Jasper Banner, Volume 4, Number 22, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1857 — PROCLAMATION. [ARTICLE]

PROCLAMATION.

To the People of Lawrence.

Leavenworth, July 16,1867. I have learned that a considerable number of the citizens of Lawrence, in this Territory, have adopted, as they claim, by a popular vote, a ‘ charter for their local Government. A copy of that charter has been placed in my hands ; upon compar- , ing which with that granted by the Territorial Legislature, last winter, 1 find that they differ intentionally in man}' essential particulars. The new charter, then, is set up, not only without any authority of law, but in direct and open defiance of an act of the Territorial Legislature on the same subject. On this point your Committee, whose views have been adopted by you, make the following statement: “ Under ordinary circumstances the more regular method of proceeding would be to obtain a charter from the Territorial authorities. As the Territorial Government, however, in no sense represents the people of Kansas, was nbt elected by them, and can have no right to legislate for them, we cannot accept of a charter at its hands. And, as the State Government has not, as yet. deemed it advisable to proceed to the organization of local and municipal governmeifls, we cannot obtain a charter from it. There is, therefore, left us only the alternative of a charter springing directly from the people, or a continuance in our present unorganized condition. “ Under these circumstances, you have seen fit to instruct us to present a charter, having discussed its provisions in a preliminary assemblage, and now propose to submit it to a full vote of the people for approval or rejection.” It is perceived that the authority of the Territorial Gpvernment is here distinctly denied, and whilst that of the so-called State government is acknowledged, it is conceded that no charter has been granted by them. Indeed, it is a fact that, although this so-called State government has in itself, no legal existence or authority, yet you asked and failed to receive a charter from them. Under these circumstances you have proceeded to establish a government for the city of Lawrence, in direct defiance of the Territorial Government, and denying its existence or authority. You have granted to this city government the authority to elect a Mayor and Board of Aldermen, City Assessors, Treasurer, Justices of the Peace, City Marshal, etc.; you have granted to the Mayor and Board of Aldermen most extensive powers, including the right to levy and collect taxes upon real and personal property within the limits of the city, whether belonging to residents or non-residents, and all the other powers usually incident to a city government. You have imposed upon all these officers the duty of taking an oath to support this so-called State constitution, thus distinctly superceding so far as in your power, the Territorial Government created by the Congress of the United States. You have caused these proceedings to be printed in handbill form, and have distributed them, as I am informed, throughout the Territory, with the view to incite the other cities, towns and counties of Kansas to establish insurrectionary governments, thereby placing the people of this Territory, so far as in your power, m open conflict with, the Government of the United States.

The more conservative portion of your own party having induced your Topeka Legislature to reject the laws urged by you, creating municipal governments, you have even in defiance of their authority, which you profess to acknowledge, proceeded to oreate such a government for Lawrence, and are now urging other localities to pursue a similar course. Your evident purpose is to involve the whole Territory in insurrection, and to renew scenes of bloodshed and civil war. Upon you, then, must rest all the guilt and responsibility of this contemplated revolution. You will be justly chargeable in law and in conscience, with all the blood that may be shed in thip contest, and upon you must fall the punishment. You have elected yonr officers under this charter, and instructed them to enter upon the immediate discharge of their duties, including the adoption of ordinances and the execution thereof, under an authority having in itself no legal existence and establishment in direct defiance of the Government of the United States. From all these facts, ft is obvious iPyou are permitted to proceed, and especially if your ,example should be followed as urged by you in other places, that for all practical purposes in many important particulars

the Territorial government will be overthrown. The chart*;#* granted by that government for similar purposes will he disregarded and the Justice of the Peace Land Other offi cers acting under their authority, will be brought necessarily in conflict and collision with the so-called officers claiming to act under different authority. The Territory will thus bo involved in inextricable confusion and litigation ; the value of your property be greatly depreciated; your tides, transfers, transactions and contracts will be subjected to endless and costly disputes and all will suffer from this insurrection, except the lawyers who have stiinula- ' ted this movement. A government founded on insurrection and usurpation will be substituted for that established by the authority of Congress, and civil war will be renewed throughout our limits. If your authority to act in this manner for the' city ot Lawrence is permitted, a similar authority must be acknowledged in every other town, city or county, and resuli in inevitable and most disastrous conflict; and if successful, the Territorial government be overthrown in detail, as is your . present purpose. You were distinctly informed in my Inaugural Address of May last, 1 that the validity of the Territorial 1 laws was acknowledged by the government of the United States, and that they must and would be car--1 ried into execution under my oath of office and the instructions of the President of the United States. The same information was repeated in various addresses made by me throughout the Territory. At the same time, every assurance was given you that the right of the people of this Territory, under the forms prescribed by the government of your country, to establish their own State government and frame their own social institutions, would be acknowledged and protected. If laws have been enacted by the Territorial Legislature which are disapproved of by a majority of the people of the Terriiory, the mode in which they could elect a new Territorial Legislature and repeal those laws, was also designated. If there are any grievances of which you have a right to complain, the lawful, peaceful manner in which you could remove them in subordination to the government of your country, was also pointed out. You have, however, chosen to disregard the laws of Congress and of the Territorial government created by it, and while professing to acknowledge a State government rejected by Congress, and which can, therefore, now exist only by a successful rebellion, and exacting from all your officers the perilous and saeriligious oath to support the so-called State Constitution; yet you have even in defiance of the so-called State Legislature, which refused to grant you a charter, proceeded to create a local government of your own, based only upon insurrection and revolution. The very oath which you require from all your officers to support your so-called Topeka State Constitution, is violated in the very act of putting in operation a charter rejected even by them. A rebellion so iniquitous and necessarily involving such awful consequences has never before disgraced any age or country. Permit me to call your attention as still claiming to be citizens of the United States, to the results of your proceedings. You are inaugurating rebellion and revolution ; you are disgregarding the laws of Congress and of the Territorial Government, and defying their authority; you are conspiring to overthrow the Government of the United States in this Territory.

