The President's Special Message. SPEECH f.t OF ♦..-'-'" HON. CHARLES CASE, OF INDIANA. Delivered in the U. S. House of Representatives, March 11, 1858. Mr. Chairman: The argument in favor of the admission of Kansas, under the Lecompton Constitution, that has had the most extensive circulation throughout the country, and which, from the official position and prestige of its author, has attracted, and will yet attract, most attention, is that which the President sent us on the 2d ultimo. The local press has everywhere pub- lished it ; and it is being scattered broadcast by the Administration party, as the latest gospel of Democracy. I propose, therefore, to use my hour in examining some of its propositions and sentiments. When that document was read by the Clerk, and when its start- ling statements and bitter charges were so heartily and promptly endorsed by one of my colleagues, [Mr. Hughes,] I felt a desire, for the first time, to speak — to say something of a State paper so extraordinary in its phraseol- ogy, assertions, and conclusions. Rising at this late period to gratify that desire, it is proper to say that some of the re- marks I have to submit were prepared soon after the delivery of that message. In the mean time, it has been quite boldly discussed here and in the other branch of Congress; and many of the ideas which lie directly in my path have been better expressed by others. Some of them will bear repetition, and for the rest, I have no apology beyond this ex- planation. Though addressing this body for the first time, it will hardly be necessary ia advance to multiply words in defining my position. The subject will give suf- ficient opportunity to indicate it. Let me only premise that, while I was elect- ed to a seat in this House as a Repub- lican — charged, too, by political adver- saries with being a very black one — while I cling to the leading tenets of that party as tenaciously as ever, and am ready, in my poor way, at all proper times to defend them, yet I propose to- day to say but little on the distracting subject of Slavery — not that the able and earnest vindications of that institu- tion, to which I have listened here, have in the least shaken old and deep convic- tions. In its essential characteristics I can see nothing to love or admire — much, very much, to abhor and con- demn. I ought, perhaps, to add, that my intense objection is to the principle of the institution ; to its inherent in- justice, which no kindness on the part of the master can compensate, though such kindness may be, and probably is, quite generally practiced; for I have never supposed our Southern brethren to be sinners above all others. I dis- miss this thought without further com- ment, content that for the present my remarks shall be confined to the rights of freemen, and the manner in which they are treated,, and proposed to be treated, by the President ; alluding only incidentally and necessarily, if at all, to the rights or interests of any other cla«s. The subject demands great plainness of speech ; and that demand is a sufficient apology lor its use. The President lias set the example. He has not been choice in his wonls, or mealy-mouthed in his opinions. Those words and opin- ions are immodiatoly in my way. I cannot avoid tliem if I would; though he is old, and I am young. Towards the close of his message, the Presiilent tiirows out a suggestion upon which he li:id done well to liavo acted, if he would have it control the action of others. Ho tells us, as in his annual communication, that "already have the aflairs of Kansas engrossed an undue proportion of the public attention." Ah ! have they? Why did not this occur to him at the outset, and, as has been well suggested by others, induce him to send us the Leenmpton Constitution, as he did that of Minnesota, without lengthy comments uf his, instead of accompany- ing it with a long argument, every sen- tence of which is provocative of discus- sion, and acrimonious discussion too? Not thus will ho succeed in calming the troubled political sea; not thus can he brush away " the dark and ominous cloud"*" to his vision "impending over the Union." Sir, when from his high position he assumes to pass judgment upon ten thousand free citizens of Kan- sas, pronouncing them rebels, insurrec- tionists, and traitors, when he substan- tiall}' tells us that, by their conduct, they have forfeited all right to complain, that though the burden of their wrongs be never so heavy wc must not hear them groan, he should remember that these men are our brethren and kinsfolk, that they have sympathizing friends in every free State certainly, jirobably in every State, of this Confederacy; that but a litlK; time ago they were a ])art of the seventeen millions of Northern free- men, that every Congressional district in the free North has contributed its fifties and its hundreds to the population of Kansas ; and of these, ninety-nine of every hundred are now standing and act- ing with those whom he denominates usurpers and rebids. Besides, sir, the President is probably familiar with the political platforms of lb5l). It will be recollected that he yielded his personal identity to the so- licitations of patriotic friends, and was no longer James Buchanan, but the im- personation of one of them. He doubt- less studied the others, and can hardly have forgotten that the Topeka Consti- tution and movement, which he asserts to have been, from the first, the ultima- tum of liis Kansas rebels, received the endorsement of the Republican organiza- tion of that year. The work of a Con- vention elected by a po])ular vote in its favor larger than the aggregate of that cast for the members of the late Le- compton Convention, and ratified by a vote nearly or quite as large, they deem- ed it then the voice of the people, which Congress should heed. When, therefore, he brands that measure as rebellious and treasonable, he indirectly makes every Republican of that year an abettor of these monstrous crimes. He has studied American character to little purpose, if he has not learned that such charges, from any quarter, must provoke severe scru- tiny and criticism. Rebellion, charged against American citizens, grates harsh- ly on American cars, and he must not complain if facts and precedents are cx- amini^l to determine its justice and pro- priety. My colleague [xMr. Hughks] told us that " the President had struck the key note of all this difliculty," and that was ^'"rebellion! rkukllion ! " He might have added that, having struck it, he adhered to it with marvellous steadiness. There were no half notes, nor even thirds or fifths, in the whole strain. Let us cull some of the mclliiluous sounds which still linger on the car — first paus- ing a moment to inquire to whom they are applied. They are designated in the message, beyond a pcradventure, by names and localities. 