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 SPEECH 
 
 OF TUB 
 
 HON. GEO. TAYLOR, OF NE¥ YORK, 
 
 ^ V 
 
 ^., KANSAS AFFAIRS. 
 
 DELIVERED IM THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MARCH 10, 1858. 
 
 Mr. TAYLOR, of New York, said : 
 
 Mr. Chairman : In the remarks I propose to offer in favor of the 
 admission of Kansas into the Union under the Lecompton constitution, 
 I hope to confine nayself closely to that question. I do not desire to 
 follow the honorable gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Gartrell] in his 
 justification of slavery ; nor the honorable gentleman from Illinois [Mr. 
 Lovejoy] in his bitter denunciations of that institution ; nor the honor- 
 able gentleman from New York [Mr. Burroughs] in his remarks upon 
 the condition of the working classes north and south. These questions 
 are not necessarily involved in the issue now before the country. All' 
 parties and all classes have their difficulties to overcome, their social 
 and political diseases to heal ; and he who does most to sooth and 
 relieve the unfortunate, without regard to class or locality, will best 
 merit the rewards due to the philanthropist. But, sir, in all measures 
 of relief, the general good must be considered ; and this involves the 
 investigation of other rights besides those belonging peculiarly to one 
 class, or one color, or one locality. Our government was organized to 
 secure the greatest good to the greatest number ; not for special legis- 
 lation. By a reference to the debates in the convention that formed 
 our federal Constitution, this will clearly appear ; and it will also 
 appear, that the great statesmen of that day were sufficiently liberal 
 and national to consider the rights and interests of our common country 
 as of greater importance than any geographical or local feeling. It 
 appears to me that the same spirit would now enable us to settle all 
 questions of difference between the north and the south permanently, 
 and to the entire satisfaction of the country in a short time. 
 
 In this spirit I desire to address the House ; and in the consideration 
 of this question, I trust that I may be able to rise above all sectional 
 feeling and all local prejudice ; that.while representing the people of 
 my district, I may not the less act as a member of the Congress of the 
 confederated States. If these feelings prevail, it appears to me that 
 we cannot fail to settle our present difficulties upon a just and proper 
 basis ; but if the reverse exist, all reasoning will prove fruitless^ and 
 all labor unavailing. 
 
r 6 rr 
 
 It is a part of tlie policy of our government to create territorial gov- 
 ernments when required to protect the infant settlements in the west 
 and southwest ; and also, when these Territories acquire a sufficient 
 population, to admit them as States into this Union ; thus giving them 
 all the rights and privileges of the oldest and largest States in the 
 confederation. In order to understand what these privileges and 
 rights are, it is necessary to inquire into the compact between the 
 States. By the Constitution all are equal in the Union. The sovereign 
 character of each State is equally represented in the Senate, while the 
 people or citizens of each are represented in this, the popular branch 
 of Congress. In the one instance, the State, the delegated sovereignty 
 of the people, is represented, and in the other, the people themselves ; 
 tut in both their rights are mutual, and their obligations the same. 
 This happy adjustment was not effected without labor and many 
 patriotic concessions on the part of the great and good men appointed 
 by the different States for that purpose. 
 
 One of the chief difficulties met in the formation " of a more per- 
 fect union," when it was found that the articles of confederation were 
 imperfect, arose out of the disposition of the crown lands, as the public 
 domain was then denominated. The States within whose limits these 
 lands were located, claimed them ; while the others contended that 
 they had been wrested from the dethroned authority by the equal and 
 common exertions of all ; and therefore, that all of the States were ■ 
 equally interested in them. '' The lands being of vast extent and of 
 growing value," Madison writes, " were the occasion of much dis- 
 , cussion and heart-burning, and proved the most obstinate of the im- 
 pediments to an earlier consummation of the plan of a federal gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 This difficulty was finally disposed of by the action of the State of 
 Virginia, which, with a noble prodigality, gave up her vast western 
 •domain for the good of the infant republic ; while New York, in the 
 game glorious spirit_, in order to settle another vexed question, author- 
 ized the federal government to collect nine-tenths of the national 
 revenue within her ports ; and the other States, north and south, uniting 
 in the same patriotic feelings, gave and accepted all that was necessary 
 to secure " a more perfect union, and promote the general good. All 
 this was done in good faith, and as equals in the great brotherhood 
 in which all their hopes for the future were involved. 
 
 By the magnanimity of New York and Virginia, the ratification of 
 the Constitution was secured ; and by it, the members of the confed- 
 eration took an equal interest in the unoccupied or public territory of 
 the country — not only in that then belonging to us, but to all that we 
 might afterwards acquire by the common efforts and the common 
 treasury of the States. An equal right to the territory in the most 
 comprehcDsive signification of the word ; an equal right in its gov- 
 ernment, and above all, and mo-re important than all else, an equal 
 right to settle upon it, and to develop its resources ; and, as a neces- 
 sary consequence, to carry their property, their institutions, and politi- 
 cal feelings with them, whenever and wherever they might choose to 
 go into said territory. 
 
 Tliis brings us directly to the great question involved in the admis- 
 
a 
 
 fiion of Kansas into the Union, under the Lecorapton constitution. It 
 is not the frauds and acts of violence committed in that unfortunate 
 Territory alone, which give importance to this question ; not these, 
 but the great constitutional question of equality between the States in 
 the Union ; and the other questions involved in the right of self-gov- 
 ernment and local legislation, which, by the special pleading of dis- 
 honorable, of quibbling, and of desperate politicians, have been reduced 
 to this single issue. 
 
 The southern States go back to the original compact, and claim 
 their rights and privileges as guarantied by it. They insist, and 
 properly insist, upon a full and unequivocal acknowledgment of their 
 equality in the Union ; while certain States in the north refuse to 
 keep the conditions of the fundamental law, repudiate their solemn 
 contract, and, in open violation of it, seek to defeat its provisions. It 
 is true that they have not attempted to interfere with the local legis- 
 lation of the southern States directly, but indirectly they have done so. 
 
 These remarks are not strictly applicable to the honorable gentle- 
 men around me, who are opposed to the Lecompton constitution on 
 the grounds of irregularity and fraud. But gentlemen overlook the 
 fact that these difficulties have been intentionally created by inter- 
 ested parties, for the purpose of producing just what we now see ; an 
 increased excitement throughout the country, and a division in the 
 democratic party, which, u}) to the present period, has under all cir- 
 cumstances, and at every critical period of our political history, proved 
 itself eminently national. 
 
