusal will appear in the correspondence here with being desirous to the fitness of the river La Plata and its tributaries for navigation W the United States steamer Water Witch was sent thither for that purpose in 1853. This enterprise successfully carried on until 1855, whilst in the peaceful prosecution of her voyage up the Parana the steamer was fired upon from a Paraguayan The fire but as the Water Witch was of small and uot designed for offensive she retired from the The pretext upon which the attack was made was a decree of the President of of 1854, prohibiting foreign vessels of war from navigating the rivers of that As was the owner of but one bank of the river of that tho other belonging to a State of tjie Argentine the right of its government to expect that such a decree would be obeyed cannot be But the Water Witch was properly a She was a small steamer engaged in a scientific enterprise intended for the of commercial States Under these circum I am constrained to consider the attack upon her as and as calling for satisfaction from the of the United who were established iu business in have had their property seized and taken from and have otherwise been treated by the authorities in an insulting and arbitrary manner requires demand for these purposes will be made in a firm but This will the more probably be granted if the Executive shall have authority to use other means in the event of a This is accordingly unnecessary to stale in detail the alarm ing condition of the Territory of Kansas at tlie time of my The opposing parties then stood iu hostile array against each and any accident might have relighted the flames of civil at this critical Kansas was left without a by the resignation of Governor the of February the Territorial Legislature had passed a law providing for the election of delegates on the third Monday of to a convention to meet on the first Monday of for the purpose of framing a constitution preparatory to admission into the This law was iu the main fair and and it is to be regretted that all the qualified electors had not registered themselves and voted under its the time of tlie election for an extensive organization existed in the whose avowed object it if need to put down the lawful government by and Topeka The persons attached to this revolutionary organization abstained from taking any part in the act of the territorial legislature had omitted to provide for submitting to the people the which might be by the and in the excited state of public feeling throughout Kansas an apprehension extensively prevailed that a design existed to force upon them a Constitution in relation to slavery against their In this emergency it became my as ic was my unquestionable in view the union of all good citizens in support of tho territorial to express an an opinion on the true construction of the provisions concerning contained in the organic aet of Congress of tlie 30th 1854. Congress declared it to be true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or nor to exclude it there but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own Under admitted as a was to received into the with or without as their constitution may prescribe at the time of their Congress this language that elected to frame a constitution should have finally to decide the question of or did they intend by leaving it to the people that the people of Kansas themselves should decide this question by a vote On this subject I confess I had never entertained a serious in my instructions to Governor Walker of tho 28th March merely said that when constitution shall be submitted to the people of the they must be protected in the exercise of their right of voting for or against that and the fair expression of the popular will must not be interrupted by fraud or expressing their opinion it was far from my intention to with of the people of either for or against From this I have always carefully Intrusted with the duty of taking that the laws be faithfully my only desire was that the people of Kansas furnish to Congress evidence required by the organic whether for or against and in this manner smooth their passage into the In emerging from the condition of territorial dependence into that of a sovereign it was their in my to make known their will by the votes of the on the direct question whether this important domestic institution or should not to this was the only possible mode in which their will could be election of delegates to a convention must necessarily take place in separate From this cause it may readily as has often been the that a majority of the people of a State or Territory are on one side of a whilst a majority of the representatives from the several districts which it is divided may be upon the other This arises from the fact that in some districts delegates may be elected by small whilst in others those of different may receive majorities great not only to overcome the votes given for the but to leave a large majority of the whole people in di rect opposition to a majority of the our history proves that influences may to bear on the representative powerful to induce him to disregard the will of his The truth that no other and satisfactory mode exists of ascertaining the will of a majority of the people of any State or Territory on an important exciting question like that of slavery in except by leaving it to a direct How was it for Congress to pass over all subordinate aud intermediate agencies and proceed directly to the source of all legitimate power under our institutions vain would any other principle prove in This may be illustrated by the case of Should she be into the with a Constitution either maintaining or abolishing against the of the this could have no other effect than to continue aud to exasperate the exciting agitation during the brief period to make the Constitution conform to the irresistable will of the and supporters 0.' the Nebraska and Kansas when struggling on a recent occasion to its wise provisions before there shaU be a majority in favor of the with no the article providing for slavery shall be stricken from the constitution by the President of this and it is expressly declared that slavery shall exist ill the State of except that right of property in slaves now iu the shall in no manner be interfered and in that event it is made his duty to have the constitution thus ratified transmitted to the Congress of tlie United States for the admission of the State into the this election every citizen will have an opr of his opinion by his vote Kansas shall be received into wilh without and thus the exciting question may be peacefully settled in the very mode required by the organic The will beheld under legitimate and if anv nf tribunal of the American never differed about its true meaning on this Everywhere throughout the Union they publicly pledged faith and their that they would cheerfully submit the question of