Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/677

 message opening the session was communicated by the governor, and the general business of legislation was entered upon by the legislative assembly.

But, after a few days, the assembly resolved to adjourn to another plaee in the territory. A law was accordingly passed, against the consent of the governor, but in due form otherwise, to remove the seat of government temporarily to the "Shawnee Manual-labor School" (or mission,) and thither the assembly proceeded. After this, receiving a bill for the establishment of a ferry at the town of Kickapoo, the governor refused to sign it, and, by special message, assigned for reason of refusal, not anything objectionable in the bill itself, nor any pretense of the illegality or incompetency of the assembly as such, but only the fact that the assembly had, by its act, transferred the seat of government temporarily from Pawnee City to Shawnee Mission. For the same reason he continued to refuse to sign other bills, until, in the course of a few days, he, by official message, communicated to the assembly the fact that he had received notification of the termination of his functions as governor, and that the duties of the office were legally devolved on the secretary of the territory; thus to the last recognizing the body as a duly-elected and constituted legislative assembly.

It will be perceived that if any constitutional defect attached to the legislative acts of the assembly, it is not pretended to consist in irregularity of election or want of qualification of the members, but only in the change of its place of session. However trivial the objection may seem to be, it requires to be considered, because upon it is founded all that superstructure of acts, plainly against law, which now threatens the peace not only of the territory of Kansas, but of the Union.

Such an objection to the proceedings of the legislative assembly was of exceptionable origin, for the reason that, by the express terms of the organic law, the seat of government of the territory was " located temporarily at Fort Leavenworth;" and yet the governor himself remained there less than two months, and of his own discretion transferred the seat of government to the Shawnee Mission, where it in fact was at the time the assembly were called to meet at Pawnee City. If the governor had any such right to change temporarily the seat of government, still more had the legislative assembly. The objection is of exceptional origin for the further reason that the place indicated by the governor, without having an exclusive claim of preference in itself, was a proposed towu-site only, which he and others were attempting to locate unlawfully upon land within a military reservation, and for participation in which illegal act the commander of a post, a superior officer of the army, has been dismissed by sentence of court-martial.

Nor is it easy to see why the legislative assembly might not with propriety pass the territorial act transferring its sittings to the Shawnee Mission. If it could not, that must be on account of some prohibitory or incompatible provision of act of congress. But no such provision exists. The organic 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