 The history of this Kansas difficulty develops one fact more dis- 
 tinctly than any other ; it stands out on every page, is recorded in 
 every step of its unfortunate progress ; which is the fact that the re- 
 publicans, inside and outside of Kansas, do not desire its admission 
 into the Union, at present, under any constitution, or any state of 
 circumstances. Their partisans in the Territory have always refused 
 to act in a regular and legal manner. Whenever a fair issue has 
 been tendered to them, they have evaded it by flying off into some 
 unjustifiable and treasonable conspiracy to defeat the wishes of the 
 people and the settlement of this question, not individually, but col- 
 lectively and on deliberation ; thus clearly showing their party policy 
 in this matter. 
 
 What are the facts in the case? In May, 1854, Congress passed 
 an act establishing a territorial government in Kansas. Under this 
 act, a governor, secretary, and other officers, were appointed by the 
 President ; and a delegate to Congress and a territorial legislature 
 were elected by the people of the Territory. Fully and fairly the 
 whole machinery of a territorial government was established — estab- 
 lished by the concurrent action of the federal government and the 
 people of the Territory. The legislature thus elected was duly 
 organized, and had full power, by virtue of the act creating it, to 
 pass all laws necessary for the protection of persons and property, 
 and to perform all other legislative acts, subordinate to the Constitu- 
 tion only. In the language of Governor Walker, in his inaugural 
 address — 
 
 *' That convention is now about to be elected by you, under the call of the territorial legiy- 
 
ture, created and still recognized by the authority of Congress, and clotlied by it. in the com- 
 prehensive language of the organic law, icith full power to make such enactment. The terri- 
 torial legislature, then, in assembling this convention, were fully sustained by the act of 
 Congress ; and the authority of the convention is distinctly recognized in my instructions 
 from the President of the United States. Those who oppose this course cannot aver the 
 alleged irregularity of the territorial legislature, whose laws, in town and city elections, in 
 corporate franchises, and on all other subjects but elaver}', ihey acknowledge by their votes 
 ■and acquiescence.'' 
 
 The legislature was undoubtedly acknowledged and acquiesced in. 
 It is true that the republicans charge that the citizens of Missouri 
 went into the Territory and carried the election in favor of the pro- 
 slavery party. However this may have been, it appears that the 
 legality of a subsequent election, with the same result, was fully re- 
 cognized by a republican House of Representatives, in the contest be- 
 tween "Whitfield and Reeder. But, independent of that decision, I 
 think that the action of the Missourians will sufler but little in a 
 comparison with that of the republicans. The Missourians are not 
 yet above the influence of bad examples, and some of them may have 
 learned the political tricks of their new acquaintances ; but I think 
 the facts prove that a large majority of their number had located in 
 the Territory with the intention of becoming residents. They gener- 
 ally located lands, and commenced the improvements necessary for 
 the support and protection of their families. This is the evidence of 
 their intention. 
 
 What are the facts connected with the invaders from the northern 
 States? Did they become legal citizens of the Territory? Did they go 
 there solely for the purpose of cultivating the soil, and of making it 
 their permanent home ? No, sir ; the most of them were young men, 
 without families — young and desperate men, who were regularly en- 
 listed by abolition societies, abolition governors of the northern States, 
 and mischief-making priests, by whom they were armed with Sharpe'e 
 rifles, equipped with the munitions of war, and paid by the month for 
 their dishonorable, revolutionary, and treasonable services ; precisely 
 as the Hessians and other mercenaries .were paid by the English in 
 their attempt to defeat our independence. 
 
 As this is a grave charge, it is proper to examine the evidence on 
 which it is made. In the first place, we find that societies were openly 
 organized in the north for the avowed purpose of collecting funds and 
 enlisting men to go there ; that committees were appointed to receive 
 contributions, and that public calls were made for money to defray 
 the expenses so incurred ; that arms were publicly presented to per- 
 sons about starting to the scene of war, with the injunction to make 
 them felt. Loud and eloquent declamation was heard from the pulpit 
 — the voice of men wearing the livery of Heaven, while ministering 
 to the worst passions of our nature, and secretly iomenting sectional 
 war. These are some of the evidences by which we can judge their 
 friends outside. What are the facts within the Territory ? Governor 
 Walker says, in his oflScial letter of the 15th of July last : 
 
 " In order to send this communication by mail, f must close by assuring you that the spirit 
 of rebellion pervades the great mass of the republican party of this Territory, instigated, as 1 
 entertain no doubt they are, by ea-stern societies, having in view results most disastrous to 
 the government and to the Union." 
 
 And again he says : 
 
 '• Lawrence is the hot-bed of all the abolition movements in the Territory. It is the town 
 «stablished by the abolition societies of the east ; and v/hilst 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." 
 
 This is the testimony of Governor "Walker ; and gentlemen will not 
 complain if we attach a little more credit to the oflicial acts of a gov- 
 ernor than we do to tlie politician acting and speaking for ulterior 
 objects. The governor goes on to say : 
 
 " I am satisfied that a large portion of the insurrectionary party in the Territory do not 
 desire the peaceful settlement of this question, but wish it to remain open in order to agitate 
 the country for years to come." 
 
 But let US ascertain whether Grovernor Walker is sustained by the 
 facts. Did the republicans go into the Territory and locate iJarms and 
 begin their improvement as if they intended to reside there perma- 
 nently, and honestly earn a subsistence ? No ; the history of the 
 Territory proves the contrary. They located towns and villages, witb- 
 out a country to support them ; they established no legitimate busi- 
 ness ; paid no attention to the means of support, and, contrary to all 
 experience in the west, embarked in politics the moment of their 
 arrival. Sir, this was their business, that which they had been hired 
 to perform ; and with how reckless a disposition have these mercenaries 
 done their work ? 
 
 It was their business to locate villages, and to make them (as Gov- 
 ernor Walker says of Lawrence) the seats of the agitation which dis- 
 turbed the Territory — the fruitful nurseries of rebellion and treason. 
 It was their business to organize a militia, and take violent posses- 
 sion of the Territory, and to rebel against all laws, human and divine. 
 These northern invaders were not there as citizens, located not as citi- 
 zens locate, and have proved by their acts that they had no such 
 object in view. It may well become such men to charge the Mis- 
 sourians with trespass and wrong. Sir, their charges remind us of 
 the deceptive cry of the flying thief, to "stop the thief!" They have 
 too long deceived the police of the country — too long evaded the pun- 
 ishment they have so fully earned. 
 
