Doc.
145.-address to the people of Missouri.
The following address, reported and adopted in the
Missouri State Convention on July 31st, derives additional interest from the fact that the
Chairman of the
Committee, and probably its sole author, was
Judge Hamilton R. Gamble, who was on the same day elected by the
Convention Governor of the
State, in place of the traitor
Claib.
Jackson:
To the People of the State of Missouri:--
Your delegates assembled in Convention propose to address you upon the present condition of affairs within our State.
Since the adjournment of this Convention in March last, the most startling events have rushed upon us with such rapidity that the nation stands astonished at the condition of anarchy and strife to which, in so brief a period, it has been reduced.
When the
Convention adjourned, although the muttering of the storm was heard, it seemed to be distant, and it was hoped that some quiet
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but powerful force might be applied by a beneficent
Providence, to avert its fury, and preserve our country from threatened ruin.
That hope has not been realized.
The storm, in all its fury, has burst upon the country — the armed hosts of different sections have met each other in bloody conflict, and the grave has already received the remains of thousands of slaughtered citizens.
Reason inflamed to madness demands that the stream of blood shall flow broader and deeper; and the whole energies of a people, but a few months since prosperous and happy, are now directed to the collection of larger hosts and the preparation of increased and more destructive engines of death.
Your delegates enjoy the satisfaction of knowing that neither by their action, nor their failure to act,have they in any degree contributed to the ferocious war spirit which now prevails so generally over the whole land.
We have sought peace, we have entreated those who were about to engage in war to withhold their hands from the strife, and in this course we know that we but expressed the wishes and feelings of the
State.
Our entreaties have been unheeded; and now, while war is raging in other parts of our common country, we have felt that our first and highest duty is to preserve, if possible, our own State from its ravages.
The danger is imminent, and demands prompt and decisive measures of prevention.
We have assembled in
Jefferson under circumstances widely different from those that existed when the
Convention adjourned its session at
St. Louis.
We find high officers of the
State Government engaged in actual hostilities with the forces of the
United States, and blood has been spilt upon the soil of
Missouri.
Many of our citizens have yielded obedience to an ill-judged call of the
Governor, and have assembled in arms for the purpose of repelling the invasion of the
State by armed bands of lawless invaders, as the troops of the
United States are designated by the
Governor in his proclamation of the 17th day of June last.
We find that troops from the
State of Arkansas have come into
Missouri for the purpose of sustaining the action of our Governor in his contest with the
United States, and this at the request of our Executive.
We find no person present, or likely soon to be present, at the seat of Government, to exercise the ordinary functions of the Executive Department, or to maintain the internal peace of the
State.
We find that throughout the
State there is imminent danger of civil war in its worst form, in which neighbor shall seek the life of neighbor, and bonds of society will be dissolved, and universal anarchy shall reign.
If it be possible to find a remedy for existing evils, and to avert the threatened horrors of anarchy, it is manifestly the duty of your delegates, assembled in Convention, to provide such a remedy; and, in order to determine upon the remedy, it is necessary to trace very briefly the origin and progress of the evils that now afflict the
State.
It is not necessary that any lengthy reference should be made to the action of those States which have seceded from the
Union.
We cannot remedy or recall that secession.
They have acted for themselves, and must abide the consequences of their own action.
So far as you have expressed your wishes, you have declared your determination not to leave the
Union, and your wishes have been expressed by this Convention.
Any action of any officer of the
State in conflict with your will thus expressed is an action in plain opposition to the principle of our Government, which recognizes the people as the source of political power, and their will as the rule of conduct for all their officers.
It would have been but a reasonable compliance with your will, that after you had, through this Convention, expressed your determination to remain in the
Union, your Executive and Legislative officers should not only have refrained from any opposition to your will, but should have exerted all their powers to carry your will into effect.
We have been enabled to ascertain by some correspondence of different public officers, accidentally made public, that several of these officers not only entertained and expressed opinions and wishes against the continuance of
Missouri in the
Union, but actually engaged in schemes to withdraw her from the
Union, contrary to your known wishes.
