. forty-three of the fifty delegates present affixed their signatures to the constitution. A large majority of the Convention were in favor of establishing Slavery in Kansas. They accordingly inserted an article in the constitution for this purpose similar in form to those which had been adopted by other Territorial conventions. show that the President did not mean to recommend" the Lecompton Constitution, but that he only referred that document to the Congress of the United States-as the Constitution of the United States In the schedule, how-refers it-for us to decide upon it under our own responsibility. "It is proper," said Mr. D., "that he should have thus referred it to us as a matter for congressional action, and not as an administrative or executive measure, for the reason that the Constitution of the United States says, Congress may admit new States into the Union.' Hence we find the Kansas question before us now, not as an Administrative measure, not as an Execu ive measure, but as a measure coming before us for our free action, without any recommendation or interference, directly or indirectly, by the Administration now in possession of the Federal Government." ever, providing for the transition from a Territorial to a At this election, every citizen will have an opportunity of expressing his opinion by his vote "whether Kansas shall be received into the Union with or without Slavery," and thus this exciting question may be peacefully settled in the very mode required by the organic law. The election will be held under legitimate authority, and if any portion of the inhabitants shall refuse to vote, a fair opportunity to do so having been presented, this will be their own voluntary act, and they alone will be responsible for the consequences. Whether Kansas shall be a free or a slave State, must eventually, under some authority, be decided by an election; and the question can never be more clearly or distinctly presented to the people than it is at the present moment. Should this opportunity be rejected, she may be involved for years in domestic discord, and possibly in civil war, before she can again make up the issue now so fortunately tendered, and again reach the point she has already attained. Mr. President, I am not going to stop and inquire how far the Nebraska bill, which said the people should be left perfectly free to form their constitution for themselves, authorized the President, or the Cabinet, or Gov ernor Walker, or any other Territorial officer, to interfere and tell the Convention of Kansas whether they should or should not submit the question to the people. I am not going to stop to inquire how far they were authorized to do that, it being my opinion that the spirit of the Nebraska bill required it to be done. It is sufficient for my purpose that the Administration of the Federal Government unanimously-that the administration of the Territorial government, in all its parts, unanimouslyunderstood the Territorial law under which the Convention was assembled to mean that the constitution to be formed by that Convention should be submitted to the people for ratification or rejection, and, if not confirmed by a majority of the people, should be null and void, without coming to Congress for approval Not only did the National Government and the Territorial government so understand the law at the time, but, as I have already stated, the people of the Territory so understood it. As a further evidence on that point, a large number, if not a majority, of the delegates were instructed in the nominating conventions to submit the constitution to the people for ratification. I know that the delegates from Douglas County, eight in number, Mr. Calhoun, President of the Convention, being among them, were not only instructed thus to submit the question, but they signed and published, while candidates, a written pledge that they would submit it to the people for ratification. I know that men high in authority, and in the confidence of the Territorial and National Government, canvassed every part of Kansas during the election of Kansas has for some years occupied too much of the delegates, and each one of them pledged himself to the public attention. It is high time this should be directed people that no snap judgment was to be taken; that the to far more important objects. When once admitted constitution was to be submitted to the people for acceptinto the Union, whether with or without Slavery, the ance or rejection: that it would be void unless that was excitement beyond her own limits will speedily pass done; that the Administration would spurn and scorn it as away, and she will then, for the first time, be left, as she a violation of the principles on which it came into power, ought to have been long since, to manage her own and that a Democratic Congress would hurl it from their affairs in her own way. If her constitution on the sub-presence as an insult to the Democrats who stood pledged ject of Slavery, or on any other subject, be displeasing to see the people left free to form their domestic instituto a majority of the people, no human power can prevent tions for themselves. them from changing it within a brief period. Under these circumstances, it may well be questioned whether the peace and quiet of the whole country are not of greater importance than the mere temporary triumph of either of the political parties in Kansas. Not only that, sir, but up to the time when the Convention assembled, on the 1st of September, so far as I can learn, it was understood everywhere that the constitution was to be submitted for ratification or rejection. They met, however, on the 1st of September, and adjourned until after