THE "LAWS" OF KANSAS. SPEECH OF THE HON. SCHUYLEE COLFAX OP INDIANA. m THE HOUSE OF KEPEESENTATIVES, JUjnE 21, 185(5. S[r Ohatrman : I desire to give notice that I shall move, when we reach the third clause of the pending Army bill, the following amend- ment ; and I read it now, because the remarks I shall make to-day are designed to show its necessity ; " But Congress, hereby disapproving of the code of alleg- ed laws officially communicuted to them by the President, and wliich are represented to have been enacted by a budy claiming to be the Territorial Legislature of Kansas ; and also disapproving of the manner in which said alleged laws have been enforced by the authorities of said Territory, ex- pressly declare that, until these alleged laws shall have been affirmed by the Senate ami House of Representatives as having been enacted by a legal Legislature, chosen In con- formity with the organic law by the people of Kansas, no part of the military force of the United States shall be em- ployed in aid of their en'forcement ; nor shall any citizen of Kansas be required, under their provisions, to act as a part of the/)os.56 cfymltatun of any officer acting as marshal or sheriff in said Territory." 'hlx especial object to-day is to speak relative to this code of laws, now in my hand, which has emanated from a so-called Legislative Assembly of Kansas ; and for the making of which your constilutents, in common with mine, have paid their proportion — the whole having been paid for out of the Treasury of United States. In speaking of the provisions embodied in this voluminous document, and of the manner in which these " laws" have been enforced, I may feel it my duty to use plain ; and direct language ; and I find my exemplar, as well as my jusfiflcation for it, in the unlim- ited freedom of debate which, from the first day of the session, has been claimed and exer- cised by gentlemen of the other side of the House. And, recognizing that freedom of de- bate as we liave, to the fullest extent, subject only to the rules of the House, we intend to exercise it on this side, when we may s-ee fit to do so, in the same ample manner. Hence, when we have been so frequently called " fa- natics," and other epithets of denunciation, no one, on these seats, has even called gentle- men of the other side to order. AVhen it has pleased them to denounce us as Black Repub- licans or colored Republicans, we have taken no exception to the attack, for we regard free- dom of speech as one of the pillars of our free institutions. "When, not content with this, tliey have chargei us with implied perju- ry, in being liostile to the Constitution, and unfaithful to tlie Union, we have been content to leave the world to judge between us and our accusers — a scrutiny in which principles will have more weiglit than denunciation. In spite of all these attacks we have not been moved to any attempt to restrict the perfect and most unlimited freedom of speech on the part of our denouncers ; for we acknowledged the truth of Jefferson's sentiment that "Error LIFE OF COLONEL 'E^^WiYfT-Nearly Ready. An original and authentic Biography of the People's Candidate for President is now In course of preparation, and will be issued at The Tribune office early in July. It will be condensed into a pamphlet of 32 large octavo pages, on good type, with spirited illustrations. Price per dozen, . Price per hundred. Price per thousand, I 40 2 50 20 00 HON. CHARLES SUMNER'S SPEECH in the Senate, on Kansas Afifairs— 32 pages. Price per dozen, $ 40 Price per hundred, . . . . 2 50 Price per thousand, . . . .20 00 GOVERNOR SEWARD'S SPEECH on the Immediate Admission of Kansas, is now ready— 16 large octavo pages. Price per dozen, $ 20 Price per hundred, . . , . j 25 Price per thousand, . . , , 10 00 Orders enclosing the task are respectfully solicited. GREELEY & McELRATH, Tribune Office, New York. ^4 8-5 ceases to be dangerous when Reason is left free to combat it." If that con^^titutional safeguard of our rights and liberties, free speech in debate, is to be recognized anywhere, it should certainly be recognized, enforced and protected in this House. Every representative of a free con- stituency, if worthy of tliat responsible posi- tion, should speak here at all times, not with '' bated breath," but openly and fearlessly, the sentiments of that constituency; for, sir, it is not alone the two hundred and thirty-four members of this House who mingle in this arena of debate ; but here, within this bar, are the teeming millions of American freemen, not individually participating, as in Athens in the olden time, in the enactment of laws and the discussion and settlement of tlie foreign and domestic policy of the nation ; but still, sir, participating in the persons of tiieir represen- tatives, whom they have commissioned to speak for them, in the important questions "wliich are presented for our consideration. Here, in this august presence, before the whole American people, thus represented, stand, and must ever stand. States and states- men, legislators and jurists, parties and princi- ples, to be subject to the severest scrutiny and the most searching review. Here Alabama ar- raigns Massachusetts, as she has done through the mouth of one of her Representatives but a few weeks since; and here Massachusetts has equally the right to arraign any other State of the Confederacy. And while the Republic stands, that freedom of debate, guaranteed and protected by the Constitution, must and will be sustained and enforced on this floor. Mr. Oiiairman, I feel compelled, on this oc- casion, therefore, by truth, and by a conscien- tious conviction of what I know to be the feelings of my constituents — for whom I speak as much as I do for myself — to denounce, as I do this day, the " code" of the so-called Legis- lature of Kansas as a code of tyranny and op- pression, a code of outrage and of wrong, which would disgrace the Legislature of any State of the Union, as it disgraces the Goths and Vandals, who, after invading and conquer- ing the Territory, thus attempted to play the despot over its people, and to make the white citizens of Kansas greater slaves than the blacks of Missouri. No man can examine the decrees of Louis Napoleon, no matter how Ignorant he may have been of the procession of events in France for the past six years, with- out having the conviction forced upon his mind that they emanated from a usurper and a despot. The very enactments embodied in these de- crees bear testimony against him. The limita- tions on the right of the subject ; the mockery of the pretended freedom of elections which he has vouchsafed to the people ; tlie rigid censorship of the press ; the shackles upon the freedom of speech ; all combine to prove that they emanate from an autocrat, who. however men may differ as to the wisdom of his states- manship, undoubtedly governs France with a strong arm and an iron rule. And so, sir, no unprejudiced man can rise from a candid peru- sal of this code without being thorouglily con- vinced that it never emanated from a Legisla- ture voluntarily chosen by the people whom it professes to govern ; but that it was dictated and enacted by usurpers and tyrants, whose leading object was to crush out some senti- ment predominant amongst that people, but distasteful and olFensive to these usurping legis- lators. I know this is a strong assertion ; but, in the hour of your time which I shall occupy, I shall prove this assertion from the intrinsic evidence of tlie code itself. Before I proceed to make an analysis of these laws, which I hold were never legally