| The "Free-state" legislature and mass-meeting. |
The "Free-state" men were not yet, however, ready to trust the Governor. They thought it wisest to maintain their own organization, and make the Governor feel their power. On June 9th the "Free-state" legislature assembled, to provide for the election of successors to the existing members and officials. Along with it was convoked a sort of mass-meeting of citizens. The legislature was at first without a quorum, and never had an honest quorum. This fact was sedulously concealed from the Governor, while the orators at the mass-meeting raised enough dust and smoke to cover up the real condition of affairs. They made the place fairly blue with their bluster and their threats, and the little Governor was greatly impressed by the apparent seriousness of the situation.
| The plan to capture the Territorial legislature by the "Free-state" men. |
By this time, however, the "Free-state" men had become considerably discouraged in regard to the admission of Kansas into the Union under the Topeka constitution. The Senate had given the application the cold shoulder, and had, apparently, laid it aside permanently. The prevarications of Lane were said to have produced this result. As matters now stood, Robinson and the more conservative men of the "Free-state" party began to consider the advisability of attempting to capture the Territorial legislature, by participating in the election of members, which was to take place in the following October. They felt certain that upon a true census and a fair apportionment, and with an honest election, they could win a majority of the seats in the legislature, and would then be in a position to nullify the work of the Lecompton convention, which, on account of the abstention of the "Free-state" men from the election of the delegates, would be packed with pro-slavery representatives.
The matter of first importance was to obtain a true census. Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, was at the moment in Lawrence, conferring with Robinson and his friends concerning the state of affairs, and he strongly advised these gentlemen to take a correct census under the auspices of the "Free-state" government, and to nominate candidates for seats in the Territorial legislature, and elect them. He felt so decidedly about the matter that he offered to secure the funds necessary to defray the expenses of taking the new census.
Robinson and his friends were now convinced that this was the wise course, but they knew that it would be difficult to persuade the radical elements in their party to go with them. The mass-meeting at Topeka of June 9th had voted to stick to the "Free-state" government, and a convention of the "Free-state" men had assembled on July 15th to provide for its continuance. This convention, after nominating candidates for the legislative seats and for the offices, and resolving to adhere to the "Free-state" government, recommended the people to assemble in mass convention, at Grasshopper Falls, on the 26th of the following August, to take action in regard to the participation of the "Free-state" men in the October election of members of the Territorial legislature, since Governor Walker had declared that this election would be held under the laws of Congress, and not under the acts of the Territorial legislature, and had pledged himself to secure an honest election. It was evident from this that the conservative element in the "Free-state" party had won the day.
Before the day appointed for the Grasshopper Falls convention had arrived, the new census had been completed under the direction of the "Free-state" government, and it was morally certain that the "Free-state" men could elect a majority of the members of the new Territorial legislature. When the convention assembled, it therefore resolved, by a large majority, that the "Free-state" men should participate in the October election, warning the people, however, of the seriousness of the undertaking, and cautioning them against over-confidence in success.