The Kansas herald of freedom., 1856-11-01

i of Universal Freedom, is trulya sourct
of happiness, and inspires me with new
zeal to labor in the same direction.
/ Weall came here under the protecting
egis of the American flag, expecting
to be sheltered from insult and oppres.
sion while it centinud to float over us
| We had seen that flag respected on every
sea, and in every cline The potentates
of the old world had learned that il
waved over nation of freemen, hence
the lone traveller, whether pursuing his
journey through despotic Austria OF
Russia, the deserts of Arabia, the plains
of Hindostan, among the savage tribes OF
Africa or our own Continent, have gen
orally been protected from outrage and
violence. To know that man was an
American citizen was ample security
fot all his God-given rights. But we,
in Kansas, with that national ensign
over US, and American soil under our
feet, soil secured to freedom by the trea-
sures of the nation, have been subiugated
to a despotism the worst the world ever
saw. Outrage and violence have been
the rute rather than the exception.
Whilst the federal government has been
fomenting controversies with foreign
powers over trivial matters, American
citizens have been pillaged at home.
While cities were being sacked, and
women and children were flying over
the prairies to escape injuries worse than
death, or others were secreted in
RavInes ana deep old woods"
| their husbands and brothers, for no
crime save loving liberty and hating op-
preston, have been pursued by. that
government, thrust into prison, and for
long and weary months have been de-
prived of every inalienable right and
threatened with death. After pro-
tracted captivity they returned to find
their homes in ashes, their families
scattered, their property stolen, and
their PRINTING PRESSES destroyed by
Border Ru6fan hands.
Ladies, | had been taught that * free
| dom of speech and freedom of the press"
were guaranteed to us wherever that es-
eutcheon was allowed to wave; but the
broken remnants of three presses now
lying at our feet, the type, with which
the earth is strewn, and the dilapidated
appearance of those walls on and after
the 21st of May last, told that there was
one Territory professedly under the pro-
lection of the American eagle where
such rights were not secured to Ameri-
can citizens.
Go to yonder cemetery, on the emf
nenee overlooking this city, and look
upon the graves of brave men now cold
in death, shot down for no crime.
There lie the bodies OF. Barber, and
Stewart, and Sacket, and Shombre, and
Hoyt. What had they done to de-
serve death ?" Go ask Frank Peirce,
whose myrmidons slew them, and then
give US your answer.
The fallen colonnades of Rome tell
of Vandal hands that laid the mightiest
works of art, of ancient or modern
times, in ruins. Their voices come to
us from the past, and give US assur-
ances of the barbarism of northern and
central Europe, fifteen hundred years
ago. The broken presses at our feet
shall remain for centuries, evidencing
the deep and damning infamy of
those persons, claiming to be Ameri-
cans, who lived during the middle of
the nineteenth century, but who did not
adopt the sentiment of Thomas Jetfer-
son, in his Inaugural, that g Error Of
OPINION mag be tolerated, phen REASON
IS left FREE to combat It. The Van
dals who prostrated those walls yonder,
and covered the earth with unsightly
stones and mortar, could not tolerate a
free press, with its thousand wings,
which should tell nation of the sacri-
fees which the internal god of slavery
demanded on its bloody and despotic
altar They Stunned the light of day,
hoping to shroud their villainous acts
with darkness. But other presses have
caught up the story of our wrongs, and
with their legion tongues have aroused
a nation to duty and to action.
| In all despotic governments, the
press has been ensiaved. Tyranny
cannot long survive its benign inau-
ence. No sooner had Napoleon usurp-
ed the throne of France, than the free
dom of the press was crushed; no
! sooner was the press untrammeled In
America, than freedom began to live,
giving birth to- our Republic. No
sooner will the freedom of the press
begin to wane. then Liberty will begin
to die.
The period in which we live is big
with events,-and we in Kansas have
been important actors We are hardly
conscious of the deep impress which the
iron pen of Time is now indeiibly writ
ing on the page of history. Another
generation will do justice to our fame
and YOUR sacrifices. All, know you.
Ladies, that your names will be re-
membered with the mothers of the Rev
| olution? Know you that your chill
dren will recount the "reminiscences OF
these times, and associate you and your
sufferings with them, and drop tear
! In the urn which entombs your ashes?
thank you again for the glorious
present which you have so kindly
placed in my hands,-a donation no
less than the American dag with its
thirteen folds of white and red harTno-
niously blended, and its thirty-one stars
surrounding the thirty y-seeond, draped
in blood flag, the original of which
led the infant armies of the country to
victory, and secured Republic TO the
world.
| thank you for the good will borne
me in the present. and for the words
lof cheer which accompanied the act.
shall look back upon the incidents
lof this day in proud contrast with that
other dag when ] lay in prison. guarded
6s confessed murderer, and heard from
/ the ostensible Governor of Kansas the
IyiIlainous deeds which were to be COM
Imitted by hands stained with blood, IN
our own Lawrence, ere the sun should