The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1858-10-21
Letter from GOV. DenVer--Mis-
statements Corrected.


which contained several gross mis.state-
ments as to the action Of Governor Denver
and President Buchanan, the Governor ad.
dressed the following courteous letter to the
editors Of the Tribune, correcting their er-
rors, but they had not the fairness to print
it. Under these circumstances, the gentle
man to whom il was sent for transmission
10 the Tribune handed it to the Journal Of
Commerce, from which we copy. It is an
interesting letter, and should have wide
circulation
LEcoMProN, K. T., Sept. 80, 1858.
To the Editors Of the Neu York Tribune:
GENTLEMEN:-My attention has been call
ed to an article in reference to Kansas af.
fairs published in your Daily of the goth in
stant, and Tri-weekly of the 2lst, in which
you suggest that l had probably been com
PEELED by the Administra ton to resign the
post have held here for some months past,
and on that supposition you proceed to make
some serious charges against Mr.. Buchanan
and his Administration, for all of which there
is not the slightest foundation. 1t is true
that have resigned the Office of Governor
of Kansas, but it was an act of my own free
will. The President desired me to remain,
but the condition of my private affairs would
not permit me to do SO longer. In June last
| sent up my resignation TO take effect in
August, but while in Washington in July, at
the urgent solicitations of many persons in.
terested in Kansas, and also at the request
Of the President, then withdrew it for the
time being. Those who are conversant with
the faCts know that it has been with extreme
reluctance that have remained here from
the first, and that | have alwaEs declared nv
intention to resign the office of Governor,
as soon as it could be done with safety to
the public interests. have received the
most ample assurance of the cordial approy.
al of my course in this Territory BY the
President and oil the members of his Cabi-
net, and here l must be permitted to saw,
that in all my conversations with the Presi.
dent about Kansas affairs, he has ALWAYS
manifested the deepest concern for the peace
and happiness of the country, and deter.
mination that the people OF the territory
should have fair opportunity at the ballot
box TO settle the questions at issue before
them in their own way, and without any ex.
traneous influence. Such has been the
character of ull his communications to me,
whether verbal or written, and while endeay.
oring to carry them out in good faith, ! have
met with no opposition from the moderate
men OF the Territory, nor from those who
have been classed as pro. slavery men,
The frauds perpetrated at the election in
January last were committed by the violent
and unScrupulous men Of oil parties, and the
investigation OF them was partisan and par.
tlal. such acts as the forging OF the returns
from Delaware Crossing were paraded be.
fore the public with great gusto. while the
destruction of the balot.box and ballots al
Sugar Mound. by Capt. Montgomery, was
passed by III silence. The actors in a these
transactions ought to have been severely
punished but there were no laws that would
reach them, and the late legislative Assem-.
bly, which was all Free State, made no suf
hclent laws to meet such cases in the future
but endeavored to paralyze the powers of the
Circuit Courts, und invest the Probate Courts
with powers they could not exercise. You
admit that thinge have gone on here quietly
onder my administration. This is not ex.
actly correct. There have been some dis.
turbances in Doniphan, Leavenworth, Linn
and bourbon Counties, and in every case the
disturbances have been produced by persons
calling themselves Free-State men. In
DonlPhan County un effort was made to as.
sasslnate the gentlemen who were elected
TO the Legislature on the first Monday in
January lastS and although they escaped
win their lives, they were plundered of their
properly and their houses burnt. No steps
have been taken to punish the perpetrators,
and yet all the county officers were Free
State men. The troubles in Leavenworth
City continued nearly all winter, and if the
Mayor aud other city officers did not enc our
age them, they certainly took no measures
to have them suppressed.
In Linn and Bourbon counties oil was qui-
ct until Montgomery and his band commenc.
ed plundering and driving off the people who
differed with them in political sentiments
in the course of which they committed some
most outrageous acts, one of which was to
drive tarmeE away from his home, on pain
OF death, and then to take the ladies' of his
family, strip of all their clothing, and in tina,
condition compel them TO walk backwerd
and forward for their amusement. II pass.
ed through the counties where these outra.
ges were perpetrated, and for some thirty
miles it presented such scene of desolation
as never expected to have seen, and hope
never again to see in country inhabited by
American citizens. Is it any wonder tha
the people on whom these outrages were
perpetruted should become exasperated +
some three hundred fomlles were thus rob
bed OF their property, driven away from theil
homes and compelled to fly from the Ter
rltory. About Two thirds OF them from Linr
county, where eye'y local officer was and il
Free State nun, after providing places O
security for their families, some OF the men
maddened and desperate with the treatme nj
they bad received. returned to seek revenge
and perpetrated the bloody Dnd uDiustifiabl
act of the Marais des Cygnes. This wa
followed on the part cf Montgomery, by set
ting fire to Fort Scott in the middle Of III
night, while the people were all asleep: en-
then pouring 10 volleys of rifle. balls to pre
vent the people from extinguishins th
flames.
Although no serious consequences result
ca from this act, though several persons Ell
capped very narrowly, yet in it's inception,
know OF nothing worse in the whole histor
OF kansas. II such an act had been CON
mltted by band Of hostile Indians, it woul
have sent thrill of horror throughout th
whole country. Such have been some
the troubles in this Territory. and yet tn
perpetrators are running at large without
effort TO arrest them, in counties where tn
Free State men have all the local officerl
! upheld by a portion of thoae calling ,heu