the October election. I think that it was wise and prudent that they should thus have adjourned. They did not wish to bring any question into that election which would divide the Democratic party, and weaken our chances of success in the election. I was rejoiced when I saw that they did adjourn, so as not to show their hand on any question that would divide and distract the party until after the election. During that recess, while the Convention was adjourned, Governor Ransom, the Democratic candidate for Congress, running against the present Delegate from that Territory, was canvassing every part of Kansas, in favor of the doctrine of submitting the constitution to the people, declaring that the Democratic party were in favor of such submission, and that it was a slander of the Black Republicans to intimate the charge that the Democratic party did not intend to carry out that pledge in good faith. Thus, up to the time of the Con Should the constitution without Slavery be adopted by the votes of the majority, the rights of property in slaves now in the Territory are reserved. The number of these is very small; but if it were greater the provision would The slaves were be equally just and reasonable. brought into the Territory under the Constitution of the United States, and are now the property of their masters. This point has at length been finally decided by the highest judicial tribunal of the country-and this upon the plain principle that when a confederacy of Sovereign States acquire a new territory at their joint expense, both equality and justice demand that the citizens of one and all of them thall have the right to take into it whatsoever is recognized as property by the common Constitution. To have summarily confiscated the property in slaves already in the Territory would have been an act of gross injustice, and contrary to the practice of the older States of the Union which have abol-vention, in October last, the pretense was kept up, the ished Slavery. MR. DOUGLAS ON LECOMPTON. Mr. Douglas, who very early joined in the debate on the President's Message, at first said he dissented from the views of the President in regard to Kansas, but afterward endeavored to profession was openly made, and believed by me, and I thought believed by them, that the Convention intended to submit a constitution to the people, and not to attempt to put a government in operation without such submission. The election being over, the Democratic party being defeated by an overwhelming vote, the Opposition having triumphed, and got possession of both branches of the legislature, and having elected their Territorial Delegate, the Convention assembled, and then proceeded | not violate the Constitution of the United States and the to complete their work. Now let us stop to inquire how they redeemed the pledge to submit the constitution to the people. They first go on to make a constitution. Then they make a schedule, in which they provide that the constitution, on the 21st of December-the present month-shall be submitted to all the bona fide inhabitants of the Territory on that day, for their free acceptance or rejection, in the following manner, to wit: Thus acknowledging that they were bound to submit it to the will of the people; conceding that they had no right to put it into operation without submitting it to the people; providing in the instrument that it should take effect from and after the date of its ratification, and not before; showing that the Constitution derives its vitality, in their estimation, not from the authority of the Convention, but from that vote of the people, to which it was to be submitted for their free acceptance or rejection. How is it to be submitted? It shall be submitted in this form: "Constitution with Slavery, or constitution with no Slavery?" All men must vote for the constitution, whether they like it or not, in order to be permitted to vote for or against Slavery. Thus a constitution made by a convention that had authority to assemble and petition for a redress of grievances, but not to estab lish a government-a constitution made under a pledge of honor that it should be submitted to the people before if took effect-a constitution which provides on its face, that it shall have no validity except what it derives from such submission-is submitted to the people at an election where all men are at liberty to come forward freely, without hindrance, and vote for it, but no man is permitted to record a vote against it! That would be as fair an election as some of the enemies of Napoleon attributed to him when he was elected First Consul. He is said to have called out his troops and had them reviewed by his officers, with a speech, patriotic and fair in its professions, in which he said to them: "Now, my soldiers, you are to go to the election and vote freely, just as you please. If you vote for Napoleon, all is well; vote against him, and you are to be instantly shot!" That was a fair election. (Laughter.) This election is to be equally fair. All men in favor of the constitution may vote for it, all men against it shall not vote at all. Why not let them vote against it? I presume you have asked many a man this question. I have asked a very large number of the gentlemen who framed the constitution, quite a number of delegates, and a still larger number of persons who are their friends, and I have received the same answer from every one of them. I never received any other answer, and I presume we never shall get any other answer. What is that? They say, if they had allowed a negative vote, the constitution would have been voted down by an overwhelming majority; and hence the fellows shall not be allowed to vote at