The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-05-29
NO. 491.

people of Kansas, whose Security has been over
thrown. Scenes from which civilization averts
her countenance have been part of their daily
lite The border incursiOns, which, in barbarous
ages or barbarous lands, have fretted and char
ried an exposed people, have been here renewed,
with this popularity, that border robbers
do not simply levy black mail and drive off few
cattle like those who acted under the inspiration
of the Douglas of other days; that they do not
seize a few persons, and sweep them away into
captivity, like the African save-traders whom
we brand as pirates; but that they commit
succession of acts, in which all border sorrows
and all African wrongs are revived together on
American soil, and which for the time being
annuls all protection of all kinds, and enslaves
the whole Territory.
Private griefs mingle their poignancy with
public wrongs. | do not dwell on the anxieties
which families have undergone, exposed to sud-
den assault and obliged to lie down to rest
with the alarms of war ringing in their ears not
knowing that another day might be spared TO
them. Throughout this bitter winter with the
thermometer at 80 degrees below zero, the cit
liens of Lawrence have been constrained TO sleep
under arms, with sentines treading their constant
watch against surprise Bnt our souls are wrung
by individual instances. In vain do we condemn
the crueltes of another age--the reinements of
torture to which men have been doomed-the
rack and thumb-screw of the Inquisition the last
agonies of the regicide Ravaiac-" Luke's iron
crown, and Damen's bed of steel" for kindred
outrages have disgraced these borders Murder
has NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. has skulked in the tall
grass of the prairie, and the vndictiveness of
man has assumed uuwonted FORMS A preacher
of the Gospel of the Saviour has been ridden on
a rail, and then thrown into the Missouri fasten-
ed to log, and left to drift down its muddy,
| tortuous current. And lately we have had the
Af tl,,4
deed without name-where a candidate for the
Legislature was most brutality gashed with
knives and hatchets, and then, after weltering
in blood on the snow-clad earth, was trundled
along with gaping wounds, to fall dead in the
face of his wife. 1t is common to drop tear OF
| sympathy over the trembling sOlictudes of our
early fathers, exposed to the stealthy assault OF
the savage foe; and an eminent American artist
has pictured this scene in marble group of rare
beauty, on the front of the National Capitol,
where the uplifted tomakawk is arrested by the
strong arm and generous cOuntenance of the
| pioneer, while his wife and children find shelter
at his feet; but now the tear must be dropped
over the trembling socitudes of fellow-citizens.
seeking TO build new State in Kansas, and ex-
posed to the perpetual assault of murderous rob-
bers from Missouri. Hirelings. picked from the
| drunken spew and vomt of an uneasy ciyilza-
| tion-in the form Of men
As hounis and gray hounds, mongres sIanielS ours.
Shoughs. waier-rugs, and demi- wolves are called
All by the name of dogs;
leashed together by secret signs and lodges have
renewed the incredible atrocities of the Assas-
sins and of the Thugs showing the blind sub
mission Of the Assassins to the Old Man of the
Mountain, in robbing Christians on the road to
Jerusalem, and showing the heartlessness of the
| Thugs. who, avowing that murder was their re-
| lgon, waylaid travellers on the great road from
| Agra to Delhi with the more deadly bowie-knife
| for the dagger of the Assassin, and the more
| deadly revolver for the moose of the Thug.
In these invasions, attended by the entire sub
version of all Security in this Territory with the
| plumber of the ballOt-bOx, and the pollution of
the electoral franchise, show simply the process
in unprecedented Crime. If that he the best Gov
erhment, where an injury to a single citizen is
| resented as an injury to the whole State, then
must our Government forfeit all claim TO any such
eminence, while il leaves it's citizens thus exposed
| In the outrage upon the ballot Nox, even without
the illicit fruits which shall soon exhibit, there
| is peculiar crime of the deepest dye, though
subordinate to the final Crime, which should
be promptly avenged. In countries where roy
atty is upheld, it is special offence TO rob the
crown jewels, which the emblems of that
| sovereignty before which the loyai subject
| bows and it is treason TO be found in adultery
with the Queen, for in this way may a false heir
Republic
the ballot-box is the single priceless Jewel of
that sovereignty which we respect and the cleo
toral franchise, out of which are born the rulers
of a free people, is the Queen whom we are to
guard against pollution. In this plain present.
ment, whether as regards Security or as regards
| Elections, there is enough surely, without pro-
| ceeding further, to justify the Intervention of
Congress, most promptly and completely, to
throw over this oppressed people the mpenetra-
| 10 CHI oil Of
the half is not yet told.
AS every point in a widespread horizon radi-
ates from a common centre, so everything said
or done in this vast circle of Crime radiates from
the One Idea, that Kansas, ut all hazards must
be made a slave State. In all the manifold wick
ednesses that have occurred, and in every snc-
cessive invasion, this One idea has been ever
present, rs the Satanic tempter the motive
poTer--the causing cause.
To accomplish this result, three things were
attempted: first by outrages of all kinds to drive
the friends of Freedom already there out of the
Territory; secondly, to deter others from coming
and thirdly, to obtain the complete control of the
Government. The process of driving out, and
also OF deterring has failed. On the contrary
the friends of Freedom there became more fixed
in their resolves to stay and fight the battle
which they had never sought, but from which
they disdained to retreat; while the friends of
Freedom elsewhere were more aroused to the
duty OF timely succors, by men and munitions of
just self-defence.
But, while defeated in the first two processes
proposed, the conspirators succeeded in the last.
BY the violence already portrayed at the election
of the 30th March, when the polls were occupied
By the armed hordes from Missouri, they imposed
Legislature upon the Territory, and thus, I'M
der the iron mask Of law, established Usurpa-
ton not less complete than any in history. That
This was done, proceed TO prove Here is the
evidence:
/. Only in this way can this extraordinary
expedition be adequately explained. In the words
of Moliere, once employed by John Quincy Adams
in the other House, Que dia5le lll,ient-ils fare
dams cette galere2 What did they 90 into the
Territory fora Ii their purposes were peaceful,
as has been suggested, why cannons, arms, flags,
numbers, and all this violence AS simple citi-
zens, proceeding to the honest exercise of the
electoral franchise, they might have gone with
nothing more than pilgrims staff. Philosophy
always seeks sufficient cause, and only in the
One Idea, already presented, can cause be found
In any degree commensurate with this Crime
and this becomes so only when we consider the
mad fanaticism of Slavery.
z. Public notoriety steps forward TO confirm
the suggestion of reason In every place where
Truth can freely travel, it has been asserted and
understood, that the Legislature was imposed
upon Kansas by foreigners from Missouri and
this universal voice is now received as Gndeni-
able verify.
3. II is also attested by the harangues of the
conspiratcrs. here is what Stringfelow said be-
pore the invasion
ITO those who have qualms OF conscience ms 10 viola
ting laws, State or National the time has when such
ery in danger and advise yoi. and al 10 enter
erery election disr Kansas defiance of Reeder ana
az Ike