Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1856-06-19
THE CRIME AGAINST KANSAS.
THE CRIME AGAINST KANSAS.
The Apologies for the Crime
THE TRUE REMEDY.
SPEECH OF
HON. CHARLES So INNER,
Oi Massachusetts.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,


Oi Massachusetts.
| IN THE SENATE OF TIE UNITED STATES,
l9th and goth Mag, 1856.
Mr.. PRESIDENT:
You are now called upon to redress great
transgression. Seldom in the history of ma
tions has such question been presented
Tariffs, army bills, navy bills, land bills. are
important, and justly occupy your care; but
these ali belong to the course of ordinary
legislation. As means and Instrument only,
they are necessarily subordinate to the con-
servation of Government itself. Grant them
or deny them, in greater or less degree, and
you will inflict no shock. The machinery
of Government will continue to move. The
State will not cease to exist. Far other
wise is it with the eminent question now
before you, involving, as it is does, Liberty
in broad Territory, and also involving the
peace of the whole country with our good
name in history forevermore.
Take down your map. sir, and you Wilt
that the Territory of Kansas, more than any
other region, occupies the middle spot of
North America, equally distant from the At
laLtic on the East, and the Pacific on the
West; from the frozen waters of HudsoD's
Bay on the North, and the tepid Gulf Stream
on the South, constituting the precise terri
torial centre Of the whole vast Continent
To such advantages of situation, on the very
highway between two oceans, are added a
soil of unsurpassed richness, and fascina-
ting, undula,ing beauty of surface, with a
health-giving climate, calculated to nurture
a powerful and generous people, worthy to
be a central pivot Of American lnstitu-
tions A few short months only have passed
since this spacious mediterranean country
was open only to the savage, who ran wild III
its woods and prairies; and now 1t has already
drawn to lis bosom population Of freemen
larger than Athens crowded within her his
turic gates, when her sons, under Mltlades,
won Liberty tor mankind on the tie ID OF Mar
athon; more than Sparta contained when
she ruled Greece, and sent forth her devoted
children, quickened by mothers benedic-
ton, to return with their shields or on them;
more than Rome gathered on her seven
hills, when, under her kings, she commenced
that sovereign sway, which afterwards en-
braced tie whole earth: more than London
held, when, on the fields Of Crecy and Agin-
court, the English BANNER was carried VIC
tJriously over The chivalrous hosts OF France
Against this Territory, thus fortunate in
position and population, Crime has been
committed, which is without example in the
records of the Past. Not in p .uUde-ed prov
nces or in the crucIties OF selfish governors
will you find its parallel; and yet there is
an .ucient instance, which may show at
least the path Of justice. In the terrible
impeachment by which the great Roman
Orator has blasted through all time the name
OF Verres, amidst charges of robbery and
sacrilege, the enormty which most aroused
the indignant voice of his accuser, and which
still stands forth with strongest distinctness,
arrestirg the sympathetic Indignation of all
who read the story, is, that away in Sicily
he had scourged citizen Of Rome-that the
CRY, al am Roman citiZen," had been in
terposed in vain against the lash Of the ty-
rant governor. Other charges were, that he
had carried away productions of art, and
that he had violated The sacred shrineS. 1t
was in the presence of the Roman Senate
that this arraig gnment proceeded; IN temple
of the Forum; amidst crowds-such as no
orator. had ever before drawn together
throngipg the por;icos and colonnades: even
clnging 10 the house tops and nelghborlng
slopes-and under the anxious gaze OF wit
from, tho Sonne Of crime
But an audience grander far--of higher dig
nitv--of more various people ard of wider
! intellgence-the countless multitude OF
succeeding generations, in every land, where
! eoquence has been studied or where the
! Roman name has been recOgnised--has lis
tened to the accusation, and throbbed with
condemnation of the criminal. Sir, speaking
in an age of light and in land of constitu-
tional liberty, where the safeguards of elec-
tions are Justly placed among the highest
triumphs of civilization, fearlessly assert
that the wrongs of much-abused Sicily, thus
memorable in history. were small by the
side of the wrongs OF Kansas, where the very
shrines of popular institutions, more sacred
than anv heather altar, have been desecra-
ted: where the ballot-box, more precious
than any work, in ivory or marble, from the
cunning hand of art, has been plundered;
and where the cry Il am an American cl;l-
zen' has been interposed in vain against
outrage of every kind, even upon life itself
Are you against sacrilegc! | present it for
your execration. Are you against robbery! !
hold it up to your scorn. Are you for the
protection of American citizens! | show
you how their dearest rights have been clo-
ven down, while Tyrannical Usurpation
has sought to install itself on their very
necks!
But the wickedness which l now begin to
expose is immeasurably aggravated by the
motive which prompted it. Notin any COM
nun lust for power did this uncommon tfag-
edv have it's origin 1t is the rape OF virgin
Territory, onipeling it to the hateful en-
brace of Slavery; and it may be traced to
the depraved longing for new Slave State
The hijeous offspring ot such crime, III the
: hope OF adding to the power g. Slavery IN
, , the National Government. Yes, sir, when
u he whole world, alike Christian and Turk
is rising up to condemn this wrong, and tc
= make it kissing to the nations, here in oul
= Republic, force-aye, sir, FORCE--ha'
} been openly employed in compelling Kansa:
}, to this pollution, and all for the sake of po
u litical power. There is the simple fact
> which You will vainly attempt to deny, bu
), which in itself presents an essential wick
u edness that makes other public crimes seen
. like public virtues.
But this enormity, vast beyond compari
son, swells to dimensions of wickednes
which The Imagination tolls in vain to grasp
is when it is understood, that for this purpose
n are hazarded the horrors of intestine feud
], not only in this distant Territory, but every
l. where throughout the country. Already tn
at muster has begun. The strife is no longe
W local hut national Even now while sneak