Crawfordsville Review, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, 9 February 1856 — Page 1

The President's KanSJIS Message.

day, the 24th:

To the Senate and House of Representatives: Circumstances have occurred to disturb the course of governmental organization in the Territory of Kansas, and produce there a condition of things which renders it incumbent on me to call your attention to the subject, and urgently to recommend the adoption by you of such measures of legislation as the grave exigencies of the case appear to require.

brief exposition of the circumstances referred to, and of their causes, will be necessary to the full understanding of the recommendations which it is proposed to sub

™,

,, ^!,°'-

5 nre Ineasu

,1In

a Council and a House or Represent duly elected and empowered to cnac vile l.-cal laws which they might decrn es-' stiuiul to their prosperity, happiness and go'nl government. Acting in the same' spirit, (Jongrcf's also defined t!:e persons who were, in the first instance, to be con-: kidered die p?c.p'e of ench TeTitory—

enacting that every free wh:t* male Hhabi-

described, should he'entitled to vo!e at

first elation, and be eligible to any office

sequent elections, should be such as might

be prescribed by the Legislative Assembly:

Provided however, that the right of suffrage and of holding office should be cxercised on'y by citizens of thu United States, and •••••those who should have declared on oath their intention to become such and have taken an oath to support the Constitution .of the United States, and the provisions uf the Act. And provided, further., that no officer, soldier, seaman or marine, or other persons in the Array or Navy of tl.e United

States, or attached to troops in their sevYice, should be allowed to vote or hold office in cither Territory, by reason or being -on service therein. :.X

Such of the public officers of the Territories as, by the provisions of the act, were to be appointed by the General Government, including the Governors, were appointed nnd commissioned in due season the law having been enacted on the30th May, 18"5, and the commission of the Governor of the Territory of Nebraska being dated on the 3d day of August, 1354, and of the Territory of Kansas on the 29 th of June, "1854.

ine act to oi ganize tiio lerritorics or

.Nebraska and Kansas was a manifesto

of anew Territory, and provision for it.

organization and administration as |i

0 exercis ng constant

or ii

Based upon this theorv, the act of

gress

prone tQ exjsL alJ er ecl

ow rs 0

of any such Territory, considered as an

inchoate State, are entitled, in the exercise of self-government, to determine for themselves what shall be their own domestic institutions, subject only to the Constitution and laws duly enacted by Congress under it, and to the power of existing States to ^decide according to the provisions and "pcincipbs of the Constitution at what time the Territory shall be received as a State into the Union. Such are the great political rights which are solemnly declared and affirmed by that act.

upon this tneorv, tilo act ot Con- ,,

defined for each Territory the out-1 lines of Republican ing the public authority

Po*' 'mrncnt

,,,,

logislative—to bo appointed ejther by the

leiieri-.I Government or bv the icrritorv.—!.

1 lie legislatives functions were intrusted to

exarU violation 0

mon'f lawHiil P'

all!

/line bai.ie HOJVC inn are 01 ivveriiy-

ears, beinr an actual resident thereof,!

contl

fi0

onS"

lho

urLi 10m tiic

tion in this inchoate Stale.

Kansas was required to cause a census or reprehensible counter movements which enumeration of the inhabitants and qualifi- ens-ued. ed voters of the several Counties and Dis- Under these inauspicious circumstances tricts of the Territory to be taken by such the primary elections for members of the persons and iu such mode as he might des- Legislative Assembly were held in most, if ignate and appoint to appoint and direct not all, of the precincts at the time and the the time and place of holdiug the first elec- places, and by the persons designated and tions, and the manner of conducting them, appointed by the Govenor according to both as to the persons to superintend 6uch law. elections and the returns therof to declare1 Angry accusations that illegal votes had the number of the members of the Council been polled abounded on all sides, and im-

the 30th of March, 1855, nor its meeting all present purposes, the legislative body' until the 2d of July, 1855. So that, for a thus constituted and elected, was the legitiyear after the Territory was constituted by mate Assembly of the Territory. the act of Congress and the officers to be Accordingly, the Governor, by procla-

