The Kansas herald of freedom., 1857-02-28
Kansas Letter Writers.

the following from its Topeka, cor
respondent, X
"Governor Geary declares that
unless the Free State men petition for
maliy for the pardon of the convict'
at Lecompton, and in that petition ad
nit that the prisoners had been urgec
on Jy Nortkera fanatics to the commits
sion of the crimes they were convicted
of, he will so;thdra,c his protection ?,
and hare them Immediately set at kdrd
labor, and compel them to serre Out tn
fuu IRE gears.
"Mr. G.. w. Brown, of Lawrence
got up, few days since, a petition
meeting all these requirements. and add
ling a suggestion to his Excellency
that, should he fail to comply with
the memorial, that future aeoald girt
lis enemies opportunities for assailing las
actions and nlotipes, srkich compliance
,could deprive them of. How are the
mi ghty fallenl When the prisoners
learned the character of the petition,
| they rejected it with indignation, de-
claring they would suffer death even,
before they would accept of a release
on such conditions. and by such sacri-
fees of truth and principle. Could
| they have acted nobler 2"
| We should suppose there was truth
enough in Kansas of an exciting ma
ture, to relieve gentlemen from such
heavy drafts on Their Imagination.
Mis-statements of this kind have done
much to bring Kansas news into dis
lrepute. The petition we published
two weeks ago.
But since the whole world seems in
terested as to what our relations with
Gov. Geary really are, we will make
full statement of them.
We are one, of twenty millions,
who have adopted and live under the
United States form of government
This Government has a President,
chosen by the people once in four
years. 1t becomes the duty Of this
President to appoint for the people a
Governor for the Territories, before
they are admitted as States. In pur-
suance of this duty, the chief Execu-
tive of this nation appointed John w.
Geary as Governor of Kansas Terri
tory. He came here in the midst Of a
violent civil war. The whole country
was in commotion and in arms. We
took sides with the Governor, as a
peaee-loving citizen, without knowing,
personally, anything about him. We
should have done the same, had any
other man been appointed, and for the
same reason. He was our Governor
by law, and was properly appointed
and to be judged by his acts. He
issued his proclamation, and, in COM
mon with others, we obeyed it, as in
duty bound. But we are not Gov
Geary's adviser, counsellor nor friend,
more than other citizens are. We
have no reason to suppose that we
have more influence with him, than
other members of the community.
AS to The Hickory Point prisoners,
they have our sympathy and highest
regards. We remember them in bonds
as bound with them. We have used
our influence, with hundreds of 9th.
crs, to obtain their freedom, and have
finally succeeded. We remember ouI
feelings, when for nearly five long
months our best citizens were prison
ers to the slave power of this nation
when by its mobs they were arrested
in neighboring State, and by its
soldiers and bayonets held in illegal
and unjust confinement. We saw
this same giant power ravishing the
country, robbing, burning and ma
rauding, without check or hindrance.
Our brave men, who love liberty and
hate slavery, rushed to arms and
checked the marauders. In one of the
efforts to turn back pillaging party,
having been successful, they were re-
turning to Lawrence, when one hun
dred and one Of their number were
taken prisoners by the United States
dragons, and given up to the civil
authorities, another branch of the
slave power, for trial. They were
convicted of killing a man in battle.
For this, they were sentenced to a Sc
we're punishment of several years du-
ration.
We believe the Governor, if he had
followed the strong instincts of his
manhood, would have pardoned them
long ago. But slavery watches over
him. It's omnipresent eye is on all
his acts. The minions of this power
dog his steps from Washington to
Kansas from the borders to the Ex-
ecutive mansion and even here he is
not free. The sacrcdness of seals is
disregarded; private and official letters
are opened and read; eaves-droppers
set doors ajar and listen to private
conversation ; bullies confront him to
his face, and private assassins waylay
his path. The scorpion whip of
slavery, with its thousand stings, is
held over him, In terrorum, to hold In
check the generous impulses of his
nature, and to turn from the path OF
rectitude his upright and manly pur-
] noses Slavery Is fhe noxyer hebind