484
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1858
Before taking my seat, sir, I must allude to a remark which was made by the Senator from Maine [Mr. Fessenden], and I must express with great deference to his intelligence, my dissent from one position which he assumed. He contended, as I under- stood him, that the President had no right to order the troops into a Territory for the purpose of suppressing insurrection or rebellion. My own opinion on that point is very different. I think the power of the President in that respect cannot be questioned, though the expediency of its exercise in any particular case may be a question for investigation. In a Territory there is no govern- ment of a sovereign community, such as there is in a State, to demand the aid of the United States forces to suppress insurrec- tion or rebellion. Is such a state of affairs, if it exists, to go on unchecked? or is it not the .duty of the President ex officio, a Territory being an appendage of the Federal Government, to use all the power he can to suppress insurrection? Has he not the power to do it, at any rate? I do not say that insurrection has existed; but I ask, if it does exist in a Territory, has not the President the power to use the troops in order to put it down? Suppose that in the District of Columbia the Mayor of this city were to head an insurrection or rebellion against the Federal Government-were to refuse its authorities the exercise of their appropriate functions-would not the President have the right to put it down without waiting for a call from the Governor of a State? If he can do it in the District of Columbia, which I presume no one will question, he can in a Territory; because a Territory is as much under Federal tutelage and government, until it becomes a sovereign State, or assumes some organic form, as the District of Columbia. Therefore, I think it is per- fectly within his competency to use the Federal Army whenever it is necessary, in his opinion, within the limits of any Territory or the District of Columbia. The propriety of such a measure is the only point to be investigated; the right, I think, is undoubted. I was very sorry., Mr. President, to hear the honorable Senator from Georgia [Mr. Iverson] allude to what might have occurred in Kansas in certain contingencies. I shall pass over all questions relative to Kansas, for the reason that I am not informed in rela- tion to everything connected with it; and I do not feel that I am competent to shed any light on that subject, or even to express an enlightened opinion of my own. I was sorry to hear the honor-- able Senator from Georgia allude to what might have occurred, if certain events had not taken place; and he said it might have led to a general agitation throughout the country that would have
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