Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1858-02-18

They assembled in convention, they framed such
a constitution, they submitted that constitution
to the people and it received the popular yer.
dict. They elected their officers under it; they
chose their Senators and sent them to this Cham
Der to ask for admission into the Union. They
undertook to enforce no laws, and from that
time to the present they have kept that Topeka
government in existence; they have framed
some acts necessary for its preservation; but
| from that day to this they have never attempted
those laws. | declare here to-day, what knew
personally to be absolutely true, and | declare
it in the face of the declaration of Governor
Walker and of the President, that the presence
of your army in that Territory, the proeiama-
tions of your officials, the action here in the
Senate and the Houee of Representatives, have
not prevented that people from putting those
laws in execution but they have acted accord
ing to their own well chosen and deliberate pol
icy. They never intended to 60 into rebellion
they never intended to enforce these laws against
the laws of Congress. They have Away denied
the validity of your territorial laws which were
imposed upon them by fraud and force they
have not used them for the protection Of their
liberties OF their lives. Young men, who went
to that Territory to practice their professions,
have, from conscientious scruples from that time
to this engaged in the most common labors of
life rather than acknowledge those laws, or take
oath to support them. The masses of the peo-
pie Of that Territory from that time to this have
never acknowledged those laws as binding on
them; they have never claimed their protection.
They have been outraged, robbed, imprisoned !;
they have seen their dwellings burned down !;
they have hcen invaded many of their fellow
citizens have been murdered because they loved
liberty; but they have not invoked tho protec-
ton of those laws. They never have they
never will they never ought to do So Nor man
here would ever submit to them, or claim their
protection or Use them for his own personal pro-
lection.
The President in support Of this charge of
rebellion, quotes theeydence of Governor Walk
er. Governor Walker, sir, went to that Terri
tory as the Presidents instrument to accom-
plish certain purpose. He was appointed
Governor of that Territery on the Both of March
1857 he entered that Territory on Sabbath
evening, the 9th of May. Much of the inter-
vening sixty days of time was spent by the Gov
ernor in making speeches, and writing letters
magnifying his great mission. l went to the
Territory from st. Louis in company with Coy
ernor Walker; saw him at Lawrence saw
him when he waswelcomed by the people of sire
belious" Lawrence in a generous way, of
which any man might be proud | was at LIE
compton, the capital, when he arrived there.
Governor Walker went to that Territory, and
his own letters demonstrate it, on thus mission
to divide the people of Kansas who were in ia
vor of free State, to unite the free State Dem
ocrats with the pro-slaycry men, and secure the
slavery then existing in Kansas, and make it Il
black law nrn-s vary to Tho
was his mission and no man in America could
have labored more faithfully to accomplish this
object. He went to that Territory pro- slavery
man, in favor of the pro-slavery policy of this
country and in his inaugural address to the
people, in view Of the fact that it might become
free State, he said that the great Indian terri
tory Of the South would be slave territory, aud
that slave States might be made ont of it.
was there when that address was issued and
although we are told now that everything in
the Territory was in a state of excitement bor-
dering on rebellion, say here to-day, that there
was no spot on the North American continent
where there was more quiet than existed on the
LIST Of June last in the Territory of Kansas.
Rebellion existed only in the teeming brain Of
Governor Walker. The persons appointed to
take the census and to enroll the voters had not
performed their duty in about half the counties
of the Territory. The free State men, under the
lead of Governor Robinson and other leading
men, made proposition to acting Governor
Stanton, before Governor Walker arrived, to
go into the election Of delegates to the conyen-
ton if thdy could be enrolled, and the ballot
boxes SO p8ptected that there should be no in
yasions ana no fraudulent voting. They did
not wish to commit themselves in that election
and find al the polls what they found at the
polls on the 30th of March, lS55--an invading
host of illegal voters to rob them of their rights
Secretary Stanton, who was then acting Gov
ernor, to whom this proposition was made, ans
wered these gentlemen by saying he had no pow
er to correct the list of voters, and he could dc
nothing to aid them. Some of the people in
some Of the counties where the officials had re-
fused to take the census or to register the voters
made an application to 60 on and elect then
delegates and it was suggested to them that
they could dose, and that their delegates might
be accepted by the convention. When the day
Of election came, less than twenty three hun.
dred men went to the polls to vote, about one
ninth part Of all the voters in the Territory.
When the result Of that election was known
in the Territory, it was believed by intelligent
men Of all parties that the convention would
never assemble ; thatjt had gone down beneath
the moral sentiment Of the people, that it was
an ignominieus and contemptable failure. The
President quotes Governor Walkers hasty and
ill-timed language in regard to the action O
the people Of the city of Lawrence. We were
told here, the other day, by Senator from Geo
rgia, that the city of Lawrence was the sink o.
filth folly and faIsehood. Sir, venture to say
that there is not town in the United States
north, soutll, east or west, of the numbers to b.
found in this town of Lawrence, containing
more of individual worth, or personal character
or general intelligence. venture to say, tina
there are more college graduates in that town
than in any town west of the Alieghanies, o
equal population, The people of Lawrence ar
a law-abiding, liberty-loying people Havin!
lived for two years without the protection 0
law, having been robbed and plundered, and be
ing DESTROYS of doing something for their owl
local interests, the people in that town, in Jul,
last, framed and adopted city charter, Tn
people there are all on one side--there are,
think, only two OF three slave State men there
and no one intended to enforce any laws upol
them. 1t was a charter framed by common
consent. The laws under it Were intended t.
be executed by common consent WThe commit
Zee of the people say in their address:
" As its action will be purely local, and hay
reference merely to our own internal affairs, n
collision is apprehended with any other organi
cation claiming to exercise general jurisdiction
in the Territory.
/. They did not intend to violate the laws of tn
: Union, or of the Territory, The Governor NOV
ed the troops upon that town, and pronounce
their acts rebellion; but the people went RICH
on. They framed their ordinances, they pu
, their ordinances in execution, while his arm
was encampod on their soil and from that tim
l to this they have peacefully and quietly admir-
j stered their own local town affairs, and hay
: harmed nobody in or out of the Territory
G This simple act, performed by common consent
e having the consent of the whole people, intent
de to operate only in their own local affairs, wa
Q pronounced by Governor Walker as the grea
est rehallinn the world had nuer ,ritnnssad =