The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-04-22

tended, In terms, over the Territory, as indeed
1t would have been without words to that effect
thus, beyond doubt, securing to citizens the add
Cd privileges flowing from that instrument. of {
higher and more invioishle kind than those con
fsrrsd by simple statute law. xef ~
Thsss rights, combined, made up the aggresat,
or sum Of poaisic1 power pledged to the people
of the Territory. No one will deny that these
were promised, or, that the faith of the countr,
was pledged for the ful6lment of them. Yet dc
they stand to-day recorded on your statute-book
the plighted pledges of the nation, broken. disre
Rarded, dishonored, but not disclaimed These
popular rights and privileges, in support of which
the honor of the naticn was concerned, have
been all, without exception, without the author
ity of Law, but in defiance of it. even without tn,
apology of provocstion, wantonly and. continu
ally violated.
Voiceless in this House, and borne down by {
usurped Legislature within its borders, the Ter
ritory has languished under dreary despotism
imposed By foreign domination, and maintained
by the direct Intervention Of the military arm o
the Government. All lawful resistance, as wei
a. all appeals for redress, have been stigmatize(
BY epithets alike odioWs and untrue. z.
Without rights Of any kind, we have beer
without remedy for wrongs, however fragrant
A most merciless and prosecuting warfare ha
been carried ON against us. The hard earning
Of our industry have been swept away from u
by the hand of robbery; our homes filed will
fear by the ceaseless oppression of ruffians in
vested with the color of law; our lives at time
seriously imperilled, alternately by the periodical
incursion of foreign foe, or the no less remorse
less process of judicial prescription.
The many have been ruled by the few. Th
invaders dominated the inhabitants those wh'
should have had all the political power, hav'
had none; and those who should have had none
have had all. With occasional intervals of quiet
but for the most part through scenes of violence
bloodshed, and war, this state of things has gon'
on until it has eliminated in the Lecomptor
Constitution; and upon this, they who have sup
ported this scheme now make stand, demand
ing reinforcement OF power wherewith to pro
long, and if possible to make permanent TIT
vassalage of the people. Of this Constitution
have TO say, that it was vicious in its origin
that the Convention which fillAed it was fraud
ulently constituted, and that the plan of it's pre-
tended submission was fallacious, and contrivet
as q cheat by which to circumvent the people
In support of this view, in the first place let me-
recur briefly to some antecedent events in Oul
history, because submit that no comprehensive
intelligent view of this question can be arrived at
without keeping constantly in sight the relation
which this particular measure sustains to the
precedent legislation of the Territory. There
Kansas. The organic act failed to secure one
for two reasons LIST, the intrusion of no1-resi.
dent voters; and, 3D. the improper intervention
Of Federal power. Prior in point of time to the
passage Of this law, but in anticipation of it. 9
secret political society was organized in the
western counties of the State of Missouri. The
object of this society was to forestall the domes
tic institutions of the yet unborn Territory by
unfair means. Through the mischievous machi-
nations of this association, working by means o.
secret signs, oaths, and rituals, most formida-
BILE power was concentrated and disciplined fol
the destruction of popular rights in the Terri
tory, on the first available occasion, by the exer-
else of physical force. An occasion soon occur.
red. A census of the inhabitants and voters
preliminary to the election of the first Legislative
Assembly, as basis upon which to apportior
representation, having been completed and re.
turned to the Governor in the spring of 1855
that officer, after regulating the details, such al
defining the districts, appointing judges, sc.
fixed the election for the 3Oth of March, 1855
Every intelligent man in the country know;
what took place in Kansas on the 30th day o
March, 1855. shall not repeat details that arr
familiar. only say this-that the secret societ,
Embossed its folds on that day, and poured it
emissaries into the Territory, with the avowet
design of bearing down the real population, anC
taking possession of the polls. Every prec;nc
in the Territory but one was carried by the in
vading horde. In this manner and by sucl
means was the right of the people to choose
their own local assembly wrested from them
and the power incident thereto lodged in the
hands of irresponsible invaders.
Being now securely entrenched behind the
awful powers thus usurped from the people tt
whom they rightfully belonged, the invaders me
in the month of July, and proceeded to enae
Al srN& H. e. e
Whatever else may be said of these laws, i
cannot be denied that they are we'll adapted to
promote the object for which they were design.
ed. That object of course was the retention o.
the ill-gotten power of the 30th of March in the
hands Of its then possessors. To that end, it wa:
becoming that they should seek to destroy al
the great aids by which public opinion is gene.
rated and expressed. They buried the ballot.
box beneath Infamous or impossible conditions
invidious test oaths were skilfully contrived by
means of which the elector should either be
thrust as q recussnt from the polls, or be de.
bauched and demorslized by the act of submits
sion to the test Freedom Of speech was stifled
the ball and chain, the collar and the lock, tn,
halter and The scaffold, were prescribed penalties
for the violation of that sautary provision of DIES
potism, that none shall call in question the title
of "the powers that be-" The press muzzlet
and the people gagged, the far-reaching infu
ences of literature were next assailed.
The imprimatur of the usurping Assembly wa
made q condition precedent to the circulation o
any printed matter of political kind The les
sons bequeathed by the Fathers, as we'll as tn,
best approved doctrines of our Democratic CO.
temporaries, were alike cut short in this procrus
team bed. The Assembly trampled down tn,
prescriptivs rights of the people to municipa
officers of their own election and imposed upor
them creatures Of the invading class, with pro
hibition of popular election for two years. Ii
short, they stretched across the whole field 0
popular rights, as Congress had defined it, a net
work of per6dious legslation, with which to en-
snare and finally enslave their adversaries Now
let me inquire what the people, thus outraged
and despoiled of their rights, had to say to thi
businessf On the 5th day of September, shortI,
after the adjournment of the bogus Assembly,
Convention was held at Big Springs 1t was tn,
first public assemblage of the real citizens of thu
Territory, to consider the aspect of public affairs
After rociting the facts as they transpired in re
spect to the manner of the election of the Legisla
ture, they repudisted its enactments and declares
themselves released from any obligation to -ac
knowledge or respect its assumed authority. Al
issue was thus made up, on the validity of thi
legislation. Those who maintained the legisla
ton were now reinforced in this behalf. by ,
new and powerful ally, the President of tn
United States. Already within the spell of tina
faulty which hurried him rapidly downwar,
through every graduation of sentiment, until, from
the pride of the nation, he became its sham,
and reproach, he struck boldly out with tn,
military arm of the Government in behalf of thi
great wrong Instructions were given to th
Territorial Executive to enforce the laws. The,
were rapidly reduced to practice, and a state Q
war supsrvened. In the month of December
twelve hundred men, recruited in the State o
Missouri, in response to the call of the Governor
appeared in Kansas, and were enrolled as Kansa
militia. They were led against a village of tn
interior, the nucleus Of New England settle
ment, on the specious plea that its inhabitant