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THE    CRIME    AGAINST    KANSAS. 


Hi 

i 


SPEECH 


OF 


HON.  CHARLES  SUMNER, 


OF     MASSACHUSETTS. 


IN  THE  SENATE   OF  THE   UNITED   STATES,   MAT  19,   1856. 


MONDAY,  May  19,  1S56. 

Mr.  President  :  You  are  now  called  to  re- 
dress a  great  transgression.  Seldom  in  the 
history  of  nations  has  such  a  question  been 
presented.  Tariffs,  army  bills,  navy  bills,  land 
bills,  are  important,  and  justly  occupy  your 
care ;  but  these  all  belong  to  the  course  of 
ordinary  legislation.  As  means  and  instru- 
ments only,  they  are  necessarily  subordinate 
to  the  conservation  of  government  itself. 
Grant  them  or  deny  them,  in  greater  or  less 
degree,  and  you  will  inflict  no  shock.  The 
machinery  of  government  will  continue  to 
move.  The  State  will  not  cease  to  exist.  Far 
otherwise  is  it  with  the  eminent  question  now 
before  you,  involving,  as  it  does,  liberty  in  a 
broad  territory,  and  also  involving  the  peace 
of  the  whole  country  with  our  good  name  in 
history  for  evermore. 

Take  down  your  map,  sir,  and  you  will  find 
that  the  territory  of  Kansas,  more  than  any 
other  region,  occupies  the  middle  spot  of 
North  America,  equally  distant  from  the  At- 
lantic on  the  east,  and  the  Pacific  on  the  west ; 
from  the  frozen  waters  of  Hudson's  Bay  on 
the  north,  and  the  tepid  gulf  stream  on  the 
south,  constituting  the  precise  territorial  centre 
of  the  whole  vast  continent.  To  such  advan- 
tage of  situation,  on  the  very  highway  between 
two  oceans,  are  added  a  soil  of  unsurpassed 
richness,  and  a  fascinating,  undulating  beauty 
of  surface,  with  a  health-giving  climate,  cal- 
culated to  nurture  a  powerful  and  generous 
people,  worthy  to  be  a  central  pivot  of  Ame- 
rican institutions. 

A  few  short  months  only  have  passed  since 
this  spacious  mediterranean  country  was  open 
only  to  the  savage,  who  ran  wild  in  its  woods 
and  prairies ;  and  now  it  has  already  drawn 
to  its  bosom  a  population  of  freemen  larger 
than  Athens  crowded  within  her  historic 
;-rut.'<,  when  her  sons,  under  Miltiades,  won 
liberty  for  mankind  on  the  field  of  Marathon ; 


more  than  Sparta  contained  when  she  ruled 
Greece,  and  sent  forth  her  devoted  children, 
quickened  by  a  mother's  benediction,  to  return 
with  their  shields  or  on  them;  more  than 
Rome  gathered  on  her  seven  hills,  when, 
under  her  kings,  she  commenced  that  sove- 
reign sway,  which  afterwards  embraced  the 
whole  earth  ;  more  than  London  held,  when, 
on  the  fields  of  Crecy  and  Agincourt,  the 
English  banner  was  carried  victoriously  over 
the  chivalrous  hosts  of  France. 

Against  this  territory,  thus  fortunate  in 
position  and  population,  a  crime  has  been  com- 
mitted, which  is  without  example  in  the 
records  of  the  past.  Not  in  plundering  pro- 
vinces, nor  in  the  cruelties  of  selfish  gov- 
ernors will  you  find  its  parallel ;  and  yet  there 
is  an  ancient  instance,  which  may  show  at 
least  the  path  of  justice.  In  the  terrible  im- 
peachment by  which  the  great  Roman  Orator 
has  blasted  through  all  time  the  name  of 
Verres,  amidst  charges  of  robbery  and  sacri- 
lege, the  enormity  which  most  aroused  the 
iudignant  voice  of  his  accuser,  and  which  still 
stands  forth  with  strongest  distinctness,  ar- 
resting the  sympathetic  indignation  of  all  who 
read  the  story,  is,  that  away  in  Sicily  he  had 
scourged  a  citizen  of  Rome — that  the  cry — 
"  I  am  a  Roman  citizen,"  had  been  interposed 
in  vain  against  the  lash  of  the  tyrant  governor. 
Other  charges  were,  that  he  had  carried  away 
productions  of  art,  and  that  he  had  violated 
the  sacred  shrines. 

It  was  in  the  presence  of  the  Roman  Senate 
that  this  arraignment  proceeded;  in  a  temple 
of  the  Forum,  amidst  crowds — such  as  no 
orator  had  ever  before  drawn  together — 
thronging  the  porticoes  and  colonnades,  even 
clinging  to  the  house-tops  and  neighboring 
slopes — and  under  the  anxious  gaze  of  witnes- 
ses summoned  from  the  scene  of  crime.  But 
an  audience  grander  far — of  higher  dignity — 
of  more  various  people,  and  of  wider  intolli- 


For  Sale  at  TnE  Office  of  xnE  New  York  Tribune.     Price,  per  Dozen  Copies  40c.  ; 

per  Hundred,  $2  50;  per  Thousand,  $20. 

GOVERNOR  SEWARD'S  SPEECH.— The  Great  Speech  of  Governor  Seward,  on  the 
Immediate  Admission  of  Kansas,  is  now  ready,  in  pamphlet  form.  Price,  per  dozen,  20  cents ;  per 
hundred,  $1  25  ;  per  thousand,  $10  00.  Orders  inclosing  the  cash  will  he  promptly  attended  to  by 
addressing  GREELEY  &  McELRATH,  New-York. 


2 


gence — the  countless  multitude  of  succeeding 
generations,  in  every  land  where  eloquence 
has  been  studied  or  where  the  Eoman  name 
has  been  recognized — has  listened  to  the  ac- 
cusation, and  throbbed  with  condemnation  of 
the  criminal. 

Sir,  speaking  in  an  age  of  light,  and  in  a 
land  of  constitutional  liberty,  where  the  safe- 
guards of  elections  are  justly  placed  among 
the  highest  triumphs  of  civilization,  I  fearless- 
ly assert  that  the  wrongs  of  much  abused 
Sicily,  thus  memorable  in  history,  were  small 
by  the  side  of  the  wrongs  of  Kansas,  where 
the  Tery  shrines  of  popular  institutions,  more 
s-aered  than  any  heathen  altar,  have  been 
desecrated;  where  the  ballot-box,  more  pre- 
eious  than  any  work,  in  ivory  or  marble,  from 
the  cunning  hand  of  art,  has  been  plundered  ; 
and  where  the  cry,  "  I  am  an  American  citi- 
zen," has  been  interposed  in  vain  against 
outrage  of  every  kind,  even  upon  life  itself. 
Are  you  against  sacrilege  ?  I  present  it  for 
your  execration.  Are  you  against  robbery  '. 
I  hold  it  up  to  your'  scorn.  Are  you  for  the 
protection  of  American  citizens  \  I  show  you 
how  their  dearest  rights  have  been  cloven 
down,  while  a  tyrannical  usurpation  has  sought 
to  install  itself  on  their  very  necks  ! 

But  the  wickedness  which  I  now  begin  to 
expose  is  immeasurably  aggravated  by  the 
motive  which  prompted  it.  Not  in  any  com- 
mon lust  for  power  did  this  uncommon  tragedy 
have  its  origin.  It  is  the  rape  of  a  virgin  ter- 
ritory, compelling  it  to  the  hateful  embrace  of 
slavery;  and  it  may  be  clearly  traced  to  a 
depraved  longing  for  a  new  slave  State,  the 
hideous  offspring  of  such  a  crime,  in  the  hope 
of  adding  to  the  power  of  slavery  in  the 
national  government.  Yes,  sir;  when  the 
whole  world,  alike  Christian  and  Turk,  is 
rising  up  to  condemn  this  wrong,  and  to  make 
it  a  hissing  to  the  nations,  here  in  our  repub- 
lic,  force,  aye,  sir,  FORCE — has  been  openly 
employed  in  compelling  Kansas  to  the  pollu- 
tion of  slavery,  all  for  the  sake  of  political 
power.  There  is  a  simple  fact,  which  you 
will  vainly  attempt  to  deny,  but  which  in 
itself  presents  an  essential  wickedness  that 
makes  other  public  crimes  seem  like  public 
virtues. 

But  this  enormity,  vast  beyond  comparison, 
9wells  to  dimensions  of  wickedness  which  the 
imagination  toils  in  vain  to  grasp,  when  it  is 
understood  that  for  this  purpose  are  hazarded 
the  horrors  of  intestine  feud,  not  only  in  this 
distant  territory,  but  everywhere  throughout 
the  country.  Already  the  muster  has  begun. 
The  strife  is  no  longer  local,  but  national. 
Even  now,  while  I  speak,  portents  hang  on  all 
the  arches  of  the  horizon,  threatening  to 
darken  the  broad  land,  which  already  yawns 
with  the  mutterings  of  civil  war. 

The  fury  of  the  propagandists  of  slavery,  and 


the  calm  determination  of  their  opponents,  are 
now  diffused  from  the  distant  territory  over 
wide-spread  communities,  and  the  whole  coun- 
try, in  all  its  extent — marshalling  hostile  divi- 
sions, and  foreshadowing  a  strife,  which,  un- 
less happily  averted  by  the  triumph  of  Free- 
dom, will  become  war — fratricidal,  parricidal 
war — with  an  accumulated  wickedness  beyond 
the  wickedness  of  any  war  in  human  annals; 
justly  provoking  the  avenging  judgment  of 
Providence  and  the  avenging  pen  of  history, 
and  constituting  a  strife,  in  the  language  of 
the  ancient  writer,  more  than  foreign,  more 
than  social,  more  than  civil;  but  something 
compounded  of  all  these  strifes,  and  in  itself 
more  than  war;  sed  potim  commune  quoddam 
ex  omnibus  et  plus  quam  helium. 

Such  is  the  crime  which  you  are  to  judge. 
But  the  criminal  also  must  be  dragged  into 
day,  that  you  may  see  and  measure  the  power 
by  which  all  this  wrong  is  sustained.  From 
no  common  source  eoidd  it  proceed.  In  its 
perpetration  was  needed  a  spirit  of  vaulting 
ambition  which  would  hesitate  at  nothing;  a 
hardihood  of  purpose  which  was  insensible  to 
the  judgment  of  mankind;  a  madness  for 
Blavery  which  should  disregard  the  Constitu- 
tion, the  laws,  and  all  the  great  examples  of 
our  history  ;  also  a  consciousness  of  power 
such  as  comes  from  the  hahit  of  power ;  a 
combination  of  energies  found  only  in  a  hun- 
dred arms  directed  by  a  hundred  eyes  ;  a  con- 
trol of  public  opinion,  through  venal  pens  and 
a  prostituted  press ;  an  ability  to  subsidize 
crowds  hi  every  vocation  of  life — the  politi- 
cian with  his  local  importance,  the  lawyer 
with  his  subtle  tongue,  and  even  the  authority 
of  the  judge  on  the  bench  ;  and  a  familiar  use 
of  men  in  places  high  and  low,  so  that  none, 
from  the  President  to  the  lowest  border  post- 
master, should  decline  to  be  its  tool ;  all  these 
things  and  more  were  needed;  and  they  were 
found  in  the  slave  power  of  our  republic. 
There,  sir,  stands  the  criminal — all  unmasked 
before  you — heartless,  grasping,  and  tyranni- 
cal— -with  an  audacity  beyond  that  of  Verres, 
a  subtlety  beyond  that  of  Machiavel,  a  mean- 
ness beyond  that  of  Bacon,  and  an  ability  be- 
yond that  of  Hastings.  Justice  to  Kansas  can 
be  secured  only  by  the  prostration  of  this  in- 
fluence; for  this  is  the  power  behind — greater 
than  any  President — which  succors  and  sus- 
tains the  crime.  Nay,  the  proceedings  I  now 
arraign  derive  their  fearful  consequence  only 
from  this  connection. 

In  now  opening  this  great  matter,  I  am  not 
insensible  to  the  austere  demands  of  the  occa- 
sion :  but  the  dependence  of  the  crime  against 
Kansas  upon  theslave  power  i>  so  peculiar  ami 
important,  that  I  trust  to  be  pardoned  while  I 
impress  it  by  an  illustration,  which  to  some 
may  seem  trivial.  It  is  related  in  Northern 
mythology,  that  the  god  of  Force,  visiting  an 


enchanted  region,  was  challenged  by  his  royal 
entertainer  to  what  seemed  a  humble  feat 
of  strength,  merely,  sir,  to  lift  a  cat  from 
the  ground.  The  god  smiled  at  thechallenge, 
and,  calmly  placing  his  hand  under  the  belly 
of  the  animal,  with  superhuman  strength, 
strove,  while  the  hack  of  the  feline  monster 
arched  far  upwards,  even  beyond  reach,  and 
one  paw  actually  forsook  the  earth,  until 
at  last  the  discomfited  divinity  desisted  ;  but 
he  was  little  surprised  at  his  defeat,  when  he 
learned  that  this  creature,  which  seemed  to  be 
a  cat  and  nothing  more,  was  not  merely  a 
cat,  but  that  it  belonged  to  and  was  a  part  of 
the  great  Terrestrial  Serpent  which,  in  its 
innumerable  folds,  encircled  the  whole  globe. 
Even  so  the  creature  whose  paws  are  now 
fastened  upon  Kansas,  whatever  it  may  seem 
to  be,  constitutes  in  reality  a  part  of  the  slave 
power,  which,  with  loathsome  folds,  is  now 
coiled  about  the  whole  land.  Thus  do  I 
expose  the  extent  of  the  present  contest,  where 
we  encounter  not  merely  local  resistance,  but 
also  the  unconquered,  sustaining  arm  behind. 
But  out  of  the  vastness  of  the  crime  attempted, 
with  all  its  woe  and  shame,  I  derive  a  well- 
founded  assurance  of  a  commensurate  vastness 
of  effort  against  it,  by  the  aroused  masses  of 
the  country,  determined,  not  only  to  vindicate 
right  against  wrong,  but  to  redeem  the  Repub- 
lic from  the  thraldom  of  that  oligarchy  which 
prompts,  directs,  and  concentrates  the  distant 
wrong. 

