Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/796

 of state rights, only calculated to produce irritation and estrangement. Every dictate of self-respect — every consideration of state equality — the glories of the past and the hopes of the future — all, with soul-stirring eloquence, constrain us to cultivate a reverential awe for the constitution as the sheet-anchor of our safety, and bid us, in good faith, to carry out all its provisions.

Many of the statutes are excellent, aud suited to our wants and condition, but in order that they may receive that respect and sanction which is the vital principle of all law, let such be abolished as are not eminently just and will not receive the fullest approbation of the people. I trust you will test them all by the light of the general and fundamental principles of our government, and that all that will not bear this ordeal, be revised, amended, or repealed. To some of them which strike my mind as objectionable, your candid and special attention is respectfully invited.

By carefully comparing the organic act, as printed in the statutes, with a certified copy of the same from the department of state, important discrepancies, omissions and additions will be discovered. I therefore recommend the appointment of a committee, to compare the printed statutes with the original rolls on file in the secretary's office, to ascertain whether the same liberty has been taken with the act under which they were made.

Of the numerous errors discovered by me in the copy of the organic act as printed in the statutes, I will refer to one in illustration of my meaning. In the 29th section, defining the executive authority, will be found the following striking omission" against the laws of said territory, and reprieves for offenses." This omission impairs the executive authority, and deprives the governor of the pardoning power for offenses committed "against the laws of the territory," which congress, for the wisest and most humane reasons, has conferred upon him.

The organic act requires every bill to be presented to the governor, and demands his signature, as the evidence of his approval, before it can become a law. The statutes are defective in this respect, as they do not contain the date of approval, nor the proper evidence of that fact, by having the governor's signature.

Your attention is invited to chapter 30, in relation to county boundaries. The boundary of Douglas county is imperfect, and in connection with Shawnee county, is an absurdity for both counties. The boundary lines for all the counties should be absolutely established.

Chapter 44, establishing the probate court, also requires attention. The act is good generally, so far as it relates to the organization and duties of the court. But all provisions in this and other acts, vesting the appointment of probate judges, county commissioners, and other public officers, in the legislative assembly, should at once be repealed, and the unqualified right of election conferred upon the people, whose interests are immediately affected by the acts of those officials. The free and unrestricted right of the people to select all their own agents, is a maxim so well settled in political ethics, and springs so