St. Cloud visiter [sic]. [volume] (St. Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1857-1858, 1858-07-22
The English Kansas Bill.

The English-Kansas Bill.
, "a We ask the candid attention Of all our ul
readers to thc-following extract from the
speech Of Senator Seward, ! on the bill
which was passed in Congress admitting
Kansas into the Union,s If she will ac-
.cept the Lecompton- Constitution, and re-
fusing her admission under any other.
We ask the men Of Minnesota to settle.
candidly in their own minds the question.
Is it ri ht to offer Kansas 5000, 900 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 large majority Of the people of
Kansas? ~-.2 assE,s = 81 ''a8s,
Mr.. Crittenden is southern man and
his amendment To- the Lecompton bill said
expressly that the Constitution should be
subjected to direct vote of the people of
Kansas If a majority were in favor of
it, Kansas should be proclaimed one Of the
States. If majority were opposed to it
they might, whenever they pleased, call
Convention, make another constitution and
come up for admission under it, Just as
Minnesota did, and in either case they
should receive their full amount .of..the.
public lands. Was not that fair? Was
it not democratic? Was it not Squat
ter Soverei gnty? Why then did almost
every Southern man. and some Northern
Democrats vote against it? The Republic
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
sas desired it, but they knew that the peo-
pie 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 MIR. Stewards remarks:
have to state i'll the first place, that the bill
makes up and presents 10 the people of Kansas,
and TO The country fictitious or false issue.
When sly false, mean foreign or fictitious
question substituted Tor the true one The true
issue before Congress and the country is the
question whether the people of Kansas shall or
shall not, as a condition of coming into this
Union, have right to accept or reject the Le-
comtou Constitution Now, be it understood,
that Congress gives to every new State, when
it comes into the Union, dowry taken from
the public land within its borders. Every new
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 large dowry, one larger than is usally al
lowed. The Senate passed bill putting aside,
thrusring Out of the way altogether, not only
the amount Of the dowry, but the giving one at
all, postponiny it until another day; and con-
tented itself with barely disclaiming in the bill
for the admission Of Kansas which they passed
an assent 10 the demand which the Lecompton
Convention, speaking in the behalf of Kansas,
had made. f.
The House Of Representatives, in their bill
Off the admission Of Kansas, treated the matter
in the sanet way They turned to the Mime
sofa bill, and copied from it into their Kansas
bill, which they sent to the Senate, provision
by which Kansas should receive dowry cx-
actly equal 10 thai Of Minnesota.
From the beginning ofthis debate TO the end,
there was no discussion, no question raised
about 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
4 ~ X
show the 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 slave
State, and by no means enough, not one half
enough, 10 make free State. There it just
population enough to admit the State at once if
it will accept the Lecompton constitution, and
not population at all enough to admit it under
any other.
4 4 r}fyaxq X
Mr. President, have shown that this bill
gives to the people only a show of choice be-
tween freedom and slavery. have next to
show that it provides for overriding, counter
acting, and defeating that very shadow a of
choice il it shall be- in favor of freedom. The
bill provides, not that the people Of Kansas, or
their Legislature or their authorities shall ap-
point the commissioners under whom the con-
templatcd election shall be held, aud its results
ascertaincd, but itconstitutes board to consist
Of five persons; aud while it allows two to be
named by The people Of Kansas, tasks three
Tor the President Of the United States NOW,
sir, there have been five agents appointed by
the President Of tie United States 20 hold cleo
tons, and return results iii The Territory of
Kansas already, and every one of them has
been dishonorcd and disgsaced for having
struggled 20 prevent fraud, and to certify the
truth about these elections. v'. ..h .
..,.<, ~, * a>s-@e II
Upon what grounds is this bill, thus shown
to be so deeply objectionable recommended to
us? First, it is recommended as compromise.
lilo honnra lala oh airnaau folla fhai yrhari