]y.

or an ze(

|)is (0 be divertc1 (mm officU ob

galion by olhl object3 and bimse

,f 3^

law in the

..T°^" formance ofacts which rendered

crnment and the other, that the inhabitants: ,, ,. rnr

per

-ijaagainst

•ess in language extremely irritating nnd offensive to those of whom the colonists were to bccome the neighbors. Those designs and acts had the necessary consequence to awaken emotions of intense in1 donation in States near to the Territory of

and House of Representatives for each putations were made both of fraud and County or Distrtct to declare what persons lence. But the Governor, in the exercise tnight appear to be duly elected: and at ap- of the power and the discharge of the duty point the time and place of the first meeting conferred and imposed by law on him alone, the Governor would have been the first To of the Legislative Assembly. In substance officially received and considered the re- rr in this matter, not only in himself havthc same duties were devolved on the Gov-, turns declared a large majority of the ing removed the seat of Government to the ernor of Nebraska. members of the Council and House of Rep- Shawnee Mission, but in again removing it

While, by this act, the principle of con-: resentatives "duly elected withheld cer- 'to Pawnee City. If there was any denar•titution for each of the Territories was one tificates from others because of alleged ille- ture from the letter of the law, therefore' it and the same, and the details of organic gality of votes appointed anew election to

legislation regarding both were as nearly as supply the place of Oie persons not certified But, however this may be, it is most uncould be identical, and while the Terrritory and thus, at length, in all the forms of reasonable to suppose that by the terms of of Nebraska was tranquilly and success-! statute, and with his own official authentic- the organic act Congress intended to do imfully organized in tho due course of law,' ation, complete legality was given to the "plicitly what it has not done expressly— and its first Legislative Assembly met on' first Legislative Assembly of the Territo- that isi to forbid to the Legislative As4mtho 16th of January, 18"5. the organiza- ry

tion ol Kansas was long delayed, and hasj Those decisions of the returning officers see fit as the temporary seat of its deliberabeen attended with serious difficulties and and of the Governor are final, except that, tions. That is proved bv the significant embarrassments, partly the consequence of by the parliamentary usages of the country, language o£ one of the subsequent acts of local rnal-administration, and partly of the applied to the organic law, it may be con- Congress on the subject, that of March 3, unjustifiable interference ot the inhabitants ceded that each House of the Assembly 1855, which, in making appropriation for o£ some of the States foreign by residence, must have been competent to determine, in public buildings of the Territory, enacts interests and rights to the Territoy. the last resort, the qualifications and the that the same shall not be cxn^nd'ed "until

t.ant ofThe same above the ago' nf (wentv-" Ilf service in some of the States, which hasjer trivial thU objection may seem to be, it ted upon the application of persons acting

)0«eKSMK'l'he o-r\I:ncatio"S he--err!er' excited individuals, otherwise patriotic jis foundered all that superstructure ot acts, 01 and law ao in i!i

zevd tu 10

ProP

dis urbed the repose of our country requires to be considered, .because upon it

and law aoidmg, to toil with misdirected plainly against law. which now threatens |p

1gat-'

within the Territory but" that the ,-.ualiiira- ivoriesby the perversion and abuse oft he sas, but of the Union. (ions of voters end hnld'n.'office at all cub-

uwors ot

Congress. Ihe persons and the

In other respects, the Governor, instead such occasions an elaborate message open- of the Legislative Assembly were illegal by

Territory

nst

it my duty,

Govornor

re a on a a in in to

nm «t

created agents—executive, ludicial ana .1 1 1 ,• 1 1 r, »i 1 -i •.

