Marshall County Democrat. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1855-1859, 1856-09-25

become law with the Presidents appro
val, all the obnoxious laws, which have
been the subject of So much censure and
complaint, are swept out OF existence, leav
ing none in force in said Territory except
such as are usual, proper, necessary in al
civilized communities for the protection o
life, liberty. and property. Your commit
tee have not relinguished the hope that the
House of Representatives will concur Will
the Senate IL the passage Of that bill, and
thus restore peace and security to the peo-
pie OF Kansas. by declaring all those obnox-
ious laws null and void, and providing for
the faithful enforcement of the Kansas code,
The valiIi Of which has thus been frank
~ and s,lelnniy acknowledged by the votes
and actions Vi each house of Congress-
Two houses of Congress having, by their
action, each arrived 1T the conclusion that
the Kansas code Is valid, and that the OBJ
noxious laws referred to ought to be de-
clared imperative and void. as being re-
pugnant 70 the principles Of liberty and
Justice intended to be secured by the con-
situ;ion OF the United States and the Kan
sas-Nebrasha act. it would seem that the
most serious and material point of differ
crence between the two houses which re-
mains to be adjusted, is whether that part
of the code which provides for the punish
ment of murder, robbery, larceny, and 9TH
er criminal offences shall be enforced, or
whether all persons guilty of those often
ces shall be turned loose to prey upon the
community with legalized impuni;y 1t
is true that there Is, apparently. another
point Of difference between the two houses
arising out OF the question whether the
people of Kansas shall BE- authorized to
elect delegates to a convention, with prop
Grand satisfactory safeguards against fraud,
violence, and illegal voting,) and form 4
{ constitution and State government PIE
paratory to their admission into the Union,
Or whether the Territory shall b. recogni
zed in accordance with the provisions of
the bill from the House, aal left, for some
years to come. il that condition. While
The House of Representatives has recently
expressed is preference for the later prop
osi.ion. by the passage of The bill under
consideration, your committee are not per-
mitted to assume tina they arc insuperablc
objections 70 the admission Of Kansas ut his
time, for the reason that afcw weeks pre-
vious they passed bil to admit the Terri
tory as a STATE. with the Topeka cons;itu-
ton. Hence the change If policy on the
part of the House in abandoning the State
movement with the Topeka constitution,
aad substituting for il the proposition to
reorganze the Territory and leave it in that
condition, must be taken only as strong
expression of decided preference on the
part of the House for the bill under consid-
Grafton, and not as conclusive evidence of
insupcrabe objections to fair bill, with
proper and suitable guarantees against fraud
and Illegal voting, 10 a".i anti; re ne people
OF Kansas 70 form constitution and Safe
governments at this time. While the Sen
ate bill now pending before the House, is
far and impartial in Ill lis provisions, with
ample and satisfactory safeguards against
Illegal and fraudulent, voting. the bill from
the House to reorganize the Territory con
tains no such provisions and affords no
such Assurance. i leaves the qualifica-
llonS OF the yo.or> :; the first election the
same as they were un,ler the Kansas Ne
braska act, with this difference that it de-
HES the pr.r;le5o Of voting and holding of
iice 10 all Men Of foreign bir who shall
have declared OF oath their intention to be-
come ciizen-. AMI who shall have taken
al oath to support the constitution of the
United Stats, but who sail have filled
from any cause u have completed their nat
uralizaiion. The provision Is, "that any
white male inhabitant being a citizen ofthe
United States, above the age oftwenty one
years, who shall have been resident Of
said Territory at the time Of the passage of
this act, shall be entitled to vote at the first
election" No penalties or puui5 hments
are provided for Illegal voting; none fol
fraud in conducting the elections; none for
violence at the polls and none for destroy
ing the ballot boxes All these things may
done with impunity; for, while the election
must be held pursuance Of the existing laws
of the Territory, which are recognized as
being in force. the bill expressly provides
that no criminal prosecution shall here
after be instituted in any court of, the Uni
ted States in said Territory, for any .disre-
gard Of said legislative enactment at anv
time. Under this bill any number Of per-
sons from Missouri or Iowa, from South
Carolina or Massachusetts, or from another
part of the territory on election day may
take possession of the polls, and vote as
many times as they choose, and drive every
legal voter from the polls with entire i'm
punity: for the bill declares that no Grimm
al prosecutions shall ever be ins .uteI, in
the courts Of the United States or of said
Territory, for violating or disresarding the
ONLY LAW which provides penalties and
punishments for such outrages in the ter
ritory of Kansas.
No measures can restore peace to Kan
sas which does not effectually protect the
ballos-box against fraud and violence, and
impart equal and exact justice to all the
inhabitants. Under exciting circumstan
ces, your committee are unable to devise
any measure which will more certainly ac-
complish these desirable objects that the
bill which has twice passed the Senate. and
now only awaits the concurrence of the
House CT Representatives, with the appro-
val of the President to become the law o.
the land.
tbx-o