Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1857-02-05
The Bogus Laws of Kansas.
PROPOSAL FOR THEIR REPEAL-REPoRT II THE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

inc COMMITTEE on Territories, to whom was
retired sundry petitions praying Congress to
provide some measure of relief for the people
OF Kansas, submitted the following report =
The wrongs of the people of Kansas have
been abundantly proven, aud at this day are
scarcely denied. The necessity for some effac
tual remedy seems TO be generally conceded
The only difficulty in the settlement of this veX
cd question is to be found in the diverse IDEAS
entertained as to the efficiency OF the vari"u
legislative means which have been suggested for
removing the evil complained of.
The evil consists in the fact that the people
OF the Territory haye been deprived of their
liberty, and reduced to state Of political vas
saage by power foreign to their soil and too
powerful for them alone TO resist At the first
and subsequent electious held in the Territory
large bodies of men from an adjoining State
without the semblance of citizenship, have en-
tered the Territory, voted, and then returned
Immediately to their homes conducting their
invasions in such manner as clearly as to prove
that their only object was to usurp the powers
OF Government
That object has been accomplished by the
election and appointment of the various Off
GERS Of the Territory, aud the cnactiug of its
laws The powers thus uSurped were placed
IN the hands OF Il SubSeryient minority of the
citizens of the Territory, with all the political
arrangements necessary for the perpetuation
OF their power in the same hands and the per
manent exclusion of the diSfranchiSed majority.
This pcrpetuation of power in the hands of the
uSurperS seems to have been a part of the orr
ginal plan of the invading force for it is i'm
possible to believe that an effort so extraordi-
nary and revolutionary in its character, and at
tended with go great expense would have been
undertaken for no other purpose than to Sc
cure the control of the Territory for one or
even two years, and then that the usurped
power was to be quietly surrendered into the
hands of defrauded people who could wipe off
the usurpation and render the original design
fruitIess
Such an inference is impossible, unless we be-
lieve that men incur the risks and expense of
great enterprises with the preconceived nten-
tion if successful of voluntarily surrendering all
their advantages.
The acts of the usurpers show that the per-
petuation of their ilI-gotten power was the great
idea of the whole scheme The object of the
usurpation being to control the political char
actcr of the territory SO as to make it Slave
State, the usurpers from without and their ac-
completes within having, in addition to the
legislative and judicial power, scared through
the completely or meekness of the President,
the Executive power also, applied themselves
earnestly to closing every avenue by which the
disfranchised and oppressed majority coald re-'
gain their lost privileges and participate in
their own government. Election laws were in
geniously framed for the purpose of admitting
nonresident voters and excluding, as far as
,,occiLla tho bocfilo fa tbo
The right Of suffrage was made to depend up
on political opinions. The duties and powers
Of election officers were so arranged, that in
deciding on the right to vote, they could hold
one rule for one set of men, and a different rule
for another And in furtherance of this policy,
none but those favorable to the continuance of
the usurpng Government were permitted to
act as officers of the election. And, while the
polls were thrown open to such Indians of the
Territory as had c0nformed to the customs of
the white man, it was left to the unlimited dis
crcton of these partisan Judges of Election to
construe this vague designation of persons and
admit or exclude at their pleasure-thus Civ
ing another partisan means of control, easy Of
practice and difficult of detection. The voting
places, instead of being permanent and noto-
riouS, were made transit0ry and changeabie, at
the pleasure of Jealous partisans, on whom the
usurping Legislature conferred this extraordi
nary power.
With all these cunningly devised provisions
to wrest from the people their rights and to
secure political control to a minority, and with
the constant interference of nonresident voters,
stimulated and organized by secret socie ties
formed and maintained for the purpose in an
adjoining State, it was almost if not quite i'm
possible for the people of the Territory to re-
cover their lost privileges at the ballot box, so
long as the usurpers shall insist on their advan-
tages already secured To accomplish anypo
ltical result "a any form of government, party
organization is necessary. And ia order to
prevent that in this case, the usurpers having
control of the judiciary declared, through its
decision, that any opposition or constructive
resistance to this usurped and despotic rule
constituted high treason and would subject The
offender to the penalty Of death. They accord
ingly procured indictments for treason against
the active leaders of the majority, under which
they either imprisoned or drove them from the
Territory.
laws were passed making it a crime to dis
cuss the legitimate questions necessary for or
ganized political action. Freedom of speech
was denied and printing presses destroyed
The citizens whose rights had been thus wrest
ed from them were carefully excluded from
the jury-boX, and by test oaths from the pro-
fesSion of the law, while all the Offices Of the
Territory were filled with jealous partisans en-
listed in the scheme of subjugation, and the
whole administration Of justice used as an en-
gine of this systematic oppression. The securi-
" of the inalienable rights Of men in the Ter
ritory rested upon political opinion alone, while
the right of the emigrant seeking home on
its soil to navigate great highway of neigh
boring State depended entirely upon his politi-
cal sentiments. BY all these means of oppres
sion and wrong the majority were bound and