Such  is  the  crime,  and  such  the  criminal, 
which  it  is  my  duty  in  this  debate  to  expose, 
and,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  this  duty  shall  be 
done  completely  to  the  end.  But  this  will  not 
be  enough.  The  apologies,  which,  with  strange 
hardihood,  have  been  offered  for  the  crime, 
must  be  brushed  away,  so  that  it  shall  stand 
forth,  without  a  single  rag,  or  fig-leaf,  to  cover 
its  vileness.  And,  finally,  the  true  remedy 
must  be  shown.  The  subject  is  complex  in  its 
relations  as  it  is  transcendent  in  importance; 
and  yet,  if  I  am  honored  by  your  attention,  I 
hope  to  exhibit  it  clearly  in  all  its  parts,  while 
I  conduct  you  to  the  inevitable  conclusion, 
that  Kansas  must  be  admitted  at  once,  with 
her  present  constitution,  as  a  State  of  this 
Union,  and  give  a  new  star  to  the  blue  field  of 
our  national  flag. 

And  here  I  derive  satisfaction  from  the 
thought,  that  the  cause  is  so  strong  in  itself  as 
to  bear  even  the  infirmities  of  its  advocates  ; 
nor  can  it  require  anything  beyond  that  sim- 
plicity of  treatment  and  moderation  of  manner 
which  I  desire  to  cultivate.  Its  true  charac- 
ter is  such,  that,  like  Hercules,  it  will  conquer 
just  so  soon  as  it  is  recognized. 

My  task  will  be  divided  under  three  different 
heads ;  first,  the  Ceime  against  Kansas,  in  its 
origin  and  extent;  secondly,  the  Apologies 
foe  the  Crime  ;  and  thirdly,  the  true  Remedy. 


But,  before  entering  upon  the  argument,  I 
must  say  something  of  a  general  character, 
particularly  in  response  to  what  has  fallen 
from  Senators  who  have  raised  themselves  to 
eminence  on  this  floor  in  championship  of  hu- 
man wrongs;  I  mean  the  Senator  from  South 
Carolina,  [Mr.  Butler,]  and  the  Senator  from 
Illinois,  [Mr.  Douglas,]  who,  though  unlike  as 
Don  Quixote  and  Sancho  Panza,  yet,  like  this 
couple,  sally  forth  together  in  the  same  cause. 
The  Senator  from  South  Carolina  has  read 
many  books  of  chivalry,  and  believes  himself 
a  chivalrous  knight,  with  sentiments  of  honor 
and  courage.  Of  course  he  has  chosen  a  mis- 
tress to  whom  he  has  made  his  vows,  and 
who,  though  ugly  to  others,  is  always  lovely 
to  him  ;  though  polluted  in  the  sight  of  the 
world,  is  chaste  in  his  sight — I  mean  the  har- 
lot, Slavery.  For  her,  his  tongue  is  always 
profuse  in  words.  Let  her  be  impeached  in 
character,  or  any  proposition  made  to  shut  her 
out  from  the  extension  of  her  wantonness,  and 
no  extravagance  of  manner  or  hardihood  of 
assertion  is  then  too  great  for  this  Senator. 
The  frenzy  of  Don  Quixote,  in  behalf  of  his 
wench  Dulcinea  del  Toboso,  is  all  surpassed. 
The  asserted  rights  of  Slavery,  which  shock 
equality  of  all  kinds,  are  cloaked  by  a  fantastic 
claim  of  equality.  If  the  slave  States  cannot 
enjoy  what,  in  mockery  of  the  great  fathers  of 
the  Republic,  he  misnames  equality  under  the 
Constitution — in  other  words,  the  full  power 
in  the  National  Territories  to  compel  fellow- 
men  to  unpaid  toil,  to  separate  husband  and 
wife,  and  to  sell  little  children  at  the  auction- 
block — then,  sir,  the  chivalric  Senator  will 
conduct  the  State  of  South  Carolina  out  of  the 
Union!  Heroic  knight!  Exalted  Senator! 
A  second  Moses  come  for  a  second  exodus  ! 

But  not  content  with  this  poor  menace, 
which  we  have  been  twice  told  was  "  meas- 
ured," the  Senator,  in  the  unrestrained  chiv- 
alry of  his  nature,  has  undertaken  to  apply 
opprobrious  words  to  those  who  differ  from 
him  on  this  floor.  He  calls  them  "  sectional 
and  fanatical ;"  and  opposition  to  the  usurpa- 
tion in  Kansas,  he  denounces  as  "  an  uncalcu- 
lating  fanaticism."  To  be  sure,  these  charges 
lack  all  grace  of  originality,  and  all  sentiment 
of  truth ;  but  the  adventurous  Senator  does 
not  hesitate.  He  is  the  uncompromising,  un- 
blushing representative  on  this  floor  of  a  fla- 
grant sectionalism,  which  now  domineers  over 
the  Republic,  and  yet  with  a  ludicrous  igno- 
rance of  his  own  position — unable  to  see  him- 
self as  others  see  him — or  with  an  effrontery 
which  even  his  white  head  ought  not  to  pro- 
tect from  rebuke,  he  applies  to  those  here  who 
resist  his  sectionalism  the  very  epithet  which 
designates  himself.  The  men  who  strive  to 
bring  back  the  Government  to  its  original 
policy,  when  Freedom  and  not  Slavery  was 
national,  while  Slavery  and  not  Freedom  was 


sectional,  he  arraigns  as  sectional.  This  will 
not  do.  It  involves  too  great  a  perversion  of 
terms.  I  tell  that  Senator,  that  it  is  to  him- 
self, and  to  the  "  organization  "  of  which  he  is 
the  "  committed  advocate,"  that  this  epithet 
belongs.  I  now  fasten  it  upon  them.  For 
myself,  I  care  little  for  names ;  but  since  the 
question  has  been  raised  here,  I  affirm  that  the 
Republican  party  of  the  Union  is  in  no  just 
sense  sectional,  but,  more  than  any  other  party, 
national;  and  that  it  now  goes  forth  to  dis- 
lodge from  the  high  places  of  the  Government 
the  tyrannical  sectionalism  of  which  the  Sen- 
ator from  South  Carolina  is  one  of  the  mad- 
dest zealots. 

To  the  charge  of  fanaticism  I  also  reply. 
Sir,  fanaticism  is  found  in  an  enthusiasm  or 
exaggeration  of  opinions,  particularly  on  reli- 
gious subjects  ;  but  there  may  be  a  fanaticism 
for  evil  as  well  as  for  good.  Now,  I  will  not 
deny,  that  there  are  persons  among  us  loving 
Liberty  too  well  for  their  personal  good,  in  a 
selfish  generation.  Such  there  may  be,  and, 
for  the  sake  of  their  example,  would  that  there 
were  more  !  In  calling  them  "  fanatics,"  you 
cast  contumely  upon  the  noble  army  of  mar- 
tyrs, from  the  earliest  day  down  to  this  hour; 
upon  the '  great  tribunes  of  human  rights,  by 
whom  life,  liberty,  and  happiness,  on  earth, 
have  been  secured  ;  upon  'the  long  line  of  de- 
voted patriots,  who,  throughout  history,  have 
truly  loved  their  country,  and,  upon  all,  who, 
in  noble  aspirations  for  the  general  good,  and 
in  forgetfulness  of  self,  have  stood  out  before 
their  age,  and  gathered  into  their  generous 
bosoms  the  shafts  of  tyranny  and  wrong,  in 
order  to  make  a  pathway  for  Truth.  You  dis- 
credit Luther,  when  alone  he  nailed  his  arti- 
cles to  the  door  of  the  church  at  Wittenberg, 
and  then,  to  the  imperial  demand  that  he 
should  retract,  firmly  replied,  "Here  I  stand; 
I  cannot  do  otherwise,  so  help  me  God !"  You 
discredit  Hampden,  when  alone  he  refused  to 
pay  the  few  shillings  of  ship-money,  and  shook 
the  throne  of  Charles  I. ;  you  discredit  Milton, 
when,  amidst  the  corruptions  of  a  heartless 
Court,  he  lived  on,  the  lofty  friend  of  Liberty, 
above  question  or  suspicion;  you  disci-edit 
Russell  and  Sidney,  when,  for  the  sake  of  their 
country,  they  calmly  turned  from  family  and 
friends,  to  tread  the  narrow  steps  of  the  scaf- 
fold ;  you  discredit  the  early  founders  of 
American  institutions,  who  preferred  the  hard- 
ships of  a  wilderness,  surrounded  by  a  savage 
foe,  to  injustice  on  beds  of  ease  ;  you  discredit 
our  later  fathers,  who,  few  in  numbers  and 
weak  in  resources,  yet  strong  in  their  cause, 
did  not  hesitate  to  brave  the  mighty  power  of 
England,  already  encircling  the  globe  with  her 
morning  drum-beats.  Yes,  sir,  of  such  are 
the  fanatics  of  history,  according  to  the  Sena- 
tor. But  I  tell  that  Senator,  that  there  are 
characters  badly  eminent,  of  whose  fanaticism 


there  can  be  no  question.  Such  were  the  an- 
cient Egyptians,  who  worshipped  divinities  in 
brutish  forms ;  the  Druids,  who  darkened  the 
forests  of  oak,  in  which  they  lived,  by  sacri- 
fices of  blood ;  the  Mexicans,  who  surrendered 
countless  victims  to  the  propitiation  of  their 
obscene  idols ;  the  Spaniards,  who,  under 
Alva,  sought  to  force  the  Inquisition  upon 
Holland,  by  a  tyranny  kindred  to  that  now 
employed  to  force  Slavery  upon  Kansas  ;  and 
such  were  the  Algerines,  when  in  solemn  con- 
clave, after  listening  to  a  speech  not  unlike 
that  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  they 
resolved  to  continue  the  slavery  of  white 
Christians,  and  to  extend  it  to  the  countrymen 
of  Washington !  Aye,  sir,  extend  it !  And  in 
this  same  dreary  catalogue,  faithful  history 
must  record  all  who  now,  in  an  enlightened 
age,  and  in  a  land  of  boasted  Freedom,  stand 
up,  in  perversion  of  the  Constitution,  and  in 
denial  of  immortal  truth,  to  fasten  a  new 
shackle  upon  their  fellow-man.  If  the  Sena- 
tor wishes  to  see  fanatics,  let  him  look  round 
among  Ins  own  associates;  let  him  look  at 
himself. 

But  I  have  not  done  with  the  Senator. 
There  is  another  matter  regarded  by  him  of 
such  consequence,  that  be  interpolated  it  into 
the  speech  of  the  Senator  from  New  Hampshire, 
[Mr.  Hale,]  and  also  announced  that  he  had 
prepared  himself  with  it,  to  take  in  his  pocket 
all  the  way  to  Boston,  when  he  expected  to 
address  the  people  of  that  community.  On 
this  account,  and  for  the  sake  of  truth,  I  stop 
tor  one  moment,  and  tread  it  to  the  earth. 
The  North,  according  to  the  Senator,  was 
engaged  in  the  slave  trade,  and  helped  to  intro- 
duce slaves  into  the  Southern  States;  and  this 
undeniable  fact  he  proposed  to  establish  by 
statistics,  in  stating  which  his  errors  surpassed 
his  sentences  in  Dumber.  But  I  let  these  pa.ss 
for  the  present,  that  I  may  deal  with  his  argu- 
ment. Pray,  sir,  is  the  acknowledged  turpi- 
tude of  a  departed  generation  to  become  an 
example  for  us?  And  yet  the  suggestion  of 
the  Senator,  if  entitled  to  any  consideration  in 
this  discussion,  must  have  this  extent.  I  join 
my  friend  from  New  Hampshire  in  thanking 
the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  for  adducing 
this  instance;  for  it  gives  me  an  opportunity  to 
say,  that  the  Northern  merchants,  with  homes 
in  Boston,  Bristol,  Newport,  New  York,  and 
Philadelphia,  who  catered  tor  Slavery  during 
the  years  of  the  slave  trade,  are  the  lineal  pro- 
genitors of  the  Northern  men,  with  homes  in 
these  places,  who  lend  themselves  to  Slavery 
in  our  day  ;  and  especially  that  all,  whether 
North  or  South,  who  take  part,  directly  or 
indirectly,  in  the  conspiracy  against  Kansas,  do 
but  continue  the  work  of  the  slave-traders, 
which  you  condemn.  It  is  true,  too  true, 
alas!  that  our  fathers  were  engaged  in  this 
traffic  ;  but  that  is  no  apology  for  it.     And  in 


5 


repelling  the  authority  of  this  example,  I  repel 
also  the  trite  argument  founded  on  the  earlier 
example  of  England.  It  is  true  that  our 
mother  country,  at  the  peace  of  Utrecht, 
extorted  from  Spain  the  Assiento  Contract, 
securing  the  monopoly  of  the  slave  trade  with 
the  Spanish  Colonies,  as  the  whole  price  of  all 
the  blood  of  great  victories;  that  she  higgled 
at  Aix-la-Chapelle  for  another  lease  of  this 
exclusive  traffic ;  and  again,  at  the  treaty  of 
Madrid,  clung  to  the  wretched  piracy.  It  is 
true,  that  in  this  spirit  the  power  of  the  mother 
country  was  prostituted  to  the  same  base  ends 
in  her  American  Colonies,  against  indignant 
protests  from  our  fathers.  All  these  things 
now  rise  up  in  judgment  against  her.  Let  us 
not  follow  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  to 
do  the  very  evil  to-day,  which  in  another  gene- 
ration we  condemn. 

As  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  is  the 
Don  Quixote,  the  Senator  from  Illinois  [Mr. 
Dodglas]  is  the  squire  of  Slavery,  its  very 
Sancho  Panza,  ready  to  do  all  its  humiliating 
offices.  This  Senator,  in  his  labored  address, 
vindicating  his  labored  report — piling  one  mass 
of  elaborate  error  upon  another  mass — con- 
strained himself,  as  you  will  remember,  to 
unfamiliar  decencies  of  speech.  Of  that  address 
I  have  nothing  to  say  at  this  moment,  though 
before  I  sit  down  I  shall  show  something  of  its 
fallacies.  But  I  go  back  now  to  an  earlier 
occasion,  when,  true  to  his  native  impulses,  he 
threw  into  this  discussion,  "for  a  charm  of 
powerful  trouble,1'  personalities  most  discre- 
ditable to  this  body.  I  will  not  stop  to  repel 
the  imputations  which  he  cast  upon  myself; 
but  I  mention  them  to  remind  you  of  the 
"  sweltered  venom  sleeping  got,"  which,  with 
other  poisoned  ingredients,  he  cast  into  the 
cauldron  of  this  debate.  Of  other  things  I 
speak.  Standing  on  this  floor,  the  Senator 
issued  his  rescript,  requiring  submission  to  the 
Usurped  Power  of  Kansas ;  and  this  was 
accompanied  by  a  manner — all  his  own — such 
as  befits  the  tyrannical  threat.  Very  well. 
Let  the  Senator  try.  I  tell  him  now  that  he 
cannot  enforce  any  such  submission.  The 
Senator,  with  the  Slave  Power  at  his  back,  is 
strong ;  but  he  is  not  strong  enough  for  this 
purpose.  He  is  bold.  He  shrinks  from  noth- 
ing. Like  Danton,  he  may  cry,  "Vaudace! 
I'audacef  toujours  VaudaceV  but  even  his 
audacity  cannot  compass  this  work.  The 
Senator  copies  the  British  officer,  who,  with 
boastful  swagger,  said  that  with  the  hilt  of  his 
eword  he  would  cram  the  "  stamps  "  down  the 
throats  of  the  American  people,  and  he  will 
meet  a  similar  failure.  He  may  convulse  this 
country  with  civil  feud.  Like  the  ancient 
madman,  he  may  set  fire  to  this  vast  Temple 
of  Constitutional  Liberty,  grander  than  Ephe- 
sian  dome ;  but  he  cannot  enforce  obedience 
to  that  tyrannical  Usurpation. 