'I'hey are called Republicans andAbolitionists; the local- ities are " the towns, cities, or counties, where the Republican party have a ma- jority," or "Lawrence, the hot-bed of. all the abolition movements in the Ter- ritory." The persons accused are " the great mass of the Republican party of the Territory." True, these designa- tions occur in the more ancient dis- patches of Governor Walker — dispatches sent off while he was Saul instead of Paul — before the scales had fallen from 'his eyes ; but the President incorporates them in his message, and makes their sentiments his own. Who does not know that the men thus designated are none other than the Free State party of Kansas, very few of them being Aboli- tionists ; many of them not claiming to be Republicans, but old-fashioned Dem- ocrats rather, who went there to carry out what they thought to be " the true intent and meaning " of the organic law, but found themselves of necessity siding with the party of Freedom in that Ter- ritory, and have therefore been dubbed Republicans and Abolitionists by the loyalists there and elsewhere. How are these men and their acts characterized in the message'? Whj'', sii% as having from the first "endeavor- ed, by force and usurpation, to over- throw the Government established by Congress," as " subverters of Govern- ment," " defying Government," and " setting up a revolutionary Govern- ment." They are spoken of as insur- gents, as insurrectionary, rebellious; and to those deeds of shame, all cul- minating in the Topeka movement, we are told they have adhered "with trea- sonable pertinacity." These are speci- mens, only, of the choice literature of the Executive. How many times some of these adjective phrases occur in the message, I cannot say. They consti- tute its warp and woof; and, to return to the figure of my colleague, are but the same key note, or its octaves above and below. What a harmony of soft words, if not of soft music ! While the tones of its lofty patriotism and heaven-born charity yet captivate the sense, while friends are praising its signal ability and opponents smarting under its benevolent castigations, it is grievous to be compelled to say, in truth, that the production is scarcely original. Key note and all, it is little more than a recast of an old chant — of a tune sang many years ago, perhaps before Yankee Doodle had become a national air. Painful as the task may be, and precious as my time certainly is, I must take occasion briefly to dem- onstrate this, both as a matter of jus- tice to the dead, and that the living may see which way the Administration is drifting. The data may also be useful to the friends of the President else- where. His message has been assailed by the opposition press, as being without parallel or precedent in the past. To his friends throughout the country it must be interesting to learn that in sentiment it is not new to American his- tory. Republicans are prone to refer to early writings to sustain their doctrines, to show that they were those of the fathers ; that even their territorial poli- cy had its origin in a Jeffersonion ordi- nance older than the Constitution. And while the public heart venerates the deeds and the patriotism of those great men, they will not appeal in vain to the voice which comes to them through the vista of years, and assures them they are right. It must please the friends of the Administration (not here, but in the rural districts) to learn that they, too, can appeal to writings older than the present Government to vindicate the language of this remarkable State pa- per — to show that in tone, argument, and phrases, it has its prototype in the productions of that past generation whose law-loving spirit the President so beautifully commends. This earlier document I have before me. It is an unpretending book, occu- pies but little space, and has probably attracted little attention among the sixty thousand volumes of your. Congressional Library. Certainly it is a kind of litera- ture to which Republicans are not par- tial, and of which Democrats, in other days, were not specially fond. It was written in 1774. That, like the present, was a time of excitement. Then, as now, there was a controversy between Governors and governed ; then, as now, a party which asserted the Governors ever right, the governed ever wrong. To this party the author seems to have belonged. His name does not appear in print, but some hand (I had almost i said an unkind one) has pencilled it on the titlepage ; it shall not escape my lips. He was undoubtedly a Tory ; but he has gone to his grave, and no de- scendant of his, if he has one, would thank me for proving, or intimating, tliis work to be the deed of his ancestor. It is entitled, " A Friendly Address to all Reasonable Americans on the sub- ject of our Political Confusions, &c.," and seems to have been published for purchasers, at the moderate price of one shilling sterling. A few extracts from both will show the striking resem- blances between the ancient book and the modem message. I begin with the latter. The President says : '•A great delusion seems to pervade the public mind in relation to the condition of parties in Kansas. This arises from the difliculty of indu- cing the American people to realize the fact that any portion of them should bein astateof rebellion against the (Jovernment under which they live. When we 6i)cak of the affairs of Kansas, we are apt to refer merely to the existence of two violent political parties in that Territory, divided on the question of Slavery, just as we speak of such par- ties in the States. This ])resents no adequate idea of the true state of the case. The dividing line is not between two political parties, botii acknowledging the lawful existence of the Gov- ernment, but between those who are loyal to this (/ovcrnment and those who have endeavored to destroy its existence by force and by usurpation — between those who sustain and tliose who have done all in their power to overthrow the Terri- torial Government established by Congress. This Government tiicy would long since have sub- verted, had it not been protected from their as- saults by the troops of the United States. Such has been the condition of affairs since my in- auguration. Ever since that period, a large por- tion of the people of Kansas have been in a stale of rebellion against the (lovernmcnt, with a military leader at their head of a most turbulent and dan- gerous character. Thcyhavcneveracknowledgcd, but have constantly renounced and defied, the Government to which they own allegiance, and have been all the time in a state of resistance against its authority. They have all the time been endeavoring to subvert it, and to establish a revolutionary (Jovernment, under the so-called Topcka Constitution, in its steail. Even at this very moment, the Topeka Legislature arc in ses- sion. " Similar in sentiment is the extract from one of the dispatches of Governor Walker, adopted by the President, which says : "Lavrrcncc is the hot-bod of all the Abolition morements ia this Territory. It ia the town es- tablished by the Abolition societies of the East'; and, whilst there are resjiectable people there, it is filled by a considerable number of mercenaries, who are \»\\d by Abolition societies to perpetuate and diffuse agitation throughout Kansas, and prevent a peaceful settlement of this question. Having failed in inducing their own so-called Topeka State Legislature to organize this insur- rection, Lawrence has commenced it herself; and if not arrested, the rebellion will extend through- out the Territory. And again: in order to send this communication immediately by mail, I must close by assuring you that the spirit of rebellion pervades the great mass of the Republican party of this Territory, instigated, as I entertain no iloubt they are, by Eastern societies, having in view results most disastrous to the Government and to the Union." In the same strain are the two follow- ing key-note extracts : "The truth is, that up till the present moment, the enemies of the existing (lovernmcnt still ad- here to their Topeka revolutionary Constitution and Government. "This Topeka Government, adhered to with such treasonable