 Immediately after the establishment of the territorial government 
 the republicans attempted to establish a revolutionary government 
 under the Topeka constitution. They refused obedience to the laws 
 of Congress and of their own legislature in all points affecting slavery, 
 and began an illegal opposition to the federal authority, in which, 
 they have steadily persevered. But they say that the legislature was 
 irregular, and had no power to call a cohvention. Congress, however, 
 has repeatedly recognized the territorial government as regular. Gov- 
 ernor Walker, in his inaugural address of the 27th May, 1857, says : 
 
 " Tlie territorial legislature is the power ordaiucd for this purpose by the CJongress of 
 the United States ; and, in oppcsinj? it, you resist the authority of the federal govera- 
 ment. That legislature was called into being by the C!ongress of 18o4, and is recognized 
 in the Tcry Iate<<t congrcfsional legislatiou ;" c c * e "and many of 
 
 its acts are now in operation here by tiniversal assent " 
 
 This legislature, recognized, and undoubtedly legal in its organiza- 
 tion, adopted measures in July, 1855, to submit the question of a State 
 government to the people. In the election then provided for, the 
 people decided almost unanimously in favor of the organization of a 
 State government preparatory to their admissioa into the Union. 
 Afterwards, on the 19th day of February, 1857, their legislature 
 
6 
 
 passed an act providing for a registry of the voters, and for the elec- 
 tion of delegates to a constitutional convention , In the performance 
 of this duty the legislature exercised no rights or powers not given to 
 it by the act creating the territorial government, and not legitimately 
 within its constitutional authority. For this purpose it was called 
 into existence by the organic act ; for this purpose it was clothed with 
 the sovereign power of the people. 
 
 The bill providing for the registry of the voters was fair and just in 
 all its provisions. For reference, I desire to insert the synopsis of 
 that act, as published in the report of the Senate Committee on Ter- 
 ritories : 
 
 " Sec. 1. Sheriffs are required, between the 1st of March and 1st of April, 1857, to make 
 an enumeration ; have power to appoint deputies, who shall take oath, &c. 
 
 "■' Sec. 2. In case of vacancy in office of sheriff, the probate judge shall perform his duty ; 
 and, in case of vacancy in both, the governor shall appoint some competent resident to per- 
 form said duty. 
 
 " Sec. 3. Officers, as above, shall file in office of probate judge a complete list of all quali- 
 fied voters resident in his county or district, on the 1st of April, 1857. 
 
 " Sec. 4. Copies of said list to be posted in public places. 
 
 " Sec. 5. Probate judge to continue court from receipt of said returns to 1st of May, for 
 the purpose of correcting them. 
 
 Sec. 6. Lists of legal voters, as corrected, to be returned to the governor and secretary, and 
 distributed generally. 
 
 Sec. 7. Upon completion of census, apportionment of members to be made by the governor 
 and secretary according to the registered voters. Number of representaiives to be sixty. 
 
 •'Sec. 8. Election for members of the constitutional convention shall be held on the third 
 Monday in June ; and no one, unless registered, shall vote. 
 
 " Sec. 9. County commissioners shall appoint the places of voting, judges of elections, &c. 
 
 "Sec 10. Judges of election are required to be sworn; also the clerks; and duplicate 
 returns of election shall be made and certified by them. 
 
 "Sec. 11. Every bona Jide inhabitant of Kansas, on the third Monday of June, 1857, 
 being a citizen of the United States, and over twenty-one years of age, whose residence in 
 the county where he offers to vote shall have been three months next before said election, 
 shall be entitled to vote. 
 
 " Sec 12. Persons authorized to take the census to administer oaths, &c. 
 
 " Sec 13 provides for the punishment of unlawful attempts to influence voters, 
 
 " Sec. 14 provides punishment for illegal voting. 
 
 " Sec. 15 provides punishment for those who fraudulently hinder a fair expression of the 
 popular vote. 
 
 " Sec. 16. Delegates are required to assemble in convention at the capital on the first 
 Monday of September next. 
 
 "Sec. 17 provides for an election by the convention of its officers. 
 
 " Sec. 18 #i relation to the salaries of sheriffs and other officers. 
 
 " Sec. 19 relative to the location of the election districts. 
 
 " Sec. 20 requires all votes to be viva voce. 
 
 " Sec. 21 gives a tabular form for the returns. 
 
 " Above bill passed over governor's veto on the 19th of February, 1857." 
 
 This bill was vetoed by the governor of the Territory, because it 
 did not require the convention to submit the constitution, when 
 frarhed, to the people for adoption or rejection. On its return to the 
 legislature, it was adopted, on a reconsideration, by a two-thirds vote, 
 and became a law. The action of the legislature on that point wag 
 undoubtedly correct ; it had no right to embarrass the convention with 
 a provision of that character. It was the duty of the legislature to 
 call the convention, in obedience to the express will of the people, and 
 to leave the constitution, and the question of its submission, to the 
 delegates selected by the people for the consideration of that subject. 
 Beyond this the legislature had no authority to go. It would have 
 been an assumption of power in the legislature to attempt to control 
 the action of a convention fresh from the people. 
 
 I now return to the registration of the voters, under the act of Feb- 
 
ruar)'', 1857. It appears from an examination of the law, that every 
 reasonable provision had been made to secure a faithful registry, and 
 to correct all errors that might occur. It is charged, however, by the 
 republicans, that the registry was not faithfully performed — that their 
 friends were not enrolled ; and hence, that the election was not a fair 
 expression of the people of the Territory ; and they charge that this 
 wrong was perpetrated upon them for the purpose of defeating the 
 will of the majority. The complaint was made by them to acting 
 Governor Stanton, by letter dated April 25, 1857. The governor's 
 reply, dated April 30, 1857, covers the whole ground, and is an answer 
 to their unjust complaints. He says : 
 
 " It is not my purpose to reply to your statement of facts. I cannot do so from any per- 
 sonal knowledge enabling me either to admit or deny them. I may say, however, I have heard 
 statements quite as authentic as your own, and in some instances from members of your own 
 party, (republicans,) to the effect that your political friends have very generally — indeed, 
 almost universally — refused to participate in the pending proceedings for registering tlie names 
 of the legal voters. In some instances they have given fictitious names, and in numerous 
 others they refused to give any names at all. You cannot deny that your party have hereto- 
 fore resolved not to take part in the registration, and it appears to me that, without in- 
 dulging ungenerous suspicions of the integrity of officers, you might well attribute any errors 
 and omissions of the siieriffs to the existence of this well-known and controlling fact." 
 