The  Senator  dreams  that  he  can  subdue  the 
North.  He  disclaims  the  open  threat,  but  his 
conduct  still  implies  it.  How  little  that 
Senator  knows  himself,  or  the  strength  of  the 
cause  which  he  persecutes  !  He  is  but  a  mortal 
man;  against  him  is  an  immortal  principle. 
With  finite  power  he  wrestles  with  the  infinite, 
and  lie  must  fall.  Against  him  are  stronger 
battalions  than  any  marshaled  by  mortal  arm 
— the  inborn,  ineradicable,  invincible  senti- 
ments of  the  human  heart;  against  him  is 
nature  in  all  her  subtle  forces ;  against  him  is 
God.     Let  him  try  to  snbdue  these. 

But  I  pass  from  these  things,  which,  though 
belonging  to  the  very  heart  of  the  discussion, 
are  yet  preliminary  in  character,  and  press  at 
once  to  the  main  question. 

1.  It  belongs  to  me  now,  in  the  first  place, 
to  expose  the  Crime  aoaixst  Kansas,  in  its 
origin  and  extent.  Logically,  this  is  the 
beginning  of  the  argument.  I  say  Crime,  and 
deliberately  adopt  this  strongest  term,  as  bet- 
ter than  any  other  denoting  the  consummate 
transgression.  I  would  go  further,  if  language 
could  further  go.  It  is  the  Crime  of  Crimes 
— surpassing  far  the  old  crimen  majestatis, 
pursued  with  vengeance  by  the  laws  of  Rome, 
and  containing  all  the  crimes,  as  the  greater 
contains  the  less.  I  do  not  go  too  far,  when  I 
call  it  the  Crime  against  Nature,  from  which 
the  soul  recoils,  and  which  language  refuses  to 
describe.  To  lay  bare  this  enormity,  I  now 
proceed.  The  whole  subject  has  already  be- 
come a  twice-told  tale,  and  its  renewed  recital 
will  be  a  renewal  of  its  sorrow  and  shame ; 
but  I  shall  not  hesitate  to  enter  upon  it. 
The  occasion  requires  it  from  the  beginning. 

It  has  been  well  remarked  by  a  distinguished 
historian  of  our  country,  that,  at  the  Itfcuriel 
touch  of  the  Missouri  discussion,  the  slave  in- 
terest hitherto  hardly  recognized  as  a  distinct 
element  in  our  system,  started  up  portentous  and 
dilated,  with  threats  and  assumptions,  which 
are  the  origin  of  our  existing  national  politics. 
This  was  in  1820.  The  discussion  ended  with 
the  admission  of  Missouri  as  a  slaveholding 
State,  and  the  prohibition  of  Slavery  in  all 
the  remaining  territory  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  north  of  36°  30',  leaving  the  condi- 
tion of  other  territories  south  of  this  line,  or 
subsequently  acquired,  untouched  by  the 
arrangement.  Here  was  a  solemn  act  of 
legislation,  called  at  the  time  a  compromise,  a 
covenant,  a  compact,  first  brought  forward  in 
this  body  by  a  slaveholder — vindicated  by 
slaveholders  in  debate — finally  sanctioned  by 
slaveholding  votes — also  upheld  at  the  time 
by  the  essential  approbation  of  a  slaveholding 
President,  James  Monroe,  and  his  Cabinet,  of 
whom  a  majority  were  slaveholders,  including 
Mr.  Calhoun  himself;  and  this  compromise 
was  made  the  condition  of  the  admission  of 


6 


Missouri,  without  which  that  State  could  not 
have  heen  received  into  the  Union.  The  bar- 
gain was  simple,  and  was  applicable,  of  course, 
only  to  the  territory  named.  Leaving  all  the 
other  territory  to  await  the  judgment  of 
another  generation,  the  South  said  to  the 
North,  Conquer  your  prejudices  so  far  as  to 
admit  Missouri  as  a  slave  State,  and,  in  consi- 
deration of  this  much-coveted  boon,  slavery 
shall  be  prohibited  forever  in  all  the  remain- 
ing Louisiana  Territory  above  36°  30' ;  and 
the  North  yielded. 

In  total  disregard  of  history,  the  President, 
in  his  annual  message,  has  told  us  that  this 
compromise  "  was  reluctantly  acquiesced  in  by 
the  Southern  States."  Just  the  contrary  is 
true.  It  was  the  work  of  slaveholders,  and 
was  crowded  by  their  concurring  votes  upon 
a  reluctant  North.  At  the  time  it  was  hailed 
by  slaveholders  as  a  vicotry.  Charles  Pinek- 
ney,  of  South  Carolina,  in  an  oft-quoted  let- 
ter, written  at  three  o'clock  on  the  night  of 
its  passage,  says,  "  It  is  considered  here  by  the 
slaveholding  States  as  a  great  triumph."  At 
the  North  it  was  accepted  as  a  defeat,  and  the 
friends  of  Freedom  overywhere  throughout 
the  country  bowed  their  heads  with  mortifi- 
cation. But  little  did  they  know  the  com- 
pleteness of  their  disaster.  Little  did  they 
dream  that  the  prohibition  of  Slavery  in  the 
Territory,  -which  was  stipulated  as  the  price 
of  their  fatal  capitulation,  would  also  at  the  very 
moment  of  its  maturity  he  wrested  from  them. 

Time  passed,  and  it  became  necessary  to  pro- 
vide for  this  Territory  an  organized  Govern- 
ment. Suddenly,  without  notice  in  the  public 
press,  or  the  prayer  of  a  single  petition,  or 
one  word  of  public  recommendation  from  the 
President — after  an  acquiescence  of  thirty- 
three  years,  and  the  irreclaimable  possession 
by  the  South  of  its  special  share  under  this 
compromise — in  violation  of  every  obligation  of 
honor,  compact,  and  good  neighborhood — and 
in  contemptuous  disregard  of  the  out-gushing 
sentiments  of  an  aroused  North,  this  time- 
honored  prohibition,  in  itself  a  Landmark  of 
Freedom,  was  overturned,  and  the  vast  region 
now  known  as  Kansas  and  Nebraska  was 
opened  to  Slavery.  It  was  natural  that  a 
measure  thus  repugnant  in  character  should 
be  pressed  by  arguments  mutually  repugnant. 
It  was  urged  on  two  principal  reasons,  so  op- 
posite and  inconsistent  as  to  slap  each  other 
in  the  face — one  being  that,  by  the  repeal  of 
the  prohibition,  the  Territory  would  be  left 
open  to  the  entry  of  slaveholders  with  their 
slaves,  without  hindrance;  and  the  other 
being,  that  the  people  would  be  left  absolutely 
free  to  determine  the  question  for  themselves, 
and  to  prohibit  the  entry  of  slaveholders  with 
their  slaves,  if  they  should  think  best.  With 
some,  the  apology  was  the  alleged  rights  of 
slaveholders  ;  with  others,  it  was  the  alleged 


rights  of  the  people.  "With  some,  it  was 
openly  the  extension  of  Slavery;  and  with 
others,  it  was  openly  the  establishment 
of  Freedom,  under  the  guise  of  Popular 
Sovereignty.  Of  coarse,  the  measure,  thus 
upheld  in  defiance  of  reason,  was  carried 
through  Congress  in  defiance  of  all  the  secu- 
rities of  legislation :  and  I  mention  these 
things  that  you  may  see  in  what  foulness  the 
present  crime  was  engendered. 

It  was  carried,  first,  by  whipping  in  to  its 
support,  through  Executive  inflnence  and 
patronage,  men  who  acted  against  their  own 
declared  judgment  and  the  known  will  of  their 
constituents.  Secondly,  by foisting  out  of  place, 
both  in  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representa- 
tives,  important  business,  long  pending,  and 
usurping  its  room.  Thirdly,  by  trampling 
underfoot  the  rules  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, always  before  the  safeguard  of  the 
minority.  And  Fourthly,  by  driving  it  to  a 
close  during  the  very  session  in  which  it  origi- 
nated, so  that  it  might  not  be  arrested  by  the 
indignant  voice  of  the  People.  Such  are  some 
of  the  means  by  which  this  snap-judgment 
was  obtained.  If  the  clear  will  of  the  People 
had  not  been  disregarded,  it  could  not  have 
I tassed.  If  the  government  had  not  nefariously 
interposed  its  influence,  it  could  not  have 
passed.  If  it  had  been  left  to  its  natural  place 
in  the  order  of  business,  it  could  not  have 
passed.  If  the  rules  of  the  House  and  the 
rights  of  the  minority  had  not  been  violated, 
it  could  not  have  passed.  If  it  had  been  al- 
lowed to  go  over  to  another  Congress,  when 
the  People  might  be  heard,  it  would  have 
ended ;  and  then  the  Crime  we  now  deplore, 
would  have  been  without  its  first  seminal  life. 

Mr.  President,  I  mean  to  keep  absolutely 
within  the  limits  of  parliamentary  propriety. 
I  make  no  personal  imputations;  but  only 
with  frankness,  such  as  belongs  to  the  occa- 
sion and  my  own  character,  describe  a  great 
historical  act,  which  is  now  enrolled  in  the 
Capitol.  Sir,  the  Nebraska  Bill  was  in  every 
respect  a  swindle.  It  was  a  swindle  by  the 
South  of  the  North.  It  was,  on  the  part  of 
those  who  had  already  completely  enjoyed 
their  share  of  the  Missouri  Compromise,  a 
swindle  of  those  whose  share  was  yet  abso- 
lutely untouched ;  and  the  plea  of  unconstitu- 
tionality set  up — like  the  plea  of  usury  after 
the  borrowed  money  has  been  enjoyed — did 
not  make  it  less  a  swindle.  Urged  as  a  Bill  of 
Peace,  it  was  a  swindle  of  the  whole  country. 
Urged  as  opening  the  doors  to  slave-masters 
with  their  slaves,  it  was  a  swindle  of  the  as- 
serted doctrine  of  Popular  Sovereignty.  Urged 
as  sanctioning  Popular  Sovereignty,  it  was  a 
swindle  of  the  asserted  rights  of  slave-masters. 
It  was  a  swindle  of  a  broad  territory,  thus 
cheated  of  protection  against  Slavery.  It  was 
a  swindle  of  a  great  cause,  early  espoused  by 


Washington,  Franklin,  and  Jefferson,  sur- 
rounded by  the  best  fifttherg  of  the  Republic. 
Sir,  it  was  a  swindle  of  God-given  inalienable 
Rights.  Turn  it  over;  look  at  it  on  all  sides, 
and  it  is  everywhere  a  swindle;  and,  it'  the 
word  I  now  employ  has  not  the  authority  of 
classical  usage,  it  has,  on  this  occasion,  the 
indubitable  authority  of  fitness.  No  other 
word  will  adequately  express  the  mingled 
meanness  and  wickedness  of  the  cheat. 

Its  character  was  still  further  apparent  in 
the  general  structure  of  the  bill.  Amidst 
overflowing  professions  of  regard  for  the  sov- 
ereignty of  the  People  in  the  Territory,  they 
were  despoiled  of  every  essential  privilege  of 
sovereignty.  They  were  not  allowed  to  choose 
their  Governor,  Secretary,  Chief  Justice,  As- 
sociate Justices,  Attorney,  or  Marshal — all  of 
whom  are  sent  from  Washington ;  nor  were 
they  allowed  to  regulate  the  salaries  of  any  of 
these  functionaries,  or  the  daily  allowance  of 
the  legislative  body,  or  even  the  pay  of  the 
clerks  and  doorkeepers;  but  they  were  left 
free  to  adopt  Slavery.  And  this  was  called 
Popular  Sovereignty!  Time  does  not  allow, 
nor  does  the  occasion  require,  that  I  should 
stop  to  dwell  on  this  transparent  device  to 
cover  a  transcendent  wrong.  Suffice  it  to  say, 
that  Slavery  is  in  itself  an  arrogant  denial  of 
Human  Rights,  and  by  no  human  reason  can 
the  power  to  establish  such  a  wrong  be  placed 
among  the  attributes  of  any  just  sovereignty. 
In  refusing  it  such  a  place,  I  do  not  deny 
popular  rights,  but  uphold  them;  I  do  not 
restrain  popular  rights,  but  extend  them. 
And,  sir,  to  this  conclusion  you  must  yet  come, 
unless  deaf,  not  only  to  the  admonitions  of 
political  justice,  but  also  to  the  genius  of  our 
own  Constitution,  under  which,  when  proper- 
ly interpreted,  no  valid  claim  for  Slavery  can 
be  set  up  anywhere  in  the  National  territory. 
The  Senator  from  Michigan  [Mr.  Cass]  may 
say,  in  response  to  the  Senator  from  Missis- 
sippi, [Mr.  Brown]  that  Slavery  cannot  go 
into  the  Territory  under  the  Constitution, 
without  legislative  introduction ;  and  permit 
me  to  add,  in  response  to  both,  that  Slavery 
cannot  go  there  at  all.  Nothing  can  come  out 
of  nothing  ;  and  there  is  absolutely  nothing  in 
the  Constitution  out  of  which  Slavery  can  be 
derived,  while  there  are  provisions,  which, 
when  properly  interpreted,  make  its  existence 
anywhere  within  the  exclusive  national  juris- 
diction impossible. 

