ADMISSION OF KANSAS. - F SPEECII OF HON1, MARCUS J. PARROTT, OF KANSAS. 0 Delivered in the House of Representatives, April 10,1860. 0o WASHINGTON, D.C. BUELL & BLANCHARD, PRINTERS. 1860. I I -11'i,Ha zH, E - 1 41 v ipo I, ,,;,. I" I II ~ Q Speech of Mr. Parrots it was intended to keep the State of Kansas out of the Union. For, sir, we all know that the people of the Territory had rejected the Lecompton Constitution. They sent a Delegate to this House to protest against its acceptance, which protest I e ntered early and often during that controversy. It was known they had rejected it., when, on a specific issue made, they polled a vote of five thousand majority against it, in January of 1858; and it was, moreover, known' that that Lecompton Constitution, which was pretended to be ratified in December of 1857, was the culminating point of a long series of frauds and aggressions on the rights of the people of the Territory. Sir, I was amazed, the other day, to hear the distinguished member from Alabama, [Mr. CURRY,] who has a reputation for ingenuousness, paying posthumous honors to the Le Compton,, Constitution. I ask that gentleman to look'at the votes polled in Certain precincts in the December election of 1857, in the pretended'submission of the Lecompton Constitution. Let- him look at Oxford, and Kickapoo, and Delaware Crossing, and compare the vote then reported with the returns from those pre. cincts at every general election since, up to this time, and iaote'the disparity. The mustered clans and hosts of December, 1857, at Oxford and Kickapoo, whither have they gone? Ask the political conjurers who summoned these mythical myriads to appear upon the stage for the accomplishment of sinister designs. At no election since that pretended affair, have all these precincts combined polled more than -three or four hundred votes; and yet, sir, The House having under consideration the bill (H. R. No. 23) for the admission of Kansas into the Union t Mr. PARROTT said: Mr. SPEAKER: I do not propose, under all the circumstances, to inflict on the House an elaborate speech in regard to the merely political questions connected with Kansas Territory; y but I should do injustice, both to myself and to my constituents, if I did not come forward and meet the objections brought by the gentleman who has made the minority report. I shall do so in a spirit of frankness and candor, submitting myself fairly, and cheerfully even, to interrogatories from all sides of the House. I will say more: if any reasonable man shall believe that I have not fairly met every objection that has been made, I will give up this controversy, go out of the House, and ask my constituents to send somebody here who does understand their case. The cause itself is unanswerable. I shall meet, then, every objection, and meet it fairly and squarely. When the Lecompton Constitution was adjudged to be a fraud, two years ago, in this House, and when, with a singular stultification, as it seems to me, men could be found in this House ready to pronounce it a fraud, and at the same time to tender it to the people of Kansas as their organic law; when, I say, that Constitution was stricken down, there sprung out of it that mean and false contrivance known as the English bill. The title of that bill was a false title; its provisions were deceitful and double. It is entitled "An act to admit the State of Kansas into the Union," when everybody knows that I I I I 6, -- -, 3 3 4 if you subtract the thousands which were polled there in December, 1857, you would have the Lecompton Constitution left naked stripped of the factitious vote through which it was sought to be juggled off upon the credulity of Congress and the country. Sir, I do not know that I should myself be politically displeased to find that those who differ with me honestly and conscientiously, regarding the policy of our country in respect to slavery, are so far pressed to the wall as to stand and plant themselves upon the ground of the Lecompton Constitution. It is, sir, a con fession of weakness;.and I am not at all ap prehensive that the judgment of history will be disturbed or misled in regard to the merits of that measure. That judgment has been al ready pronounced in every section of the coun try for, has not a distinguished Senator [Mr. HAMMOND] of South Carolina'said, in a,nguae it not very elegant, at leaas di o'"tic, that it ought to have been "kicked out of Congress" the moment it was presented there? But, sir, this English bill was a proposition odious and offensive to the people of the Terri. tory. It was hardly less revolting, I hope, to the country at