pertinacity, is a Government in direct opposition to the existing Government prescribed and recognised by Congress." Observe, sir, the grave charges and causes of complaint : *' regular authority defied and denied;" loyalty at a dis- count, leaning on paid soldiery for sup- port ; particular places in open revolt, and by their hot-bed movements striving to make the dire disturbance universal ; legal officials repudiated, and legislators, Governors, even a turbulent and dan- gerous military leader of their own choice set up in their stead ! And yet the peo- ple all unconscious of an existing con- tinued rebellion. The picture is graph- ically drawn, but lacks one great merit, originality, as a few extracts from the book before mc will clearly prove. In the deeds and designs of his country- men eighty-four years ago, the author saw and painted the same rank mischief and treason that constitute the start- ling features of the modern drawing. He says : " Friend f, countrymen, and fillow-suhjecla: Let mo entreat you to rouse up at last from your slumber, and to open your eyes to the danger that surrounds you — the danger of being hurried into a state of rebellion before you are aware of it, and of suffering all that resentment which a migiity nation can discharge on a defenceless peo- ple. * » » If you persist in the stei)3 which many of you have taken, the time cannot be dis- tant in which both you and they will be Icgallj' proclaimed rebels and traitors — thej as princi« pals, you as their abettors; and especially if you go on to encourage the New England fanatics to attack the King's troops ! " Again lie says : "To this wretched and accursed state of rebel- lion, the principles that have been propagated, and several steps that have been taken in the American Colonies, directly tend. Nay, a rebel- lion is evidently commenced in New England, in the county of Suffolk, without room for retreat- ing; the inhabitants of that large and populous county have openly bid defiance to the united authority of the King, Lords, and Commons, in Parliament assembled; they have most contempt- uously rejected the regulations of their courts of justice, &c., established by Parliament; and not only.so, but they have set up in direct opposition to their authority a Government of their own. In the spiritof outrageous licentiousness they have compelled, by brutal violence, those respectable gentlemen that held commissions under the Crown to resign them, in forms of their own in- diting, and to relinquish their stations, and .they have appointed others of the same factious and turbulent disposition with themselves to fill their places, till their long-projected Republic shall be settled; which is the glorious object. They have already, if we may believe credible information, marked out the inland town of Worcester for the seat of this Republic; they are now collecting artillery for its defence, and some of them have nominated the man who is to be their Protector. Whether this be so or not, it appears from au- thentic intelligence from Boston, that they have done as bad. For the Selectmen and Committee of Correspondence have proclaimed the King's troops to be public enemies." Quoting from a dispatch of the King's Governor, he makes the charge against these Bostonians yet more explicit ; for Boston then, and that New England re- gion, like Lawrence now backed by its New England aid, seems to have been the hot-bed of sedition. Plymouth Rock is, I believe, somewhere in that vicinity, and it seems that the pernicious princi- ples of the Pilgrim Fathers were even then working out legitimate fruits 1 The Governor (not Mr. Buchanan's, but the King's) says : "They have given orders to prevent all sup- plies for English troops; straw purchased for their use is burnt, vessels with bricks sunk, carts with wood overturned, and all this is not the ef- fect of rash tumult, but of evident system." Why, sir, you can scarcely find in the history of Lawrence such systematic lawlessness as this, unless in that spon- taneous municipal organization that dem- onstrated its contempt for the authori- ties, in the wilful removal of sundry dead animals from the streets of that town, and rendered the presence of United States troops necessary to preserve or- der ! Our author adds : "Now, these rebellious republicans, these hair- brained fanatics, as mad and distracted as the Anabaptists of Munster, are the people whom the American Colonies wish to support." Let full justice be done to both pro- ductions. In the message we are in- formed that there " are respectable peo- ple in Lawrence." So, in the elder author, we learn that even in Boston there were " many innocent and respect- able persons — many more than was com- monly imagined." The comparisons made sufficiently in- dicate the falnily resemblances ; but there are others equally striking and suggestive. More than once we are told in the message, in reference to the Le- compton Convention and its results, that if that body did not represent the senti- ment of the Territory, if its doings were an outrage upon the wishes of the peo- ple, it was their own fault ; that by their votes they should have sent to that body different men — men representing their views — and having failed (refused, if you please) to do so, "it is not for them to complain that their rights have been vio- lated." What an argument, sir, for a statesman and moralist ! The plain English of it, as we must apply it, is this : admit that this Constitution does violate the people's rights : they com- mitted the first wrong, and that will ex- cuse ours. We may therefore thrust it down their throats without even ask- ing them how they relish the prescrip- tion. When and where did the President learn that in politics, more than else- where, one wrong justifies another? Ah ! I forget myself; he might have learned it in the very book before me. In those early days, as we all know, the legislation of the parent Government interfered with the tea drinking of the Colonies — imposing a tax on that " do- mestic institution.^^ Then arose a con- test among the people — the rebellious asserting that they should have a voice in the making of laws that taxed them. Our author, ever loyal to those in power^ was, upon this grave question, true to the administration. He first denies the right claimed by the people, and then concludes his argument as follows : "Yet, notwithstnnding all this, they (the peo- ple of the Colonics) hftvc lately beeu told hy their &(^cnts, who hud it from the best mithority, that if liny chose to send over jicrsons to represent them in I'arnament, they Sihoiild he udiiiitted to Bents in the House. In rny opinion, they have done wisely in not accepting the oiler; but after refusing it. they surely hivve no reason to com- plain that they have no representatives in the Parliament that must govern them." Sir, if the work is good authority, the langua;^c of the message is vindicated by a precedent of respectable years. The analogies are by no means ex- hausted. Passing from the question of right, the Executive missive invites our attention to arguments of expediency. We are asked to consider the benefits that •will result to Kansas and the country from its immediate admission, and the disas- ters wliich may follow its rejection. In the catalogue of benefits to be assured by its admission, we have "domestic peace restored, and that fine Territory, hitherto torn by dissensions, rapidly in- creasing in population and wealth, and speedily realizing the blessings and com- forts which follow