The Kansas herald of freedom., 1856-11-01
Tlc Defala Of Freedom.
Lawrence. Saturday, Nov. /, 1866.
The Mission Of kansas.

lul land, 10 paint III dppioPiiaCS co1ois,
the prosperity that viii yet smile upon
it; may seem to many task not fitting
for this hour of gloom and trial. Yet
VIC think it well amid all trials and diff
ticuities TO look beyond the clouds and
above the storm, to where the far-off
- 'silyery edge gives promise of sun
shine, and TO deduee lessons from pre-
sent dangers. that may indicate way
Of escape in the coming morrow.
The struggle in Kansas is one of the I.
deepest import and Of TIE most absorb
ing interest. Upon her success depend
all that is glorious in our institutions
and all that is beautiful in our ciyiliza-
tion. For long years the serpent-folds
of Slavery has been entwining itself
around the huge limbs of the young
giant of the Western Continent, sitting
freedom of thought and specch-build-
ing a golden wall around the merchants
heart-placing a glittering gag upon
the preachers mouth-closing the col
umns of the dress and the halls OF legis-
lation against the discussion of its evils;
until grown bold by continual victories,
it flung off the mask and with rutiian
hand and savage violence, sought to
plant It's black poison upon the sunny
prairies of Kansas. We all know how
step BY step, this bloody drama has pro-
ceedcd to its denouement, which but
for an iuterlude not mentionedin the pro-
grammc, would have resulted in the
success Of its foul project.
Ia. there was power to be met, a
resistance to be encountered, that the
Slave Oligarchy had never dreamed OF.
Those glittering generalities 2" OF the
Declaration of Independence, had taken
hold upon the minds of the working men
of the North. They had seen peace
and plenty smile upon the land in which
its precepts had been followed, and they
laid the '' Gathering JUNCTION to their
souls +" that in this wild wilderness of
the West, they might be allowed to put
in practice what they deemed its truths
Dcsirous of rearing for themselves
home out of the waste and of planting
upon It's soil the free institutions with
which their childhood was blessed and
their manhood strengthened, thousands
OF them came to Kansas. What has
l.een the result ? Instead of the reward
for toll they sought, Oppression in its
vilcst form has howled around them
Tyranny, the most hideous, has plant
cd its foot upon thcm-Iniustice the
most glaring has ruled in their midst
Murder, Rapine and Ruffianism has
swept over the land. The bright
MONDAY sun and the clear midnight
sky have alike been darkened by the
smoke of burning dwellings; the ear has
been pierced and the heart agonized by
cries of the outraged and murdered in
habitants. Progress has been stayed,
prosperity driven far away and all the
horrors of war let lose upon US.
Yet have the men of Kansas stood
true to the great NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
to oppression-with which the contest
started. Remembering the unwavering
fidelity to Liberty and the stern devo-
ton to Right, which marked the course
of their sircs, they have not faltered
or looked back" Though poverty has
visited many an hitherto afiiuent home
though hunger and want has stared
them in the facc--though the bleak winds
Of winter, shrieked through their half
finished dwellings and chilled their
seantily clothed forms, yet never have
they retreated or swerved from the
Fundamental truths which have governed
their thoughts and actions from the out
set. For two long years, have they
stood stern and determined as stood the
Puritans of old, amid scenes such as
the history of the past never yet
recorded.
\ glorious morn is breaking upon as
and, though our dangers and trials are not
ali over, the future CLEANS with glory and
smiles in beauty ON the land. We may
again be overrHn, our .homesteads de-
strovel, our fields desolated, our citizens
murdered, yet we know that ours will
be the victory and final triumph.
The conflict here has developed self
sacrificing spirit, has revived conf
Gence in manly courage and has shown
the world that the principles of Ameri-
can Republicanism, have vitality the
worn out despotisms of the old and the
Oligarehy of the new world, never
dreamed of. 1t has had the beneficial
effect of knitting the people together in
the bands of brotherhood, of proving
that fraternity is no idle name and show
ing that before live question all mi
nor differences fade like the snowflake
l,s,f.ol,o tho c,,r,raar Suu
1t has opened our hearts wider, remos.
ell prejudice and prepared the way for
a new and healthier humanitarian devel-
opment. This is the mission of Kansas
Ito plant upon her broad and lovely
prairies, the institutions of Free Labor,
Education and federation, in such per-
fiction as the world has never before
seen. Her struggle has been between
Free Labor and Slave Labor, let her
n l.