Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1858-04-08

tine age; and yet, which. enshrined an,
guaranteed and sustained as they are il
the Lscompton constitution, do not rende
that instrument less palatablo to these yer,
} same gentlemen now;) for wish here spec
tally to refer to the various elections whicl
) followed. Bold and reckless in their dc
termination to maintain their i'll gottcl
power, this Territorial Legislature not on
ly withheld from the people for two and
} half years the election of their county
township, and election officers, filing al
these posts from the pitiful minority, which
with the power Of the General Governmen
at their back, sustained this shameless
usurpation; but they fenced up the way
to the ballot-boxes of future elections
by restrictions pnrposely intended to cx
clude AMI disfranchise the majority of til;
people of Kansas. Tax laws were passed
to defrsy thcexpenses, amongstrot other equal
ly repulsive charges, of the so-callel mill
tia. who roamed over the Territory will
Government muskcts, harrassing the free
State settlers, destroying and stealing thci
property, committing that last inexpressi
ble outrage on their wives and daughters
sacking towns. and burning houses; and
they made the payment Of these taxes ar
essential prerequisite for the elective iran
chise. But worse than this even, they add
ed unconstitutional test -oaths as another
publication, which they knew no free State
man. who was worthy to be called man,
would consent to take; and with these restric-
tions, and their own creatures presiding at
the ballot boxes, they felt that they were
safe. Sir, these disgraceful facts, which
banishcl from the polls the liberty loving
people of Kansas, cannot be unknown to
the President, and yet. when speaking of
the election of October, 1856, at which he
claims that the people, at the polls deci-
del in favor Of a constitutional convention,
he cody says:
"lt is true that at this election the ene-
mics of the Territorial Government did not
vote, BECAUSE they were then engaged at
Topeka, &c.- Cvngressional Globe edition,
p, 3.
1t is cminently fitting that the first point
in favor of the legalitity and regularity Of
the Lccompton constitution, which is cited
by the President, should be meagre vote
at ballot-boxes not presided over by impair
tial judges chosen by the people, but guard
ell by the tools the usurpation, and hedg-
ell in by test t-oaths, which even the usurp-
ing despot of France has not yet imposed
on the voters of his empire.
The convention having been thus called,
the usnrpng Legislature, yet unwilling to
conceic the people fair, honest, opon bal
lot-bcx, though compelled. as they were
that winter, to repeal the stoath, by the
olium which it had justly incurred, look
ell around for some new plan TO prevent a
free State majority, and at last devised the
registry. which should limit the franchise
at the election of delegate, to those who
were placel upon it, and which is well
known in Kansas history as the census
swindle. No other State constitution had
ever thus been framel-uttcrly tlisfranchis-
ing, as this enact ment did, every voter
whom hostile officers, not elected by the
people, either nelected or refused to enroll.
Besides the nineteen counties, whose pco-
pie were all ignored, and the facts in regard
to which are now SO we'll known to the
public, the registry in the other counties
shows that there was method in their
madness and wickedness. In the flourish
ing town of Topeka, not soul was enroll
ed. In Lcavenworth, all the workmen in
the pro o-slavery printing office were duly
included in the registry, while not single
one in the free State printing office was
discovcrablc by the deputy sheriff. Henry
j. Adams, the Mayor Of Leavenworth it.
self, was omitted. So was Marcus j Par
rott, who, from his triumphant clection at
the first fair election ever held in Kansas, the
succeeding October must have bee known
even then to some few citizens Of the Teri ito
ry, though the bogus officers we e oblvious
to his existence. Nay. more: this very Of
fetal failed to find that such a man lived
in Lcavenworth as his own lan;llord, Doc
tor Morris, who was, therefore, disfran-
chised by not being on his sacred registry,
because he happened to prefer freedom 10
slavery. And Judge Johnson, of Kansas,
a most unimpeachable witness declares |
that of the nine thousand persons purport- |
ed to be registered, from four to five thou |
sand were citizens of Missouri, whose ames !
were included expressly to be used in case |
they were needed at tile ballot-box. And |
this census swindle is most, appropriately |
another step in the fraudulent formation1
of this Lecompton constitution--of which !;
the President, however, says in his mes
sage: f,insef
cit is IMPOSSIBLE -tllat-any people could
have proceeded with MORE REGULARITY in
the formation Of constitution than the
people of Kansas have done" Page 4. i
The census having been thus completed, |
with half the counties omitted, the registry I
in the others wiIfuly anil Intentionally /
ono sided and fraudulent, and thousands.
Of Missourans added to it to swelllts aggre-
cato and to make success certain in. every
possible contingency, the election of del
egates was the next act in the drama.
And here 4 quote from the Presidents
message, what he says Of the election, as l
am compelled to make direct issue with
him upon the facts involved, AMI shall
produce my testimony to disprove his allo-1
cations. Says the President. 49, ~
..Thc enemies of the territorial govern
ment determined still to resist the author
ty Of Congress. They refused to vote
'or delegates to the convention, not because,
rom, circumstances which need not detail,
here 1n1s an o,.3jss;on m reo;xfe , fLe cf,,z,