Your purpose if carried into effect in the mode designated by you, by putting your laws forcibly into execution, would involve you in the guilt and crime of treason. You stand now, fellow-citizens, upon the brink of an awful preeipice, and it becomes my duty to warn you ere you take the fatal leap into the gulf below. Jf your proceedings are not arrested you will necessarily destroy the peace of this Territory and involve it in all the horrors of a civil war. I warn you, then, before it is too late, to recede trom the perilous position in which you novy stand. I appeal once more to your reason and patriotism. I ask you in the name of our common country, in the name of the Constitution and of the Union, to desist from this Rebellion. I appeal, once more, to your love of country, to your regard for its peace, prosperity and reputation, to yoiir affection far your wives and children, and all those patriotic motives which ought to influence American citizens, to abandon this contemplated revolution. If you have wrbnga redress them through the peaceful instrumentality of the

ballot-box, in the mode prescribed by the laws of your country. As aH arguments heretofore so of' ten addressed by me to you, have failed yet to produce any effect upon you, 1 have deemed it necessary for youc own safety, and that of the Territory, and to save you from the perilous consequences of ..your own act*, under the arithofrity' vested in me by the President of the United States, to order an adequate force of troops of the United States into your immediate vicinage, to perform tbe painful duty of arresting your revolutionary prdceedings. Let me implore you not to compel me to appeal to that military power which is required in the last resort, to protect the government of your country. You cannot carry your rebellious purposes into effect without coming into unavoidable and open conflict with the troops and government of the United State*. Let me adjure you, then, once more, to abatfdon these proceedings before you involve yourselves in the crime of treason, and subject the people of the city of Lawrentfe to all the horrors aud calamities of insurrection and civil war. If. you will now desist from this projected revolution the past will be forgotten as far as practicable ; but if you persist in passing laws and carrying them into execution, thus defying and superceding the government of your country, the deplorable consequences must be upon your heads and those of your associates. It will be my purpose, if you still persist, to spare all bloodshed as far as practicable, and subject the leaders and projectors of this revolutionary movement to the punishment prescribed by the law. I will accompany the troops to Lawrence with a view to prevent, if possible, any conflict, and in the sincere hope that the revolutionary movement contemplated by you, and now so nearly accomplished, will, ere it is too late, be abandoned by you. If you can be influenced by no other motives, the evident fact that the power of the government is adequate to prevent the accomplishment of your purpose, should induce you to desist from these proceedings. That the same overruling Providence who holds in his hands the destiny of our beloved country may now incline your hearts to peace, and influence you to abandon this fatal enterprise, is the sincere wish of your'fellow-citizen.

R. J. WALKER,

Governor of Kansas Territory.

Cincinnati Jnly 23.—Twenty children on Buckeye street in adensely populated German neighborhood were poisoned last evening by eating lozengers which had been scattered along the street by a man and two boys, names unknown. Two children are dead and many others Are not expected to live. The man was seen to offer small packages of lozengers to persons in the street but being suspicious of something wrong they were not taken. —The lozengers were found to contain equal parts of arsnio, sugar, and flour. The cause for perpetrating this act is unknown. No persons arrested yftt.

July 241 h man who scattered poisoned lozengers along Buckeye street, turns out to be a drunken German who pursues the vocation of selling poisoned lozengers fer the rats. Only one child died, the reel have eutirely recovered. , t -- - qgp, ... —< |o*What a sagacious dog the editor Of the Gazette is. It seems that he conceives himself the only person capable of detecting a hoax. Some one ought to give him a sugarplum. How under the sun Mr. Davies did you discover tb*d I* O. S. read backwards would spell sold} When we come-across another hoax* we will send it to the “smut mahine” so that its readers may be informed of the fact, and instructed how to detect it?