The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-03-10

| whose name is as familiar 10 early set
tiers and their offspring. as household
words, and who was both actor and
| counselor in the great drama, from its
bloody prelude on the virgin soil of
Kansas, till the triumphant drop of the
curtain over the closing scene at APP
pomatox. neither fawns nor 1atters.
Nothing extenuate, nor set down
/ aught in malice" seems TO have been
! his guiding motto, the which he kept
steadily and constantly in view. during
| his arduous work of justice and self
| imposed duty TO compariot and 10
posterity. The animus Of this book
is not TO paint the picture of saint or
| a faultless demigod. but 10 prove By
| painstaking analysis and corrobOratiye
| testimony, that Lanes virtues far out
weighed his faults. And this task in
the searching light of truth and justice.
has been accomplished by the author
without the distortion of single fact
and beyond the cavil of doubt That
the reader may have a slight idea of the
spirit and style OF the work the follow
extract is appended:
Lane entered the arena Of politics
and AT the turning point of deSpotic
power-the two went together-the Big
Springs convention and the Wakarusa
war were but two months apart The
first was political. but jt uttered the
eIN Of rx-ho p 6aolaraH no
the people would depend upon argu-
ment as long as hope of success was
reasonable, but would resist TO a
bloody issue when hope in peace was
lost. Lane advocated the revolution
in mis- committee, and Governor Reeder,
in speaking on it, announced that we
would sustain it with the steady arm
and the sure eye In the elements of
war we were as children, inexper
fenced. The people came for peace
their enemies for war. No military
organizer was among US. Half our
territory was an imaginary line be-
tween us and our enemies. The other
half was the Missouri river. In sight
of our shores were twice as many men
who fought under Colonel DOniphan in
the Mexican war, as there were in Kan
sas who had ever seen a hostile gun.
Never had n dozen of our men stood in
the ranks of battle here till Lane gave
the word TO Fall inr' Twice had we
been trampled at the polls, and tamely
submitted. He leaped into the breach at
as an important an epoch TO Kansas as
was the appearance OF Butcher to Well
ington when he emerged from the
woods at TrichemOnt in the battle of
Waterloo. There was more at stake
the freedom of man; the perpetuation
OF republican government, and the ad- |
vancement of the worlds civilization
The Big Springs resolutions and Lane
and his men in the Wakarusa war were |
TO the American conflict what the |
MeCklenburg resolutions and Marion |
and his men We're to the revolution. |
The enemy came with 100 men, and |
the 600 Free State men organized and |
disciplined by him, confronted them, |
cowed them, compromised and settled, |
through Governor Shannon. and finally |
threatened disaster was terminated by |
Lane following the remnant of them
that wanted TO fight until they retreat
ed into Missouri; and he continued the
terror of all the hostile country till the
war was ended. What was Kansas
when he entered the arena? 1t had
less than 1900 inhabitants The re-
gions where are now Marysville. Sa-
lima, Council Grove and Emporia, were
the extreme of attempted western set
Element, as was the region of Humboldt
on the south; and within these hostile
Indians made raids; while on the east
were white men as barbarOus as the
Indians when the shibbOleth Of ''aboli-
tionism" was pronounced. Lane led
no mercenary bands. They may have
chimerical ideas. But no
more intelligent, upright, honorable
men ever fought in a good cause than
the masses of the Kansas soldiers in
The Free State campaigns and the arm
es of the Union. They were the
men before whom that greatest of |
American statesmen, William III. Sew
lrd, in his eloquent peroration exclaim-
.d-his gestures more eloquent than his
bow before you, people Of
Kansas, as the most intelligent and the
rravest and the most virtuOus people
u the United States"
The book is large, vo 33G pages,
Illustrated neatly and substantially
,ound Price 500.