Gov. Geary, sick in body and sick at heart, had left the Territory in
fear of private assassination, his best friends at Lecompton being the
treason prisoners. These, with something of bitterness, remarked that
the Governor went away in such haste that he had forgotten to pardon
them as he had promised; and thus while he got had out of prison, they
still stayed in.
The party in power at Lecompton had said to the President at
Washington: "We are sick of Northern Governors. They won't do to tie
to. For pity's sake give us a man from the South." And so a Southern
Governor was given them in the person of Robert J. Walker. Rehoboam,
the son of Solomon, said to the Jews: "My little finger shall be
thicker than my father's loins." So this Lecompton _party_ found the
little finger of this Southern Governor to be thicker than the loins
of Gov. Geary.
Mr. W. stood so high in public position that no man stood higher
than himself, save alone the President. He had been a Senator from
Mississippi, and had been Secretary of the Treasury in Mr. Pierce's
Cabinet. The complications of this Kansas question had become such as
to call for a man of the highest rank and ability. The main object of
Mr. Walker's mission to Kansas was to induce the Free State people to
vote at the Territorial elections, which alone were appointed by the
government at Washington, and recognized by it. Until he could
accomplish this, nothing was done toward the pacification of the
Territory. To induce them to do this, he pledged to the Free State men
a fair election. But he found that he was speaking to ears that could
not hear. He had said in his inaugural address with all apparent
fairness:
I can not doubt that the Convention, after having framed a
State constitution, will submit it for ratification or
rejection by a majority of the actual _bona fide_ resident
settlers of Kansas.
With these views well known to the President and Cabinet, and
approved by them, I accepted the appointment of Governor of Kansas; my
instructions from the President, through the Secretary of State, under
date of the 30th of March last, sustain the regular Legislature of the
Territory in assembling a convention to form a constitution, and they
express the opinion of the President that when such a constitution
shall be submitted to the people of the Territory, they must be
protected in their right of voting for or against that instrument; and
the fair expression of the popular will must not be interrupted by
fraud or violence.
This seemed very fair, but what did it amount to? The people knew that
the Governor must consent to be a mere cat's paw and convenience of
these conspirators, or else be unceremoniously thrust aside; and that
the authorities at Washington would sustain them and not him. This had
been the fate of Reeder, of Shannon and of Geary, and this also would
be the fate of the present Governor. Dr. Gihon, on behalf of Mr.
Geary, had bitterly complained that there was not a single officer in
the Territory responsible either to the people or to the Governor;
that all were the appointees of the Legislature, and responsible to it
alone. The Lecompton Legislature had passed a bill calling a
convention to frame a State constitution; and Gov. Geary had vetoed
the bill because it made no provision for submitting the constitution,
when framed, to a vote of the people; and the Legislature had passed
the bill over his veto, and now what power had Gov. Walker in the
matter more that Gov. Geary?
An event happened at that time that was a nine days' wonder, and a
nine days' talk among the people; and yet it does not seem to have
been put on record in any extant history of the period. The Governor
had sought the privilege of addressing the Free State people on this
question of voting, which he made his hobby. It was at a meeting at
Big Springs. Gen. Lane was present, as also were a large number of
Free State men, and the Governor had pressed on them, as the only road
out of their difficulties, the necessity of voting at those
Territorial elections, which alone were recognized by the government
at Washington.
Gen. Lane arose to reply, and in a speech of terrible energy and power
he arraigned the Lecompton party for all their wrongs and outrages;
then, when he had reached the climax of his argument, he leaned
forward, and, looking at Mr. Walker from beneath his shaggy eyebrows
with his deepset, piercing black eyes, and shaking at him his long
bony finger, his whole frame quivering with passion, he said in his
deep guttural tones, which seemed more like the growl of a savage wild
beast than the voice of a human being: "_Gov-er-nor Wal-ker, y-o-u
c-a-n-'t con-t-r-ol your allies!_"
The effect was prodigious; and the Free State men were swept away as
with a whirlwind. Even Gov. Walker felt the force of the appeal. But
he showed himself a brave man; and came back resolutely to the battle.
He said: "_I am your Governor!_ You must admit that I have at least a
_legal_ right to control my allies, so far as to give you a fair
election; and I pledge you my word and honor that I will do it. Now
try me! and see if I do not keep my word!"
The Free State men began to falter and to ask each other, "Is it not
best to try the Governor, and see if he will be as good as his word?"
And from this time forward there began to appear a division in the
Free State ranks; which sometimes grew to be bitter and acrimonious.
