Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1856-10-17
Relief for Kansas.

will accord its brightest honors to that
devoted band who have struggled for two
,ears in Kansas against the inroads of
,arbareus institution, seeking to establish
tself in that territory by a series of at
,ocities so extreme that they have sent a
shudder through the civilized world
Two years ago our government threw
open the territory of Kansas to settlers
from all parts of the country, and guar
antied TO them peace and liberty. Our
fellow citizens went there on the faith OF
this assurance. They were as much en-
titled when they got there to quiet home
and to the peaceful exercise OF their
rights as any citizen of Massachusetts Is
to his homestead or any one OF his indls-
pensable rights. But their territory was
invaded and a usurping and tyrannlcal
government was imposed upon them
Their homes have been entered, their
houses burned, their families scattered.
murdered and exposed to every insult
and outrage. Their property has been
destroyed or stolen to support the rufiians
who have disturbed their peace. Every
conceivable wrong has been heaped upon
their heads.
Meantime these heroic people, finding
the government of their country In
strange alliance with the robbers and
murderers, have forborne to do anything
that might look like forcible resistance to
its authority. But nevertheless, with an
admirable loyalty to principle, for which
mankind will honor them to the latest
generation, they have refused to yield
any obedience to that usurped power OF
the invaders to which it has been sought
to bring them into subsection. They
have chosen hardship rather than ignoble
submission. They have fought the battle
nobly and well in defence of their OWL
rights and those of the free laborers O
the North-in defense of the first prin
ciples of our institutions, of civilization
, and of human nature itself.
t And now it becomes necessary for u
: to do our part to help them. They hav
r been exposed during the entire season
i of spring and summer to constant pill
e aging and depredations. Their house
S and hay ricks have .been burned thei
It cattle and horses have been stolen O
+ killed their bedding and furniture hav
e been carried off their supplies of prov
isions have been intercepted by the enc
e my; the men have been called off fror
Y their farms to do military duty, whe
c they have not been driven from them b
n marauders the substance of the Tel
It ritory has been eaten out in order I
=, sustain the opposing forces of hundred
Y and somtimes thousands of men, draw
Q up in military array, unable to produc
II anything, and consuming the scanty store
IF of the real settlers of the Territory Liz
If the locusts of Egypt. And now the ia
st has come, and the winter is at hand, an
e this patient and magnanimous people
d Kansas find themselves almost destitu
E. of provisions and money, and so scant
D. supplied with clothing that their enemi
lie are said to tell the track of Free Sta
g. man by his bare feet. There are twen
is or twenty-five thousand settlers, it is sal
in the territory, and they are ready
stay there if they can sustain life. The
at must stay there or surrender that eau
% for which they have already endured
:" much, and deliver over the territory
IL that hateful institution which has stiml
- ated all these outrages.
70 They need our help. Shall they
i left to suffer the inclemencies of the col
J ing winter, with the added horrors
:. famine and want of every kind, witho
"a our part in this grand struggle, (and til
&c the lightest one)-the part of contrib
Il ing to the supply of their most urge
4 wants ? If we do, we prove unfaitht
to the cause in which these noble peor
are engaged unworthy of them, and u
ia worthy of those free institutions
lie which our fathers fought so nobly, VIII
". they were imperilled in their day, as tn
i'll have since been imperilled in Kansas.
nd 1t we do not suecoF the people of Ka
Sc sas to the full extent of their need. I
er glory which posterity will award to the
to will only be the measure of the condeI
nation it will heap upon us.-Bost
Journal