The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-04-17

election, there were mutual complaints of usurp-
alton, fraud, and violence when we hear from
no other quarter of such complaints made by the
party that prevailed? If there were such mutual
accusations, and even if they rested on probable
grounds, would that fact abate the right of
the people of Kansas to a Government of their
own, securing safe and well-ordered free
dom? Why does the President argue that the
Governor (Mr. Reeder) alone had the power to
receive and consider the returns of the election
of the Legislative bodies, and that he certified
those returns in fifteen out of the twenty-five
districts, when he knows that the Governor,
being his own agent, gave the certificates, on the
ground that the returns were technically correct,
and that the illegality complained of was in the
conduct of the elections, and in the making up of
the returns by the judges, and that the terror of
the armed invasion prevented all complaints of
this kind from being presented to the Governor?
Why does the President repose on the fact that
the Governor on the ground of informally in the
returns rejected the members who were chosen
in the seven other districts and ordered new cleo
tons therein, and certified in favor of the per-
sons then chosen, when he knows that the ma
jorty, elected in the fifteen districts, expelled at
once the persons chosen at such second elections,
and admitted those originally returned as elected
in these seven districts, ON the ground that the
Governors rejection Of them, and the second
elections which he ordered, were unauthorized
and illegal2 Why does the President, although
emitting to mention this last fact, nevertheless
justify the expulsion of these newly elected mem
bers, on the ground that it was authorized by
parliamentary law, when he knows that there
was no parliamentary or other law existing in
the Territory, but the organic act of Congress,
which conferred no such power on the Legsla-
ture2 Why was Governor Reeder replaced by
Mr. Shannon, who Immediately proclaimed that
the Legislative bodies which his predecessor had
denounced were the legitimate Legislature of the
Territory Why does the President plead that
the subject of the alleged Missourian usurpation
and tyranny in Kansas was one which, by its
nature, appertained exclusively to the jurisdic-
ton of the local authorities of the Territory,
when, if the charges were true, there were no
legitimate local authorities within the Territory
Is a foreign usurpation in defenceless Territory
of the United States to be tolerated if only it be
successful? And is the Government de facto by
whomsoever usurped, and with whatever tyranny
exercised, entitled to demand obedience from the
people, and to be recognised by the President Of
the United States? Why does he plead, that
whatever irregularities may have occurred, it
is now too late to raise the question 2" Is there
nothing left but endurance to citizens of the
United States, constituting a whole political
community of men, women, and children-an
incpent American State-subjugated and OPP
pressed? Must they sit down in peace, abandon
ed, contented, and despised? Why does he plead,
that at least it is question as to which, neither
now, nor at any previous time, has the least
possible legal authority been possessed by the
President of the United States?" Did any magis-
trate ever before make such an exhibition of
ambitious imbecility? Cannot Congress clothe
him with power to act, and is it not his duty to
ask power to remove usurpation and subvert tyr
amy in Territory of the United States? Are
these the tone, the tenor, and the staple, of de-
fence, where the accused is guiltless, and the
crimes charged were never committed2 The
President virtually confesses all the transactions
charged, by thus presenting connected system
of maxims and principles, invented to justify
them
/ proceed, however, to clinch conviction by
direct and positive proofs: First, the statements
of the party which has been overborne. General
Pomeroy and his associates, in behalf of the
State of Kansas, make this representation con-
corning the Congressional election held in the
Territory on the 3Oth of November, 1854:
"The first ballot-bOx that was opened upon
our virgin soil was closed to us by overpower-
ing numbers and impending force So bold and
reckless were our invaders, that they cared not
to conceal their attack. They came upon US,
not in the guise of voters, to steal away our
franchise, but boldly and openly, to snatch it
with a strong hand They came directly from
their own homes, and in compact and organi-
zed bands, with arms in hand and provisions for
the expedition, marched to our polls, and, when
their work was done, returned whence they came.
1t is unnecessary to enter into the details; it is
enough to say that in three districts, in which,
by the most rrefragable evidence, there were not
one hundred and fifty voters, most of whom re-
fused to participate in the mockery of the elect
i've franchise, these invaders polled over thou
sand votes"
In regard to the election of the 3Oth of March,
1855, the same party states
"They 1.-THE Missourians) arrived at their sew
eral destinations the night before the election,
and having pitched their camps and placed their
sentries, waited for the coming day. Baggage
wagons were there, with arms and ammunition
enough for a protracted fight, and among them two
brass feld-pieces, ready charged. They came with
drums beating and flags flying, and their leaders
were of the most prominent and conspicuous
men of their respective States. In the morning
they surrounded the polls, armed with guns,
bowie-knives, and revolvers, and declared their
determination to vote at all hazards and in
spite of all consequences. If the judges could
be made to subserve their purposes and receive
their votes and if no obstacle was cast in their
way, their leaders exerted themselves to pre-
serve peace and order in the conduct of the
election but at the same time did not hesitate
to declare, that If not allowed to vote, they
would proceed to any extremity in destruction
OF property and life. If the control of the polls
could not be had otherwise, the judges were by
intimidation, and, if necessary by violence, pre-
vented from performing their duty, or, if I'M
yielding in this respect, were driven from their
post, and the vacancy filed in form by the per-
sons on the ground and whenever by any means
they had obtained the control of the board the
foreign vote was promiscuously poured in, with
out discrimination or reserve, or the slightest
care to conceal its nsfarious Illegally. At one
OF the polls two of the judges having man
fully stood up in the face of the armed mob,
and declared they would do their duty, one por-
ton Of the mob commenced to tear down the
house, another proceeded to break in the door
of the judges room, whilst others, with drawn
knives, posted themselves at the window, with
the proclaimed purpose of killing any voter who
would allow himself to be sworn. Voters were
dragged from the window, because they would
not show their tickets, or vote at the dictation
of the mob and the invaders declared openly,
at the polls, that they would cut the throats of
the judges, if they did not receive their votes
without requiring an oath as to their residence
The. room was finally forced, and the judges,
surrounded by an armed and excited crowd,
were offered the alternative of resignation OF
death, and FIVE minutes were allowed for their
decision. The ballot-box was seized and amid
shouts of 'Hurrsh for Missouri was carried
into the mob. The two menaced judges then
left the g.ound, together with all the resident
citizens, except a few who acted in the outrage,
because the result expected from it correspondent
to their own views.
When an excess of the foreign force was found
to be had at one poll detachnents were sent to
the others. A minister of the
Gospel, who refused to accede to the demands
of a similar mob of some 400 armed and organ
lied men, was driven by violence from his post,
and the vacancy filed by themselves. \ \
- Another clergyman, for the expression of
his opinion, was assaulted and beaten.
The inhabitants Of the district, power
less to resist the abundant supply of arms and