enacted, were never fit to be made, nor fit to be obeyed by a free people, let nje say a few words in regard to the manner in which they have bt-en administered and enforced. We have heard of murder after murder in Kansa.s — murders of men for the singular crime of preferring freedom to slavery ; but you have not heard of one single attempt by any court in that Territory to indict any one of those murderers. Tiie bodies of Jones, of Dow, of Barber, and others, murdered in cold blood, are moldering away and joining the silent dust; while one of the murderers this very day holds a territorial office in Kansas, and another of them holds an office of influence and rank under the authority of the General Government; while neither the Territorial nor the General Government inquire into the crimes they have committed, or the justifica- tion for their brothers' blood that stains their hands. I wish first, Mr. Chairman, to speak of the manner in which the chief justice, sitting as the supreme judicial officer of the Territory of Kansas, has performed the functions of his office. I have no imputation to make upon him as a man of moral character or of judicial ability. I know nothing in regard to either. I do not say he has willfully and corruptly violated his official oath ; for I can say that authoritatively in only one way, and tliat is, by voting for his impeachment. I shall not com- ment, sir, on the extraordinary manner in which he has enforced the Kansas code, with Draconian severity, against all who advocated freedom for Kansas, but with a serene leniency towards all who did not: pushing its severest provisions to the extremest point in the one case, and forgetting, apparently, that it con- tains any penalties whatever in the other. But I desire to draw the attention of tlie House to the fact, proven by the code itself, that this " Legislature " have used every ex- 3 ertion within their power to make that judge the interested champion and advocate of the vaHdity of their enactments. Pecuniary in- terest, sir, is a powerful argument with man- kind generally. We all see, and we all recog- nize this fact as a truism which no logician denies. The administration that gives a man an extensive or a profitable contract may rea- sonably expect to find in him a supporter. The Legislature that confers on a man a valuable charter would have a right to feel surprised if he did not decide in favor of the legality and the constitutionality of their enactments ; as well as use all of his influence in their favor, !i their authority to act as grantors was dis- puted, and if his charter fell to the ground as worthless, in oase their right to grant it was overthrown. It is true, some men are so pure as not to be aflfected by such things ; but in the generality of cases, the human mind can- not fail to be thus influenced, even if it is not absoluteiy controlled. Now, if you will turn to the concluding portion of this " code of laws," you will find on* hundred and forty pages of it, over one sixth of the whole, devoted to corporations, •shingled in profusion over the whole Territory, granting charters for railroads, insurance com- panies, toll-bridges, ferries, universities, min- ing companies, plank roads, and, in fact, all kinds of charters that are of value to their recipients, and more, indeed, than will be need- ed there for many years. No less than four or five hundred person^ (not counting one hundred territorial road commissioners), have been thus incorporated, and have been made the recipi- ents of the bounty of that legislation of Kan- sas, making a great portion, if not all of them, interested advocates to sustain the legality of those laws now in dispute before the American people. I need scarcely add that the name of nearly every citizen of Kansas who has been conspicuous in the recent bloody scenes in that Territory on the side of slavery, can be found among the favored grantees ; and all of them know that, if that Legislature is proved to be illegal and fraudulent, their grants become valueless. In quoting from this code of the laws of the Legislature of Kansas, I desire to state that I quote from Executive document No. 23, sub- mitted to this House by the President of the United States, and printed by the public printer of Congress. It is entitled "Laws of tlie Territory of Kansas," and forms a volume of eigl.t hundred and twenty-three pages. I notice that many members have a copy of this code before them now; and as many people as they discuss these enactments around the heartiistone at home, cannot believe that they are authentic, I will take pains to quote the section and page of every law I allude to, and will say to gentlemen upon the other side, that if they find me quoting incorrectly in a single instance, or in the minutest particular, essential or non-essential, I call upon tliem to correct me on the spot. I wish to lay the exact truth, no more, no less, from thip ofiicial record itself, authenticated as it is by the President of the United States him- self, before Congress and the American peo- ple. You will find in this code of laws that Mr. Isaacs, the district attorney of Kansas, figures in four acts of incorporation, and canr.ot fail, therefore, to believe in the legality ot their en- actment. Mr. L. N. Reese figures in three more; Mr. L, J. Eastin in three; Stringfellow in three, of course ; and R. R. Reese in five — all of them earnest defenders of the code and its provisions, as might be expected. But I desire more particularly to show you the incor- porations in which the territory of Kansas have given an interest to the chief justice of the ter- ritory^ Judge Lecompte, sitting though he does upon the judicial bench, to decide upon the validity of these territorial laws. You will find him, on page 788, incorporated as one of the regents of the Kansas University ; but I pass by that as of very little moment. At page 760 you will find a charter for the Cen- tral Railroad Company, with a capital of $1,000,000, in which S. A. Lecompte is one of the corporators. The chief justice's name is S. D. Lecompte; and as I cannot hear of any other person of the name of Lecompte in the territory, I have no doubt that tliis is a mis- print in the middle initial, and that his name was intended. But I will give him the benefit of the doubt, and pass over this charter. On page 769 you will find another charter, in which Chief Justice S. D. Lecompte figures as a corporator. It is the cliarter of the Leaven- worth, Pawnee, and Western Railroad, which, in the opinion of many, is destined to be a link in the great Pacific Railroad, or at least an im- portant section in one of its branches. It is chartered with a capital of |5,000,000, and five years' time is given for the grantees to com- mence the work. This charter, valuable as it must become, as the territory advances in popu- lation t.:>d wealth, is presented as a free gift to Judge Lecompte and hia associates by the mock Legislature of Kansas. Of course, in all these charters the directors are to open books for the subscription of stock, keeping them open " as long as they may deem proper ;" no barrie^ existing against their subscribing the whole stock themselves, the moment that the books are opened, if they choose so to do. But I desire to draw attention particularly to another grant, to be found on page 774, in which this same impartial judge, S. D. Le- compte, with nine other persons, are incorpo- rated as the Leavenworth and Lecompton rail- road ; and I ask you to notice, and explain, if 4: you can, the difference which exists between that and other incorporations. In