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 a most turbulent and dangerous character. They have never acknowledged, but have constantly renounced and defied the government to which they owe allegiance, and have been all the time in a state of resistance against its authority. They have all the time been endeavoring to subvert it, and to establish a revolutionary government, under the so-called Topeka Constitution, in its stead. Even at this very moment the Topeka Legislature is in session. Whoever has read the correspondence of Governor 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 despatch to the Secretary of State, dated June 2, 1857, he says: "The most alarming movement, however, proceeds from the assembling on the 9th of June of the so-called Topeka Legislature, with a view to the enactment of an entire code of laws. course it will be my endeavor to prevent such a result, as it would lead to inevitable and disastrous collision, and, in fact, renew the civil war in Kansas.' This was with difficulty prevented by the efforts of Governor Walker; but soon thereafter, on the 14th of July, we find him requesting General Harney to furnish him a regiment of dragoons to proceed to the city of Lawrence, and this for the reason that he had received authentic

Of

intelligence, verified by his own actual observation, 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 despatch of July 15, he informs the Secretary of State that this movement at Lawrence was the beginning of a plan, originating in that city, to organize insurrection throughout the Territory; and especially in all towns, cities, or counties where the Republican party have a majority. Lawrence is the hot-bed of all the abolition movements in this Territory. It is the town established by the abolition societies of the east; and whilst 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 Topeke State Legislature to organize this insurrection, Lawrence has commenced it herself, and, if not arrested, the rebellion will extend throughout the Territory.'

"And again: "In order to send this communication immediately by mail, I must close by 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 to the Union; and that the continued presence of General Harney here is indispensable, as originally stipulated by me, with a large body of dragoons and several batteries.'

"On the 20th July, 1857, General Lane, under the authority of the Topeka Convention, undertook, as Governor Walker informs us, 'to organize the whole so-called free State party into volunteers, and to take the names of all who refuse enrolment. The professed object is to protect the polls, at the election in August, of the new insurgent Topeka State Legislature. The object of taking the names of all who refuse enrolment is to terrify the free State conservatives into submission. This is proved by recent atrocities committed on such men by Topekaites. The speedy location of large bodies of regular troops here, with two batteries, is necessary. The Lawrence insurgents await the

development of this new revolutionary military organization,' etc., etc.

"In the Governor's despatch of July 27th, he says that 'General 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 despatches of Governor Walker, it appears by a reference to Mr. Stanton's communication to General Cass, of the 9th of December last, that the important step of calling the [Territorial] Legislature together was taken after I [he] had become satisfied that the election ordered by the Convention on the 21st instant [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 an opportunity, if in the majority, of making Kansas a free State, according to their own professed desire, could not be conducted without collision and bloodshed!

"The truth is, that, up till 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 Governor Robinson, dated on the 7th of December, to the Topeka Legislature, now assembled at Lawrence, contains an open defiance of the Constitution and laws of the United States. The Governor says: 'The Convention which framed the constitution at Topeka originated with the people of Kansas Territory. They have adopted and ratified the same twice by a direct vote, and also indirectly through two elections of State officers and members of the State Legislature. Yet it has pleased the administration to regard the whole proceeding as revolutionary.'

"The Topeka government, adhered to with such treasonable pertinacity, is a government in direct opposition to the existing government prescribed and recognized by Congress. It is a usurpation of the same character as it would be for a portion of the people of any State of the Union to undertake to establish a separate government, within its limits, for the purpose of re

dressing any grievance, real or imaginary, of which they might. complain against the legitimate State Government. Such a principle, if carried into execution, would destroy all lawful authority and produce universal anarchy.

"From this statement of facts, the reason becomes palpable why the enemies of the government authorized by Congress have refused to vote for delegates to the Kansas Constitutional Convention, and, also, afterwards 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."

The Convention, thus lawfully constituted, met for the second time on the 4th of September, and proceeded to frame a constitution, and finally adjourned on the 7th day of November, 1857.* A large majority of its members, in consequence of the refusal of the Anti-Slavery electors to vote for delegates, were in favor of establishing slavery. The Convention having refused to submit the whole constitution to the people, in opposition to the desire of the President, determined finally to submit to them only the all-important question whether slavery should or should not exist in the new State. This they were required to do under the true construction of the Kansas and Nebraska Act, and without this the constitution would have encountered his decided opposition. It was not, however, until the last moment, and this after an angry and excited debate, that the Convention, by a majority of only three, determined to submit this question to a popular vote. Acting on the authority of former precedents, and considering that all other parts of the constitution had been finally adopted, they therefore submitted the question of slavery alone to the people, at an election to be held on the 21st December, 1857. For this purpose they provided that, before the constitution adopted by the Convention "shall be sent to Congress asking for admission into the Union as a State," an election shall be held to decide this question, at which all the white male inhabitants of the Territory should be entitled to vote. They were to vote by ballot; and "the bal

* Senate Documents, 1857-'58, vol. vii., No. 21.

lots cast at said election shall be indorsed Constitution with Slavery,' and 'Constitution with no Slavery.'

"Here, again," says the President, "a fair opportunity was presented to the adherents of the Topeka Constitution, if they were the majority, to decide this exciting question 'in their own way,' and thus restore peace to the distracted Territory; but they again refused to exercise their right of popular sovereignty, and again suffered the election to pass by default." In consequence, the result, according to the report of J. Calhoun, the President of the Convention, was 6,226 votes in favor of slavery, and but 569 against it.

The constitution thus adopted had provided for holding an election on the first Monday of January, 1858, for "a Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, and members of the Legislature, and also a member of Congress." The election was peaceably conducted under the instructions of the President. A better spirit now prevailed among the opponents of the Lecompton Constitution, and they no longer refrained from voting. A large majority of them, by a strange but happy inconsistency, recognized its existence by voting under its provisions.*

This election was warmly contested by the two political parties in Kansas, and a greater vote was polled than at any previous election. A large majority of the members of the Legislature elect belonged to that party which had previously refused to vote. The Anti-Slavery party were thus placed in the ascendant, and the political power of the State was in their hands.

The President hailed this evidence of returning reason as an auspicious event. It had been his constant effort from the beginning to induce the Anti-Slavery party to vote. Now that this had been accomplished, he knew that all revolutionary troubles in Kansas would speedily terminate. A resort to the ballot box, instead of force, was the most effectual means of restoring peace and tranquillity.

It was after all these events had transpired, that the Presi