Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-02-18

0SIm0ieO AZ 1ecOmptO0 ana OfRunlxest
on the 9Th. choosing a. it, President John
Calhoun, surveyor general of the Terrific
~. AL eyes were now turned to the
election to bc held October S. for members
of the Territorial Legislature in which the
two parties would. for the first time.
measure strength at the polls. The con-
vention therefore adjourned without fur
er action. until the 18th of October. The
election of October took place and re-
suited in Q sweeping triumph Of the free
state party. The exposure Of the enor.
NOUS frauds perpetrated at Oxford and in
MCGEE county whereby the slave power
had made last desperate venture to hold
possession of the territorial legislature fol-
lowed. These frauds were no more glar.
ing and outrageous. and were less violent,
than those of March 80, 1855, by which
the first territorial legislature had been
seized. and which the administration and
the slave power had claimed were the very
perfection of squatter sovereignty. They
were perpetrated for the same purpose
and by the same men. The administra-
ton at Washington evidently expected
Governor Walker and Secretary STAN
ton to wink at the wholesale
forgery and keep the pro-slavery fac
ton in control of the legislature. But
these officials had come too closely in con-
tact with the people, had made too many
promises Of a fair and honest election, and
were too thoroughly disguised with the
huge sham anu imposture of the whole
business to connive at it. They according
ly threw out the forged returns, and gave
the legislature over into the hands of the
people. Meanwhile, the intelligence Of
these new pro-slayery frauds had spread.
and aroused the people to high pitch OF
indignation. The free state men felt not
only strong in the justice of their cause,
but in numbers and ply steal strength.
They felt solemnly called upon to clean out
the entire Leccmpton gang. A free state
mass meeting was called to meet at Le-
compton on the 18th of October. the very
day to which the LecomptOn constitu-
tional convention had adjourned from
its session in September. The air was
full of rumors, threats and portents.
When the day came great crowd assem-
bled. Phillip C. Schuyler was chosen
president and Richard Realf and o. b..
Learnard secretaries. Lane was there in
all his glory. Nothing suited him better
than an excited crowd and an exciting oc.
casion. His speech was full Of noble
enthusiasm for the free state cause and OF
terrific denunciation of the frauds and
; villianies that had characterized the pro-
slavery programme. Resolutions were
passed denouncing the frauds ut the
recent election, declaring that
the convention about to assemble
in no sense whatever represented the
! people and must adjourn sine die. A
committee, with Lane at the head, wa;
appointed to call upon the members of the
convention, and convey to them the man.
, date of the people The result vas that for
four DAYS the members sneaked around
Lecompton IN the brush. afraid to assem-
hle, and quorum could not be obtained.
At last Governor Walker sent over to Fort
Leavenworth for body of United States
troops with a section of artillery and
with their protection quorum was got
/ together and the convention went on
with its predestined business. Thus sur.
rounded by United States troops, and
protected from the assaults Of an indl2-
nant and outraged people by United
States cannon, the Lecompton conven-
ton proceeded to frame the LecomptOn
/ constitution. All the glory had now de-
parted from the pro-slavery movement.
it existed only in force. Had the United
States troops been withdrawn. the Le-
ecmpton convention would have fed the
territory within an hour. However its
members assured of protection pushed
straight ahead with their work. Their
/ inspiration came not from Kansas, but
from Washington The slave power had
determined to make Kansas a slave state
at whatever cost and Mr.. Buchanan was
its willing and conscious instrument. The
fellows at Lecompton were but puppets
who danced as their masters pulled the
wires. The constitution was soon framed.
It's substance deserves notice only as its
provisions indicate the high-water mark vt
pro-slavery fanaticism in this country. Its
preamble asserts that the state to be crea-
ted by it is free independent and sooer-
eiqn state. A whole article Is devoted to
slavery. The right of property is declared
to be before and higher than any constitu-
tional sanction, and the right of the owner
of slave to such slave and its increase Is
the same and as lnviolable as
the right of the owner of any proper
ty whatever. The elective franchise
is confined to male citizens " OF the
United States. apparently on the theory
that colored men could not be citizens CT
tbe United States. All civil officers Of the
state are required to use due diligence to
apprehend and deliver up fugitive slaves.
The bill of rights asserts that 'all freemen
when they form social compact are equal
in rights" also that no freeman" shall
be deprived of life, liberty or property but
by the judgment of his peers or the law OF
the land. In the same bill of rights it Is
provided that free negroes shall not be
permitted to live in this state under any
circumstances" In the section providing
for re,isions of the constitution the
saving clause is inserted that mo altera-
ton shall be made to affect the rights OF
property in the ownership of slaves"
The constitution framed, the question
arose in the minds of the convention, what
shall we do with it? The document was in
tensely pro-slavery; the people for whom it
was ostensibly made were intensely anti
slavery. To submit it to an honest vote
: was to see the whole movement collapse
like a soap bubble in the air. To refuse
10 submit it was TO violate the pledges
given before their election by Calhoun and
maoy other members of the convention. to
.tultlfy the express promises of the admin
} istrat.on through Governor Walker, and
= L.ord &c re;oc-ioo nv conpresG In