tlie first place, the other railroad charters are granted to certain persons in coHtinuou» succession. In this charier, witli a capital of $3,000,000, for a railroad from Leavenworth ti) his favorite city of Leconipton, (which was made the capital of the territory hy this same Legislature,) with an indefinite and unrestrain- ed power to build brunch railroads from the capital in any and every direction, Judge Le- compte and his associates, including Woodson, the Secretary of the Territory, are granted per- .petual succession. In section 21, page 777, there is this special exception, whiqh, though brief in its language, is momentous in its im- portance, for the benefit of Judge Lecompte «&0o.: " That sections seyen, thirteen, and twenty of article first, and so much of section eleren, article second, as relates to stock owned, of an act concerning corporations, shall not apply to this act." In the exa'.nination which I gave to these laws, it struck me that tliis exception of this charter, for the benefit of Lecompton and Le- compte, from the provisions of the general law relative to corporations, was singular, to say the least; and I turned back to the general law to see the character of the provisions thus suspended, so far as this act was concerned; and tlie proof that it furnishes of the intention, on the part of the Legislature, to make Judge Lecompte interested in their behalf, is so strong, that I will refer you to these sections as circumstantial evidence of no ordinary character. Section seven of the general corporation law, (see page 164,) provides as follows: " The charter of every corporation that shall hereafter be granted by law, shall be subject to alteration, suspen- sion, or repeal by any succeeding Legislature : Provided, Such alteration, suspension, or repeal, shall In nowise con- flict with any right vested in such corporation by its charter." But in Lecompte's charter, the power even to amend it, is, by the suspension of the above section, withheld from " any succeeding Legis- lature," even if said Legislature, or the peo- ple of Kansas, unanimoz^aiy aesired its amend- ment. Section thirteen (see page 165) makes tlie stockholders of all corporations individually Viable for its debts. Bat this ^oo, is sus- pended by the mock Legislature of Kansas, for the benefit of Judge Lecompte. Section twenty (see page 166) makes direc- tors liable for debts incurred by them exceed- ing the capital stock. But this, also, is sus- pended in Judge Lecompte's charter, and he is on« of the directors of the road. But there is still another extraordinary pro- vision in this charter, which I find in no other grant of this Legislature. Section fifteen (page 776) provides : " If said company shall require for the construction or repair of said road, any stone, gravel, or other materials from the land of any person adjoining to or near said road, and cannot contract for the same with the owner thereof, said company may proceed to take possession ol and use the same, and have the property assessed," &c. Not only are they empowered to take stono, gravel, and other materials, including timber of such great value in Kansas, from land through which the road rnns, but also from "a^oining" tracts; and still furtlier, fro'i tracts " near said road," which may be con- strued to mean one mile, or five miles, or ten miles oft", as the case may be. And if the owner refuses to part with his ti:nber or gravel, the company are authorized to take it first, and pay for it afterwards; and the man who resists, and seeks to protect his own pro- perty, would be amenable to the penalties of this bloody code for resisting the "laws of Kansas." "What was the object of these extra- ordinary grants and privileges to Judge Le- com[)te and his associates, I submit for the American people to decide. Before I leave this Judge — the central figure as he is of the group of men in Kansas, who are using the power of the judiciary as it was used during " the bloody assizes" in England, and Reign of Terror in France, to enforce the decrees of tyranny — I must call attention to tlie last charge to the grand jury which be addressed in Kansas ; and in which, instead of alluding to the destruction of property of free-State men by unauthorized mobs ; to the tarring and feathering, and other personal outrages, to which many of them had beeu subjected; to the repeated invasions of the Territory by armed marauders, of which he had been a witness ; and to the murders of unotfending free-State men, of wiiich he could not have failed to hear ; his virtuous desire to uphold "the laws" found vent in another direction — the direction of persecution instead of protection. I quote from tiiis extraordinary charge, as published in the National Intelli- gencer of this city, of June 5, 1856, the lol lowing extraordinary paragraphs : " This Territory was organized by an act of Congreps, and, so far, its authority is from the United States. It has a Legislature, elected in pursuance of that organic ai-t. This Legislature, being an iustruioent of Congress, by which it governs the Territory, has [lassod laws. These laws, therefore, are of United Stattt imViarity und making; and all that resist these laws resist the power arid authority of the United Stales, and are therefore gxUUy of high, treason. " Now, gentlemen, if you find that any persons have re- sisted these laws, then you must, under your oaths, find bills against sucn persons for high treason. If you find that no such resistance has been made, but that combina- tions have been formed for the purpose of resisting them, and Individuals of influence and notoriety li.ive been aiding and abetting in such combinations, then mti^it you still find biUs for eonstructive treason," &c., Ac. Mr. Chairman, I am no lawyer ; but I think I understand the force of the English language ; and when I read in the Constitution of the United States that " Treason against the United States shall consist only in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort," I do not hesitate to brand that charge of Judge Lecompte, under which Governor Eobiuson was indicted for treason, and is now under coutinement and re- fused bail, as grossly, palpably unjust, and wliolly unauthorized by the Constitution. To concede his argument, that to resist, or " to form the purpo- j of resisting,'' tiie territorial laws is treasoa against the United States because Congress authorized a Legislature to pass laws, leads you irresistibly to the ad- ditional position, that to resist the orders of tlie country boards created by that Legisla- ture is also treason, for these boards are but one further remove from the fountain-head of power. And thus, sir, " the extreme medi- cine of the Constitution would become its daily bread ;" and the man who even objected to the opening of a road through his premises, w'ould be subject to the pains and penalties of treason, No, sir, that charge is only another link in the chain of tyranny, wliich the pro- slavery rulers of that Territory are encoiling around its people. And when the defenders of these proceedings ask us to trust to the impartiality of courts, I answer them by point- ing to this charge, and also to the judicial de- crees of the Territory, by authority of which numbers of faithful citizens of the United States have been indicted, imprisoned and harassed — by authority of which the town of Lawrence was sacked and bombarded — by authority of which printing presses were de- stroyed, without legal notice to their owners, and costly buildings cannonaded and consumed, without giving the slightest opportunity