large, on account of its intense discrimination against the institutions of the free States. It prescribes one- rule for the admission. of a slave, State. and another, with superadded and onerous conditiona,,for a free State. It is thus partial, invidious, and unfair. What have the people'of Kansas said; in reply? In effect," We desire admission into. the Union, 'but not such admission; we desire, if w~e 'come into the Uaion, to come with our honor 'untarnished and unsullied-on an equal foot'ing with the original States~not only as. a ' confederate, but as a coequWtal in the.'faiily of ' States." I shall say nowhere, in.thee course of. my re:marks, that the people of Kansas have suec-, cumbed to the provisions of the English bill. I should despise myself and dishonor them if I believed: they ever had it in contemplation to give way to its provisions, What next, sir? They have seen fit, to form alother Constitution, and- the. President of the United States has come forward, and, in-lauguage inearlvyidentical with that. of the minority report, addressed to the Thirt'y.fifth Congress, has anticipated the formation of the Constitution, and., declared it o b'e a,, revolutionary act. Mr. BAR)KSDALF I.understood the gentleman to, say juw now that. the people of KanW have not succuabed to:e,!n,glish bill. Mr. P4ARROTT. Yea sir. Me:. BARKSDALE... I desire to ask him if they, did. not vote udder itsqprovisions? Mr. PAR-ROTT. I will a.:wer..that they did vote,> but. they. were not parties to that law.. They repudiated its restrictive clause as inoperative,- for reasons-which I shall presently Btate. I ask you-I put it X the gentleman from Mississippi-whather. it. could be fairT said that, having rejected the Lecompton Con stitution, they wereb bound by all the pro vi s ions of that bill? Mr.. BARKSDALE. Wh y, sir, I hold tha t they were b ound by the provisions of that bill. Tha t is the po int which I have made. Whether they voted or not, it was their duty to do it; and I hold it was th eir dut y to obey all the provisions of that bill. Hen ce I am o pposed to the admission of Kansas upon that very ground: that she would be admitted in palpa ble violation o f t he law passed by Congress. Mr. PARROTT. I must pa ss on, Mr. Speak er. The people of Kansas have presented an ot her Constitution here, and I wish, before I advance to the consideration of specific objec tions Mr. COX. Before the gen tleman l eaves that point, I beg that he will allow me to ask'him Ma question. Tc..'PARROTT. I, yield i to the gentleman for tha t p ur pose. o, Mr. COX. He says that the people of Kan sas never, in any way, recognised that bill of the.. conference -committee. Is that his state ment? Mr. PARROTT. I said they had never suc cumbed to the restrictive provisions of that bill. :Mr. COX. Oh, no; you did not use the words " restrictive provisions.." Mr. PARROTT. Well, I say that now, And I said that before.. ad Mr. COX. Well, I ask my friend, iwajiusti-ce to the men who voted for that. bill, to answers this question Mr. PARROTT. I do not want to be drawn from the line of my argument. Mr.. COX. Ah, but the gentleman must state the truth as it occurred there, and,: it is this: that, in pursuance, of the provisions of that bill, clearly fbllowed in every particular by the commisaionsers, there- was: an eiection in xan sas; and by -that election, the sense of the people:was taken, and, Lecoepton, as the chairman of the ComRInittee on, Territories saidthis mprning, was throttled and killed by it; and.it was, inte.n,ded, by many of the aen who voted for that bill, to gise that very o~pportnity to the people to break, down that. Constitutionwhich they spurned Mr. PARROTT. The gentleman is vindicating his own action, and not asking me, a: question. I cannot yield for s ch a:.purpose. Mr. COX. The gentleman knows, that.Gov, ernor Denver himself, by.official proclamation, following up the provisions, of that conference bill, proclaimed the number of votes cast, and at the end of his proclamation, in pursuance of that very. conference kill, declared that. the Leeompton Constitution was not. the. choice of the people of Kansas..