SECRETARY STANTON'S APPORTIONMENT. 269. Such names as Hender ted as delegates to the convention. son, Calhoun, Boling, Jones, &c., should certainly encourage the free-state settlers to hope that justice will be done them. The taking of the census was a mere farce and a gross imposition. No returns were made of some of the largest towns in the territory, and even whole counties were neglected. To have carried out the letter of the law in this regard, would have been a useless trouble and expense, as the whole matter was settled when the law was passed. A writer, who dates from Lecompton, May 25, 1857, says: "A proclamation has been issued for the delegate election, by Mr. Stanton, as acting governor. An apportionment of representation has been made by him. Out of thirty-six counties, as organized by the authorities, only twenty-one have even a nominal representation. The census has only been taken in ten of these, and in only some portions of these ten. In six of these twenty-one counties thus reported, no census was taken, but a list of voters was taken from their old poll-books, this having been done after the time for taking the census had expired. The other five are counties forming parts of districts which are mentioned because they are connected with others; but in these no census was taken, and no former vote or representation on account of former vote, has been allowed. By this proclamation three-fifths of the settled counties of the territory are allowed no representation. In these there are at least two-fifths of the people in the whole territory, and including the emigration of this spring, onehalf. "There are twenty counties to the south of the Kansas river, ying in a great solid mass, and filled with free-state towns and settlements, teeming with active life and industry; in one-half of them the great majority of claims are taken, and all are about as well settled as the majority of counties in most of the western states, and the whole of these are left without a particle of representation by this proclamation!" One part of the plan, as explained to Governor Geary, is to adopt a constitution in which no reference whatever shall be made to the subject of slavery; and this fact has been announced in the administration organs as an evidence of the conciliatory disposition of the pro-slavery party of Kansas. But the pretended merit of this scheme will disappear as soon as it is understood that slavery already exists in the territory. by statute; and even though no mention may be made of it in the constitution, it will still remain an established institution of the new state. . The pro-slavery papers of the country have also claimed for the late Legislative Assembly much credit for having repealed the odious and oppressive test and election laws created at the preceding session. But in this matter a reprehensible deception has been practised. In repealing certain sections of these enactments, the legislature took especial care to permit others to remain upon the statute books, which contain all their most obnoxious features; so that, in fact, no improvement has been made. These acts, which " are disgraceful to the age," are claimed, as has already been said, to be the production of a member from Missouri, who, in explanation of their existence, has since said: "Well, I wrote them one night when I was drunk, and presented them more for fun than anything else; but they were unanimously adopted, all the members being as drunk as myself; though none of us intended that they should ever be enforced." The plea of insanity, well sustained, is all-sufficient in a court of law; that of drunkenness does not excuse the conduct of an offender. The Legislative Assembly adjourned at midnight, on the 21st of February, when the members of both houses, with all the clerks, door-keepers, and other attachés, called upon the governor, in a body, to pay their respects, previous to their departure for their several homes. This was a sort of salvo for the wholesale abuse of which he had been for six weeks the constant subject. Jan. 23d-A letter was received from Secretary Marcy, in which he expresses great concern about the meeting of the Topeka Legislature, already noticed. He says: I learn, with regret, that a body of men calling themselves Legislature, are about to assemble at Topeka. The Presilent's views in relation to the origin and purpose of such an assemblage, assuming the name and function of a legislative body, are fully set forth in his message to Congress of the 24th day of January, 1856, a copy of which accompanied your instructions. The title used is, in itself, an unwarrantable assumption. There can be but one legal legislative assembly in Kansas, and that, the one organized under the law of Congress. The assembling of the body referred to under the name and in the character of a legislature, is a procedure which ought to receive no countenance, whatever may be the PETITION OF PRISONERS. 271 assurances of any individuals as to the acts which it will or will not do." 26th.-A dispatch from the governor to the Secretary of State, of this date, contains the following paragraph: "The peace of the country remains unimpaired, and I have daily the most gratifying evidence of the general feeling of security which pervades all classes of the community. Notwithstanding, there are some amongst us who cannot exist much longer without commotion. I am closely watching their movements, and am determined to maintain peace at every hazard." In the same communication the necessity of additional land offices is urged, and also the disposal at an early day of the residue of the Delaware Trust Lands. 28th. A requisition, through the hands of Charles P. Arnold, was received by Governor Geary from Governor Wise of Virginia, for the arrest of a fugitive from that state named J. L. McCubbin, charged with the larceny of nine hundred dollars. Governor Geary immediately dispatched a force of dragoons in company with Mr. Arnold and a deputy marshal, in pursuit of McCubbin, who was arrested, and sent back to Virginia. 