 Governor Walker entirely exculpates the legislature from fault in 
 this matter. It was the neglect of the local officers, in his view, and 
 was not anticipated by the territorial legislature. It is true that 
 Governor Walker spoke of this matter in a tone a little diiferent in 
 his letter of resignation ; but it must not be forgotten that in one in- 
 stance the governor wrote as a conservative man, seeking the peace 
 and harmony of the Territory, and the proper adjustment of all their 
 difficulties ; while in the latter instahce, Mr. Walker wrote as a heated 
 politician, in opposition to the administration, and in the hope that 
 '' something might turn up." 
 
 ■ But suppose that the republicans had a large vote in the non-regis- 
 tered counties, as alleged in Governor Walker's letter of resignation, 
 it could have made no difference in the result. The republicans 
 refused to be registered in counties where the registry was made, and 
 refused to vote after the registration, and certainly the registry made 
 no difference to them. 
 
 But Mr. Walker says : 
 
 "In such counties where a full and free opportunity was given to register and vote, and 
 they did not choose to exercise that privilege, the question is very different from tho.se coun- 
 ties where tliere was no census or registry." 
 
 There would be much force in this argument if it were not for the 
 fact that the republicans refused to vote as a party, and not indi- 
 vidually. They refused to vote after their convention had determined 
 that they should not vote, in which the republicans of these non- 
 registered counties were represented. Under these circumstances, it 
 cannot be said that their course would have differed from that of their 
 partisans in the registered counties. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, the cause of the imperfect registry is most clearly 
 shown in Mr. Stanton's letter ; shown, sir, hy the testimony of repub- 
 licans who were present, and participated in that most extraordinary 
 political movement. In our courts of law, no one is permitted to take 
 advantage of his own wrong ; but this is the plea made by the repub- 
 licans. They refused to be registered in some instances, and in others 
 
they gave fictitious names ; and they now complain that the registra- 
 tion was not fully and fairly made, and protest against it as a gross 
 fraud upon the rights of the people. Sir, the history of this matter 
 proves most conclusively that the republicans did not desire to settle 
 the question at the ballot-box. Their contest was, and is still, with 
 the federal government, and not with the pro- slavery men in the 
 Territory. Their object was to defeat the action of Congress and the 
 administration in their territorial organization, and the legislation of 
 the country. In Governor Walker's proclamation to the people of 
 Lawrence, of July 15, 1857, he uses the following language : 
 
 '• You hare, however, chosen to disregard the laws of Congress and of the territorial gov- 
 ernment created by it ; and, whilst professing to acknowledge a State government rejected 
 by Congress, and which can therefore now exist only by a successful rebellion, and exacting 
 from all your officers the perilous and sacrilegious oath to support the so-called State consti- 
 tion ; yet you have, even in defiance of the so-called State legislature, which refused to grant 
 yon a charter, proceeded to create a local government of your own, based only upon insur- 
 rection and revolution. The very oath which you require from all your officers to support 
 your so-called Topeka State constitution, is violated in the very act of putting in operation a 
 charter rejected even by them. A rebellion so iniquitous, and necessarily involving such 
 awful consequences, has never before disgraced any age or country. 
 
 *' Permit me to call your attention, as still claiming to be citizens of the United States, to 
 the results of your revolutionary proceedings. You are inaugurating rebellion and revolu- 
 tion ; you are disregarding the laws of Congress and of the territorial government, and defy- 
 ing their authority ; you are conspiring to overthrow the government of the United States in 
 this Territorj', Your purpose, if carried into effect in the mode designated by you, by putting 
 your laws forcibly into execution, would involve yoa in the guilt and crime of treason." • * 
 •' I appeal once more to your reason and patriotism. I ask you .in the name of our comtnoK 
 country, in the name of the Constitution and of the Union, to desist from this rebellion. I 
 appeal once more to your love of country, to your regard for its peace, prosperity, and repu- 
 tation, to your affection for your wives and children, and to all those patriotic motives which 
 ought to influence American citizens, to abandon this contemplated revolution. If you have 
 wrongs, redresa them through the peaceful instrumentality of the ballot-box, in the mode 
 prescribed by the laws of your country." * 
 
 This appeal was not noticed ; and the citizens of Lawrence followed 
 up their rebellion by the destruction of houses and other property 
 belonging to conservative citizens of Franklin, a small place four 
 miles distant from Lawrence ; and by driving these citizens from the 
 Territory. These acts, connected as they were with the revolutionary 
 government of Lawrence, induced Governor Walker to order the 
 troops to take their position near that place. 
 
 Governor Walker says, in his letter of the 26th September, 1857, 
 to the Secretary of State : 
 
 " This movement is rendered necessary by the facts stated in my address of the ]6th 
 instant; but is also made with a view to protect the polls from violence, not only in the city 
 of Lawrence, but also in the town of Franklin, but four miles distant, which is a voting 
 precinct, and which has been marked during the present month, since the withdrawal of the 
 troops, by the Burning of the houses of conservative citizans, and their expulsion from 
 Ranssis. " 
 
 The presence of the troops had the desired effect ; the rebels in 
 Lawrence changed their position and their language. We find a most 
 flattering description of their integrity in Governor Walker's pro- 
 clamation of the 10th September, 1857. Here is his commentary 
 upon these injured patriots, these guardians of the elective franchise, 
 these precious sentinels of freedom : 
 
 " It will bo remembered that, in open defiance of the laws of Congress and of this Territory, 
 and after the refusal of the so-called Topeka State legislature to grant them a charter, they 
 nevertheless organized a city government, clothed with all the usual powers — legislative, 
 executive, and judicial. It will be recollected, also, thai after my proclamtition of the 15th of 
 July last, and the simultaneous movement of the troops there as a precautionary measure to 
 maiHtain'the authority of the government, and arrest the spread of this insurrection through- 
 
9 
 
 out the Territory, they then professed, through their orsans, that what they had called a 
 government, and to which they had given all the powers of a government, was a mert^ 
 'vohmtary association' for the removal of nuisances from the streets, &.c. But now, when it 
 was erroneously believed by thorn that tho troops would all be removed to Utah, and not re- 
 placed by others, they have thrown off the mask, and carried out tlicir original insurrectionary 
 purpose by passing a compulsory tax law, both a poll and property tax, requiring its assess- 
 ment and collection by the seizure and sale of property, and exacting by their charter from 
 executive officers, who are to carry out these acts, an oath to perform all these duties, tho 
 violation of which oath, if these duties are not performed, would be perjury." 
 
