The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1855-10-29
Governor Reeder Defining his posi~
fian..a SfirrlmR Speech.

ally chleu IOT. AM Hlaue very NtiiEi4is
speech, which is thus reported by cores
pendent Of the st. Louis Democrat.
Ladies and Gentlemen: thank you witt
full heart for these repeated evidences o.
your confidence and partality. | should b.
wanting in the finer emotions of true man.
hood ii such fatterine demonstrations did no
touch me, and should be unworthy of then
if they did not bind me TO you--your inter
ests to nv interests--with hooks Of steel.
In the retrospectfon of NV whole life. in
the recollection Of past contests and sicto-
ries, N the varied light and shade of many
friendships and some enmitles, many success
es and some failures, many joys and some
sorrows, / find none OF the past years to com
pare in interest or Importance with the twelve
months spent among the people of Kansas,
who, BY their unfatering faith and generous
confidence. have so bound me to them, that
to any call or demand of theirs | shall ever
hold myself in duty compelled to respond, as
have this night to yours.
Upon former occasion called attention
to the unprecedented character of our po-
sition, and the unprecedented Importance Of
our actions. The results which shall finally
grow out Of the present confusion will not be
for to-day-not for the present age only
but for oil time. The full grandeur and
magniiicence Of this enterprise il not for our
We stand too near To see il all to the
enlarged and enlightened vision OF posterity,
Nthrough the medium Of purified experience,
and from the stand point of future wears
alone Will it loom up withits trneproportions
apparent. And when the last sound Of the
hammer shall have been heard, and beauti-
ful edihce, with dome and cornce, and arch
itrave, stands forth complete, IT will be a
proud boast TO say, was Il laborer here, and
when we, In our turn, are gathered to the
grave, in the accomplishment OF natures
great plan of change and reproduction. the
eve that klndles in admiration at our work
will turn to shed tear of pious reverence
upon the narrower house that gives eternal
shelter 10 the builders. Never so small a
stone laid here might be proud nuns mon
ument. Great applause.
Since, then, our actions are likely to under
20 the inspection not only Of contemporaries
but posteritv, have we thus far formed our
course 80 as to deserve approval For one,
believe we have.
am proud at this moment Of the Free
State party, and Of the principles Of action
which il has promulgated Ii stands IN the
position Of rendering good for evil. ltsays:
we We're born free white men, and claim the
condition of arising from that condition.
The first OF these is the unmolested reeula-
tons Of our institutions Upon our Terrific
~ we want not the blighting curse of slavery
We do not dispute nor do we IN any way
wish 70 interfere with it lsewhere---we stand
upon the platform of justice and equal rights,
and within the compacts of the constitution,
anu the safeguards Of law. We ask that
popular sovereignty become the practice as
III ~ 6 D., /
in our platform perhaps for less than our
whole rights, and concede for a time as a
matter Of courtesy and fairness everything
but the essential principle of the political ex-
lstcnce Of our party. Opposed to this manly
and generous attitude, what il that IF our
adyersarcsg
Missouri. inyi0ation Of every right instinct.
by brute force robs as Of the only rightwhieh
distinguishes frecmen from slaycs-not only
us, her partners and equals in great enter
prise-but the sons Of her own soil mot on
III does she seek to disfranchise and enslaye
the children Of the Keystone state-the de-
scendants of the Piigrms--the sons Of the
Empire State-the men who learn their les
sons Of freedom amid the haliowed spots Of
Bunker Hill, and Saratoga. and Trenton, and
Princeton and Germantown-not ony the
have eyor been in The front ranks of progress
on It's way to the Pacific, and thus opened up
the road through which Missouri herself has
been founded and built up; but worse than
this, ike M unnatural mother, she robs her
own sons, many Of whom see around me,
who have come forth from her own bosom,
of the rights she gave them at their BIRTH
and would enslave them also.
Va. prpclttim he Qrr MI 81 Form af
that We demand the right Of free speech, free
suffrage and free government that we de-
sire to build up here another great republic
by free white labor, and to exclude. as We
have a right to do, the institutions Of slavery,
which we believe would blight our progress.
and our prosperity. We say TO our brethren
of the Union, who differ from us, that altho'
we might deny their right to hold slaves in
the Territory, Yet In the spirit Of Hherality,
we Will find no fault that they bring their
slaves along when they come TO enter into n
contest N the hallot-box for determining the
character of our institutions, aud Will recon-
mend their slaves be in the meantime unmo-
Tested; and we declare that when free insti-
tutons shalt be established, the right Of prop
erty which they claim In the slave. within our
bounds. shall be treated with that modera-
ton and charity which should exist between
brethren Of a great republic, who differ in
opinion.
This is our position, and now let IL con-
trast it with the opposition We have TO meet,
a. exhibited in the pro-slavery legislation Of
the Territory. That Legislation represents
our opponents, but will not libel the pro-
slavery men Of the territory by saying that it
represents them. II represents only those Of
oar Missouri neighbors who elected them,
and who must be regarded as our principal,
almost our only opponents.
This legislature has essayed to perpetuate
the power they usnrpcd--have refused US the