This division had indeed begun to appear one year before, when on the
Fourth of July Col. Sumner had dispersed the Free State Legislature at
Topeka. Gov. Robinson was at that time a prisoner, and was, therefore,
not present; but he said in his next annual message as Free State
Governor:
When your bodies met, pursuant to adjournment, in July
last, your assembly was interfered with and broken up by a
large force of United States troops in battle array, who
drove you hence, in gross violation of those
constitutional rights _which it was your duty to have
protected_.
Wm. A. Phillips, correspondent of the _New York Tribune,_ and
afterwards a member of Congress, was a man terribly in earnest, and he
did, on the above-named Fourth of July, in a speech, take the position
that we ought to fight for our rights and defy Col. Sumner and his
dragoons. The men that demanded that we should fight said: "We can
take possession of the houses and fire out of the windows, and thus
avoid the onset of Col. Sumner's cavalry." But the majority said: "We
are loyal to the old flag, and in no case, and under no circumstances
will be found fighting against it." It was this more conservative
majority that began to demand that the Free State men should listen to
Gov. Walker's overtures and vote at the coming election.
Gen. Lane had been uncompromising in defying the Territorial laws. He
had said: "Gov. Walker has said, 'Vote next week.' What for? Have we
not made our constitution? And do not the people of freedom like it?
Can't we submit this to the people, and who wants another?" But now
he had become at the first reticent, and finally said: "Vote." This
singular man that constantly kept on exhibiting his desperate
determination to resist the bogus laws, really kept in his heart the
one supreme purpose to make himself the oracle of the prevailing
sentiment among the Free State men. When, therefore, Gen. Lane said,
"Let us vote," it was good evidence that this had become the
prevailing sentiment among the Free State party.
A convention was held at Grasshopper Falls, August 26, 1857, at which
this was the main question, and it was decided in favor of voting at
the coming election of Territorial officers. The Hon. Henry Wilson had
recently visited Kansas from Massachusetts, and he had earnestly
entreated the Free State men to vote. Phillips, Conway and Redpath
still protested against it. Gov. Robinson, however, gave his voice in
favor of voting.
An election had already been-held June 15th to elect delegates to the
Lecompton Constitutional Convention, at which the Free State men had
taken no part. Fifteen Free State counties had in this election been
disfranchished, no election having been ordered in them.
At the election of Territorial officers, held October 6, 1857, both
parties turned out The Free State men cast 7,887 votes for the
Territorial Legislature. The Lecompton party was reported to have cast
6,466 votes. But though the Free State men had a numerical majority of
votes, yet the districts had been so arranged that the above returns
gave a majority in the Legislature to the Lecompton party. Johnson
county, bordering on Missouri, had been united in one district with
Douglas county, in which Lawrence is situated, and this district had
been given eight members. Oxford precinct, in Johnson county, was a
place of not over a dozen houses, and polled 124 votes for township
officers, yet it reported 1,628 votes for the Lecompton party. When,
however, Gov. Walker and Mr. Stanton came to canvass the votes they
threw out this Oxford vote. They also set aside 1,200 fraudulent votes
in McGee county. The vote at Kickapoo, equally fraudulent, was also
set aside. This gave a majority to the Free State party in the
Lecompton Territorial Legislature, and thus Gov. Walker redeemed his
pledge that the people should have a fair election.
Judge Cato felt that it was time to come to the rescue of his friends,
and issued a writ directed to "Robert J. Walker, Governor of Kansas
Territory, and Frederick P. Stanton, secretary of the same,"
commanding these gentlemen to issue certificates of election to the
men who appeared to be elected according to the original returns. Gov.
Walker good-naturedly refused to obey the order of the court, offering
to submit to arrest for contempt of court, and tendering the judge _a.
posse_ of United States troops to aid in making the arrest. The judge
began to see that he had been making a fool of himself, and dropped
the subject. These Territorial judges had shown themselves capable of
any excess of villainy, and had been a sure refuge in every time of
trouble to this Lecompton party; but even the courts had now failed
them, and these "border ruffian" judges were only laughed at by this
Southern Governor. One year before, these conspirators had assembled
an army to drive out the Free State settlers, and to give the
Territory into the hands of the South; but Gov. Geary had interfered
to thwart their purpose, and, what was worse, a majority of the
leaders of that army, men of note along the Missouri border, had
declared themselves in sympathy with Mr. Geary. Then they had asked
for a Southern Governor, for would not he be true to the South? And
now even this man had failed them, and had given the control of the
Territorial Legislature into the hands of the Philistines! They were
indeed in evil case. It seemed as if heaven and earth had combined
against them, and that only hell was on their side. One last chance
remained. If this was a desperate chance, it must be remembered they
were playing a desperate game--they would make Kansas a slave State in
spite of the Governor, in spite of the Territorial Legislature, and in
spite of the people of Kansas.