a military reservation, and for participation in which
illegal act the commandant of the post, a superior
officer in the Army, has been dismissed by sentence
of court-martial. Nor is it easy to see why the
legislative assembly might not with propriety pass
the Territorial act transferring its sittings to the
Shawnee Mission. If it could not, that must be
on account of some prohibitory or incompatible provision
of act of Congress; but no such provision exists.
The organic act, as already quoted, says “the
seat of government is hereby located temporarily at
Fort Leavenworth;” and it then provides that
certain of the public buildings there “may be
occupied and used under the direction of the governor
and legislative assembly.” These expressions
might possibly be construed to imply that when, in
a previous section of the act, it was enacted that
“the first legislative assembly shall meet at
such place and on such day as the governor shall appoint,”
the word “place” means place at Fort Leavenworth,
not place anywhere in the Territory. If so, the
governor would have been the first to err in this
matter, not only in himself having removed the seat
of government to the Shawnee Mission, but in again
removing it to Pawnee City. If there was any departure
from the letter of the law, therefore, it was his
in both instances. But however this may be, it
is most unreasonable to suppose that by the terms of
the organic act Congress intended to do impliedly what
it has not done expressly—that is, to forbid
to the legislative assembly the power to choose any
place it might see fit as the temporary seat of its
deliberations. That is proved by the significant
language of one of the subsequent acts of Congress
on the subject—that of March 3, 1855—which,
in making appropriation for public buildings of the
Territory, enacts that the same shall not be expended
“until the legislature of said Territory shall
have fixed by law the permanent seat of government.”
Congress in these expressions does not profess to
be granting the power to fix the permanent seat of
government, but recognizes the power as one already
granted. But how? Undoubtedly by the comprehensive
provision of the organic act itself, which declares
that “the legislative power of the Territory
shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation
consistent with the Constitution of the United States
and the provisions of this act.” If in view
of this act the legislative assembly had the large
power to fix the permanent seat of government at any
place in its discretion, of course by the same enactment
it had the less and the included power to fix it temporarily.
Nevertheless, the allegation that the acts of the legislative assembly were illegal by reason of this removal of its place of session was brought forward to justify the first great movement in disregard of law within the Territory. One of the acts of the legislative assembly provided for the election of a Delegate to the present Congress, and a Delegate was elected under that law. But subsequently to this a portion of the people of the Territory proceeded without authority of law to elect another Delegate.