The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1856-10-02
NO. 500.

} measure of public good and great nationa
) blessing
The promise of Charles / to maintain Tho
right of petition, the violation of which cos
him his head, could not compare in imposing
soiemnity with that which President Pierce
made on the 4th of March, 1853.
, Can the history be credited which will record
the fact that, in less than nine months from
that time, he had engaged in conspiracy to
accomplish, In Its most obnoxious form, what
! he had thus promised to resist7 That he no,
only used his official power to effect the reneaI
OF the Missouri Compromise, and carry Slavery
into Kansas by lawless violence, but that he
entered into conspiracy for that purpose. is
susceptible OF incontrovertible proof
DAVID Atehison was President of the Senate
.. a. douglas was Chairman of the COMMITTEES
on Territories. The first bill reported for the
organization of Nebraska was silent as to the
Missouri Compromise. The conspiracy was
not then organized. The second bill contained
declaratory clause, that the Missouri Compro-
mise had, by means of some previous legisla-
ton, become imperative. This frivolous dis.
guise was, no doubt, the suggestion of some
umid member of the conspiracy, probably Gen.
| Fierce. Conscience makes towards of us all. ;,
But 1t was soon exposed, and the acting man.
ager, Douglas, was obliged to give the Offspring
a new dress
Then, for the first time, the doctrine of
Squatter Sovereignty was introduced. and a
new clause, repeating the Missouri Comuro.
mise, was clothed in mincing phraseology,
loii OF attectation of great regard for the right
OF the inhabitants of Territories to make their
own institutions.
| Inc plans OF the conspirators seem now to
have been settled, and they threw off the mask.
Atchlson, having left his seat in the Senate. was
6usily completing his organization of Blue
Lodges OF brigands in Missouri, to force Sla
very upon Kansas by violence.
The President of the United States was ex-
erting all his power to aid Douglas and his as
socrates in repeating the Missouri Compromise
with protested desire to establish Souatter
Sovereignty in all the Territories. The move
ments OF Atchison, so far as the truth could be
drawn out OF reluctant witnesses, are fully de-
tailed In the report of the Congressional Com
mittee to Kansas.
| but 1t may be well to notice some of the con-
meeting links between the movements in Mis-
souri, and those in Washington. The Governor
OF Kansas, true to his trust, denounced the in
vaslon OF Kansas by Atchison and his banditti,
driving Off by violence the judges of election,
taxing possession Of the polls, making new
franchise laws to suit non-residents, and bring.
ing voters from foreign State, to choose legis.
Atchison in turn denounced the Governor
to the President, and demanded his removal.
ihe President, perhaps still trembling under
the burden of his pledge, or alarmed by Atcbi-
sons practical illustration of the Senatorial
panacea, "Squatter Sovereignty" hesitated.
and sought to avoid the responsibility of an act
so bold, by getting clear of the Governor by
other means. he hattered, coaxed. tried 10
intlmldate, and finally to buy him off with a
better ONCE, but all in vain his integrity was
inhexible.
But Atchison must be obeyed; and frivo-
lous pretence was seized upon to carry out the
plan OF the grand conspirator. The direct co.
operation between Washington and Missouri
President Pierce and Vice President Atchison.
and was also removed and ahSet 1pdSa Es
who fully answered the purpose for which he
was chosen, and whose name will fill niche
In American history similar to that occupied
by the notorious Jeffreys in English history.
Laws had been passed which, like those of
Draco, might be said to have been written in
blood. To beguile public opinion, the hue and
cry of law and order was raised by the same
bands who had taken possession of the ballot. |
boxes OF Kansas, driving off the officers and
legal voters with revolvers aud bowie knives.
Encompassed by these outrages, the settlers,
in pursuance of general notice, assembled |
together, to devise the best mode of relief They |
proposed form of government in conformity
with usage adopted by the people of nine |
Territories, now organized as States. President |
Pierce, in the face of these precedents and the |
Constitution of the United States, denounced |
this assemblage, convened for redress of
grievances, as reasonable. His Jeffreyism |
Judge now caught the sound, charged his grand |
jury accordingly and had number of the re- |
spectacle inhabitants of Kansas indicted for
treason, most of whom were arrested and have
been imprisoned under a military guard for
months, but now released on bail-thus &C.
knowledging the falsity of the charge as trea-
son is not bailable offence.
Are more facts wanting to prove the concert |
ed action between the President and his CO.
conspirator? Look at the official proclamation
from Washington, their thinly disguised but
palpahle design to deter the people of Kansas |
from the assertion of their rights The author
ity given to Governor Shannon to direct the |
military force of the United States at his dis |
erection. Their employment TO make arbitrary
arrests, after the manner of those who once fill
ed the Bastile of Paris, The employment of
foreign brigands under the mask title of enrol |
led militia, to blockade the great highway of
the West against the transit of emigrants seek
ing home on United States lands. In addi |
ton to these things, the indictment of print |
ing-ofiice and hotel by grand jury, and the aum
mary punishment of both, by burning, without
a trial. Would you not like 10 see copy of
these indictments This act must also have
been done in imitation of Draco, who sentenced |
d statue to be banished for having fallen upon |
a man.
AT the same time that these indictments we're
executed, the town of Lawrence was sacked |
and the pa0nla rohhad hu thaaa 20 ono polioa
executioners. Not content with these outrages, |
prowling brigands from the Blue Lodges and |
from distant States were indulgently encour
aged to range through the Territory, robbing,
banishing, aud numbering, in cold blood its
peaceable inhabitants, avowedly TO exterminate |
them from the land, under the hue and cry of |
obedience of claw and order that is, the |
law and order of Missouri invaders, administer.
ed by Judge Lecompte, and executed by Atch-
ison. Appeals to the President were answered.
by reference to the protection of these sacred
laws, as cooly and gravely referred to as if they
were the Justinian code. When, under the |
menace of the last invasion from Missouri, the |
people of Kansas sent special deputation to
the President Of the United States, he not only
peremptorily refused them any relief, hut in
suited them by reproach, for having meddled |
too much with their institutions, instead of
minding their own Understanding, evident
ly, that he had provided for their institutions,
through his confidential friend, General Atchi- /
son /; and it was q grave offence for them to in |
tertere with him, and grossly presumptuous for |
men "who do their own drudgeryn to attempt |
to form institutions fo- regulating society &C. |
cording to its natural and normal condition" |
When the President made this reply TO the |
Kansas deputies, he must have been so absorb |
ed in the doings Of the conspiracy as to have