-: :]r.'PARR-OTT..,I eannotiyieid'Ally~ longer to the,gentlemani. "'l-S. does mnat inter~rogat me.. Mr, M1ONTGO5IER~. Xd rl,the: ~eatlema~. i 5 from Kansas allow me to answer the gentleman from Ohio? Mr. PARROTT. No; I must decline to yield further. I shall come to that point presently. Mr. MONTGOMERY. I- will do it in one minute. Mr. PARROTT. I an coming to that directly. I was about to say, when I was interrupted, that this case is to be discriminated from preceding applications made by this Territory for admission into the Union. Kansas has once been admitted by the House of Representatives as a State; upon another occasion, it has been admitted by the Senate; and upon a third occasion, when both houses conjoined to invite her into the Union, the proposals were declined. But, sir, these were contests of factions; they rested upon peculiar and political grounds, and not upon arguments of the intrinsic fitness of the Territory to become a State, by reason of the numbers, the homogenousness, the aggregate or distributive wealth.of its people, or any argument of economy. It is due to candor that thus much should be stated.. , These preceding applications were urged on the ground of political necessity, arising out of the'confusion and disorder prevalent in the Territory. For example: the Topeka Constitution was passed by those friendly to the establishment of free institutions, because the Territorial Government had been wrested from the hands of the settlers, and there was no legal relief, except in the adoption of that Constitution. The Lecompton Constitution was passed for exactly opposite reasons, because the usurpers and invaders would be driven out of the Territory, and all their years of struggle, and the unripe fruits of invasion, would be thrown away, unless that Constitution could be ratified by Congress. But this is a different case; it stands upon the intrinsic fitness of the country to become a State. The Territorial Legislature initiated the measure by- passing a law for the regulation of the subject. Admonished by the haste and imperfection of previous attempts in this behalf, they now pr epared to moveforward by slow and gradual steps, consulting the people at every stage, so that if, at any time, from first to last, the popular voice fiiled'to buoy up the movement, it must drop and be lostrthe whole scheme failed. In the first place, the specific question was submitted, whether the change was desirable; and it was passed upon as a separate and distinct question, unmixed with-anything else, at an election appointed for that purpose only. It occasioned but little surprise to me that this question failed to elicit a vote proportioned to its great importance, and a much less universal expression than could be desired i-n a business of this magnitude. -In the first place, abstract ques~tions of this: kind rarely engage, ardently and deeply, the popular attention; but in the present case, I attribute the light vote chiefly to the~ fact that the public mind, long kept onl a tension strain ing after the public safety, naturally underwent a reaction, and inclined to repose when the sense of immediate danger no longer threaten ed. The summing up of- the vote -showed a majority of five to one in favor of the State movement. In the next place, the Convention having been called, came an election for dole gates to represent the people therein. This question excited a univers al interest and a warm conte st in every district of the Terr itory. The delegate s were cho sen; the Convent ion met; a Constitution was framed. It was submitted for ratification some two months after its adoption by t he Co nv ention and its publication and circulation among the people. Th e election was ag ain a special one, for this purpose, and for this a lone. The Constitution wa s ratified by two-thirds of the votes cast; and I think I may reasonably assume, that but f o r false arguments employed to m islead the public mind in respect to some material clauses of the instrument - particularly the article on suffrage-the vote against it would have bee n wholly insignificant. tIn point o f fact, therefore, the Consti tution ma y be-take n as acceptable to ne arly t he entire body of the people of the Territory. Nor does this approval stand alone. The sober second tc,ought of the people is not waning; for it was put in issue again in the election of a Delegate, among whose prominent duties would be that which I am now atp temptingto perform, to wit:i srin o the preing of th Constitution upon Congress; and in this the former emphatic expression was renewed. Finally, a third time, this judgment was read, firmed in electing: State officers and a State Legislature from the ranks of the party friendly to the Constitution. Thus it appears now, be" yond doubt or cavils that the public interest and approval, not strong in the first part, rose at last to a height of zeal corresponding to the magnitude of the movement, and bore up by heavy and repeated verdicts, through many trials, the friends of a State Gov ernment under this Constitution. This much is clear, and can form no part of any