The Kansas herald of freedom., 1856-03-01

----~> 49, ~e'->-~
opinion expressed in resolution in the
Anti-Aboftion platform framed few
weeks agoat Topeka.
Differing with you and the Pro-Slaye-
ny party upon the great question of Slave
ry, and taking this view of our organic
act. and believing that the present terri
torial laws were enacted for the purpose
of driving ont Free State men and check
ing Northern emigration, and that under
them justice would not be meeted out to
those whose opinions harmonic with my
own, I took grounds in favor of the Con-
|stitutional movement.
came here with the intention of max
ing Kansas my home, but l did not leave
my principles behind me. And as |
am an actual settler of Kansas, cannot
but feel an important interest in her des-
tiny believe her soil. her climate, and
her geographical position, all demand
free labor, and therefore l earnestly de-
sire that she be admitted as Free State.
She has no navigable streams tEat can
be depended on. The products of her
fertile soil must be borne off on artificial
thoroughfares, and where the capital of
commonwealth is invested in slave
property it cannot be in internal improve
ments. There are thousands of acres of
rich land now in Missouri unimproved,
and when, with her advantage of slave Ia
Dor, she brings this under cultivation, she
may consistently reach her .feelers out
for more. The South has now the larger
area of country, yet her prosperity will
in no respect compare with that of the
North.
If ! am to be called an Abolilionist,
disunionist, a fanatic, &C., simply be-
cause l believe the prosperity of the peo-
pie of this Territory would more rapidly
increase under free labor than slave, then
T must bear these titles, though / can
assure you coyet none of them.
I hold that with slavery where it ex-
lists now in the States, we have no right
to meddle, but when it'becomes SO OBJ
noxious to a people that they will sacri-
fee their lives before they viii receive
it or allow it to be forced upon them by
usurped authority or at the point of the
bayonet, then it is ime some positive
Legislation should be had in relation to it,
or our government is republican only in
name.
1t is not necessary for me to refer you
to the acts of the Missouri Kansas Legis-
lature. You know there is one which
nullifes, if possible, the pre-emption laws
of Congress, another which takes away
the liberty of the Press and the freedom
of speech, thus violating the plainest pro-
vision of the Constitution, another which
requires man to pay for the great priv
ilege of voting, thus establishing as d
qualification the cents in his pocket and
not the sense in his head, another which
disfranchises American citizens, another
which deprives us of the right to choose
our own officers. You know you and
your party would not submit to such
laws if you were in our place and We in
yours. You know you would not suffer
yourselves to be harrassed, dragged about,
imprisoned, mal-treated and chased from
the pursuit of happiness by such leg
islation, Unprecedented in the history OF
our country. While such laws as these
remain in a pro-slavery statute, how can
the South consistently reproach Massa-
chusetts with having passed laws nulli-
F! flying the laws of the United States p
How can the finger of scorn be pointed
at that State by pro-slavery fanatics when
portion of the people of Missouri, by a
usurpation of power, enact and admins
ter law in this Territory? "Two wrongs
never made right. And this spirit of
retaliation, if persisted in, will most as
suredly bring ruin upon our country
Therefore, it behooves every good man
to keep an eye'' to the windward side
of our old ship of State" and encour-
age such measures as will be likely to re-
store harmony and good feeling among
call hands and the cook"--the people
and the President.
| am proud of the State from which
hail, proud of her democracy, proud of
her internal Improvements, proud of her
prosperity proudof herdevotiontotheUni
on, and proud to know that she does not
sustain the present course of the Admin
istration. The united voice of her peo-
pie, whispered louder than thunder
through the ballot-box, bears me out in
the assertion. And to "desert her. l
would have to step into the ranks of the
pro-slavery party, and act with those
who are called Border Ruffians.
must say that your remarks with ref
ence to Lawrence and her people are un-
generous, as you yourself would acknowl-
edge were you as well acquainted
with her citizens as I am. / have no
more sympathy for negro-stealers' and
"traitors to our country" than you have,
and will be found, when necessary, as
prompt in using all honorable means to
put them down and, put them ont too, as
any other man. am confident if the
party to which you belong bad a clearer
and more correct understanding of the
position and principles of the great body
of the Free State people of Kansas, bet
ter state of feeling would exist between
them.
As to the Herald of Freedom I will
merely say that it is highly conserva-
tive journal when compared to the tone
of some of your Border papers.
Yours for the right.