The  offensive  provision  in  the  bill  was 
in  its  form  a  legislative  anomaly,  utterly  want- 
ing the  natural  directness  and  simplicity  of  an 
honest  transaction.  It  did  not  undertake 
openly  to  repeal  the  old  Prohibition  of  Slavery, 
but  seemed  to  mince  the  matter,  as  if  consci- 
ous of  the  swindle.  It  said  that  this  Prohibi- 
tion, "being  inconsistent  with  the  principle 
of  non-intervention  by  Congress  with  Slavery 


in  the  States  and  Territories,  as  recognized  by 
the  legislation  of  1850,  commonly  called  the 
Compromise  Measures,  is  hereby  declared  in- 
operative and  void."  Thus,  with  insidious 
ostentation,  was  it  pretended  that  an  act,  vio- 
lating the  greatest  compromise  of  our  legisla- 
tive history,  and  setting  loose  the  foundations 
of  all  compromise,  was  derived  out  of  a  com- 
promise. Then  followed  in  the  Bill  the  fur- 
ther declaration,  which  is  entirely  without  pre- 
cedent, and  which  has  been  aptly  called,  "  a 
stump  speech  in  its  bell}',"  namely  :  "it  being 
the  true  intent  and  meaning  of  this  act,  not  to 
legislate  Slavery  into  any  Territory  or  State, 
nor  to  exclude  it  therefrom,  but  to  leave  the 
people  thereof  perfectly  free  to  form  and  regu- 
late their  domestic  institutions  in  their  own 
way,  subject  only  to  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States."  Here  were  smooth  words, 
such  as  belong  to  a  cunning  tongue  enlisted  in 
a  bad  cause.  But  whatever  may  have  been 
their  various  hidden  meanings,  this  at  least 
was  evident,  that,  by  their  effect,  the  Congres- 
sional Prohibition  of  Slavery,  which  had  al- 
ways been  regarded  as  a  seven-fold  shield,  cov- 
ering the  whole  Louisiana  Territory  north  of 
36°  30',  was  now  removed,  while  a  principle 
was  declared,  which  would  render  the  supple- 
mentary Prohibition  of  Slavery  in  Minnesota, 
Oregon,  and  Washington,  "  inoperative  and 
void,"  and  thus  open  to  Slavery  all  these  vast 
regions,  now  the  rude  cradles  of  mighty  States. 
Here  you  see  the  magnitude  of  the  mischief 
contemplated.  But  my  purpose  now  is  with 
the  Crime  against  Kansas,  and  I  shall  not  stop 
to  expose  the  conspiracy  beyond. 

Mr.  President,  men  are  wisely  presumed  to 
intend  the  natural  consequences  of  their  con- 
duct, and  to  seek  what  their  acts  seem  to  pro- 
mote. Now,  the  Nebraska  Bill,  on  its  very 
face,  openly  cleared  the  way  for  Slavery,  and 
it  is  not  wrong  to  presume  that  its  originators* 
intended  the  natural  consequences  of  such  an 
act,  and  sought  in  this  way  to  extend  Slavery. 
Of  course,  they  did.  And  this  is  the  first  stage 
in  the  crime  against  Kansas. 

But  this  was  speedily  followed  by  other  de- 
velopments. The  bare-faced  scheme  was  soon 
whispered,  that  Kansas  must  be  a  Slave  State. 
In  conformity  with  this  idea  was  the  govern- 
ment of  this  unhappy  territory  organized  in  all 
its  departments;  and  thus  did  the  President, 
by  whose  complicity  the  Prohibition  of  Slavery 
had  been  overthrown,  lend  himself  to  a  new 
complicity — giving  to  the  conspirators  a  lease 
of  connivance,  amounting  even  to  copartner- 
ship. The  Governor,  Secretary,  Chief  Justice, 
Associate  Justices,  Attorney,  and  Marshal, 
with  a  whole  caucus  of  other  stipendaries,  no- 
minated by  the  President  and  confirmed  by 
the  Senate,  were  all  commended  as  friendly 
to  Slavery.  No  man,  with  the  sentiments 
of    Washington,    or  Jeff'ersyn,    or   Franklin, 


8 


found  any  favor ;  nor  is  it  too  much  to 
say,  that,  had  these  great  patriots  once  more 
come  among  us,  not  one  of  them,  with  his 
recorded  unretracted  opinions  on  Slavery, 
could  have  been  nominated  by  the  President  or 
confirmed  by  the  Senate  for  any  post  in  that 
territory.  With  such  auspices  the  conspiracy 
proceeded.  Even  in  advance  of  the  Nebraska 
Bill,  secret  societies  were  organized  in  Missouri, 
ostensibly  to  protect  her  institutions,  and  after- 
wards, under  the  name  of  "Self-Defensive As- 
sociations," and  of  "  Blue  Lodges,"  these  were 
multiplied  throughout  the  western  counties  of 
that  State,  before  any  counter-movement  from 
the  Xorth.  It  was  confidently  anticipated,  that 
by  the  activity  of  these  societies,  and  the  inte- 
rest of  slaveholders  everywhere,  with  the  ad- 
vantages derived  from  the  neighborhood  of 
Missouri,  and  the  influence  of  the  Territorial 
Government,  Slavery  might  be  introduced  into 
Kansas,  quietly  but  surely,  without  arousing 
a  conflict — that  the  crocodile  egg  might  be 
stealthily  dropped  in  the  sun-burnt  soil,  there 
to  be  hatched  unobserved  until  it  sent  forth  its 
reptile  monster. 

But  the  conspiracy  was  unexpectedly  balked. 
The  debate  which  convulsed  Congress,  had 
stirred  the  whole  country.  Attention  from  all 
sides  was  directed  upon  Kansas,  which  at  once 
became  the  favorite  goal  of  emigration.  The 
Bill  had  loudly  declared,  that  its  object  was 
"to  leave  the  people  perfectly  free  to  form 
and  regulate  their  domestic  institutions  in  their 
own  way:"  and  its  supporters  everywhere  chal- 
lenged the  determination  of  the  question  be- 
tween Freedom  and  Slavery  by  a  competition 
of  emigration.  Thus,  while  opening  the  Terri- 
tory to  Slavery,  the  bill  also  opened  it  to  emi- 
grants from  every  quarter,  who  might  by  their 
votes  redress  the  wrong.  The  populous  North, 
stung  by  a  sharp  sense  of  outrage,  and  inspir- 
ed by  a  noble  cause,  poured  into  the  debatable 
land,  and  promised  soon  to  establish  a  supre- 
macy of  numbers  there,  involving,  of  course, 
a  just  supremacy  of  Freedom. 

Then  was  conceived  the  consummation  of  the 
Crime  against  Kansas.  "What  could  not  be 
accomplished  peaceably,  was  to  be  accom- 
plished forcibly.  The  reptile  monster,  that 
could  not  be  quietly  and  securely  hatched 
there,  was  to  be  pnshed  full-grown  into  the 
Territory.  All  efforts  were  now  given  to  the 
dismal  work  of  forcing  Slavery  on  Free  Soil. 
In  flagrant  derogation  of  the  very  Popular 
Sovereignty,  whose  name  helped  to  impose 
this  Bill  upon  the  country,  the  atrocious  ob- 
ject was  now  distinctly  avowed.  And  the 
avowal  has  been  followed  by  the  art.  Slavery 
has  been  forcibly  introduced  into  Kansas,  and 
placed  under  the  formal  safeguards  of  pre- 
tended law.  How  this  was  done,  belongs  to 
the  argument. 

In   depicting  thii  consummation,  the  sim- 


plest outline,  without  one  word  of  color,  will 
be  best.  Whether  regarded  in  its  mass  or  its 
details,  in  its  origin  or  its  results,  it  is  all 
blackness,  illumined  by  nothing  from  itself, 
but  only  by  the  heroism  of  the  undaunted  men 
and  women,  whom  it  environed.  A  plain 
statement  of  tacts  will  be  a  picture  of  fearful 
truth,  which  faithful  history  will  preserve  in 
its  darkest  gallery.  In  the  foreground  all  will 
recognize  a  familiar  character,  in  himself  a 
connecting  link  between  the  President  and  the 
border  ruffian — less  conspicuous  for  ability 
than  for  the  exalted  place  he  has  occupied — 
who  once  sat  in  the  seat  where  you  now  sit, 
sir;  where  once  sat  John  Adamsand  Thomas 
Jefferson;  also,  where  once  sat  Aaron  Burr. 
I  need  not  add  the  name  of  David  K.  Atchi- 
son. You  have  not  forgotten  that,  at  the  ses- 
sion of  CoDgress  immediately  succeeding  the 
Nebraska  Bill,  he  came  tardily  to  his  duty 
here,  and  then,  after  a  short  time,  disappeared". 
The  secret  has  been  Ions:  since  disclosed.  Like 
Catiline,  he  stalked  into  this  Chamber  reek- 
ing with  conspiracy — immo  in  Senatutn  renit 
— and  then  like  Catiline  he  skulked  away — 
abiit,  excessit,  erasit,  erupit — to  join  and  pro- 
voke the  conspirators,  who  at  a  distance 
awaited  their  congenial  chief.  Under  the  in- 
fluence of  his  malign  presence  the  Crime 
ripened  to  its  fatal  fruits,  while  the  similitude 
with  Catiline  was  again  renewed  in  the  sym- 
pathy, not  even  concealed,  which  he  found  in 
the  very  Senate  itself,  where,  beyond  even  the 
Roman  example,  a  Senator  has  not  hesitated 
to  appear  as  his  open  compurgator. 

And  now,  as  I  proceed  to  show  the  way  in 
which  this  Territory  was  overrun  and  finally 
subjugated  to  Slavery,  I  desire  to  remove  in 
advance  all  question  with  regard  to  the  autho- 
rity on  which  I  rely.  The  evidence  is  second- 
ary ;  but  it  is  the  best  which,  in  the  nature  of 
the  rase,  can  he  had,  and  it  is  not  less  clear, 
direct,  and  peremptory,  than  any  by  which  we 
are  assured  of  the  campaigns  in  the  Crimea  or 
the  tall  of  Sevastopol.  In  its  manifold  mass,  I 
confidently  assert,  that  it  is  such  a  body  of 
evidence  as  the  human  mind  is  not  able  to 
".  It  is  found  in  the  concurring  reports 
of  the  public  press  ;  in  the  letters  of  corres- 
pondents ;  in  the  testimony  of  travellers  ;  and 
in  the  unaffected  story  to  which  I  have  listened 
from  leading  citizens,  who,  during  this  winter, 
have  '"come  flocking"  here  from  that  distant 
Territory.  It  breaks  forth  in  the  irrepressible 
outcry,  reaching  us  from  Kansas,  in  truthful 
tones,  which  leave  no  ground  of  mistake.  It 
addresses  us  in  formal  complaints,  instinct 
with  the  indignation  of  a  people  determined 
to  be  free,  and  unim] teachable  as  the  declara- 
tions of  a  murdered  man  on  his  dyiug  bed 
against  his  murderer. 

I  begin  with  an  admission  from  the  Presi- 
dent himself,    in  whose  sight  the  people  of 


9 


Kansas  have  little  favor.  And  yet,  after 
arraigning  the  innocent  emigrants  from  the 
North,  he  was  constrained  to  declare  that  their 
conduct  was  "far  from  justifying  the  illegal 
and  reprehensible  counter-movement  which 
ensued."  Then,  by  the  reluctant  admission 
of  the  Chief  Magistrate,  there  was  a  counter- 
movement,  at  once  illegal  and  reprehensible. 
I  thank  thee.  President,  for  teaching  me  these 
words ;  and  I  now  put  them  in  the  front  of 
this  exposition,  as  in  themselves  a  confession. 
Sir,  this  "  illegal  and  reprehensible  counter- 
movement"  is  none  other  than  the  dreadful 
Crime — under  an  apologetic  alias — by  which, 
through  successive  invasions,  Slavery  has  been 
forcibly  planted  in  this  Territory. 

Next  to  this  Presidential  admission  must 
be  placed  the  details  of  the  invasions,  which  I 
now  present  as  not  only  "  illegal  and  repre- 
hensible," but  also  unquestionable  evidence  of 
the  resulting  Crime. 

The  violence,  for  some  time  threatened, 
broke  forth  on  the  29th  November,  1854,  at 
the  first  election  of  a  Delegate  to  Congress, 
when  companies  from  Missouri,  amounting  to 
upwards  of  one  thousand,  crossed  into  Kansas, 
and,  with  force  and  arms,  proceeded  to  vote 
for  Mr.  Whitfield,  the  candidate  of  Slavery. 
An  eye-witness,  General  Pomeroy,  of  superior 
intelligence  and  perfect  integrity,  thus  de- 
scribes this  scene: 

"  The  first  ballot-box  that  was  opened  upon  our  virgin 
soil  was  closed  to  us  by  overpowering  numbers  and  impend- 
ing force.  So  bold  and  reckless  were  our  invaders,  that 
they  Gared  not  lo  conceal  their  attack.  They  came  upon  us 
not  in  the  guise  of  voters  to  steal  away  our  franchise,  but 
boldly  and  openly  to  snatch  it  with  a  strong  hand.  They 
came  directly  from  their  own  homes,  "and  in  compact  and 
organised  bands,  with  arms  in  hand  and  provisions  for  the 
expedition,  marched  to  our  polls,  and,  when  their  work  was 
done,  returned  whence  they  came." 

Here  was  an  outrage  at  which  the  coolest 
blood  of  patriotism  boils.  Though,  for  vari- 
ous reasons  unnecessary  to  develop,  the  busy 
settlers  allowed  the  election  to  pass  uncontest- 
ed, still  the  means  employed  were  none  the 
less  u  illegal  and  reprehensible." 

This  infliction  was  a  significant  prelude  to 
the  grand  invasion  of  the  30th  March,  1855, 
at  the  election  of  the  first  Territorial  Legisla- 
ture under  the  organic  law,  when  an  armed 
multitude  from  Missouri  entered  the  Territory, 
in  larger  numbers  than  General  Taylor  com- 
manded at  Buena  Vista,  or  than  Gen.  Jack- 
son had  within  his  lines  at  New  Orlean-— 
larger  far  than  our  fathers  rallied  on  Bunker 
Hill.  On  they  came  as  an  "  army  with  ban- 
ners," organized  in  companies,  with  officers, 
munitions,  tents,  and  provisions,  as  though 
marching  upon  a  foreign  foe,  and  breathing 
loud-mouthed  threats  that  they  would  carry 
their  purpose,  if  need  be,  by  the  bowie-knife 
and  revolver.  Amonsr  them,  according  to  his 
own  confession,  was  David  R.  Atchison,  belted 
with  the  vulgar  arms  of  his  vulgar  comrades. 


Arrived  at  their  several  destinations  on  the 
night  before  the  election,  the  invaders  pitched 
their  tents,  placed  their  sentries,  and  waited 
for  the  coming  day.  The  same  trust-worthy 
eye  witness, whom  I  have  already  quoted,  says, 
of  one  locality : 

"  Baggage-wagons  were  there,  with  arms  and  ammunition 
enough  for  a  protracted  fight,  and  among  them  two  brass 
field-pieces,  ready  charged.  They  came  with  drums  beating 
and  flags  flying,  and  their  leaders  were  of  the  most  promi- 
nent and  conspicuous  men  of  their  State." 

