True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1855-09-26
GOV. SHANNON.

AO~S' tnN Sl'"'eVA OON.puauu0n o . oPVSNn
at WestpOrt, and his disposition to inhict
Slavery upon Kansas. We copy its re-
marks, and commend them TO the attention
Of the people Of 0hio;
"SiAes Shannon voted for the Nebraska
bill, with the certainty of offending his
constituents, but withthe promisethat Mr..
Pierce would take care of him if they
dropped him atthe next election, there can
of course be NO work too dirty or shame
full for him to do.
Those who in their simplicity thought
that Gov. Reeder was removed from his
Office on account of certain speculations IN
wild lands, which he never made, but only
asked Mr.. Pierce's permission to make,
will, we think, now be undeCeived. The
Kansas Legislature could not get on with
him. He was retained in Office long after
his offer to speculate, until it was clear that
he could not be relied upon as cOnfeder.
ate of Atchison and Strmgfellow; butthe
moment he began to refuse his signature
to their laws and dsay their validity, he
was summarily dismissed. His place was
first offered to one who it was we'll known
would not accept it-so we'll known, that
the telegraphic dispatch which brought
from Washington the news Of bis appoint
ment, brought also the intelligence that he
would certainly refuse it. Shannon, how
ever, has no such scruples; he accepted
the offer with alacrity, and set out imme-
diately on the errand Of enforcing the de-
crees of the adventurers assembled at the
Shawnee Mission, and introducing Slavery
into Kansas.
But will Governor Shannon be able to
perform his promise? There are two OBJ
jections entertained by the people of Kan
sas to the odious rescripts which Governor
Shannon calls laws in the first place, that
the conclave by whom they were adopted
had 10 authority to act as Legislature
and in the second place, that they are Of
so tyranical nature, so repugnant to all
our notions of free government, that their
execution cannot be endured. Will Gov.
Shannon, for example, be able to exact of
the settlers of Kansas the oath to support
the Fugitive Slave Law, before they are
allowed to vote? Docs he imagine him
self able to execute the decree issued by
the same usurped authority, which makes
it crime to speak orpublish word against
the introduction of slavery into Kansas
By what sort of process does he expect to
fulfil another decree by which the man who
shelters in his flight brother man escap-
ing from bondage, is to be punished with
death? The settlers will laugh his law to
scorn, and throw their ds6uuUU in his teeth
Will Mr.. Pierce, to second his creature
and instrument in the effort he is about te
make, resort to the military arm OF the
government? Will he order out the fed
eral troops as be did to enforce the Fugi
tive Slave Law. at Boston, and as he would
not do to protect the rights of the residents
of Kansas against the outrages of the In
vaders from Missouri? If he takes that
step, he plunges the country into a civil
war at once. Ordinances like those pass.
ed by the usurping Legislature at the Shaw
nee Mission, are not laws for free people
to obey, and all the power at the disposal
of the federal government could not en-
force them. Let Mr.. Pierce make the ex
pertinent let him try the effect Of order
ing out a regiment of the government
troops to aid il imposing slavery upon Kan
sas against the will Of its colonists. Il
was not long since that we saw crowds o.
eager adventurers on our coasts, our OWL
countrymen, preparing for descent upor
Cuba, to deliver the islanders from tht
yoke of Spain. Would there be no bod.
to 90 up to the struggle for liberty in Kan
sas, where the cry for help should be rails
ed by our countrymen in their extremity
our old friends and neighbors, who, in fix
ing their residence there, yainly imagine
that they were still in free country Ou
word for it, the protest against tyrann
worse than that Of Spain would not be un
:, regarded. Thousands of the young me
y of the North, already too impatient Of th
dull calmness Of peaceful life, wonl
throng upon the ground in such number
;, as to elbow the comparative handful (
soldiery out Of the territory, and even
. hustle the whole army Of United Stat
:, officers, governors, judges and marshal
- over the frontier.
: Let no man deny, then, that the intr
IF duction of Slavery into, Kansas, as Il
+ consummation of one more object of tt
= Nebraska bill, is the great question Of IL
: day Almost every mail from the We