 What a noble picture ! How distinctly the individual character 
 stands out ! Sir, it is one worthy of the great artist who, in different 
 lights and shades, and under all circumstances, has painted the varied 
 complexions, positions, and actions, of this his darling people. 
 
 The facts prove, heyond a question, that these people are not to he 
 believed, and that all their excuses for not taking part in the elections 
 are false and totally unworthy of consideration. The true difficulty 
 arises from the fact that their party had opposed the repeal of the 
 Missouri compromise, because it restored the equality of the States ; 
 and when defeated in their opposition to the repealing clause, they 
 resorted to the unjustifiable and treasonable means referred to, in order 
 to perpetuate the unjust operation of that law. For this purpose socie- 
 ties were organized, first in this city, and then in the New England 
 States, and in New York and Illinois, to supply men and money to 
 keep up the excitement and widen the breach between the two great 
 parties on this subject. This is the true source of the difficulty. All 
 else are miserable pretenses. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, it appears to me that no one honest, however preju- 
 diced, can justify such conduct. It is trifling with the dearest rights 
 of freemen, insulting to the majesty of the laws, and highly criminal, 
 because it jeopardizes the blessings of civil liberty. The fact that 
 these Lawrence republicans openly denied the authority of congres- 
 sional enactments, and held in contempt the laws passed by their ter- 
 ritorial legislature, cannot be ^denied ; and it is useless to attempt a 
 justification on the grounds of irregularity or fraud on the part of the 
 pro-slavery men. Nothing but the most outrageous tyranny, and the 
 entire denial of justice and right, can justify their treasonable conduct. 
 
 I have the honor to represent a portion of the metropolitan police 
 district in the State of New York. There I have seen the chartered 
 rights of the people taken irom them by a republican legislature, and 
 their local municipal laws changed, against the solemn protest of every 
 representative elected by them. I have seen their police regulations 
 altered, by non-residents of the cities, who ha4 no property to guard, 
 and no rights to protect, within the district. I have seen fifteen hun- 
 dred thousand citizens taxed to support officers appointed by non-resi- 
 dents, and who were objectionable to four-fifths of the entire popula- 
 tion. I have seen officers duly elected by the people in that district, 
 legislated out of office by republicans elected in and representing re- 
 mote country districts ; and other men appointed to fill their places by 
 a republican governor, and confirmed by a republican senate, who 
 have been guilty of pipe-laying and other political frauds, compared 
 with which, all that is charged to General Calhoun, would be un- 
 worthy of consideration. All this, sir, the democrats of the cities of 
 New York and Brooklyn have seen and suffered at the hands of the 
 republicans of that State. The democrats at first refused to submit to 
 
w 
 
 the invasion of their corporate rights ; but when the courts of law de- 
 cided against them, they quietly submitted to the laws of their State. 
 They did not strike at the judicial power, and defame and libel the 
 courts and judges. No, sir ; they nominated and re-elected the very 
 judge that decided against them. They sought their remedy in the 
 ballot-box, and there they will wage their war against this republican 
 invasion and tyranny until their ancient liberties are re-established. 
 The republicans of New York are intensely excited by the wrongs 
 committed upon a few hundred Lawrence rebels and mercenaries ; but 
 they have no sympathy for one million and a half of their own fellow- 
 citizens, whose rights they have invaded, and whose local government 
 they have struck down. 
 
 But, returning to the registratiou of the voters in Kansas, from 
 which I digressed. The facts that they did not wish to be registered, 
 and would not vote where it was done, are confirmed by their refusal to 
 vote on the constitution when it was submittedwithout restriction. They 
 excuse this by alleging that they could not defeat the constitution — 
 could not vote it down ; that the constitution was not submitted to the 
 people ; but that the slavery clause only was isubmitted. This is con- 
 firmation stronger still that their opposition was factious — rebellious. 
 They could have had no objection to the constitution, except as to the 
 slavery clause ; and I challenge the republicans of this House to point 
 out a single objection to it, beyond that single one of slavery, which 
 is, in their opinion, objectionable. It is very like most of our State 
 constitutions ; and is equal to the best of them. The question of sla- 
 very was the only one at issue, and that was fully and fairly submitted. 
 On this point, I desire to refer to the speech of the honorable gentle- 
 man from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Grow,] made on the 30th day of June, 
 1856, in favor of admitting Kansas under the Topeka constitution. 
 He says : 
 
 " Does tlie constitution meel, the sense of the people to be affected by it 9 The existence of sla- 
 very-was the only question upon which the people were divided, and the vote for delegates to 
 the convention (Topeka) settled that by a majority of legal votes." — (See .'ippendxx to Con- 
 gressional Globe, first session thirty-fourth Congress, page 719.) 
 
 It appears from this extract that the honorable gentleman did not 
 then think it necessary to submit the constitution, or any part of it, 
 to the people. He must have believed that the people could delegate 
 a portion of their sovereign power to the convention, and that they 
 were bound by its acts. In this I fully agree with the honorable 
 gentleman. This doctrine of submission to the people is of modern 
 growth ; is neither ratified by time, experience, nor sound judgment. 
 Sir, ours is a representative government, and not a democracy. 
 
 But what does the gentleman's party now say? That the whole 
 instrument should have been submitted, and not merely the slavery 
 clause ; and because it was not thus submitted, the cry of "fraud ! " 
 " fraud ! " is heard as loud as was the cry of " bleeding Kansas ! " 
 during the last Congress. It is a base, a vile attempt of a minority 
 to force a constitution upon a reluctant majority. If they had a ma- 
 jority, why did they not submit to registration, and vote either for 
 delegates, and thus control the convention, or against the slavery clause 
 in the constitution ? The Constitution, laws, and practice of our 
 country provide legal modes of ascertaining the will of the majority ; 
 why did they not accept this well-recognized mode, and fairly deter- 
 
li 
 
 mine the question ? Their conduct throughout this whole difficulty is 
 the only answer required by the country. 
 
 Sir, the only question of importance, and on which the people dif- 
 fered, was fully and fairly submitted ; and it was submitted precisely 
 as they had been advised that it would be. In this there was no 
 deception. Acting- Governor Stanton informed them, in his address 
 of the 17th April, 1857, before the election of the delegates to the 
 convention, of the fact. 
 
