Squatter sovereign., 1855-10-16

ton could have deae no mere, and the
whole purpose of the Anti-Slavery agita-
tors, both in and-out of Congress, was qui-
etly accomplished. But the scheme failed
las it deserved &c, fail; and as. the peace,
prosperity and union of our country required
it should fail. 1t was scheme totally at
variance with the genius of our governs
ment, both State and Federal, and with
the social institutions which these govern
men,s were designed to protect, and Its
success would have been as fatal 10 those
who contrived it, as ii could have been TO
those intended TO be its victims
The circumstance of novelty is entitled
to its weight in politicssas well as law
The Abolition Eruption upon Kansas is
without precedent In our history. Seven
ty-nine years Of our national life have rolled
by; Territory after Territory has been an
nexed, or settled, and admitted to the gall
axy of States, until from thirteen we have
increased to thirty-two; yet it never before
entered into the head OF any statesman,
North or South, to devise plan of acquir-
ing exclusive occupation of Territory by
State colonization. To Massachusetts, be-
longs the honor of its invention, and we
trust she will survive its defeat. But she
is not the Massachusetts, we must do JUS
tice to her past history to say, that she was
in the times of her Adams, her Hancocks,
and her Warrens; nor yet is she where
she stood in more recent times, when her
Websters, and Choates, and Winthrops led
the van of her statesmen. Her Legislative
halls are filled with ruthless fanatics, dead
to the past and reckless to the future pur-
porting 10 annul the laws of Congress,
passed in pursuance aud BY reason of the
special requirements Of the Constitution /;
and her senatorial chairs at Washington
are filled by a rhetorician and a bigot, one
of whom studies to disguise in the drapery
OF classic elocution, the most hidecus and
treasonable forms Of fanaticism, while his
colleague is pleased to harangue city
rabble with open and unadulterated dis
unionism, associated with the oracles OF
Abolitionism and infidelity-a melancholy
spectacle TO the descendants OF the compat-
riots of Benjamin Franklin!
No Southern or Slaveholding State has
ever attempted to colonize a Territory
Our public lands have been left to the oc-
cupancy of such settlers as soil and climate
invite. The South have sent no armies to
enforce slave labor upon those who pre-
ferred free labor. Kentucky sprung from
Virginia, as did Tennessee from North
Carolina, and Kansas will from Missouri
from contiguity of Territory and similar.
ity Of climate. Emigration has followed
the parallels of latitude, and will continue
to do so unless diverted by such organiza.
tons as Enigrant Aid Societies and Kan
sas Leagues.
1t has been said that the citizens o.
Massachusetts have an undoubted right tc
emigrate to Kansas; that this right may
be exercised individually or IN families. o.
in large private associations; and that as
sociated enterprise, under the sanction o
Legislative enactments, is but another an6
equally justifable form of emigration
Political actions, like those Of individuals
must be judged by their motives and effects
Unquessionably, emigration. both individ
ual and collective, from the Free States t
the South, and, rice rerso, from the Slav.
States to the North, has been progressing
| from the foundation of our Government Il
the present day, without comment am
without objection. 1t is not pretended tha
such emigration. even If fostered by Stat
patronage, would be illegal, or In any re
spect objectionable. The wide expanse @
the fertile West. end the deserted waste
of the sunny South. invite occupation; an
no man, from the southern extreniity G
Florida to the northern boundary OF hiss
o,iri, has ever objected to the 1c,n:gran'
simply because he was from the North, an
preferred free labor to that of slaves
Upon this subject he is allowed to consu
his own taste, convenience and conscienc,
and it is expected that he viii permit h
Ineighbor-t to exercise. the same privilege
But, no one can fan TO distinguish betwee
an honest, bonashde. emigration, pro,npte
by choiceior necessity. and an organize
colonization with. offensive purposes upo
. the institutions of the country proposed |
! be settled. Nor can there be any doubt
: which class to place the movements of Il
Massachusetts, Emigrant Aid Sccieti.
and Kansas Leagues Their motives ha,
; been. candidly avowed, ana their obiec
: boldly proclaimed throughout the ienel
: and breadth of the land. Were this n
: the case. it would still be impossible
} mistake them. Why, we might we'll il