Page:The History of Slavery and the Slave Trade.djvu/822

 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 the exercise of their right of voting for or or against that instrument; and the fair expression of the popular will must not be interrupted by fraud or violence."

I repeat, then, as my clear conviction, that unless the convention submit the constitution to the vote of all the actual resident settlers of Kansas, and the election be fairly and justly conducted, the constitution will be, and ought to be, rejected by congress.

There are other important reasons why you should participate in the election of delegates to this convention. Kansas is to become a new state, created out of the public domain, and will designate her boundaries in the fundamental law. To most of the land within her limits the Indian title, unfortunately, is not yet extinguished, and this land is exempt from settlement, to the grievous injury of the people of the state. Having passed many years of my life in a new state, and represented it for a long period in the senate of the United States, I know the serious incumbrance arising from large bodies of lands within a state to which the Indian title is not extinguished. Upon this subject the convention may act by such just and constitutional provisions as will accelerate the extinguishment of Indian title.

There is, furthermore, the question of railroad grants made by congress to all the new states but one, (where the routes could not be agreed upon,) and within a few months past, to the nourishing territory of Minnesota. This munificent grant of four millions and a half of acres was made to Minnesota, even in advance of her becoming a state, under the auspices of her present distinguished executive, and will enable our sister state of the northwest speedily to unite her railroad system with ours.

Kansas is undoubtedly entitled to grants similar to those just made to Min nesota, and upon this question the convention may take important action.

These, recollect, are grants by congress, not to companies, but to states. Now, if Kansas, like the state of Illinois, in granting hereafter these lands to companies to build these roads, should reserve, at least, the seven per cent, of their gross annual receipts, it is quite certain that so soon as these roads are constructed, such will be the large payments into the treasury of our state that there will be no necessity to impose in Kansas any state tax whatever, especially if the constitution should contain wise provisions against the creation of state debts.

The grant to the state of Illinois for the Illinois Central Railroad, passed under the wise and patriotic auspices of her distinguished senator, was made before the pernicious system lately exposed in Washington had invaded the halls of congress; and, therefore, that state, unlike most others which obtained recent grants, was enabled to make the great reservation for the benefit of the state. This constitutes of itself a conclusive reason why these railroad grants should be reserved in the ordinance accompanying our state constitutions, so