in tlie train of agri- cultural and mechanical industry."' The figures of the other and darker picture are not clearly brought out. We have dim images of " agitation renewed in a form more alarming than it has ever yet assumed," "people of sister States es- tranged from each other with more than former bitterness," and "consequences which no man can foretell," on a back- ground of "dark and ominous clouds impending, which, if Kansas is rejected, will become darker and more ominous than any which have yet threatened the Constitution and the Union." I shall not attetnpt to finish the picture, espe- cially when it is intimated that the back- ground may yet require a deeper shading. iJut our ancient author, in his "address to reasonable Americans," left neither of these sketches unfinished. He re- minded them that under British laws and i)rotection "they were already rich, ' fr. m j)racticing at their ease thepeace- * ful arts of agriculture and commerce ; * and they had but to pursue the same * path, to flourish and prosper, till, in ' process of time, they would excite ' either the admiration or envy of ' the whole world." Then, turning the canvas, he pointed to them "the dark- ness of a rising tempest," Avhile "the roar of distant thunder broke upon their ears." In bold relief stood out the frightful images of his grouping. The demon of discord rising to distract ; the dogs of war let loose ; brother fighting against brother ; the rebels vanquished, and treated accordingly ; their estates forfeited and confiscated; themselves handed over to the hands of the execu- tioner ; and " only the lower classes spared," to speak of the mercy of their conquerors ! All honor to those same reasonable Americans, for whom arguments of ad- vantage had no controlling charms ; pic- tures of disaster no restraining terrors ; whose steady and practical reply to all expediency men was that noble adage, " millions for defence, not one cent for tribute;" or that other immortal senti- ment, "give me liberty, or give me death!" In strange contrast with the reasoning just considered is the argument of insig- nificance to be found in the old work as well as in the new, the subjects discussed being diflferent, but the principle involved the same. In the former, sul)mission to British power was counselled, because the tax imposed was too insignificant to be ground of complaint, and because the people could themselves cure the evil, and yet be loyal to constituted authori- ties. The author says : "In what do you suffer? Why, it seems a duty of three j)cnce :i pound has been laid by I'arlia- inciit upon thi'ir teas expDrted to Ainerica; and we caiinol purchase the tea without Jiaying the duly. lUit, if liiis may be called a burden, so may the weight of an atou) on the shouhlers of a giant. Hesides, this burden may bo easily avoid- ed ; for we have no occasion to purchase the tea, anil unless we do purchase it, we are under no obligations to )>ay the duty." Sir, why did not this argument settle the confusions of ] 71 \ 1 Because, above ami beyond the insignificance of the tax denmnded, rose the eternal principle, that the peojjle's consent must be the basis of all laws to which they are subjected ; 7 and because trifling and insignificant vio- lations of it were then, as now, more dangerous to the public good than flagrant denials of its justice. The one, adopted, might become a precedent ; while the other, if successful, would be branded as tyranny. And yet, though the same principle is involved now as then, we are told in the message — " If Kansas is rejected, agitation more alarming than we have ever known will be revived ; and this from a cause more trifling and insignificant than has ever stirred the elements of a great peo- ple to commotion." What is the argument by which we are to be convinced on this point 1 Why, in substance, this : if the proposed Con- stitution does not accord with the popu- lar will of Kansas, we have only to drag her into the Union under it, and then the people can immediately help themselves ! Thus, we are told there is "only a dif- ference of time " between us. Granting the legal view to be sound, (and upon that I express no opinion now,) why do we not yield the point at once, and have done with this angry strife? Because thereby we would yield that undying principle which, in the eyes of our fathers, towered like a mountain peak above the trifling impost that violated it, and which must never, never be surrendered — the assent of the governed to laws, and above all, fundamental laws, to be imposed upon them. When that principle is in- volved, nothing which demands its aban- donment, or postponement for a single hour, is trifling or insignificant. One other characteristic of both docu- ments deserves a passing notice. It is the common stand-point from which they view and judge the actions of the author- ities on the one hand, and of the people on the other. Read the old book through, and fi-om beginning to end you can find in it no admission of any real wrong on the part of British power. The rulers were ever right, submission to their behests ever a duty ; the people were always wrong, their remonstrances unreasona- ble, their action "brutal violence and rebellion." So, sir, in the message, from its first line to its last, there is not an intimation that, in a solitary instance, pretended authorities or real ones have outraged public decency or private rights in Kansas ; not a word from which you can infer that there has been the slight- est excuse for the continued rebellion and pertinacious treason which is charged, without scruple, upon ten thousand free- men in that Territory. Like the Tory Avriter of 1774, the President sees no act of the authorities in Kansas to condemn, scarcely one act of its people to approve. I shall return to this feature of the mes- sage soon, and therefore dismiss it for the present. Enough, perhaps, has been said to show, not where the President did find, but where he might have found, " the key note " of his message — enough to remove all wonder that even Democrats are startled at the strain, and loth to keep time to the tune. And now, sir, I have done with comparisons between these extraordinary productions. As to the justice and propriety of the one, the public voice, if consulted, would give no uncertain sound. Let but an American come forward now, and thus speak of the deeds and men of eighty-four years ago, and he would be deafened with the hisses of the civilized world. Let us leave the author where we found him, sleeping in a political oblivion that perchance should not have been disturbed, while we return to the document of our own times, with the charitable prayer that similar errors may not ultimately be rewarded by a similar repose. Time fails me to notice many import- ant propositions of the message. I must be content with a hasty glance at one or two more. Here is one deserving atten- tion, not only for its indication of execu- tive partiality, but for its grave error as to the real issue to be settled. It is a sort of postscript to the argument of in- significance which has been considered, and shows' that, in the President's opin- ion, the struggle may not be so trifling to others as it is to the people of Kan- sas. He says : "In considering this question, it should never be forgotten that— in proportion to its insignifi- cance, let the decision be what it may, so far as it may affect the few thousand inhabitants of Kansas who have, from the beginning, resisted 8 the Constitution and the laws — for