controversy arising out of the consideration of this subject: that the people of the Territory did, deliberately and dispassionately, demand a Convention to frame a Constitution and State Government; that they constituted a Convention of delegates, freely and fairly chosen from among themselves, to make such Constitution; and, finally, that they did thrice declare their entire and unqualified approval and acceptance of the instrument framed and submitted to them by the Convention. No part of this ground is debatable. The first inquiry which presents itself is, were the people in the exercise of a legitimate power in doing what they hiave done? The practice of the:Government has not been uniform in respect to the preliminary steps towards a Sta-te Government, In somne instances, perhaps in most, Congress has authorized the peopl%s by 6 what is called an enabling act, to frame a Con stitution preparatory to application for admis sion into the Union; in other, and not a few instances, the people have proceeded on their own motion, as in this case. I am not aware that their right to do so has ever been seriously called in question; at any rate, it is safe to say that the exercise of this power by the people has never been deprecated or condemned by Congress as illegal or revolutionary. This right is now put in issue. It is said by the President of the United States, and said by the distinguished gentleman from Missouri, [Mr. CLARK,] whose signature is appended to this minority report, that the people of Kansas had no right to make a Constitution. Mr. Speaker, there are few political heresies known to the world that this Administration has not fallen into, and one of the worst and most injurious to our progressive society is the dogma in which he announces that one Congress cannot repeal a law made by another Congress; that our laws, like those of the Medes and Persians, are irreversible. I now pass to consider whether the people of a Territory can be restricted ofa constitutional privilege, and whether this act is such a privilege. Mr. CL ARK, of, Missouri. Will the gentleman from Kansas allow me to say -Mr. PARROTT. I cannot yield now. I am at this moment speaking of the President. I will come to you in a moment. [Laughter.] The President says, in his message to the Thirtyfifth Congress, second session, he does not presume the people of Kansas will have the hardi. hood to frame another Constitution without the consent of Congress. And now, sir, what is the application of the people of Kansas upon which we are now to act, but an application, upon their part to Congress to repeal the restrictive clause of the English bill? Is it lawless for the people of Kansas to petition Congress for a redress of their grievances? That,' sir, is no new question; but it presents the very point in issue. In the year 1836, in the case of Arkansas, this whole question was presented, discussed, and decided-that the presentation of a Constitution, framed by a Constitutional Convention, was nothing but an exercise of the great constitutional prerogative of the people to petition Congress for a redress of their grievances. And this is the mode; this is the particular degree of relief for which they have prayed. Attorney General Butler, speaking of this Arkansas case, said, in relation to the right of the people of a Territory in this respect: "They undoubtedly possess the ordinary priv'ileges and immunities of citizens of the United 'States. Among these is the right of the peo'ple peaceably to assemble and petition the 'Government fbr the redress of grievances. In ' the exercise -oh-this right, the inhabitants ?':0 * * mayr meet together in primary 4 assemblies or in Convention * * * for the purpose of petitioning Congress to abro-a gat e the T erritorial Government,and to admit the m int o th e Uni on as an i ndepe ndent State. 'The particular form- which they may give to ' their petition cannot be material, so long as they confine thems e lves to the mere right of petitioning, and conduct all their proceedings in a peaceable manner. If, therefore, they see 'proper to accompany their petition by a wr it'ten Con s t itution, frame d and agreed on by vthem, * * * I perceive no legal ob' jection to'their right to do so." So:I say now, to the gentleman from Missouri. Whe n he a ssumes t hat the people of Kansas are guilty of lawlessness, because they have assembled in Convention, I tell him that his English bill is inoperative and void, because it is in contravention of the right guarantied by the Constitution to the people, peaceably to as. semble and petition Congress for a redress of their