these same Indians, by the first article of which all the lands granted to them by the said treaties of 1825 and 1831 were ceded to the United States, and, being thus exempted from the operation of the guaranties in those treaties, were, by the terms of the organic act of Kansas, included within the limits, and rendered subject to the jurisdiction of said Territory. The second article granted the house in which the legislature afterwards held its sessions, and the land upon which the house stood, to the missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, in these words: "Of the lands lying east of the parallel line aforesaid, there shall first be set apart to the missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal Church South, to include the improvements of the Indian Manual-labor School, three sections of land; to the Friends' Shawnee Labor-school, including the improvements there, three hundred and twenty acres of land; and to the American Baptist Union, to include the improvements where the superintendent of the school now resides, one hundred and sixty acres of land; and also five acres of land to the Shawnee Methodist Church, including the meeting house and graveyard; and two acres of land to the Shawnee Baptist Church, including the meeting-house and grave-yard." The other articles of the treaty provide for the survey of those lands, and for granting two hundred acres to each Shawnee Indian, to be held as private property, subject to such conditions as Congress should impose, and recognize the right of the legislature to lay out roads and public highways across the Indian lands, on the same terms as the law provides for their location through the lands of citizens of the United States. The Rev. Thomas Johnson, who was president of the Kansas legislative council, and also agent of the Missionary society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, to which the lands and improvements belonged, authorized the legislature to use and occupy such portions of the buildings of which he held the lawful possession as they should find convenient in the exercise of their legislative functions. Upon a careful review and examination of all the facts, laws, and treaties, bearing upon the point, your committee are clearly of the opinion that the Shawnee Manual-labor School was a place to which the legislature might lawfully adjourn and enact valid laws in pursuance of the organic act of the Territory. We do not deem it necessary to inquire into the expediency of the removal of the seat of government, for the reason that it cannot affect the validity of the legislative proceedings. It is sufficient to state, that the reasons assigned by the Governor against the expediency of the measure were: first, "the loss of time (more valuable because limited) which our organic law allots to the legislative session;" and secondly, "because it will involve a pecuniary loss, in view of the arrangements which have been made at this place for our accommodation." As an offset to the unfortunate circumstance that the people of Kansas would be deprived, for the period of ten days, of all the advantages and protection which were expect ed to result from the wholesome laws which the governor had recommended them to enact upon all rightful subjects of legislation, and to the pecuniary loss which would be sustained in consequence of the removal from Pawnee City, the members of the legislature, in their memorial to the President of the United States, asking him to remove the governor, state their reasons as follows, for the allegation that there was an unnecessary loss of three months' time after the election in convening the legislature, and that Pawnee was not a suitable place for them to meet: "After the contest was over, and the result known, he delayed the assembling of the body until the 2d day of July-more than three months afterwards-and that, too, when the whole Union was convulsed on account of alleged outrages in Kansas Territory, and yet no law for the punishment or prevention of them. When at last they did meet, upon the call of the governor, at a point where they had previously, in an informal manner, protested against being called, with an avowal of their intention to adjourn to the point at which they are now assembled, for the reasons that the requisite accommodations could not be had; where there were no facilities for communication with their families or constituents; where they could not even find the commonest food to eat, unless at an enormous expense, there being no gardens yet made by the squatters; where the house in which we were expected to assemble had no roof or floor on the Saturday preceding the Monday of our assembling, and for the completion of which the entire Sabbath day and night was desecrated by the continual labor of the mechanics; where, at least, one-half of the members, employés, and almost all others who had assembled there for business or otherwise, had to camp out in wagons and tents during a rainy, hot season, and where cholera broke out, as a consequence of the inadequate food and shelter; and when, under all of these circumstances of annoyance, they finally passed an act adjourning to this point-Shawnee Manual-labor School-where ample accommodations are provided, and where the governor himself had previously made it the seat of government, they were met by his veto, which is herewith transmitted." Your committee have not considered it any part of their duty to examine and review each enactment and provision of the large volume of laws adopted by the legislature of Kansas upon almost every rightful subject of