Year: 1860




happy and united people. Tie admins
tra.ion of his predecessor had been mark
ed by settlement Of the agitation of
the question of slavery, growing out Of
the acquisition Of territory from Mexico,
as the administration of Mr.. Monroe had
been marked by the settlement of sim
liar agitation in connection with the ter
rltory purchased from France during the
Presidency of Mr.. Jefferson, and as these
two settlements covered all the territory
then belonging to our government, our
people fondIy hoped that for Il long peri
cd Of time, this vexed and irritating
question would be kept out Of our na.
tioual courcils, and that the angercd and
embi,tered feelings always,arising from
it's discussion, would then die Cor want
of food. As an additional basis upon
which to rest this hope, our people had
the solemn pledge Of honor of the politi-
cal party then dominant in all its branch
cs of ournational government, deliber-
ately given them at the time Mr.. Pierce
was nominated for the Presidency, that il
placed in power they would resist, to the
extent of their power, the agitation of
that dangerous question, both in the
Congress and out of it. Unfortunately
for the peace of the country, and for the
preservation of those kindly and fraternal
feelings which should always exist among
our people, Mr.. Pierce and his political
friends did not redeem their pledge. On
the contrary, the first important act of
this administration was the passage Of
the Kansas Nebraska bill, by which the
settlement made during Mr.. Mouroes S
administration of the question Of slavery
in the territory acquired from France,
was set aside, and the fountain OF strife,
SO recently c'osed, again opened to pour
forth among our people their bitter waters
The excuse offered for this wanton, un-
called for and most unfortunate act was
the alleged desire on the part Of those
who did it, to settle the question of sla-
very, then in a state of perfect quietude
and repose, and this was done by Intro
ducing into our legislation new policy
which denies to Congress power claimed
for it by the founders of our government,
anl exercised BY it from the beginning;
which declares that to be unconstitutional
which the makers of the constitution
declared to be constitutional, aud which
rests upon the strange assumption that
the government of the United States
cannot set up and maintain ID the terri
tories Of the United States form of
government demanded by majority of
our people, and idcn tica in the disputed
particular, with the form Of government
of majority of the States of our conted
crcv. If the man who did this thing
did not know that their action would
again produce among US agitation, heat
burning, jealousy and iIl-will, they were
50 wholly ignorant of the temper aud
feelings of our people, as to make them
unsafe public servants. If they did know
they were uufaithful. In either view
they were faithless to the pledge they had
given, as the induccmeut for placing
power in their hands. The Kansas Ne.
hraska bill was long pending, and its pas
sage was strenously resisted in Congress
The debates in that body upon it We're
acrimonious and exciting; the discus
sions in the public press were bitter and
infammatory, and when the passions Of
the people in the different sections of
our country had been thoroughly aroused,
their preiudices infamcI, and their pride
enlisted in the contest going ou in the
halls Of Congress, that contest was by
the passage Of the bill, Transferred from
these halls to the plains Of Kansas from
the representatives, in Congress to our
entire people; and thus was cast into the
arena as a prize to be struggled t,or 10y an
aroused and excited peopi a territory
which, in size, in sail and in climate is
equal to some of the most powerful mon
archies of the old world lid the men
who passed that act expect and desire
that struggle to be j. friend y and peace
fui one: The country would fain 50 be
,ieye. yet such belief requires that We
should attribute to them a want Of knowl-
edge and foresight but little less criminal
in men in their position than would have
been the expectation and desire BY them
hat the struggle should be as it was, a
hostile and bloody one.


1t is my deliberate conviction, that
IN the day in which the opponents OF
his new and most unfortunate measure,
,ided by a few of its original friends, de-
|eated its legitimate consumation by
defeating the passage Of the SO called
Lecompton bill, which sought to enforce
lpon the people Of Kansas a cousti;u-
ion they abhorcd and whch would have !.
'equired for its enforcement the aid of
Federal bayonets-on that day the union
IF these States met and escaped the great.
EST peril to which it has been subjected
But happily for all, unexpectedly to the
iears Of many, adversely perhaps to the
wishes of some, that great peril was es-
capped, and Kansas. with constitution
which accords with the legislation, which
10 the last generation dedicated her to
'rccdom, and with the wishes of her rco-
pie, stands ready to ask admission into
,ur Union as free State. | do not re-
eur to these past transactions for the pur-
pose of again stirring up i'll feelings now
neasurably appeased, but for the light,
which in my opinion, they throw upon
The present events. 1t is as true now as
il was in the olden time, that "thcy who
sow to the wind shal! reap the whirl-
wind" During tho struggle in Kansas
which makes her story a blot on the page
Of our country's history, the free State
men of that territory, were treated by