The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-08-30

Z 4
stitution of slavery. They realized that
! it was a direct affront and challenged
I the moral sense OF the people With
! true prophetic instinct Mr.. Chase said,
/ It will light up a fire in the country
which may consume those who kindled
it,
THE contest which followed its enact
ment on the soil of Kansas was unique
I in our national experience. The warfare
/ which waged here was its natural fruit
! though not foreseen by its authors
/ A Stray Shot On the Picket Line.
THE blood shed fifty years ago.
/ served to arouse the attention of the
/ country and to. emphasize the dangers
which were impending. The engage
/ ment here was a sporadic outburst. 1t
1 was, as il were, q stray shot Upon the
| picket line, and truly presaged the
i larger engagements of the mighty arm
/ les of the north and the south. Here
! was one of the early evidences of the
! coming revolution freighted with Nigh
4 ty consequences revolution which
4 was to change radically ths fortunes Of
a race and the destiny of the Republic
! The enga gements which the contest here
I and the struggles elsewhere upon the
soil Of Kansas, fOreshadowed shook the
foundations of the Republic For nearly
4 four years the result of the issue was in
doubt The arbitrament Of the field was
| accepted and our institutions were more
| llfInlY set imam ever IN the hearts ana
4 purposes of the American people The
integrity OF the union was more surely
/ established by the demonstration of the
fact that it possessed the inherent power
to preserve and maintain itself
with an their wisdom. those who
were engaged in the great contest,
saw into the future but imperfectly.
War which was made to destroy the
union resulted in the overflow of the
institution of slavery War was made
to preserve slavery. not to destroy it.
If it had been supposed at the out
set that slavery was. in fact, the real
issue, the final result would q least
have been delayed. States which were
neutral. or which supported the union
cause might have aligned themselves
with the secession movement, if it
had been thought that the extinction
1 of slavery was the end to be accom-
plished. The ways of Providence
were wisely concerned. He to whom
Abraham Lincoln went in serious and
earnest SupplicatiOn- when darkness
hung about, had not revealed his SUI
preme purpose. No one saw further
than Mr.. Lincoln to whom was given
the supreme opportunity to lead
race out of bondage, but it was not
/ given to him to see the outcome of
the contest from the beginning. In
/ December. 1852, he recommended to
| congress the adoption of articles
amendatory Of the constitution, pro-
viding for the issue of bonds to COM
! pensate states which should abolish
slavery therein at any time before the
/ first of January. 1900. He then cal
culated that the freedom OF the slaves
might be accomplished under the plan
/ he submitted in the ensuing 81 years,
or by the year of our Lord, 1900. His
dominating purpose was to preserve
the union, whose integrity was gravely
! imperiled.
1.-The proposal of the president
proved unavailing, and on the LIST of
January, 1863 he issued a proclama-
ton which viii live forever in the lit
erature of liberty and slavery died
more than a generation before the
close of the last century.
1.-THE great. humane, patriotic eff
fort of Mr.. Lincoln to restore peace
upon conditions he regarded as found
ed in equity and to avert the flow Of
blood, proved ineffective Perhaps it
We're better so. The nation had great
" sinned and in the far reach of his
tory, it were perhaps better that its
sins should be atoned for by the ire
mendous sacrifice which was made.
The sin was 50 great that it could only
be washed away with a sponge dipped
in the richest blood of the republic.
Now a Common Country.
aThe day of slavery is fast receding.
Its stories and tragedies seem now al
most to be a. part of NEUROLOGICAL lore.
L
pect from the strained and tragic past
The sad shadow of this union has
passed and the north and the south
are knitted together by mutual re-
spect and love of a common country
land a common flag. Those who op-
posed each other in the great conflict.
glory in its providential issue.
Those who fought in the long ago
for liberty had little conception OF
what liberty means today In the
It'll A h. T
coin said. The world is in need of a
good definition Of the word liberty .
America has given to this splendid
word a better definition than is found
elsewhere. 1t has q more far-reach-
ing and greater significance than it
had fifty years ago. The flag of the
republic is the symbol of a liberty
larger and more benehcent than was
conceived of by those who drew the
sword in its name here. or than was
dreamed of even by the great Ameri-
can emancipation.
As the Curtain Was Rising.
kansas entered the Union at a
dramatic moment. She joined the sis
terhOod of states as the curtain was
rising upon the last serious act in the
slavery drama. She came in and va
liantly dedicated herself to unfolding
out the great struggle proved herself
staunch and true Her population was
then small; her wealth, was not great
but what she had and all she had. she
consecrated to the preservation Of her
free institutions With the spirit OF
the intrepid Nathan Hale, she only re-
GREETED that she had not more lives and
more wealth that she might give them
to the Union.
Fifty years is a comparatively brief
period, but it spans all that Is best il
3 the history Of Kansas. She was born