all. (Laughter.) Mr. President, that may be true. It is no part of my purpose to deny the proposition that that constitution would have been voted down if submitted to the people. I believe it would have been voted down by a majority of four to one. I am informed by men well posted there -Democrats-that it would be voted down ten to one; some say by twenty to one. But is it a good reason why you should declare it in force, without being submitted to the people, merely because it would have been voted down by five to one if you had submitted it? What does that fact prove? Does it not show undeniably that an overwhelming majority of the people of Kansas are unalterably opposed to that constitution? Will you force it on them against their will, simply because they would have voted it down if you had consulted them? If you will, are you going to force it upon them under the plea of leaving them perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way? Is that the mode in which I am called upon to carry out the principle of self-government and popular Sovereignty in the Territories-to force a constitution on the people against their will, in opposition to their protest, with a knowlege of the fact, and then to assign as a reason for my tyranny, that they would be so obstinate and so perverse as to vote down the constitution if I had given them an opportunity to be consulted about it? Sir, I deny your right, or mine, to inquire of these people what their objections to that constitution are. They have a right to judge for themselves whether they like or dislike it. It is no answer to tell me that the constitution is a good one, and unobjectionable. It is not satisfactory to me to have the President say, in his message, that that constitution is an admirable one, like all the constitutions of the new States that have been recently framed. Whether good or bad, whether obnoxious or not, is none of my business, and none of yours. It is their business, and not ours. I care not what they have in their constitution, so that it suits them and does fundamental principles of liberty upon which our institutions rest. I am not going to argue the question whether the banking system established in that constitution is wise or unwise. It says there shall be no monopolies, but there shall be one bank of issue in the State, with two branches. All I have to say on that point is, if they want a banking system, let them have it; if they do not want it, let them prohibit it. If they want a bank with two branches, be it so; if they want twenty, it is none of my business; and it matters not to me whether one of them shall be on the north side and the other on the south side of the Kaw River, or where they shall be. While I have no right to expect to be consulted on that point, I do hold that the people of Kansas have the right to be consulted and to decide it, and you have no rightful authority to deprive them of that privilege. It is no justification, in my mind, to say that the provision for the eligibility for the officers of Governor and Lieut.-Governor requires twenty years' citizenship in the United States. If men think that no person should vote or hold office until he has been here twenty years, they have a right to think so; and if a majority of the people of Kansas think that no man of foreign birth should vote or hold office unless he has lived there twenty years, it is their right to say so, and I have no right to interfere with them; it is their business, not mine; but if I lived there I should not be willing to have that provision in the constitution without being heard upon the subject, and allowed to record my protest against it. I have nothing to say about their system of taxation, in which they have gone back and resorted to the old exploded system which we tried in Illinois, but abandoned because we did not like it. If they wish to try it and get tired of it and abandon it, be it so; but if I were a citizen of Kansas I would profit by the experience of Illinois on that subject, and defeat it if I could. Yet I have no objection to their having it if they want it; it is their business, not mine. So it is in regard to the free negroes. They provide that no free negro shall be permitted to live in Kansas. I suppose they have a right to say so if they choose; but if I lived there I should want to vote on the question. We, in Illinois, provide that no more shall come there. We say to the other States, "Take care of your own free negroes and we will take care of ours." But we do not say that the negroes now there shall not be permitted to live in Illinois; and I think the people of Kansas ought to have the right to say whether they will allow them to live there, and if they are not going to do so, how they are to dispose of them. So you may go on with all the different clauses of the Constitution. They may be all right; they may be all wrong. That is a question on which my opinion is worth nothing. The opinion of the wise and patriotic Chief Magistrate of the United States is not worth anything as against that of the people of Kansas, for they have a right to judge for themselves; and neither Pressdent, nor Senates, nor Houses of Representatives, nor any other power outside of Kansas, has a right to judge for them. Hence it is no justification, in my mind, for the violation of the great principle of self-government, to say that the Constitution you are forcing on them is not particularly obnoxious, or is excellent in its provisions. Perhaps, sir, the same thing might be said of the Topeka Constitution. I do not recollect its peculiar provisions. I know one thing: we Democrats, we Nebraska men, would not even look into it to see what its