After the adjournment of your Convention, which had expressed your purpose to remain in the
Union,
Governor Claiborne F. Jackson, in a letter addressed to
David Walker,
President of the Arkansas Convention, dated April 19, 1861, says: “From the beginning, my own conviction has been that the interest, duty, and honor of every slaveholding State demand their separation from the non-slaveholding States.”
Again, he says: “I have been, from the beginning, in favor of decided and prompt action on the part of the
Southern States, but the majority of the people of
Missouri, up to the present time, have differed with me.”
Here we have the declaration of his opinion and wishes, and the open confession that a majority of the people did not agree with him.
But he proceeds: “What their future action (meaning the future action of the people) may be, no man with certainty can predict or foretell; but my impression is, judging from the indications hourly occurring, that
Missouri will be ready for secession in less than thirty days, and will secede if
Arkansas will only get out of the way and give her a free passage.”
It will presently be seen, by an extract from another letter, what the
Governor means by being ready for secession; but it is very remarkable that he should undertake not only to say that she would be ready to secede in thirty days, but further, that she will secede, when in fact your Convention, at that time, stood adjourned
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to the 3d Monday of December next.
His declaration, that the
State would secede is made, doubtless, upon some plan of his own, independent of the
Convention.
Nine days after this letter to the
President of the Arkansas Convention, he wrote another, addressed to
J. W. Tucker,
Esq., the editor of a secession newspaper in
St. Louis.
This letter is dated April 28, 1861.
The writer says: “I do not think
Missouri should secede to-day or to-morrow, but I do not think it good policy that I should so openly declare.
I want a little time to arm the
State, and I am assuming every responsibility to do it with all possible despatch.”
Again he says: “We should keep our own counsels.
Everybody in the
State is in favor of arming the
State, then let it be done.
All are opposed to furnishing
Mr. Lincoln with soldiers.
Time will settle the balance.
Nothing should be said about the time or the manner in which
Missouri should go out. That she ought to go, and will go, at the proper time, I have no doubt.
She ought to have gone last winter, when she could have seized the public arms and public property, and defended herself.”
Here we have the fixed mind and purpose of the
Governor, that
Missouri shall leave the
Union.
He wants time — a little time to arm the
State.
He thinks secrecy should be preserved by the parties with whom he acts in keeping their counsels.
He suggests that nothing should be said about the time or the manner in which
Missouri should go out; manifestly implying that the time and manner of going out, which he and those with whom he acted, proposed to adopt, were some other time and manner than such as were to be fixed by the people through their Convention.
It was no doubt to be a time and manner to be fixed by the
Governor and the General Assembly, or by the
Governor and a military body to be provided with arms during the little time needed by the
Governor for that purpose.
There have been no specific disclosures made to the public of the details of this plan, but the
Governor expresses his strong conviction that at the proper time the
State will go out.
This correspondence of the
Governor occurred at a time when there was no interference by soldiers of the
United States with any of the citizens, or with the peace of the
State.
The event which produced exasperation through the
State, the capture of Camp Jackson, did not take place until the 10th of May.
Yet, the evidence is conclusive that there was at the time of this correspondence a secret plan for taking
Missouri out of the
Union without any assent of the people through their Convention.
An address to the people of
Missouri was issued by
Thomas C. Reynolds, the
Lieutenant-Governor, in which he declares that in
Arkansas,
Tennessee, and
Virginia his efforts have been directed unceasingly, to the best of his limited ability, to the promotion of our interests, indissolubly connected with the vindication of our speedy union with the
Confederate States.
Here is the second executive officer of
Missouri avowedly engaged in travelling through States which he must regard while
Missouri continues in the
Union as foreign States, and those States endeavoring, as he says, to promote the interests of our State.
The mode of promoting our interests is disclosed in another passage of the address, in which he gives the people assurance that the people of the
Confederate States, though engaged in a war with a powerful foe, would not hesitate still further to tax their energies and resources at the proper time, and on a proper occasion in aid of
Missouri.
The mode of promoting our interests, then, was by obtaining military aid, and this while
Missouri continued in the
Union.
The result of the joint action of the first and second executive officers of the
State has been that a body of military forces of
Arkansas has actually invaded
Missouri, to carry out the schemes of your own officer, who ought to have conformed to your will, as you had made it known at elections, and had expressed it by your delegates in Convention.
