The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1858-01-16
Kansas.

there having Increased 10 an extent demanding Per
sonai attention to ts distribution. the coec''" VI
dues. %.
sssea Kansas.
4sgs "Cosne on.
Wen visit CAlibau my slave. VINO never
Sfiel "a Us q kind answer.
ous Of the critics Of this admirable play per-
csives in It q reference to shipwreck on the
Island Of Bermuda If Kansas were an island,
we should and no diticulty In fixing upon the ex-
act spot where Prospero enacted his wonders
The euchsutments thrown around this desert re-
Ssou. the mysterioussishts and sounds, the alter
nate music and thunder, the mad pranks Of Ariel
putting words into the mouths Of tho shipwrecksd
mariners altogether Inconsistent with their cha
racter, and which instantly get them into trou-
Die; and the prominent part played In the drama,
by the slave monster Caiiban, would all point TO
Kansas - the Of this wonderful performance,
II Kansas were only an island For sorceries and
spells Is potent aud not unlike, seem to prevail IN
this enchanted territory, bsfogging the brains and
chaneing the uttsrances Of all the republican
dukes and princes who are cast upon Its desert
shores, and even extending the magic influence to
Washington, 90 that a "strange drcwsiness I"
comes the brightest intellects Of the govern
ment, and though their imagination" like that
Of Antonio, Is strong enough to "see a crown
dropping upon their head" yet, ali the time they
speak "a sleepy language
Asleep
Wth e, eyes wias open standing speaking moving
In truth, Il may be said Of most Of the statesmen
who have touched Kansas either with their foot
steps or their tongues, that, however sensible be-
fore, or perfectly sane upon other subjects
.a87 z Mot a soul
Bot feat fever Of the mad, and play'd
Some tricks Of desperation"
Kansas 10 In fact, most wonderful region,
and has given birth to greater variety Of prodi-
gies than the famed island Of "that damned witch,
Syoorax." The administration, disappointed in
one Governor, looks through all the country for
the trustiest man to endow with the delicate du-
ties ofruling Kansas. The man Is found; he starts
upon bis mission with the fullest confidence of the
President and the PARTY; the territorals salute
him with ardor:
III show thee every fertile inch Of the island,
IN kiss thy foot: I'll show myself thy subject
when, presto, the whole scene changes, the sens
bic and discreet Governor talks with as altered
and drunken tongue ss Trinculo; no at once en-
cages the services of the bowling monster, Caliban
and that bag born whelp goes OF singing;
mo more dams I'll make for fish;
s.a5 Nor fetch In firing
Nor scrape treDchering. nor wash dish:
Ban, Ban, Ca-Caliban
Has new masttr-Got a new man.
Freedom hey-dayi-hey.day, freedom!
sfreedoml hey-day, freedoml"
First went Reeder, always, up to that hour, a
chaste Democrat, and loyal to the Constitution;
but he had scarcely time to turn round In the mys-
serious territory, before, less fortunate than Mi
randa, he was despoiled Of his virgin innocence
shannon came next, man of Ohio, said to be
firm as a rock and true steel, but his own ca
reer was even shorter than that of the frail and
fallen Reeder. Again the President looked to the
Keystone State, and forth came Geary, man of
sense and soidty, but he had scarcely touched the
boundary line of Kansas before he went ravng mad.
After considerable interregnum, great, nation
al statesman, or rather statesman with great,
national name, was sent to the mysterious land !;
and to make things douby sure, prominent ex-
Congressman was appointed his secretary. When
Governor Walker went to Kansas, it WAS the
general beliefthat a speedy pacifcation would en-
sue, and everybody thought, as Sebastian said of
the island, she would carry it home in his pocket
and give 1t his son for apple" Walker himself
seemed to be of that opinion, and went to Kansas
with this belief in his mind, If not on his lips:
-"Treascn, Felony
Sword, pike. knife gun. or need OF any engine.
Would not have"
hut soon the Ariel that rules the land of magic
put forth his power, and of Walker and Stanton 1t
might be said:
They fell together both as by consent;
They drop'd as by thunder-Atroke."
Gen. Denver, the last of the governors, has
scarce arrived in Kansas, before charmed tongue
speaks In his lips, and he utters words which
startle those who sent him. In fact, of the whole
host of Governors and Secretaries sent to Kansas,
only one man preserved his senses. That was
Secretary Woodson, Daniel Woodson of Lynchburg.
Va. We don't know how he managed to defy
the sorceries of the place, unless in addition to
his unambitious spirit and moderation Of charac-
ter, be may attribute his success to his being edu-
Gated In printing Office. Certainly, the printers
devil has proved the only spirit that could resist the
charms of Ariel, and mollify even the truculent
temper of Caliban.
In other respects, Kansas is full of excitement
and mystery. 1t Is u place over which civil war
is slways impending, and never descending. Big
black clouds hang low down in the sky, and the
distant mutterings of thunder burthen every
breeze, and yet the fash never comes the thunder
bolt never falls. 1t is Il peculiar region, covered
with an eternal fog, in which every figure assumes
a gigantic shape, and yet performs no deeds appro
pirate to giant No sunlight ever scatters this
thick fog, nor breaks into the deep recesses of
the wilderness, nor brightens the sombre imagina-
lions aud dismal natures of its inhabitants. Ever
and anon, We have most exciting intelligence from
Kansas. An immense army of Missourians, pant
ing for vengeance gathers on the borders, and
threatens to sweep oil before them, when suddenly,
like apparitions Of the night they disappear and
man seems astonished at their disappearance, no
Newspaper ever asks what has become Of them,
20 common IL II for these ghostly hordes to come,
and vanish, like the unsubstantial spcctres that
they are. Again, we learn that Jim Lane" at
the bead of the Free Soil forces, has fought or is
about to 6ght,-it matters not which,-a desperate
battle with the border ruiians, killed i've or ten,
and taken twenty prisoners. Here is war In
earnest, and nervous people begin to believe that
the Union Is at an end, and the earth about to
start out Of its orbit, and the plane tary system
TO explode generally. But the list of prisoners
never comes, the names of the dead men are never
heard, there are no families In mourning for the
fallen braves. Tho battle Is a mere vision which
Ariel has copjured up, and the destruction of the
Cnion 10 delusion like that wherewith the ipge-
nious sprite induced the king of Naples and his
eourtiers TO believe that their ship was on fire.
s.ts..-s "Ail. but 10 ariners,
piunad IN the foaming brine and quit the yessels
Then all a-frc. with me-: The kings son
Was the first man that leapd; cried He'll Ia empty
And JAIL the devils are here"
However, it is matter of congratulation that this
Kansas lunscy affects only the king and his Off
GERS. Whilst the politicians are as mad as March
bares upon the subject, the mariners--the indus
trious and useful classes of the country, are but
slightly touched with the prevailing mania. They
have no idea that the ship is on fire in any part
either the waist, the deck, bowsprit, yards, or
cabin, and hence. they remain quietly on board,
with no other spell upon their senses than the re-
pose which follows honest toll Wbilst the roH |