Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1855-06-02
rFrou the Independent Democrat, Concord, y. H
The Coming Crisis.

1t is clear that our nation is approaching
crisis which must settle or unsettle American
politics for many years to come. The great
battle between Freedom and Slavery, toward
which the partisans Of the latter have been
hurrying us for many years, has actually begun.
1t is no longer war of words or of IDEAS
1t is no longer question for the ballot-box,
but for the cartridge-box. For the first time
in the history Of our Government, its authori-
ties, its laws its officers are poweress to pro-
tect American citizens on their own soil and
what is more alarming than all, there appears
! to be no serious attempt to sustain the laws or
| the officers the Government itself apparently
winks at the violence that tramples its own
authority under foot
| What is to be the end of these things !?
! Where are these outrages to stop If a terri
| tory large enough for an empire can be invaded
| by an armed banditti and its laws struck down
with impunity for the purpose of planting
| Slavery there, what security have the States
! that when Slave-power shall have gained the
complete ascendancy it now contends for they
! shall not share the same fate The power
that trampes upon the dearest rights of free
men in Kansas will not hesitate to do the same
thing in any State of this Union when oppor-
tunity offers or occasion demands Slavery
knows no law but its own will 1t respects no
right but might Itself the offspring of war,
its hand is ever against Liberty and all the
muniments of Liberty.
The issue which Slavery makes in Kansas
mar must be met nOlc or not only Kansas is
lost but our national liberties are all lost The
day that sees the conquest of that immense
and fertile Territory acquiesced" in by the
people of the Free States will see the hearse
and shroud of American Freedom. The people
of the North must never acquiesce. From
hill top and valley, from farm and workshop,
from the pulpit, the schoo[house and the fire.
side must the word 60 forth, Kansas shall
never be given up to Slavery. 1t was guar
anteed to Freedom by our fathers and the
fathers of the Republic, and free it shall be
though thousand Unions and millions of free
men fall in its defense"
The Free States have already been pushed
| to the wall and can retreat no further They
must now turn on the aggressors or be crippled
and subjugated forever The struggle in
Kansas is their struggle. The result will be
theirs. If mob law, the bowie knife and
Slavery conquer Kansas the North is conquer
ed. The day that sees that Territory a Slave
State of this Union sees the sceptre of Slavery
wave over the entire American Continent 1t
must never be. The spirit that nerved our
fathers in the days of our country's earliest
struggle for liberty must nerve the arms and
hearts Of their children now against far more
relentless tyranny. If the National Govern
will not do its duty and protect the liberties of
the people the people must protect themselves
! The Free States must take the weapons into
| their own hands and use them,
! Don't tell us that it will dissolve the Union.
! The failure of the Union to protect the rights
of the people and to protect the public tranquil
| ity is itself dissolution of the Union. By
| that failure it absolves every American freeman
from, his allegiance TO the Union and proclaims
the right and duty of all to protect themselves.
The only Union to which the people of the
Free States owe allegiance is a Union for
Liberty under law And when it becomes per-
verted for the overthrow of Liberty and Law,
it has no rightful sovereignty over the acts or
consciences of Americans
Disguise it as we may, to this it is coming.
and that rapidly We must bring the Union
back to the policy of the fathers, Or it will be
dissolved. 1t cannot be sustained by the
bowie knife and revolver. 1t ought not to be
| if 1t could. And the sooner the North comes
to look this thing in the face the better. With
such men as are now defying all law and
authority and all decency in Kansas, no Union
can be other than disgrace and curse to the
people of Free States. Away, then, with all
bug-bears fears of dissolution of the Union.
1t can never be dissolved while true to the
purpose for which it was formed When it
become hopelessly false to those purposes, its
end cannot come too soon.