 " I do not doubt, however, that, in order to avoid all pretext for resistance to the peacefal 
 operation of this law, the convention itself will, in some form, provide for sxihinilling the great 
 distraclini!; question regarding their social institutions, which has so long agitated the people of 
 Kansas, to a fair vote of all the actual, bona fide residents of the Territory, with every possi- 
 ble security against fraud and violence. If tlie constitution be thus framed, and the question 
 of difference thus submitted to the decision of the people, I believe tliat Kansas will be admitted 
 by Congress without delay." 
 
 Governor Walker follows this explicit statement of his secretary, on 
 the 27th day of May, 1857, and before the election of the delegates to 
 the convention, in this language : 
 
 " Under our practice, the preliminary act of framing a State constitution, is uniformly 
 performed through the instrumentality of a convention of delegates, choseu by the people 
 themselves." 
 
 •' The people of Kansas, then, are invited by the highest authority known to the Constitu- 
 tion, to participate freely and fairly in the election of delegates to frame a constitution and 
 State government. The law has performed its entire appropriate function when it extends 
 to the people the right of suffrage, but it cannot compel the performance of that duty. 
 Throughout our 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 the 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 volun- 
 tary, self-government would be impracticable, and monarchy or despotism would remain 
 as the only alternative." 
 
 It appears, from the history, that the republicans had full notice 
 that the slavery clause only would be submitted. In the first in- 
 stance, the legislature refused to require that it should be submitted, 
 and passed the law over the governor's veto on that point ; secondly, 
 Mr. Stanton's address distinctly referred to that fact. Thi3, sir, like 
 all their other excuses, is a miserable pretense. They had taken no 
 part in its formation ; had denied the authority of the legislature, and 
 elected one of their own ; and had adopted a constitution of their own. 
 Why should they talk about majorities, after the attempt to control 
 the majority by the Topeka convention ? Why talk about submitting 
 the whole constitution to the people, after refusing to submit even the 
 slavery restriction in their own constitution ? 
 
 But, sir, it is urged by certain gentlemen in and out of Congress 
 that Kansas cannot be admitted under the Lecompton constitution, 
 because there was no enabling act. I believe this objection, however, 
 is not made by the republicans. It belongs to the honorable senator 
 from Illinois, the great advocate for the admission of California. The 
 history of the country furnishes very many examples of States coming 
 into the Union on constitutions adopted without any enabling act. The 
 enabling act simply directs the mode for the adoption of a constitution 
 in a legal and orderly manner ; and, if this is done without an enabling 
 act, there can be little or no objection to it. But the Kansas-Nebraska 
 act was, in every sense of the word, an enabling act. " The terri- 
 torial legislature, then, in assembling this convention, was fully sus- 
 
12 
 
 tained by tlie act of Congress," is the language used by Mr. Walker ; 
 *' and that it was clothed, in the comprehensive language of the or- 
 ganic law, with full power to call a convention for the adoption of a 
 State constitution." 
 
 This is the opinion of a large majority of those qualified to judge ; 
 and I believe that it was fully acquiesced in by the senator from 
 Illinois until after his return to this city last November. However 
 this may be, he distinctly and unreservedly held that opinion in his 
 Springfield speech : 
 
 " Kansas is about to speak for herself through her delegates, assembled in convention to 
 form a constitution, preparatory to her admission into tlie Union on an equal footing with 
 the original States. The law under which her delegates are about to be elected is beliered 
 to be just and fair in all its objects and provisions. There is every reason to hope and 
 believe that the law will be fairly interpreted and impartially e.Tecuted, so as to insure to 
 every bona fide inhabitant the free and quiet exercise of the elective franchise. 
 
 " If any portion of the inhabitants, acting under the advice of political loaders in distant 
 States, shall choose to absent themselves froni the polls and withhold their votes, with a. 
 view of leaving the free-State democrats in a minority, and thus securing a pro-slavery 
 constitution, in opposition to the wishes of a majority of the people living under it, let the 
 responsibility rest on those who, for partisan prrposea, will sacrifice the principles they 
 profess to cherish and promote." »*«»••« Upon them, and upon th» 
 political party for whose benefit, and under the direction of whose leaders they act, let the 
 blame be visited of fastening upon the people of & new State institutions repugnant to their 
 feelings and in violation of their wishes. 
 
 *' The organic act secures to the people of Kansas the sole and exclusive right of forming 
 and regulating their domestic institutions to suit themselves, subject to no other limitation 
 than that which the Constitution of the United States imposes." 
 
 After alluding to the desire of the democratic party to carry out the 
 principles of the organic act and bring the State into the Union, he says: 
 
 *• The present election law in Kansas is acknowledged to. be fair and just. The rights of 
 the voters are clearly defined, and the exercise of those rights will be efficiently and scrupu- 
 lously protected." * * * » "If such is not the result, let the consequences 
 be visited upon the heads of those whose policy it is to produce strife, anarchy, and blood- 
 shed in Kansas, that their party may profit by slavery agitation in the northern States of this 
 Union." 
 
 But whether he did or did not so hold in this case can make no 
 difPerence. The honorable gentleman's course on the admission of 
 California is not, and will not be forgotten. If his position was right 
 on that subject, it is wrong now ; and if right now, he violated a great 
 principle then. He can select between them ; but one thing is certain 
 — he cannot reconcile the two positions. He was the eloquent and 
 powerful advocate in favor of California's admission. He insisted 
 upon it, well knowing that there had been no enabling act, and that 
 none of the steps usually taken in the formation of a territorial gov- 
 ernment, preparatory to its admission, had been taken. He well 
 knew, at the time, that the convention which formed their constitu- 
 tion had been called by a military officer, without authority, in viola- 
 tion of law, and contrary to all former practice. In the terse language 
 of another, the California convention was called by a brigadier general, 
 by a proclamation written on the head of his drum. But, more than 
 this, the honorable senator could not have been ignorant of the fact 
 that that constitution was forced upon the people of California by a 
 minority of the legal voters in the district. 
 
 On the 6th day of July, 1850, before the admission of that State, 
 the honorable senator from Florida [Mr. Yulee] had the following 
 extracts from the debates in the California constitutional convention 
 read in the Senate. — (See Appendix to Congressional Globe, thirty. 
 