to their proprietors to be heard in opposition to these decrees ; all part and parcel of the plot to drive out tlie friends of freedom from the Territory, so that slavery might take unre- sisted possession of its villages and plains. It might have been supposed that, one of those riglits dear to all American freemen — the trial by an impartial jury — would have been left for the people of Kansas unimpaired. But when the invaders and conquerors of Kan- sas, in their border ruffian Legislature, struck down all the rights of freemen, they did not even leave them this, with which tiiey might possibly have had some chance of justice, even against the hostility of Presidents, tlie tyranny of Governors, and the hatred of judges. No jurors, sir, are drawn by lot in the Territory. But tlie first section ot the act concerning jurors (see page 377) enacts that " all courts, before whom jurors are required, may order the marshal, sheriff or other oflScer, to summon a sufficient number of jurors." The whole matter is left to the discretion of these officers; and Marshal Donaldson or " Sheriflf Jones" pack juries with just such men as they prefer, and whom they know will be their willing instruments. For a free-State man to hope for justice from such a jury charged by such a judge as Lecompte, would be to ask that the miracle by which the three Israelites passed through the fiery furnace of their persecutors unscathed, should be daily re-enacted in the jurisprudence of Kansas Nay, more, sir, to make assurance doubly sure, the same law in regard to jurors ex- cludes all but pro-slavery rnen from the jurj-- box in all cases relating directly or indirectly to slavery ; for here is its thirteenth section, (page 378 :) •' No person who is conscientiously opposed to the holding slaves, or who does not admit the right to hold slaves in this Territory, shall be a juror in any cause in which the right to hold any person in slavery is involved, nor in any cause in which any injury done to, or committed by, any slave is in issue, nor in any criminal proceeding for the violation of any law enacted for the protection of slave property, and for the punishment of crime committed against the right to such property." I leave this dark picture of the jurispru- dence of Kansas, and turn now to the laws themselves — " laws " that were, as late as the 9th of February. 1856, over two months after the opening of this session, thus spoken of by the Detroit Free Press, the organ of General Cass, and one of the leading Democratic pa- pers of the Nortltwest : " But the President should pause long before treating as ' treasonable insurrection ' the action of those inhabitants of Kansas who deny the binding authority of the Missouri- Kansas Legislature ; for, in our humble opinion, a people that would not be inclined to rebel against the acts of a legislative hoAj forced upmi thein hy fraud and violence, would he nmivortky the ntime of American. If there was ever JHstifiHhle cause for popular rei'olutimi against a ■usurping and obnoxious Government, that cause has existed in, Kansas." The President of tlie United States has de- clared, in his special message to Congress, in his proclamation, and in his orders to Gover- nor Shannon and Colonel Sumner, through his Secretary of State and Secretary of "War, that this code of territorial laws is to be enforced by the full exercise of his power. He has, of, course, read them, and knows of their pro- visions. He must know that they trample even on the organic law, which his otficial sig- nature breathed into life. He must know that they trample on the Constitution of tlie United States, which he and we have sworn to sup- port. Reading them as he has, he could have chosen rather to support the law of Congress and the national Constitution ; but he prefer- red to declare publicly his intention of assist- ing, with all his power and authority, the enforcement of this code, which repudiates both. The National Democratic Convention also, at Cincinnati, denounced " treason and 6. armed resistance to the laws" in a niarked and .tice to any one, I quote from his speech, as reported in the national Democratic organ licre, the Wa^hingion Union, of June 10, which I liold in my hand : " The platform was equally explicit in reference to the dis- turbances in relation to the Territory of Kansas. It de- clared that treason was to be punished, and resistance to the laws was to be put down.'" ♦ » • • " He rejoiced that the convention, by a unanimous Tote, lad approved of the creed that law must and shall prevail. fApplaiise.] He rtyoiced that we had a standard-bearer [Mr. Buchanan] with so much wisdom and nerve as to enforce a firm and undivided execution of those laict." And Mr. Buchanan, after the nomination, rephed to the Keystone Club, who called on liiin on their return from Cincinnati, as fol- li^)ws : " Gentlemen, two weeks since I should have made yon a longer speech, but now 1 have been placed upon a platform of which I most heartily approve, and that can speak for me. Heing the representative of the great Democratic party, and not simply James Buchanan, I must square my conduct ac- cording to the platform of that party, and insert no new plank, nor take one from it. That platform Is BulBciently broad and national for the whole Democratic party." I sliall now proceed to show you no less than geten palpahle violations of the organic law (the Nebraska bill), incorporated into this code by the bogus Legislature which enacted it. The President, Judge Douglas, and Mr. Buchan- an, who are all pledged "to enforce these ter- ritorial laws," cannot have failed to notice that tiie conquerors of Kansas enacted their code, regardless of whether its provisions coincided witii the organic hiw or not; but, neverthe- less, where they differ, the law of the United States is to be forgotten, aad the pro-slavery behests of the Kansas invaders are to be car- ried out at the point of the bayonet, if neces- sary. First. Section twenty-two of the Ne- braska bill enacts that the House of Eepresen- tativos in Kansas shall consist of twenty-six members, " whose term of service shall con- tinue one year.'''' That does not mean eighteen, nineteen or twenty months, but "one year," and one year only. The Legislature of Kansas was elected on the 80th day of March, 1855 — a day which has become famous for the discus- sions in this House and elsewhere in regard to it; ap'^ ..., if you will turn to page 280 of this Ivansas code, you will see that there is not to be an election for members of the lower House of the Legislature until the first Monday in October, in the year 1856 — over eighteen months after the first Legislature was elected. If you turn, then, to page 403, you will find Uiat no regular session of that Legislature is to be held until January, 1857 ; so that the terra of that House of Representatives, in defiance of the organic law, is prolonged to twenty- two months instead of twelve months. Sir, their term has expired now. There is no Leg- islature in the Territory of Kansas this day ; and therefore, in the language of the Declara- tion of Independence, " the legislative power.