Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1856-05-02

UueHutTeu inht, WUNu lue.3 Npl'1 WeIt thn'
the real residents took no part, or, Mt IN!
rate, very limited part, IN the transaction
ln,some cases, as ! have shown, the pcnpl'
Of the Territory went away. How many o
them voted know moi but there is no rea
son, accordiog to the papers before us, to be
lleve that one third Of them voted at tha
election. Notwithstanding these lacts ac
cording 10 my footing up of the returns there
were six thousand two hundred and ninety
eight votes cast. In February. when th'
censns was taken. there were two thousand
nine hundred and five voters IN the who'll
Territoy--less than three thousand, and yet
IN March over six thousand votes were cast
You cannot deduct the three thousand from
the six thousand, and say that the remainde
shows the extent Of the voters from abroad
because we have no reason TO believe tha
more than one third Of the real inhsbtant.
voted on that occasion. Then there were
more than five thousand votes cast by people
from Missouri; and they spread themselves
as It appears over the whole Territory, and
IN every DISTRICT, except. perhaps, one. There
may be some very small precincts to which
they did not gol but, clearly they went o.
the great body Of the districts and precincts
The settlement of the Territory went on
with great rapility IN the season of 1855. II
was The second year 10 The progress of the
settlements. 'fhe accesslons during the
| year were undoubtedly very great The
/ Senate, some time since, called upon the
/ President Of the United States for documents
/ In relation 10 Kansas, and also asked for in
T formation as 10 the present population Of the
] Territory. lie sent Us letter from Mr..
Calhoun, surveyor general of the Territory.
giving an estimate of the number of inhabi-
tauts. How does he arrive al H.? In Oc-
toner, lsjj, there were two elections for Il
Delegate IN Congress from that Territory.
One was on the day which the Territorial
Legislature had fixed aud, on that occa-
sion, Mr. Whitfield was elected Very few
Of the free state people voted at that time
They had fixed on another day for elccung
a Delegate, mainly on the ground they did
not wish 10 be understood as agreeing to the
validity Of the Territorial Legislature. On
the day which they fixed for an election Mr.
Reeder was chosen ! presume the voters
az each election did not interfere with the
others. | never ascerlaiued whether at Mr..
Whuhelds election, there were any votes
given for anybody else, buJ take % that, it
there were any, they we're very few IN num-
bcr
Mr. Toovus There were thirty nine
votes gwen l1r Reeder at that election.
Mr.. CoLLAMER. Ii was a mere nominal
amount Mr.. Calhoun undertakes 10 esti.
mate the population OF the Territory from The
manifestations Of those elections IN October
last j. Will be observed that this was after
the season for emigration had passed away -
seven months after the election of March.
About the period oflhat election, or soon af-
tcrwards, navigation opened and emigration
rushed INTO the Territory. With all the ac
cessious win b were made during the sum
mer Mr.. Calhoun computes the population.
IN October, dsduced from the votes cast
az the Delegate elections 10 that month. at
about twenty-five thousand When the cen
sus was taken IN February. the whole popu-
lauon was eight thousand six hundred and
one. II his statement is TO be relied upon.
by October 1t had increased two hundred Der
cent
II ia further TO be borne in mind. as Mr..
Calhoun states in his letter, that the friends
of Messrs. Winfield and Recder CHARGED
nauQ uu ra~h oti.e, ~ ,hoir re.pcctiva eI.c
tuns m October At Whunrid'c olost,,..., I.
was insisted that considerable body Of peo-
pie came from Missouri and voted and 1t
was lso charged that, inasmuch as Reeder's
election was held without the sanction Of law.
people could vote two or three times with
impnnly' and they dld II. Mr. Calhoun
gives these statements as charges, but he
ones not undertake. 10 pass upon their truth.
sud- lle whoie number OF votes cast for
Doth Whitfield aui Rseder IN October was
only about SIX Thousand When the p0pula-
tun of the Territory had increased from eight
ihousinl 10 March TO twenty-five thousand
in October iney could not cast more than
SIX thousand votes, and m that number
many uh'l"lh' ones are supposed To he m
.'n ed. We hnd lint, as early as March,
800, when th,y had only one thrd ot that
papu.auon' there was cast TX thousand two
hundred ana nheY-eight votes. Whete did
The odluloanl votes come from As the re-
turns slo" uicy were dispersed all over the
serriory. we ma them az one district one
hundred miles iu the inIeuor at others, on
{ lne on'ier, ard at various places throughout
/ the whole Territory. Where dld they come
/ from WAT did they come for What did
/ they do there; What did they themselves
/ say they had done; What do the election
returns show they did
The majority report states the proceedings
Of a meeting held at I.savenwouh during the
past fall ior the purpose, as ITS address stated,
of dlsabusng the public of the wrong i'm
presslous which they had received IN regard
TO aii'urs IN Kansas. To use a common
phrase, It was whlie-washlng meeting, at
which the Governor, the Judges, and other
territorial officers were the principal movers
Did that meeting deny tins iucursIon, this
invasion, this usurpaton Did 1t apologize
for IL? Did it limit il to a small part Of the
Territory; II says not one word upon the
subject THIS had been the great point of
complaint The statements made IN regard
to it had been such as to make the ears OF
the community ungle. This meeting never
attempted any sort of explanation, excuse, or
denial oi the fact Il never attempted TO dis
abuse the public mind on that subject
A great deal is said by the people Of Mis-
ouu aud in the majority report and else
where, that there were many free State men
IN Kansas who he'd been sent there by the