The Kansas herald of freedom., 1856-02-23
Kansas Feeling Abroad.

intense ieehng SO generaily preVaitht III
every part of the Union inregsrd to our
Territory. Never before in the history
of this government has Territory be-
come SO notorious, OF attracted so large a
Share of public attention, as Kansas has
since its organization. Every newspaper
thatereaehes us is teeming With Kansas
articles; and this is 4 pretty sure indiea-
tionof public feeling for newspapers are
the popular pulse. But these are not the
only indications of a deep-seated, all-pre-
vailing feeling. Congressional reports
are full Of Kansas matters; public lee
lures and political harrangues are plenti-
fully spiced with reflections on our af-
fairs; and preachers make Kansas trou-
bles texts for discourses. These are
some the manifestations of that feeling
They are to be seen elsewhere. Cover
nors of States, South as well as North,
1
urge the consideration of Kansas matters
upon their Legislatures, and recommend
the adoption of !" constitutional and
unconstitutional measures. Meet
ings, composed of the "hewers of wood
and drawers of water" of the farmers,
mechanics, merchants, and all classes OF
laboring men, and women, too, are held
in the cities, and towns, and villages
throughout the breadth and length of the
land, resolves passed, speeches made, and
money contributed, all about and for
Kansas.
Old party ties are forgotten, as regi-
ment after regiment of the disbanded
Wing and Democratic hosts wheel into
! the new army upon whose banners is in
seribed KANSAS J. In the South, and
with the few adherents to the Admins
tration in the North, I" Slavery for Kan
sas" is the shibboleth of the fuSionists !;
while in the North the great heart of the
people is swelling up big with the rally
ing cry of ofFREEDoM. "
Is it possible that we, about whom all
this excitement is created, can remain in
active or uninterested spectators While
on every side Preparations are being made
and popular sentiment enlisted for and
against US, we were recreant indeed to
every impulse of our better humanity,
ungrateful to our dearest friends, and un-
worthy the positions we occupy as the
out-placed sentinels of Freedom. did we
not prepare ouselves to strike the first
blow and bear the first brunt of battle.
This great feeling abroad about Kan
sas is no temporary, Overlooking excite
ment-is not merely manifested in the
exuberance of popular feeling on the spur
of the occasion, but underIies, in fact,
the whole machinery of politics, perme-
ates every nook and crevice of society,
and is strong and has character because
of'the lengthy period it has existed, and
the incessant stimulus which the dis
tracted state of affairs here have constant
ly afforded. This feeling, in all parts,
is somewhat similar in its out bursts, but
widely varying in its objects, according
to the locality. And misapprehension
is general with all parties not intimately
conversant with our internal arrange
ments, which is, that there are two great
parties resident here, with conflicting in
tereSts, and no common groundo of fellow
ship-the one Pro- Slavery and the other
Free State. This is true only in part
Actually there is but one party in Kan
sas, and although that party is divided
into two wings, yet the adherents TO both
are in favor of excluding slavery. This
is the nearest approach to an explanation
about their being two parties here that
we can give. AS to the pro-slayery par
ty of Kansas it is rather migratory. in
its habits, and loose in its place of resi-
dence sometimes in Kansas, (about
election time, but mostly in the dram
shops of Missouri. Confning ourself
strictly to the truth, we may say it lives
in Missouri entirely, and only comes to
Kansas semi-periodically, when its mem
bers are rendered bold and courageous
by whiskey.
1t is barely possible that when this be-
comes generally known in the South. she
will cease hostilities. and not render her.
selfa by word and scorn among all en-
lighted people by putting forth her
mlghtiest energies to knock down a man
of straw.
1E Editors have reason to be thank
fui for such thing as weather, more
particularly than other people. If it
were not for the variations of the tenn