tirely to the discretion of the convention, as a thing of contingent expediency only, and not by any means a thing of necessity. And we cannot but look upon this suggestion of Mr. Stanton, however coupled with declarations of southern feeling, and the determination expressed by Governor Walker, as partaking of the nature of official dictation, and being, in fact, a violation of the promised neutrality—an insidious and high-handed breach of faith towards the south and southern men in Kansas. We, therefore, desire in the outset to stamp this game as it deserves, and to protest against all attempts to influence the action of the convention from without, whether coming from the territorial officers appointed by the president, or the free-soil schemers of New York and Boston. The real object and end is under the guise of fair words to the south to make a free state of Kansas."
The Richmond South said: "Upon the new plan which Governor Walker promulgates for the settlement of the Kansas difficulty, we cannot venture an opinion before we scrutinize it in detail. There is one point, however, upon which we can give an instant and emphatic judgment; and that is, the proposition to submit the constitution of Kansas to a popular vote. The convention can do nothing for which there is not an express authority in the law; and as there is neither an express or implied authority in the law to submit the constitution of Kansas to the vote of the inhabitants of the territory, the step would be an illegal and invalid usurpation of power. The proposition is too plain to allow of controversy. Submit it to any lawyer in the land, from Chief Justice Taney or Reverdy Johnson to the poorest pettifogger in the most obscure country village, and the instant answer will be that the convention in Kansas has no right to submit the constitution to a popular vote. The journals of the north concede the point, and declaim against the law calling the convention on the ground that it makes no provision for a popular vote on the constitution. Why then does Governor Walker raise the question? It is especially surprising that he should assume an undeniably untenable position."
Such is a brief history of the troubles in Kansas down to the summer of 1857. The constitutional convention met at Lecompton in September, was duly organized, and then adjourned to meet again on the 25th of October.