provisions were. Why? Because we said it was made by a political party, and not by the people; that it was made in defiance of the authority of Congress; that if it was as pure as the Bible, as holy as the Ten Commandments, yet we would not touch it until it was submitted to and ratified by the people of Kansas, in pursuance of the forms of law. Perhaps the Topeka Constitution, but for the mode of making it, would have been unexceptionable. I do not know; I do not care. You have no right to force an unexceptionable constitution on a people. It does not mitigate the evil, it does not diminish the insult, it does not ameliorate the wrong, that you are forcing a good thing upon them. I am not willing to be forced to do that which I would do if I were left free to judge and act for myself. Hence 1 assert that there is no justification to be made for this flagrant violation of popular rights in Kansas, on the plea that the constitution which they have made is not particularly obnoxious. But, sir, the President of the United States is really and sincerely of the opinion that the Slavery clause has been fairly and impartially submitted to the free acceptance or rejection of the people of Kansas, and that, inasmuch as that was the exciting and paramount question, if they get the right to vote as they please on that subject, they ought to be satisfied; and possibly it might be Sir, I am opposed to that concern, because it looks to me like a system of trickery and jugglery to defeat the fair expression of the will of the people. There is no necessity for crowding this measure, so unfair, so unjust, as it is in all its aspects, upon us. better if we would accept it, and put an end to the ques- If Kansas wants a Slave-State Constitution, she has a tion. Let me ask, sir, is the Slavery clause fairly sub-right to it; if she wants a Free-State Constitution, she has mitted, so that the people can vote for or against it? Sup- a right to it. It is none of my business which way the I care not whether it is pose I were a citizen of Kansas, and should go up to the Slavery clause is decided. polls and say, "I desire to vote to make Kansas a Slave voted down or voted up. Do you suppose, after pledges State; here is my ballot." They reply to me, "Mr. of my honor, that I would go for that principle, and Douglas, just vote for that constitution first, if you leave the people to vote as they choose, that I would now please." "Oh, no!" I answer, "I cannot vote for that degrade myself by voting one way if the Slavery clause constitution conscientiously-I am opposed to the clause be voted down, and another way if it be voted up? I by which you locate certain railroads in such a way as to care not how that vote may stand. I take it for granted I am that it will be voted out. I think I have seen enough in sacrifice my county and my part of the State. opposed to that banking system. I am opposed to this the last three days to make it certain that it will be reKnow-Nothing or American clause in the constitution turned out, no matter how the vote may stand. (Laughabout the qualifications for office. I cannot vote for it." ter.) Then they answer, "You shall not vote on making it a Slave State." I then say, "I want to make it a Free State." They reply, "Vote for that constitution first, and then you can vote to make it a Free State; otherwise you cannot." Thus they disqualify every Free-State man who will not first vote for the constitution; they disqualify every Slave-State man who will not first vote for the constitution. No matter whether or not the voters state that they cannot conscientiously vote for those provisions, they reply, "You cannot vote for or against Slavery here. Take the constitution as we have made it, take the Elective Franchise as we have established it, take the Banking System as we have dictated it, take the Railroad lines as we have located them, take the Judiciary System as we have formed it, take it all as we have fixed it to suit ourselves, and ask no questions, but vote for it, or you shall not vote either for a Slave or Free State." In other words, the legal effect of the schedule is this: all those who are in favor of this constitution may vote for or against Slavery, as they please; but all those who are against this constitution are disfranchised, and shall not vote at all. That is the mode in which the Slavery proposition is submitted. Every man opposed to the constitution is disfranchised on the Slavery clause. How many are they? They tell you there is a majority, for they say the constitution will be voted down instantly, by an overwhelming majority, if you allow a negative vote. This shows that a majority are against it. They disqualify and disfranchise every man who is against it, thus referring the Slavery clause to a minority of the people of Kansas, and leaving that minority free to vote for or against the Slavery clause as they choose. Let me ask you if that is a fair mode of submitting the Slavery clause? Does that mode of submitting that particular clause leave the people perfectly free to vote for or against Slavery as they choose? Am I free to vote as I choose on the Slavery question, if you tell me I shall not vote on it until I vote for the Maine Liquor Law? Am I free to vote on the Slavery question, if you tell me I shall not vote either way until I vote for a Bank? Is it freedom of election to make your right to vote upon one question depend upon the mode in which you are going to vote on some other question which has no connection with it? Is that freedom of election? Is that the great fundamental principle of Self-Government, for which we combined and struggled, in this body and throughout the country, to establish