31st.-A communication having appeared in the Topeka Tribune, written by its special correspondent, and reflecting somewhat severely upon Judge Elmore, the latter met Mr. Kagi, the author, in front of the Court House, in Tecumseh, and attempted to chastise him by striking him across the head with a cane. Kagi drew a pistol and inflicted a severe flesh wound in the thigh of Elmore, when the latter fired several shots at Kagi, who had started to run, one of which slightly wounded him in the side. Neither of them was seriously injured. An attempt to create an excitement on this occasion proved a failure. March 3d. The prisoners at Tecumseh petitioned Governor Geary to do something toward the amelioration of their condition. They represented that for four days the only article of subsistence they had was coffee. The person who had contracted to furnish provisions, had stopped the rations because of the marshal having neglected to pay his bills. 6th. The ice in the Kansas river, which had been frozen over for a long while, broke up in consequence of a freshet produced by heavy rains which had continued several days. All communication between the north and south sides of the river was, for the time being, consequently suspended. CHAPTER XLII. Governor Geary's instructions.-The United States troops.-Enrolment, mustering and discharge of the militia.-The troops withheld from the service of the governor. SOON after his appointment, and before his departure for the west, Governor Geary received the following instructions : "Department of State: 66 Washington, August 26, 1856. "Sir: The present condition of the territory of Kansas renders your duties as governor highly responsible and delicate. In the instructions heretofore communicated to your predecessor, in February last; in the annual message to Congress of the 24th of the previous December; and in orders issued from the War Department (printed copies of which are herewith furnished), you will find the policy of the President fully presented. It is first, to maintain order and quiet in the territory of Kansas; and, second, if disturbances occur therein, to bring to punishment the offenders. "Should the force which has been provided to attain these objects prove insufficient, you will promptly make known that fact to the President, that he may take such measures in regard thereto as to him may seem to be demanded by the exigencies of the case. "It is important that the President should be kept well informed as to the state of things in Kansas, and that the source of the information should be such as to insure its accuracy. You are therefore directed by him to communicate constantly with this department. Such facts as it is deemed important to have early known here, you will cause to be transmitted by telegraph as well as by mail. "The President indulges a hope, that, by your energy, impartiality, and discretion, the tranquillity of the territory will be restored, and the persons and property of the citizens therein protected. "I am, sir, &c., "His Excellency, John W. Geary, "Governor of Kansas Territory." "W. L. MARCY." In order that the governor might have ample means to carry out these instructions, and "to maintain order and quiet in the territory of Kansas, and if disturbances occurred therein, to bring to punishment the offenders," he was not GOVERNOR GEARY'S INSTRUCTIONS. 273 only given discretionary powers as to the expenditure of money, but was directed, if he found the United States forces inadequate, not only to muster into the service the militia of the territory, but to avail himself of requisitions made upon the governors of other states. A letter received from the secre tary of state was as follows: "Department of State: 66 Washington, September 2, 1856. "Sir: Reliable information having reached the President that armed and organized bodies of men, avowedly in rebellion against the territorial government, have concentrated in such numbers as to require additional military force for their dispersion, you will have the militia of the territory, completely enrolled and organized, to the end that they may on short notice be brought into the service of the United States. Upon requisition of the commander of the military department in which Kansas is embraced, you will furnish by companies, or regiments, or brigades, or divisions, such number and composition of troops, as, from time to time, you may find, on his report to you, to be necessary for the suppression of all combinations to resist the laws of the United States too powerful to be suppressed by the civil authority, and for the maintenance of public order and civil government in the territory. "I am, sir, &c., "To His Excellency, John W. Geary, "W. L. MARCY. "Governor of the Territory of Kansas. Lecompton." A dispatch was also forwarded to General Smith, by the secretary of war. From the instructions this contains, as well as from the tenor of other documents that will be found in this chapter, it is quite palpable that the administration at Washington had been utterly deceived in regard to the true condition of things in Kansas, and was laboring under the strange hallucination that all the difficulties existing there were attributable to free-state settlers and invaders. These were the only persons who were supposed to be violating "the peace and quiet" of the territory; these were the only offenders whom Governor Geary was expected to "bring to punishment;" these were the parties against whom the troops were to be employed; and hence it is not difficult to account for the fact that the countenance of the administration was withheld and the troops withdrawn from him, as soon as it was ascertained that he had so far misunderstood his instructions and the wishes of his employers, as to cause the arrest of a pro-slavery murderer. All went well so long as he continued to cram the filthy jail with free-state prisoners; but his fate was sealed S |