n. The convention also provided that the
question of the adoption of the constitution, and other questions,
be submitted to the people, and required the executive committee
to take the necessary steps for that purpose.

Accordingly, an election was held on the 15th day of December,
1855, in compliance with the proclamation issued by the executive
committee who then issued a proclamation reciting the results of
the election of the 15th of December, and at the same time provided
for an election, to be held on the 11th day of January, 1856, for
state officers and members of the general assembly of the State of
Kansas. The election was accordingly held in several election
precincts, the returns of which were sent to the executive committee
who announced the result by a proclamation.

Thus, when we arrived in Kansas, two rival governments were in
existence, one the result of fraud and force, the other confessedly
incomplete, being without executive power or recognition. Congress
alone could settle the controversy by recognizing one or the other.
Its action and its failure to act will be stated further on.

A brief narrative of incidents while the committee was in Kansas
may be of interest.

We arrived by steamer at a place called Westport Landing, near the
mouth of the Kansas River. As I remember the place it was a mere
hamlet, composed of three dwellings, a store, a tavern, and a
blacksmith shop. We passed over the high rolling prairie, where
but a few and scattered cabins then existed, but which is now the
site of Kansas City, a beautiful city of 90,000 inhabitants. About
six miles from the landing we entered Westport, the headquarters
of the Santa Fe trade. This important trade in 1854 was conducted
with "prairie schooners," wagons of great dimensions rudely but
strongly built, each hauled by four or six mules or Indian ponies,
and all driven by as rough a set of men of mixed color, tribe and
nativity as could be found anywhere in the world. Their usual
dress was a broad brimmed felt hat, a flannel shirt, home-spun
trousers, without suspenders, and heavy cowhide boots outside of
their trousers, with a knife or pistols, or both, in their belts
or boots. They were properly classed as border ruffians, and as
a rule were whisky soaked.

The contrast of this region between then and now is a marked evidence
of the wonderful change that has been made within a single generation.
I have several times visited Kansas