The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1856-09-03

la another column will be found an item
from the Council Bluffs Chronotype, relating
to the robbery Of gentleman of that place
Of some property shipped to him from ST.
Louis by the Missouri River, and also Of
gentleman Mt Glenwood, Mills county. =
These are robheries committed upon citizens
Of Iowa robberies of property not destined
for Kansas, though, lawfully, if was no mat
ter whether it was to be used there or not
robberes upon persons in no wise connected .
with Kansas affairs, which fact was made
known to the persons who committed them.
And vet this is no remarkable case,---no !
glaring, startling fact. II is only q minor
and comparatively unimportant incident con-
nected with wholesale, stupendous system
Of robbery,-piracy, for piracy is the legxl
and proper word. But is it not thing
which should make men thinks thing of
the gravest and most solemn Importance
/ that piracy, n crime which our laws and the
| laws Of all civilized nations stigmatlze and
| punish as among the blacklist and most in
| formal crimes known to the world, can be
/ committed upon the public waters, in the in
terror OF the country, in open daylight, sys-
tematically, premeditately, defantly, and
with perfect impnnity? 1t is thing unpar-
alleled in modern times thing unparalleled
in any decently civilized community since the
world began. Wehear Of such things upon
the China seas: about the islands Of Java
and Borneo; occasionally in the widest and
most obscure corners Of our own West In
dies and we read the accounts of them with
mingled horror and wonder,--a wonder that
men, human beings like ourselves, can be-
come so ontlawed, desperate and reckless
And yet the piracy which the world witnesses
and chronicles with so much horror, no whit
varies in its character from the piracy com
mitted upon the Missouri River, and is hardly
more bloody or Internal. The former is car
/ ried on by desperate men, whom the world
/ agrees to count outlaws Of every country,
and whom the navies Of all nations agree in
common to pursue and to destroy, like nests
Of rat,lesnakes while the latter is perpetra-
ted BY persons who call themselves gentlemen.
who belong TO Christian churches, who
call themselves ''law and order" men,-who
/ feel thu. il is their peculiar destiny to save
i the Union, are very much afraid that
if they relax their efforts this confederacy Of
states, this government instituted bv Wash
ington, and Madison, and their confeder ntesi.
will fall asunder. And the Gov rnment of
this country permits IL all this q yernment,
whose special duty il is to put .un mary en- d
to il, to prosecute the pirates nv fire an
sword with all its energy, coua RANGES an d
encourages il ; permits them to take, keey,,
aud employ the public arms in their nefari-
Gus and damnable business.
The prosecution Of such business. in the
interior OF the country, is q startling fact :
but that it should be prosecuted with i'm
punity, that it should not call out oil the
instant and utmost energies of the Govern
mcnt to suppress IT, that il should not elicit the
unanimous Indignation Of the people in every
quarter OF the country, is fact fraught with
still greater and more startling Importance. -.
II demonstrates the existence OF q party fanat-
icism so blind an unrcasoning that i, fails to
apprehend. nay, that IT defends AMI supports,
the most stupendous Of crimes. 1t indicates,
plainly and unerringlv, how strong hold
! that deyilish system of human bondage has
upon our social institutions, upon the pri-
yate tongues Of our people. and upon the
government OF the country. il shows how
nearly il has become the supreme lawgiyer,
the paramount power in the state how far the
moral sense, ali sentiment Of human rights
and personal equality before the Jaws, all
freedom Of thought and feeling and speech.
have been contaminated By the leprous infu.
enee and humblci in the dust before sthe
sum Of all sillaiuies''
The strength Of such blind aud wide
spread fanaticism. coupled with such q
unanimous and overwhelming interest in the
breeding hetrafie and the ernr,lov,rnn, -
human beings. as though they were beasts.
ianb and destitute Of all the attributes Of our
race Is great and powerful. But there are
those who have not yet bowed the knee to
Baal who still believe that tue shining
glory Of this country i the broad aud com.
rrehensite Liberty which il PROPOSES that
Preston is the primary and prevailing law,
and Slavery the sad and ignohle exception
that our grea, Declaration is aof .sself-
evident falsehood,'' nor rhetorical flourish
they look upon such things with indipna-
ton and horror. They have determined. IL il
lies IN their power, 70 renoyate this govern
ment aud put an end~to them Whether
there be IN this land enough Of loyalty TO
the true spirit and the written letter of our
institutions 10 restore and re-establsh their
integrity whether Lii erty, and Law, and
Order are 70 prevail. or Slavery. and Piracy /