as a rule of action in all time to come? Let me ask you, why force this Constitution down the throats of the people of Kansas, in opposition to their wishes and in violation of our pledges? What great object is to be attained? Cui bono? What are you to gain by it? Will you sustain the party by violating its principles? Do you propose to keep the party united by forcing a division? Stand by the doctrine that leaves the people perfectly free to form and regulate their institutions for themselves in their own way, and your party will be united and irresistible in power. Abandon that great principle, and the party is not worth saving, and cannot be saved, after it shall be violated. I trust we are not to be rushed upon this question. Why shall it be done? Who is to be benefited? Is the South to be the gainer? Neither the North nor the South has the right to gain a sectional advantage by trickery or fraud. But I am beseeched to wait till I hear from the election on the 21st of December. I am told that perhaps that will put it all right, and will solve the whole difficulty. How can it? Perhaps there may be a large vote. There may be a large vote returned. (Laughter.) But I deny that it is possible to have a fair vote on the Slavery Clause; and I say that it is not possible to have any vote on the Constitution. Why wait for the mockery of an election, when it is provided, unalterably, that the people cannot vote-when the majority are disfranchised? But I am told on all sides, "Oh, just wait; the ProSlavery clause will be voted down." That does not obviate any of my objections; it does not diminish any of them. You have no more right to force a Free-State Constitution on Kansas than a Slave-State Constitution. On the 2nd of Feb., 1858, the President transmitted to Congress the Lecompton Constitution, accompanied by a special Message strongly urging the admission of Kansas as a State under this constitution. (The following is a brief statement in regard to the origin of the Lecompton Constitution :) The first Territorial Legislature passed an act in 1855 to take the sense of the people on the call of a Convention to form a State Constitution, at the election in Oct., 1856. Accordingly, an election was held at which about 2,500 votes were polled, the Free-State men not voting. At this election, a new legislature was elected, all Pro-Slavery, which met in Jan., 1857, and in conformity with the vote of 2,500 at the preceding October election, passed an act providing for the election of delegates on the 15th of June, to meet in convention in September following. Soon after this, Gov. Walker went to Kansas, and published an address to the people in which he assured them of his determination to use every means in his power to prevent all disorder and violence. He persuaded the Free-State men to go to the polls and vote. An objection which they urged was, that in 19 out of the 38 counties no registry had been made, and that in 15 out of the 19 no census had been taken, so that it was impossible for the people to vote in those counties. These facts are confirmed by Gov. Walker and Secretary Stanton. The election for delegates to the Convention was held on the 15th of June. The Free-State men did not vote, for the reason just mentioned, and also (as they stated,) that they had no confi dence in the officers who were to hold the election, and because the Constitution which might be formed, must, in the opinion of Gov. Walker, be submitted to a vote of all the people for ratification or rejection, whether they voted at this election or not. The entire vote for delegates was only about 2,200. The delegates elected assembled in Convention at Lecompton, Sept. 5th, but soon adjourned over to October, to await the result of the Territorial Election on the first Monday of that month. At this Territorial Election, both parties nominated candidates. At the request of Gov. Walker, 2,000 U. S. troops were in the Territory, and they were stationed so as to protect the polls as much as possible. Over eleven thousand votes were polled, after rejecting 2,800 as fraudulent and irregular, 1,600 of which were returned from the Oxford precinct, where, according to the census, there were but 43 voters, and twelve hundred from McGee County, where Lo poll was opened. The result of this election | to which they owe allegiance, and have been all the time was, the Free State party carried the legislature and the delegate to Congress. all the time been endeavoring to subvert it and to estabin a state of resistance against its authority. They have lish a revolutionary Government, under the so-called Topeka Constitution, in its stead. Even at this very moment, the Topeka Legislature are in session. Whoever has read the correspondence of Gov. Walker with the State Department, recently communicated to the Senate, will be convinced that this picture is not overdrawn. He always protested against the withdrawal of any portion of the military force of the United States from the Territory, deeming its presence absolutely necessary for the preservation of the regular Government and the execution of the laws. In his very first dispatch to the Secretary of State, dated June 2, 1857, he says: The Convention reassembled in October, according to adjournment, and formed the Constitution now so famous as the Lecompton Constitution. When it became known that the Convention had refused to submit the entire constitution to a vote of the people for ratification or rejection, and had submitted only a proposition in regard to Slavery, and that in a form and under a test oath which would prevent the FreeState people from voting, there was great excite- "The most alarming movement, however, proceeds