The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-09-04
THE AGONY OVER.

and the frontlers from the tomanaWk OF the
Indians. The people of Kansas have been
turned over to the tender mercies of the Border
Rufians, and Atchison and Stringfellow have
again triumphed. The passage of the Army
bill, without the proviso repeating the infamous
statutes of the Missouri invaders of Kansas,
is hailed by the friends of Slavery and of the
sham Democracy as jubilee; and immedi-
ately after the accomplishment Of the deed,
the two Houses adjourned sine die.
The Republicans were defeated by COM
bination of the friends of Buchanan and Fill
more. Let them divide the honors and the re-
sponsibility. They must now face the freemen
of the North with the guilt of all the crime
which has been committed in Kansas, and
which may yet be perpetrated, upon their shout
ders. Their leading men, such as Cass, Crit
tenden, Weller, Houston, and Clayton, have
denounced the Kansas laws as utterly infa.
nous and tyrannical in character and their
united parties in the Senate voted for their re-
peal in voting for the Douglas TOombs bill
That bill, as is well known, was cunningly con
trived for the purpose of making Kansas q
slave State, to be admitted into the Union al
the next session of Congress; and, failing in
that scheme, they have refused, with scorn, to
repeal the odious laws, when nothing could be
made by the proceeding.
President Pierce is known to be fully com
mitted in favor of the bogus laws. He made
an elaborate defence of them in his special
message on the 3lst of December last f; and be
stands pledged to have them enforced. Doug
las is pledged to the same course. He has
threatened to subdue the freemen Of Kansas
and subject them to the yoke of the Border
Ruffians and in the face of these facts, the
| two Houses of Congress, the friends of Blu
chanan and Fillmore, have combined to inves,
President Pierce with all the power of the
army of the United States, to enable him to
enforce these enactments. With his known
and publicly views of their validity
he is bound by his oath to enforce them. Oul
readers are well acquainted with their charac
ter. They disfranchise every man who is op
posed to Slavery. If man believes Slavery
| to be wrong, he cannot sit on a jury. If be
has written or published anything against the
institution, or circulated a speech made in Con
gress against it, he is subject to fine and i'm.
prisonment, and to be worked on the public
highways with q ball and chain to his leg, for
two years or more and if he has told slave
that he is entitled to his freedom, he incurs
the penalty of death If, anywhere in the
United States, citizen of the Territory has at
any time been convicted of violating that sa-
cred enactment, the Fugitive Slave Law, he is
utterly disqualified to vote. He may have COM
mitted murder, arson, rape, or parricide, and
still vote and hold office but if be has ever
refused to catch runaway stare at the com
mand of United States Marshal, he is for
ever DISTINGUISHED by the Kansas code
These are the laws, written in blood, which,
rather than gee abrogated, the Administration,
the friends of Buchanan and Of Fillmore, would
stake the fate Of the Army bill upon; and which
they have now deliberately authorized President
Pierce to enforce at the point of the bayonet
Well, the free people of the North accept the
issue! and it remains to be seen whether the
champions Of Slavery and of rufianism will not
have occasion to repent of their temerity in
rendering it.
We regard, and the country must regard, the
refusal Of Congress to annul the odious usurpa-
ton in Kansas as equivalent, under the cir
cumstances, to positive endorsement Their
iniquity was acknowledged by all, except the
more ultra advocates of Slavery, such as Mason
of Virginia, Clay of Alabama, and Brown Of
Mississippi; while the right to repeal them was
practically acknowledged by all or nearly al
of the friends of the Administration, in voting
for Mr.. Toombs's bill. But that bill-a Gun
| ming device for making Kansas slave State
failing, the same Senators utterly refuse to an.
| null the ruihan code, and risk the defeat of the
| Army bill, in order to preserve and enforce
them! Can their object be mistaken? Is il
not clear that those tyrannical enactments are
deemed necessary TO the maintenance of Sla
very in Kansas? And is it not equally clear
that Buchanan, Pierce, and their friends, are
determined to keep Slavery there?
The people of the North now know what to
depend upon. They cannot doubt that the
election of Buchanan will be the final act Of
| ratifying the bogus laws of Kansas, and the
permanent establishment of Slavery on it's soil
Will they meet the issue; or will they suffer
themselves to be diverted from it by the Know
Nothing humbug? Will any man, who hon
estly abhors Slavery and Slavery extension
and who earnestly desires to see the Govern
ment in the hands of the opponents of Slavery
vote for Fillmore? Will they be deceived b,
his hollow and empty professions of regret a
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, wher
he and his Northern friends, in their Conven
tious and platforms, have repeatedly disclaimet
any such purpose?
We need not ask if any honest opponent O
Slavery will vote for Buchanan. If there ar
such, their stupidity must be as profound a
that of the famous Beotians. We know tina
Northern demagogues have attempted to rep
resent him as favorable to Freedom, but nj
intelligent man will believe them, in view O
the fact that he stands squarely on the Cincin
natl platform, which pledges him to indeinit
Slavery extension; and in view of the equal
glaring fact, that he is the candidate of tn
most ultra Slavery propagandists of the South
The people of the North, opposed to SLAYER
extension, must make up their minds to Col
dial union in support of Colonel Fremont, q
expect to see Slavery firmly and permanent
established in Kansas
AMERIcANIsM IN NEW YoRK.-A meeting .
the American Council of New York took plac
at Syracuse on the 9th ult. Mr. Caldwell,
member, moved a series of resolutions d
nouncing the outrages in Kansas, the Brool