The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1858-04-06

selves, ana voted under lts provisions. -
He states moreover. that "a large proper
ton of the citzans of Kansas did not think
proper to register their names, and to vote
at the election for delegates; but an OPP
portunity to do this having been fairly qf-
forded, their refusal to avail themselves Of
their right could in no manner affect the
legality Of the convention"
Now, Mr.. Chairman, against these bold
statements of the Executive, / place tes-
timony that cannot well be gainsayed. l
give tho statements of the gentlemen who
were sent there by the Administration as
executive officers of that Terrtory--mcn
whose antecedcnts and associations COM
mended them to the Administration as
fast friends of that peculiar institution
which it is the province of the Democracy
in these latter days to cherish. Governor
Walker says:
"That (the I.ecompton) convention had vital,
not technical defects, in tho very substance OF
its organization under the territorial law, which
could only be cured, in my judgmen AS set forth
in my inaugural and other addresses-by the sub
mission Of the constitution for ratification or re-
lection by the people. In reference to the terri
torla law uner which The Sonnsna9n mas assem-
named election districts for delegates to the
convention. in each and all Of thcsr counties IL
was required by law that census should be taken
and the voters registered; and ween this was
completed, the delegates to the convention should
be apportioned accordingly. In nineteen of these
counties there was no ncus, and therefore there
could be no such apportonment there oil delegates
based upon such census And in fifteen Of these
counties there was TO registry OF voters.
'These fifteen counties, including many OF the
oldest organized cou tics in the Territory, Were
entirely disfr6nchised, and did not give. and 10y
no Jaai Of their o~H) could not give solitary vote
for delegates To the convention"
"Nsr could it he said these counties acquiesced
for, wherever they endeavored by subsequent
cencus registry Of their own to supply this de-
feet, Occasioned by the previous neglect oil the
territorial officers the delegates thus chosen were
rejected by the convention.
repeat that ~ nineteen counties out Of thir-
ty-four, there was no census. In fifteen counties
out of thirty four, there no registry; and not
solitary rote giren could be giren for delegates
to the convention in any Of these counties sure
Iy, then, il cannot he said that such Conven-
ton, chosen by scarcely more than one-tenth of
the present voters in Kansas, represented the
peop1e nr that vo--;.~s, ~ -".'lI r;ghtfnny inn
pose n constitution upon them without their con-
sent"
And Secretary Stanton, n pro slavery
Democrat, confirms this statement in the
following extract:
"Thc census therein provided for was imperfect
ly obtained from an unwilling people in nineteen
counties Of the Tertiary; while in the remaining
counties, being also nineteen in number, from va
rious causes, no attempt was made To comply
with the law. in some instances people and off :.
GERS were atke aycrSe TO the proceedings. in 9th
ers, the c6e.rs neglected refused 10 act and in some
there was hut small population and no efficient
organization enabling the people TO secure repre-
sentation in the convention"
In investigating, therefore, the regular
ity and fairness of this convention, we find
that in nineteen counties out Of thrty-four
there was no census, and in fifteen coun-
ties out Of thirty. four there was no regis
try, and consequently there could not be
a vote in them for delegates to tn convcn-
ton; and IL appears moreover that this
failure to take census or mak registry,
DISTINGUISHING as ii did majority Of the
counties, was chargcablc to the territorial
officers men who were the creatures of
this usurping authority, and who denied
tho people of these counties the privilege
Of an election, because that election would
result contrary to the wishes of the con-
spiraiors who were plotting and schcming
to defeat q. fair expression of the popular
will. Nor does this record Of wrong stop
here. The citizens Of one county, wlose
officers had refused to make registry,
met and elected two delegates to the con-
vcntion, being the number to which they
were fairly entitled, and when these dele
gates present themselves, they are rejected
by the convention because they were not
elected under territorial laaw. And yet,
in defiance of these facts, which arc blaz-
oned forth to the scrutiny Of an intelligent
people, in the face of the evident truth
that the failure Of these men to vote was
no fault Of their own, we have tho Presi-
dent Of the United States assuring us that
an opportunity To vote has been fairly af.
forded, and that IL Is T. be regretted that
all quail ed voters had not registered them
setves, and done so. To what humiliating
cxpcdients do not the necessities of slavery
drive its instruments, when Chief Exc
cuiive Of the nation is compelled to resort
to so fragrant n misstatement of facts?
So much, Mr.. Chairman, for the man.
ner in which this Lecompton constitution
was instituted and organized. Instead Of
representing the sovereignty of the people
it is but the representative Of an insignifi-
cant faction; instead Of being the expo
nent Of the popular will, it has been crea-
ted in fragrant disregard and defiance of
Of the popular sentiment Of the Territory.
1t has only been able to hold its sessions
with Federal bayonets around it to protect
it from an outraged and exasperated peo-
pie; and yet this body Of men is indorsed
by an Administrations and party that pro
fesscs to subscribe to tho doctrine that the
people of Territory are free to form and
regulate their own institutions!
And now, let us pass from the organi
zation of this convention to its action. 1t
assemblies in Lecompton; it frames a con-
stitution; and here another fraud is invok-
ed to subscrve the purposes of the conspira-
tors against freedom. The people Of the
Territory had pledge in the organic act,
that they should determine for themselves
the character of the institutions under
which they were to livc-a pledge which
the men who sustained the act were bound
in good faith to keep. Then they had
been assured in the namc Of the Democ-
racy at Cincinnati, that the right to form
a constitution rested with the people Of Tho