grievances. But, sirs: right here let me observe to that gentleman, that there is another point to which I wish to call his 4ttention. He has been very free in bringing in a bill of indictment against the people whom I represent; and I must be allowed to observe, with all due respect to him, that it comes with peculiar infelicity from a citizen of Missouri in his place here to charge the people of Kansas with lawlessness and disor, der. All now see clearly the true aspect of this feature of the case, notwithstanding the most industrious efforts have been made to conceal it from the public-eye. It is now known, as well as anything ever can or will be known, that it was the repeated raids of ruffians and cut-throats of Missouri, With a view to overwhelm the infant settlements of the Territory, that first set burning in Kansas Territory the fire that afterwards spread all over the land' and recently broke out with such fatal fierceness at Harper's Ferry, in Virginia. Mr. CLARK, of Missouri. I ask the gentleman to allow me to say that he is in gigeat error, both in his remarks and in the spirit in which he delivers them, against the people of Missouri. Mr. PARROTT. I was not speaking of the people of Missouri. Mr. CLARK, of Missouri. The gentleman was in error, as the history of the times will show. Mr. PARROTT. The gentleman must not take up my time by going into a prolonged discussion of that matter; we can do that, if necessary, another time. Mr. CLAR K, of Missouri. I just want to say that the history of the times will show that it was, if men went into Kansas from M~issouri for unlawful purposes,'they were instigated to go there by the persons who were selected and sent out by the emigrant aid societies of New England. [Laughter Son the Republican side.d Mr. THAYEI~. The gentleman from Kansas yields to;me to reply to the remark of the gentleman from; Missouri [Mr. CLARK] in relation to the New England Emigrant A.id Company. On several occasions I have sought the floor, when charges have been made here against that company, for the purpose of showing what it was, and how it acted. I have, in one speech made in this hall, defined its operations; I have shown it to be simply a business organization, conducted on business principles, for the purpose of making investments in the Territory of Kansas. They never paid any one's expenses to that Territory; they never expended one dollar in the purchase of arms for any of the people who went to that Territory; they never made any contributions of moniey in the shape of gifts at any time; they had in view simply and always legitimate business purposes; and if they failed to conduct their operations upon legitimate business principles, they were amenable to the courts of justice whenever they violated the rules that govern business corporations; but that has never been charged; no suit has ever been brought against them. Mr. REAGAN. Will the gentleman from Massachusetts permit me to ask him whether the project of this emigrant aid project did not originate amongst politicians in Washington city, for the accomplishment of political purposes? Mr. THAYER. No, sir. On the contrary, I originated the plan myself. J framed the charter of that Emigrant Aid Company. I laid every timber in the plan of its organiza- tion, and am alone responsible for it. I was a member of the Massachusetts Legislature at the time; and if the Kansas and Nebraska bill had not passed, I would have applied the energies of the company to some other purpose; but that bill having passed, I thought it opened a very good field for operation. Mr. REAGAN. Will the gentleman allow m e t o propound another question? Mr. PARROTT. of must object to my time being consumed by this interlocutory discussion. Mr. REAGAN. I only wished to ask the gentlema n whether the pla n had not pr evi ously been set on foot here, -in Washington, by Senators and Representatives in Congress, to accomplish a political purpose?. The SPEAKER pro tempore. - The Chair must arrest this irregular discussion, unless the gentleman from Kansas yields. Mr. PARROTT. I can.t yield, unless the House will extend my time.; Mr. THAYER. If the gentleman from Kansas is willing to give ne the opport unity, I should be glad to answer the gentleman from Texas; and I ask him to repeat his question.; Mr. REAGAN. What I asked was, whether the movement of which he speaks in Massachusetts, was not subsequent to the setting on1 foot of a scheme for an emigrant aid society i n this city, by politic ians, for political purposes, during the winter of 1854. Mr. THAYER. On the contrary, that weas subsequent to th e origin of this Emigrant