Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/768

 utmost forbearance, and point out to them a sure and peaceable remedy. Top have the right to ask the next legislature to revise any and all laws; and in the meantime, as you value the peace of the territory and the maintenance of future laws, I would earnestly ask you to refrain from all violations of the present statutes.

"I am sure that there is patriotism sufficient in the people of Kansas to induce them to lend a willing obedience to law. All the provisions of the constitution of the United States must be sacredly observed—all the acts of congress, having reference to this territory, must be unhesitatingly obeyed, and the decisions of our courts respected. It will be my imperative duty to see that these suggestions are carried into effect. In my official action here, I will do justice at all hazards. Influenced by no other considerations than the welfare of the whole people of this territory, I desire to know no party, no section, no north, no south, no east, no west—nothing but Kansas and my country.

"Fully conscious of my great responsibilities in the present condition of Kansas, I must invoke your aid, and solicit your generous forbearance. Your executive officer can do little without the aid of the people. With a firm reliance upon divine providence, to the best of my ability, I shall promote the interests of the citizens of this territory, not merely collectively, but individually, and I shall expect from them, in return, that cordial aid and support, without which the government of no state or territory can be administered with beneficent effect.

Let us all begin anew. Let the past be buried in oblivion. Let all strife and bitterness cease. Let us all honestly devote ourselves to the true interests of Kansas; develop her rich agricultural and mineral resources; build up manufacturing enterprises; make public roads and highways; prepare amply for the education of our children; devote ourselves to all the arts of peace; and make our territory the sanctuary of those cherished principles which protect the inalienable rights of the individual, and elevate states in their sovereign capacities.

"Then shall peaceful industry soon be restored; population and wealth will flow upon us; 'the desert will blossom as the rose;' and the state of Kansas will soon be admitted into the Union, the peer and pride of her elder sisters.

""

Simultaneously with this address, developing the policy by which his official action was to be guided and controlled, the governor published the following proclamations:—

" A large number of volunteer militia have been called into the service of the territory of Kansas, by authority of the late acting governor, for the maintenance of order, many of whom have been taken from occupations