Still further to execute the purpose of severing the connection of
Missouri with the
United States, the General Assembly was called, and when assembled sat in secret session, and enacted laws which had for their object the placing in the hands of the
Governor large sums of money to be expended in his discretion for military purposes, and a law for the organization of a military force which was to be sustained by extraordinary taxation, and to be absolutely subject to the orders of the
Governor, to act aginst all opposers, including the
United States.
By these acts, schools are closed, and the demands of humanity for the support of lunatics are denied, and the money raised for the purposes of education and benevolence may swell the fund to be expended in war.
Without referring more particularly to the provisions of these several acts, which are most extraordinary and extremely dangerous as precedents, it is sufficient to say that they display the same purpose to engage in a conflict with the
General Government, and to break the connection of
Missouri with the
United States which had before been manifested by
Gov. Jackson.
The conduct of these officers of the
Legislative and Executive Departments has produced evils and dangers of vast magnitude, and your delegates in Convention have addressed themselves to the important and delicate duty of attempting to free the
State from these evils.
The high executive officers have fled from the
Government and from the
State, leaving us without the officers to discharge the ordinary necessary executive functions.
But, more than this, they are actually engaged in carrying on a war with the
State, supported by troops from States in the Southern Confederacy.; so that the
State, while earnestly desirous to keep out of the war, has become the scene of conflict without any action of the people assuming such
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hostility.
Any remedy for our present evil, to be adequate, must be one which shall vacate the offices held by the officers who have thus brought our trouble upon us.
Your delegates desire that you shall by election fill these offices, by process of your own choice, and for this purpose they have directed, by ordinance, that an election shall be held on the first Monday in November.
This time, rather than one nearer at hand, was selected, so as to conform to the spirit of the provision in the
Constitution, which requires three months notice to be given of an election to fill a vacancy in the office of Governor.
But, in the mean time, much damage might happen to the
State by keeping the present incumbents in office, not only by leaving necessary executive duties unperformed, while they prosecute their war measures, but by continuing and increasing the internal social strife which threatens the peace of the whole Sate.
Your delegates judged it necessary that, in order to preserve the peace, and in order to arrest invasions of the
State, these executive offices should be vacated at once, and be filled by persons selected by your delegates, until you could fill them by election.
They have, therefore, made such selection as they trust will be found to be judicious in preserving the peace of the
State.
The office of
Secretary of State has not been mentioned before, and it is sufficient to say that
Benjamin F. Massey, the present incumbent, has abandoned the seat of government, and has followed the fortunes of the
Governor, taking with him the Seal of State as an instrument of evil.
He may be employed by the
Governor in action deeply injurious to the
State; and he has been dealt with by your delegates in the same manner as the
Governor and
Lieutenant-Governor.
In regard to the members of the General Assembly, it is only necessary to say that by the enactment of the law called the Military bill, which violates the
Constitution, and places the entire military strength of the
State at the almost unlimited control of the
Executive, and imposes onerous burdens upon the citizens for the support of an army, and by the passage of general appropriation acts which give to the
Executive the command of large funds to be expended at his discretion for military purposes, thus uniting the control of the purse and the sword in the same hands, they have displayed their willingness to sustain the war policy of the
Executive, and place the destinies of the
State in the hands of the
Governor.
The offices of the members of the General Assembly have therefore been vacated and a new election ordered, so that you may have an opportunity of choosing such Legislative Representatives as may carry out your own views of policy.
In order that the schemes of those who seek to take
Missouri out of the
Union may not further be aided by the late secret legislation of the General Assembly, your delegates have by ordinance amended the Military law, and such other acts as were doubtless passed for the purpose of disturbing the relations of the
State with the
Federal Government.
These are the measures adopted by your delegates in Convention for the purpose of restoring peace to our disturbed State, and enabling you to select officers for yourselves to declare and carry into effect your views of the true policy of the
State.
They are measures which seem to be imperatively demanded by the present alarming condition of public affairs, and your delegates have determined to submit them to you for your approval or disapproval, that they may have the authority of your sanction, if you find them to be adapted to secure the peace and welfare of the
State.