Aid Comp any in Massachusetts As eanlw y haFebruary,'1854, the plan of this Company W a s formed and publis he d in Mhassachusettsh. Ui Te Kansas and Nebraska bill was not passed until soSMaye, in that year, and some moement was made by politicians here in Washington relat ive t o some ki nd of a sciety to settle Kansas, I think in June or'July of'that year. But this Washingto n sc heme n ever was put in opera tion., If there was anything that took precedence of this emigrant aid organization iit was thee blue lodges of M issouri, laughter,] which were, I believe, formed prior to that time; and which had resolved that the Yanke's a should never go in to Kansa s, if bayonets an d re volvers could keep them out. The Emigrant Aid: Society, however, never se nt a ny men -there eHx. cept pe ace able men, who went t o Kai nsas for peaceable and friendly purposes. The company never so much as inquired what were their politics. Among its original corporators were Whigs, Democrats, and Free-Soilere. 1 If its labors and investments and encouragement of emigration have resulted in making Kansas a free State, as gentlemen claim, I have only to say it was done according to law. Mr. CLARK, of Missouri. Will the gentle. man permit me to sayt Mr. PARROTT. I cannot yield further. I 0 cannot stop now to discuss emigrant aid societies or blue lodges. I know all about those companies. I received no aid in going to'.Kansas myself, and I believe a- vast majority of the people who went to Kansas went, there without the aid of the New England Emigrant gAid-Society, though the efforts of that association were doubtless well meant. I am discussing the charge brought forward against my con stituency; and I wish. to say, now and her, that it is false and slanderous to charge that they: have ever resisted the laws of the United States, or that they are disloyal or revoluion ary, either in any part of their history or:in their present attitude. Mr. CLARK, of Missouri. I ask the gentle man if history will prove that the people of Kansas have not resisted indictments? - Mr. PARROTT. I am going to tell you about that in a few moments. Mr. SMITH, of Virginia. I object to the interruptions., Mr. CLARK, of Missouri. Anrd I- swish to ask the gentleman, at the same time, whether he intended-to apply the language,!" falser and slanderous," to me:? -::7: Mr. PARROTU. Not at all. I disclaim any disrespect to the gentleman from Missouri.- I am: answering the gentlemnan's argument.:.I am answering a printed argument addressed to this House;i and, if the judgment of th-is ~ouse be that I am trespassing upon its rules of order,, 7 I will not pursue this line of remark further. [Cries of" Go'on I" "Go on! "l h -r. Speaker, the gentleman from Missouri [MLr. CLARK] wants me to tell him whether the people of Kansas have notresisted indictments. Xi forbid that I should ever deny that the people of Kansas did resist the execution of the Territorial laws. That, sir, in my judg ment, constitutes one of the chiefest glories of that people in their memorable struggle for tihe preservation of their personal and political Mr CLARK, of Missouri. I hope the gentle m will permit me to rake a suggestion.. Did the people of Kansas confine their resistance entirely to Territorial laws? Fir. P:ARROTT,. They did, but I an now on the point of the Territorial laws. Mr. Speaker, I recognise nothing as law, except the will ofthe p,ple legally expressed i and the laws resisted by my constituency-or eva ded, is the better term, though I do not shrink from anythingin this respect; I say they were spurious and;null-the laws they evaded, sir, were not the will of the people legally express ed. No, sir, they were the enactments of a M-aso uri mob, clothed with the thin semblance of law. They were made in fraud. They were themselves fraud. They were intended to pro mote and encourage fraud. By means of these pretended enactments) the most refined cruelty was practiced, through the connivance of the District Court-a creation of the usurpation-,, under whose process grand juries were packed and indictments fabricated against innocent men. The Government never had the hardihood to bring these cases before a traverse jury. And, sir, they were -only executed by the aidof Federal appointees, sent to that Territory from abroad. The largest bounties of Federal patronage stimulated these competing scoan-drels to outdo each other in works of infamous ras&lity. [Sensation and laughter.] They never found, and they never could find, citizens of Kansas Territory who would stand up in favsor ofthese pretended laws. Sir, when you come to speak of devotion to