The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-04-03

! persons from any quarter to go to the Territory
! and settle as independent freemen, says:
! But it is very different thing where a State
! creates vast moneyed corporation for the pur-
! pose of controlling the domestic institutions Of
a distinct political community fifteen hundred
6 miles distant, and sends out the emigrants only
{ as a means of accomplishing its paramount
! political objects. When powerful corpora
! ton, with capital of S5,000,000 invested in
houses and lands, in merchandise and mills in
cannon and rifles, an ponder and lead in all the
| implements of art, agriculture, and war, and
| employing corresponding number of men, all
under the management and control of non-res-
{ ident directors and stockholders, who are au-
{ thorized by their charter to vote by proxy to
{ the extent of fifty votes each, enters distant
and sparsely-settled Territory with the fixed pur-
pose of welding all in its power to control the
{ domestic institutions and destinies of the Ter
! ritory"-
And so it would be very different thing but
has any such thing occurred? Never. The pro-
ceedings of the Emigrant Aid Society, which are
! incorporated in the report, do not set forth any
such state of fact. They do not show that the
! Emigrant Aid Society has invested capital OF
i $5,O0O,O00, or one cent, in powder and ball, in
cannon and rifle Oh, noi The report is very
far from charging that Such charge, if made
could be met and refuted. What is charged
4 is alleged in the report that an Emigrant Aid
| Society was Incorporated, &C.; and then it de-
claims against society that should invest its
means in powder and cannon, rifle and ball. to
control the domestic institutions of distant Ter
ritory. This is not charged directly upon the
| Emigrant Aid Society, but by inference only
When a society shall be found SO engaged in
! fact I will unite with the committee in opposi-
ton to its insurrectionary movements but am
not Quixotic enough to combat with windmlls
and shadows.
! A society relying upon force and ammunition
for its success would more nearly resemble those
which were organized in western Missouri and
the mistake the part of the author of this elab
crate report seems to have been in assigning the
formation and existence of the society he de-
scribed to wrong locality.
We might take up the charter of the Coloniza-
ton Society, and, after reading it, proceed to de-
claim against the abomination of getting up an
organization to produce instruction among the
negroes but the Colonization Society and insur-
rection would have more to do with each other
than good and evil. They are as far apart as the
poles and so is the real action Of the Emigrant
Aid Society and that action which is argued
against in this report 1t is against assumptions
Of this kind in the report that am speaking.
Here is another specimen Of its fairness
"When the emigrants sent out by the Massa-
chusetis Emigrant Aid Company, and their af
liliated societies, passed through the State of
sas, the violence of their language, and the I'M
mistakabe indications of their determined hos
tity to the domestic institutions of that State,
excited apprehensions that the object of the
company was to abolitionize Kansas"
Whatt " a6olitionize Kansasl" 1t was said, on
all sides of the Senate Chamber, that it was never
meant to have Slavery go into Kansas. What is
meant, then, by aboltionizng Kansas? Is it
abolitionizng Territory already free, and which
was never meant to be anything but free, for
Free State to settle in it? cannot understand
the force of such language; but they were to alb
oltioniZe Kansas, according to this report; and
for what purpose? GAS a means for prosecuting
relentless warfare on the institution of Slavery
within the limits Of Missouri" Where is the
evidence that such was the design? / would like
to see it. 1t is not in this report; and if it
lists, will go as far as the gentleman to put it
down. | will neither tolerate nor countenance,
by my action here or elsewhere, any society
which is resorting to means for prosecuting a
" relentless warfare upon the institution of Sla-
very within the limits of Missouri, or any other
State. But there is not particle of evidence Of
any such intention in the document which pro-
fesses to set forth the acts of the Emgrant Aid
Society, and which is incorporated into this re-
port. But the report goes further, and says:
"The natural consequence was, that immedi-
ate steps were taken 10y the people of the west
ern counties of Missouri to stimulate, organ
ize, and carry into effect system of emigration
similar to that of the Massachusetts Emigrant
Aid Company, for the avowe1 purpose of cOun-
teracting the effects, and protecting themselves
and their domestic institutions from the conse-
quences of that company operations.
T" The material difference in the character Of
the two rival and conflicting movements con-
sists in the fact, that the one had its origin in
an aggressive, and the other in a defensive pol
icy; the one organized in pursuance of the pro-
visions and claiming to act under the authority
of a legislative enactment of distant State,
whose internal prosperity and domestic security
did not depend upon the success of the move
ment; while the other was the spontaneous ae-
ton of the people living in the immediate vicin-
ty of the theatre of operations, excited by
sense of common danger to the necessity Of
protecting their own fresides from the appre-
hended horrors of servile instruction and in
testine war;
could bring the President of the United States
as a witness against these assumptions; for he
has told us, in his special message on Kansas az
fairs, in abiding to the action of the Emigrant
Aid Society, that its action was far from justi
flying the illegal and reprehensble counter
movements which ensued."
Now, sir, what are the facts? Will those tive
movements bear comparison at all? Are they Of
the same character? The report sets forth, in its
most Objectionable features no doubt, the action
OF the Emigrant Aid Society, and it amounts sim
ply to this: that 1t taking measures to aid
persons on their way to Kansas for the settlement
of the country TO remain there as settlers. There
is not particle of evidence in the report-it is
not even asserted-that the emigrants who went
forth under the patronage Of the Emigrant Aid
Society did not go to Kansas to reside. There
may be argument in the report against per-
sons who went there under the patronage of that
society withou: the intention of residing: but
there is no allegation that any such did CO.
Well sir, what are the facts in reference to the
organizations in the western counties of Missouri?
shall not detnin the Senate by going over mi
mute history of the transactions on that border
The Senator from Massachusetts,, [Mr. WILSON,
few days ago, did that; and he showed that
men went into Kansas from Missouri in organ
lied companies with music beating and banners
flying; that they went to the polls, took possess
sion of them, and voted; that in that Territory,
where there were but z, 877 voters when the GEN.
sus was taken in February, more than 5000 votes
were cast in the month Of March following. He
read from papers to show that the Mssourians
returned in companies to their homes, after the
election was over. The matter was of public no.
toriety. Everybody knew it. Is there any in
| stance where the Emigrant Aid Society, or per-
soEs sent out under its patronage, ever drove
man from the polls2 Ii is not pretended. Is
there any comparison between the peaceable en-
isrant who goes into Territory to settle and re-
side, and an army of invaders who go there to
impose laws on its defenceless inhabitants? To
| show the spirit Of the men upon the Missouri
border, and those affiliated with them in Kansas,
will read an article from the Sqaatter Sovereign
| OF May 20, 1855, which was before the Leeisla-
ture met; this is it:
"From reports now received of Reeder, he never
intends returning to our borders. Should he do
| SO, We, without hesitation, say that our people
ought to hang him by the neck like a traitor