Of  another  locality,  he  says : 

"The  invaders  came  together  in  one  armed  and  organized 
body,  with  trains  of  fifty  wagons,  besides  horsemen,  and,  the 
night  before  election,  pitched  their  camp  in  the  vicinity  of 
the  polls;  and  having  appointed  their  own  judges  in  place 
of  those  who,  from  intimidation  or  otherwise,  failed  to  at- 
tend, they  voted  without  any  proof  of  residence." 

With  this  force  they  were  able,  on  the  suc- 
ceeding day,  in  some  places,  to  intimidate  the 
judges  of  elections;  in  others  to  substitute 
judges  of  their  own  appointment ;  in  others,  to 
wrest  the  ballot-boxes  from  their  rightful  pos- 
sessors, and  everywhere  to  exercise  a  complete 
control  of  the  election,  and  thus,  by  a  preter- 
natural audacity  of  usurpation,  impose  a  Legis- 
lature upon  the  free  people  of  Kansas.  Thus 
was  conquered  the  Sevastopol  of  that  Terri- 
tory ! 

But  it  was  not  enough  to  secure  the  Legisla- 
ture. The  election  of  a  member  of  Congress 
recurred  on  the  2d  October,  1855,  and  the  same 
foreigners,  who  had  learned  their  strength, 
again  manifested  it.  Another  invasion,  in 
controlling  numbers,  came  from  Missouri,  and 
once  more  forcibly  exercised  the  electoral  fran- 
chise in  Kansas. 

At  last,  in  the  latter  days  of  November, 
1855,  a  storm,  long  brewing,  burst  upon  the 
heads  of  the  devoted  people.  The  ballot-boxes 
had  been  violated,  and  a  Legislature  installed, 
which  had  proceeded  to  carry  out  the  conspi- 
racy of  the  invaders ;  but  the  good  people  of 
the  Territory,  born  to  Freedom,  and  educated 
as  American  citizens,  showed  no  signs  of  sub- 
mission. Slavery,  though  recognized  by  pre- 
tended law,  was  in  many  places  practically  an 
outlaw.  To  the  lawless  borderers,  this  was 
hard  to  bear ;  and,  like  the  Heathen  of  old, 
they  raged,  particularly  against  the  town  of 
Lawrence,  already  known,  by  the  firmness  of 
its  principles  and  the  character  of  its  citizens, 
as  the  citadel  of  the  good  cause.  On  this 
account  they  threatened,  in  their  peculiar  lan- 
guage, to  M  wipe  it  out."  Soon  the  hostile 
power  was  gathered  for  this  purpose.  The 
wickedness  of  this  invasion  was  enhanced  by 
the  way  in  which  it  began.  A  citizen  of 
Kansas,  by  the  name  of  Dow,  was  murdered 
by  one  of  the  partisans  of  Slavery,  under  the 
name  of  "  law  and  order."  Such  an  outrage 
naturally  aroused  indignation  and  provoked 
threats.  The  professors  of  '"law  and  order" 
allowed  the  murderer  to   escape;    and,  still 


10 


further  to  illustrate  the  irony  of  the  name  they 
assumed,  seized  the  friend  of  the  murdered 
man,  whose  few  neighbors  soon  rallied  for  his 
rescue.  This  transaction,  though  totally  dis- 
regarded in  its  chief  front  of  wickedness,  be- 
came the  excuse  for  unprecedented  excitement. 
The  weak  Governor,  with  no  faculty  higher 
than  servility  to  Slavery — whom  the  President, 
in  his  official  delinquency,  had  appointed  to  a 
trust  worthy  only  of  a  well-balanced  character 
— was  frightened  from  his  propriety.  By  pro- 
clamation he  invoked  the  Territory.  By  tele- 
graph he  invoked  the  President.  *  The  Terri- 
tory would  not  respond  to  his  senseless  appeal. 
The  President  was  dumb ;  but  the  proclama- 
tion was  circulated  throughout  the  border 
counties  of  Missouri ;  and  Platte,  Clay,  Car- 
lisle, Sabine,  Howard,  and  Jefferson,  each  of 
them,  contributed  a  volunteer  company,  re- 
cruited from  the  road  sides,  and  armed  with 
weapons  which  chance  aft'orded — known  as 
the  "shot-gun  militia" — with  a  Missouri 
officer  as  commissary  general,  dispensing  ra- 
tions, and  another  Missouri  officer  as  general- 
Ln-chief;  with  two  wagon  loads  of  rifles, 
belonging  to  Missouri,  drawn  by  six  mules, 
from  its  arsenal  at  Jefferson  City";  with  sewn 
pieces  of  cannon,  belonging  to  the  United 
States,  from  its  arsenal  at  Liberty;  and  this 
formidable  force,  amounting  to  at  least  1,800 
men,  terrible  with  threats,  with  oaths,  and  with 
whisky,  crossed  the  borders,  and  encamp- 
ed in  larger  part  at  Wacherusa,  over  against 
the  doomed  town  of  Lawrence,  whieh  was  now 
threatened  with  destruction.  With  these  inva- 
ders Was  the  Governor,  who  by  this  act  levied 
war  upon  the  people  he  was  sent  to  protect. 
In  camp  with  him  was  the  original  Catiline  of 
the  conspiracy,  while  by  his  side  was  the 
docile  Chief  Justice  and  the  docile  Judges. 
But  this  is  not  the  first  instance  in  which  an 
unjust  Governor  has  found  tools  where  he 
ought  to  have  found  justice.  In  the  great  im- 
peachment of  Warren  Hastings,  the  British 
orator,  by  whom  it  was  conducted,  exclaims, 
in  words  strictly  applicable  to  the  misdeed  I 
now  arraign,  "Had  he  not  the  Chief  Justice, 
the  tame  and  domesticated  Chief  Justice,  who 
waited  on  him  like  a  familiar  spirit?"  Thus 
was  this  invasion  countenanced  by  those  who 
should  have  stood  in  the  breach  against  it. 
For  more  than  a  week  it  contiuued,  while 
deadly  conflict  seemed  imminent.  I  do  not 
dwell  on  the  heroism  by  which  it  was  encoun- 
tered, or  the  mean  retreat  to  which  it  was 
compelled;  for  that  is  not  necessary  to  exhibit 
the  Crime  which  you  are  to  judge.  But  I 
cannot  forbear  to  add  other  additional  features, 
furnished  in  the  letter  of  a  clergymen,  written 
at  the  time,  who  saw  and  was  a  part  of  what 
he  describes  : 

"Our  citizens  have  been  shot  at,  and  in  two  instances 
murdered,  our  houses  invaded,  hay-ricks  burnt,  corn  and 


other  provisions  plundered,  cattle  driven  off,  all  communi- 
cation cut  off  between  us  and  the  States,  wagons  on  the  way 
to  us  with  provisions  stopped  and  plundered,  and  the  drivers 
taken  prisoners,  and  we  in  hourly  expectation  of  an  attack. 
A  early  every  man  has  been  in  arms  in  the  village.  For- 
tifications have  been  thrown  up,  by  incessant  labor  night 
and  day.  The  sound  of  the  drum  and  the  tramp  of  armed 
men  resounded  through  our  streets,  families  fleeing  with 
their  household  goods  for  safety.  Day  before  yesterday, 
the  report  of  cannon  was  heard  at  our  house  from  the  direc- 
tion of  Lecompton.  Last  Thursday,  one  of  our  neighbors 
— one  of  the  most  peaceable  and  excellent  of  men,  from 
Ohio — on  his  way  home,  was  set  upon  by  a  gang  of  twelve 
men  on  horseback,  and  shot  down.  Over  eight  hundred 
men  are  gathered  under  arms  at  Lawrence.  As  yet,  no  act 
of  violence  has  been  perpetrated  by  those  on  our  side.  No 
blood  of  retaliation  stains  our  hands.  We  stand  and  are 
ready  to  act  purely  in  the  defence  of  our  homes  a?id 
lives." 

But  the  catalogue  is  not  yet  complete.  On 
the  15th  of  December,  when  the  people  as- 
sembled to  vote  on  the  Constitution  then  sub- 
mitted for  adoption — only  a  few  days  after  the 
Treaty  of  Peace  between  the  Governor  on  the 
one  side  and  the  town  of  Lawrence  on  the 
other — another  irruption  was  made  into  this 
unhappy  Territory/  But  I  leave  all  this  un- 
told.    Enough  of  these  details  has  been  given. 

Five  several  times  and  more  have  these  in- 
vaders entered  Kansas  in  armed  array,  and 
thus  five  times  and  more  have  they  trampled 
upon  the  organic  law  of  the  Territory.  But 
these  extraordinary  expeditions  are  simply  the 
extraordinary  witnesses  to  successive  uninter- 
rupted violence.  They  stand  out  conspicuous 
but  not  alone.  The  spirit  of  evil,  in  which 
they  had  their  origin,  was  wakeful  and  inces- 
sant. From  the  beginning,  it  hung  upon  the 
skirts  of  this  interesting  Territory,  harrowing 
its  peace,  disturbing  its  prosperity,  and  keep- 
ing its  inhabitants  under  the  painful  alarms  of 
war.  Tims  was  all  security  of  person,  of  pro- 
perty, and  of  labor,  overthrown ;  and  when 
I  urge  this  incontrovertible  fact,  I  set  forth  a 
wrong,  which  is  small  only  by  the  side  of  the 
giant  wrong,  for  the  consummation  of  which 
all  this  was  done.  Sir,  what  is  man — what  in 
government — without  security;  in  the  absence 
of  which,  nor  man  nor  government  can  pro- 
ceed in  development  or  enjoy  the  fruits  of 
existence?  Without  security,  civilization  is 
cramped  and  dwarfed.  Without  securitv  there 
can  be  no  true  Freedom.  Nor  shall  I  say  too 
much,  when  I  declare  that  security,  guarded 
of  course  by  its  offspring,  Freedom,  is  the  true 
end  and  aim  of  government.  Of  this  indis- 
pensable boon  the  people  of  Kansas  have  thus 
far  been  despoiled — absolutely,  totally.  All 
this  is  aggravated  by  the  nature  of  their  pur- 
suits, rendering  them  peculiarly  sensitive  to 
interruption,  and  at  the  same  time  attesting 
their  innocence.  They  are  for  the  most  part 
engaged  in  the  cultivation  of  the  soil,  which 
from  time  immemorial  has  been  the  sweet 
employment  of  undisturbed  industry.  Con- 
tented in  the  returns  of  bounteous  nature  and 
the  shade  of  his  own  trees,  the  husbandman  is 
not  aggressive ;    accustomed  to  produce,  and 


11 


not  to  destroy,  he  is  essentially  peaceful,  unless 
his  home  is  invaded,  when  his  arm  derives 
vigor  from  the  soil  he  treads,  and  his  soul 
inspiration  from  the  heavens  beneath  whose 
canopy  he  daily  walks.  And  such  are  the 
people  of  Kansas,  whose  Security  has  been 
overthrown.  Scenes  from  which  civilization 
averts  her  countenance  have  been  a  part  of 
their  daily  life.  The  border  incursions,  which, 
in  barbarous  ages  or  barbarous  lands,  have 
fretted  aud  "harried"  an  exposed  people, 
have  been  here  renewed,  with  this  peculiarity, 
that  our  border  robbers  do  not  simply  levy 
black  mail  and  drive  off  a  few  cattle,  like 
those  who  acted  under  the  inspiration  of  the 
Douglas  of  other  days;  that  they  do  not  seize 
a  few  persons,  and  sweep  them  away  into 
captivity,  like  the  African  slave-traders  whom 
we  brand  as  pirates;  but  that  they  commit  a 
succession  of  acts,  in  which  all  border  sorrows 
and  all  African  wrongs  are  revived  together 
on  American  soil,  and  which  for  the  time 
being  annuls  all  protection  of  all  kinds,  and 
enslaves  the  whole  Territory. 

Private  griefs  mingle  their  poignancy  with 
public  wrongs.  I  do  not  dwell  on  the  anxieties 
which  families  have  undergone,  exposed  to 
sudden  assault,  and  obliged  to  lie  down  to  rest 
with  the  alarms  of  war  ringing  in  their  ears, 
not  knowing  that  another  day  might  be  spared 
to  them.  Throughout  this  bitter  winter,  with 
the  thermometer  at  30  degrees  below  zero,  the 
citizens  of  Lawrence  have  been  constrained  to 
sleep  under  arms,  with  sentinels  treading  their 
constant  watch  against  surprise.  But  our 
souls  are  wrung  by  individual  instances.  In 
vain  do  we  condemn  the  cruelties  of  another 
age — the  refinements  of  torture  to  which  men 
have  been  doomed — the  rack  and  thumb-screw 
of  the  Inquisition,  the  last  agonies  of  the  regi- 
cide Ravaillac — "Luke's  iron  crown,  and 
Daniien's  bed  of  steel'  — for  kindred  outrages 
have  disgraced  these  borders.  Murder  has 
stalked — assasi nation  has  skulked  in  the  tall 
grass  of  the  prairie,  and  the  vindictiveness  of 
man  has  assumed  unwonted  forms.  A  preacher 
of  the  Gospel  of  the  Saviour  has  been  ridden  on 
a  rail,  and  then  thrown  into  the  Missouri, 
fastened  to  a  log,  and  left  to  drift  down  its 
muddy,  tortuous  current.  And  lately  we  have 
had  the  tidings  of  that  enormity  without  pre- 
cedence— a  deed  without  a  name — where  a 
candidate  of  the  Legislature  was  most  brutally 
gashed  with  knives  and  hatchets,  and  then, 
alter  weltering  in  blood  on  the  snow-clad 
earth,  was  trundled  along  with  gaping  wounds, 
to  fall  dead  in  the  face  of  his  wife.  It  is 
common  to  drop  a  tear  of  sympathy  over  the 
trembling  solicitudes  of  our  early  fathers, 
exposed  to  the  stealthy  assault  of  the  savage 
foe ;  and  an  eminent  American  artist  has 
pictured  this  scene  in  a  marble  group  of  rare 
beauty,  on  the  front  of  the  National  Capitol, 


where  the  uplifted  towahawk  is  arrested  by 
the  strong  arm  and  generous  countenance  of 
the  pioneer,  while  his  wife  and  children  find 
shelter  at  his  feet;  but  now  the  tear  must  be 
dropped  over  the  trembling  solicitudes  of 
fellow-citizens,  seeking  to  build  a  new  State 
in  Kansas,  and  exposed  to  the  perpetual 
assault  of  murderous  robbers  from  Missouri. 
Hirelings,  picked  from  the  drunken  spew  and 
vomit  of  an  uneasy  civilization — in  the  form 
of  men — 

Aye,  in  the  catalogue  ye  go  for  men ; 
As  hounds  and  gray-hounds,  mongrels,  spaniels,  curs, 
Sloughs,  water-rugs,  and  demi-wolves,  are  called 
All  by  the  name  of  dogs ; 

leashed  together  by  secret  signs  and  lodges, 
have  renewed  the  incredible  atrocities  of  the 
Assassins  and  of  the  Thugs ;  showing  the 
blind  submission  of  the  Assassins  to  the  Old 
Man  of  the  Mountain,  in  robbing  Christians  on 
the  road  to  Jerusalem,  and  showing  the  heart- 
lessness  of  the  Thugs,  who,  avowing  that  mur- 
der was  their  religion,  waylaid  travellers  on 
the  great  road  from  Agra  to  Delhi ;  with  the 
more  deadly  bowie-knife  for  the  dagger  of  the 
Assassin,  and  the  more  deadly  revolver  for  the 
noose  of  the  Thug. 

