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

when he supposed the Fugitive Slave Bill was
obstructed, and merely in anticipation OF such
obstruction it is absurd to say that he had not
power in Kansas, when, in the face of the whole
country the very organic lar of the Territory was
trampled under foot by successive invaSions, and
the freedom of the people there overthrown. To
assert ignorance of this neutrality-suspicious.
ted, long-continued, and stretching through
months-attributes to him not merely lmbecillty,
but idiocy. And thus do dispose fthis Apology.
Next comes the Apology absurd which is, in
deed, in the nature of a pretext. 1t Is alleged
that a small printed pamphlet containing the
/" Constitution and Ritual of the Grand Encamp-
ment and Regiments of the Kansas Legion" was
taken from the person of one George f. Warren,
who attempted to avoid detection by chewing it.
The oaths and grandiose titles of the pretended
Legion have all been set forth, and this poor
mummery of a secret society, which existed only
on paper, has been gravely introduced on this
floor, in order to extenuate the Crime against
Kansas. 1t has been paraded in more than one
speech and even stuffed into the report OF the
committee.
A part of the obligations assumed by the mem
bers of this Legion shows why 1t has been thus
pursued, and also attests its innocence. 1t is as
follows:
.Iwil never knowingly propose person for member
ship this orde ,cho TarOr Of making Kansas
free State and whom feel satisfied Will exert his entire
influence to bring about this result Will support man
tain and abide BY any honorable movement made by the
organization To this great end chh lo MOI con-
ft tcil the lars Of the country and ns Consultation q me
Unitsd SfGtes."-
Kansas is to be made a free State, by an honora-
BILE movement, which will not conflict with the
laws and the Constitution. That is the object of
the organization, declared in the very words OF
the initiatory obligation Where is the wrong in
;c hora which eff
proach, or even suspicion, upon the people of
Kansas? Grant that the Legion was constituted,
can YOU extract from it any Apology for the
original Crime, or for its present ratification
Secret societies, with their extravaganza oaths,
are Justly offensive; but who can find, in this
mistaken machinery, any excuse for e 1T
all rights to the peo,1e Of Kansas All this, |
say, on the-ssuppostion that the society was a
eesility, which it was not Existing in the fan
tastic brains of n few persons only, 1t never had
any practical life. 1t was never organized. The
whole tale, with the mode of obtaining the copy
of the Constitution, is at once a cock-and-bull
story and mares nest; trivial as the former
absurd as the latter; and to be dismissed, with
the Apology founded upon it, to the derision
which trviality and absurdity Justly receive.
1t only remains, under this head, that should
speak of the Apology infamous; founded on false
testimony against the Emigrant Aid Company,
and assumptions of duty more false than the
testimony. Defying Truth and hooking Decency,
this Apology excels all others in futility and
audacity, while, from its utter hollowness, 1t
proves the utter impotence of the conspirators to
defend their Crime. Falsehood, always infamous,
in this case arouses peculiar scOrn. An associa
ton of sincere benevolence, faithful to the Consi
tuition and laws, whose only Notifications are
hotels school-houses, and churches; whose only
weapons are saw-mills TOOLS and books whose
mission is peace and good will, has been falsely
assaulted on this floor, and an GRAND of blame
less virtue has been made the pretext for an nn-
parlonablc Crime. Nay, more-the innocent are
sacrificed and the guilty set at liberty. They
who seek to do the mission of the Saviour
scourged and crucifed, while the murderer, Ba-
rabbas, with the sympathy of the chief priests,
goes at large.
Were | to take counsel of my own feelings
should dismiss this whole Apology to the inetfa
BILE contempt which il deserves; but it has been
made to play such part in this conspiracy, that
| feel it duty to expose it completely.
Sir, from the earliest times, men have recog-
missed the advantages of organization, as an eff
fcctve agency in promoting works of peace or
WAR Especially ut this moment, there is no
interest, public private, high or low, of charity
or trade of luxury or convenience, which does
not seek its aid. Men organize to rear churches
and to sell thread to build schools and to sail
ships to construct roads and to manufacture
toys to spin cotton and to print books to weave
cloths and to quicken harvests; to provide food
and to distribute light; to influence Public Opin-
ION and to secure votes; to guard infancy in its
weakness, old age in its decrepitude, and
womanhood in its wretchedness; and now, in all
arge towns, when death has come, they are
buried by organized societies. and, emigrantS to
another world, they lie down in pleasant places,
adorned by organized skill. TO complain that
this prevailing principle has been applied to liv-
ing emigration is to complain of Providence and
the irresistible tendencies implanted in man.
But this application of the principle is no
cent invention brought forth for an existing
gency. 1t has the best stamp of Antiquity.
1t showed itself in the brightest days of Greece,
where colonists moved in organized bands. 1t
became part of the mature policy of Rome, where
bodies of men were constituted expressly for this
purpose, triumpiri dd cOtoR0s deducead0s.-( Livy,
xxxvii, 3 46) Naturally it has been accepted in
modern times by every civilized State. With the
sanction of Spain, an association of Genoese mer-
chants first introduced slaves to this continent
With the sanction of France the Society of Jesu
its stretched their labors over Canada and the
Great Lakes to the Mississippi. 1t was under the
auspices of Emigrant Aid Companies, that our
country was originally settled, by the Pilgrim
Fathers of Plymouth, by the adventures of Nir-
ginia, and by the philanthropic Oglethorpe, whose
- benevolence Of SOUL" commemOrated by Pope,
sought to plant Free State in Georgia. At this
day, such associations, of n humber character, are
found in Europe with offices in the great capitals,
through whose activity emigrants are directed
here.
For long time. emigration to the West,
from the Northern and Middle States, but par
ticularly from New England, has been of marked
significance. Ia quest of better homes, annu-
ally it has pressed to the unsettled lands, in num-
bers to be counted by tens of thousands; but
this has been done heretofore with little knowl-
edge, and without guide or counsel. Finally,
when by the establishment of q Government in
Kansas, the tempting fields of that central region
were opened to the competition of peaceful colo
Eizaticn, and especially when it was declared
that the question of Freedom or Slavery there
was to be determined by the votes OF actual set
tiers, then at once was organization enlisted as
an effective agency in quickening and conduct
ing the emigration impelled thither, and, mere
than all, in providing homes for it on arrival
there
The Company was Erst constituted under an
act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, 4th Of
May, 1854, some weeks prior to the passage of
the Nebraska bill. The original act of incorpO-
ration was subsequently, abandoned, and a new
charter received in February, 1855, in which the
objects of the Society are thus declared
ror the purposes of directing emigration Westward.
aud AIDING IN isrug accommodations for the esnigrants
of;sr arrring al their places Of destination"
At any other moment, association for these
purposes would have taken its place, by general
consent, among the philanthropic experiments OF
the age; but Crime is always suspicious, and
shakes, like a sick man, merely at the pointiHg
of finger. The conspirators against Freedom
in Kansas now shook with tremor, real af-
fected. Their wicked plot was about to fail. To
help themselves, they denounced the Emigran,
Aid Company; and their denunciations, after
finding an echo liz the President, have been re-
reated with much narticui ritz ON this floor In