13 
 
 first Congress, first session, page 1168.) Mr, Carillo said that " he 
 and his colleagues were under instructions to vote for a territorial 
 organization." Mr. Gwin, the present distinguished senator, then 
 said : 
 
 " Are we not hero forcing a State government upon a portion of the people of California, 
 whose delegates have, by their recorded votes, slated the fact that their constituents are 
 unanimously against a State government, and in favor of a territorial organization ?" * 
 » » » II •yy-g jjji kjiow what 36'^ 30' is. It is the great bono of contention. North 
 of that line there is no contest. South of it there is a contest. If gentlemen will look where 
 this line strikes the Pacific, they will see that not a solitary vote was cast by a delegate in tlie 
 convention south of that line, except those cast against a State government. The repre- 
 sentatives here from tliat region are unanimous in their votes against the establishment of a. 
 Stftte government." * » » * "Not one half of that population knew of this 
 convention, and etill we are forcing this government upon them, and upon ihe thousands and 
 tens of thousands who have come in since the election." 
 
 But gentlemen may say that this established the fact that certain 
 parties did not vote for the constitution, or desire it, and not that a 
 majority did not vote for it. The testimony of the leading paper, the 
 *' Alta California," is directly to this point. It says : 
 
 *' To the extent which our returns, up to the present time, enables us to form an opinion, 
 it is established, beyond a shadow of doubt, that a minority only of the total number of voters 
 in the districts heard from is represented by the official and unofficial returns. For instance, 
 the district of Sacramento (taking the vote of the constitution as an aggregate) polled five 
 thousand six hundred and five votes, which may be put down as scarcely amounting to one- 
 fourth the number of electors which the district contains." * * » * "San 
 Joaquin and San Jose show nearly equal deficiency in the numerical strength of their re- 
 spective votes." » « # » " Our information, and it is authoritative, attributes 
 the strength of this vote to the fact that in many precincts, remote from the great routes of 
 travel through the northern country, the constitution was not distributed ; that it failed to 
 reach those place.?, and that the action of the State convention was not known until within a 
 day or two of the time appointed for holding the election." * * * * " It is 
 natural to presume that the residents of sections thus situated, feeling aggrieved, have re- 
 mained away from the polls altogether, and with the same propriety that others have resisted 
 the constitution, both on the ground of not having seen tliat instrument. " — {.ippendix to 
 Globe, page 11G8.) 
 
 These are some of the irregularities in the formation and adoption 
 of the constitution of California. They had no enabling act, except 
 the sword and command of General Riley. Their constitution and 
 State government were adopted in the convention against the protest 
 of the delegates from a large section of the Territory ; and the consti- 
 tution, when submitted to the people, failed to receive a majority of 
 the legal votes in the State or district. In many sections it had not 
 been distributed, and in others not in time for them to read it ; and 
 these objections were urged, earnestly urged, against the admission 
 of the State into the Union. What did the honorable senator from 
 Illinois say on that occasion ? 
 
 " But there is not an irregularity in the case of California which has not occurred and been 
 waived in the admission of some new Slate into the Union. If the senator will point me to 
 any irregularity in the case of California, I will point him to a corresponding one in tlie case 
 of some other State which has been received into the Union." » * « « " I hold that the 
 people of California had a right to do what they have done — yea, that they had a moral, po- 
 litical, and legal right to do all they have done." — (Appendix to Globe, 1850, page 1523.) 
 
 All these irregularities existed, and the honorable senator was not 
 ignorant of them. He had examined them fully, and then and there 
 solemnly indorsed the whole of them ; and what is still more import- 
 ant in the present connection, he declared that they were neither 
 novel nor important. I think the honorable gentleman will allow us to 
 infer that some great change has taken place in his perceptive powers. 
 In 1850 he could take California in with a free-State constitution — 
 
14 
 
 adopted without an enabling act, and contrary to law, and forced upon 
 the people by a minority — without the least compunction of conscience. 
 Now, he turns away from the Lecompton constitution — provided ior 
 by the organic law, and adopted according to, and under the act of 
 their legislature, and in no particular more irregular than the Cal- 
 ifornia constitution — with disgust and horror, crying only, but crying 
 always, " fraud ! fraud ! fraud !" 
 
 Sir, I desire not to do the honorable gentleman injustice. I honor 
 his talents, and Avould be glad to respect his character ; but there is 
 something inexplicable in his present position. It is a denial of all 
 his past acts — a reversal of his previous decisions — a sacrifice of prin- 
 ciples which he has so largely contributed to ingraft upon the legisla- 
 tion of the country. * Let us hope that this aberration of his may be 
 temporary only, and that soon his lofty genius will be revolving in 
 its old conservative orbit, shedding a broad and certain light upon 
 his course, and not the irregular and uncertain rays which serve only 
 to dazzle and bewilder. 
 
 But, Mr. Chairman, the republicans object to the admission of 
 Kansas under the Lecompton constitution, because that constitution 
 makes no provision for its change or amendment until 1864. After 
 the experience which we have had in this country in matters of that 
 kind, and the well established principle that the sovereign authority 
 is vested in the people, we may well doubt their sincerity. Governor 
 Walker refers to this matter, in alluding to the arguments of southern 
 gentlemen of leading positions, in his letter of the 15th ot July, 1857. 
 He says, if a constitution is adopted without submitting it to the 
 people, the republicans — 
 
 — " driven by such a course into violent opposition to southern institutions, will elect an abo- 
 lition State legislature, send two abolition senators to the Senate of the United States, and 
 a member to Congress, entertaining similar sentiments ; and that, at a very early period, they 
 would amend the constitution, and make it hostile, in every respect, to the institutions of 
 the south. Yet they would have been admitted as a State, and their power to amend the 
 State constitution could not be arrested. Thus it would happen that whilst for a short time 
 Kansas would have a pro-slavery constitution on parchment, she would be rendered by this 
 course, in fact, an abolition State, opposed to the fugitive slave law, and necessarily producing 
 collision with the coterminous State of Missouri. " 
 
 This language is important^ not only so far as his authority goes, 
 (and no one doubts his ability,) but it is important as a reflection of 
 southern views on the power of the people of Kansas to change their 
 constitution as soon as they are admitted into the Union. This right 
 and power of the people cannot be denied. They may change their 
 constitution peaceably at any time. They may adopt the mode 
 pointed out by the constitution for its alteration and amendment ; or 
 they may adopt some other mode equally justifiable, if not so entirely 
 regular. The legislatures in the different States may submit the ques- 
 tion to the people as prescribed in their respective constitutions ; or 
 they may submit the question of a convention to the people in any 
 other mode ; and if the people decide in favor of a convention and 
 elect one, its action will be as legal and binding upon them as if the 
 exact form or mode prescribed in the Constitution had been observed. 
 It is a question of formality, not of legality. 
 