this vcg- rea- son the rejection of the Constitution will he so much the more keenly felt hy the people of four- teen of the States of this I'nion where Slavery is recognised under the Constitution of the United SUtes." Sir, docs the President imagine that Northern men are statues, that in the free States of this Union there will he no "keen feeling" on this question"? If our Southern hrethren may be so strenu- ous about a barren victory, may not we as strenuously decline to yield ? Sup- pose we reverse the argument, and say^ " in proportion to its insignificance, &,c. ; for this very reason the adoption of tliis Constitution will be so much the more keenly felt by the people of the sixteen States of this Union Avhere Slavery is not recognised." Is not the reasoning equally sound"? Yet he seems to be blissfully unconscious that the people of the North have any interest, or any right to be interested, in this matter. But on this I do not dwell. I wish rather to refer to a graver error, apparent in the passage last quoted, and more prominent still in other parts of the message. It is the assuinjjtion that this Constitution is to be rejected, if at all, because it tolerates a certain peculiar institution. In another place, you may remember, he speaks of the " disasters to result if we reject Kansas because Slavery remains in her Constitution." Now, sir, this assumption is sadly wrong. With me, and with many others, under the circum- stances, it would be a. sufficient reason for voting against the adoption of that Constitution, if there were no other. But the President must know, or should know, that in. this House there are those who arc earnestly opposed to its adop- tion, with whom the Slavery clause is of secondary or no importance ; and, sir, he ought to know, if he does not, that all over the land there are thousands of men — men who were his supporters a twelvemonth ago — who care little about Slavery, but who will look upon the ad- mission of Kansas undi-r this Constitu- tion as an outrage unjjarallek'd in all our past legislation. Does the Prt'sident •wish to ]>ut such men, holding seats here, and the thousands who sympathize with them elsewhere, in a false positiont Nor is this sentiment confined to those who were so lately of his political house- hold. For one, I am free to say, that if there were no question of Negro Slavery involved, I would never, by my vote, make that instrument the Constitution of Kansas ; because that involves a ques- tion to me equally important, whether white men shall be robbed of their rights. The free men of that Territory have cast it out as an unclean thing, and that is objection enough with me, without look- ing at the face of the paper. As an American citizen, and as a Republican, while I do not hold that Congress is bound to approve and adopt a Constitu- tion, rcgartiless of its provisions, because it embodies the people's will, I do hold that we should never force one upon them, for a single moment, which they have never approved, but have emphati- cally condemned. On this latter prop- osition I would not have supposed, six months ago, that there could be a differ- ence of opinion between men or parties. In this connection, I am reminded of another singular statement of the mes- sage. It is this : "The people of Kansas have, then, 'in their own way,' and in strict accordance with the or- f^anic act, framed a Constitution and State Gov- ernment; have submitted the all-important ques- tion of Slavery to the peojjle, and have elected a Governor, a nicmbtir to represent them in Con- gress, members of the Stale Legislature, and other State ofliccrs. They now ask admission into the Union under this Constitution, which is republican in its form." A brief prefix to this statement, with one slight omission, would have added vastly to its truthfulness. Had he com- menced by saying " a meager minority of the people of Kansas," and omitted the phrase " in strict accordance with the organic act," he would have mado a capital hit. Then it would have read, " a meager minority of the people of Kansas have framed a Constitution, and ask admission under it." Thus he would not have ignored the fact, then and now notorious in all the land, that only in the ]>revious month, and as the latest utterance of the ballot-boxes of that Territory, the ])eo]>lc' had almost unani- mously repudiated this Constitution. Of 9 that fact he must have had an unwaver- ing conviction when he penned his mes- sage, and yet who would suspect it from what he says'? I am aware of his ex- cuse, and will give it in his own words. He says, " I have yet received no official information of the result of this elec- tion." Quite likely; and on his own theory he probably never will ; for, in the same connection, just preceding this last quotation, he strongly intimates that in his judgment the whole proceeding was unofficial and unauthorized ; though he says " it was peaceably conducted under his instructions.^^ But is it so that when a man becomes President he loses his natural oi'gans — has only offi- cial eyes and official ears, and may not, by ordinary channels of information, learn, believe, and act upon an unques- tioned fact? If this is not true, then did he know and believe, when his mes- sage was written, that the people of Kansas make no such request as he attributes to them. Passing through this maze of old- fashioned heresy and new-fashioned Democracy, it is pleasant to find a com- mendable sentiment. It is this : " popu- lar sovereignty should be exercised here only through the ballot-box," and " through the instrumentality of estab- lished law" — a general proposition which none should deny. Republicans do not controvert it. On the contrary, that sovereignty having been conferred on the people of Kansas by an established law. Republicans, in that Territory and out of it, have insisted from the beginning that they should be protected in the en- joyment of the right. Its violation by the raid of March 30, 1855, when the established law was ignored, and the voice of Kansas stifled at the ballot-box, and the continued recognition, by the Executive and his agents, of the usurpa- tion then inaugurated, have been the grand causes of the political confusions of that Territory. It is that usurpa- tion, in all its ramifications, and not the established law, that the people there have resisted. I know .the apology for that interference ; I say apology — for no one can pretend that it would amount, if true, to anything like a justification. It was said, and is said, that it was to counteract the efforts of Eastern aid societies and their agents, who, it was alleged, had flooded and were flooding Kansas with emigrants, through whose votes they sought to shape its laws and institutions. Suppose this was done. So long as they sent there only bona fide settlers, what right, legal or moral, did they violate? Not even to this extent would legitimate evidence sustain the charge ; much less would it convict them of sending to that Terri- tory mere transient squatters, to inter- fere with the rights of actual residents. Why, sir, when the Kansas-Nebraska bill was pending in Congress, through all the long discussion upon it, it was a point conceded, that the peculiar institu- tion could never be established in either of those Territories. Passing over the admissions of distinguished friends of the measure in the Senate, I will rest the proof of this assertion upon the lan- guage of my colleague, [Mr. English.] In a speech made by him in favor of the bill, on the 