law I challenge any man to show me a constituency which has sacrificed more in behalf of the institutions'and laws of the country than that -which I am proud to represent and defend upon this floor. They have submitted evenl to the color'of Federal authority, in Mye judg-, ment, not always wisely; but they have done so. They-have had their peaceable political conventions broken up by United States soldiery. They have had their homes desolated and laid waste, and their:lives imperilled,:by comm-issioned mobs, sailing through the country for the: purpose of hunting ou t and hounded ing downi every man who r~esiste~ their cruel exactions, The-whole land hag:been -filled: with:the~ fury esnd passions of Pandemonium hy:ie- exercise of pretended Federal authority in that Territory. They have always submitted to these exacti0ns, however unjust. I know that it is indeed difficult for men to maintain such a position; and I am not at all surprised, Mr. Speaker, th a t pa rtisan zeal should phave heape d- u pon my constituency the c harge of revolutionary eonduct. It is indeed diffi sult todraw the lin e between legitimaot and illegitimateopposition. They ha ve chosen, sir, i an to submit, and o tak e the consequences, as a lesser evil t han the odium of insurrection. There may have been-t here has been-an oc casional exceptional adventurer, who, in the ufury of passion, raised his arm against the au thorityof the United States; but that has been a bubble po n th e surf ace-a pi mple on the skin-the great popula r hea rt has been sweet and sound to the core in loyalty a nd devotion to the institutions of the coun try. So much for that.: - I come now, Mr. gSpeaker, to c onsider further the objections which are stated in the minority report. It is said that there are not enough people in the TerritOry; and that, sir, is said by the gentleman from Missouri, [Mr. CLARK,] in the face of the fact, that, with little more than One -half the present population he -pr-of.fered a willing and long-con-tinued support to the Lecompton Constitution. But these ob jectors are of two classes: the first, who deny that there is sufficient population in the Terri tory; and the second, who, if there be suffi cient population, deny that that sufficiency has been legally ascertained. I reply to the first class by saying. it is not true in point of fact that there are not ninety-three thousand people in the Territory of Kansas. I have -four dis tinet sources fr. om which I derive my informa tion upon that subject. The first is, the actual vote polled at the general elections of, 18519; the second, registered voters of the Territory; the third, a census taken by the people, and the fourth, the taxable property assessed tby the assessors of the Territory: They all agree in making the aggregate population of the Ter: ritory at least ninety-three thousand people. I will say here, in answer to the interroga tory of the gentleman from New Jersey, [Mr. AD-RAIN,] put to me a while ago, that the popu lation of Kansa does not fall short of one hun dred thousand, in my judgment. We haves first, over twenty thousand people registered of of six months' residence. We have. in the sec ond place, two general elections-the election on the ratification of the Constitution, and the election for Delegates to Congress-at each of which, 17,000 votes were cast. I ask gentlemen upon all sides, who are familiar with these things, how meanfy voters they suppose, in a scattered Territory like ours, from some' inability or another, were kept away from the polls? It i-s not too much to say, and hardly, I think, too muuch to ask from a candid opponhent~ the concession that there must be; at l.east,: when seventeen thousand votes have 8 been polled at three general elections, twenty thousand voters in that Territory. Mr. REAGAN.: Let me put a question to the gentleman. I do so for the purpose of eliciting information. Is the number of popu lation stated by the gentleman the number that is included within the boundaries of the proposed new State, as prescribed in tlhe pend ing bill; or are the people outside of the wvest ern boundary of the proposed new State in cluded in his statement? Does he embrace the Pike's Peak settlers? Mr. PARROTT. I am going to consider the census, about which something has already been said; and I may say, in reference to the interrogatory of the gentleman from Texas, [Mr. REAGAN,] that the population disclosed by these elections, and by the census which has been taken, is, none of it, included in the re gion cutoff and now known as Pike's Peak. Mr.' REAGAN. Let me understand the gen tleman. Does he say that