The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-04-08


reasonably apprehended that, without regard
to the number of votes which might be de-
posted In the ballot-boxes by %he electors. the
inspectors and returning afficers of the election
would, by false certificates, return, as elected.
! men for their own purposes and not the men
who would receive the votes Of the electors.
The origin and proceedings Of the Territorial
authorities fully justified this apprehension.
AT the election under their authority in Oc-
tober Last to continue ths Missouri usurpation.
In the election of a new Legislature, although
the original invaders did not reappcar. sixteen
hundred spurious and fictitious votes were re-
turned ny the inspectors Of election upon false
ceruhcates, from single poll, the Oxford pre-
cinct' In johnson county. 0ns of the officers
OF the election at the Oxford precinct-the
very man, it is said, who manufactured the
Ialse certificate returning the sixteen hundred
fraudulent votes-was one OF the secretaries
oi the Lecompton convention. One thousand
fraudulent votes at the same election were re-
turned from MCGEE county, asl more or less
rom various precincts, sufficie,t to decide the
eiectlons without regard to the votes of the
electors The returns OF the election were in
accordance with the wishes of he usurpation,
ana not IN accordance with b e votes of the
electors. President Buchanan with the con-
currenee of his Cabinet, in t cir official in
structions to Governor Walke,s gave express
anu positive assurances to the people of Kansas.
that the, constitution, preparatory to their be-
coming State, should be submitted to a fair
| vote OF the people, to be adopted or rejected
by them.
Governor Walker, in his official communion
tons to the people, repeated and affirmed these
assurances. The candidates proposed for dele
| gates to the Lecomption convention-after-
rdc ,.at1r, 1nI L
ton voluntarily pledged themselves to the
public, verbally and in whiting, that the con-
stitution the convention might frame for Kan
sas should be submitted to vote of the people.
The Governor of the Territory, invested with
authority by the President of the United States,
proclaimed to the people Of Kansas, that, at an
election, to be held with security against fraud
or violence at the polls, and against false GER
uhcates by the returning officers, fair oppor-
tunity should be afforded to all the qualified
voters to vote; and that maSfity of the votes
of the people should determine the adoption or
rejection of the constitution; that his official
reports to the President apd Congress, and his
action for or against the constitution, should be
governed by the vote of the majority at such
an election. Governor walker adhered to his
declarations; he rejected the false certificates
returning the spurious and fictitious votes in
johnson and MCGEE counties for members of
the Legislature, and persisted in requiring that
the constitution of the Lecompton convention
should be submitted to vote of the people
For this he fell under the displeasure of the
President, and repaired to Washington to make
explanations and represent the condition of
affairs in the Territory. He failed to satisfy
the President and his Cabinet, or to induce
them to fulfil the asSural ces which had been
given to the people of kah sas, that they should
have an opportunity to vo q on the adoption of
their State constitution. Governor Walker is
reported to have said thft he went with the
Administration to the gateS of the penitentiary,
in this business, and he you'd 60 no further
He had left the Territory; he declined to re-
turn to it, and resigned his commission.
Secretary Stanton wht, went to the Terri
tory by the appointments d as friend of Pres
ident Buchanan, became acting Governor by
the resignation of Goves lor Walker. Upon
assuming the executive power, Mr. Stanton re-
fused to sustain the frauds by which the usurp-
alton designed to perpet ate its power, and
persisted, as Governor V alker had done, in
requiring that the constitt ton OF the Lecomp-
ton convention should be submitted, for adop-
ton or rejection to vote 4 the people where
upon, he was summarily rsmoved by the Pres
ident, and General Denvty bureau officer of
the Administration in Washington, was ap-
pointed first Secretary, and then Governor
1t is this last Governor of Kansas, General
Denver, who has certified the votes of the
people of Kansas at the election authorized by
the law Of their new Territor al Legislature,
and held on the 4th day of January last in
which the vote of the people u nearly unani-
nous, and the majority more han ten thou
sand against the Lecompton CONSTITUTION The
LecOmpton constitution is not the constitution
of the people of Kansas. 1t issan instrument
of the Lecompton convention snd the Federal
Administration, and is stained with false pre-
fences and fraud from the beginning to the
end. To impose this instrument upon the
people of Kansas as Their constitution, by an
act of Congress, would outrage justice and
truth. 1t would be a violation of the Federal
Constitution, by the exercise of power neither
granted to the Federal Government nor re-
motely limited at in the Constitution 1t would
be an act of tyranny. 1t is a mockery of
State sovereignty, in the report of the majority
of the Committee on Territories, to call the
proposition they make to the Senate an act for
the admission of the State Of Kansas
The question is not that of the adm issiOn of
Kansas; an act of admission implies at the least
the concurrence of the party to be admitted
The proposition before the Senate, whatever
may be the name and style given by the ma
jority of the COMMITTEE on Territories to their
bill, is no question of the admission of Kan
sas 1t is the monstrous proposition to inn
pose upon the people of the Territory of Kan
sas a constitution and form of government
known to be obnoxious to a very large MAORI
ty of that people, accompanied by every indi-
cation on the part of the Federal Administers
ton of disposition to compel the submission
of the people of the State by the power of the
Efa1o ali 4
coercion admission of the State Of Kansas is to
deride the sovereignty of the people of the State
| repeat, this is no question Of the admission
of State. 1t is one of a series of acts in the
scheme conceived by the nulli6ers who have
obtained thorough control Of the organization
of the Democratic party, to change the con-
stitution of the United States by the judicial
construction and decisions of the Federal
courts, and to subvert our free form of govern
ment Whether a settled plan and a combi-
nation exist to provoke disturbances with a
view to a dissolution of the Union, time will
fully disclose. There should be no fear of the
full development of any such scheme, no mat
ter by whom the idea may be entertained, and
no matter who may be concerned in it. The
American citizen who would fear it has little
of the spirit which animated the men who
fought the battles of the Revolution, and es-
tablished the independence, the liberties, and
the union of our common country.
The wild schemes of men long accustomed
to WELD the power Of disciplined party or
ganization are not always guided by reason.
To inquire into the desperate conceits of mad
ambition, and to direct the public attention to
them, is to dissipate them. The Hartford con-
vention, held under the auspices Of the Federal
party was suspected of entertaining the idea
of dissolving the Union in certain contingen-
cies. This suspicion, whether well or i'll found