The Kansas herald of freedom., 1855-08-25
Eon. tie Ia. Dsmoerqt.
The Black Law in Kansaz.


In another column will be found q
transcript of law recently passed by
the Lower House of the Kansas Legisla-
ture in regard to the ..better protection
of slave property" We invite the at
| tention of Missourians especially. and in
fat tie whole people ofthe United States
TO It's bloody provisions whereby the life
Of awhite man is made of less conse-
! quence and value than the service of a
negro slave. Our correspondent, wri-
ting from Kansas, speaking of its provis-
ions says, that Sin utter disregard of the
natural rights of free speech and thought
it is only paralleled by one thing in all
past history" To this remark we do
not assent it is neither profound nor ac-
curate. Many acts more severe in pro-
visions and more proscriptive as regards
opinion have been passed, and even the
resolution not 10 hare hetaU printed, has
been more than equal in the Past. A
Roman Emperor is said to have written
his edicts SC fine, and hung them so high
that the people could not read them, and
thereupon 10 have glutted bis appetite
for blood to the uttermost upon the un-
coEe:ous yioIators This, we think,
fully parallels tie decision Of the Kansas
Legislature not to print their Draconian
code on the subject of slave property
To the twelfth section, however, it is
our purpose at present, TO call more es-
pecial attention. threads as follows:
SEC. 12. Ifany free person, by spea
king or by wiring, assert or maintain,
that persons Aave not the right to hold
slapes in the territory, or shall introduce
into Kansas, print, publish, write, circu-
late, or cause to be introduced into the
territory, written, printed, publish, or
cireula.e in this territory, any book, pa
per, magazine. pamphlet, or circular
containing any denial OF the rights of
persons TO hold slaves in this territory,
such person shall be beemed guilty of
felony, and punished by imprisonment
at hard labor for term not less than two
years.
This is neither more nor less than
making difference of opinion, upon
constitutional question penitentiary Of
fence. 1t establishes the prison and the
pillory as the arbiter Unconstitutional law,
IN preference TO the Judiciary OF the land.
and makes tie human mind square its
convictions 70 the ideas of few acci-
dentally elected Legislators. The PRO
crustian bed has been a myth hereto
| fore; it promises soon to be a shamble
and slaughterhouse in reality Men
ale no longer to be permitted in the new
Territory TO express abstract opinions
upon moral questions wi-hout suffering The
ignominious penalties of State Peni-
tertiary, aud this is what is called open
ing the territories to the people of the
whole Union, and admitting all persons
to the enjoyment of its fair lands Squat
ter Sovereignty was much iauded by
General Cass and Mr.. Douglas, in the
outset, and yet, under this phase of it,
both Mr. Douglas and Cass would be
sent 20 tie State prison, if they dared to
utter in Kansas Territory what they have
repeatedly said in glowing language in
tlIC A3tiifiSC vi tbC - H4ttu Old
In regard to this law, we have but few
words to say, and they may be said very
briefly. We are in favor of the protec-
ton OF slave property and the rights of
slave holders, where slavery exists, by
all laws and statutes thatcan be enforced,
aud human intelligence does not revolt
at. But this is none such. 1t could
notbe enforced, as was well said in the
debate on Its passage, even in South
Carolina, much less iii Kansas 1t is
foolish in operation, and will prove
reactionary Massachusetts, assuredly
destroyed the Know Nothing party in the
United States by the ultra course of her
Legislasure-by ignoring the Fugative
Slave Law-and by enaeiing the Person
al Liberty Bill. The result, too, will
prove that The Kansas Legislature has
done more to destroy the prospect of
making that Territory a slave State, by
its i'll tempered, seuseless, -schoolboy
legislation, and by the enactment of the
present BLACK Laws" than could have
been effected by all the cohorts of the
Emigrant Aid Society, or by-all the zeal
of Northern fanatical diyines.