slavery to the decision of the bona fide people of without auy restriction or qualification All were cordially united upon the great doctrine of popular which is the vital principle of our free Had it then been insinuated from any quarter that it would be a sufficient compliance with the requisitions for the organic law for the members of a thereafter to be to withhold the question of from the and to substitute their own will for that of a legally ascertained majority of ail their this would have been instantly Everywhere they remained true to the resolution adopted on a celebrated occasion recognizing right of the people of all the including Kansas and through the legally and will of a of actual aud whenever a of their justified to form a or without and be admitted into the Union upon terms of perfect equality with other convention to frame a constitution for Kansas met on the first Monday of September They were called together by virtue of an of the territorial whose lawful existence had been recognized by Congress in forms and by different enactments A large proportion of the citizens of Kansas did not think proper lo register their names and to vote at the for but an opportunity to do this having been fairly their refusal to avail themselves of. their right could in no manner affect the legality of the convention proceeded to frame a constitution for and finally adjourned on tlie 7th day of But little difficulty occurred in the except on the subject cf The truth that ihe general provisions of our recent State constitutions are 1 may so the difference between them is uot Under the earlier practice of tlie no constitution framed by the convention of a Territory preparatory to its into the Union as a Slate had been submitted to the I tlie example set by tlie requiring that the constitution of Minnesota be subject to the and ratification of the people of the proposed may be followed on future I took it for granted that the convention of Kansas would act in with this as it on correct and enee my instructions to Governor in favor of submitting the constitution to the peo were iu general aud unqualified the this as applicable to the whole had not been and the convention were not bound by its terms to submit any other portion or the instrument to an except that which relates to the domestic insti of This will be rendered clear by a simple reference to its It was to legislate into any or nor to exclude it but to leave the people perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own According to tlie plain construction of the the words have a as they an appropriate reference to are limited to the The between master aud slave and a few others arc and arc distinct from institutions of a political the question be more clearly or presented to is at the present she may for years in domestic and possibly in cml before she can np the issue now so fortunately for some occupied too is lugh time be directed to far more important y en once admitted into the whether hPi excitement bfe as to have been long to manage her own in her own If her on the subject of or any other be displeasing to majority of the ho human power can prevent them from it witlim a brief Under these it may well ha questioned whether the peace and of the whole are Dot of greater importance than the mere temporary of either Of the political parties in the constitution without slavery adopted by the votes of the the rights ot property in slaves now in the The number of these is very it were greater the provision would be equally just and These slaves are brought into the under the Constitution of the United are now the property of their point has at length been finally decided by the highest judicial tribunal of the this upon the plain principle that of sovereign States acquire new territory at their joint both equality and justice demand that tlie ime and all ot them shall have the right to take into it whatever is recognized as property by the common To have summarily confiscated the property in slaves already in the have au aet of gross and contrary to the practice of tlie older States of the union have abolished territorial government was established for Utah by act of Congress approved the 9th 1850, aud the Constitution and laws of the United States were thereby extended over it far as the same or any provisions be This act provided for appointment by the by and with the advice and consent of the of a who was to bo ex-officio superintendent of Indian a three judges of the Supreme a and a district Subsequent acts provided for the of the officers necessary to extend our our Indian system over the Young appointed the first Governor on the 2i)th of 185, and held the office ever Whilst Governor Young has been both Governor and of Indian affairs throughout this he has been at the same time the head of the church called the Latter-Day and professes to govern its members and dispose of their property by inspiration and authority from His power has absolute over both church and people of almost ber long to and believing with a fanatical spirit that he is Governor of Territory by Divine they obey his commands as if these were direct revelations from he chooses that his government shall come into collision with the government of the United the members of the Mormon church will yield implicit obedience to his existing facts leave but that such is his Without entering upon a minute history of it is sufficient to say that all the officers 6f United judicial aud the single exception of two Indian have found it necessary for their own personal safety to withdraw from the and there no longer remains any government iu Utah but the despotism of Brigham This being the of affairs in the I could not mistake the path of As Chief Executive 1 was bound to restore the supremacy of the constitution and laws within In order to affect this I appointed a new Governor and other federal officers for and with theim a military force for their and to aid as a posse in case of in the execution of the the religious opinions of the as long as they remained mere however deplorable in themselves and revolting to the moral and religious sentiments of all' I had no right to Actions when in violation of the Constitution and laws of die United become the legitimate subjects for the jurisdiction of the civil My instructions to Governor have therefore been framed in strict accordance with these At their date a hope was indulged that no necessity might employing the military in restoring and the authority of Uie but for has now Young by declared his determination liis power by and has already committed acts of hostility against the United Unless he should retrace his Territory of Utah will be in a state of open He has committed these acts ot hostility notwithstanding Major Van an officer of the sent to by the commanding general to purchase provisions for the had given him tlie stronger of the peaceful intentions of and
