The Kansas herald of freedom., 1857-02-21

it was under these feelings, that the
President of the United States Senate
made the above declarations. He oc-
cupied conspicuous position. The
eyes Of the world were upon him.
The spirits of the venerated dead
hovered around. him, and he yielded,
for the moment, to the impulses of
justice and honor. He declared it i'm
possible to repeal Sc time-honored an
instrument as the Missouri compro-
mise, passed as it was under the most
trying circumstances, and for which
the pro-slayery party had received the
most ample equivalent. threads as
follows -
"That in all the territory ceded by
France to the United States, under the
name of Louisiana, which lies north
of thirty-six degrees and thirty min
utes north latitude, not included with
in the limits of the State contem-
plated by this act, slavery and involun-
tary servitude, otherwise than in the
punishment of crimes, whereof the par
ties shall have been duly convicted, shall
be, and is hereby, forever prohibited
Provided alscays, That any person es
Gaping into the same, from whom
labor or service is lawfully claimed,
in any state or territory of the United
States, such fugitive may be lawfully
reclaimed and conveyed to the person
claiming his or her labor or service as
aforesaid" 4pprored, March 9th,
1820.l
But after the adjournment of Con-
gress, Mr.. AtehiSon returned to his
constituents. and finding them eager
to carry slavery into the Territory,
changed his course, and with others,
commenced forming secret societies,
bound by oaths and signs, for the pur-
pose of establishing slavery and dri-
wing off free State settlers, if they
should attempt to locate there. So
earnest was he in forwarding this ne
farious scheme, that it occasioned his
delay at the opening of Congress, till
too late in the session to take his
place as President of the Senate.
The period had come, so long fore
seen, and dreaded by the slave power.
This vast region must be opened for
settlement. The necessities of the
nation demanded it. New States were
forming on the south and west, which
made it imperious on Congress to Or
ganizc Territorial government.
The nation was resting in quiet Sc
curity on the pledges and compromises
of the South, that this Territory should
forever be sacred to Freedom. No
robber right or bandit wrong was
feared OF suspected by the trusting
North. But while they slept, they
were BETRAYED, as the sequel will
show.
Before Mr.. Atehison returned to
Washington, he is reported to have
addressed the people of Weston as
follows:-
.:What will you do, if the Missouri
compromise is not repealed +? VIII
You sit down here at home, and per-
NIT the serfs, the nigger stealers, tie
rernein of the North, to come into
Nebraska and take up those fertile
prairies, run off your negroes, and de-
preciate the value of your slaves here ?
[ know you well 1 know what you
will do; you know how to protect
your own interests your rifles will
free you from such reighbors, and Sc
cure your property. You will go there
with your slaves, and you will stay
there with them, even if the Missouri
compromise is not removed. You
will go there, if necessary, with the
Joyonet and with blood. But we wU
repeal the compromise. I,could soon
er see tie Whole of Nebraska a hundred
times tn the bottom Of HE'LL, than to see
1t a free State"
Here is the first intimation of 6ayo-
nets, blood, and ,rar. Here is the first
intimation that the free State men
were to be killed, if they attempted
to Settle in Kansas.
Indications of similar character
were manifested in popular meetings,
public speeches, and infammatory
articles in the leading newspapers of
Westera Missouri not only urging
pro-slavery settlers to move in and
occupy the land, but also to kill free
State men who might attempt to make
Kansas their home. This, the fol-
lowing extracts viii sufficiently illus
trate:
"7Hey mast be met, need be, sritA
the RIFLE. We must meet them at the
very threshold, and scourge them back
to their regions of darkness. They
hare made TIE issue, and it is for US to
meet and repei them, even At THE
PoIST OF THE BAYoSET.
" He was like DR.. Baylis, for going
over into Kansas when the first emf
grant should come-Aot waiting till
the whole territory should be oyerrun
by these Northern ssrfs AS DR. Bay
lis had offered his medical services, SO |
he would give them counsel and lasc.
de would go with them as a leader, if |
none better appeared, or even as . pri-
vate, under one more skilled in STRATA
gem and war. He would go with |
them. snd felt justified at the point Of
the 6ayoaef, and to the death. to drive
them s1Ttf ssI caese5 ,,f Zen Qfr;r,ST |