legislation, and affecting nearly every relation and interest in life, with a view either to their approval or disapproval by Congress, for the reason that they are local laws, confined in their operation to the internal concerns of the Territory, the control and management of which, by the principles of the Federal Constitution, as well as by the very terms of the Kansas-Nebraska act, are confided to the people of the Territory, to be determined by themselves through their representatives in their local legislature, and not by the Congress, in which they have no representatives to give or withhold their assent to the laws upon which their rights and liberties may all depend. Under these laws marriages have taken place, children have been born, deaths have occurred, estates have been distributed, contracts have been made, and rights have accrued which it is not competent for Congress to divest. If there can be a doubt in respect to the validity of these laws, growing out of the alleged irregularity of the election of the members of the legislature, or the lawfulness of the place where its sessions were held, which it is competent for any tribunal to inquire into with a view to its decision at this day, and after the series of events which have ensued, it must be a judicial question, over which Congress can have no control, and which can be determined only by the courts of justice, under the protection and sanction of the Constitution. When it was proposed in the last Congress to annul the acts of the legislative assembly of Minnesota, incorporating certain railroad companies, this committee reported against the proposition, and, instead of annulling the local legislation of the Territory, recommended the repeal of that clause of the organic act of Minnesota which reserves to Congress the right to disapprove its laws. That recommendation was based on the theory that the people of the Territory, being citizens of the United States, were entitled to the privilege of self-government in obedience to the Constitution; and if, in the exercise of this right, they had made wise and just laws, they ought to be permitted to enjoy all the ad vantages resulting from them; while, on the contrary, if they had made unwise and unjust laws, they should abide the consequences of their own acts until they discovered, acknowledged, and corrected their errors. It has been alleged that gross misrepresentations have been made in respect to the character of the laws enacted by the legislature of Kansas, calculated, if not designed, to prejudice the public mind at a distance against those who enacted them, and to create the impression that it was the duty of Congress to interfere and annul them. In view of the violent and insurrectionary measures which were being taken to resist the laws of the Territory, a convention of delegates, representing almost every portion of the Territory of Kansas, was held at the city of Leavenworth on the 14th of November, 1855, at which men of all shades of political opinions, "Whigs, Democrats, Pro-slavery men, and Free-state men, all met and harmonized together, and forgot their former differences in the common danger that seemed to threaten the peace, good order, and prosperity of this community." This convention was presided over by the governor of the Territory, assisted by a majority of the judges of the supreme court; and the address to the citizens of the United States, among other distinguished names, bears the signatures of the United States district attorney and marshal for the Territory. It is but reasonable to assume that the interpretation which these functionaries have given to the acts of the Kansas legislature in this address will be observed in their official exposition and execution of the same. In reference to the wide-spread perversions and misrepresentations of those laws, this address says: "The laws passed by the legislature have been most grossly misrepresented, with the view of prejudicing the public against that body, and as an excuse for the revolutionary movements in this Territory. The limits of this address will not permit a correction of all these misrepresentations; but we will notice some of them, that have had the most wide-spread circulation. It has been charged and widely circulated that the legislature, in order to perpetuate their rule, had pass ed a law prescribing the qualification of voters, by which it is declared that any one may vote who will swear allegiance to the fugitive-slave law, the Kansas and Nebraska bill, and pay one dollar.' Such is declared to be the evidence of citizenship, such the qualification of voters. In reply to this, we say that no such law was ever passed by the legislature. The law prescribing the qualification of voters expressly provides that, to entitle a person to vote, he must be twenty-one years of age, an actual inhabitant of this Territory, and of the county or district in which he offers to vote, and shall have paid a territorial tax. There is no law requiring him to pay a dollar-tax as a qualification to vote. He must pay a tax it is true, [and this is by no means an unusual requirement in the States;] but whether this tax is levied on his personal or real property, his money at interest, or is a poll-tax. makes no difference; the payment of any territorial tax entitles the person to vote, provided he has the other qualifications provided by law. The act seems to be carefully drawn with the view of excluding all illegal and foreign votes. The voter must be an inhabitant of the Territory, and of the county or district in which he offers to vote, and he must have paid