The Kansas herald of freedom., 1856-05-10

l. seems struggling and looming up
amid an overwhelming profusion of ma
terial and magical adornment.
Ii Is an ancient, and externally vene-
4 rable pile. The eglantine and the ivy
lintertwine and festoon its portals, and
the moss, born of the ages that have
swept over it, chambers over its walls,
and sits sedately on the roof. The touch
of time has fretted and defaced the polish
Of art, yet with the bland smile of kind
and courteous old age,it invites the way,
farer to hospitable entertainment.
The consecutive action of generations
of men reared this mighty temple, and
the massive stones which compose it are
cemenied together by the commingled
blood of freemen and of slaves,
A sable and suffering race have uncom-
1plainingly heaved its well-proportioned
and substantial columns, and their de-
scendants are now the " hewers of wood
and drawers of water" for the necessary
uses of the establishment.
A temple abounding in such external
magniicence, must present an anterior
of luxury and refinement, of courtesy
and comfort, of elegant ease, and even ol
fanciful adornmens consentaneous with
its outward and imposing splendor. Let
US enter its penetralia and explore.
Look spacious hall. draped in black
and stained with blood, lit only by the
feeble and 6tful glimmer of single
lamp, which gives dull, lurid glare,
like the reflection of confagration upon
a sky curtained by night and cloud and
boding storm
Hark ! are those the blending strains
of dear delightful music, that fill the
apartment like sweet exhalation-that
thrill upon the charmed ear, and teach
the heart to forget its loneliness ? 1t is
the moan of despair, the groan of the
Iprisoner, blending with the shrek of
torture Music Yes. The satraps
of the system have been at work devel-
|oping its peculiar beauties. They have
made bare the arms, and lifted high the
lash and the bludgeon they have l.:re-
with played upon the instrument, human
nature, and this is the music God /!
how the flesh quivers. and the nerves
thrill and the brain reels and burns. as
torture stings to madness, and human
nature can suppress its utterance no
longer!
| Look again In one corner of the hall
is quantity of arms of various kinds,
the chief of which seem to be rifles and
cannon, taken by tide walters upon the
supposition that they were contraband ;
also several suspicious-looking casks,
which did not seem to smell exactly like
the ''Maine Law"
! Once more Iu the center of the hall
is a throne constructed of the bones of
those who have died in the service of
the temple, and from whose bones the
chains which bound them in life have
not rusfed array, SO that chains and mana
cles and the lash and the bones of those
who bore them. are commingled in one
common mound, and constitute the indiS-
tinct and shadowy throne on which is
seated the presiding divinity of the tenn
pie. At the foot of the throne is hu-
man skull filled with blood, and lying
upon the marble floor, near the skull is a
lithograph of the Tree, and PROSTATE
statue of the Goddess of Liberty.
Forms, shadowy and of questionable
shape are gliding hither and thither
about the hall; they seem ill at ease,
dropping and despondent.
At length one approaches the throne,
and with nervous and conyulsive move.
ment grasI the skull-lifts it to his lips
drinks the draught seems to revive
him, and planting one foot upon the
fallen statue, speaks thus:
"We have all Que interest. There is
land. very desirable, lying toward the
west; let us enlarge our inheritance
Let us plant for ourselves liberty, fol
others, chains. So shall the tree of lib.
erty cast pleasant shade over the house
of bondage And all the spectres said
twe have all one interest-lberty and
bondage support each other-let us ANAL
gamate them-liberty for us-for others
chains"
| And another spectre approached the
throne, placed his foot upon the litho.
graph of the Tree of Liberty. drank from
tho skull and spake thus: = The people
who flock to that land of beauty have
strength and yirtue-let US therefore ex
haust strength and virtue by corruption. .
And another approached, and follow.
ing the example of his brethren. spoke
thus: "The people love the liberty o.
speech and of the press; now, therefore,
let us suppress their freedom of futterance
or It will be as fire that shall devoul
: ourselves and also the house of bondage
and our ashes and the ashes of oppres
, sion will be as manure for the tree of lib
erty,s which will remain unscathed, ant
more fiourishing than ever" And they
all said /: Thou hast well said, let u.
suppress the freedom of utterance."
And another advanced, drank, ant
: standing on the lithograph of the tree o
liberty, said, ssThe people are intelligent
{ and lovers of justice and humanity le
/, US therefore take away and withhold tn,
; key of knowledge. raise false. distractins
! and dividing issues. that man may be
Icome suspicious of, and hostile to his fel
low man-shus shall we divide and con
: quer" And they all said. /" it is well
! let US take away the key of knowledge
divide and conquer"
And another mighty spectre advanced
ri.