Before the requisite preparation was ac- this, receiving a bill for the establishment general character. Persons professedly comphshed for election of a Territorial Leg- 'of

f"ei'ry

islature, an election of Delegate to Congress 'ernor refused to 6ign it, and, by special inhabitants, but merely a party of the inhad been held in the Territory on the 29th message, assigned for reasons of refusal, not: habitants, and without law, have undertaday of November, 13')4, and "the Delegate anything objectionable in the bill itself, nor ken to summon a convention for the pur-

took his seat, in the House of Represunta- any pretence of the illegality or incompe-j pose of transforming the Territory into a tives without challenge. If arrangements tency of the Assembly as such, but only the State, and have framed a Constitution, had been perfected by the

the election for members for Legislatives As- transferred the seat of Government tempo- and other officers, and scmbly might be held in the cints at tho same time as for

uch an

^-nor of the act to organ- the Legislative Assembly

'G J" ic^itones of Nebraska and Ivan- able origin, for the reason that, by the ex-

sas thwarted in the endeavor to impose [press terms of the organic law.' the seat of

through the agency of Congress, their par- Urovernment of the Territory was "located

tieular views of social organization on the temporarily at Fort Leavenworth," and vet!

itar.ts of each State to judge for themselves transferred the seat of "-overnmerit to the

in this respect was ineradieably rooted in Shawnee Mission, where it in fact the convictions of the people of the Union, then had recourse, in the pursuit of their general object, to the extraordinary measure to propagandist colonization of the Territory of Kansas, to preventthe free and natural actions of its inhabitants in its in-

was

DEMOCRATIC FAMILY NEWSPAPER—DEVOTED TO POLITICS, NEWS, MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE, MECHANIC ARTS, &C.

VOLUME VII. CRAWFORDSVILLE, MONTGOMERY COUNTY IND., FEBRUARY 9, 1856. NO. 30.

The Governor of the Territory of Kansas election of its members. The subject was, the Legislature of said Territory shall have Kansas to elect their own legislative body, CELfcBltATlONOF WEBSTER'S 1IIRTII commissioned, as before stated, on the 29th by its nature, one appertaining exclusively fixed by law the permanent seat of Govern- make their own laws, and regulate their DAI. The following Special Message from

|ofJuue, 1854, did no reach the destinated to the jurisdiction of the local authorities of ment." Congress, in these expressions, own social institutions, without foreign or. The Old Line Whigs of Boston, who rePresident W3S sent to Congress on Thurs

seat of his Government until the ?th of the the Territory. Whatever irregularities may does not profess to be granting the power domestic molestation. Interference, on the

ensuing October and even then failed to have occurred in the elections, it seems too to fix the permanent seat of Government, one hand, to procure the abolition or pro-

make the first step in its legal organization late now to raise that question/ At all I but recognizes the power as one already hibition of slave labor in the Territory, has .. —that of ordering the ensus or cenumera- events, it is a question as to which, neither'granted. But how? Undoubtedly by the produced mischievous interferenco on the

appointed by the federal Executive had mation, convened the Assembly thus elrct-j the large power to fix the permanent seat selves indefatigably in return to encourage .been commissioned, it was without a com- ed to meet at a place called Pawnee City of Government at any place in its discre-!and stimulate strife within the Territory, plete government, without any legislative the two Houses met and were duly organ- tion, of course by the 6ame enactment itl The inflammatory agitation, of which the authority, without local law, and of course ized in the ordinary parliamentary form had the less and the included power to present is but a part, °ias for'twenty years without the ordinary guarantees of peace each sent to, and received from, the Gorerand nublic order. !nor, the official communications usual on

vigilance and putting the session was communicated by the reason of this removal of its place of session

th all his energies to prevent or coun- Governor and the general business of leg-j was brought forward to justify the first•! ]jU]e

legis:a n*o opinion ot Congress on teraet the tendencies to illegality, which are islation was entered upon by the Legisla- great movement in disregard of law within tifrUOUS States,-personally or collectively, to great points of Constitutional constiuction,

