St. Cloud visiter [sic]. [volume] (St. Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1857-1858, 1858-06-17
The English-Kan Bill.


which was passed in Congress admitting
Kansas into the Union, if she will &C
ccpt the Lccompton Constitution, and re-
fusing her admission under any other
We ask the men Of Minnesota to settle
candidly in their own minds the question:
Isit ri ht to offer Kansas 5000, goo dol,
lars worth Of the public lands as a bride
for establishing slavery in their State?
Would it be right to give her that much
more than Minnesota received; and to give
it for the express purpose Of defeating the
will of u large majority Of: the people of
Kansas?
Mr. Crittcnden is southern man and
his amendment to the Lecompton bill said
expressly that the Constitution should be
subjected to direc; vote Of the people of
Kansas. If majority were in favor of
il, Kansas should be proclaimed one Of the
States. If majority were opposed to it
they might, whenever they pleased, call a
Convention, make another constitution and
como up for admission under it, just as
Minnesota did, aud in either case they
should recievc their full amount of the
public lands. Was not that fair? Was
it not democratic: Was it not Squat
ter Sovereignty? Why then did almost
every Southern man, and some Northern
Democrats vote against it? The Rcpubli-
cans every man voted for it, and we think
did wrong in doing so; for by that vote
they said they were willing to admit Kan
sas as slave State if the people of Kan
s;,s desired it, but they knew that the peo-
pic Of Kansas wanted free labor, and so
they voted as they did; but what about
the democrats who voted decidedly against
permitting the people of State to choose
their own constitution?
Read Mr.. Stewards remarks:
I.havc to state in the first place, that the bill
makes up anl presents to the people of Kansas,
and to thc country, fictitious or false issue.
When say false, l mean foreign or fictitious
question substituted for thetrue one. The true
issue before Congress and the country, is the
question whether the people of Kansas shall or
shall not, rs q condition Of coming into this
Union, have right to accept or reject the I.c-
comton Constitution. Now, be it understood,
that Congress gives to every new State, when
it comes into the Union, g dowry taken from
State receives it in every case. Upon the Civ
ing Of such dowry, or upon the quantity or
extent of it, speaking practically, no question
is ever raised in Congress The Lecompton
Convention sent an application or demand
for a large dowry, one larger than is usally al
lowed. The Senate passed bill putting aside,
thrusting out Of the way altogether, not only
tho amount Of the dowry, but the giving one at
all, postponing it until another day; and con-
tented itself with barely disclaiming, in the bill
for the admission Of Kansas which they passed
an assent to the demand which the Lecompton
Convention, speaking in the behalf Of Kansas,
had made.
The House Of Representatives, in their bill
Off the admission of Kansas, treated the matter
in the same way. They turned to the Mime
sofa BILL and copied from it into their Kansas
BILL which they sent to the Senate, a provision
by which Kansas should receive a tlowry ex-
actly equal to that Of Minnesota.
From the beginning Of this debate to the end,
there was no discussion, no question raised
shout the amount of the dowry, or the giving
it, or the Withholding it, and it Was never
heard of.
Then the speaker goes on to show that
Mr.. English makes this undisputed ques-
ton of dover take the place Of the real
question at issue.
show tho Senate next, a second false
issue presented in this new bill, an issue raised
concerning the actual amount of population in
Kansas. The committee of conference find that
there is just population enough to make a slave
State, and by no means enough, not one half
enough, to make free State. There it lust
population enough to admit the State at once if
it will accept the Lecompton constitution, and
not population ct MI enough to admit it under
any other.
Mr.. President, have shown that this bin
gives to the people only s. show Of choice be-
tween freedom and slavery. have next to
show TINT it provides for overriding, counter
acting, ana defeating that very shadow a of
choice if it shall he III favor Of freedom. The
bill provides, not that the people of Kansas, or
their Legislature or their authorities shall APP
point the commissioners under whom the con-
templatcd election shall be held and it's results
usccltalnc but i; constitutes a board to consist
Of five persons; and while it allows two to be
named b.; the people Of Kansas, it asks three
for the President; Of the United States. Now,
sir, there have been five agents appointed by
the President of the United States to holL cleo
I ons, and return results in the Territory of
Kansas already, and every one of them has
been dshonored and disgraced for having
struggled to prevent fraud, and to certify the
truth about thcsc elections.
r ~ \
Upon what grounds is this bill, thus shown
to be so deeply Objectionable, recommended to
us? First, it is recommended as compromise
The honorable chairman tells us that when
there is u diffe,ance there can never be q set.
Element unless there is compromise; the
House Of Representatives has given away
something; the Senate have given away some
thing, though everybody, except myself, has
failed in finding out what there is given or got
ten. Still we are to accept it as a comprom
Use. If it is q compromise at all, to be urgct
on me, it must be compromise chat gives me-
something of freedom in exchange for much o.
slavery. What do get for freedom in Kansas:
The privilege for that people to make consti
tuition when they shall have apopulation Of ont
hundred thousand, and coming here and pre-
senting it to Congress. Very Well; what then
Is it to be a free State then? No. Then i
shall be "limited free or slave, just exactly
Tho nonn1o shall dos;ro - Wall civ fho{ +