11 j these transactions in Kansas, that it is de- tion to Freedom which alone constitutes any me in that Territory, in the view of its judges, ministerial officers, and of the President of e United States ? And that that crime, in what- er it may be committed, in their judgment, nstitutes treason ? Who does not see that de- tion to Freedom, applauded in all the world sides, in Kansas is a crime to be expiated th death ? I have argued thus far, Mr. President, from e nature of the pretended laws of Kansas, and >m the cruel and illegal severity with which ey are executed. I shall draw my next argu- mt from the want of constitutional authority, the part of the Legislature which enacted ese laws. The report of the Kansas Investi- ting Committee of the House of Representa- 'es, consisting of the evidence of witnesses, mbered by hundreds, and biassed against the nclusion at which the House of Representatives ,3 arrived, has established the fact upon which nsisted in opening this debate on the 9th of aril last, that the Legislature of Kansas was osen, not by the people, but by an armed inva- m from adjoining States, which seized the Hot-boxes, usurped the elective franchise, and ■ fraud and force organized a Government; ereby subverting the organic law and the thority of the United States. Sir, at another ne, and under different circumstances, a single vader, after the manner adopted by Colonel illiam Walker in Nicaragua, might have tered the Territory of Kansas with an armed rce, and established a successful usurpation ere. Let me suppose that he had done so, and id promulgated these identical statutes in the .me of the Territory of Kansas, would you hold, auld the Senate hold, would the President of e United States hold, that such a Government, us established, was a legal one, and that itutes thus ordained were valid and obligato- ? That is the present case. It differs only this: that in the case supposed there is a igle conqueror, only one local and reckless urper, while in the case of Kansas an assorted band are the conquerors and usurpers. The jrritorial Legislature of Kansas stands on the undations of fraud and force. It attempts to aw over itself the organic law enacted in 1854, it it is equally subversive of the liberties of e people of Kansas, and of that organic law, id of the authority of the United States. The igislature and Territorial Government of Kan- s stand on no better footing than a coup d’etat, a revolution. When honorable Senators from the other side of this Chamber tell me that I am leading the people of Kansas into revolution, I fearlessly reply to them, that they have stood idly by, and seen a revolution effected there. Doubtless, they have acted with a sincerity of purpose and patriotism equal to my own. They see the facts, and the tendency of events, in a light different from that in which these facts and transactions present themselves to me. They therefore insist upon maintaining that revolution, and giving it the sanction of Congress, by authorizing the standing army of the United States to execute-the laws which that revolution has promulgated. The House of Representatives, on the contrary, denounces the revolution, and stands upon the authority of the United States, and, for the purpose of putting an end to that revolution and restoring Federal authority, insists that these pretended laws shall not be executed. In this great controversy, I leave the majority of the Senate, and take my stand by the side of tlie House of Representatives. I You warn me, that if we do not recognise these revolutionary authorities in Kansas, the Territory will be without an organized State at all, and will relapse into anarchy. The House of Representatives meets you boldly on that issue, and replies, that if there are not laws in force, exclusive of these pretended statutes, adequate to the purposes of civil government in Kansas, they have invited you, in two separate bills, which they have sent up here, widely variant in character, but each adapted to the case, to provide for the. restoration of regular and constitutional authority in Kansas. One bill proposes to recognise and establish the State of Kansas, under the Topeka Constitution, and the other proposes to reorganize the Territorial Legislature, with proper amendments of the organic law. Thus far, you have practically refused to accept either of these propositions. If, when Congress shall have adjourned, the result shall be that Kansas is left without the protection of adequate laws and civil authority, look you to that. The responsibility will not rest on me, nor on the House of Representatives. I desire, Mr. President, on this great occasion—perhaps the last one of full debate during the present session of Congress—to deliver my whole mind upon this important subject. I add, therefore, that the tendency and end—I will not say object—of the revolution which has been effected in Kansas, which has been effected by her conquerors, through the countenance and aid of
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