a territorial tax. The judges and clerks are required to be sworn, and to keep duplicate pollDoxes; and ample provision is made for contesting elections, and purging the polls of all illegal votes. It is difficult to see how a more guarded law could be framed, for the purpose of protecting the purity of elections and the sanctity of the ballot-box. The law does not require the voter to swear to support the fugitive-slave law, or the Kansas and Nebraska bill, unless he is challenged; in that case, he is required to take an oath to support each of these laws, As to the dollar law, [so called.] it is merely a polltax, and has no more connection with the right of suffrage than any other tax levied by the territorial authority, and is to be paid whether the party votes or not. It is a mere temporary measure, having no force beyond this year, and was resorted to as such to supply the territorial treasury with the necessary means to carry on the government. "It has also been charged against the legislature that they elected all of the officers of the Territory for six years. This is without any foundation. They elected no officer for six years; and the only civil officers they retain the election of, that occurs to us at present, are the auditor and treasurer of state, and the district attorneys, who hold their offices for four, and not six years. By the organic act, the commissions issued by the governor to the civil officers of the Territory all expired on the adjournment of the legisla lature. To prevent a failure in the local administration, and from necessity, the legislature made a numjudge, and two county commissioners, and a sheriff of ber of temporary appointments, such as probate each county. The probate judge and county commissioners constitute the tribunal for the transaction of county business, and are invested with the power to appoint justices of the peace, constables, county surveyor, recorder, and clerk, etc. Probate judges, county commissioners, sheriff's, etc., are all temporary appointments, and are made elective by the people at the first annual election in 1857. The legislature could not have avoided making some temporary appointments. No election could have been held without them. There were no judges, justices of the peace, or other officers to conduct an election of any kind, until appointed by the legislature. It was the exercise of a power which the first legislative assembly in every Territory must, of necessity, exercise, in order to put this to justify revolution or a resort to force. The the local government in motion. We see nothing in law for the protection of slave property has also been much misunderstood. The right to pass such a law is expressly stated by Governor Reeder in his inaugural message, in which he says: A territorial legislature may undoubtedly act upon the question to a limited and partial extent, and may temporarily prohibit, tolabsolute or modified form, with all the force and eferate or regulate slavery in the Territory, and in an tect of any other legislative act, binding until repealed by the same power that enacted it.' There is nothing in the act itself, as has been charged, to prevent a free discussion of the subject of slavery. Its bearing on society, its morality or expediency, or whether it would be politic or impolitic to make this a slave State, can be discussed here as freely as in any State in this Union, without infringing any of the provisslaves under the law in this Territory is made penal; ions of the law. To deny the right of a person to hold but beyond this, there is no restriction to the discussion of the Slavery question, in any aspect in which it is capable of being considered. We do not wish to be understood as approving of all the laws passed by the legislature; on the contrary, we would state that there are some that we do not approve of, and which are condemned by public opinion here, and which will, next legislature. But this is nothing more than what no doubt, be repealed or modified at the meeting of the frequently occurs, both in the legislation of Congress for such evils is to be found in public opinion, to and of the various State legislatures. The remedy which, sooner or later, in a government like ours, all laws must conform." his official relations with the legislature, on acA few days after Governor Reeder dissolved count of the removal of the seat of government, and while that body was still in session, a meeting was called by "many voters," to assemble at Lawrence on the 14th or 15th of August, 1855, "to take into consideration the propriety of calling a Territorial convention, preliminary to the formation of a State government, and other subjects of public interest." At that meeting the following preamble and resolutions were adopted with but one dissenting voice : "Whereas the people of Kansas Territory have been since its settlement, and now are, without any law-making power: ther fore, "Be it resolved, That we, the people of Kansas Territory, in mass meeting assembled, irrespective of party distinctions, influenced by a common necessity, and greatly desirous of promoting the common good, do Dereby call upon and request all bona fide citizens of Kansas Territory, of whatever political views and predilections, to consult together in their respective election districts, and in mass convention or otherwise, elect three delegates for each representative of the legislative assembly, by proclamation of Governor Reeder of date 10th March, 1855; said delegates to assemble in convention at the town of Topeka, on the 19th day of September, 1855, then and there to consider