-e: _0U" and newly associated communities, allowed I But, after a few days, the Assembly re-[islative Assembly provided for the election OJImate, soil,production, hopes of rapid 'solved to adjourn to another place in the of a Delegate to the present Congress, and I advancement and the pursuit of happiness A law was accordingly passed, a Delegate was elected under the law.—

example of the violation of law in the per- the consent of the Governor, but in But, subsequently to this, a portion of the o.00 wishes, but with no interference from without, would have quietly determined Shawnee authority of law to elect another Delegate.' fice of Chief Executive Magistrate of the j' Manual-Labor School," (or Mission,) and Following upon this movement was anTerrilorv. thither the Assembly proceeded. After other and more important one of the same

iiication of the persons voting as peo- of a few days, he, by official message, com- gun and others, were self-organized, and,

'°'the Territory would have passed lie- .'niunicated to the.Assembly the fact that he as sucli, were admitted into the Union with.ll?VlU -T eessarily and at once under the suoervision bad received notification of tho termination out a previous enabling act of Congress.—

of Congress, as the unlo-eof tl.e va iditv of 01 'ns [unctions as Governor, and that trie it is true that, while, in a majority of ca-

the consent of the Governor, but in 'But, subsequently to this, a portion of the I

due form otherwise, to remove the seat of people of the Territory proceeded without

the town of Kickapoo, the Gov- not constituting the body politic, or all the

so that fact tliat the Assembly had, by its act, adopted it, and under it elected a Governor

several pre- rarily from Pawnee City to Shawnee Mis-j Congress. Delegate to ,sion. For the same reason lie continued to In extenuation of these illegal acts, it is the refuse to sign other bills, until in the course alleged that the States of California, Michi-

1 ,1 n- 1 11 1 1 1

the return ot the Delegate, and would have duties ot the office were legally devolved ses, a previous act of Congress has been

1 been determine before conflicting passions on tnc Secretary of me lerntorv thus, to passed to authorize the erntory to present

*. •,

had become inflamed by time and before the last, recognizing the body as a dtny itself as a State, and that this is deemed the opportunity could have been afforded foi\ elected and constituted Legislative Assem- most regular course, yet such an act has systematic interference 0! the people of in-jbly. not been held to be indispensable, and, in divi.lual States. It will be perceived that, if any constitu- some cases, the Territory has proceeded

This interference, insofar as concerns tional defect attached to the legislative acts without it, and has nevertheless been adits primary causes and its immediate com-:of the Assembly, it is not pretended to con-1 mitted into the Union as a State. It lies nier.cement, was one of the incidents of.sist in irregularity of election, or want of with Congress to authorize beforehand, or that pernicious agitation on the subject of I qualification of the members, but only in' to confirm afterwards, in its discretion.—

^ion of Liie colored persons held the change of its place of session. Howcv-, But in 110 instance has a State been admit-

-i 1

^'al the peace, not only of the ierritory o. Kan

objection to the proceedings of.

people of the future now States, now per-jt.be Governor himself remained there l"ess40lC revolutionary character. It is avowedly c-iving that the policy of leaving the inhab- Uan two months, and of his own discretion

ternal organization, and tnus to anticipate: the place indicated by the Governor, with- the United States be faithfully executed, if or to force the determination of that ques- out baring any exclusive claim of prefer- {they be opposed in the Territory of Kansas, encc in itself, was a proposed town site on- ihe may and should place at the disposal of y, which he and others were attempting to the Marshal any public force of the United

Nor is it easv'to see why the Legislative

Shawnee Mission. If it could not,

Among the duties imposed by the acton Kansas, and especially in the adjoining the Governors was that of directing and State of Missouri, whose domestic peace superintending the political organization of was thus the most directly endangered but incompatible provision oY'act'of^CongresV. ti°n. he may employ for its suppression the the respective Territory. The Governor of they arc far from justifying the illegal and But no such provision exists. The organic I

prov

act, as already quoted, says "the seat of Government is hereby located temporarily at Fort Leavenworth," and it then provides that certain of the public buildings there "may be occupied and used under the direction of the Governor and Legislative Assembly." These expressions might possibly be construed to imply that when in the previous section of the act it was enacted that the first Legislative Assembly shall meet at such place and on such day as the Governor shall appoint, the word "place" means place at F'ort Leavenworth, not place any where in the Territory. If so,

his in both instances.