-*, incapable of annihilation, iiave returned to the people at large for their exercise." For exer- cising them, however, in no conflict with the territorial government, but carefully avt)idiiig it, and abstaining from putting any legislation in force, but only organizing as a State to apply for admission here as "a redress for their griev- ances" — for doing this, the court of Judge Lecompte arraigns them for treason, and scat- ters its indictments all over the Territory. Second. The same section of the Kansas organic law says that the members of the council shall serve for "two years;" but their term has been prolonged in the same manner io nearly three years, so that the councilors elected in March, 1855. remain in ofhce until the 1st of January, 1858, longer than a mem- ber of this House holds his seat by the author- ity of his constituents. And it is to this Leg- islature, tlie Senatorial branch of which, even if legally elected, should expire in nine months from this time, but which, in defiance cf the organic law, have taken upon themselves to extend their terra to a period nineteen months distant, that Judge Douglas desires, in his bill, to submit the question of when a census shall be taken preparatory to admission as a State, and to clothe them with the superintendence of the raovements in the Territory, prelimina- ry to said admission. When we have investi- gated to-day the "constitutionality," the "justice," the "impartiality," the "humanity" of their acts thus far, no one will need to a.sk, why I am not willing, for one, to give them the slightest degree of power or authority hereafter, but, on the contrary, desire to take frora them that which they have illegally usurped and tyrannically exercised. But if to these two points, it is replied, that the term of the House of Representatives was intended by this mock Legislature to expire on the 30th of March, 1856, ten months before the new House takes its seat, and the Council, in Marcli, 1857, ten months before the new Council meets, it follows that, though the Ne- braska bill extended "popular sovereignty" by giving the President absolute control of two of tlie three branches of the Government, the executive and judicial, and left to the people only the legislative, subject to a two-thirds veto of the President's Governor, this Legis- lature so legislates that tliere is no House of Representatives there from March 1856 to January 1857, and no Council from March, 1857, to January 1858 — in a word, so tliat there can be no Legislature in the Territory from March, 1856, to January, 1858, except from January to March, 1857, bakkly two MONTHS OUT OF TWKNTT-TWO ! Third. The next violation of the organic law is the enacting of a fugitive slave law in that Territory, although, by section twenty- eight of the Nebraska bill, the fugitive slave law of the United States was declared "to ex- tend and be in full force within the limits of the territory of Kansas." This is one of the violations that I do not complain much about, fur in some respects the territorial law is milder than the national one and requires the slave claimant to pay the costs in advance ; but I allude to it to show the utter recklessness of the Kansas legislators and their disregard of the law of Congress. By this law (sections 28 and 29, page 329), persons are prohibited from taking fugitives from tlie Territory, ex- cept in accordance with its provisions, and are fined $500 if they do so. Fourth. The expenses of the Territory are paid, as is well known, out of the National Treasury ; and section thirty of the Nebraska bill enacts that the chief clerk of the Legisla- ture shall receive four dollars per day, and the other clerks three dollars per day. But on page 444 of the Kansas code, you will find an extra douceur to tlie clerks of fifteen and twenty cents per hundred words for indexing and copying journals; on page 145, another law, declaring that if the Secretary (then act- ing as Governor after Governor Reeder's re- moval), should refuse his assent to the ebove, the chief and assistant clerks should receive $100 each out of the Treasury, besides their per diem ; and on the next page, page 146, the pay of the enrolling and engrossing clerks is increased to four dollars per day, on the like contingency, although the organic law ex- pressly fixed it at three dollars per day. The legislators acted as if they had not only con- quered the people of Kansas, but the national Treasury also. Fifth. Section twenty-two of the organic law gives the Governor exclusively the right of determining who were elected members of the Legislature. He did so, throwing out about one-third of the members elected at the first election, the reign of terror and violence preventing more contests of other equally fraudulent returns. But the Legislature, when assembled, without examination of the merits of each case, and without authority to commit such an act at all, threw out all the members elected at the second election, and admitted in their stead those whose right to seats the Governor had expressly denied. Sixth. Section twenty-four of the organic law enacts : " That the legislative power of the Terrltorj shall extend to all the rightful subjects of legislatloo conslsteot with the Constitution of the United States ; but no law shall be passed Interfering with the primary disposal of the soil." But if you will turn ta page 600, you will see how coolly this bogus Legislature ignores both the Nebraska bill and the preemption law ; for it declares, as if they owned the soil, that in actions of trespass, ejectment, &c., settlers shall be protected in tlieir pi-eemptions, not of one hundred and sixty acres, but of three hundred and twenty acres ;" " that such claim may be located in two diiFerent parcels, to suit the convenience of the holder," " with- out being compelled to prove an actual enclo- sure ;" and the still more flagrant repudiation of the congressional preemption law, that " occupancy by tenant shall be considered equally valid as personal residence," under which the whole Territory may be pre-empted by Missourians. And this law, with the others, is to be enforced by the President ! Seventh. Section thirty of the Nebraska bill enacts that the ofl5cial oath to be taken by the Governor and secretary, the judges, " and all other civil officers in said Territory," shall be " to support the Constitution of the United States, and faithfully to discharge the duties of their respective offices." No more — no less. But the legislators of Kansas, with the same disregard of the congressional law that mark- ed their other acts, enacted another kind of official oath on page 438 of their code, as fol- lows : "Sec. 1. All officers elected or appointed under any exist- ing or subsequently enacted laws of this Territory, shall take and subscribe the following oath of office: ' I, , do solemnly swear upon the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, that I will support the Constitution of the United Slates and that I will support and sustain the provisions of an act entitled, *An act to organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas,' and the provisions of the law of the United States, commonly known as the * fugitive slave law,' and faithful- ly and impartially and to the best of my ability, demean myself in the discharge of my duties in the office of ; so help me God." You cannot fail to notice that in this new oath, framed by the bogus Legislature, the fu- gitive slave law is elevated to a "higher law," than the Constitution ; for the officer is merely to " support " the latter, but is re- quired to swear that he will " support and sna- tain," the other. Besides these seven palpable, flagrant and unconcealed violations of the organic .aw or- ganizing the Territory, I point you low to five equally direct and open violations of the Constitution of the United States ; for that in- strument has been trampled upon as reckless- ly as the laws of Congress. Ifirst. The very first amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibits the