Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-02-18
KANSAS IN CONGRESS.
Speech Of Hon. Henry Wilson.
Delivered in the Q, S. Senate, Feb. Sd, 49,

- N0'NNNNt Wv NSSS'
This application, Mr., President, for the ad-
mission of Kansas into the Union-into this
sisterhood of free Commonwealth, comes to us
under circumstances that demand the prompt,
thorough and full investigation of the Senate
and of the House of Representatives. Charges
have been made by the people Of Kansas, by
Government officials in Kansas, Of illegalities
and frauds--illegalitie and frauds which have
deprived the people Of that Territory Of their
rights, and defeated their will These reports
have gone over the country, over the Christian
and civilized world, bringing dishenor and
shame npon free Democratic institutions, I'm
der these circumstances, Sir, ] take it that
every man, every Seuater here, every member of
Congress, every fair-minded, and honorable man
throughout the Republic, desires, before we vote
to bring Kansas into the Union or to reject her
application, that all the facts connected with the
calling of the Convention to frame Constitu
ton, the election of delegates, the framing of
the Constitution, the mode of submission to the
people, the dlectien under the Constitution and
all the questions concerning the rights and the
interests of the people Of Kansas, shall be fully
investig. ated To accomplish this object, which
every honorable gentleman in America must de-
SIRE have submitted the motion that the Com
mittee on Territories be instructed to make this
investigation, and that they have power to send
for persons and papers.
Indulge the hope Mr.. President, that every
Senator on this floor will promptly vote for these
instructions, and that the Committee on Terri
tories will make the most seachpg, thorough
and complete investigation into this whele sub
ject and if there be frauds-if there be wrongs
if therebe anything in the action Of that Ter
ritory that battles the popular will-that robs
the people of their rights, that the facts will
be presented to the Senate and to the country,
and that we shall be guided on this great cues
ton, which now arrests the profound attention
of the country, by the simple idea of ascertain
ing the real will of the people Of the Territory
of Kansas, and letting that will control our ac-
ton.
Before sit down, Sir, wish to call the at
itention of the Senate to some of the illusions,
assumptio ms an declarations of the President,
in this extraordinary communication to Con-
gress. The President told us, in his annual
message, that the attention of the country had
been too much drawn to the Territory of Kan
sas. L regret--I think the country will regret
i think every man who cares anything for
right or iustice-who cares anything for the
uUllUG Vi bilc AiuOtiNdu lttufC diu pHO 1AHiSil-
can character-ay, anything for the good name
of the Chief Magistrate Of the Republic, will
regret that the President himself had not devo-
ted time enough to the consideration of the af-
fairs of Kansas to have enabled him to present
to the Senate and the country full, intelligent
accurate and truthful statement of the events
that have TRANSFERRED in that Territory. 1 say
here, Sir, what | know to be true what every
intelligent man in the Senate knows to be true I;
which the country and the world know to be
true-that the statements in this message mis-
represent, wholly and entirely, the events that
have transpired in that Territory and wherever
this message goes, it will carry to the world a
stupenduous and gigantic misrepresentation Of
affairs in the Territory of Kansas.
know, Sir, that the President cannot be ex-
pacted, in the midst of the vast duties that de-
Wolve upon him, to understand everything that
has transpired in that Territory. lie was out
of the country when the act for the organization
of Kansas was passed he was out of the coun-
try during the eventful years of 1854 and 1855,
and portion of lS56-years in which events Of
great magnitude transpired in Kansas He was
nominated, we all know, Sir, because he was
out of the country, and had no connection with
those events-beeause he was able to prove an
,aHbi But, Sir, he sends to us-to men familiar
with the events Of the past four years-this
message, covering this application for the adj
mission of Kansas on the application of John
Calhoun, the President of that convention, and
he gives a coloring to events in that Territory
which will give to the country and to the world
about as correct an idea of the affairs of that
Territory as the bulletins of Napoleon gave tc
the people of France of the condition of the
Grand Army on their retreat from Moscow.
The President tells us that there is delusion
in the country in regard to the condition of af
fairs in Kansas; that it is supposed there are
tweparties in that Territory contending for the
government of the Territory. He gives us to
understand that this is not the fact, that there
lis not great free-State party struggling te
make Kansas free State and a slave-State par
ty struggling to make Kansas a slave State
that these two parties arenot contending on the
soil of that Territory for mastery land he would
have the country understand that this is not the
state of affairs in that Territory; but there is a
party of law ond order, a party that legitimate
ly and legally governs the Territory and thai
there is another party setting at defiance the
laws of Congress and the Constitution of the
country, and that they are laboring to overthrow
by lawless violence the government of the Ter
ritory, and to impose ON the people constitu-
ton of their own choice. Now, sir, | know,
you know, every man here knows that this is
not the fact. say here to-day that there is nc
party and there has been no party in the Terri
tory of Kansas setting at defiance the Consttu-
ton of the United States. no party, no body
no set of men, in that Territory in rebellion
against Federal authority. On the Both March
1855, the people of that Territory were summon
ed to the ballot-box to elect thirteen members 0.
the Legislative Council and twenty-six members
of the House Of Representatives. On that day
there was an invasion of that Territory of for.
ty-nine hundred men from the neighboring State
of Missouri These forty-nine hundred armed
men went into every council district and into
every representative district but one. 1he5
took possession of the electoral urns they SO.
elected the Legislature to frame the laws for that
Territory, and to shape and mould its future
OF the twenty-nine hundred men in the Terri
tory who had a right to vote, less than four
teen hundred voted on that day, and yet ma
iority of actual residents We're in favor of free
State, and had ma jorities in sixteen of the eight
cen districts. These facts have been proved
demonstrated, by taking the names of the per
sons enrolled as actual voters, and taking thu
names of the persons who voted on the Both @
March These facts were proved under the or
der of the House of Representatives,, and by
thorough investigation by a committee of tina
House, and no man here or elsewhere, can den,
them.
The people had imposed upon them that day ;
government not elected by themselves, a govern
ment imposed upon them by these forty-nin
hundred men from the State of Missouri. TIL
people of the Territory felt this to be a grea
outrage on their rights. They had right t
feel 50. The people of any State would hay
felt outraged on going to the ballot-boxes an
finding them in the possession OF armed me
from another State. Governor Reeder under
took to correct some of these frauds upon til
ballot-box by Withholding certificates from tn
members thus elected, and Governor Reeder o
that day when he undertook to right thes
WRONGS. was marked for swift destruction