9th day of May, 1854, he used these words : " I have said that in my opinion the people of these Territories will never adopt the institution of Slavery ; and I have yet to hear a member of Congress, of either House, express a contrary opinion." Sir, what was such language, in sub- stance uttered and reiterated by many from the South as well as from the North, but an invitation and a license to the whole North to go there and settle and establish their own institutions'? And if they accepted the invitation, and rushed in by thousands as soon as Kan- sas was opened to them, what right, ex- press or implied, was interfered with 1 Was there a law providing that emi- grants to a new Territory should go soli- tary and alone, and that no more than a given number should enter it within a given time 1 If not, then if it were true that a million of New England emigrants stood upon the Kansas line and poured themselves into it the first moment it was open to emigration, it was no wrong to anybody. I come back now to this charge of re- 10 bellion. Is it well founded? To settle that questio!! c>rrectly, we must deter- mine one preliminary, namely : what is the governing power of Kansas 1 Hap- pily, so far as the President and his supporters are concerned, this question is conehisively settled by an authority which he says is the highest known to our laws, and that, too, in a deeision which he and they most heartily approve. Once, there was much noise and confu- sion about popular sovereignty as appli- cable to Territories. Once, a portion of the President's friends denied or doubted the right of Congress to legis- late for them. Their theory seemed to be, that the people of a Territory, like those of a State, were sovereign ; and that Congress had not constitutional power to interfere with that sovereignty in either case. The Supreme Court, in the famous Dred Scott dcciiijon, set that to rest. They decided, in substance, (indeed, it was no new doctrine in that court,) that Congress is the law-making power for all our common domain ; that the Federal Government is the govern- ing power of that domain. True, they said that Congress could not interfere with a certain institution there, not be- cause it was not tiic legitimate law- making authority, but because that in- stitution loas above all Icgrislation. But equally explicit were they in the doc- trine, that whatever laws may be enacted for a Territory, Congress may pass ; whatever power a Territorial Legisla- ture may have, is such as Congress gives it, and no more. That these points were ruled, or attempted to be ruled, in that celebrated case, is past dispute. It follows that, though Con- gress may grant to the people of a Ter- ritory the right of self-government, only a delegated right is conferred, which may at any time be resumed, no mat- ter how unconditional the grant be on its face ; for Congress cannot, if it would, yield, past reclamation, sover- eignty vested in it by the Constitution. It follows, too, that if Kansas has had a Government, it has been the Federal Congress, or such officials — Governors, judges, marshals, and legislators — as Congress may have designated and au- thorized to act as its agents. We all know what the fact is : C»)ngress pro- vided, by an organic act, for a Govern- ment through agents, prescribing for the people of that Territory, Governors, Secretaries, judges, and marshals, to be appointed by the Executive, and legisla- tors to be cliosen by themselves. Such having been and being the legal governing power of Kansas, when, and by whom, has it been repudiated or de- fied? When have the people there re- sisted the officers of Federal appoint- ment, or denied their authority ? I do not ask for individual acts of resistance to officials. Such have doubtless oc- curred there, as they have everywhere else. But no lawyer will pretend that such acts amount to rebellion. I go further, and ask, whenliave they denied the authority or resisted the enactments of any Legislature called into being by their voice? Remember, sir, they were licensed by the organic act to elect their own legislators, and were told that thus they should freely govern themselves. That license was at any time subject to Congressional modification or recall ; but so long as it remained, it was to them a sufficient warrant to deny the authority and resist the enactments of any pre- tended Legislature, not chosen by their votes ; and, though I do not profess to go into' details, the investigations of a prior Congress sufficiently prove that only when such a body of pretenders was thrust upon them by others, did they deny its authority, repudiate its enactments, and refuse to recognise the swarms of officers called into being. I have spoken of that first Legislature as a body of pretenders. It is a borrowed phrase, sir, borrowed from high Demo- cratic authority — none other than the State Sentinel, the central and leading organ of that jiarty in my own State, of the date of July 27, 18;")'). To avoid the charge of plagiarism, I quote the article in full : "Kansas. — The public vrero informed, a few days since, tluil the Kuiisiis Leginlature had chiinj^fd its pliice of meeting from Pawnee Vil- lage to Shawnee flitsion. Governor Ueeder, it seems, dissents from the usurpation of power in 11 the case in point, and refuses to meet that incen- diary body at its ne^r habitation, or to recognise its action as of legal authority. "Were we the Governor of Kansas, backed by the Administration, -we would treat that body of pretenders much as the Long Parliament was treated by Cromwell, and subject the outlaw leader to a test similar to that imposed on the weiik and unfortunate Charles I. In other words, as beheading is out of fashion, we would hang that fellow, Stringfellow, to the first tree that presented the proper convenience for a little episode of this peculiar character." Of course I am not responsible for the personalities of ^this editorial, and need not make them my own ; nor would I vouch for its entire truthfulness. One error is manifest. It speaks of Govern- or Reeder as being backed by the Ad- ministration, whereas he was simply backed out by it. But to return : I have shown that there were but two possible legislative bodies to whom the people of Kansas owed allegiance — Congress being one, and the other a Territorial Legislature of their own free choice. Congressional enactments they have not resisted ; a Legislature of their own choosing they never had, prior to the one which has but recently adjourned. Thus is the alleged key note of the message dis- posed of. The authority of Federal officials has been respected, even while those same officials have joined with the oppressors of Kansas, in attempting to subjugate its people. Only the power of those pretended officials, thrust upon them in shameless violation of their pledged rights, have the people of Kan- sas denied. That this has been their consistent course, is more manifest in view of the fact that the first Legislature of their own choice has been respected by them, as a legitimate Legislature should be ; and in view of the further fact, that all the Democratic Governors, save one, who have been sent to that Territory, and who went there breathing threatenings and slaughter against these same Free State men, speedily became such ardent sympathizers with them, that they were no longer fit repositories of Executive confidence. Like Saul, of olden time, they have all been suddenly and marvellously converted. Only thus far, however, does the comparison