passage of any law "abridging the free- dom of speech ;" and it is a significant fact, as can be learned from Hickey's Constitution, page 33, that this with a number of other 8 amendments to the Constitution which follow it, was submitted by Congress to the various States in 1789, immediately after the adoption of the Constitution itself, with the following preamble : " The conventions of a number of States having, at tlie llrae of ttieir adopting the Constitution, expressed a desire, In ord«r to prevent misconstruction or abuse of its power, that ' further declaratory and restrictive clauses should be added.' " Therefore the amendments that followed were proposed. Thus it is conclusively proven that the amendment, prohibiting any abridgment of the freedom of j^peech, was adopted to pre- vent an " abuse of power," which our forefa- thers feared miglit be attempted by some de- generate descendants at some later period of our history. But, tliough they thus sought to [ireserve and protect free speech by consti- tutional provision, their prophetic fears have been realized by the enactors of the Kansas code. Its one hundred and fifty-first chapter on pages 604 and 605, is entitled " An act to punish offences against slave property;" and there is no decree of Austrian despot or Rus- sian Czar which is not mercifid, in comparison with its provisions. Here, sir, in the very teeth of the Constitution, is section twelve of that chapter : "If any free person, by speaking or by writing, assert or mnintiiin tliat persons have not the right to hold slaves In this Territory, or shall introduce into this Territory, print, publish, write, circulate or cause to be introduced into this Territory, written, printed, published or circulated in this Territory, any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet, or circular, containing any denial of the right of persons to hold slaves in this Territory, such persons shall be deemed guilty of felony and shall be punished by imprison- meot at hard labor fur a term of not less thaa two years. How many more than two years he shall be punished is left to the tender mercy of Judge Lecom]en conflict — the one declaring that the freedom of speech shall not be abridged, that the freedom of the press shall be protected, that juries, above all things else, shall be entirely impartial; the other trampling all these safeguards under foot. And because a majority of the settlers there, driven from the polls by armed mobs, legislated over by a mob in whose election they had no agency, choose to stand by and maintain their rights under the Constitution, you have seen how anarchy and violence, how outrage and persecution have been running riot in that Territory; far exceeding in their tj^ranny and oppression the wrongs for which our revolution- ary forefatliers rose against the masters who oppressed them ; and yet, though the protec- tion they have had from the General Govern- ment has been only the same kind of protec- tion which the wolf gives to the lamb, they have, while repudiating the territorial sheriffs, bowed in submission to writs in the hands of the United States marshal, or when the sol- diers of the United States, yielding to orders which they do not deem it dishonorable for them to despise, assist in their execution. Such forbearance — such manifestations of their allegiance to the national authority — become the more wonderful when it is apparent as the noonday sun that every attempt has been made to harass them into resistance to the authority of the United States, so as to furnish a pretext, doubtless, for their indiscriminate imprisonment, expulsion, or massacre. Fourth. The Constitution also prohibits cruel and unusual punishments. I shall show, before I close, that this so-called Kansas Legis- lature has prescribed most cruel and nnusual punishments, unwarranted by the character of the offenses punished, and totally dispro- portioned to their criminality. Fifth. The Constitution declares (article 1, section 9) that " the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended, unless when, in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it." But the Kan- sas code, in its chapter of habeas corpus (ar- ticle 3, section 8, page 345,) enacts as follows: " No negro or mulatto, held as a slave within this Terri- tory, or lawfully arrested as a fugitive from service from another State or Territory, shall be discharged, nor shall his right of freedom be had under the provisions of this act." This provision, suspending the writ of haheas corpus in the above cases is not only a viola tion of the Constitution, but also of organic law ; for that provided, in section 28, for appeals to the Supreme Court of the United States on writs of habeas corpus in cases in- volving the right of freedom, the issuing of which this territorial law expressly prohibits. The language of the Nebraska-Kansas act is as follows : " Except also that a writ of error or appeal shall also be allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States, from the decision of the said supreme court created by this act, or o( any judge thereof, or of the district courts created by this act, or of any judge thereof, upon any writ of habeas cor- pus, involving the question of persona! freedom." But the Kansas Legislature coolly set aside the law of the United States, by which alone their territorial organization was brought into existence, and effectually prohibited any ap- peal to the Supreme Court " upon any writ of habeas corpus, involving the question of per- sonal freedom," by declaring that the writ sha41 not be used in the Territory for any such purpose! Having now referred to a few of the many acts embraced in this code, which conflict with the Constitution or the organic law, I proceed to the examination of other provisions, some of which stamp it as a code of barbarity, as well as of tyranny — of inhumanity as well as of oppression. And first to "the imprison- ment at hard labor," which is made the punishment for "offenses against the slave property," in the sections which I have already quoted. The general understanding of the people at large has been that, as there was no State prison yet erected in Kansas, this im- prisonment would be in some Missouri prisons near the frontier. But, sir, sucli is not the case. The authors of these disgraceful and outrageous enactments, with a refinement of cruelty, provided that the "hard labor" should be in another way ; and that way will be found in chapter 22, entitled " an act pro- viding a system of confinement and hard labor," section 2 of which (page 147) reads as follows : " Every person who may be sentenced by a?.y court of competent jurisdiction, under any law in force within this Territory, to punishment by confinement and hard labor, shall be deemed a convict, and shall immediately, under the charge of the keeper of such jail or public prison, or under the charge of such person as the keeper of such jail or public prison may select, be put to hard labor, as in the first section of this act specified, [to wit, " on the streets, roads, public buildings, or other public works of the Terri- tory" — Sec. \. page 146:] and such keeper or other person having charge of such convict, shall cause such convict, while engaged at such labor, to be securely confined by a chain sia: feet i7i length, of not less than four-sixteenths nor more than three-eighths of an inch links, with a rmmd hall of iron, of not less than four nor more than six inches in diameter, attached, which chain shall be securely fastened to the ankle of such convict with a strong lock