from ment in the Territory, threatening bloodshed. the assembling, on the 9th of June, of the so-called Topeka Legislature, with a view to the enactment of an entire code of Under these circumstances, Acting Gov. Stanton laws. Of course, it will be my endeavor to prevent such a called (Gov. Walker had resigned) an extra ses-result, as it would lead to inevitable and disastrous collision, sion of the Territorial Legislature. The legislaThis was with difficulty prevented by the efforts of ture assembled Dec. 17th, and passed an act to Governor Walker; but soon thereafter, on the 14th of submit the Lecompton Constitution fairly to a July, we find him requesting General Harney to furnish vote of the people on the 4th of January next, Lawrence, and this for the reason that he had received him a regiment of dragoons to proceed to the city of following, the time fixed by the Lecompton con-authentic intelligence, verified by his own actual observention for the election of State officers under that constitution. and in fact renew the civil war in Kansas." vation, that a dangerous rebellion had occurred, involving an open defiance of the laws, and the establishment of an insurgent government in that city. In the Governor's dispatch of July 15, he informs the Secretary of On the 21st of Dec., the vote was taken in the manner prescribed by the Convention, and re-State that sulted as follows: "For the constitution with Slavery" "For the constitution without Slavery Total vote "This movement at Lawrence was the beginning of a plan, originating in that city, to organize insurrection throughout 6,266 the Territory, and especially in all towns, cities and counties 567 where the Republican party have a majority. Lawrence is the hotbed of all the Abolition movements in this Territory. It is the town established by the Abolition Societies of the East, and, while there are respectable people there, it is filled by a considerable number of mercenaries, who are paid by Abolition Societies to perpetuate and diffuse agitation throughout Kansas, and prevent a peaceful settlement of this question. Having failed in inducing their own so-called Topeka State Legislature to organize this insurrection, Lawrence has commenced it herself, and, if not arrested, the rebellion will extend throughout the Territory." 6,793 Jan. 4th, 1858, in accordance with the act of the Territorial Legislature, the people voted as follows: For the Lecompton Constitution with Slavery without " 66 66 66 138 24 Against the Lecompton Constitution 10,226 Being over ten thousand majority against the Lecompton Constitution. PRESIDENT BUCHANAN'S LECOMPTON MESSAGE. The following is the President's special Message, of Feb. 2nd, 1858. I have received from J. Calhoun, Esq., President of the late Constitutional Convention of Kansas, a copy duly certified by himself, of the Constitution framed by that body, with the expression of the hope that I would submit the same to the consideration of Congress" with the view of the admission of Kansas into the Union as an independent State." In compliance with this request, I herewith transmit to Congress for their action the Constitution of Kansas, with the ordinance respecting the public lands, as well as the letter of Mr. Calhoun, dated at Lecompton, on the 14th ult., by which they were accompanied. Having received but a single copy of the Constitution and ordinance, I send this to the Senate. A great delusion seems to pervade the public mind in relation to the condition of parties in Kansas. This arises from the difficulty of inducing the American people to realize the fact that any portion of them should be in a state of rebellion against the Government under which they live. When we speak of the affairs of Kansas, we are apt to refer merely to the existence of two violent political parties in that Territory, divided on the question of Slavery, just as we speak of such parties in the States. This presents no adequate idea of the true state of the case. The dividing line there is not between two political parties, both acknowledging the lawful existence of the Government, but between those who are loyal to this Government and those who have endeavored to destroy its existence by force and by usurpation-between those who sustain, and those who have done all in their power to overthrow, the Territorial Government established by Congress. This Government they would long since have subverted had it not been protected from their assaults by the troops of the United States. Such has been the condition of affairs since my inauguration. Ever since that period, a large portion of the people of Kansas have been in a state of rebellion against the Government, with a military leader at their head, of most turbulent and dangerous character. They have never acknowledged, but have constantly renounced and defied, the Government And again: I must close, assuring you that the spirit of rebellion pervades the great mass of the Republican party of this Territory, instigated, as I entertain no doubt they are, by Eastern Societies, having in view results most disastrous to the Government and the Union; and that the continued presence of Gen. Harney is indispensable, as was originally stipulated by me, with a large body of dragoons and several batteries." "In order to send this communication immediately by mail, On the 20th of July, 1857, Gen. Lane, under the authority of the Topeka Convention, undertook, as Gen. Walker informs us, "To organize the whole Free-State party into volunteers, and to take the names of all who refuse enrolment. The professed object was to protect the polls at the elections, in August, of a new insurgent Topeka State Legislature. The object