New-York daily tribune., 1859-01-03
KANSAS.
NEwS-THE GOLD MINES.
specis. Coire,pord.pce Of The n Y. rrisune.
the Territory

LAWRENCE, X. T., Dec %, 1883.
have been exploring toe Upper Valley Of k,w
Rser, among the wild buffalo and wilder Indiins,
and If not Just 81 Plies Peak. little more than eco
mile, from it; hence my long silence.
The death of Lecompton produced s.ssnstion
on poli.ics from which they have not yet recovered
Occasionally Federal officer recommends himself
to increased patronage by ouiraging public sent
ment; and in addition 10 this, the Southern part OF
The Territory has never been altogether quiet.
general cry for railroads is now oyersloughiug
politics.
by keeping up an agitation about Free
Kansas aud a State Government, We OILY fur
"tber ALLEVIATE the Administration aud defeat the
"hope of railroads and land yrants and viii .t
"nottrg." This is the turn which Democrs,y l'
pow taking And even good Free State men who
are timd do not like TO say much against th.s
Ii they venture they are tsbooed "a enemIS. %
the material interests g, the country. The man
who does not cry "Tai,ro2dsr is to be considered
as having denied the faith, and worse thin an IN
fdel.
Then there wss to have been Convention of the
Free. State party in the middle Of November, but
there was not In fact there was no for il, for
there is nothing left for the FreeState party 10 do.
The dominant party " hich now controls the Federal
Government has declared that. although new
State will be admitted into the UnoG with only
thirty thousand iuhabtaDts-or With any number
if il will come with 8 slave constitution, yet, If
it has the inpudence to come with free c0nstltu-
tion, It's Territorial Legislature, including It's
Federal Governor of courss, must certify that
there is a population Of st least ninety seven
thousand. Under such circumstances, it is clearly
evident that Kansas can ou!y suffer and be strong
Ii 10 very true, that the Territorial Government Is
useless, and the Fedora officers sent here great
deal worse thfn useless, but then these political
agonies may help 10 make the people appreciate a
better government when they get one.
Well, the Free State Convention that was To
have been in November WAS failure. The people
were not in the least affected against the principles
they have ever maintained; only from remote re-
gions there Vas dsincnation t. brave storm and
flood and lose valuable time, and pay out dollars
when dollars were scarce, unless they knew
what il was for. OF those who did attend how
ever, there was fair sprnkling Of conservatives,
and of those who are charitably Inclined to 81 De-
mocTacy." These, with the adroitness peculiar 10
them, took ground against the Convention they had
thus attended, and made the occasion shield for
slur against all Free-State Conventions. The
majority of those who thus met adjourned without
doing anything, however. They might have done
more-they certainly could not have done better.
They passed resolutions; perhaps, the readers
of The TRIBUNE have seen them; If not, would
not be so inhumsDe as 10 nhict on them more resO-
luti0ns from Kansas at present.
The new Governor, or, as he has been styled,
the "Sammedary," arrived in LecomptOn two
days ago. The new reign has not yet been in
augurated by the pronunclanent0. think that he
Will begin business under favorable circumstances;
that is, he was immediately preceded by one of the
very smallest tunctionaries that ever drew official
breath under the Federal wing, Mr.. Hugh j.
Walsh. Other Kansas Governors have been bad,
but he has never succeeded In getting beyond the
ridiculous. He was originally the hctotum of
X. j. Walherthen served in similar capacity
for Stanton. and unprecedented succession for
Kansas, to Denver At this period he somehow or
other crawled into the position of Secretary of the
Territory, and ex-Ofico Librarian. When Den
yer abdicated he became Acting Governor, and it
is not wonderful that the little fellow got be-
wildered at such stunning elevation. lie refused
TO appoint day OF Thanksgiving when requested,
because, as he alleges, there were disturbances
in Linn County, and leading Republican jour
- nal backed them up" He has refused or with
held certificates of election to several Free-State
oAicers elect, on various whims. He threat
ened that if the Territorial Legislature did
not stay at LecomptOn and legislate he would not
pay them, aud has in divers ways taken occasion
to show bis patriotism aud Democracy.
An exciting topic is where the Legislature shall
meet. The last Legislature thought they had
removed The capital from LecOmpton 10 MinneOla
but the Attorney General gave opinion adverse
10 their power 10 dosO. The Territorial Executive
declined to remove lis Office, with its belongings
thiiher, and as the money which greases the wheels
of Territorial Government comes through the Exec
utiye, this was conclusive. Again as Mlnneola
was repudiated by the people, who felt that it was
price Of knayery almost as bad as Lec0mpt0n,
there il little likelihood Of any formidable interest
in its favor The Legislature WILL then meet az
Lecompton. The Lecomptonites are making q
prodigious effort to keep It there. They have
actually built new hotel and got up hustle Of
improvement generally.
So much for current politics. The people care
much less than they did about Territorial politics.
AIN lot sure that one in ten knows who is Gov
ernor, and / am sure they do not care. The abb
sorbins topic is the gold mines. Every town aud
hamlet is all alive with the subject and the emigra-
ton thlther In the Spring from the eastern part Of
the Territory alone will be considerable. Winter
has Just closed up the communication, aud the
latest reports were encouraging and full OF hope
So, $40 Sl5 and even $50 per day. Some two
or three thousand people are already scattered on
the eastern slope Of the mountains and around the
base of Pixies Peak. Many more are locked up
for the Winter on the route, and from some of the
less fortunate Of these We may expect 10 hear sad
accounts. Just before left SalIns, which is l25
miles west Of this, and the frontier town on the
Smoky Hill, being 30 miles west Of Council Grove,
several parties had come 10 10 Winter on the from
tier until Spring. The snow 1t Salina week ago
wts knee deep, and that in very mid region,
much nllder than the Laramie route, where have
DO doubt il is now four feet deep aud quite track
less. Nine days ago the snow was two feet deep
within 100 niles up the Republican Fork. The
Winter has begun early, and is more severe than