New-York daily tribune., 1858-03-19


preceding December.
I say, then, Mr.. President, upon the re,ord 'n esr
depce upon all the evidence, this s Dot me Goh1.o
ton Of .fe people Of Kansas 1t s nor tue C9a,,
ton under which they desire that you shall sdth,t
them into tie Union. Now, vii you, agahsC- ~.
viii, force them into the Union unc.r o.;on Nps
tution which they disapprove Inai tne ,so-.
You know the fact that ten thousand against ~ to
ssId are OppC ed TO TIE Constitution lou Know .as.
by tie set Of their Territorial Legislature, .ney
entreat you Got 10 admit them with this Consel' ~.
They tell you, moreover, as one OF tasn ",.,on
only that they disspprove Of the whole Con7tliuton
but at il 10 particularly hateful 20 them because t.
vote. given for it, or apparently gi7en for H. "eIe
a great extent fraudulent and bctIt.gw. Inc Legs"
ture tes you that nine ten.hs OF me people 'hsre "
opposed 10 il. ,.
Now would il not be strange that, under these en-,
cunstAnces should ,withou: any motive ioi tua.
know o az the common arbters OF all Territories ar
States 10 the extent Of our constitutional powell Or
her into the Union What motive can we nave
what rgh motive, with the knowledge Of these isct.,
~ force Il EN- into the Union, and 20 enforce upon
them this Constitution cspnot feel mystn suInol,
ized 10 DO such thing. OF course | do not implgtn
the Otives and the views Of other who take dn-
f.rent view, act from different motives, from mine.
They set upon one view and upon another Du, !.
seems to NE that to dO-ths II plain, unmstkaoe
violation Of the night OF the people te govern tnen
selves.
have endesvored to show YOU Sir that this Is not
the Constitution Of the people Of Kansas according "
the recorded evidence Of their will IL seems 10 mo,
furthermore that this Constitution is fraud. IL .
not only not their Constitution according 10 their VIII
but il is got up and made in fraud, and 10 deprive
them of their rights. / believe that, and think L
can be ehown.
The President Of the United States has furnished US
an argument on tile subject, and it has been often
times repeated here in the debae-oi course piausl-
bic and ingenious argument, as all must sdmi, Even
thOse who deny the solGity OF the reasoning. WhSe
is IL argument The President says that the sense
II the people taken and proved TO be in favor OF
calling Convention. The Convention was called
delegate were elected those delegates maze Coh-
stUtion that Constitution was submitted 10 the P7
tle in part and approved by vote OF six thousand,
socordiDg TO law. Well, all these, you VIII observe
constitute tieue, long senes OF litte legelues,
reguari.es and technicalines; and the reasoning OF
the President is founded technical points on each
of these fac,s. You must admit al the iacts-yes,
Sir the facts all true and they alone construed
the Gaze the conclusion would be fair and night tnst
this Constitution has beer regularly made; tnat TINS
Constitution has been sanctioned by the people a.
veil as by the Convention; but is there no more IN
the case than ls There is greet deal more III the
case than tlls.
this Government Of kansas gentlemen say,' An, bat
these frauds in other elections; these frauds DO
not particularly and specifically touch this ConstIu
tion, the edngs which led to this CONSTITUTION
But suppose there frauds in relation to 1T Is 1t
not sSmethpg if show you that, IN regard 70 tnat
part Of the Constitution which was submitted to the
lcope to be ratified by them, and was nothing until
the people had ratified II even according to the Con.
stituton itself there fraud in that election, and
abundance Of fraudi SO glaring, so impudent and
fearless had frauds in elections become there that upon
tia very polist in one OF the precincts Il forget
whether it was in Oxford Shawnee, OF that other
precinct that emuates these in It's character for raud
kickspoo) you find that the President OF the United
States Col Benton, and the gentleman from
mr. Sewardl there, it seems, or fictitious votes
were put in them by somebody, and long list OF
persons Of that SOFT figure on the po-b0ok at these
miterable precincts actual voters. That was the
vote On the Constitution Dec. II; that was on the
br,.i Tod tn
iuton.makiug power there, and there show you the
fraud.
What further frauds there were l know not; but
this much is appsrent--and later developments show
greater frauds stltbat in single precinct where
there only thirty forty votes to be leglti
mately, there were over TIVE We hundred; and under
the investigation lately made by Commissioners IN
Kansa that upon testimony If stated to be the
fact. In one precinct there were twelve hundred
fraudulent and fictitious votes out of twelve hundred
and sixty; seven hundred in another, and over Elk
hundred in another making IN the aggregate twenty
ak hundred votes in three precincts entirely raudu-
lent and fictitious, to great extent fictitious, writ
ten out by hundreds the poll book after the election
was over put without scruple upon the pollbook,
upon tie election return, put down without scrupe
during the election, Of those who Were qualified, and
those who not qualified and that is the way this
Constitution in part mas received its sanction.
But, Sir, think that We should take very partial
yiewSof this subject one very unsatisfactory ~ our
judgment, If We were to isolate these facts which
have direct relation only to the formation OF thi. Con-
stitution and leave out all the surrounding circum
stances. 1t 10 me that the proper and the jat
mode Of regarding this Constitution Is 10 consider II
ne one q series Of acts, and zee we can find thst
the ole action and operation Of al those acts were
10 lead to one general purpose-thst Of maintaining
by fraud and by fasehood the power and the govern
mept of the minority and their Offices " them against
the will of the great majority oil the voters say
s an act connected with al the other acts. The whole
Gaze to be taken and every part OF hJudged or IN
this connection.
Now, what was the first act That is historical.
We may all speak of il now, though We disputed 1t al
the time. The first Legislature that was elected III
Kansas under the organic act WAS not elected by the
people O. Kansas 1t was elected by perssns who in.
truded into the polls, inruded themselves with arms
in their hands, and seized upon the balotboxes put
in their own ballots, driving away the legitimate
v,ters aid elected the members of the Legislature.
That is the way the Government OF Kansas was inau-
gurated. There was no opposition TO II from the first.
Those who had been driven from the polls those who
were opposed to the party that Installed in power
by these means, conceived such Indignation aud such
disgust that they proclaimed aloud whether wisely or
unwhely, they renounced obedience 10 this spurious
Government, they called 1t. 1t is not material to
me whether their complaints are well-founded and
true or not am endeavoring TO depict the course OF
things 10 show their motives and the motives OF the
persons who were thus installed into the Territorial
Government. They came to their power by violence;
they to their power by fraud. That was the CON-
plant fthe opposing party Kansas. They yrenounced
therrue they renounced therlaws refused TO commit
themselves in way TO their support, refused to 20
10 any election afterwsrd. They said, What Is the
use This corrupt minority who have got into power
who have in their hands the of controlling the
e cion who not too g,od to do il, and who will
do II, who have me it. will practice the same means
We slal be sgain driven from the polls, or, if not
they having the control of the elections and OF all the
officers who conduct and manage them, will have
what returns made they please. We will subject
selves 10 more 10 the humiliation of attempting to
ex. cute right hch we know will be frustrated and
defeated by fraud by violence, or by force Uader
csc impres,iops and with these ttengs which it il
,,, b.,. either fo iusfify or rehuke h,,,