in taking the names of all who refuse enrollment is to proved by the recent atrocities committed on such men by the terrify the Free-State Conservatives into submission. This is Topekaites. The speedy location of large bodies of regular troops here with two batteries is necessary. The Lawrence insurgents await the developments of this new military organization." In the Governor's dispatch of July 27, he says that "Gen. Lane and his staff everywhere deny the authority of the Territorial laws, and counsel a total disregard of these enactments." Without making further quotations of a similar character from other dispatches of Governor Walker, it appears, by reference to Secretary Stanton's communication to Gen. Cass on the 9th of December last, that "The important step of calling the legislature together was taken after I (he) had become satisfied that the election ordered by the Convention on the 21st of December could not be conducted without collision and bloodshed." So intense was the disloyal feeling among the enemies of the Government established by Congress, that an election which afforded them opportunities, if in the majority, of making Kansas a Free State according to their own expressed desire, could not be conducted without collision and bloodshed. The truth is that, up to the present moment, the enemies of the existing government still adhere to their Topeka revolutionary constitution and government. The very first paragraph of the message of Gov. Robinson, dated the 7th of December, to the Topeka Legislature, now assembled at Lawrence, contains an open defiance of the laws and Constitution of the United States. The Governor says: "The Convention which framed the Topeka Constitution originated with the people of Kansas Territory. They have adopted and ratified the same twice by a direct vots, also indirectly through two elections for State officers and members of the State Legislature; yet it has pleased the Administration to regard the whole proceeding as revolutionary." This Topeka Government, adhered to with such treasonable pertinacity, is a government in direct opposition to the existing government prescribed and recognized by Congress. says, performance of that duty. Throughout the whole Union, however, and wherever free government prevails, those who abstain from the exercise of the right of suffrage authorize those who do vote to act for them in that contingency, and absentees are as much bound, under the law and Constitution, where there is no fraud or violence, by the act of the majority of those who do vote, as if all had participated in the election Otherwise, as voting must be voluntary. self-government would be impracticable, and monarchy or despotism would remain as the only alternative." It is usurpation of the same character as it would be The Governor also clearly and distinctly warns them for a portion of the people of any State to undertake to establish a separate government within its limits for what would be the consequences if they did not particiThe people of Kansas, then, he the purpose of redressing any grievance, real or imag-pate in the election. inary, of which they might complain against the legitimate State Government. Such a principle, if carried into "Are invited by the highest authority known to the Consti execution, would destroy all lawful authority and pro-tution to participate freely and fairly in the election of deleduce universal anarchy. From this statement of facts, gates to frame a Constitution and State Government. The law has performed its entire appropriate function, when it extends the reason becomes palpable why the enemies of the gov-to the people the right of suffrage; but it cannot compel the ernment authorized by Congress have refused to vote for the delegates to the Kansas Constitutional Convention, and also, afterward, on the question of Slavery submitted by it to the people. It is because they have ever refused to sanction or recognize any other Constitution than that framed at Topeka. Had the whole Lecompton Constitution been submitted to the people, the adherents of this organization would doubtless have voted against it, because, if successful, they would thus have removed the obstacles out of the way of their own revolutionary Constitution; they would have done this, not upon the consideration of the merits of the whole or part of the Lecompton Constitution, but simply because they have ever resisted the authority of the government authorized by Congress from which it emanated. Such being the unfortunate condition of affairs in the Territory, what was the right as well as the duty of the law-abiding people? Were they silently and patiently to submit to the Topeka usurpation, or to adopt the necessary measure to establish a Constitution under the authority of the organic law of Congress? That this law recognized the right of the people of the Territory, without an enabling act of Congress, to form a State Constitution, is too clear for argument. For Congress "to leave the people of the Territory perfectly free" in framing their Constitution "to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States," and then to say that they shall not be permitted to proceed and frame the Constitution in their own way, without express authority from Congress, appears to be almost a contradiction in terms. It would be much more plausible to contend that Congress had no power to pass such an enabling act, than to argue that the people of a Territory might be kept out of the Union for an indefinite period, and until it might please Congress to permit them to exercise the right of self-government. would be to adopt, not their own way, but the way which Congress might prescribe. It