b!y the

power to choose any place it might

:so

was of exception-iP

or an zcd

at Pawnee City. If the Ci such right to change tempo of government, still more had the Legisla-i In such an event, the path of duty for tive Assembly. The objection is of t-xcep-J the Executive is plain. The Constitution tionable origin for the further re.tf?on tlpit requiring him to take care that the laws cf

With such views, associations were organized in some of the States, nnd their locate unlawfully upon land within a mili-1 States which happens to bo within the jupurposcs were proclaimed through thejtary reservation, and for participation in risdiction, to be us?d as a portion of the Press in language extremely irritating nnd which illegal act the commandant of the \posse com'Uatus and, if that do not suffice po&i—a superior officer of the army—has to maintain order, then he may call forth I recommend, also, that a special approbetn dismissed by sentence of court-martial, the military of one or more Slates for that pnalion be made to defray any expense

ob t,ct

Assembly mi-ht net with propriety pass the P»rt'on of the land or naval force of the I

Territorial act transferrin^ i' sittings to the United Slates. So, also, if the obstruction that bo to the laws of the Territory, and it be must be on account of some prohibitory or! presented to him as a case of insurrec-

ra'lltia

expressions,

tion of its inhabitants—until so late a day now, nor at any previous time, has the least comprehensive provision of the organic act other, for its maintenance or introduction, celebration of the birth-day of tho great that the election of the members of the Leg- possible legal authority been possessed by itself, which declares that "the legislative One wrong besets another. Statements Statesman, on the 17th inst. EDWARD EV» islative Assembly did not take place until the President of the United States. Tor power of the Territory shall extend to all entirely unfounded or grossly exaggerated,

tive Assembly. I the Territory. One of the acts of the Leg-1 produce amo»«- them any political emotion.

|ju-1 tinu uniiTi um'.i-i ciiiu a Representative to

1 .1 r,,

rightful subjects of legislation consistent concerning events within li-e Territory, are

with the Constitution of ihe United States sedulously diffused through remote States

and the provisions of this act." If, in view to feed the flame of sectional animosity of this act, the Legislative Assembly had there and the agitators there exert them-

it temporarily. I produced nothing save unmitigated evil Nevertheless, the allegation that the acts!

,, ,,

North and ou(

of the

new Stale wou

O oc

case it is the peonot a party among

Congress. In ever of the Territory, them who have the power to form a constitution, and ask for admission as a State. law, no practice or

principle of public

rc edent undt lbe

tbat now a mef a

eil 0,

was at

the time the Assembly were called to meetly

Constitution of the

the ex- ^""'tcd States, no rule of reason, right or

common

sense, confers any such power as

mere party in the

T- fact bat has been done is

50 in an, in lim :iS

respccts the lo-

°f the Territory. It will become

treasonable insurrection if it reach the length

eie caueu 10 meet: Governor had any |dament or any other federal law, and to r.porarilv the seat authority of the General Government.

resistance by force to the fun

or'employ for the same object any

any State, or the land or naval

force of the United States. And if the Territory be itivaded by the citizens of other States, whether for the purpose of deciding elections or for any other, and the local authorities find themselves unable to repel or withstand it, they will be entitled to, and upon the fact being fully ascertained, thoy shall most certainly receive, the aid of the General Government.

But is not the duty of the President of the United States to volunteer interposition by force to preserve the purity of elections either in a State or Territory. To do so would be subversive of public freedom.— And whether a law be wise or unwise, just or unjust, is not a question for him to judge. If it bo constitutional—that is, if

"it be the law of the land—it is his duty to

cause it to be executed, or to sustain the

Our system affords no justification of

ministration and laws, by

of popular sovereignty sacredly respected. It is the undoubted right of the

more prompt and effective than illegal vio lence. These constitutional means must be scru-j vrould charge the delay in organizing pulouslv guarded—this great prerogative' 1

the question, which is at this time of such disturbing character.