In  these  invasions,  attended  by  the  entire 
subversion  of  all  Security  in  this  Territory, 
with  the  plunder  of  the  ballot-box,  and  the 
pollution  of  the  electoral  franchise,  I  show 
simply  the  process  in  unprecedented  Crime. 
If  that  be  the  best  Government,  where  an 
injury  to  a  single  citizen  is  resented  as  an  in- 
jury to  the  whole  State,  then  must  our  Gov- 
eminent  forfeit  all  claim  to  any  such  emi- 
nence, while  it  leaves  its  citizens  thus  exposed. 
In  the  outrage  upon  the  ballot-box,  even  with- 
out the  illicit  fruits  which  I  shall  soon  expose, 
there  is  a  peculiar  crime  of  the  deepest  dye, 
though  subordinate  to  the  final  Crime,  which 
should  be  promptly  avenged.  In  countries 
where  royalty  is  upheld,  it  is  a  special  offence 
to  rob  the  crown  jewels,  which  are  the  emblems 
of  that  sovereignty  before  which  the  loyal 
subject  bows,  and  it  is  treason  to  be  found  in 
adultery  with  the  Queen,  for  in  this  way  may 
a  false  heir  be  imposed  upon  the  Sjtate  ;  but  in 
our  Republic  the  ballot-box  is  the  single  price- 
less jewel  of  that  sovereignty  which  we  re- 
spect, and  the  electoral  franchise,  out  of  which 
are  born  the  rulers  of  a  free  people,  is  the 
Queen  whom  whom  we  are  to  guard  against 
pollution.  In  this  plain  presentment,  whether 
as  regards  Security,  or  as  regards  Elections, 
there  is  enough,  surely,  without  proceeding 
further,  to  justify  the  intervention  of  Con- 
gress, most  promptly  and  completely,  to  throw 
over  this  oppressed  people  the  impenetrable 
shield  of  the  Constitution  and  laws.  But  the 
half  is  not  yet  told. 

As  every  point  in  a  wide-spread  horizon 
radiates  from  a  common  centre,  so  everything 


12 


said  or  done  in  this  vast  circle  of  Crime  radi-  I  in  ^?tr-  and  I  advise  you,  one  and  aU,to  enter  eterf 

j>  j.\.       r\         ti         ,i     ,    F  i|  I  election  district  in  Kansas,  m  defiance  of  Reeder  ana 

ates    irom   the    One   Idea,    that   Kansas,  at   S.^   his  vile  myrmidons,  and  vote  at  the  point  of  the  bowie- 

hazards,  must  be  made  a  slave  State.  In  all 
the  manifold  wickednesses  that  have  occurred, 
and  in  every  successive  invasion,  this  One 
Idea  has  been  ever  present,  as  the  Satanic 
tempter — the  motive  power — the  causing 
cause. 

To  accomplish  this  result,  three  things  were 
attempted :  Jirst,  by  outrages  of  all  kinds  to 
drive  the  friends  of  Freedom  already  there 
out  of  the  Territory  ;  secondly,  to  deter  others 
from  coming  ;  and,  thirdly,  to  obtain  the  com- 
plete control  of  the  Government.  The  pro- 
cess of  driving  out,  and  also  of  deterring,  has 
failed.  On  the  contrary,  the  friends  of  Free- 
dom there  became  more  fixed  in  their  resolves 
to  stay  and  tight  the  battle,  winch  they  had 
never  sought,  but  from  which  they  disdained 
to  retreat ;  while  the  friends  of  Freedom  else- 
where were  more  aroused  to  the  duty  of  time- 
ly succors,  by  men  and  munitions  of  just  self- 
defence. 

But,  while  defeated  in  the  first  two  pro- 
cesses proposed,  the  conspirators  succeeded  in 
the  last.  By  the  violence  already  portrayed 
at  the  election  of  the  30th  March,  when  the 
polls  were  occupied  by  the  armed  hordes  from 
Missouri,  they  imposed  a  Legislature  upon  the 
Territory,  and  thus,  under  the  iron  mask  of 
law,  established  a  Usurpation  not  less  com- 
plete than  any  in  history.  That  this  was  done, 
I  proceed  to  prove.     Here  is  the  evidence: 

1.  Only  in  this  way  can  tins  extraordinary 
expedition  be  adequately  explained.  In  the 
words  of  Moliere,  onee  employed  by  John 
Quincy  Adams  in  the  other  house,  Que  didble 
(ilhiient-ils  /aire  duns  cette  galere?  What 
did  they  go  into  the  Territory  for?  If  their 
purposes  were  peaceful,  as  has  been  suggested, 
why  cannons,  arms,  fiags,  numbers,  and  all 
this  violence?  As  simple  citizens,  proceeding 
to  the  honest  exercise  of  the  electoral  fran- 
chise, they  might  have  gone  with  nothing 
more  than  a  pilgrim's  stall'.  Philosophy  al- 
ways seeks  a  sufficient  cause,  and  only  in  the 
One  Idea,  already  presented,  can  a  cause  be 
found  in  any  degree  commensurate  with  this 
Crime;  and  this  becomes  so  only  when  we 
consider  the  mad  fanaticism  of  Slavery. 

2.  Public  notoriety  steps  forward  to  con- 
firm the  suggestion  of  reason.  In  every  place 
where  Truth  can  freely  travel,  it  has  been 
asserted  and  understood,  that  the  Legislature 
was  imposed  upon  Kansas  by  foreigners  from 
Missouri;  and  this  universal  voice  is  now 
received  as  undeniable  verity. 

3.  It  is  also  attested  by  the  harangues  of 
the  conspirators.  Here  is  what  Stringfellow 
said  before  the  invasion  : 

"To  those  who  have  qualms  of. conscience  as  to  violating 
laws,  State  or  National,  the  time  lias  come  when  such  impo- 
sitions must  be  disregarded,  as  your  rights  and  property  are 


knife  and  revolver.  Neither  give  nor  take  quarter,  as  our 
case  demands  it.  It  is  enough  that  the  slaveholding  interest 
wills  it,  from  which  there  is  no  appeal.  What  right  has 
Governor  Reeder  to  rule  Missourians  in  Kansas?  His  pro- 
clamation and  prescribed  oath  must  be  repudiated.  It  is 
your  interest  to  do  so.  Mind  that  Slavery  is  established 
where  it  is  not  prohibited." 

Here  is  what  Atchison  said  after  the  inva- 
sion: 

"  Well,  what  next?  Why  an  election  fbr  members  of  the 
Legislature  to  organize  the  Territory  must  be  held.  What 
did  I  advise  you  to  do  then?  Why,  meet  them  on  their  own 
ground,  and  beat  them  at  their  own  game  again ;  and,  cold 
and  inclement  as  the  weather  was,  I  went  over  with  a  com- 
pany of  men.  My  object  in  going  was  not  to  vote.  I  had 
no  right  to  vote,  unless  I  had  disfranchised  myself  in  Mis- 
souri. I  was  not  within  two  miles  of  a  voting-place.  My 
object  in  going  was  not  to  vote,  but  to  settle  a  difficulty  be- 
tween two  of  our  candidates;  and  the  Abolitionists  of  the 
North  said,  and  published  it  abroad,  that  Atchison  teas 
there  with  bowie-knife  and  revolver  :  and  by  God  it  teas 
true.  I  never  did  go  into  that  Territory — I  never  intend 
to  go  into  that  Territory— without  being  prepared  for  all 
such  kind  of  cattle.  Well,  we  beat  them,  and  Governor 
Reeder  gave  certificates  to  a  majority  of  all  the  members  of 
both  Houses,  and  then,  after  they  were  organized,  as  every- 
body will  admit,  they  were  the  only  competent  persons  to 
say  who  were,  and  who  were  not,  members  of  the  same." 

4.  It  is  confirmed  by  the  contemporaneous 
admission  of  the  Squatter  Sovereign,  a  paper 
published  at  Atchison,  and  at  once  the  organ 
of  the  President  and  of  these  Borderers,  which, 
under  date  of  1st  April,  thus  recounts  the  vic- 
tory : 

"  Independence,  Missouri,  March  81, 1855. 
"Several  hundred  emigrants  from  Kansas  have  just  en- 
tered our  city.  They  were  preceded  by  the  Westport  and 
Independence  brass  bands.  They  came  in  at  the  west  side 
of  the  public  square,  and  proceeded  entirely  around  it,  tha 
bands  cheering  us  with  fine  music,  and  the  emigrants  with 
good  news.  Immediately  following  the  bands  were  about 
two  hundred  horsemen  in  regular  order;  following  these 
were  one  hundred  and  fifty  wagons,  carriages,  &c.  They 
gave  repeated  cheers  for  Kansas  and  Missouri.  They  report 
that  not  an  Anti-Slavery  man  will  be  in  the  Legislature  of 
Kansas.     We  have  made  a  clean  sveeep." 

5.  It  is  also  confirmed  by  the  contempora- 
neous testimony  of  another  paper,  always 
faithful  to  Slavery,  the  New  York  Herald,  in 
the  letter  of  a  correspondent  from  Brunswick, 
in  Missouri,  under  date  of  20th  April,  1855: 

"  From  five  to  seven  thousand  men  started  from  Missouri 
to  attend  the  election,  some  to  remove,  but  the  most  to  re- 
turn to  their  families,  with  an  intention,  if  they  liked  the 
Territory,  to  make  it  their  permanent  abode  at  the  earliest 
moment  practicable.  But  they  intended  to  vota.  The  Mis- 
sourians were,  most  of  them,  Douglas  men.  There  were  on« 
hundred  and  fifty  voters  from  this  county,  one  hundred  and 
seventy-five  from  Howard,  one  hundred  from  Cooper.  In- 
deed, every  county  furnished  its  quota  ;  and  when  they  set 
out,  it  looked  like  an  army."  *  *  *  *  "  They  were 
armed."  *  *  *  *  "  And  as  there  were  no  bouses  in  the 
Territory,  they  carried  tents.  Their  mission  was  a  peace- 
able one— to  vote,  and  to  drive  down  stakes  for  their  future 
homes.  After  the  election,  some  one  thousand  five  hundred 
of  the  voters  sent  a  committee  to  Mr.  Reeder,  to  ascertain 
if  it  was  his  purpose  to  ratify  the  election.  He  answered 
that  it  was,  and  said  the  majority  at  an  election  must  carry 
the  day.  But  it  is  not  to  be  denied  that  the  one  thousand 
five  hundred,  apprehending  that  the  Governor  might  at- 
tempt to  play  the  tyrant— since  his  conduct  had  already 
been  insidious  and  unjust — wore  on  their  hats  hunches  of 
hemp.  They  were  resolved,  if  a  tyrant  attempted  to  traujr- 
ple  upon  the  rights  of  the  sovereign  people,  to  liaug  him. 


13 


6.  It  is  again  confirmed  by  the  testimony  of 
a  lady,  who  for  five  years  has  lived  in  Western 
Missouri,  and  thus  writes  in  a  letter  published 
in  the  New  Haven  Register: 

"  Miami,  Saline  Co.,  November  26, 1855. 
"You  ask  me  to  tell  you  something  about  the  Kansas  and 
Missouri  troubles.  Of  course  you  know  in  what  they  have 
originated.  There  «-«  no  denying  that  the  Missnurians 
have  determined  to  control,  the  election*,  if 'possible ,  and 
I  don't  know  that  their  measures  would  be  justifiable,  ex- 
cept upon  the  principle  of  self-preservation;  and  that,  you 
know,  is  the  first  law  of  nature." 

7.  And  it  is  confirmed  still  further  by  the 
circular  of  the  Emigration  Society  of  Lafay- 
ette, in  Missouri,  dated  as  late  as  25th  March, 
1856,  in  which  the  efforts  of  Missourians  are 
openly  confessed : 

"  The  Western  counties  of  Missouri  have,  for  the  last  two 
years,  been  heavily  taxed,  both  in  money  and  time,  in  fight- 
ing the  battles  of  the  South.  Lafayette  county  alone  has 
etcpe?ided  mare  than  $100,000,  in  money  and  as  much  and 
more  in  time.  Up  to  this  time,  the  border  counties  of 
Missouri  hare  upheld  and  maintained  the  rights  and 
interests  of  the  South  i/i  this  struggle,  unassisted,  and  not 
unsuccessfully.  But  the  Abolitionists,  staking  their  all 
upon  the  Kansas  issue,  and  hesitating  at  no  means,  fair  or 
foul,  are  moving  heaven  and  earth  to  render  that  beautiful 
Territory  a  Free  State." 

8.  Here,  also,  is  complete  admission  of  the 
Usurpation,  by  the  Intelligencer,  a  leading 
paper  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  made  in  the  ensu- 
ing summer : 

"  Atchison  and  Stringfellow,  with  their  Missouri  followers, 
overwhelmed  the  settlers  in  Kansas,  browbeat  and  bullied 
theui,  and  took  the  Government  from  their  hands.  Missouri 
votes  elected  the  present  body  of  men  who  insult  public  in- 
telligence and  popular  rights  by  styling  themselves  '  the 
Legislature  of  Kansas.'  This  body  of  men  are  helping  them- 
selves to  fat  speculations  by  locating  the  '  seat  of  Govern- 
ment,' and  getting  town  lots  for  their  votes.  They  are  pass- 
ing laws  disfranchising  all  the  citizens  of  Kansas  who  do  not 
believe  Negro  Slavery  to  be  a  Christian  institution  and  a 
national  blessing.  They  are  proposing  to  punish  with  im- 
prisonment the  utterance  of  views  inconsistent  with  their 
own.  And  they  are  trying  to  perpetuate  their  preposterous 
and  infernal  tyranny  by  appointing  for  a  term  of  years 
creatures  of  their  own,  as  commissioners  in  every  county,  to 
lay  and  collect  taxes,  and  see  that  the  laws  they  are  passing 
are  faithfully  executed.  Has  this  age  anything  to  compare 
with  these  acts  in  audacity?" 

