Washington sentinel. [volume] (City of Washington [D.C.]) 1853-1856, 1855-11-01
LETTER OF GEN. JOHN L. DAWSON.


We present to our readers this morning the
following letter of Hon. John l.. Dawson, Of
Pennsylvania, to many citizens Of Kansas ten
dering to him I" the Inequalities of frontier
and squatter life, and inviting him to make
them visit. We do not publish this letter as
novelty, for it was written upwards of a
month since, has been generally published in
the newspapers, and like everything from the
commanding intellect of its distinguished
author, has attracted large share Of public
attention. We transfer it to our columns as
part of the history of these stirring times:
BROWNSVILLE, Pa, Sept Is, 1855.
Gentlemen Of the Council and House Of Rep
resentatioes Of Kansas:
Circumstances which Ineed not particularly
advert to, which yet are imperative in their
nature, compel me to decline the invitation
which you extend to me in such flattering
terms, to visit your Territory. However high
the qualification which / should experience
from the acceptance of the Inequalities which
you so cordially tender me, and from behold.
ing those attractive regions in the glory of a
prodigal and luxuriant nature, yet console
ness which might propose by such visit, it
IS yet quite unnecessary. If any opinions and
views OF so humble an individual as myself
can be regarded as of Importance with regard
to the present posture OF your territorial af
fairs, 1t will afford me pride, not less than
pleasure, as l hold it the duty of every good
Citizen to promote, to the extent of his inhu-
ence, the welfare of his country-to place them
unreservedly at your service.
That we may not be deferred by the first
aspect OF difficulties of this kind, we should
remember that they are no novelty in our his
tory. Troubles arising from religious dissen-
sons and persecution and from sectional iea-
lousies, from disputes in relation to territorial
limits, and between proprietors and commune
ties, have at various intervals of our colonial
existence thrown cloud over our happiness
as people, shrouding it for time in depth
OF gloom which seemed to threaten total
eclipse. Thus we have witnessed the excuses
OF religious fanaticism, as exhibited in the rise
of the Salem witchcraft and the persecution of
sects; and those of local jealousy, in the diff
ferent boundary disputes in New England, and
other portions of the confederacy, some of
which have even led to foreign wars. All of
these are troublesome and irritating, and to
the genuine patriot discouraging subjects But
they have all successfully passed away, and if
evils were borne along in their train, these, too,
have proved but transient, and skies of brighter
promise have still succeeded and at this day
we have yet to thank God as to the most
favored OF all the tribes of men, who in diff.
terent ages have been the recipients of his
country. This should teach us not to be dis
heartened by the menacing aspect Of the pecu-
liar troubles which now disturb Kansas Let
US be sure that, out of these too, we shall
come unscathed; and with this unfaltering
confidence in protecting divinity, let us march
steadily forward in the ranks of duty.
To place us on theyantage ground, whence
we may see truly the condition of the question
involved in the Kansas troubles, it is proper to
advert to few facts and considerations, which,
though either unknown or lost sight of, are yet
important IN their bearing, and necessary to be
kept in view, in order to proper apprehension
of the causes which have drawn the question of
slavery into the political arena; and to estimate
Alright the movements of individuals and parties
in regard to it. 1t is matter of authentic his
tory, that at the breaking out of the Revolution,
the slave States were engaged in noble con-
test with the avarice of the parent country for
throwing off the institution of slavery That
contest, as it is well known, found slavery nearly
universal within the old limits of the Union
government has it been voluntarily introduced
The increasing magnitude of the evil had al
ready awakened the fears of the far.seeing
patriots of the South, but their efforts towards
its removal we're vain, so long as England con-
tinued to apprehend detriment to her manu-
features, from the substitution in the colonies
OF white labor for that of the negro. The sue
cessful issue of our struggle for liberty dill in
deed remove the difficulty arising from external
restraint, but the designs Of the benevolent
were for a time diverted by the lruw activity
impaired by freedom to the productive energies
of the nation, and by the tempting appeals to
interest presented by the golden returns which
flowed in annually increasing amount from the
extending production of cotton. The sense of
the evils Of slavery was, however, only sus-
pended, and the statesmen of the South are
still found appealing to their fellow citizens
until 1882, in tones of earnest and anxious
argument, for the adoption of some eIectnal
means for its gradual diminution and final
extinguishment.
Prior to the passage Of the Missouri Com
promise bill in 1920, patriots of all sections of
the country had been of one mind-the CON-
mon good of a common country the one OBJ
ject of the aspirations and labors of all. At
that time the influence of the North and South
III SohBieos was heaiiy pOlSeu, anu the history
of the events Of the day shows conclusively
that the contest which resulted in the passage
of that act, was one for power, entirely regard
less Of the interest or welfare Of the slave.
1t was the effort to obtain the political direc-
ton of the country, and the control OF its leg
islation-to shape its policy in the building up
Of sectional interests, by the adoption of mea
sures protective Of manufactures, internal inn
provements and commerce. and by the appli.
cation Of the resources Of the national trea-
sury-which led to the ferceness of that strug
gle, and seduced Congress into an over stretch
of its power in order to quiet the tremendous
excitement The question having been put to
rest for the time by the acquiescence Of the
nation in that adjustment, the slave did not as
yet, in his domestic relations attract any regard
from the North, and the efforts of Southern
philanthropsts for the amelioration of his con-
dition were not yet intermitted. In the third
of a century which has elapsed since the law
of 1920, State after State north of the line Of
slavery, has been added to the confederacy,
each contributing to swell the influence of the