Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1858-05-04
Letter from Joseph Lcdiic, ESQ.
CONCLUDED.

S If l were to enter into details, relati,
to the conduct of John Calhoun in Kans;
Territory, from the Spring of 1855 up
the present time, it would be sufficient
occupy 50 much space that you woul
be hardly satisfied to devote time to perus
it, and as my letter is already too unmer
cifully long, l will endeavor to condens
ma very short space, few Of the acts b
which he is to be judged. In the frs
place you must know, that as Surveyo
General Of Kansas and Nebraska, h.
wields by far much larger share of pa;
ronage than all the other Territorial off
GERS put together, and so uses this powe
with vengeance. He has attached tc
his Office about one hundred surveyors ant
from ten to fifteen clerks. Among the
surveyors 1t became necessary that some
of them should be reliable and competen,
men, hence, a few were selected for run.
ming the principal lines, on account of theil
qualifications for the performance of such
work. He had been taught lesson on
that score, by the blunders of ProfJohn.
son in running the base line, hence he was
was compelled to look to qualifications
for this particular chaacter Of the public
surveys. Not so with regard to the other
surveys; his principal aim heing to let
contracts to those who would be willing
and ready to do his bidding on matters re-
lating to the politics of the Territory. 1t
must not be understood that all of his dep.
uty surveyors were his supple tools, ready
to do his dirty work. 10 their credit be
1t said, there were a respectable minority
OF real gentlemen connected with the sur
veys; but it must be admitted that large
majority of the surveyors and nearly all
of his clerks were utterly unworthy the
confidence and companionship of gentle
men. Ills old chief clerk, Mr. Robert L.
Rean, who was the soul Of the Office UP
to the Fall of '56, was both scholar and
II gentleman. This man would not sur
render his independence and become the
tool of any man; hence he must be re-
moved, and in making the removal, he
preferred false charges against him which
1t become necessary to repel. In sclf-de-
tense, Ream, in turn, preferred charges
against Calhoun. President Pierce an
pointed commissioner to investigate the
charges against Calhoun. The investi
CATION was made, and | have been in
formed that every charge was provcn to
be tulse, and Mr.. Rcam was proven to be |
a slanderer, of course. The evidence was
I'll exparte, the witnesses being the at
aches of his Office. If it is true that the
charges "were all proven to be f,lse,"
hen | can say that know some of the
committed peJury; for | do
inow some of the charges to be true from
personal observation; and from my knowI-
'dge of the parties, sincerely declare
hat believe every word uttered by Mr..
aeam on the subject. This is more than
ever told Mr.. Ream for lever had any
Inclination to get into any difficulty with
ither party.
Calhoun espoused the cause of the Pro-
slavery party rs early as 1855, believing,
S he did, that Kansas would certainly be
Slave State, and as he was governed al
ogether by morbid desire for Office, he {
lncied that he saw the way clear for seat t
D the U. S. Senate. When his eyes were s
eginning to open and he could see from /
he great disparity in the strength Of par c
es, that there were reasons for doubling r
le success Of his party, he then became S
lc most invcterate proscriptionist in tho V
ountry. Every man, whether Wing or r
'emocrat, who would not 90 so Gar as he t
ould in prosecuting Free State men, |
ere denounced as "Aboliti6nists, Black 4
epublicans," &c. l have heard him n
wing advice to self-constitued com G
ittee from Lexington. Mo-, to open II St
Ok, on the wharf in Kansas City, No, Il;
, the pretext that it might contain arms. b
no box was accordingly opened, not Ia
this -anding the solemn protest Of the q
'nsignee; when 10! 4 Piano was exposed
view. ~
| have heard John Calhoun advise q set Il
rowdies in Kansds City, Mo, to tear ~
'wn the american HOTEL" fine five ii
Dry brick, by far the best building in the
Ly, for the reason that the proprietor. bl
r. Eldridge, was Free State man The re
Iildihg would have been demolished, had q,
not been for the protection afforded bv n,
e good people of Missouri; the actual re-
ma tide Pro-Slavery men, the citizens of to
'nsas City. Again, | have heard this it
me John Calhoun, through the instru.
entality of Hughes, Penny ybacker, and
Irsons, (the former clerk in his Office.
d the two latter. deputy surveyors at.
;hed to the Office, illegally seize gen. CO
man at the public Hotel in Kansas CITY, ." 90
t him into hack and drive him off, un- ". ",
r cover of very dark night, take him ~ ~
the SurU|yor Generals office, and there, IL m
der the charge of that perjured villain, h, m
A. Mclean, chief clerk, was kept un- ~
r lock and key, awaiting the arrival and ~ ~
'ther orders of the Surveyor GeneroL. =,
le next morning the SurVevOr General, % T.,
by Capt. Martin, of the Kick 80 80
90 Rangers, proceeded, after breakfast, -
the Office for the purpose Of conveying 20
cir prisoner to Kickapoo, place gener- NJ NJ
y admitted at that time, to be exceed ',o ="
sly unhealthy for Free State men. ." s.,
When Calhoun and Martin arrived at
} Office, they soon discovered that by
ne mysterious means or other, the pris- of
sr, Mr.. III. MiIos Moore, had returned e,
Kansas City. bo
Al r..