The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-07-17

4
peace and order, oppression will cease.
| The bill declares that laws of certain char
acter shall not be enforced within the Territory,
! and the honorable Senator from Kentucky
regards this provision as abrogating some OF
the tyraunical laws enacted by the usurping
| Legislature. Certainly it does not abolish all
those laws 1t is doubtful how many, or which
of them, it does abolish, and whether it will
abolish any of them effectualy. If 1 did not
misunderstood the honorable Senator from
Georgia, the author of the bill, he gave it as
his opinion, that while the bill re asserts and
re-enacts the Rill of Rights contained in the
| Constitution of the United States, these OBJ
noxious laws of Kansas do not in fact conflict
with that Bill of Rights. Here, then, will be
ample room for misapprehension, misunder-
standing, and conflict. The Free State party
| will assume that the obnoxious laws of the
usurping Legislature are annulled. The Slave
State men, on the other hand, will maintain
that they all remain in force. The conflict be-
tween them will 60 to the courts of the Terri
tory, for their decision. From those courts
there is no appeal in criminal cases to the Su-
preme Court of the United States. How those
courts will decide on questions to which they
are virtually party, we already know too well,
because we know they have already adjudica-
| ted that a tavern, in which Free State men are
|
presses are nusances, and that even bridge,
over which Free State men travel, is also a
| nuisance and that all these nuisances may be
abated, on the presentment of packed grand
| jury, without trial, and by an armed posse
comitatus, consisting of enlisted Pro-Slavery
| bands; and we know, also, that treason to
| the United States is adjudged by the same
courts to consist not merely in levying war
| against the United States, or giving aid and
countenance to their enemies, But in assembling
peacefully as citizens to petition Congress for a
| redress of grievances.
The process which this bill proposes for Ia
| king the census, dstricting the Territory, and
| ascertaining the qualifications of electors and
conducting the elections, is to be confded to q
commission appointed by the President of the
United States, by and with the advice and con-
| sent of the Senate. / have already seen who
was first appointed Governor of the Territory
by the President and Senate, and how, and
| upon what grounds, he was removed by the
President; and who was appointed his success
| sor by the President and Senate, and how, and
upon what grounds, he is retained by the Pres
ident. l have also seen who were appointed
Judges and Marshals for the Territory by the
President and Senate, and how, and upon what
grounds, they are still retained in office by the
President. | have seen how the Governor,
tory into all the horrors of anarchy and civil
war, in an effort to compel the people to relin-
quish the right of selfgovernment, or to flee
from the Territory for their lives. l want no
more civil agents within the Territory appoint
ed by the present President of the United
States. ! said, when l addressed the Senate
in April last, that Kansas was brought to
state of revolution by the expressions of the
President of the United States, and had assum-
ed an attitude of revolution, WHICH was tolera-
ted indeed, by the Constitution, but was, never
theess, an attitude of revolution and that in
this, as in all revolutions, the evil could only
be corrected by separating the oppressed alto
gether from their political relations to the op-
pressor. l say the same thing now.
l will not dwell infinitely on other objections
which have been justly raised by my associates
here. l am content to say, in general terms,
that the President of the United States has per-
petrated a coup d'etat, by which the Territorial
Constitution, given to the people of Kansas by
the Congress of the United States has been
absolutely subverted; that the President holds
absolute power over that people, in the name
and the form, indeed, of spurious, legislative,
ministerial, and judicial authorities; that Sla-
very is practically established thee already by
force; that q portion of the people are slain,
while a larger portion have been expelled from
the Territory by force; that the freedom of
speech and of the press, and the personal inyi.
.olabiiity Of the electors, as wen as the purity
of the ballot.box, are subverted, while the lead
ers of the party of Freedom are either dispersed
beyond the Territory, or imprisoned within it,
on charges of pretended crimes The elector
can only reach the polls and deposit his vo,e
under the protection of the army OF the United
States. The rcyinstances are parallel, almost
70 the point of coincidence, with those which
attended the ELECTION by which the Republicans
of France invested Louis Napoleon with the
powers of an absolute despotism. Fix day
upon which the people of Kansas shall decide
between Slavery and Freedom, and, from that
day, what remains of free population will be
spirited away. A new and Fictitious immigra-
ton OF Pro-Slavery electors will rush into the
Territory from adjacent slave States. Order
and silence will indeed prevail. The elector
will receive his ballot ct ths hands of the sol.
aiers VINO have restored the Territory to this
condition of quiet and peace; and the count
ing of the ballots will tell the simple story that
tn" .-sca,i ierritorial usurpation is adopted
and converted into State Sovereignty, BY the
voice of the enslaved people Of Kansas.
Here is premonition of the manner in which
a Slave State Convention would be obtained
under this BILL 1t is an extract from the testi
mony Of Colonel John Scott, of st. Joseph's,
Missouri, given before the Committee of Invest
igation of the House of Representatives, and
VIII be found in thair report,
at is my intention, and the intention of a
great many other Missourians now resident in
6 Missouri, whenever the Slavery issue is to be
determined upon by the people of this Terri
tory in the adoption of the State Constitution,
to remove to this Territory in time TO acquire
+. the right to become legal voters upon that
question. The leading purpose of our intend.
ed removal to the Territory is to determine
the domestic institutions of this Territory,
when it comes to be State; and we would
not come but for that purpose, and would never
think Of coming here but for that purpose.
believe there are great many in Missouri who
are 80 situated"
We are assured, indeed, that the bill shall be
so modified as to allow the electors, who have
fed the Territory, to return. Who can vouch
for the ability of those poor emigrauts, aoatter-
ed over the free States, to return to their
homes in the Territory, even if they should be
so disposed? None can be safe in the Terri
tory without arms, or being alone. None can
return to the Territory in numbers and with
arms, because armed parties are disarmed, and
sent back by the army of the United States
The honorable Senator from Kentucky Mr..
ORiTrENpEN asks me whether will do moth
ing-whether nothing shall be done to compose
shis fatal strife in Kansas, which, he says, no
one has depicted in deeper colors than myself.
] answer, Yes. will vote for the admission Of
Kansas into the Union, under the Topeka Con-
stitution. That measure, and that measure
only, will restore peace and harmony, while it
will rescue Freedom from peril. Take that
measure. If such a thing is possible, as turn.
ing free State into slave State, you will yet
have the opportunity to do so, if the welfare
OF Kansas, and of our common country, should