White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1857-06-18
A QUESTION.

Is it not infinitely better that slavery should
be abolished or established in Kansas, rather
than that we should become slaves and not per-
mitted to govern ourselves Is tue absence or
existence of slavery in Kansas paramount to the
great questions of State sovereignty, of self
government and of the Union Is the sable
African alone entitled to your sympathy and
consideration, even ifhe were happier as a free
man than slave, either here, or in st. Denim
90, or the British West Indies, or Spanish
America, where the emlncipAted slave has re-
ceded to barb irism and approaches the loves:
point in the descending scale of moral, physical
and intellectual degradation 7 Have our white
brethren uf The great American and European
race no claims upon our attention Have they
no rights orinterests entitled to regard and pro-
lection Shall the destiny of the African in
Kansas exclude all considerations connected
with our own happiness and prosperity And
is it for the handful of that race now in Kansas
or that may be hereafter introduced, that we
should subrert the Union, and the great princi-
pies of selEsovenment and State sovereignty,
and imbrue our hands in the blood of our cOun-
trymen Important as this African question
may be in Kansas, and which il is your solemn
right to determine, it sinks ito insignifcanee
compared with the perpetuity of the Union and
the final Successful establishment sf the prin.
eiples of &A,s sovereignty and free govern
nent.
Irpatriotisn1, If devotion to the Constitution
and love Of the Union, should not inluce the
minority to yield 70 the majority on this ques-
ton, let them reflect, that in no event eau the
minority successfully determine this QUESTION
permanently, and that in no contingency will
Congress admit Kansas as a slave or free State.
unless minority of the people of Kansas shall
Est have fairly and freely decided this question
for themselves, by direct vote on the adoption
of the Constipation, excluding all fraud or vio-
lence The minority, in resisting the will of
the majority, may involve Kansas again in civil
war; they may bring upon her reproach and OBJ
lOquy, and destroy her progress and prosperity
they may keep her for years out of the Union,
and, il the whirlwind of agitation, sweep away
the government itself. But Kansas never can
be brought into the Union with or without slave
~, except by previous solemn decision, fully,
freely and fairly made by minority Of her peo
pie in voting for or against the adoption OF her
State Constitution. Why, then, should this just,
peaceful and constitutional mode Of settlement
meet with opposition from any qul7er7 Is
Kansas willing to destroy her own hopes Of
prosperity merely that she may afford political
capital TO any party, and perpetuate the agita-
ton Of slavery throughout he UniOnl Is she
to become mere theme for agitators in other
States, the theatre on which they shall perform
the bloody drama Of treason and disunion p
Does she want to see the solemn acts Of Con-
gress, the decision Of the peOpleOf the Union in
the recent election, the legislative, executive,
.aicisl authorities of the country all over
ana ga---