The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-07-28

| To retain seat IN such circumstances
would be ordinarily, condeseension too
inglerious fer the spirit of an American
freeman; but dishcnorable as it would
be in older and far differently situated
portions of the Union, sill / felt that the
peculiar and pressing necessities of our
situatiass were such, that l was disposed
to remain at my post to the present hour.
And / have no doubt that these reasons
Influenced your Exeellency to put the
most liberal construction on the-organic
act. and the facts in the case, and give
certificates of election to number, who
you may have felt, were not justly enti-
tied to them.
If this legislative body, thus compos-
fed, had contented themselves with this
preliminary achievement should have
submitted /; but the first triumph seems to
have accelerated their progress TO new,
| wilder, and more bold assumptions OF
power-assumptions which are both un-
reasonable and Observation-Disclosures
must, if not checked. precipitate thisTer-
/ inlO q StsGC vi SCABPkC
The second fact would notice is, that
| the Legislature had no sooner been or
ganized at Pawnee, the place to which
your message had convened it, than a
systematic effort was made to remove
from it portion of its members, obvious
| II for no other reason than that their
views were inimical to slavery. These
members had their certificates of election
from you, aud they composed more than
fourth part OF the whole Kansas Legis.
lature These, the real representatives
of the districts from which they came,
the "daly elected members of that
body, were expelled, and their seats Civ
en- TO those who were not legally elected,
except NJ. F. CoNwAY, Esq, member of
the Council, mortified and disguised to
see the rights of the people tranpled I'M
der foot, and the fundamental idea ofour
glorious Republic trailed in the dust, re-
signed his seat before the Legislature
convened, which was subsequently filed
by another who had no just claim to a
seat.
The introduction of these Illegal el-
ements into the Legislative Assem-
bly,, was sufficient, of itself, to vitia:e it's
doings, and render null and void all It's
subsequent acts; still, in the circumslanc-
.es, was disposed to believe that the peo-
pie would submit to their enactments !;
but this act SO manifestly Illegal, was
speedily followed by another, which re-
moved the Legislature from the consti-
tutional place of holding its session, and
also created an additional temporary seat
of government for the Territory. This
act, also, obviously contravenes the ex-
press provisions of the organic law.
Believing, as I did, that if fair ex-
preston of opinion could be had in Kan
sas, it would appear that quite large
majority Of the legal voters were decided
ly opposed to the present Legislature
and seeing laws passed which positively
contrarene the express provisions of the
Constitution, which | had sworn to sup
port, led me to think of resiguing my
seat, and probably caused your Excel
lcncy to interfere your official authority
to arrest legislative action. This barrier,
which your position as Governor of the
Territory demanded, and which the peo-
pie had right to expect, placed the
Legislature in a new and embarrassing
position, one in which had neither incli-
nation Bor instructions to act.
These facts, together with the addi-
tional one of hearing representatives de-
clare positively that some of the mem
bers of the House were not noa0 and neeer
had been residents of the Territory, but
are living in the State of Missouri, caused
me, mortified and Disguised at the as
sumptions of my countrymen, to retire
from a position which could no longer
retain with credit or honor to myself, or
justice to my constituents. They have
led me to place but little faith in the
plant of territorial sovereignty" when
placed in the shade of Missouri's over
shadowing tree.
Against the members Of the hegisla-
ture | have no personal feeling; but on
the contrary, while cannot but feel that
their position is utterly subversiye of the
dearest rights of American citizens, to-
wards them | entertain no feelings but
those of kindness Al of which is most
respectfully submitted.
In haste, yours, DC, 4
SAMUEL D. HOUSTON.
,Ssoacnee Mission, July 90, 1856 Il