and key; and such keeper or other person having charge of such convict may, if necessary, confine such convict while so engaged at hard labor, by other chains, or other means, in his discretion, so as to keep such convict secure and prevent his escape ; and when there shall be itoo of 10 more convicts under the charge of such keeper , or other person, such coiiTlcts shall be fastened together by strong chains, with strong loclfs and keys, during the time such conylcts shall be engaged in hard labor without the walls of any Jail or prison." And this penalty, revolting, humiliating, de- basing as it is, subjecting a free American citi- zens to the public sneers and contumely of his oppressors, far worse than within the prison walls, where the degradation of the punish- ment is relieved by its privacy, is to be borne from one to five long years by the men of In- diana and Ohio, of New England and New York, of Pennsylvania and the far West, who dare in Kansas to declare by speech, or in print, or to introduce therein a handbill or paper, which declares that " persons have not the riglit to hold slaves in this Territory." The chain and ball are to be attached to the ankle of each, and they are to drag out their long penalty for exercising their God-given and constitutionally-protected freedom of speech, manacled together in couples, and working, in the public gaze, under task-mas- ters, to whom Algerine slaveholders would be preferable. Sir, as this is one of the laws which the Democratic party, by its platform, has re- solved to enforce, and which the President of the United States intends to execute, if needs be, with the whole armed force of the United States, I have procured a specimen of the size of the iron ball which is to be used in that Territory under this enactment, and only re- gret that I cannot exhibit also the iron chain, six feet in length, which is to be dragged with it, through the hot summer months, and the cold wintry snows, by the free-State "con- victs " in Kansas. [Here Mr. 0. exhibited a large and heavy iron ball, six inches in diame- ter, and eighteen inches in circumference.] Mr. Chairman, if the great men who have passed away to the Spirit-land could stir them- selves in their graves, and, coming back to life and action, should utter on the prairies of Kansas the sentiments declared by them in the past, how would they be amazed at the penalties that would await them on every side, for the utterance of their honest convic- tions on slavery. Said Washington to John F. Mercer, in 1786: *' I never mean, unless some particular circumstance should compel me to it, to possets another slave by pur- chase, It being among my first withes to see some plan adopted by which slavery In this countrjr mt.v be abolished by law." Said Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia : " The whole commerce between master and slave Is a iDntinual exercise of the most unremitting despotism on the iDe part, and degrading submission on the other. • • « IVith what execration should the statesman be loaded, who, permitting one half of the citliens thus to trample on the rights of the other, transforms those Into despots, and these into enemies, destroys the morals of the one part, and the amor patriihaMtants" to vote at the general election, without requiring thera to have resided in the Territory a single'day ; and of the test oaths to sustain the fugitive slave law and the Ne- braska bill, which are intended to shut out all men opposed to both from the ballot-box. And I will quote it from page 282, because I desire to contrast its provisions with another : "Sec. 11. Every free white male citisi'-n of the United States, and' every free male Indian who is made a citizen by treaty or otherwise, and over the age of twenty-one years, who shall be an inliabitant of this Territory, and of the country or district in which he offers to vote, and shall have paid a territorial ta.x, shall be a qualified elector for all elective officers; and all Indians who are inhabitants of this Territory, and who may have adopted the customs of the white man, and who are liable to pay taxes, shall be deemed citizens: Provided, That no soldier, seaman, or marine, in the regular .^rmy or Navy of the United States, shall be entitled to vote, by reason of being on service therein: And provided further. That no person who shall have been convicted of any violation of any provision of an act of Congress entitled ' an act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters,' approved February 12, 179S ; or of an act to amend and supplementary to said act, approved ISth Sep- tember, 1850 ; whether such conviction were by criminal proceeding or by civil action for the recovery of any penalty prescribed by either of said acts, iu any courts of the United States, or of any State or Territory, of any oEfense deemed infamous, shall be entitled to vote at any election, or to hold any ortice in tliis Territory: And provided further, T)iat if any person offering to vote shall be challenged and required to take an oath or affirmation, to be adminis- tered by one of the judges of the election, that he will sus- tain the provisions of the above-recited acta of Congress, and of tlie act entitled 'An act to organize the Territories of Nebraska and Kansas,' approved May 30, 1854, and shall refuse to take such oath or affirmation, the vote of such person shall be rejected." Merely, being an " inhabitant," if the per- son is in favor of the Nebraska bill, and of tJie fugitive slave law, qualifies him as a voter in air tlie elections of the Territory affecting national or territorial politics. The widest possible door is opened for the invaders to come over and carry each successive election as "inhabitants" for the time being of the Territory. But, turn to page 750, and notice tne fi)llo\ving provision (section 8) defining the qualitications of voters at the petty corpora- tion elections of Lecompte : " All free white male citizens who have arrived to the full a^e of twenty-one years, and who shall be entitled to vote for territorial officers, and who shall have resided within the city limits at least six months next preceding any elec- tion, and, moreover, who shall have paid a city tax or any city license according to ordinance, sliall be eligible to vote at any ward or city election for officers of the city." Being an inhabitant a day clothes a person with the right to vote for Delegate in Con- gress, and Kepresentatives in the Legislature ; but to vote at an insignificant election, in com- parison, six mouths' residence is required ! Am I wrong in judging that this inverting the usual rule shows that Missourians are wanted at the one election, but not at the other? If any one deems tliis opinion unjust , let him study the following sections of the General Election Law, page 283 : " Sec. 19. Whenever any person shall offer to vote, he shall be presii/med to be entitled to vote. " Sec. 20. Whenever any person offers to vote, his vote may be challenged by one of the judges, or by any voter, and tlie judges of the election may examine him touching his right to vote ; and if so examined, no evidence to eoii- tradict shall be received." Certainly these provisions explain them- selves, without ciiinment. I will now invite your attention to a con- trast in the penal code of this Territory, singu- lar in its character, to say the very least. Section five of the act punishing olfenses against slave property, page 604, enacts as follows : " If any person shall aid or assist in enticing, decoying, or persuading, or carrying away, or sending out of this