9.  In  harmony  with  all  these  is  the  authori- 
tative declaration  of  Governor  Reeder,  in  a 
speech  addressed  to  his  neighbors,  at  Easton, 
Pennsylvania,  at  the  end  of  April,  1855,  and 
immediately  afterwards  published  in  the  Wash- 
ington Union.     Here  it  is : 

"  It  was,  indeed,  too  true  that  Kansas  had  been  invaded, 
conquered,  subjugated,  by  an  armed  force  from  beyond  her 
borders,  led  on  by  a  fanatical  spirit,  trampling  under  foot 
the  principles  of  the  Kansas  bill  and  the  right  of  suffrage." 

10.  And  in  similar  harmony  is  the  com- 
plaint of  the  people  of  Kansas,  in  a  public 
meeting  at  Big  Springs,  on  the  5th  September, 
1853,  embodied  in  these  words: 

"  Resolved,  That  the  body  of  men  who  for  the  last  two 
months  have  been  passing  laws  for  the  people  of  our  Terri- 
tory, moved,  counselled,  and  dictated  to  by  the  demagogues 
of  Missouri,  are  to  us  a  foreign  body,  representing  only  the 
lawless  invaders  who  elected  them,  and  not  the  people  of  the 
Territory — that  w«  repudiate  their  action,  as  the  monstrous 
consummation  of  an  act  of  violence,  usurpation,  and  fraud, 


unparalleled  in  the  history  of  the  Union,  and  worthy  only 
of  men  unfitted  for  the  duties,  and  regardless  of  the  respon- 
sibilities of  Republicans." 

11.  And  finally,  by  the  official  minutes, 
which  have  been  laid  on  our  table  by  the  Pre- 
sident, the  invasion,  which  ended  in  the  Usurp- 
ation, is  clearly  established ;  but  the  effect  of 
this  testimony  has  been  so  amply  exposed  by 
the  Senator  from  Vermont,  [Mr.  Collamer,] 
in  his  able  and  indefatigable  argument,  that  1 
content  myself  with  simply  referring  to  it. 

On  this  cumulative,  irresistible  evidence,  in 
concurrence  with  the  antecedent  history,  I 
rest.  And  yet  Senators  here  have  argued  that 
this  cannot  be  so — precisely  as  the  conspiracy 
of  Catiline  was  doubted  in  the  Roman  Senate. 
Nonnulli  sunt  in  hoc  ordine,  qui  aut  ea,  qum 
imminent,  non  videant ;  aut  ea,  qua.  vident, 
dissimtdent  ;  qui  spem  Catalince  mollibus  sen- 
tentiis  aluerunt,  conjurationemque  nascentem 
non  credendo  corroboraverunt.  As  I  listened 
to  the  Senator  from  Illinois,  while  he  painful- 
ly strove  to  show  that  there  was  no  Usurpa- 
tion, I  was  reminded  of  the  effort  by  a  dis- 
tinguished logician,  in  a  much-admired  argu- 
ment, to  prove  that  Napoleon  Bonaparte  never 
existed.  And  permit  mo  to  say,  that  the  fact 
of  his  existence  is  not  placed  more  completely 
above  doubt  than  the  fact  of  this  Usurpation. 
This  I  assert  on  the  proofs  already  presented. 
But  confirmation  comes  almost  while  I  speak. 
The  columns  of  the  public  press  are  now  daily 
rilled  with  testimony,  solemnly  taken  before 
the  Committee  of  Congress  in  Kansas,  which 
shows,  in  awful  light,  the  violence  ending  in 
the  Usurpation.  Of  this  I  may  speak  on  some 
other  occasion.  Meanwhile,  I  proceed  with 
the  development  of  the  Crime. 

The  usurping  Legislature  assembled  at  the 
appointed  place  in  the  interior,  and  then  at 
once,  in  opposition  to  the  veto  of  the  Govern- 
or, by  a  majority  of  two-thirds,  removed  to 
the  Shawnee  Mission,  a  place  in  most  conve- 
nient proximity  to  the  Missouri  borderers,  by 
whom  it  had  been  constituted,  and  whose  ty- 
rannical agent  it  was.  The  statutes  of  Mis- 
souri, in  all  their  text,  with  their  divisions  and 
subdivisions,  were  adopted  bodily,  and  Avith 
such  little  local  adaptation  that  the  word 
"  State  "  in  the  original  is  not  even  changed  to 
"  Territory,"  but  is  left  to  be  corrected  by  an 
explanatory  act.  But,  all  this  general  legisla- 
tion was  entirely  subordinate  to  the  special 
act,  entitled  "  An  Act  to  punish  offences 
against  Slave  Property,"  in  which  the  One 
Idea,  that  provoked  this  whole  conspiracy,  is 
at  last  embodied  in  legislative  form,  and  Hu- 
man Slavery  openly  recognized  on  Free  Soil, 
under  the  sanction  of  pretended  law.  This 
act  of  thirteen  sections  is  in  itselt  a  Dance  of 
Death.  But  its  complex  completeness  of  wick- 
edness,  without  a  parallel,  may  be  partially 


14 


conceived,  when  it  is  understood  that  in  three 
sections  only  of  it  is  the  penalty  of  death  de- 
nounced no  less  than  forty-eight  different 
times,  by  as  many  changes  of  language, 
against  the  heinous  offence,  described  in  forty- 
eight  different  ways,  of  interfering  with  what 
does  not  exist  in  that  Territory — and  under 
the  Constitution  cannot  exist  there — I  mean 
property  in  human  flesh.  Thus  is  Liberty 
sacrificed  to  Slavery,  and  Death  summoned  to 
sit  at  the  gates  as  guardian  of  the  Wrong. 

But  the  work  of  Usurpation  was  not  per- 
fected even  yet.  It  had  already  cost  too  much 
to  be  left  at  any  hazard. 

-"  To  be  thus  was  nothing ; 


But  to  be  safely  thus  1" 

Such  was  the  object.  And  this  could  not  be, 
except  by  the  entire  prostration  of  all  the  safe- 
guards of  Human  Eights.  The  liberty  of 
speech,  which  is  the  very  breath  of  a  Repub- 
lic ;  the  press,  which  is  the  terror  of  wrong- 
doers ;  the  bar,  through  which  the  oppressed 
beards  the  arrogance  of  law;  the  jury,  by 
which  right  is  vindicated;  all  these  must  be 
struck  down,  while  officers  are  provided,  in  all 
places,  ready  to  be  the  tools  of  this  tyranny  ; 
and  then,  to  obtain  final  assurance  that  their 
crime  was  secure,  the  whole  Usurpation, 
stretching  over  the  Territory,  most  be  fastened 
and  riveted  by  legislative  bolts,  spikes,  and 
screws,  so  as  to  defy  all  effort  at  change 
through  the  ordinary  forms  of  law.  To  this 
work,  in  its  various  parts,  were  bent  the  sub- 
tlest energies ;  and  never,  from  Tubal  Cain  to 
this  hour,  was  any  fabric  forged  with  more 
desperate  skill  and  completeness. 

Mark,  sir,  three  different  legislative  enact- 
ments, which  constitute  part  of  this  work. 
First,  according  to  one  act,  all  who  deny,  by 
spoken  or  written  word,  "the  right  of  per- 
sons to  hold  slaves  in  this  Territory,"  are 
denounced  as  felons,  to  be  punished  by  impri- 
sonment at  hard  labor,  for  a  term  not  less 
than  two  years ;  it  may  be  for  life.  And  to 
show  the  extravagance  of  this  injustice,  it  has 
been  well  put  by  the  Senator  from  Vermont 
[Mr.  Collamek],  that  should  the  Senator  from 
Michigan  [Mr.  Cass],  who  believes  that  Slavery 
cannot  exist  in  a  Territory,  unless  introduced 
by  express  legislative  acts,  venture  there  with 
his  moderate  opinions,  his  doom  must  be  that 
of  a  felon !  To  this  extent  are  the  great  liber- 
ties of  speech  and  of  the  press  subverted. 
Secondly,  by  another  act,  entitled  "An  Act 
concerning  Attomeys-at-Law,"  no  person  can 
practise  as  an  attorney,  unless  he  shall  obtain 
a  license  from  the  Territorial  courts,  which,  of 
course,  a  tyrannical  discretion  will  be  free  to 
deny;  and  after  obtaining  such  license,  he  is 
constrained  to  take  an  oath,  not  oidy  u  to  sup- 
port" the  Constitution  of  the  United  States, 
but  also  "  to  support  and  sustain" — mark  here 


the  reduplication — the  Territorial  Act,  and  the 
Fugitive  Slave  Bill,  thus  erecting  a  test  for  the 
function  of  the  bar,  calculated  to  exclude  citi- 
zens who  honestly  regard  that  latter  legisla- 
tive enormity  as  unfit  to  be  obeyed.  And, 
thirdly,  by  another  act,  entitled  "  An  Act  con- 
cerning Jurors,"  all  persons  "  conscientiously 
opposed  to  holding  slaves,"  or  "  not  admitting 
the  right  to  hold  slaves  in  the  Territory,"  are 
excluded  from  the  jury  on  every  question, 
civil  or  criminal,  arising  out  of  asserted  slave 
property ;  while,  in  all  cases,  the  summoning 
of  the  jury  is  left  without  one  word  of  restraint, 
to  "  the  marshal,  sheriff,  or  other  officer," 
who  are  thus  free  to  pack  it  according  to  their 
tyrannical  discretion. 

For  the  ready  enforcement  of  all  statutes 
against  Human  Freedom,  the  President  had 
already  furnished  a  powerful  quota  of  officers, 
in  the  Governor,  Chief  Justice,  Judges,  Secre- 
tary, Attorney,  and  Marshal.  The  Legislature 
•  ompleted  this  part  of  the  work,  by  constitut- 
1  ig,  in  each  county,  a  Board  of  Commissioners, 
i  unposed  of  two  persons,  associated  with  the 
1  robate  Judge,  whose  duty  it  is  "to appoint  a 
county  treasurer,  coroner,  justices  of  the 
peace,  constables  and  another  officers  provided 
for  by  law,"  and  then  proceeded  to  the  choice 
of  this  very  Board;  thus  delegating  and  diffus- 
ing their  usurped  power,  and  tyrannically  im- 
posing upon  the  Territory,  a  crowd  of  officers, 
in  whose  appointment  the  people  have  had  no 
voice,  directly  or  indirectly. 

And  still  the  final  inexorable  work  remain- 
ed. A  Legislature,  renovated  in  both  branches, 
could  not  assemble  until  1858,  so  that,  (hiring 
this  long  intermediate  period,  this  whole  sys- 
tem must  continue  in  the  likeness  of  law,  un- 
less  overturned  by  the  Federal  Government, 
or,  in  default  of  such  interposition,  by  a  gener- 
ous uprising  of  an  oppressed  people.  But 
it  was  necessary  to  guard  against  the  possibi- 
lity of  change,  even  tardily,  at  a  future  elec- 
tion ;  and  thi>  was  done  by  two  different 
acts ;  under  the  frst  of  which,  all  who  will 
not  take  the  oath  to  support  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Bill  are  excluded  from  the  elective  fran- 
chise; and  under  the  second  of  which,  all 
others  are  entitled  to  vote  who  shall  tender  a 
tax  of  one  dollar  to  the  Sheriff  on  the  day  of 
election  ;  thus,  by  provision  of  Territorial  law, 
disfranchising  all  opposed  to  Slavery,  and  at  the 
same  time  opening  the  door  to  the  votes  of  the 
invaders  ;  by  an  unconstitutional  shibboleth, 
excluding  from  the  polls  the  mass  of  actual 
settlers,  and  by  making  the  franchise  depend 
upon  a  petty  tax  only,  admitting  to  the  polls 
the  mass  of  borderers  from  Missouri.  Thus, 
by  tyrannical  forethought,  the  Usurpation  not 
only  fortified  all  that  it  did,  but  assumed 
a  self-perpetuating  energy. 

Thus  was  the  Crime  consummated.  Slavery 
now  stands  erect,  clanking  its  chains  on  the 


15 


Territory  of  Kansas,  surrounded  by  a  code  of 
death,  and  trampling  upon  all  cherished  liber- 
ties, whether  of  speech,  the  press,  the  bar,  the 
trial  by  jury,  or  the  electoral  franchise.  And, 
sir,  all  tins  has  been  done,  not  merely  to 
introduce  a  vrrong  which  in  itself  is  a  denial 
of  all  rights,  and  in  dread  of  which  a  mother 
has  lately  taken  the  life  of  ber  offspring;  not 
merely,  as  has  been  sometimes  said,  to  protect 
Slavery  in  Missouri,  since  it  is  futile  for  this 
State  to  complain  of  Freedom  on  the  side  of 
Kansas,  when  Freedom  exists  withont  com- 
plaint on  the  side  of  Iowa,  and  also  on  the  side 
of  Illinois;  but  it  has  been  done  for  tbe  sake 
of  political  power,  in  order  to  bring  two  new 
slaveholding  Senators  upon  this  floor,  and  thus 
to  fortify  in  tbe  National  Government  the 
desperate  chances  of  a  waning  Oligarchy.  As 
the  ship,  voyaging  on  pleasant  summer  seas, 
is  assailed  by  a  pirate  crew,  and  robbed  for 
the  sake  of  its  doubloons  and  dollars — so  is 
this  beautiful  Territory  now  assailed  in  its 
peace  and  prosperity,  and  robbed,  in  order  to 
wrest  its  political  power  to  the  side  of  Slavery. 
Even  now  the  black  flag  of  the  land  pirates 
from  Missouri  waves  at  the  mast  head;  in 
their  laws  you  hear  the  pirate  yell,  and  see  the 
flash  of  the  pirate's  knife ;  while,  incredible  to 
relate  !  the  President,  gathering  the  Slave 
Power  at  his  back,  testifies  a  pirate  sympathy. 
Sir,  all  this  was  done  in  the  name  of  popular 
Sovereignty.  And  this  is  the  close  of  the  tra- 
gedy. Popular  Sovereignty,  which  when  truly 
understood,  is  a  fountain  of  just  power,  has 
ended  in  Popular  Slavery ;  not  merely  in  the 
subjection  of  the  unhappy  African  race,  but  of 
this  proud  Caucasian  blood,  which  you  boast. 
The  profession  with  which  you  began,  of  All 
by  the  People,  has  been  lost  in  the  wretched 
reality  of  Nothing  for  the  People.  Popular 
Sovereignty,  in  whose  deceitful  name  plighted 
faith  was  broken,  and  an  ancient  Landmark  of 
Freedom  was  overturned,  now  lifts  itself  be- 
fore us,  like  Sin,  in  the  terrible  picture  of 
Milton, 

"  That  seemed  a  woman  to  the  waist,  and  fair, 
But  ended  foul  in  many  a  scaly  fold 
Voluminous  and  vast,  a  serpent  armed 
With  mortal  sting;  about  her  middle  round 
A  cry  of  hell-houndi  never  ceasing  barked 
With  wide  Cerberean  mouths  full  loud,  and  rung 
A  hideous  peal ;  yet,  when  they  list,  would  creep, 
If  aught  disturbed  their  noise,  into  her  womb, 
And  kennel  there,  yet  there  still  barked  and  howled 
Within  unseen." 

