Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1856-07-31
A CURIOUS REVELATION


Governor REEDER, appointed Governor of
Kansas Territory by President PIERCE, was
afterwards removed from that Office by him,
lprofesScdly because he had engaged in unaw-
fnl and improper real estate spcculationS Ey
cry man of ordinary political sagacity knew at
| the time that this was mere prctcXt ; and
that Gov REEDER's removal was really effect
ed by the Border Rulians of Missouri, because
the course he had taken intcrfcrcd with the
accomplishment of their plans. The authcn-
tic history of this transaction, and which is
sworn to by Gov. REEDER himself, upon cxami-
nation, before the Congressional Committee
appointed to investigate the affairs of Kansas,
and which is now published, having been sub
rnitted to President PIERCE that he might an
swer if he sawproper. lie has not taken any
notice of it, 1t is curious chapter Of the Sc
crct political history Of the times.
| From this statement it appears that PrcSi-
dent PIERCE informed Gov REEDEE, iii a per-
sonal interview in the Spring Of 1855, that
the most urgent demands, had been made for
| his removal and that " G Gen ATcHIsoS press
ed it in the most excited manner, and would
listen to no reasoning at ALL" He fui ther as
made, that he was perfectly satisfied that his
purchases Of town lots were all right, and that
| all his proceedings in Kansas met his entire
I appreciation. At subsequent interviews he
repeated these assurances declaring his con
! viction that his whole course had been per
/ fcctly proper, and that the complaints brought
against him were wholly without foundation
I But at the same time, in consequence OF the
pressure upon him from Gen. ATCHISoN and
others he desired Gov REEDER to resign his
Office He endeavorcd TO work upon his fears,
saying that it would be uaSotc for him to
| return to kanSas,-that his life might be Ia
| ken. and that the whole North would be in
| famed Finding these hints Intellectual, and
that Cox. REEpER would not resign he then
proposed to rcmorc him, in a way to Obvate
all his objections, asking him to send him a
memorial npon the subject and promising, in
/
grounds Of eNpcdiency, to eXonerate him from
all blame, to express the most unqualified ap-
probation of his official conduct, and 10 gre
him the lIi>$jon n Chin0 ; Finding that this
last engagement could not be kept, in conse-
qucncc of Mr.. McIANE'S intention not to re-
turn, he promised to give him some other Of
! fec, equally or more desirable \ good deal
of time was consumed in these negotiations, -
the President himself preparing drafts of let
tiers which he wished Gov. REEDER to sign,
and the latter declining to sign them because
they were evidently intended to pnt him in the
attitude of consenting to his own removal
The result of the whole was IA declaration, Oh
the part of the President, that if he removed
him it would be, not on account of his official
action, but of his land spcculations, those
very acts of which he had previously express
cd his entire approval.
In all this President PIERCE was enleayor-
ing to obtain a colorado prctcxt for doing an
act which his own judgment condemned, but
which the Pro-Slavery propaganda required at
his hands. Mr.. ArCHIsoN had demanded
REEDERs removal the President had pro,
missed it and the next question was, how it
could best be done He sought to ntimidate,
then to coax, and finally to briJc Governor
REEDER into conScnting to his own removal
This is but one Of thousand instances where
the patronage of the Government has been
used directly to promote the designs of the
slaveholding interest. The disclosures made
in this testimony of Governor REEDER convict
President PIERCE of degree Of pusanimous
subserviency and of unprincipled treachcry OF
which even his best friends hitherto have not
deemed him capable