The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-10-16

son OF anything in this act, emancipated from
any service it might have owed, had this act
never been passed And provided, further,
That any person lawfully held to service in any
other State or Territory of the United States,
and escaping into either the Territory of Kan,
sas or Nebraska, may be reclaimed, and re.
moved to the person or place where such ser.
vice is due, under any law of the United States
which shall be in force upon the subject
| "SEc. 25. A,sd be IL further enacted, That all
other parts of the aforesaid Kansas N ebraska
act which relate to the said Territory of Kan
sas, and every other law or usage having, or
which it is pretended have, any force or effect
in said Territory, in conflict with the provis>
ions or the spirit of this act, except such laws
OF Congress and treaty stipulations as relate t.
the Indians, are hereby repealed and declared
void"
The bill reorganizes the entire Territorial Gov.
eminent of Kansas. :
| 1t makes provision for the termination of all
the treason trials, and for the immediate dis
charge of all persons arrested for treason or
| for any violation of the acts of the body
styled the Legislature of Kansas, thereby deny.
ing the authority of that body and the validity
| of its acts.
1t restores the restrictive clause of the Mis-
souri, Compromise, prohibiting Slavery in all
territory north of 36o 30>, thus dedicating Kan
sas once more to Freedom. But, with this act
| of restoration are incorporated a provision au
thorizing the removal, until 1853, from the Ter
ritory, of persons lawfully held to service there
in and another, authorizing the reclamation
and surrender, under the laws of the United
States in force, of any person owing service or
labor in any State or Territory, who may have
escaped into Kansas.
| Now, the charge of the Hon. Francis Gran
ger and his associates is, that "the Republicans
| in Congress voted for bill to enslave negroes
in Kansas, and to extend the Fugitive Slave Act
| over that Territory and for this, he would
hold them up as unworthy the suffrage of free.
| men.
A few facts will show the true position of the
Republicans in Congress. They had done every
thing in their power to save Kansas from op-
pression-appointed committee to investigate
its wrongs, on the strength of whose report,
MIR. Whitfield, elected by fraud and violence,
was elected from his seat in the House. They
State, and sent it to the Senate, where it was
smothered. They had sought, but in vain, to
annul the so.called laws of Kansas. Meantime,
the Senate sent to the House the plausible bill
to authorize the formation of State Constitu.
ton in Kansas, insidiously calculated, as our
friends believed, and as the leaders of the Free
State Party in Kansas warned US, to make that
Territory a slave State. The Republicans fear
ed its passage through the House, for they could
put no faith in the special friends of Mr.. Fill
more from the free States; but they found them
selves unable, for want of cooperation, to do
| anything efficient.
On the 9th of February, Mr.. Grow, of the
House, reported, in obedience to the instruction
of majority of the Territorial Committee, a
bill to annul certain acts of the Legislative As.
sembly of Kansas, and to secure to the citizens
of the Territory their rights and privileges. 1t
was read first and second time by its title,
and then referred to the Committee of the Whole
on the state of the Union. Mr.. Dunn, of Indi.
ana, later in the day, moved to reconsider the
vote so referring it.
July 18th, the question came up, and nm.
der the operation of the previous question,
demanded by Mr.. Dunn, the motion to recon
slider prevailed. The motion to commit the
bill to the Committee of the Whole on the
state OF the Union was then disagreed to, and
Mr.. Dunn moved to amend by striking out all
after the enacting clause, and insert substi-
tute-being the bill of which we have lust
A. -
the previous question, and refused all solicta.
ton to withdraw it. 1t was sustained, the
bill was put through all its stages, and passed.
The Republicans, as body, with Messrs.
Dunn, Harrison, Moore, and Haven, voted for
it, the whole Pro-Slavery party, (slaveholders
and their allies,) against it. The Republicans
protested, some of them, when their names
were called, against the two provisions quoted
above, in the Oath section, but voted for the
bill, because it put an end to the bogus Legis-
lature of Kansas, and all itsiacts, because it
released all the prisoners held in Kansas on
the charge of treason, or as offenders against
the so-called laws of the Territory, because it
revived and put in force the clause of the Mis-.
souri, Compromise, excluding Slavery from
Kansas and Nebraska, because it provided the
amplest guarantees for the rights of the bona
fde settlers, because it was necessary to do
something, only few days remaining for &C.
ton, and they could not do anything else, but
might leave the way open for the passage of
the Toombs bill, as it was called. The two
Objectionable features of the bill had been in.
serted by Fillmore man, were supported by
Fillmore men, and the Republicans had no
power to obliterate them, and at the same time
pass the bill. The one relating to persons
held lawfully to service in the Territory, to be
removed prior to January, 1858, was apparent
ly intended to authorize the removal of slaves
from the Territory who might have been car
ried into it previously; but as the bill itself
repudiated the authority of the Legislature
and the validity of its acts, the Republicans
might we'll assume, that as there existed no law
in the Territory for holding persons as slaves,
no slaves we're laufuUy held therein. The
provision therefore was Elusive, and at all
events not in conflict with their principles. To
say, then, that they voted for bill to enslave
free negroes in Kansas, is calumny, exposed
and refuted by the record.
As to the other provisions in regard to " the
Fugitive Slave Act" all that can be said ia,
first, their vote was compulsory one, given
under protest; secondly, it was, and had the
bill become law, would have been, without the
slightest practical effect, for the simple reason
that the Fugitive Slave Act, by its terms, al
ready comprehends every Territory as well as
every State in the Union. Aa their vote ON