and determine upon all subjects of public interest, and par ticularly upon that having reference to the speedy formation of a State constitution, with an intention of an immediate application to be admitted as a State into the Union of the United States of America." This meeting, so far as your committee have been able to ascertain was the first step in that series of proceedings which resulted in the adoption of a constitution and State government, to be put in operation on the 4th of the present month, in subversion of the Territorial government established under the authority of Congress. The right to set up the State government in defiance of the constituted authorities of the Territory, is based on the assumption "that the people of Kansas Territory have been since its settlement, and now are, without any law-making power;" in the face of the wellknown fact, that the Territorial legislature were then in session, in pursuance of the proclamation of Governor Reeder, and the organic law of the Territory. On the 5th of September, a "Territorial delegate convention" assembled at the Big Springs "to take into consideration the present exigencies of political affairs," at which, among others, the following resolutions were adopted: "Resolved, That this Convention, in view of its recent repudiation of the acts of the so-called Kansas legislative assembly, respond most heartily to the call made by the people's convention of the 14th ultimo, for a delegate convention of the people of Kansas, to be held at Topeka, on the 19th instant, to consider the propriety of the formation of a State Constitution, and such matters as may legitimately come before it. Resolved, That we owe no allegiance or obedience to the tyrannical enactments of this spurious legislature; that their laws have no validity or binding force upon the people of Kansas; and that every freeman among us is at full liberty, consistently with his obligations as a citizen and a man, to defy and resist them if he choose so to do. "Resolved, That we will endure and submit to these laws no longer than the best interests of the Territory require, as the least of two evils, and will resist them to a bloody issue as soon as we ascertain that peaceable remedies shall fail, and forcible resistance shall furnish any reasonable prospect of success; and that in the mean time we recommend to our friends througout the Territory, the organization and discipline of volunteer companies, and the procurement and preparation of arms." With the view to a distinct understanding of the meaning of so much of this resolution as relates to the "organization and discipline of volunteer companies, and the procurement and preparation of arms," it may be necessary to state, that there was at that time existing in the Territory a secret military organization, which had been formed for political objects prior to the alleged invasion, at the election on the 30th of March, and which held its first "Grand Encampment at Lawrence, February 8th, 1855." Your Committee have been put in possession of a small printed pamphlet, containing the "constitution and ritual of the grand encampment and regiments of the Kansas legion of Kansas Territory, adopted April 4th, 1855," which, during the recent disturbances in that Territory, was taken on the person of one George F. Warren, who attempted to conceal and destroy the and chewing it. Although somewhat mutilated same by thrusting it into his mouth, and biting by the "tooth prints," it bears internal evidence of being a genuine document, authenticated by the original signatures of "G. W. Hutchinson, grand general," and "J. K. Goodwin, grand quartermaster." On the last page was a charter of the Kansas legion, authorizing the said George F. Warren, from whose mouth the document was taken, to form a new regiment, as follows: "Charter of the Kansas Legion. "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Territory of Kansas. "Know all men by these presents, that we, the Grand Encampment of the Kansas Legion of Kansas Territory, have created, chartered, and empowered, and by these presents do create, charter, and empower to be regiment George F. Warren of the Kansas Legion; and, as such, they are hereby invested with all and singular the authority and privileges with which each and every regiment is invested, working under a charter from the Graud Encampment. - No. "In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands, this sixteenth day of August, one thousand eight hundred and fifty-five. "G. W. HUTCHINSON, Grand General. "J. K. GOODWIN, Grand Quartermaster." The constitution consists of six articles, regulating the organization of the "Grand Encampment," which is "composed of representatives elected from each subordinate regiment existing in the Territory, as hereafter provided. The officers of the Grand Encampment shall consist of a Grand General, Grand Vice-General, Grand Quartermaster, Grand Paymaster, Grand Aid, two Grand Sentinels, and Grand Chaplain. "The Grand Encampment shall make all nominations for Territorial officers at large, and immediately after such nominations shall have been made, the Grand General shall communicate the result to every regiment in the Territory." The officers of the "GRAND ENCAMPMENT" are, Grand General Rev. G. W. Hutchinson, Lawrence, K. T. Grand Vice-General, C. K. Holliday, Topeka, K. T. Grand Quartermaster, J. K. Goodwin, Lawrence, K. T. Grand Paymaster, Charles Leib, M. D., LeaVenworth city, K. T. By "the constitution of the subordinate en""the officers of each subordinate campment,' regiment shall consist of a colonel, a lieutenantcolonel, a quartermaster, aid, and two sentinels. The regiment located in each and every election district, shall make nominations for all candidates for offices in their respective districts; but where there shall be two or more regiments in any one election district, of whatever kind, these nominations shall be made by delegates from the respective encampments within said district." The "ritual" continues the order of business and modes of proceeding in the subordinate encampment, under the following heads: 1st. Reading the minutes by the quartermaster. 