Daily national Democrat., 1859-02-17
From the National Intelllgencer.l
70 the PeOnIe of the United States.

From the National Intelligencer.l
To the People of the United States.
Our attention has very recently been
called to the following letter from Bait Jones,
Esq. one of the delegates from Johnson
county. in the Territory of Kansas, to the
Convention framed She Lecompton Constitu-
ton, one of its most ardent advocates, and
also, as will appear from his own statement
and tie returns, one of the Judges of election
OF October, 1857, whose name purports to be
affixed to the notorious pretended returns
from the precinct of Oxford, iD said county
ST. LOUIS, (Nio.) November 20, 1855
To THE EDITOR OF THE DEMOCRAT Upon the
returns OF an election held at the Oxford precinct
IN johnson county, Kansas, in October 1857, my
name appeared as one Of the judges. Inever put
1t there, nor consented that any one else should
do 50. The first knew of il was from the Law
renee Herald Of Freedom. l might have made
THIS statement sooner, and probably should, but
for the persuasion of friends aud the excitement
which prevailed at the time Of the transaction. |
dd not choose to eXpOse the affair voluntarily at
the time; though should not have hestated to
have done so if had been called on by any tri-
bunal having jurisdiction of the matter. In Sep
telnber last | communicated the above statement
in substance, to the ST. Louis Republican, from
Westport, Missouri. | came here to ascertain
whether 1t had been received, but was unable to
do 50. Upon calling upon one of the editors of
that papers this morning. he declined to publish
any statement in the premises. | threiOre SUBJ
init this statement IN the Democrat. and trust II
VIII receive place in its columns. do this in
justice, not only to myself but to the country.
am aware that my conduct is blameabe, but
would, nevertheless, have the case properly un-
derstood. What the threats and curses of my
edemles in Kansas failed to obtain in times Of great
excitement, | now voluntarily give am not
tn in1nl linnta 9TH ,,rIl L.,
except it be in self-defence
by ublshing the above you will do me great
favor. Respectfully,
BAIT JONES.
The extraordinary character of this letter
naturally excited grave doubts as to its au-
thenticity; but it is now ascertained and ad-
mitted to be genuine
1t will be remembered that the returns
from the Oxford precinct were rejected by
our joint proclamation, issued at Lecompton
on the 10Th of October. 1857. For this Off
cal act we were violently denounced by the
great body of that portion of the press of
the United States which subsequently sus-
tained the Lecompton Constitution and the
genuine character of the rejected returns
was vehemently asserted on that occasion.
both in and out of the Territory
Reference to the proclamation will show
that these returns were rejected because they
were clearly illegal and invalid under the
Territorial laws, and also because they were
beyond all doubt simulated and fictitious" "
The legal objections stated were clear and
obvious. First these returns were not au.
thenticated by the oath of any one of the
Judg or clerk, although the laws of Kansas
required such an oath to be taken by all of
them as an imperative prerequisite to a valid
election return Second, the paper present ed
to us and rejected was not one of the origin
all poIl-books required by the law, but IL
mere statement OF the votes pretended to be
given. In our pi oclamation we distinctly
disav owed any authority to 90 behind the
returns, for the purpose of judging the quail
ilcations Of voters, or of purging the polls.
or of rejecting returns formal and valid on
their face, for any reason short of actual for
gerry. Under our respective oaths of office
we might have been constrained to reject the
Oxford papers as illegal and inualid upon
their face, even if, in oth~r respects, they had
been correct and genuine
The simulated and fictitious" character of
these pretended returns was evident to us
upon the face Of the papers yet we deemed
it important, in so grave a matter to visit
the Oxford precinct; aud we there ascer.
sixteen hundred and twenty light votes pur-
porting TO have been gwen, not one.-tenth
had i'll fact been polled. and that nearly all
the names attached to the statement were pal.
pable forgeres We know that village of
some half dozen houses, in precinct of
most meagre population, could not have Civ
en- l,62S votes; aud our averments in that
respect are conclusively proved by census
since taken 10y authority of the Legislature,
showing the entire number of voters in the
Precinct to have been but forty-three. At
the election held in August last, under the
auspices of the present Federal Adminstra
tion, when the whole vote given in the Ter
ritory was larger by many thousands than at
any preceding period. the whole return from
Oxford was but 20, instead of | ,62S, as when
rejected 10y us. A similar insignificant re-
suit was exhibited at the election in October
1853 And, finally to remove all doubt,
one of the most active partisans of the LIE
compton Constitution, one of the Judges
whose name purported to be signed to the
pretended returns Of October, 1857 after II
silence of more than year, now admits the
forgery and declares that his lame was at
fixed to the paper neither by himself nor by
his authority.
The caumniators who denounced us for re
jeciing these acknowledged counterfeits must
now either retract The assaults made upon
this ground, or by adherence to their attacks.
or even 10y silent acquiescence, become ;hem.
selves aecomplices in this nefarious transac.
tiOn.
Upon the face of the Lecompton Consttu.
ton it appears that this Oxford forgery was
incorporated into it. and made part of, that
instrument. by the legislative apportionment
GvowedIy based upon it; while the schedule
Of the same instrument prepared all the ma
chinery. and provided all the means and APP
pliances for repeating and multiplying simi
lar frauds under the proposed State organizn
tiOn all of which were subsequently, proved
to have been efficient for the purpose de.
signed, by the successful preparation of nu.
merOus gigantic frauds in the pseudo State
elections OF January and December follow
ing:
FrGm information recently obtained (of
which atthe time we had no suspicion) we
do not new doubt that if the committee of
the House Of Representatives had made the
investigation ordered by the resolution of
the last session, they would have disclosed
the fact that tle census and registration, pur.
porting to haze been taken in the fifteen
counties out of thirty eight which formed
the sole basis of representation in the Con
vention, were largely contaminated with
fraudulent ana fictitious names, designed to
give control of the Convention to the parties
who were the authors of the subsequent
frn 4, ,.,f ~ f,yl SI,.. II /