is impossible that any people could have proceeded with more regularity in the formation of a Constitution than the people of Kansas have done. It was necessary, first, to ascertain whether it was the desire of the people to be relieved from their Territorial dependence and establish a State Government. For this purpose, the Territorial Legislature, in 1855, passed a law for taking the sense of the people of the Territory upon the expediency of calling a Convention to form a State Constitution at the general election to be held in October, 1856. The "sense of the people" was accordingly taken, and they decided in favor of a Con vention. This It is true that at this election the enemies of the Territorial Government did not vote, because they were then engaged at Topeka, without the slightest pretext of lawful authority, in framing a Constitution of their own for subverting the Territorial Government. In pursuance of this decision of the people in favor of a Convention, the Territorial Legislature, on the 27th of February, 1857, passed an act for the election of delegates on the third Monday of June, 1857, to frame a State Constitution. This law is as fair in its provisions as any that ever passed a legislative body for a similar purpose. The right of suffrage at this election is clearly and justly defined. Every bona fide citizen of the United States, above the age of twenty-one, and who had resided therein for three months previous to that date, was entitled to a vote. In order to avoid all interference from neighboring States and Territories with the freedom and fairness of the election, a provision was made for the registry of qualified voters, and in pursuance thereof, nine thousand two hundred and fifty-one voters were registered. Gov. Walker did his whole duty in urging all qualified citizens of Kansas to vote at this election. In his Inaugural Address on the 27th of May, he informed them that "Under our practice, the preliminary act of framing a State Constitution is uniformly performed through the instru'mentality of a Convention of delegates chosen by the people It may also be observed that at this period any hope, if such had existed, that the Topeka Constitution would ever be recognized by Congress must have been abandoned. Congress had adjourned on the third of March previous, having recognized the legal existence of the Territorial Legislature in a variety of forms, which I need not enumerate. Indeed, the Delegate elected to the House of Representatives under a Territorial law had been admitted to a seat and had just completed his term of service the day previous to my inauguration. This was the propitious moment for settling all the difficulties of Kansas. This was the time for abandoning the revolutionary Topeka organization, and for the enemies of the existing government to conform to the laws and unite with its friends in framing a State Constitution. they refused to do, and the consequences of their refusal to submit to the lawful authority, and vote at the election of delegates, may yet prove to be of the most deplorable character. Would that the respect for the laws of the land, which so eminently distinguished the men of the past generation, could be revived! It is a disregard and violation of law which has for years kept the Territory of Kansas in a state of almost open rebellion against its Government-it is the same spirit which has produced actual rebellion in Utah. Our only safety consists in obedience and conformity to the law. Should a general spirit against its enforcement prevail, this will prove fatal to us as a nation. But this We acknowledge no master but law, and should we cut loose from its restraints and every one do what seemeth good in his own eyes, our case would indeed be hopeless. The enemies of the Territorial Government determined still to resist the authority of Congress. They refused to vote for delegates to the Convention, not because, from circumstances which I need not detail, there was an omission to register the comparatively few voters who early spring of 1857, but because they had determined, at all hazards, to adhere to their revolutionary organization, and defeat the establishment of any other constitution than that which they had framed at Topeka. The election was therefore suffered to pass by default, but of this result the qualified electors who refused to vote can never justly complain. were inhabitants of certain counties in Kansas in the From this review, it is manifest that the Lecompton Convention, according to every principle of constitutional law, was legally constituted and invested with power to frame a Constitution. The sacred principle of Popular Sovereignty has been invoked in favor of the enemies of Law and Order in Kansas; but in what manner is Popular Sovereignty to be exercised in this country if not through the instrumentality of established law? In certain small republics of ancient times, the people did assemble in primary meeting, passed laws and directed public affairs. In our country, this is manifestly impossible. Popular Sovereignty can be exercised here only through the ballotbox; and if the people will refuse to exercise it in this manner, as they have done in Kansas at the election of Delegates, it is not for them to complain that their rights have been violated. The Kansas Convention, thus lawfully constituted, proceeded to frame a Constitution, and, having completed their work, finally adjourned on the 7th of November last. They did not think proper to submit the whole of this Constitution to a popular vote, but they did submit the question whether Kansas should be a Free or Slave State to the people. This was the question which had con |