The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-05-29

hesitauoh INTO the Union. " New States may
be admitted by the Congress into the Union :"
such are the words of the Constitution. If you
hesitate for want of precedent, then do appeal
TO the great principle of American Institutions.
H. forgetting the origin of the Republic, you turn
away from this principle then, in the name of
human nature, trampled down and oppressed,
but aroused to a just self-defence, do plead for
the exercise of this power. Do not hearken, l
pray you, TO the propositions of Tyranny and
Folly; do not be ensnared by that other propo-
stion of the Senator from Illinois, Mr. DOUGLAS,
in which is the hOrrid root of Injustice and Civil
War. But apply gladly, and at once, the True
Kennedy, wherein are Justice and Peace.
Mr.. President, immense space has been
trayersed, and ] now stand at the goal. The
argument in its various parts is here closed. The
Crime against Kansas has been displayed in its
origin and extent, beginning with the overthrow
of the Prohibition OF Slavery; next cropping out
IN conspiracy on the borders of Missouri then
hardening into continuity of outrage, through
organized invasions and miscellaneous assaults,
In which all security was destroyed, and ending
at last in the perfect snbjugatiOn of generous
people to an unprecedented Usurpation. Turn
ing aghast from the Crime, which, like murder,
seemed TO confess itself /" with most miraculous
organ, we have looked with mingled shame and
Indignation upon the four Apologies, whether of
which it has been wrapped, marking especially the
false testimony, congenial with the original Crime
against the Emigrant Aid Company. Then were
noted in succession, the tour Remedies, whether
of Tyranny-Folly-Injus and Civil War--or
Justice aud Peace, which last bids Kansas, in
conformity with past precedents and under the
exigencies of the hour, in order to redeem her
from Usurpation, to take place sovereign
State of the Union; and this is the True Rene
dy. Ii in this argument have not unworthily
indicated Truth, then have | spoken according
TO my desires; if imperfecty, then only accord
ing TO my powers. But there are other things
not belonging to the argument, which still press
for utterance.
Sir, the people of Kansas, bone of your bone
and flesh of your flesh, with the education of
freemen and the rights of American citizens, now
stand at your door. VIII you send them away,
or bid them enter? Will you push them back
to renew their struggles with deadly foe, or
will you preserve them in security and peace2
Will YOU cast them again into the den of Tyranny,
or will you help their desparing efforts to escape?
These questions put with no common solcitude;
for | feel that their just determination de-
pend all the most precious interests of the Re-
public; and perceive too clearly the prejudices
in the way, and the accommodating bitterness
against this distant people, now claiming their
simple birthright, while am bowed with mortf-
cation, as | recognise the President of the United
States, who should have been a staff to the weak
and a shield 10 the innocent, at the head of this
strange oppression.
AT every stage, the simiitude between the
wrongs of Kansas and those other wrongs
against which onr fathers rose, becomes more APP
parent. Read the Declaration of independence,
and there Is hardly an accusation which is there
directed against the British Monarch which may
not now be directed with increased force against
the American President. The parallel has a
fearful particularly. Onr fathers complained
that the King had sent hither swarns of Off
GERS To harass our people, and eat out their sub
stance" that he had combined, with Others
TO subject US to a jurisdiction foreign to Con-
stituion giriag has assent 10 their acts Of pretended
legislation :" that abe had abdicated govern
ment here, by declaring us out of his protection,
and raging against u.s." that d" he had excl
ted domestic nsurrection among us, and endedD-
ored 10 bring the inhabitants Of our frontier the
merciiess sacdges:: that "Our repeated petitions
have been answered only by repeated injury"
And this arraignment was aptly followed by the
damning words, that I" a Prince, whose charac-
ter is thus marked by every act which may define
tyrant is unfit TO be the ruler of free people"
And surely, President who has done all these
things, cannot be less unfit than Prince. At
every stage, the responsibility is brought directly
to him. His offence has been~toth of commits
sion and omission. He9s;ss doue that which he
ought not TO have done, and he has left undone
that which ne Sught to have done. BY his &C
tivity the>Prohibition of Slavery was overturned
BY his failure to act, the honest emgrants in
Kansas have been left a prey to wrong of all
kinds. AUlLtpR Fdgttium ertitit, Risl per te; null
lum Ragitium sane te. Aud now he stands forth
the most conspicuous enemy of that unhappy
Territory.
As the tyranny of the British King is all re-
a
old indignities been renewed, which embttered
and 'fomented the troubles of our Fathers The
early petition of the American Congress to Par
Lament, long before any suggestion of indie
pendence, was opposed - like the petitions of
Kansas - because that body twas assembled
without any requisition the part of the
Supreme Power" Another petition from New
York, presented by Edmund Burke was fatty
rejected, claiming rights derogatory to Par
lament And still another petition from Mas
sachusetts Bay dismissed rs " vexatious
and scandalous,' while the patriot philosopher
who bore IT was exposed to peculiar contumely.
Throughout the debates our fathers were made
the butt of sorry tests and supercious assump-
tons. And now these scenes, with these precise
objections, have been renewed in the American
| Senate.
With regret. come again upon the Senator
from South Carolina Mr.. BUTLER, who, omni-
present in this debate Overowed with rage at
| the simple suggestion that Kansas had applied
for admission State; and, with incoherent
| phrases, discharged the loose expectoration of
| his speech, now upon her representative and
| then upon her people. There was no extrava-
| gance of the ancient Parliamentary debate which
| he did not repeat; nor there any possible
| deviation from truth which he did not make
with so much of passion, | glad to add
as TO save him from the suspicion of Intentional
| alteration. But the Senator touches nothing
| which he does not disfgure-with error some
| times OF principle, sometimes of fact. He shows
| an lncapacity OF accuracy, whether in stating
| the Constitution or in stating the law whether in
the details OF statistics or the diversions of schol-
| arship. He cannot ope his mouth, but out there
| flies blunder. Surely he ought to be familiar
with the life of Franklin; and yet he referred to
! this household character, while acting as agent
| of our fathers in England, as above suspicion :;
and this was done that he might give point to
false contrast with the agent of Kansas-not
knowing that, however they may differ i'm genius
and fame, in this experience they are alike: that
| franklin, when intrusted with the petition of
Massachusetts Bay, was assaulted by a foul
| mouthed speaker, where he could not be heard
| IN defence, and denounced as % thief" even as
the agent of Kansas has been assaulted on this
floor, and denounced forger." And let
| not the vanity of the Senator be inspired by the
parallel with the British statesmen of that day !:
| for it is only in hostility to Freedom that any
parallel can be recognised
But it is against the people of Kansas that the
sensibilites of the Senator particularly arous-
ed. Coming, as he announces, " from a State
ave- sir, from South Caroina-he turns with
lordy disgust from this newly formed commune
ty, which he will not recognise even as "a body
polite" Pray, sir, by what title does he indulge
in this egotism? Has he read the history of the
State" which he represents He cannot surely
have forgotten its shameful imbecility from Sla-
very confessed thrnnrh the Revolution Col