The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-08-04
Hisceiiapeous.
Manifesto.

CtA2enS OF Laurence ana Men1bsfs
Iof the Laurence Associatioa An hon.
orable regard for the integrity of your
rights, uniting with decent respect for
our own characters as Just aud honest
men, impels Us to make this pdblic de-
Iclaration of our designs, and yindicz-
ten of our actions. We appeal 10 your
sense of justice, and demand from you
that right and equitable consideration
of the following facts which is due
from man to man, and then have the
wrong righted. We have infringed
upon no mans rights, nor do we design
doing so new, and all we claim is the ad-
mission and protection of our own. We
have silently and peaceably submitted to
the violation and destruction of those in
terests which might otherwise have been
acquired, rather than even apparently in
wade your inherent prerogatiyes, while
those who had not the thinnest shadow
of claim, nor the most impalpable par
ticle of right, have, by fraud and de-
ception, appropriated to themselves one
half of yours and the whole of ours.
We -disclaim all design to wage any
war of interest against the Lawrence As
soeiation, or any one connected with the
town site, to defrsud any one of their
rights. or bully any one into our measures
or compliance with our demands !. but
convinced that an uniustifable fraud has
been perpetrated, and an Infamous
outrage committed upon the rights
and privileges of the Lawrence Associa-
ton, in which our own have been ship
wrecked, we are determined to have these
wrongs redressed and inhibit repeti
ton.
We are opposed to disturbing the peace
of any community, to quarrelling with
any of our fellow men, or -coveting the
property of any citizen, or even seeming
to do so. and whilst you pursued poll
icy which was calculated to respect our
rights and enhance the welfare of all, we
stood ready to defend you and yourprop-
erty in all emergencies; but when we
have seen your compacts violated, our
rights invaded, and our property wrench
Jed from US, to shut the mouths and glut
the pockets of those whose demands vi
olated both right and justice, and having
patiently waited for redress of those
grievances, and 6ud none. we say wewill
no longer submit to 1t.
We are opposed to the settlementeffect-
ed between the outsiders, or original
claimants to the town site and the Law
renee Association, and declare it to be
null and void, of no validity in law, and
hereby repudiate it. The grounds of our
opposition are -
1st. Because that atsettlement was based
upon claims made in direct violation of
law.
Cd. Because it destroyed compacts
which you made and were bound to full
I'll.
Sd. Because it was accomplished thro'
fraud and deception On the part of claim
ants.
By reference to Mr.. Lykin's letter of
Feb. 18th last, we learn tnat on the Goth
of May, 1854, he, in company with sew
eral friends, selected, marked, improved,
and occupied his claim thereafter, and
further ''that town cannot be located on
an individuals claim lawfully and prop
erly attached" and by referring to the
proceedings of a Sovereign Squatter"
meeting on the 11th of Jan. last We see
that the "Baldwins took other claims on
the said 26th of May, 1854; that on or
about the Goth ofJuly, 1854, Mr.. Brans-
comb, an agent of the Emigrant Aid
Company, arrived here for the purpose
of securing those claims for town site
that on or about the 1st of September, |
1854, the first party of pioneers arrived,
headed by Dr. Robinson, =" and that some
time between thatand the 5th Sept 1854,
the Lawrence Association was organized,
and the town site taken for trade purpos-
es. These are the admissions of the orr
ginal claimants.
We shall state two propositions, and
prove them.
l. That no claims for pre-emption
could be made prior to the 28th Septem-
Der, 1854.
By their own admissions, and the set
tlement, four persons hold to have claims
within an area of one mile square, and
upon which the town site is located.
Now, Messrs. Lykins and Bsldwins
date their claims the 26th May, 1861
1t was impossible for them to lay claims
at that time. By the organic act, section
10, we find ''that nothing therein con-
tanned shall be construed to impair the
rights of persons or property now per-
tanning to the Indians in said Territory,
SO long as such rights shall remain unex
by treaty between the United
States and such Indians
The language is plain and explicit that
no one can lay claim to lands in this
Territory in which the Indian title has
not been e1tinguished. The Shawnee
title to the land on which Lawrence is
located was not extinguished until the
s8th September, 1854, at which time,
the treaty was ratified. Commissioner
John Wilson, in reply to E. D. Ladd,
Esq, Feb. Esd, 1855, declares that the
Shawnee lands were only open for settle
nent on and after the e8th Sept, 1854,
and previous to that time we were all
ntruders. And the instructions of the
department. to the Indian agents were
that they should "warn the iBtruders
that they enter upon those lands as tres
without authority Of law, and in
direct violation of treaty stipulations,
and that no claims, of whatever nature,
which they may hereafter set up, in vir-
tue or growing out of any settlement
they might make, viii be recognized as
vesting in them any right whatever."
Now We have conelusively proved the
following facts, viz list. BY the organic
act, that claims could not be taken nor
settlements made on lands in this Terri
tory until the Indian title was extinguish-
ed Cd, by the treaty with the Shawnee
Indians, and the letter of Commissioner
Wilson, that such title was not extin-
guished until the 28th Sept, 1854; I'd,
by the instructions of the land depart
mani 20 fI,o4 III