16 is one of the bold assertions of this investigating committee, which there is no testimony to warrant. Reeder was not a candidate at the election when Whitfield was elected. He was not a candidate at any election held in pursuance of any legal authority. He was voted for, it is said, on the day that delegates were elected to a convention under the Topeka movement; and on page 58 of the report, there appears what is styled an abstract of the number of votes received by him; but this is nothing but a statement by the committee. There is not a particle of evidence to show where it came, from, or what credit is to be given to it; and I cdll upon the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Sherman] to show the facts upon which this statement—this abstract is based. There is not a particle of evidence in this whole volume to sustain it. The only evidence showing the number of votes that Reeder got is to be found on pages 670. 682, and 683. On page 670 it appears that he’received at the third and seventh precincts of the third district, 24 votes. On page 682, it appears that he received at the house of Richard J. Farqua, in the sixth district, 12 votes; and on page 683, it appears that he received at Columbia precinct, in the same ' district, 20 votes—making 56 in all, and all told I If there is any evidence^ or any proof that he received another vote in the Territory, I call upon the gentleman to point it out. If there be any such, it has escaped me; while it appears from a copy of the official records, to be found on pages 45 and 46, that Whitfield received upwards of 2,700 votes. How, then, could the Kansas committee say that Reeder received a larger number of the votes of resident citizens than Whitfield did ? And yet this is one of the incontrovertible facts which the Committee of Election's say have been established by the proof. Mr. Speaker, I can say no more upon the subject. If Whitfield is to be ousted because he was not elected in pursuance of any valid law, upon What principle can Reeder be put in by this House, when in his case there was neither law nor votes. There is butone principle upon which it can be done, and that is, “ Sic voio,sic jubeo”— I so will it, and I so order it. It is the principle of all tyrannies, and the beginning of all usurpations; but I will not permit myself to believe that this House will commit such an outrage. I will not believe it until I see th perpetration of the deed.
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