2d. Proposals for new recruits. 6th. Unfinished business appearing on the minutes. 7th. Miscellaneous business, The "opening ceremony" of the subordinate nels, you will open the doors, that our soldiers may encampments is as follows: retire pleasantly and in order." "The colonel, lieutenant-colonel, quartermaster, paymaster, aid, and sentinels, being in their respective places. the regiment shall be called and thus addressed by the colonel: "Colonel. Fellow-soldiers in the Free-State army: The hour has arrived when we must resume the duties devolving upon us. Let us each, with a heart devoted to justice. patriotism. and liberty, attend close-made to subvert the authority of the Territorial ly to all the regulations laid down for our government and action; each laboring to make this review pleasant and profitable to ourselves, and a blessing to our country. Aid, are the sentinels at their post, with closed doors? "Aid. They are. "Colonel. Aid, you will now review the troops in the regiment's pass-words. "Aid. (After examination.) I have examined them personally, and find each correct. "Colonel. I pronounce this regiment arrayed and ready for service." Then follows the process of initiating new recruits, who are properly vouched for by members of the order, the preliminary obligations to observe secrecy, the catechism to which the candidate is subjected, and the explanations of the colonel in respect to the objects of the order, which are thus stated: "First, to secure to Kansas the blessing and prosperity of being a free State; and, secondly, to protect the ballot-box from the LEPROUS TOUCH OF UNPRINCIPLED MEN." These and all other questions being satisfactorily answered, the final oath is thus administered: "With these explanations upon our part, we shall ask of you that you take with us an obligation placing yourself in the same attitude as before. "I, , in the most solemn manner, here in the presence of Heaven and these witnesses, bind myself that I will never reveal, nor cause to be revealed, either by word. look, or sign, by writing, printlng, engraving, painting, or in any manner whatsoever, anything pertaining to this institution, save to persons duly qualified to receive the same. I will never reveal the nature of the organization, the place of meeting, the fact that any person is a member of the same, or even the existence of the organization, except to persons legally qualified to receive the same. Should I at any time withdraw, or be suspended or expelled from this organization, I will keep this obligation to the end of life. If any books, papers, or moneys belonging to this organization be intrusted to my care or keeping, I will faithfully and completely deliver up the same to my successor in office, or any one legally authorized to receive them. I will never knowingly propose a person for membership in this order who is not in favor of making Kansas a free State, and whom I feel satisfied will exert his entire influence to bring about this result. I will support, maintain, and abide by any honorable movement made by the organization to secure this great end, which will not conflict with the laws of the country and the Constitution of the United States. I will unflinchingly vote for and support the candidates nominated by this organization in preference to any and all others. "To all of this obligation I do most solemnly promise and affirm, binding myself under the penalty of being expelled from this organization, of having my name published to the several Territorial encamp ments as a perjurer before Heaven, and a traitor to my country, of passing through life scorned and reviled by man, frowned on by devils, forsaken by angels, and abandoned by God." The "closing ceremony" is as follows: "Colonel. Fellow-soldiers: I trust this review has been both pleasant and profitable to all. We met as friends; let us part as brothers, remembering that we seek no wrong to any; and our bond of union in battling for the right must tend to make us better men, better neighbors, and better citizens. We thank you for your kindness and attention, and invite you all to be present at our next review, to be holden at next, at o'clock P. M. Senti on Your committee have deemed it important to give this outline of the "constitution and ritual of the grand encampment and regiments of the Kansas legion," as constituting the secret organization, political and military, in obedience to which the public demonstrations have been government established by Congress, by setting up a State government, either with or without the assent of Congress, as circumstances should determine. The endorsement of this military organization, and the recommendation by the Big Springs convention for "the procurement and preparation of arms," accompanied with the distinct declaration that "we will resist them [the laws enacted by the Kansas legislature] to a bloody issue, as soon as we ascertain that peaceable remedies shall fail, and forcible resistance shall furnish any reasonable prospect of success," would seem to admit of no other