his aggregate em braces none of the people of what is known as the Pike's Peak region. Mr. PARROTT. I say that the people who live in what is now known as Pike's Peak, and outside of the western boundary of the pro-. posed new State, are not included iil any of these e sti mates& Mr. BARKSDALE. Has the gentleman in his possession the returns taken under the celn sus? If he has, I would like to hive the exact figures. Mr. PARROTT. I am coming to that. I am reluctant, Mr. Speaker, to put my own testi mony in; but it will be remembered by gentle men, and it has been reproduced here this morning, that the Delegate from Oregon, when similarly situated to myself, offered his testi mony, and it was accepted,.and I believe acted upon at least by a respectable portion of the opposite side of the House. It is for this reason that I have, in this connection, stated my own conviction ofthe sufficiency of population. I hold in my hand a report made by a committee-the Committee on Elections of the late Territorial Legislature of Kansas. I call the attention of the gentleman from Mississippi .[r. BARKSDALE] to it. It is a report on- an imperfect and fragmentary census taken in June, 1859, by order of the Legislature, for purposes of taxation, having no reference to the requirements of the English bill. None of the counties are fully reported, and many made no return at all. What I am now going to read, is a revision of this census by the last Legislature. Sir. BARKSDALE. I would inquire if that census was taken under an act authorized by the Legislature of Kansas.': Mr. PARROTT. I so stated. Since that time, the immigration into Kansas has been unprecedented. I was saying, that the Committee on Elections in the Legislature of Kansas' to which was referred the subject of the census, reported as follows: "The Committee on Elections, to whom was ' refer red the subject of the census, have had ' the subject under consider ation, and ask leave ' to submit the following report:y "Your committee have examined the re turns as submitte d with the Governo r's moes. sage, and find fro m information obtained from 'the clerks of the several counties returned, and members who represent those counties in ' both branche s of the Legis lature, t hat the re' turns a re very imperfect; that in many count - ' t ies on ly par tial returns have been received by ' the Ex ecuti ve, as r equir ed by law. "Your committee find that Doniphan coun'ty has returned, from four townships, eleven ' hundred and eleven registered votes, and a popula tion of thirty-fi ve hundred and nine ' and, from reliable information before the com mittee, the registers of that county now show a registered vote of over eighteen hundred, ~ which would make an additional population of about three thousand. "Atchison returned nine hundred and sixty three registered votes and a population of ' thirty seven hundred and twenty-three, and now has on the register about two thousand votes, which would make an additional popu' lation of forty-two hundred. "Riley county is not returned, in which there 'are now about six hundred and fifty votes, e with a population of about twenty-six hun dred. "Leavenworth county has returned a vote of ' three thousand four hundred and forty-five; and a population of twelve thousand one hunkii 'dred and twenty-tw~o. The population at that 'time in the city of Leavenworth was nearly ' the amount returned from the whole county. ' From the most reliable information obtained 'from persons well acquainted "and represent'ing that county here, the county contains a ' population of sixteen thousand, making an 'additional population of about four thousand. "From information from the deputy clerk of Lykens county, between three and four hun dred registered voters do not appear in the re' port, that were registered in that county, wieh ' would make an additional population of about ' sixteen hundred. "'Morris, Pottawatomie, and Washington counties, only partial returns, and in some of 'the counties where there are six hundred ' voters, with a population of twenty-five hun dred, only fifty to two hundred registered votes returned.. "In the five counties above mentioned, there is returned a population of seventeen hundred 'and eighteen, and a vote of six hundred and ' sixty-four, in the aggregate being less than ' one-third of the actual vote or -population in 'said counties, which, if added to the popula'tion now returned, would swell the population '-to theF; number of about Dseven thousand. I 'o 10 ' case at this time, and ask leave to submit the 'same with this report, and recommend its ' passage. "P. P. ELDI.R, Chairman.