The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-03-06

very perpetual in new States?" "I should be
false to all the opinions and principles of my
| life, if | did not promptly return peremptory
| and emphatic No ! when called upon to accord
my sanction to form of government which per-
petuates Slavery" Would not the STAKEHOLDER
deem it I" fixed fact" that the man who circu-
lated these sentiments was guilty of a felony"
punishable with FIVE years of imprisonment? Ay,
sir, if some son of Massachusetts, should be found
| circulating the resolutions of the Democratic
| State Convention in 1849, written by Benjamin
| F. Hallett, then Chairman of the National Demo-
| cratic Committee and the Presidents Dis
| trict Attorney for Massachusetts,, declaring that
" we are opposed to Slavery in every form and
! color and in favor of Freedom and free soil
wherever man lives throughout Gods heritage
a.pretty broad declaration, that includes Kan
sas-I say, that if these resolutions endorsed by
| Charles G. Greene, the especial fayorite of the
President in New England, as National Demo-
cratic doctrine, should be circulated in Kansas
by some son of Massachusetts,, he would be sub
jected to the punishment provided for in tais
| section
Here is another section of this inhuman statute :
"If any free person, by speaking writing, assert
maintain that persons have right hold slaves
this Territory shall introduce this Territory, print
publish write circulate or cause to introduced into
this Territory written printed published circulated
in this Territory, any book, paper zine pamphlet or
hold slaves this Territory, such person shall be deemed
guilty OF felony and punished by imprisonment at
| labor for term not less than two years"
Here is a law which Furnishes any freeman as
q felon who went into that Territory under your
| organic law-under your squatter sovereignty =
| doctrine-with two years imprisonment, if he
shall circulate any paper that shall :" deny the
right of any person to hold slaves in the Terri
tory under these laws " and this is the law which
| the President of the United States is so anxious
to enforce and this is the law which the Sena-
| tor from Connecticut congratulates the country
| is to be enforced F.
And, sir, if any person shall be arrested BY
Governor Shannon for circulating in Kansas any
papers denying the right of any person to hold
| slaves there, this code provides that
"No person who is conscientiousy opposed holding
slaves, who does admit the right to hold slaves
this Territory shall juror the trial any pros
ecuion for violation of of the sections OF this act
| When the Legislature assembled, when it turn
| ed out the men who had been legally chosen,
when it brought in tie men imposed on the Ter
ritory by armed invaders from a neighboring
State, when it removed to the Shawnee Mission,
when it was repudiated by your Governor, sent
there by this Administration, then it was that the
| freemen of Kansas assembled in their primary
meetings, and declared against the legality of
this Legislature and its acts. A Convention Of
the People was called. That Convention assem-
bled, framed Constitution, the People ratified IL,
and that Constitution is now submitted for the
action of the Congress of the United States. The
Senator from Connecticut denounces it as "spu-
rious Convention" Sir, this Convention was the
act of the People of Kansas, in their sovereign
primary capacity. They accepted the doctrine Of
| squatter sovereignty. They accepted the doc
trines laid down by Madison, by Marshall, by
Story, by Judge Wilson, by Buchanan and Wright,
and the chiefs of the Democratic party in the days
when the Democratic party paid some little re-
gard to the principles of popular government.
| Sir, the Senator from Connecticut denounced
this act of the People as Spurious Convention
In 1886, the freemen of Michigan, disregarding
the action of their Legislature came together in
their primary capacity, framed Constitution,
sent that Constitution to Congress, and that Corr
| stitution was carried through the Senate by the
votes of Benton, Buchanan, Wright, and the chiefs
OF the Democratic party; but that was in the days
| of Andrew Jackson, when it was supposed the
people of this country had retained the rights
guaranteed to them by the fundamental laws Of
the country. Sir, Andrew Jackson did not de-
| nounce the movement as an insurrectionary one,
| although they refused to receive the officer whom
| he sent to them. The Congress of that day did
not denounce those men as traitors to the coun-
| try, as the men of Kansas are denounced in the
documents before us, ten thousand extra copies
| of which we are asked to publish. No, sir, no |!
This is the first time in the history of this
try, when the People have assembled in their pri-
| mary capacity, and exercised their right their
| Unborn, natural right, to change their Govern
ment at their pleasure and then been held up as
| traitors by the Government of the country. :
| Sir, the Democracy in both branches of, Con-
gress sustained the doctrines maintained. by the
| suffrage party in Rhode Island and it so hap
pens that when Governor Dorr took refuge in the
old Granite State, among the first who recog-
| Missed the doctrines which he maintained, was the
| man who is Chief Magistrate of the United States
| and who now denounces the freemen of Kansas,
| and holds up to the country as violators of the
law, men who are, on the 4th Of March next, to
be arrested if they dare assemble in their legis-
| lative capacity, and choose two United States
Senators to come and implore us to receive KAN
sas into this sisterhood of States, and thus save
this fair Territory from bloodshed and ruin. YES
sir, this man, who now characterizes " revolu-
tonary" what has already been done by the peo-
| pie of Kansas, and warns them that further ac-
ton will become reasonable instruction" well
| coined Governor Dorr to the capital of New
Hampshire, on the 14th of December, 1912, iIs
| series of resolutions declaring, that "when the
people act in their original sovereign capacity
they not bound to conform to forms not insti-
tuted by themselves; " that the day of free
Government would never dawn upon the eyes Of
oppressed Millions" "if the friends of Liberty
| should wait for leave from tyrants to abolish
tyranny"
Sir in pursuing this history, have followed
| of another invasion from Missouri-an inSasipn
which took place on the LIST of October last, when
General Whitfield was elected. / state here, on
| the authority of gentlemen, some half dozen OF
whom are within the sound of my voice, and who
will prove it under oath before your committee,
| if you will permit them to do so, that hundreds
| of men went over from Missouri and voted in that
election.
The invasion-the fourth invasion of which
we have heard so much in these papers from the
Executive Department-grew out of the cold
| blooded murder of man by the name OF Dow,
| at Hickory Point by one Coleman. Mr.. Branson
| ana his neighbors took the mortal remains of the
murdered Dow from the highway where lie had
lain for hours and consigned them to is last
| resting-place. The murderer has never bet tried
| or arrested. Branson, with whom Dow ha lived,
| was arrested on peace-warrant, by Sheriff Jones,
| and rescued by some fifteen of his neighbars and
| friends. Then it was that the stories wers man
ufactured, that a thousand men were organized
| at Lawrence, armed with Shapes rifles and can
non, ready to resist the authorities. There were
not then more than three hundred Shapes rites
| in Lawrence, and not one cannon. There was 30
| armed soldiery in Lawrence when these charges
| were made; there were armed men there, but
| they were not embodied. Of the men who aided
| in the rescue of Branson-an act which might
| take place in any State, at any time without any
Governor thinking of calling out the armed mill
| tia, much less the forces of the United States
only two ever lived in Lawrence, and they were
not in Lawrence at that time. The reports men,
toned in these dispatches, about burning build
ings, have turned out to be exaggerated and mis-
| represented. 4
On the strength of these reports, however
| Governor Shannon sent his letter of the 2Sth Of
November to the President and on the next day
he issued that fatal proclamation which fomented,
at the time, the invasion from Missouri, and this