The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-07-03

been conveyed to that Territory, before the law
was passed. Now, that was the welcome which
awaited freemen when they went into that Ter
ritoryl l know it is said that "If you do not
like it, stay at home we will just make that
Territory so hot that you cannot stay there; we
will go and occupy it ourselves, and make it
slave Territory" But how were they treated
Did they receive, at the hands of those who had
gone there from the State of Missouri, anything
like hospitality, anything like courtesy, any
thing like Justice when they went TO that
strange land? Instead Of that, when the first
election came off, they were driven from the
ballot-boxes by force, and those who usurped
their places had things their own way.
Now, maintain that the Kansas people are
to blame in some measure. They were alto
gether too modest They had a way, up in
Vermont, of dealing with intruders from abroad,
which is worthy of imitation in spirit, if not in
form. New York claimed portion of that
State as her own, nearly to the mountains
They sent there officers to execute the process
of that State. The Vermonters told them they
could not have such matters going on in their
State, and that they must stop. They did not
do it. They caught one of the officers and tied
him TO tree, and laid upon him what they
called beech SEAL" which grows in the
woods in the shape Of what boys call switches.
They gave him a thorough dressing; told him
to go home, and if he came there again, he
would never leave the State alive and | never
heard of the mans coming back to get the
beech seal renewed.
The Kansas people ought to have taken some
measures to show that they were in earnest, and
that they were not to be trampled in the dust,
even if they had to use lead and steel. And |
say to them now, peace man as | am, that, be-
fore l would surrender, and be driven from the
Territory, L would use lead and STEEL and
every other metal which Goi has placed in the
earth.
know there are doubts expressed whether
there votes cast by Missourans in the
election. But Noah might Just as we'll have
doubted whether there had been a deluge, when
he got up on the top Of Mount Ararat. Laugh
ter. just look at the returns. AS said be-
fore, am not going into this matter at length,
because we expect information soon upon
which we can rely confidently. But here is
one district which has got two hundred and
forty-seven voters, and four hundred and eighty
six votes another which has four hundred and
eighty-six voters, and one thousand two hun
dred and six votes; another which has twenty
four voters, and three hundred and thirty-one
votes. More than five thousand votes were cast
by Missourians in thakelection, while they were
driving all the freemen of Kansas from their
places-compelling them to leave and forbid
ding them upon peril of their lives to return.
There are two Legislatures, and they have
sent on here two Delegates. We have not de-
cided between them perhaps we never shall.
1t is our business most certainly to do it. Those
who have resisted it the strongest have said
we have the right to do it. IF we have the
right to make the decision, we have the right.
at the same time, to make the examination
which precedes the decision; and we are not
to be estopped, and blocked up, and driven ont
of the way, because there has been a Lecisla-
ture which has acted wrong.
L know the same party says we may rely
upon the court They trust the court ; so do /.
l have always trusted the court, and believe |
always shall. / remember scene which gave
peculiar strength to that feeling of confidence
in the court. You remember when the Con-
gress&Onal Library was burned, and apparently
all the men of the city were gathered here to
put out the fire. There was a score of engines
upon the track to the reservoir, and perhaps a
thousand men in the rotunda and its avenues
] saw | could do nothing there and as an en-
inent counsel, then a Senator from Vermont,
was about to make an argument in the Su-
preme Court / went to that place, and there
were the court, lust as calm as ever [ saw them
in my life. You could hear the clank, clank
of score of engines, and the tramp, tramp,
tramp, of a thousand men, echoing through
the room, but there they sat, attending to their
business, perfectly unmoved. / looked upon
that body of men, and admired them for their
composure in their situation But | thought
of another thing. There might come the time
when there would be not only the agitation of
fire and water, but there may be political agi-
tation. The political elements may be heaving
up and showing their power, and then that
body of men will sit in their places, and do
their duty as calmly as they are doing it now.
/ will trust to that court.
But L will not put into the hands of this court
what does not belong to it and with that Kan
sas election case the court has nothing whatever
to do. We are to decide it for ourselves, and
should do SO at frankly and fearlessly. 1t
must be admitted that those who attempt to
eject the settlers from Kansas have some very
efficient helps.
will read another extract from the Presi
dents message:
In the Territory of Kansas there have been
acts prejudicial to good order, but as yet none
have occurred under circumstances to justify
the interposition of the Federal Executive.
That could only be in case of obstruction 20
Federal law, or of organized resistance to Ter
rtorial law, assuming the character of insurrec-
ton; which, if it should occur, it would be my
duty promptly to overcome and suppress. |
cherish the hope, however, that the occurrence
of any such untoward event will be prevented
by the sound sense of the people of the Terri
tory, who, by its organic law, possessing the
right to determine their own domestic institu-
tons, are entitled, while deporting themselves
peacefully, to the freq exercise of that right, and
must be protected in the enjoyment of it, with
out interference on the part of the citizens Of
any Of the States"
d.. L. n Il. IL 1 Al
accession of the Republic Of Texas, the United
States were to take their next step in Territorial
greatness, a similar contingency occurred, and
became the occasion for systematized attempts
10 interfere in the domestic affairs Of one section
of the Union in defiance of their rights as States
and OF the stipulations of the Constitution.
These attempts assumed practical direction,
in the shape of persevering endeavors, by some
OF the Representatives in both Houses of Con.
gress. to deprive the Southern States Of the sup
posed benefit of the provisions of the act author
izing the organization of the State of Missouri.
" 1t has been a matter of painful regret to see
States, conspicuous for their services in founding
this Republic, and equally sharing its advan-
tages, disregard their constitutional obligations
to il. Although conscious of their inability to
heal admitted and palpable social evils of their
own, and which are completely within their ju-
risdiction, they engage in the offensive and hope
less undertaking Of reforming the domestic in
stitut.ons OF other States wholly beyond their
control and authority. In the vain pursuit of
ends, by them entirely urattainable, and which
they may not legally attempt to compass, they
peril the very existence OF the Constitution, and
all the countless benefits which it has conferred.
While the people of the Southern States confne
their attention to their own affairs not presu-
ming offciously to intermeddle with the social
institutions of the Northern States ton many of