hold good. Divine Power struck down the persecuting Jew, that he might be con- verted; Executive power struck down these Governors, because of their con- version ! It is true that acts of violence have been committed by Free State men in Kansas, for which there is no apology, save the aggravation of lawlessness, un- der color of law, that provoked them. And yet the President, as I have said, utterly ignores all these insults and prov- ocations, though they constitute a cata- logue of crime such as has disgraced no other civilized land in the nineteenth century. He is growing old — perhaps forgetful. I propose to jog his memory on one or two matters too significant to be overlooked; to remind him, humble as I am, and impertinent as it may seem, that if he has not read the papers, the people have ; or, if he has forgotten the history of Kansas past, there are those into whose hearts the record has been burned too deep to be erased. I pass over all acts of individual violence as causes of complaint. These, on both sides, the President and his friends may make a matter of mutual set-off; though, for the balance over, there would be a heavy judgment against them. Still, it is not of the greatest moment that one man was butchered here, another hewed to pieces there, and another shot and scalped in another place. It is, perhaps, of little consequence that these bloody deeds became every-day occurrences in Kansas. Nor need we stop a moment to sympathize with friends of the butchered dead. Assassination and murders are not peculiar to Kansas. They have occurred elsewhere, and will occur again — ever attended, too, with scores of living bleed- ing hearts for every one that ceases to beat. Human life is, after all, far less precious than the rights we live to enjoy. Of one or two of these transactions, viewed in another light than as simple wrongs to persons, I shall have some- thing to say. As to all, let me add that, while such enormities are comparatively trifling, there is a fact connected with 12 them of tlie deepest significance ; and that is, that all the perpetrators of these atrocious deeds are still at large, and unwliijiped of justice. Nor to this hour has there heen an effort, which deserves the name, on the part of the ufficials of that Territory, to bring them to an ac- count ; excejit, ])erhaps, one on the part of Governor Gear}', which was success- fully thwarted by judicial interference. This fact, sir, constitutes one of the great wrongs of which the Free State men of Kansas justly complain, and against which (if yuu please to say so) they revolt. A murder, evtn if the victim be a helpless, unoftVnding cripple, (as was the case of Buffum,) or if he be scalped, as by the hand of a savage, (as was the earlier case of IIop[)e,) may be too small a matter to be remembered or noticed by the Pres- ident or his Kansas friends; but, sir, when tlie officers of the law become in- difterent to such trivial Avrongs ; when, by the conduct of Governors, marshals, judges, and district attorneys, the com- munity is advertised that such deeds are to go unj)unished, that, sir, is a wrong which he should not overlook — a wrong to tlie whole community, which, in one way or another, and in some way at all hazards, that comnmnity has a right to remedy. There is another fact, deserv- ing notice at this point. During the whole time when these wrongs were be- ing perpetrated, all the instrumentalities and machinery of justice Avere in the hands ane of his detention tlie finding by tlie grand jury of a true bill of indictment against him for murder in the first degeee, committed upon the jierson of one David C. Butl'um ; together witli your warrant commanding tiie rearrest of said Hays, and his detention until liis discharge by a jury of his country, according to law. I have further to state, that Judge Lecomjite dis- charged the said Hays from my custody, not- withstanding my return, aud that he is now at large. I have the honor to remain your obedient ser- Tant, H. T. TITUS. His P^xcellency John W. GEAnv, Governor of Kansas Territory. What a sublime spectacle of " rever- ence for law ! " I would do this func- tionary no injustice. He had once before discharged this culprit on habeas corpus. I know his explanation. Not a witness on behalf of the prosecution was present at the examination. The judge was par- ticular to have them "'called;" but, being forty miles away, they did not happen to hear. Witnesses were exam- ined for the prisoner, to prove an alibi — the stereotyped defence of villains every- where — and, the district attorney con- senting tlierero, Hays was discharged on bail ! But I have nothing to do with the judge. My business is with the Executive; to show him how justice is administered in Kansas by men who hold their oflices at his will, and can be re- moved wlieuever he says the word. Re- member, too, that I am not now com- plaining of the murder of Buft'um ; but of that greater wrong done to the commu- nity, when the criminal was discharged, unpunished, and untried, by the very tribunal which should have exerted itself, as a matter of justice, to send him to the gallows. As specimen chapters from the judicial history of Kansas, these must suffice. If we look, now, to the acts of ministe- rial officers in that Territory, we shall find that they were sometimes marvel- lously thorough. I have before me two accounts of one transaction, strikingly illustrative of the zeal with which they prove their loyalty and reverence for law. These accounts I may publish, though they are too long to be read now. They are from the Lecompton Union and St. Louis Rcpublicntiy both then Admin- istration organs, and gave the Democratic version of what is known among the reb- els as "the sacking of Lawrence," on the 20th day of May, 1856. You may remember, Mr. Chairman, the outlines of that patriotic demonstra- tion. The marshal had been there to execute a writ. It is said that the per- son to be arrested, resisted. • The mar- shal, taking this to be the act of the whole town, summoned the rest of man- kinil to assist him. The people of Law- rence, astonished at his proclamation, assembled en masse, and by unanimous resolves informed the officer of his mis- take ; that they were ready to assist him in the execution of all legal process, and that they only awaited an opportunity to testify their fidelity to the laws of the country, the Constitution, and the Union. The marshal did not believe them. The posse had been called, and to the num- ber of eight hundred, armed with mus- kets, rilles, swords, and cannon, they came. He made his arrest, no one re- sisting him, and dismissed the posse. They were immediately resummpned to the assistance of Sheriff Jones. What they did under his chivalric lead, must be told in the words-of these Democratic organs. The editor of the Union, whonyas one 15 of the posse ^ and writes his narrative in camp, says : "Jones had a great many writs in tils hands, but could find no one against whom he held tu^;.j.