But we are constrained to turn our attention to the circumstances of embarrassment as they now exist. It is the duty of the people of Kansas to discountenance every act or purpose of resistance to its laws.— Above all, the emergency appeals to the citizens of the States, and especially of those contiguous to the Territory, neither by intervention of non-residents in elections, nor by unauthorized military force, to attempt to encroach upon or usurp ihe authority of the inhabitants of the Territory.

No citizen of our country should permit himself to forget that he is apart of its Government, and entitled to be heard in the determination of its policy and its measures and that, therefore, the highest considerations of personal honor and patriotism require him to maintain, by whatever of power or influence he may possess, the integrity of the laws of the Republic.

Entertaining these views, it will be my imperative duty to exert the whole power of the Federal Executive to support public order in the Territory to vindicate its laws, whether federal or local, against all attempts of organized resistance and so to protect its people in the establishment of their own institutions, undisturbed by encioachments from without, and in tho full enjoyment of the rights of self-government, assured to them by the constitution and the organic act of Congress.

Although serious and threatening disturbances in the Territory of Kansas, announced to me by the Governor in December last, were speedily quieted without theefifusionof blood, and in a satisfactory manner, there is, I regret to say, reason to apprehend that disorders will continue to occur there, with increasing tendency to violence, until some decisive measures be taken to dispose of the question itself, which constitutes the inducement or occasion of internal agitation and of external interference.

Th:-, it seems to me, can best be accomplished by providing that, when the inhabitants of Kansas may desire it, and shall be of sufficient numbers to constitute a Stale, a convention of delegates, duly elected by the quf.liiied voters, shall assemble to frame a constitution, and thus to prep

tluQ of th

verc

h. But for it the character

domestic institutions of tho future

iave

ntercst to

0 10U

ERET

been a matter of too

th inhabitants of the con-

on art 0 ie sc

t,tlers themselves, with

1.re,through

regular and lawful means, for its admission into the Union as a Stale. I respectfully recommend the enactment

of a law to that fleet.

whlc!l

become requisite in the cxecu-

laws or the maintenance of pub-

lie order in the Tcrritorv of Kansas. FRANKLIN PIERCE. WASHINGTON", Jan. 21th, 1S5G.

STILL SO SPEAKER.—Is it right that the Administration, so largely in the minority, should still insist on having the Speaker?— Does Democracy consist in the government of the many by the few? It is clearly the duly of the minority to give way and not continue to clog the wheels of government as they are now doing. For the Republican anti-Nebraska party to yield, would be to trample under foot the very foundation principle of our government. They should stand, and it is right that they should have the speaker—Craw. Juur.

The rbove is one of the silliest paragraphs we have overseen emanating fiom any man who pretended to the least common sense. If the Administration is so largely in the minority, how is it possible

for

authorities of anv State or Territory in exe-i peeled that a Democrat would vote for an cuting it in opposition to all insurrectional* Abolitionist, nor is it to be presumed that a movements. minority could elect—especially when they

are

revolutionary acts for the constitutional! ocrats in the present Congress. The Black means of relieving the people of unjust ad-! Republicans are responsible for the delay s, by a change of pub-!

them to prevent an election? Or, bow

possible for them to elect? It is not ex-

so much in the minority as are the Dem-

organization of the House, and none

lie agents and by repeal, are ample/and! but fools try to shift that responsibility upon 7 delusion, and that it will soon p.vs iliecal via- the shouldere of others.—State Sentinel, away, leaving our instiiulions unscathed. ir r. .. 1 and the fraternal tie which still binds us to-

All verv true Mr. Sentinel, none but a

TI 5

poacon-'

ble and orderly pfopl? of the Territory of does.