 The honorable gentleman from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Grow,] to 
 whom I have already alluded, and for whom I entertain sincere 
 respect, in his speech of the 30th of June, 1856, says : 
 
1^ 
 
 " The right of a people to alter or abolish their form of government is an inherent one, 
 and is classed in the Declaration of Independence as indispensable to the inalienable rights of 
 man." 
 
 The distinguished senator from New York [Mr. Seward] is still 
 more direct and positive on this subject. In his speech delivered in 
 the Senate July 2, 1856, he says : 
 
 " Mr. President, another and lighter objection has been urged against my bill, [his bill for 
 the admission of Kansas under the Topeka constitution,] namely : that tlie Topeka constitu- 
 tion provides that it shall not be changed in less tlian nine years. I do not know this fact, 
 but I am bound to assume it on the statement of the honorable senator from Georgia, My 
 answer is, that I am not responsible for that provision in the constitution. * * * I 
 reply to both of those objections. I take the constitution, as we must all take it, for better 
 or for worse — ^^just as it is— or we cannot admit the State at all. The people m new States 
 make their own constitutions. Our power is limited to the admission or rejection of a State, 
 whatever its constitution may bo. Agairf, it is not clear that the provision complained of by 
 the senator from Georgia will prevent the people of Kansas from subverting this constitution 
 and establishing a new one at any time short of the expiration of nine years. The constitu- 
 tion of the State of New York, established in 1821, provided ior alteration only to be made 
 with the consent of two successive legislatures. A party desiring radical innovations, and 
 finding it impossible to obtain that object in the form prescribed in the Constitution, secured a 
 majority in the legislature, and, without any constitutional authority, carried through a law 
 by which proceedings were instituted for calling a convention, which was subsequently held, 
 and which framed a new constitution. This new constitution being submitted to the people, 
 and approved by them, in derogation of the old one, became, and it yet remains, the supreme 
 law of the land." — {Congressional Globe, p. 790.) 
 
 Mark, the senator says we must take the constitution just as it is, 
 and admit the State, or not at all. '^ The people in new States make 
 their own constitutions," not Congress. The objection to which the 
 honorable senator referred as of more weight than the one just 
 answered, was that the Topeka convention was unauthorized by law. 
 He, however, insists that it was fully authorized by the practice in 
 such cases ; and he refers to the admission of California, to which I 
 have already alluded. 
 
 In this connexion, I might quote from the speech of the honorable 
 gentlemen from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Grow,) and to those of other 
 leading republicans,, all of whom indorse the honorable senator's 
 doctrine ; but I am not certain that these gentlemen deny it now. 
 They object to the legality of the Lecompton convention, and to the 
 constitution, because it prescribes how it shall be amended after 1S64, 
 and makes no provision for alteration before that period. 
 
 But these gentlemen held the reverse of both of these propositions 
 in their places on this floor in June and July, 1856, less than two 
 years since. Then, the Topeka constitution, adopted by a convention 
 called without the semblange of law, and in open rebellion to the 
 legally constituted authorities, was regular in their jfidgments ; and 
 its provisions, although they struck down the rights of property, and 
 were in violation of the Constitution of the United States, were just 
 and proper. That constitution was more stringent in its amendment 
 clause ; tor it not only postponed the right to alter and amend, as far 
 as it could, for nine years, but it expressly prohibited alteration or 
 amendment until the expiration of that period ; and what is still 
 worse, the Topeka convention adopted that constitution without sub- 
 mitting any part of it to the people, and leading republicans here and 
 elsewhere did all in their power to force it upon the majority of the 
 citizens of 'Ivansas. No one can .doubt the fact that the Topekaites 
 were then in a minority, if they are not now. With these facts be- 
 fore it, the country will judge the sincerity of the republicans. 
 
016 089 359 n< 
 
 ,^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 Little or no doubt cau exist in reference tc 
 Legislature to pass a law, at any time subm 
 change, alteration, or amendment of their con 
 and none that the people may in their sovereign capacity, decide in 
 favor of a convention to eflbct such change, alteration, or amendment ; 
 otherwise the convention might make the constitution permanent. If 
 the men of this year can bind the men of 1860, they can bind the peo- 
 ple of 1960. Admit this principle, and this generation will have 
 power to bind unborn generations. By it you invest the dead with 
 more authority than the living. Government requires that the ma- 
 jority shall yield up some of their natural rights, and in their political 
 relations admit certain limitations and restraints for the good of the 
 whole society : but the majority may, at all times, in a legal way, 
 limit or extend these delegated powers of*the government. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, tiiivf^^^or-^-'ents me from extending my argument, I 
 therefore quit the sulij.,cl. A careful, and I trust a candid investiga- 
 tion of it, leaves my mind without a doubt about the propriety and 
 duty of admitting Kansas under the Lecompton constitution. The 
 facts justify this course, and the interests and peace of the country im- 
 peratively demand it. 
 
 In speaking of the conduct of the republicans in Kansas, I ha^e 
 necessarily used strong language in denouncing their policy ; but 
 because I have not condemned the conduct of the pro-slavery party in 
 that Territory, it must not be inferred that I approve their course or 
 justify all their conduct. I do not do so. While they have been 
 guilty of many things wholly unjustifiable, they have not openly 
 attempted to overthrow the government. Frauds and great wrongs 
 they may have committed ; but the crimes of rebellion and treason 
 cannot justly be charged against them. These high offences are 
 clearly established against the republicans of that Territory. But do 
 not understand me to charge such disloyalty on all republicans. That 
 party contains many noble spirits, who are influenced by the highest 
 and purest motives, and who are as much devoted to the Union of 
 thege States as any gentleman on this side of the House. I honor 
 such men, wherever found. They differ with us, as they have an 
 undoubted right to do, and I respect their opinions and feelings. 
 With such gentlemen 1 have no harsh words to exchange. I believe 
 them, as they doubtless believe me, to be mistaken ; but I look for- 
 ward to the time when we shall stand side by side in the defence 
 of the Union 'and the Constitution, By whomsoever they may be 
 assaulted. 
 
 On this great, this important issue, my humble convictions are 
 against them. My views of duty and my love of country lead me in 
 a different direction. If I err in conceding and maintaining the 
 equality of the States, I err with the illustrious spirits who formed 
 the Constitution of our federal Union — with Franklin and Madison 
 and Washington. If I err in my course on the question now before 
 us, I err with the distinguished and time-honored statesmen com- 
 posing the present administration, who so justly enjoy the confidence 
 of the country, and who can have no other object than i|s peace, its 
 prosperity, its honor, and its glory. To err with such men, is ex- 
 cusable, but to err against them, is criminal. 
 
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