Meigs County telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy [Ohio]) 1848-1859, 1856-06-17

"our citizens have been shot at, ard IN TWO
rNsTANcEs MuRDERED, our houses invaded, hay
ricks burnt, corn and other provisions plundered,
cattle driven of, all communication cut OF be-
tween us and the States, wagons on the way to
us with provisions stopped and plundered. and
the drivers taken prisoners, and we in hourly ex-
pectation of an attack. Nearly AVERY NAN HAS
BEEN N .RMs IN THE VILLAGE. Fortihcations
have been thfown up, by incessant labor nigh |
and day. The sound Of the drum, and the tramp |
Of armed men resounded through our streets, fam
lilies fleeing with THEN household goods for safety.
Day before yesterday, the report Of cannon was
heard at our house, from the direction Of Le- |
compton. Last Thursday one of our neighbors
-one Of the most peaceable of men, from Ohio,
on his way home, was set upon by gang OF II
men on horseback, and shot down. Over eight
hundred men are gathered under arms at Law
Ience. AS yet, no act of violence has been per-
petrated by those on our side. No>BLooD OF RE-
TALIATIoN STAINS OUR HANDS. WE STAND AND
ARE READY NO ACT PURELY IN THE DEFEHcE OF
OUR HOMES AND OUR LIVES"
| But the catalogue is notyet complete. On the
18th of December, when the people assembled
to vote on the Constitution then submitted for
adoption--only few days after the Treaty Of
| Peace between the Governor on one side and the
| town of Lawrence on the oher-another and
fifth Eruption was made. But leave all this
untold. Enough of these details has been given.
Five several times have these invaders entered
Kansas in armed array, and thus FIVE several times
and more have they trampled upon the organic
] law of the Territory. But these extraordinary
expeditions are simply the extraordinary witness
ses to successive uninterrupted violence. They
stand out conspicuous, butnot alone. The spirit
of evil in which they had their origin, was wake
full and incessant. From the beginning, it hung
upon the skirts of this interesting Territory, har
rowing its peace, disturbing its prosperity, and
keeping its inhabitants under the painful alarms
of war. Thus was all Security of person, prop
erty, and labor, oyerthrown; and when l urge
, this incontrovertible fact set forth wrong
which ssmall only by thes of the giant wrong
for the consummaton of which all this was DONE
Sir, what isman-what is government-without
security; in the absence of which, nor man nor
government can proceed in development or en-
Joy the fruits Of exiStencei Without security,
civilization is cramped and dwarfed. Without
security, there can be no true Freedom. Nor
shall Isay too much, when declare that security,
guarded of course by its offspring, Freedom, is
b the true end and aim of government. Of this
indispensable boon the people of Kansas have
! thus far been despoiled-absoutely- ally
All this is aggravated by the nature Of their pur-
SUITS rendering them peculiarly sensitive to in
innocence. They are for the most part engaged
in the cultivation of the soil, which from time
immemoral has been the sweet employment OF
undsturbed industry. Contented in the returns
: of bounteous nature and the shade Of his own
= tress, the husbandman is not aggressive; accus-
toned to produce, and not to destroy, he is essen
= tallypeaceful. unless his home is invaded, when
his arm derives vigor from the soil he treads, and
:, his soul inspiration from the heavens beneath
ha 1a.1, 80 A.l - L.
- people of Kansas, whose Security has been over
!; thrown. Scenes from which civilization averts
h her cou ntenance have been part OF their daily
l. life. The border ncursions which, in barbarous
ages or barbarous lands, have lretted and char.
l. ried" an exposed people, have been here renewed
with this peculiarly, that our border robbers dc
e not simply levy black mail and drive off few
Cattle like those who acted under the inspiration
,e of the Douglas OF other days; that they do mo-
d seize few persons, and sweep them away into
' captivity, like the African slave traders, whom
Re we brand as pirates; but that they commit sue
cession Of acts, in which all border sorrows ant
ID all African wrongs are revived together on Amer
ID lean SOIL and which for the time being annuls al
protection of all kinds, and enslaves the Who'll,
o. Territory.
ID Private griefs mingle their poignancy with pub
lie wrongs. do not dwell on the anxieties whicl
families have undergone, exposed to sudden as
ID saplt, and obliged to lie down to rest with th
s. alarms Of war ringing in their ears, not knowing
n that another day might be spared to them
S, Throughout this bitter winter, with the themom
OF eter degrees below Zero the citizens Of Law
renee have been constrained to sleep under arms
IL with sentinels treading their constant watc
against surprise. But our souls are wrung by in
d. dividual instances. In vain do we condemn tn
es cruelties OF another age-the refnements of toI
rs ture to which men have been doomed-the rae
re and thumbscrew of the Inquisiton, the last age
n, nies of the regicide Ravaillac-"Luke's iro
II crown and Damiens bed of steel"-for kindre
70. outrages have disgraced these borders. Murdt
Is has staked-asSassinatio has skukedin in the Ia
grass OF the prairie, and the vindietiveness
Ia man has assumed unwonted forms. preach,
-e- of the Gospel of the Savior has been ridden O
he rail- and then thrown into the Missouri, fastene
III, to log, and left to drift down its muddy, to-
m tuous current. And lately we have had the til
ice ings of that enomity without precedent-a dee
in without name-where a candidate for the leg
lature was most brutally gashed with knives al
IS, hatchets, and then, after weltering in blood
OF the snow clad earth, was trundled along vii
en gaping wounds, to fall dead in the face of h
ad wife. 1t is common to drop tear of sympatl
in over the trembling solicitudes of our early fail
ry, ers, exposed to the steady assault of the sava
1t foe; and an eminent American artist has picture
ny, this scene in malble group of rare beauty, {
ny the front OF the National Capitol, where the vi
esS lifted tomahawk is arrested by the strong arm al
he generous countenance of the pioneer, while
1St wife and children find shelter at his feet; b,
ne now the tear must be dropped over the tremblil
solicitudes of fellow citizens seeking to build
on new State in Kansas and exposed to the perpe
iar ua assault of murderous robbers from Mssoul
ne Hrelings, picked from the drunken spew al
,k- vomit of On uneasy civilzation-n the form
H men---\
me Aye, in the catalogue ye go for mem,
az, As hounds and gray-hounds, mongrels, spaniel
~ mnu Ours, shoughs, water rugs, and demi- wolves a
III IN Called all by the name of dogs:
leashed together by secret signs and ledges, ha
of renewed the incredible atrocities of the Assa
he sins and of the Thugs; showing the blind su
led mission OF the Assassins to the Old Man of Il
INV Mountain, in robbing Christians on the road
be-. Jerusalem, and showing the heartlessness of I
nj. Thugs, who, avowing that murder was their I
IAN ligion, waylaid travellers on the great road rc
his Agra to Delhi; with the more deadly bowie kn
ust for the dagger Of the Assassin, and the mo
vas deadly revolver for the moose of the Thug.
ION In these invasons, attended by the entire su
in version Of all Security in this Territory, with
not plunder Of the ballot box, aud the pollution
ent the electoral franchise, show simply the proc,
led in Unprecedented Crime Hthatbe the best go
nnd ernment, where an injury to single citizen
Al-l a Ill. u. - a.