interpretation than that, in the event that the courts of justice shall sustain the validity of those laws, and Congress shall refuse to admit Kansas as a State with the constitution to be formed at Topeka, they will set up an independent government in defiance of the federal authority. The same purpose is clearly indicated by the other proceedings of this convention, in which it is declared that "we with scorn repudiate the election-law, so called," and nominate Governor Reeder for Congress, to be voted for on a different day from that authorized by law, at an election to be held by judges and clerks not appointed in pursuance of any legal authority, and not to be sworn by any person authorized by law to administer oaths; and the returns to be made, and result proclaimed, and certificate granted, in a mode and by persons not permitted to perform these acts by any law, in or out of the Territory. In accepting the nomination, Governor Reeder addressed the convention as follows; and, among other things, said: Не "In giving him this nomination in this manner, they had strengthened his arms to do their work, and, in return, he would now pledge to them a steady, unflinching pertinacity of purpose, never-tiring industry, dogged perseverance, and, in all the abilities with which God had endowed him, to the righting of their wrongs, and the final triumph of their cause. believed, from the circumstances which had for the last eight months surrounded him, and which had, at the same time, placed in his possession many facts, and bound him, heart and soul, to the oppressed voters of Kansas, that he could do much towards obtaining a redress of their grievances. "He said that, day by day a crisis was coming upon us; that, in after-times, this would be to posterity a turning-point, a marked period, as are to us the opening of the Revolution, the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, and the era of the alien and sedi. tion laws; that we should take each carefully, so that each be a step of progress, and so that no violence be done to the tie which binds the American people together. He alluded to the unprecedented tyranny under which we are and have been; and said that, if any one supposed that institutions were to be imposed by force upon a free and enlightened people, they never knew, or had forgotten, the history of our fathers. American citizens bear in their breasts too much of the spirit of other and trying days, and have lived too long amid the blessings of liberty, to submit to oppression from any quarter: and the man who having once been free, could tamely submit to tyranny, was fit to be a Slave. He urged the Free-State men of Kansas to forget all minor issues, and pursue determinedly the one great object, never swerving, but steadily pressing on, as did the wise men who followed the star to the manger, looking back only for fresh encouragement. He counseled that peaceful resistance be made to the tyrannical and unjust laws of the spurious legislature; that appeals to the courts, to the ballot box, and to Congress, be made for relief from this oppressive load; that violence should be deprecated as long as a single hope of peaceable redress remained; but if, at last, all these should fail--if, in the proper tribunals, there is no hope for our dearest rights, outraged and profaned -if we are still to suffer, that corrupt men may reap harvests watered by our tears-then there is one more chance for justice. God has provided, in the eternal frame of things, redress for every wrong; and there remains to us still the steady eye and the strong arm, and we inust conquer, or mingle the bodies of the oppressors with those of the oppressed upon the soil which the Declaration of Independence no longer protects. But he was not at all apprehensive that such a crisis would ever arrive. He believed that justice might be found far short of so dreadful an extremity; and, even should an appeal to arms come, it was his opinion, that if we are well prepared, that moment the victory is won." In pursuance of the recommendation of the mass meeting held at Lawrence on the 14th of August, and endorsed by the convention held at the Big Springs on the 5th and 6th of September, a convention was held at Topeka on the 19th and 20th of September, at which it was determined to hold another convention at the same place on the fourth Tuesday of October, for the purpose of forming a constitution and State government; and to this end such proceedings were had as were deemed necessary for giving the notices, conducting the election of delegates, making the returns, and assembling the convention. With regard to the regularity of these proceedings, your committee see no necessity for further criticism than is to be found in the fact that it was the movement of a political party instead of the whole body of the people of Kansas, conducted without the sanction of law, and in defiance of the constituted authorities, for the avowed purpose of overthrowing the territorial government established by Congress. The constitutional convention met at Topeka on the fourth Tuesday of October, and organized by electing Col. J. H. Lane president, who, in returning his acknowledgments for the honor, repudiated the validity of the territorial legisla ture and its acts in these words: "Gentlemen of the convention: For the position assigned me, accept my thanks. You have met, gentlemen, on no ordinary occasion, to accomplish no ordinary purpose. You are the first legal representatives the real settlers of Kansas have ever had. You comprise the first legally-elected representative body ever assembled in the Territory," etc. "Friday, October 26.