Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-01-01
LETTER FROM Hon. J. S. BLACK.

WASHINGTON, Dec. Is, 1857.
GeHtiemen:-I am honored by your invita-
tion to the meeting of Monday next. cannot
be there, but believe your purpose to be just
and trust am not without good reason for
the faith that is within me. If the President
has done his duty we'll his fellow citizens ought
70 express their appreciation freely. That he
has meant well fer his country, will not be de-
MED by any reasonable man who knows him
lie has no object Of earthly ambition, except to
perform the functions Of his good Office, SO that
when he retires from it he may read his history
in the eyes of a eontented and prosperous ma
tiOn.
What has he done in this affair OF Kansas
that is worthy of death or bond. ! - Difficult
complicated, and entangied as that subject has
always been, wherein has he failed TO meet il
like patriotic. statesman Let his acousers
stand forth and specify what act he has com
mitted which should forfeit the confidence Of
the Democracy la the leader they love, ard
the chief they admire"
When the Administration began he found
a portion Of Kansas like Utah, in a state of
orsanized and open rebellion against the laws.
The most infamous crimes had been habitualiy
committed. Murder, arson and robbery were
common things. Some Of the immigrants were
bad men, and went there for base purposes
They would be ruled by nothing but the bayo-
net and accordingly two thousand bayonet,
were sent there to keep them in order. But
the very latest advices show that even the
presence Of the army has not been sufficient to
awe them into submission, or prevent them
from COMMITTING the most atroci0us outrages.
The natural desire Of tho Presidents heart,
and every honest heart in the country was to
put an end TO the reign or terror, confagratiOn
and blood, as soon as possible, and to substi-
tute at its place the supreme and peaccable
rule or the law The army mi ght do for while,
but il was disgrace TO the American name
that a military force was necessary TO keep one
portion OF the people from cutting the thr0ats
Of another.
Ii WAS plainly seen by every one who took
the trouble to think about it, that no progress
could be made in suppressing these disorders,
while the cause and the excuse Tor them re-
nsined. SO far "a they were not prompted by
the mere love Of plumber and blood they were
the of.prings of the relentless feud, one fatal
dispute, arising out Of a single subject, and
that subject was negro slavery. This split the
people ssundcr, and male them hate each
other with the deepest intensity of hatred.
There was no other division among them
Every baud Of combatants was ranged under a
pro-slsyery nti-prO-sIsvery banner.
Every violent act of aggression or defence was
by one OF these parties against the other.
When life was lost the news of the victim
death was always accompanied by a statement
of the side he had taken on the slavery issue.
III a general riot took place, the killed and
wounded were enumerated according to their
classification ON this question The abolition
ish organized their party into tho form Of
State government, with all ats machinery,
civil and military, and ranging themselves Nm
der Il, they swore fierce defiance and deadly
hostility TO the regularly constituted Huthori-
ties Of the United States, simply because oi
their views ON slavery. This WAS not alb. The
contest extended itself from Kansas to the ut
termoet ends Of the cnuntry IL becane
great sectional controversy, and every where
the burden Of all that vas said and sung upon
it, was slavery. The Union itself was in dan
germ grest and imminent dangcr-and no
ons dreamed Of sssribing that danger TO any
cause except the unsettled condition VI the
slavery question IN Kansas 30
In these unhappy circumstances, the legal
api satisfactory settlemens of this sxaspsratiDg
\ dispute vas consummation most devoutly u
" bed. TO extirpats this root Of bitterness