The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-03-06

Western Missouri who did it. They have been,
and now are, permitted to violate all law with
impunity.@ Woodson, the Secretary of Kansas,
urged on these lawless men from Missouri, by
assuring them that "there is no doubt in regard
to having fight and if we are defeated this
time the Territory is lost to the South"
The invading hosts from Missouri encamped
on the Wakarusa, within about six miles of be-
leaguered Lawrence. In marked contrast to the
inconsiderate folly of Shannon, was the prudent
firm, and heroic bearing of General Robinson.
Throughout the whole contest, his prudence was
sgnally manifested; and, in the opinion of many,
the country was saved from bloodshed and civil
war by his action. On the It'll of December, your
Governor tells you he went to Lawrence; but he
does not tell you the whole story. He did go to
Lawrence, and he met the Lawrence men, and the
Lawrence women, too; and he saw the infexible
determination of the one, and the calm devotion
of the other. He told gentlemen who directed
the affairs Of Lawrence, that they had been mis-
representative they misunderstood each other;
and then, after two days of conference and nego-
tiation, he made treaty. The first sentence of
the treaty acknowledges that the Governor and
the people of Lawrence had not understood each
other. Here is man who asked the President
for the army of the United States who ordered
out the militia, and incorporates into the militia
of Kansas, by the showing of these papers, from
one thousand to fifteen hundred Missourians; and
then, after doing this, he went to Lawrence-and
what did he find? People who flew to arms SIM
ply to protect their homes and their fresides
against an armed invasion of two thousand men,
who were threatening with oaths, to burn their
city, and to blot them out from existence. l say,
Governor Shannon made a treaty with General
Lane, known to some Senators here,) and with
General Robinson-a man who, l hope, is here
after to be known to Senators-and this treaty
closes with the agreement, on the part of Gov
ernor Shannon, that he twill use his influence to
secure to the citizens of Kansas remuneration for
any damages sustained by the sherifFs posse in
Douglas county that he has not called upon per-
sons residents of any other States to aid in the
execution of the laws and that he has not any
authority or legal power to do so, nor will he
exercise any such power; and that he will not
call on any citizen of another State who may be
here" In these negotiations he agreed to waive
the question of the validity of the laws of the
Territorial Legislature Then he issued order
to Lane and Robinson to incorporate into the SER
vice of Kansas the militia of Lawrence, and di-
preservation of the peace, and the protection of
Lawrence and vicinity" against the armed men
on the banks of the Wakarusa.
Mr.. President, this treaty, which Shannon sign
ed, with Lane and Robinson, on Sunday, the 9th
of December, 1855, will stand a perpetual con-
fession of his incapacity and folly; this order,
giving Lane and Robinson authority to use the
enrolled force"-with those famed Shapes ri
f1es-"for the preservation of peace, and the pro-
| lection of Lawrence and vicinity" against the
armed bands his fatal proclamation had sum-
moned will stand a. living testimony that the
men of Lawrence were the guardians of law
Yes, sir, that treaty and that order will stand
eternal expression, at once Of error and repent
ance.
After signing those evidences of his own humil-
| iation, he returned to the camp on the Wakarusa
opd 70 Ia darc Of hoI
| together, proclaimed his truce with the men of
Lawrence. Back to their homes in Missouri
sauntered these baffled bands of lawless despera-
does, cold, sullen, dispirited. They came to the
banks of the Wakarusa, big with threats of VEN
geance upon the Free State men of Lawrence
they returned with bitter curses upon the mbecile
Governor, whose proclamation had drawn them
from their homes. General Stringfellow whose
pure taste the Senator from South Carolina can
vouch for, denounced the treachery of Shannon
Captain Leonard, the leader of one of these gangs
of border banditti, through the columns of the ST.
Joseph Gazette, declares that your Governor
"raises storm, and then to quell it, Judas-like
processes his special friendship, first for one party
and then, conjecture, for the other. But, how
ever this may be- he descends to the despicabls
position of common liar, both to the one party
and the other"
You may search the records of the country
from the settlement at jamestown to this day.
and you can find no instance of such incapacity
folly, and superadded criminaity, as Wilson Shan
non displayed on that occasion; or such an utter
disregard of the rights of the people as was mani
tested by the border settlers of Missouri. / COM
mend to the consideration of the Senator from
Missouri these pregnant questions of the ST.
Louis Democrat, a paper published at his own
home:
"What right had these hordes of border bandt TO in
wade the SOL OF that Territory and enlist themselves in
there? What law what precedent would justify their in
reference in the affairs of free and sovereign Territory
invite encourage countenance their presence in
in Commonwealth of which they were citizens {,
garng outrage, than that by which Shannon and his
nnions have sought to overawe and crush portion of
desperadoes upon their soil, armed the teeth with
weapons obtained by breaking open United States
arsenal! Has the civilized world ever known a
disc raceful, barbarous, and savage specacle?"
This Administration has now clothed Wilson
Shannon-whose incompetency has been made
manifest to the world-with the civil and military
authority, and with all the power of the Govern
ment to execute the laws, and to maintain order
in the Territory. The duties assigned this officer
in the present critical condition of affairs on your
frontiers, are of the gravest and most weighty
character. Sir, your Administration-by the
wanton repeal of the Missouri prohibition, by
the failure to protect the actual residents of Kan
sas in their rights, and by the laundering acts and
criminal remissness of the official authorities
has brought the nation to the perilous edge of
civil strife. Sir, this Administration owes it to
the country, whose peace is in danger this day.
to intrust the responsible and delicate duties of
Governor of Kansas to prudent, judicious, sa-
gaciOus statesman-a man of individual honor
and personal character, in whom the people can
place the fullest confidence Wilson Shannon is
not that man. The man who could descend to
degrading companionship around the gaming
tables of those saloons of San Francisco (describ-
ed by that experienced traveller, Madame Ida
Pfeiffer, the most dissolute she had ever seen
in her tour of the globe,) with Mexican greasers,
the escaped convicts of the British penal colonies,
and the desperadoes of the Old World and the
New-the man who could, while Kansas was
overrun by armed bands, summoned around Law
renee by his reckless letters, dispatches, and
proclamations, while civil war lowered over the
people intrusted to his care-while an honored
citizen, stricken down by the assassin lay cold
in death, and devoted wife was weeping over
his mortal remains, make himself the humiliating
object of the derison of his enemies, and of the
pity of his friends, by an exhibition of gross in
toxicatiOn-is not the man to whom the Amer
can people would intrust the affairs of Kansas.
call the attention of the Senate, Mr.. President,
to another foray the borders-to the fifth
Missouri invasion. | mean the Eruption into
Kansas on the 18th of December, when the people
were called upon to vote upon the Constitution
framed by that Convention the Senator from
Connecticut is pleased to pronounce Spurious"
Along the Missouri border, the people in several
OF the voting precincts were overawed by threats
OF impending violence, and meetings were not
holden. At Leavenworth, the election was bro
ken up by the lawless brutality of men, many of
whom had been ordered to Leavenworth on that
day, to be formally discharged from service in
the Kansas militia, into which they had been in