15, 1857.Ibid., p.

122.
Determined to secure whatever prestige could be derived from high qualification and party influence, Buchanan tendered the vacant governorship of Kansas to his intimate personal and political friend, Robert J.Walker, of Mississippi, a man of great ability and national fame, who had been Senator and Secretary of the Treasury.

Walker, realizing fully the responsibility and danger of the trust, after repeated refusals finally accepted upon two distinct conditions: first, that General Harney should be "put in special command in Kansas with a large body of troops, and especially of dragoons and a battery," and retained there subject to his military directions until the danger was over; and second, that he "should advocate the submission of the constitution to the vote of the people for ratification or rejection." [Sidenote] March 7, 1856.

June 25, 1856.
This latter had now become a vital point in the political game.

The recent action of the Territorial Legislature and Geary's already mentioned veto message were before the President and his Cabinet.[2] But much more important than these moves in Kansas was the prior determination of prominent Washington players.