The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1855-05-03
4olitifaI 9sns.


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an enthusiastic reception from his friends and
former neighbors. He reached Phillipsburg at
noon, and was there met and escorted to the
Court house square of Easton by large con-
course of citizens. On his arrival at the court
house, he was welcomed by Mr.. J. H. Porter,
who complimented the Governor for the able
manner in which he had discharged the duties
of his Office.
Gov. Reeder, in reply, expressed, in feeling
manner and in eloquent terms, the grateful i'm
preston made upon him by the warm and en-
thusiastic reception given him By so large an
assemblage of his fellow-citizens He referred
to the reports of fraud and outrage upon the
part of Slavery men in the late Kansas election,
and emphatically confirmed the very worst
statement which had preceded his arrival He
said that his opinions on the subject of popular
sovereignty had undergone no change, but that
the conduct of the people of the border coun-
ties of Missouri had astounded and amazed him
by their reckless disregard of all laws compacts,
and constitutions; that the Territory of Kan
sas had been invaded by regularly organized
army, armed to the teeth, who took possession
Of the ballot-boxes, and thus made the Legisla-
ture conform to the purposes of the Pro-Slave-
ry party.
Kansas was subdued, subjugated, and con-
quered by armed men from Missouri; but her
citizens were resolved never to give up the
fight for freedom and independence of soil
from foreign control and interference Missouri
would be called upon to disavow all sympathy
with those border ruffians. If she should re-
fuse, the South would be called on to discoun-
tenance her. If the South should refuse, the
solemn duty would devolve upon the North to
take up the matter so that the rights of her
sons who had settled in Kansas on the faith of
Il
sustained. He declared that the accounts of
the fierce outrages and wild violences perpe-
trated at the election which had been published
in the Northern papers, were not exaggerated.
He concluded by saying that Kansas was now
conquered country-conquered by force of
arms but her citizens were resolved never to
yield their rights, and relied upon the North to
aid them by demonstrations of public senti-
ment, and all other legal means, until they
should be fully and triumphantly indicated.
Ion, of the Baltimore Sun, though a New
Highlander, is regarded by the South as entire
ly "sound on the Slavery question" He says,
in his epistle of the 3Oth--
"Gov. Reeder was uniformly, as I understand,
a Democrat of the national and liberal school,
with no faint of fanaticsm or sectionalism
about him, and the allegation of his enemies
that he is an Abolitionist is belied by the
tenor of his whole life, conduct, and opinions.
He went to Kansas with the intention of carry
ing out, in good faith, the liberal and correct
principle on which the Nebraska bill was found
ed, and of which he was an advocate. He did,
so far as his official acts and personal influence
were concerned, attempt to carry out this view;
but he soon found himself in the presence of
power hostile to the principle of popular sover-
ai0otv end ono that baA Opar1y ophct;t,tod
force for law.
The question has come up for decision, for
tunately to the Executive Government, and the
Administration must now take side either in
favor of law and order or against it. They cam
not evade the question, nor so settle it as to
suit all parties. They must decide it one way
or the other, and encounter the enmity of one
side or the other; and the question, being one of
national character, necessarily involves, in its
decision, the hostility either of one side or the
other. In Pennsylvania, his native State, Gov
Reeder has unquestionably much personal pop
ularity, and his course is popular there and
generally elsewhere in the Northern States
But, on the other hand, the State of Missouri is
his antagonist and, if we may credit the Kan
sas and Missouri press, many of the Missouri
ans are determined that he shall act as Gov
ernor no longer. 1t is not improbable that the
South will be led to understand the question
just as the Missourians do.'
GOVERNOR REEDER.-From some sources, our
reports of the conduct of this gentleman in Kan
sas are highly creditable to his justice and in.
tegrity of purpose. The Lawrence Herald of
Freedom, of April It'll, for instance, says that
he showed himself to be true steel during the
exciting times of the previous week. The Mis-
sourians waited on him in person, and threat
ened to hang him unless he would give the Pro-
Slavery candidates certificates of election. His
reply was: "Gentlemen, two or three of you
can assassinate me, but legion cannot compel
me to do that which my conscience does not
approve" A private letter from General Sam
uel c. Pomeroy, dated Kansas, Missouri, April
Z, in which this account is corroborated, says:
"Governor Reeder has stood up like a man.
The members elected by Missouri votes held
meeting, and voted to go to the Governor and
demand their certificates. IF he refused, then
to request him to resign his Office, or they would
shoot him. / sent line to the Governor, to
ask him if he wanted anything in the hour of
his trial. He said, 1t would be grateful to his
feelings to know he had some one to lean upon.'
sent my horse and buggy that same night,
with line to DR.. Robinson. The next day,
twelve good and true men, with revolvers, &C.,
stood up with the Governor. We remained two
and half days, determined to do or die. We
had been insulted and had all our rights tram
pied upon during the election, and now deter
mined to submit no longer. At last, the men,
bers left amidst storm of wrath and oaths
poured out upop the Governor and the Emf.
grants Aid Company. The Governor to-day
starts for Washington"
THE New ELECTIONS IN KANsAs.-The New
York Ereniag Post says:
1T may, we suppose, be safely affirmed that
q newspaper established in free country ought
to inform its readers of the important events
which are taking place in the world. 1t is re-
markable, however, that the greater part of the
journals in the slave States are as silent con.
corning recent event of great consequence as
are the Austrian newspapers concerning any
matter which their Government does not mean
that the people shall discuss. Of the enormi-
ties lately committed in Kansas, most Southern
journals have not a word to say; they neither
mention them nor deny them; BY their silence
they both admit their existence and conceal
them from their readers. One might read, for
example, the Washington Union daily, from the
title to the last word on the last page. without
ever learning that horde of ruf1ians from Mis-
souri, had made an Eruption into the Territory,
and, keeping the actual inhabitants from the
polls by violence, had voted for their own can.
didates, and had insisted that the Governor of
the Territory, under pain of being lynched,
should certify to their election. If the readers
of the Union had no other means of acquiring
knowledge of contemporary events. but
through the columns of that paper, they would
never hear of the riotous proceedings in Kansas