Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1855-12-19

paper, which had been printed the evening
before. The utterly false and misehieyous se-
count which that paper gave Of the proceed
ings at Lawrence aroused the indignation Of
the meeting. and Committee was elected TO
collect all The facts carefully and publish them
for justification before the world. Among the
nice items contained in this paper was the in
formation that Shannon had appointed Rich
Erdson, MissouTisn, commander of militia
which was perfectly just. as they were nearly
all MissouriEns ne had 70 command It also
contained call. the object of which is TO
bring over the wild border rufHans Of Platte
County upon Lawrence. Several ineendiary
appeals IRON the paper published At InGepend-
ence, No., were read. Dr. RoB1Ssox, who
had been frequently urged to speak. bat who
had declined. On the ground that It was time
for acting rather than speaking, and who had
been called ont Of the meeting once or twice
OF different reports. was - length brought out
he having just entered as the meeting was
shout toeedjourn. He commenced to tell
them IN PLAIN way. that he thought affairs
did not IOok 50 vs.y bzd:1
DR.. Robfnson'A Speech.
.sGoyez1o< Shannon had got himself into
q bad situation. He had brought up az these
A1ssourisEs 70 enforce the laws, and when
thsE cane shsy could ind nobody who had
b-okea the laws; foa the people q Lawrence
wees lay sliding people. They had come
ug . destroy Lzwreaee. bit fheF must hsYe
Some qEesexE. and he did not bssieTe they
eozld and any. shannon had been the means
Of bringing these people here, and he was re-
sponsible for tier conduct, 10 the American
people. The Governor had already been
obliged to6sy 70 remove most Of them down
TO The camp on the Wgnksrnss, Tor fear that
they, N their drunken reFelry, Eoald be
gailty CT some atrocions 1nisdeneznor. They
were IN bad Predie2meat; they had no pre-
taxi for making an attack On La arence, and
more than that, ihsy were afraid 70 make il
ard they had reason. He had learned, but
was net sure Il vas authentic, that Shannon
had telegraphed 10 President Pierce that he
must hare the military al Ports LeaveawoEth
and Riley. an that Pierse hads feIerraphed
back that be might have them that shannon
had telegraphed on TO tie President that he
wanted authority is take the Shapes rifles
from the people, and then The President had
teiegrsphed back that he might take them
aud Of course. he would get them IA laugh7;
of course be would be allowed to disarm the
people. when there Is an invading force Of
drunken Missourians almost IN sight, and no
goTernment in the .coRairy TO protect the SET
tiers Laughter, and cries Of of course III
Men Of Lawrence, and Free State men, we
must be prudent as well as courageous. They
have now 10 pretext against us-let them have
none. Ihis~is the last struggle between Free
dom and Slavery. and we must not hatter our
selves that It viii be trivial or soon over
These men have come up from Missouri; their
pretense, that oussages had been committed;
their real object, to crush the Free State men.
Iney have got the sanction Of all the United
States authorities here, but that authority,
while they rejoice in it, is awkward to them.
1t may not be essential for them to find good
cause for fighting, but the authorities want at
least plausible excuse for commencing to
shed blood. That excuse they must not get
Each man must be Q committee of one to
guard the reputation Of the Free State men as
well as their lives. If the Missourians, part
~ from fear, and partly for want of pretext,
have to 90 back without doing anything, it
viii make them langhing-sto and re.
dound fearfully against Shannon; and if they
make the attack wantonly and unproyoked,
as they must if they make it Al, then the
k1ee State men must be shoulder to shoulder,
homes. There may be dark days, Baat 'tYFfig
American people and the world will Justify
US, aid the cause Of right viii eventually tn
umph."
This speech was received with great en-
thusiasm. and seemed to echo the sentiments
Of the meeting.