\ He also had an order from the court to demand the surrender of their arms, field and side, and the demolition of the two presses and the Free State hotel, as nuisances. The arms were imme- diately demanded and surrendered, but very few could be found — four pieces of cannon, one two- pound howitzer, and four small pieces, and a few Sharpe's rifles. When they agreed to surrender, our men were marched down in front of the town, and one cannon planted upon their own battle- ments. Over the largest piece, commanding the Emigrant Ai,d hotel, was unfurled the stars and stripes, with this motto : " ' You Yankees tremble. And Abolitionists fall; Our motto is. Southern rights to all.' " The cannon were then brought out and thrown down in front of our lines. During this time, appeals were made to Sheriff Jones to save the Aid Society's hotel. This news reached the com- pany's ears, and was received with one universal cry of ' No, no ; blow it up ! blow it up ! We will not injure private property; but our motto is, Destruction to everything belonging bo the Aid Society. The court has declared it a nuisance, and we will destroy it.' "About thi^ time, a banner was seen fluttering in the breeze over the office of the Herald of Free- dom. Its color was blood red, with a lone star in the centre, and South Carolina above. This banner was placed there by the Carolinians — Messrs. Wright and a Mr. Cross. The effect was tremendous. One tremendous and long-contin- ued shout burst from the ranks. Thus floated in triumph the banner of South Carolina— that single white star, so emblematic of her course in the earlj' history of our sectional disturbances. When every Southern State stood almost upon the verge of ceding their dearest rights to the North, South Carolina stood boldly out, the firm and unwavering advocate of Southern in- stitutions. "Thus floated victoriously the first banner of Southern rights over the Abolition town of Law- rence, unfurled by the noble sons of Carolina, and every whip of its folds seemed a death stroke to Beecher propagandism and the fanatics of the East. Oh! that its red folds could have been seen by every Southern eye! "Mr. Jones listened to the many entreaties, ■ and finally replied, that it was beyond his power to do anything, and gave the occupants so long to remove all private property from it. He or- dered two companies into each printing office, to destroy the press. Both presses were broken up and thrown into the streets — the type thrown in the river, and all the material belonging to each oflice destroyed. After this was accomplished, and the private property removed from the hotel by the difterent companies, the cannon were brought in front of the house, and directed their destructive blows upoa Die walls ; the building caught on fi crash to the fortress, and Society a gc The ac als'(?\;'^o^^^' -^ - -uatements, that I niust /ble the Committee with one or two extracts. That paper says : "As soon as the deputy [marshal] Kudi posse returned with the prisoners, the troops were dis- missed by Col. Adle, acting for Major Donaldson, and were immediately summoned by him, for Sheriff Jones, to assist in carrying out an order of the United States court. The Emigrant Aid hotel and the two printing offices (the Herald of Freedom and Free State) had been indicted [not tried, convicted, or sentenced, mark you] for being nuisances, and the sheriff ordered to re- move them." Giving a statement of the demand and surrender of the arms of the Free State men, and of the notice given by the sheriff to the host of the hotel, to remove his furniture within two hours, which I pass over, the account proceeds : "Meanwhile the sheriff proceeded to demolish the two printing presses, which was effectually done in a very short time. Most of the type was thrown into Kansas river, and the cases and presses smashed. This was done with less ex- citement than could have been expected. Indeed, few excesses were commited. Private property was ordered to be respected, and it was respected. There was no liquor in the ranks, and that ac- counts for the coolness of our citizen soldiers. It is true that Robinson's house was burned ; but that was contrary to express orders." * * * "At the expiration of two hours, the artillery was drawn up in front of the public entrance of the hotel, and a dozen or fifteen shots fired into it, completely riddling the inside and breaking holes in the walls; and, after shaking the walls with two or three blasts, the structure was fired; and before the sun went down, all that remained of the Aid hotel was a solitary wall, holding itself up as a. warning to law-breakers, and seem- ing to say, 'look at me, and beware!'" Mark, sir, the peculiarities of this new mode of executing process. It was not a mere mob — a gathering of professed marauders in defiance of legal restraints and legal authorities; but, sir, it was professedly the instrument of the law — summoned, organized, directed, and dis- banded, by officialS'-Federal officials, too, Mr. Chairman, the agents of the then Administration ; for, as I have already shown, every Territorial oflScial is only a Federal agent. See, too, what exem- plary, thorough agents the Administra- tion had there to do their deeds of burn- 16 LIBRftRY OF COnSes? we consider how completely they vindi Gated the authorities, leaving only one smoked and blackened wall to say to all law-breakers, "look at me, and beware! " It was a thorough job, sir, which left only that dumb yet speaking monument of its completeness ! Sir, the President, about that time, was, I believe, in this country, and there- fore iiis knowledge of this transaction may fairly be presumed. Does any friend of h'\< remember that, in view of it, he wrung his hands, and cried out in the words of the beautiful apostrophe in his message : " Would that the respect for the laws of the land which so emi- nently distinguished the men of the past generation could be revived 1 " Or, was he as dumb then as lie is now, as to all wrongs committed by his " law-and-or- der " men in Kansas? Observe, again, this was no ordinary mob. If it were, I would pass it un- noticed ; for mobs, disgraceful and de- structive mobs, are not peculiar to Kan- sas. It was legalized laivlessncss — a specimen of that execution of the laws to which, according to the tone of the message, the freemen of Kansas were bound to submit. Viewed in this light, it becomes an enormity of the deepest dye. I need not the lawyers of t'li ii^>^t;4 as degree, and committed to . ,. The proof on which he w , ,. "' /i • I i. j' soldiers, says tins same work, cici J tivelv esUvblished that he r^^' ^"^ „ .- ^, that 'he was absent long e-"'^^^ ^^Af^', to be destroyea wuuuu. - . ttered not w.,..;„io« •.",., reJ; tl)-"^^i^^the question of fact. did it; but that was onlj,,. .iriile, when '^ ~ ' ' 016 087 986 5 Once more, and only once, I return to the message. On the 1st day of Decem- ber, 1857, Acting Governor Stanton summoned the Territorial Legislature to convene on the 7th of that month. Look- ing into a dispatch of his, contained in the message, we learn that he deemed this course necessary, to preserve the peace of the Territory. Turn now to the letter of the Secretary of State to General Denver, of the date of Decem- ber 11, and, strange to say, you will find that, for this very act, Governor Stanton was removed from office ! Will it be replied, the President did not know his motive in convening the Legislature? The answer is ready. He could have waited until he learned it. There was no necessity for such hot haste. Sir, I have done with the sickening record. The message has gone to the country. Let it go. I shall ask my constituents to read it. I hope it will be read by every voter in the land ; and when next the people in the North utter their voice at the ballot-box, my word for it, sir, they will pronounce a verdict upon its author, similar to that long since pronounced by posterity on those who libelled the patriots of Revolution- ary times. WASHINGTON, D. C. BDELL k RLANCHARD, PRINTERS. 1858. UBRABV Of CONGRESS 016 087 986 5