Territory, any slave belonging to .another, with intent to procure or effect the freedom of such slave, or with intent to deprive the owner thereof of tlie service of such slave, he shall be adjudged guilty of grand larceny, and on con- viction thereof shall suffer death, or be imprisoned at hard labor for not less than ten years. A person who, by' a pro-slavery packed jury, is convicted of aiding in persuading out of the Territory a slave belonging to another, is to suffer at least, twice as severe a pe- nalty as he who is convicted of committing the vilest outrage that the mind of man can conceive of on the person of your wife, sister, or daughter 1 Nay, the contrast is still strong- er. Tiie jury, in the first instance, are autho- rized even to inflict tlie punishment of death — in the latter, see page 208, the penalty is " not less than five years." Such is the contrast in Kansas between the protection of a wife's or daughter's honor and happiness, and that which is thrown as a protecting aegis over the property of the slaveholder. Again, on page 208, you will find that tbe ruSian who commits malicious mayhem, that is, without provocation, knocks you down in the street, cuts off your nose and ears, and plucks out your eyes, is punished " not less than five nor more than ten years ;" the same degree of punishment that is meted out in section seven of the above act, page 605, on a person who should aid, or assist, or even "harbor" an escaped slave I On page 209, you- will find that the man who sits at your bedside, when you are prostrated by disease, and, taking advantage of your con- fidence and helplessness, administers poison to you, but whereby death does not happen to ensue, is to be punished " not less than five nor more than ten years," though it is murder in the heart, if not in the deed. And this is pre- cisely the same penalty as that prescribed by 14 the eleventh section (quoted in my remarks above, on the five violations of the constitu- tion) against one who but brings into the Ter- ritory any bdok, paper, or handbill, containing any "sentiment " "calculated " in the ej'es of a pro-slavery jury, to make slaves "disor- derly." The man who takes into the Terri- tory Jefferson's Notes on Virginia, can be under this law, hurried away to the chain gang, iwid manacled, arm to arm, with the murder- ous poisoner. On page 210, the Jcidnapping and confine- ment of a free white person, for any purpose, even, if a man, to sell him into slavery, or if a woman, for a still baser purpose, is to be punished " not exceeding ten years." Decoy- ing and enticing away a child under twelve years of age, from its parents, " not less than six months, and not exceeding five years." But decoying and enticing away (mark the similarity of the language) a slave from his master, is punislied by dcath^ or confinement, no less than ten years. Here is the section, page 604: " Seo. 4: If any person shall entice, decoy, or carry away out of this Territory, any Hlave belonging to another, with intent to deprive the owner thereof of the aervices of such ilave, or wiih intent to effect or procure the freedom of such slave, lie shall be adjudged guilty of grand larceny, and, on conviction thereof, shall suffer death, or be impri- Boned at hard labor for not less than ten years." I had hoped to find time to cite and com- ment upon other sections in tliis code, but I will quote but one more, showing, that while a white man is compelled to serve out the penalty of his crime, at hard labor, these slave holding legislators have, in their great regard for the value of the slave's labor to his master, enacted that a slave, for the same offence, shall be whipped, and then returned to him. Here is the section, which I commend to tlie con- sideration of those who, while defending these laws, nickname the Republicans " nigger-wor- shipers." It is found on page 252 : " Sbo. 27 : If any slare shall commit petit larceny, or shall steal any neat cattle, sheep, or hog, or be guilty of any misdemeanor, or other offence punishable under the provisions of this act only by fine or imprisonment in a county jail, or by both such fine and imprisonment, he sliall, instead of such punishment, be punished. If a male, by stripes on his bare back not exceeding thirty-nine, or if a female, by Imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding twenty-one days or by stripes not exceeding twenty-one, at the discretion of the justice." Such, sir, is an impartial analysis of the code of Kansas, every allusion to which has been proven by extracts from the official copy now in my liand, and in quoting wliich I have referred, in every instance, to the page, the number of the section, and its exact words; and I think tliat the strong language at the outset of my remarks, in which I denounce tiiis dis- graceful and tyrannical code, has been fully justified by the proofs I have laid before you from its pages. Let it not be forgotten, Mr. Chairman, that it is because the people of Kansas — an overwhelming majority of the actual settlers there — refuse to obey these enactments passed by a body of men elected by armed mobs of invaders — that they have been delivered over to persecutions without parallel, and to all the horrors of a civil war. Had I time, I would desire to refer to the history of events in that Territory; to the reckless and ruthless violation of plighted faith in the repeal of the Missouri compromise, which opened the door for legislation like this ; to the entire absence of any protection by the President to the settlers against personal out- rage ; to the repeated invasions by which the whole machinary of legislsf the Republican Philadelphia Convention, on June 17, and ending (we hope) with the record of the election of its candidates about Nov. 12. And, to insure that this shall be something more than a mere fly-sheet, we propose to issue it twice a week, and of the full size of our Daily, Weekly and Semi -Weekly editions. We shall thus be able to give all the news of the day, with the best Speeches in Congress or elsewhere, Addresses, elaborate Documents, and full detail of all P'iection.s and Political Movements throughout this eventful canvass. There will l)e a great many cheap Weekly i.ssues for the Campaign, with which we prefer not to compete or interfere ; while we publish at the lowest endurable price, one which shall serve as an Encyclopedia of the Canvass and be regarded by speakers, committee-men, and active workers for the Right, as a text-book and monitor. We aak i.lose who believe such a paper will do good to aid us in extending its circulation. TERMS FOR THE CAMPAIGN TRIBUNE, To bt iifued Tictce a wttk. Coramonciiig with the proceedings of the Convention at Philadelphia, about June 20, and ending about the .1 'ith of November — say five mouths, or forty -two Numbers : Single Coptea $1 00 lu Copies, to one address. 7 50 20 Conies, to one address. . . . . , 14 00 loO Copies, to one address , . . . . . 65 00 ^ Ordeis must in all cases be accompanied with the money — which may be remitted at our risk. N'otes of all sj-.ecie paying Banks in the United States received at par, but when Drafts on New York, Boston or Philadelphia can be procured, they will be preferred. Money letters should be ccrtifi'-d by the Postmaster. Those of our friends who may desire to aid in the circulation of THE SEMI- WEEKLY CAM- PAIGN TRIBUNE will be kind enough to send their orders at as early a day as possible. An extra copv will be sent to each person who gets up a club. Address ' GREELEY & McELRATH, Tribune Office New York. Tkibunb OFriOB, May 23rd, 1866.