lere 13

in a

tne only cne in this region who

The grave closed upon this groat statesman and American before another crisis,. fraught with evil passions and imminent danger, had come to shake his confidence in the permanency of the wise and healing measures of 1850. What he did not live to see his associates in that*work of patriotism— tho,whole country, indeed—now sees that we have again fallen upon evil times, and that the fountains of agitation are broken up, an the waters are out over the land.— There is no master spirit to say Peace, be still, and to be heard and heeded. Our .. trust is in the people of this great republican confederation, and yet more in the God I of their fathers and their jown God, who guided and guarded us through the dreary wilderness of the revolution, and brought us to a condition of freedom and prosperity of which the world furnishes no previous'ex ample. Would that the eloquent accents, which ore now mute in death, would that the burning words of him whose birth you propose to commemorate, and of his great compeer of the west, though dead, yet living in the hearts of his countrymen, could now be heard warning the American people of the dangers impending over them, and calling them to the support of the Union and constitution which have done so much for them and for their children, if not sacrificed upon the allarof a new Moloch, whose victims may be the institutions of our country. If this sectional agitation goes on, thi3 ever-pressing effort to create and perpetuate divisions between the North and the South, wc shall find that we cannot live together in peace, and shall have to live together in war. And what such a condition would bring with it, between independent countries, thus situated, once friends, but become enemies, the impressive narrative of the fate of the Grecian republics teaches us as plainly as the future can be taught by the lessons of the past. Your own .state took a glorious par', in the war of independence, and it contributed ably and faithfully to the adoption cf the constitution. Her great deeds and great names are in the pages of our history, and upon the hearts of our countrymcr.. How would ho who loved and served her so well an whose lore and services were so hoaorablo to her—how would he deplore the position she has assumed towards the government of our common country, and the solemn provisions of its constitution, were ho now living to witness the triumph of sectional feeliugs ovtr the dictates of duty and patri« otism? Let us hope that it is but a tempo-

gcther unimpaired.

I am. dear sir, with much regard, rcspeclfullv vours. LEWIS CA3.3.'

PKTSR HARVEY, Esq Boston.

the name of Daniel Webster, who

Qve ie

Union and cordially hate modern

usionism, an in ores ing

ade an eloquent oration, and several

ot lcrgent]eraen ut cred

patriotic sentiments.

a a

read from the venerable patriot and statesman, General Cass.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 10th, 1856.

DKAR SIR.—I cannot accept your invitation to meet the friends of Mr. Webster on the 17th inst., the aniversary of his birthday in order to interchange recollections of the patriot and orator, and statesman, because my public duties will necessarily detain me here. To these and other high claims to distinction in life, and to fame in death, he added for me the associations of early youth, and the kindness and friendship of maturo age, as well as of declining years. I have read with deep and mourn-g? ful interest the extract from his letter to you, which you were good enough to enclose, written at the termination of tha struggle which attended the compromise measures of 1850, in which he says that "Gen. Cass, Gen. Rusk, Mr. Dickenson, &e., have agreed that since our entrance upon the stage of public action no crisis has occurred fraught with so much danger to the institutions of the country as that thro' which it has just past, and that, in all prob. ability, no other of so great moment will occur again during tho remainder of our lives, and therefore wc v.i 1L hereafter be friends, let our political differences on minor subjects be what they may." This attribute of affectionate regard to his coadjutors in a common struggle against a common peril, from him whose services were so pre-eminent, will be cheri^hcd, I am sure, with proud recollections by all of us, to whom these words of kindness now come from the tomb^ You say that this engagement 011 the part of our lamented friend, was, to your personal knowledge, faithfully kept. It was so. I know it and rcjoico at it. And I believe I may add, with not less assurance, that ihe conviction you express of the same fidelity to this bond of union and esteem on the part of those who cooperated with him, is equally well founded, and th-• •', though death has dissolved the con-ner-tion, yet his name and his fame are dear to them, and will ever find in them zealous advocates and defenders.