Congress could not abdicate its authority; it could
not abandon its trust; and, when it omitted the requirement that the
laws should be sent back, it created a _casus_ which required it to act
without the official records being laid before it, as they would have
been if the obligation had existed. That was all the difference. It was
not enforcing upon the agent the obligation to send the information. It
left Congress, as to its power, just where it was. I find myself
physically unable to go as fully into the subject as I intended, and
therefore, omitting a reference to those acts, suffice it to say that
here was the recognition of the obligation of Congress to interpose
against a Territorial Legislature for the protection of personal right.
That is what we ask of Congress now. I am not disposed to ask this
Congress to go into speculative legislation. I am not one of those who
would willingly see this Congress enact a code to be applied to all
Territories and for all time to come. I only ask that cases, as they
arise, may be met according to the exigency. I ask that when personal
and property rights in the Territories are not protected, then the
Congress, by existing laws and governmental machinery, shall intervene
and provide such means as will secure in each case, as far as may be, an
adequate remedy. I ask no slave code, nor horse code, nor machine code.
I ask that the Territorial Legislature be made to understand beforehand
that the Congress of the United States does not concede to them the
power to interfere with the rights of person or property guaranteed by
the Constitution, and that it will apply the remedy, if the Territorial
Legislature should so far forget its duty, so far transcend its power,
as to commit that violation of right.
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