The Kansas herald of freedom., 1857-08-08
The I}stais Of Fsseeoq.
Lawrence. Saturday. august 8, 's7.
The Ultimate End.

the iact tnat the tate OF Kansas IS liked.
her manifest destiny is clear and distinct,
and the joyous words of Free Soil and
Free Aen, are legibly written on her ban
ner, in characters ineffaceable. The south
ern slave oligarchy no longer indulge in
rapturous visions of immense hemp and
tobacco plantations ON her verdant plains,
and fancy fails to picture the long rows
ofoabins assigned to their human chattels
for quarters. The last hope has fled
which for long years has been cherished
by the politicians of the South, of running
Kansas, even. by the same means as ruin
has perehed upon the broad acres and
green hills Of the Old Dominion. Slave
labor would have accomplished this, and
thus we have two most strenuous reasons
for opposition to its establishment. First,
the principle of right, which denies the
power ofone-half of a population over the
other hall, to coeree them into labor for
the benefit of the stronger party; and,
second, the policy of the measure, selfish
though it be, of preserving this portion of
the Empire of the West, as an inheritance
for onr children, the children of the hardy
enigrant from less auspicious parts of the
continent. unstained by the polluting In
fluencc ofslave society; and perpetuating
the institution of free labor in this our
chosen home. This policy is selfsh-so
is every mere policy; but when acting in
conjunction with the principle of opposi-
tion to what We deem wrong, is sustained
both by our own consciences and the APP
proyal of the great and good in all eoun-
tries and chimes. Ii a benefit to ourselves
and our posterity, to the country now and
ever, is to accrue from our efforts in behalf
of freedom, then does not the end justify
the means to attain it?
The comparison, too, between the pro-
gress of intellectual Development at the
North and South inclines so strongly to-
wards the side of free institutions as to
form another among the many weighty
reasons why we should strive to establish
them here and elsewhere, where we can
do so without injustice to the conceded
rights of our opponents. We infer by
this, intellectual development among the
mass ofour incongruous population. South
of Mason & Dixon's line, education, ex-
cept in the chivalric branches, is very
much at discount, and, as the census of
the slave States shows. the ratio of igno-
rance trebles that ofthe North. Nor can
We wonder at the existing state of things.
Southern policy-for that alone seems to
guide them-deprecates education among
any save a chosen few.
Their slave system, copied from British
philanthropists, extends to the mental as
well as the physical faculties, to the white
as well as the black race, in short, to all,
who, even under the adverse circum-
stances surrounding them, are not born,
or do not push their way. to an equality
with the E. FPS peeuniarily and mentally.
The advocates of Southern institutions
openly ayow that all who may chance to
fall below certain standard qualification,
shall minister to the comfort of those
to whom fortune has granted position
above the line, arguing always from the
madival saying that "Might makes
right"
Intellectually, then, the preponderance
is with the opponents of the system, both
of policy and principle; and those States
which are farthest removed from the Upas-
like influence of the peculiar institu-
tion,'' are further advanced in mental,
moral, and physical ability To the dis
tricts Immediately adjoining the slave
States. the apathetic malady seems in a
measure to extend, and from the infiuenc-
Is which they are daily brought in con-
tact, are taken more or less their ideas
of life. Iudolence usurIs the place
of honest industry, aud . tyrannic ten
dency seems to gain possession of the fac
ulties, while education is totally disregard
ed or egregio,sly neglected. This may not
apply in all cases; but in many We all
know it to be true, and there is often a
disposition TO adopt the institutions of
their neighborS. This influence exerted
by slave society, when not counteracted
by the more radical forms of the sys-
TEN farther South, will have an effect
upon almost any one who is not previ-
ously fortified against it; and unless he
is satisfied that its effects are deleterious,
he is liable to great modification of his
views. Discarding all considerations bu,
those of ofindiyidualisy, acknowledging nc
abstract right or wrong, the feeling of las
sitade, the dolce far Hients of the South,
inperceptibly winds Its way around the
mind of the unacclimated denizen among
her orange groves, until he bows before
the charm, the fascination is complete
and like the bird before the serpent's gaze,
he yields himself an involuntary victim
at the shrine of Incidence, the idea Of
selfgratifcation overbalancing all Others,
like the Alpine avalanche, and banishing
from his thoughts all consideration of the
consequences and causes in the delight Of
the effects.
Physically. too, the system of slavery
is at variance with the best interests OF
mankind. It eneryates the slaye-ownina
population, renders them efeminate and
indolent, as well as unscrupulous as to,the
means of gratifying such Incidence. II
wears out and degeneratcs the population
as itdoes tac soil. An entire absence oI