There are some who question the power ot the
Convention to adopt these measures.
A very brief examination of this question of power, will show that the power exists beyond doubt.
It is one of the fundamental principles of our Government, that all political power resides in the people; and it is established beyond question, that a Convention of Delegates of the people, when regularly called and assembled, possesses all the political power which the people themselves possess, and stands in the place of the assemblage of all the people in one vast mass.
If there be no limitation upon the power of the
Convention, made in the call of the body, then the body is possessed of unlimited political power.
If it be a State Convention, then there is a limitation upon it, imposed by the
Constitution of the United States.
If we state the position of the opponents of the powers now exercised by this Convention in the strongest form, it is this: The Convention was called by an act of the General Assembly for specific purposes declared in the act, and, therefore, the people in electing delegates under that act intended to limit the
Convention to the subjects therein specified, and this action taken by the
Convention, in vacating State offices, is not within the scope of the subjects thus submitted to the
Convention.
It is very well understood by all that a Convention of the people does not derive any power from any act of the Legislature.
All its power is directly the power of the people, and is not dependent upon any act of the ordinary functionaries of the
State.
It cannot be claimed, in the present case, that we are to look at the act of Assembly referred to for any other purpose than to find whether there is any limitation imposed by the people upon the powers of the
Convention, by electing the
Convention under the act. If it be examined with that view, and if it be conceded that any of its provisions were designed to limit the powers of the
Convention, it will be seen that all the
Convention has done comes clearly within the scope of the powers designed to be exercised.
The 5th section of the act provides that the
Convention, when assembled, shall proceed to consider the then
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existing relations between the
Government of the
United States, the people and governments of the different States, and the government and people of the
State of Missouri, and to adopt such measures for vindicating the sovereignty of the
State and the protection of its institutions as shall appear to them to be demanded.
The measures to be adopted are to be such as the
Convention shall judge to be demanded in order to vindicate the sovereignty of the
State and protect its institutions; those measures are left to the judgment of the
Convention, and may reach any officer or any class of persons.
Let us take the case, then, of an armed invasion of the
State by troops from
Arkansas, neither invited nor headed by the
Governor of
Missouri.
The vindication of the sovereignty of the
State may demand that such invasion be repelled by force, and every person can see that, while the forces of
Missouri may be employed in repelling the invasion, it is perfectly obvious that the vindication of our sovereignty requires that the
Governor, who is, by the
Constitution,
Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the
State, must be removed from that office when he is actually engaged in leading or inciting the invasion.
To consider the relations existing between the people and Government of
Arkansas and the people and Government of
Missouri, and to adopt measures to vindicate our sovereignty, imperatively demands in the case supposed, and which actually exists, that the commander in the
State of Missouri be removed from his office.
This case is stated merely as an illustration of the principles upon which the
Convention has felt itself bound to act. Other cases equally strong and equally demanding like interposition of the
Convention, might be stated as actually existing, but that now stated is sufficient to put you in possession of the principles upon which the action of the
Convention rests.
It is clearly an action demanded by the duty of vindicating the sovereignty of the
State, and it applies to the other persons removed from office by the
Convention upon the ground that they are all involved in the same scheme for assailing the sovereignty of the
State.
In relation to the members of the General Assembly, the
Convention are aware that all the members did not participate in the action which is regarded as an attempt to destroy the institutions of the
State by destroying her connection with the
Union, and thus overturning the institutions which she has as one of the
United States.
But no distinction could be made among the members on account of their individual opinions.
The body was necessarily located collectively.
And now, having stated the necessity for the action of the
Convention, and the principles which have governed the action, your delegates submit the whole for your consideration and calm judgment.
They have felt their own position and that of the
State to be peculiar.
They have looked over
Missouri and beheld the dangers that threaten her. They desire to avert them.
They desire to restore peace to all her citizens.
They have adopted the measures which, in their judgment, gave the highest promise of peace and security to all her citizens.
If the measures adopted should have the desired effect, your delegates will feel that gratification which always attends the success of well-intended effort.
If the measures should fail to restore peace, your delegates will find consolation in the fact that they have done what they could.
The report of the
Committee was agreed to.