The Washington union. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1857-1859, 1857-12-30
rHE cALLEn session IN KANSAS.

THE CALLED SESSION IN KANSAS.
The wisdom of the President in deprecating the
recent call for special meeting Of the Kansas legis
lature is amply indicated by the conduct Of the le
gslature after it had assembled Ii Acting Governor
Stanton believed that he would be able to control its
doings he found himself greatly mistaken. The le-
gislature, by ousting some Of it's members and as
siguing their places to others, seems have made
itself Immediately mere partisan Legislature after
the politics of Lane. The veto power impotent,
because two-thirds vote was readily obtained
against it. Thus, the Topeka Legislators had full
license from first to last We have not complete
account of their dongs but We can infer their general
character from the accounts we have In the first
place, the legislature repealed the law which au
thorized the Lecompton convention This law was
passed in obedience to previous vote of the peo-
pe The delegates had been elected under it, had
met, had done their work, and had adjourned. The
law had been executed and the new legislature had
no power to vitiate the proceedings which had la
ken place under it's provisions. But, although
the repeal was thus legally imperative, 1T yet
introduced new element of discord into the
Territory, and tended, moreover, to dissuade the
voters of Kansas from attending the polls on the
2lst of December. The militia bill had similar
tendency and is likely to produce more serious mis-
chief If the excitements which were aroused by
Lane and his maraudng followers were sufficient to
alarm Secretary Stanton and his advisers into the
call of am extra session. what may be expected to be
the effect of placing the whole military power of the
Territory in the hands of these very persons Mr.
Stanton vetoed the militia bill because its provisions
were in conflict with the organic law but it was
passed over his head and became thus an act of the
Kansas Legislature. The popular sovereignty which
Lane and his followers advocate is q popular sover-
eighty which laughs at the forms OF law, and under
which neither life nor property can be considered
safe We have seen it stated that another bill was
before the legislature which made it penal for any
citizen to act as Judge clerk at the elections au-
horzed by the Lecompton convention. We trust
that no such bill was adopted, but the rumors of il
were over the Territory, and necessarily had mis-
chievous effect. All these acts, as wei as the dis
orders perpetrated by the Lane rebeionists, were
well calculated to diminish the number Of votes to
be given on the 2lst. The new election law appears
to have been adroitly framed to the same end, for
the same persons may have neglected voting on the
2lst from belief that, in consequence of the egis-
latiye action their votes will be equally effective on
the first Monday Of January. This is the day as
signed by the convention for the first election of Of
fcers under the constitution; but we sincerely hope
that this circumstance will not lead to any disturb
ance Of the peace by the contending parties Of the
Territory The instructions given by the President
to the acting governor wisely framed in order to
prevent any such collision. In this respect the Pres
ident must be admitted, even by his worst enemies,
to have done his whole duty But the Legislature
has been less careful of the public peace.
We do not forget the given by Acting
Governor Stanton for having called the Legislature
together nor do we desire to attribute to him any
other motives than those he assigns himself for hay
ing done So But we believe he had at his command
the most abundant means for preserving the peace
in Kansas; nor can we conceive how any difficulty
which existed was to be remeded by the Legislature.
There were disorders in the Territory, beyond a
doubt; and Judge Williamss recent letter informs
us who produced them They were the very men
who seem to have had control of the Legislature, and
the ringeader among them has been made general
of the Kansas army. 1t was novel idea to put
down violence by calling together Legislature which
had sympathy with that violence ; and whatever
remedy was expected for the disorders in Kansas
from this special meeting of the Legislature, nobody,
we suppose, will pretend that any such remedy was
applied While Kansas remains Territory, it is
greatly to be feared that its peace viii be in constant
danger of interruption from the miscellaneous elements
which exist there The true remedy is to make it
State at the earliest possible period.
THE TREASURY NOTES.