-Mr. Smith offered the fol lowing resolution, instructing the standing committees: "Resolved, That the various committees of this convention be, and they are hereby, instructed to frame their work, having in view an immediate or ganization of a State government." "October 30.-In the evening session the debates ran high upon Mr. Smith's resolution in reference to an immediate State organization. The mover of the resolution was in favor of electing State officers at once. He would advise no hesitation, he would present a bold front, and waver not at all. The Territory was without laws; life and property were unprotected. The territorial government had broken down. He would not leave it an hour for the action of Congress after an application for admission, but would set up an independent form of government," etc. Mr. Emery said: "Now, Mr. Chairman, what does this resolution contemplate? What is proposed to be done? It first proposes to supersede the present weak and inefficient territorial government, and hence it enunciates the fundamental idea of the constitutional movement. Ay, it does more. It proposes to prove into a fact the leading idea of the Declaration of Independence, the highest human authority in American politics, which is this: whenever any form of government becomes destructive of the ends for which it was instituted, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government. It proposes to force theories of human rights into facts, to practically apply this great principle to the wants and the necessities of the down-trodden people of Kansas. I do not question this right of the people, and certainly no gentleman on this floor will disagree with me. If he does, he occupies a most extraordinary position, and consistency would suggest that he withdraw from this body. No, when we say that we will take measures to supersede and render unnecessary that thing now extended over us called a territorial government-when we say and maintain that we have a right guaranteed by the Constitution, to have a form of government resting on our own consent and free will, we are only doing what, as American citizens, we have a right to do; we only propose to carry out the doctrine, much abused and grossly misrepresented as it has been-I mean the doctrine of squatter sovereignty, under which we are assembled here to-day, and in pursuance of the principles of which we hope to extricate ourselves from our present unhappy condition." It is but just to state, that in another part of this same speech, Mr. Emery declared himself opposed to an immediate election "under the new constitution, and an immediate session of the general assembly, when all the wheels of State government shall be put in motion, irreplication for admission. Mr. E. presented his spective of the action of Congress, upon due apobjections to the position of Mr. Smith, and maintained the views above indicated. contended that, inasmuch as the Territorial form of government was recognized by the Supreme Court of the United States, and hence a legal form of government, no other government could be substituted so long as that was in existence, without risking the most serious consequences, to say the least." He In reply to the advocates of immediate State organization, Mr. Delahay, of Leavenworth, said: "Under the defined rights of squatter sovereignty, as enunciated by the Kansas-Nebraska act, it seems themselves the burdens of a government, but I quesreasonable that the people have the right to take upon tion the right of the people of Kansas to organize a new government if its authority is to come in conflict with that of the government created by Congress. The gentleman from Lawrence [Colonel Lane] has assumed as a fundamental position, in advocating an immediate State organization, that neither governmnt nor local law exists in this Territory. Sir, I must dissent from that position. I deny, Mr. Chairman, that a Territorial government can be legally abolished by the election of another government. I hold, on the contrary, and I think that my position would be supported by our highest legal authorities, that the power of a Territorial government ceases only by the enactment of the body which created it; in other words, that the government and laws of Kansas can be abolished by Congress alone, and are beyond the reach of this Territory, or any other power. I do not pretend to deny that, as all civil power is derived from the people, they have the moral right to abolish unjust laws, or to overthrow obnoxious governments by force; but I do question the expediency of effecting a reform in Kansas by any overt act of rebellion. For I must confess, Mr. Chairman, while I cast not the shadow of suspicion on the motives of the advocates of this measure, that from the point of view from which I regard this question, it appears to me to be an act of rebellion." extracts from the best authenticated reports Your committee have made these voluminous which they have been able to obtain of the proceedings of the convention, for the purpose of showing that it was distinctly understood on all sides that the adoption of the proposition for organizing the State government, before the assent of Congress for the admission of the State should be obtained, was a decision in favor of repudiating the laws, and overthrowing the Territorial government in defiance of the authority of Congress. By this decision as incorporated into the schedule to the constitution, the vote on the ratification to the constitution was to be held on the 15th of December, 1855, and the election |