The  image  is  complete  at  all  points ;  and, 
with  this  exposure,  I  take  my  leave  of  the 
Crime  against  Kansas. 

II.  Emerging  from  all  the  blackness  of  this 
Crime,  in  which  we  seem  to  have  been  lost, 
as  in  a  savage  wood,  and  turning  our  backs 
upon  it,  as  upon  desolation  and  death,  from 
whioh  while  others  have  suffered,  we  have  es- 


caped, I  come  now  to  Trra  Apologies  which 
the  Crime  lias  found.  Sir,  well  may  you  start 
at  the  suggestion  that  such  a  series  of  wrongs, 
so  clearly  proved  by  various  testimony,  so 
openly  confessed  by  the  wrong-doers,  and  so 
widely  recognized  throughout  the  country, 
should  find  Apologies.  But  the  partisan  spi- 
rit, now,  as  in  other  days,  hesitates  at  nothing. 
The  great  Crimes  of  history  have  never  been 
without  Apologies.  The  massacre  of  St.  Bar- 
tholomew, which  you  now  instinctively  con- 
demn, was,  at  the  time,  applauded  in  high 
quarters,  and  even  commemorated  by  a  Papal 
medal,  which  may  still  be  procured  at  Rome ; 
as  the  crime  against  Kansas,  which  is  hardly 
less  conspicuous  in  dreadful  eminence,  has 
been  shielded  on  this  floor  by  extenuating 
words,  and  even  by  a  Presidential  message, 
which,  like  the  Papal  medal,  can  never  be  for- 
gotten in  considering  the  madness  and  perver- 
sity of  men. 

Sir,  the  Crime  cannot  be  denied.  The  Pre- 
sident himself  has  admitted  "  illegal  and  repre- 
hensible "  conduct.  To  such  conclusions  he 
was  compelled  by  irresistible  evidence;  but 
what  he  mildly  describes  I  openly  arraign. 
Senators  may  affect  to  put  it  aside  by  a  sneer, 
or  to  reason  it  away  by  figures ;  or  to  explain 
it  by  a  theory,  such  as  desperate  invention 
has  produced  on  this  floor,  that  the  Assassins 
and  Thugs  of  Missouri  were  in  reality  citizens 
of  Kansas  ;  but  all  these  efforts,  so  far  as  made, 
are  only  tokens  of  the  weakness  of  the  cause, 
while  to  the  original  Crime  they  add  another 
offence  of  false  testimony  against  innocent  and 
suffering  men.  But  the  Apologies  for  the 
Crime  are  worse  than  the  efforts  at  denial. 
In  cruelty  and  heartlessness  they  identify  their 
authors  with  the  great  trangression. 

They  are  four  in  number,  and  four-fold  in 
character.  The  first  is  the  Apology  tyranni- 
cal ;  the  second,  the  Apology  imbecile;  the 
third,  the  Apology  absurd  ;  and  the  fourth  the 
Apology  infamous.  This  is  all.  Tyranny,  im- 
becility, absurdity,  and  infamy,  all  unite  to 
dance  like  the  weird  sisters,  about  this  Crime. 

The  Apology  tyrannical  is  founded  on  the 
mistaken  act  of  Governor  Reeder,  in  authenti- 
cating the  Usurping  Legislature,  by  which  it 
is  asserted  that,  whatever  may  have  been  the 
actual  force  or  fraud  in  its  election,  the  people 
of  Kansas  are  effectually  concluded,  and  the 
whole  proceeding  is  placed  under  the  formal 
sanction  of  law.  According  to  this  assump- 
tion, complaint  is  now  in  vain,  and  it  only  re- 
mains that  Congress  should  sit  and  hearken 
to  it,  without  correcting  the  wrong,  as  the  an- 
cient tyrant  listened  and  granted  no  redress  to 
the  human  moans  that  issued  from  the  heated 
brazen  bull,  which  subtle  cruelty  had  devised, 
This  I  call  the  Apology  of  technicality  inspi- 
red tyranny. 

The  facts  on  this  head  are  few  and  plain. 


16 


Governor  Eeeder,  after  allowing  only  five  days 
for  objections  to  the  returns — a  space  of  time 
unreasonably  brief  in  that  extensive  Territory 
— declared  a  majority  of  the  members  of  the 
Council  and  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
"  duly  elected,"  withheld  certificates  from  cer- 
tain others,  because  of  satisfactory  proof  that 
they  were  not  duly  elected,  and  appointed  a 
day  for  new  elections  to  supply  these  vacan- 
cies. Afterwards,  by  formal  message,  he  re- 
cognized the  Legislature  as  a  legal  body,  and 
when  he  vetoed  their  act  of  adjournment 
to  the  neighborhood  of  Missouri,  he  did  it 
simply  on  the  ground  of  the  illegality  of  such 
an  adjournment  under  the  organic  law.  Now, 
to  every  assumption  founded  on  these  facts, 
there  are  two  satisfactory  replies;  first,  that 
no  certificate  of  the  Governor  can  do  more 
than  authenticate  a  subsisting  legal  act,  with- 
out of  itself  infusing  legality  where  the  essence 
of  legality  is  not  already  ;  and  secondly,  that 
violence  or  fraud,  wherever  disclosed,  vitiates 
completely  every  proceeding.  In  denying 
these  principles,  you  place  the  certificate  above 
the  thing  certified,  and  give  a  perpetual  lease 
to  violence  and  fraud,  merely  because  at  an 
ephemeral  moment  they  were  unquestioned. 
This  will  not  do. 

Sir,  I  am  no  apologist  for  Governor  Reeder. 
There  is  sad  reason  to  believe  that  he  went  to 
Kansas  originally  as  the  tool  of  the  President; 
but  his  simple  mature,  nurtured  in  the  atmos- 
phere of  PennsVi  inia,  revolted  at  the  service 
required,  and  he  turned  from  his  patron  to 
duty.  Grievously  did  he  err  in  yielding  to  the 
Legislature  any  act  of  authentication;  but  he 
has  in  some  measure  answered  for  this  error 
by  determined  efforts  siuce  to  expose  the  utter 
illegality  of  that  body,  which  he  now  repu- 
diates entirely.  It  was  said  of  certain  Roman 
Emperors,  who  did  infinite  mischief  in  their 
beginnings,  and  infinite  good  towards  their 
ends,  that  they  should  never  have  been  born 
or  never  died  ;  and  I  would  apply  the  same  to 
the  official  life  of  this  Kansas  Governor.  At 
all  events,  1  dismiss  the  Apology  founded  on 
his  acts,  as  the  utterance  of  tyranny  by  the 
voice  of  law,  transcending  the  declaration  of 
the  pedantic  judge,  in  the  British  Parliament, 
on  the  eve  of  our  Revolution,  that  our  fathers, 
notwithstanding  their  complaints,  were  in 
reality  represented  in  Parliament,  inasmuch  as 
their  lands,  under  the  original  charters,  were 
held  "  in  common  socage,  as  of  the  manor  of 
Greenwich  in  Kent,"  which,  being  duly  repre- 
sented, carried  with  it  all  the  Colonies.  Thus 
in  other  ages  has  tyranny  assumed  the  voice 
of  law. 

Next  comes  the  Apology  imbecile,  which  is 
founded  on  the  alleged  want  of  power  in  the 
President  to  arrest  the  Crime.  It  is  openly 
asserted,  that,  under  the  existing  laws  of  the 
United  States,  the  Chief  Magistrate  had  no 


authority  to  interfere  in  Kansas  for  this  pur- 
pose. Such  is  the  broad  statement,  which, 
even  if  correct,  furnishes  no  Apology  for  any 
proposed  ratification  of  the  Crime,  but  which 
is  in  reality  untrue ;  and  this,  I  call  the 
Apology  of  imbecility. 

In  other  matters,  no  such  ostentatious  imbe- 
cility appears.  Only  lately,  a  vessel  of  war  in 
the  Pacific  has  chastised  the  cannibals  of  the 
Fejee  islands,  for  alleged  outrages  on  Ameri- 
can citizens.  But  no  person  of  ordinary  intel- 
ligence will  pretend  that  American  citizens  in 
the  Pacific  have  received  wrongs  from  these 
cannibals  comparable  in  atrocity  to  those  receiv- 
ed by  American  citizens  in  Kansas.  Ah,  sir, 
the  interests  of  Slavery  are  not  touched  by  any 
chastisement  of  the  Fejees ! 

Constantly  we  are  informed  of  efforts  at 
New  York,  through  the  agency  of  the  Govern- 
ment, and  sometimes  only  on  the  breath  of 
suspicion,  to  arrest  vessels  about  to  sail  on 
foreign  voyages  in  violation  of  our  neutrality 
laws  or  treaty  stipulations.  Now,  no  man 
familiar  with  these  cases  will  presume  to  sug- 
gest that  the  urgency  for  these  arrests  was 
equal  to  the  urgency  for  interposition  against 
these  successive  invasions  from  Missouri.  But 
the  Slave  Power  is  not  disturbed  by  such 
arrests  at  New  York ! 

At  this  moment  the  President  exults  in  the 
vigilance  with  which  he  has  prevented  the  en- 
listraent  of  a  few  soldiers,  to  be  carried  off  to 
Halifax,  in  violation  of  our  territorial  sover- 
eignty, and  England  is  bravely  threatened, 
even  to  the  extent  of  a  rupture  of  diplomatic 
relations,  for  her  endeavor,  though  unsuccess- 
ful, and  at  once  abandoned.  But  no  man  in 
his  senses  will  urge  that  the  act  was  anything 
hut  trivial  by  the  side  of  the  Crime  against 
Kansas.  But  the  Slave  Power  is  not  concern- 
ed in  this  controversy. 

Thus,  where  the  Slave  Power  is  indifferent, 
the  President  will  see  that  the  laws  are  faith- 
fully executed;  but,  in  other  cases,  where  the 
interests  of  Slavery  are  at  stake,  he  is  controll- 
ed absolutely  by  this  tyranny,  ready  at  all 
times  to  do,  or  not  to  do,  precisely  as  it  dic- 
tates. Therefore  it  is,  that  Kansas  is  left  a 
prey  to  the  Propagandists  of  Slavery,  while 
the  whole  Treasury,  the  Army  and  Navy  of 
the  United  States,  are  lavished  to  hunt  a 
single  slave  through  the  streets  of  Boston. 
Yon  have  not  forgotten  the  latter  instance ; 
but  I  choose  to  refresh  it  in  your  minds. 

As  long  ago  as  1851,  the  War  Department 
and  Navy  Department  concurred  in  placing 
the  forces  of  the  United  States,  near  Boston, 
at  the  command  of  the  Marshal,  if  needed,  for 
the  enforcement  of  an  Act  of  Congress,  which 
had  no  support  in  the  public  conscience,  as  I 
believe  it  has  no  support  in  the  Constitution  ; 
and  thus  these  forces  were  degraded  to  the 
loathsome  work  of  slave-hunters.     More  than 


17 


three  years  afterwards,  an  occasion  arose  for 
their  intervention.  A  fugitive  from  Virginia, 
who  for  some  days  had  trod  the  streets  of 
Boston  as  a  freeman,  was  seized  as  a  slave. 
The  whole  community  was  aroused,  while 
Bunker  Hill  and  Faneuil  Hall  quaked  with  res- 
ponsive indignation.  Then,  sir,  the  President, 
anxious  that  no  tittle  of  Slavery  should  suffer, 
was  curiously  eager  in  the  enforcement  of  the 
statute.  The  despatches  between  him  and  his 
agents  in  Boston  attest  his  zeal.  Here  are 
some  of  them : 

Boston,  May  27, 1854. 
To  the  President  of  the  United  States  : 

In  consequence  of  an  attack  upon  the  Court-house,  last 
night,  for  the  purpose  of  rescuing  a  fugitive  slave,  under 
arrest,  and  in  which  one  of  my  own  guards  was  killed,  I 
have  availed  myself  of  the  resources  of  the  United  States, 
placed  under  my  control  by  letter  from  the  War  and  Navy 
departments,  in  1861,  and  now  have  two  companies  of 
Troops,  from  Fort  Independence,  stationed  in  the  Court- 
house. Everything  is  now  quiet.  The  attack  was  repulsed 
by  my  own  guard. 

WATSON  FREEMAN. 
United  State*  Marshal,  Boston,  Mass. 

Washington,  May,  27, 1854. 
To  Watson  Freeman, 

United  States  Marshal,  Boston,  Mass. 
Tour  conduct  is  approved.     The  law  roust  be  executed. 

FKANKLIN  PIERCE. 

Washington,  May,  30, 1854 . 
To  Hon.  B.  F.  Hallett  Boston,  Mass. 
What  is  the  state  of  the  case  of  Burns  ? 

SIDNEY  WEBSTER. 
[Private  Secretary  of  the  President.] 

Washington,  May,  31, 1S54. 
To  B.  F.  Hallett, 

United  States  Attorney,  Boston,  Mass. 
Incur  any  expense  deemed  necessary  by  the  Marshal 
and  yourself,  for  City  Military,  or  otherwise,  to  insure  the 
execution  of  the  law. 

FRANKLIN  PIERCE. 

But  the  President  was  not  content  with 
such  forces  as  were  then  on  hand  in  the  neigh- 
borhood. Other  posts  also  were  put  under 
requisition.  Two  companies  of  National 
troops,  stationed  at  New  York,  were  kept  un- 
der arms,  ready  at  any  moment  to  proceed  to 
Boston ;  and  the  Adjutant  General  of  the 
Army  was  directed  to  repair  to  the  scene, 
there  to  superintend  the  execution  of  the  sta- 
tute. All  this  was  done  for  the  sake  of 
Slavery;  but  during  long  months  of  menace 
suspended  over  the  Free  Soil  of  Kansas,  break- 
ing forth  in  successive  invasions,  the  Presi- 
dent has  folded  his  hands  in  complete  listless- 
ness,  or,  if  he  has  moved  at  all,  it  has  been 
only  to  encourage  the  robber  propagandists. 

And  now  the  intelligence  of  the  country  is 
insulted  by  the  Apology,  that  the  President 
had  no  power  to  interfere.  Why,  sir,  to 
make  this  confession  is  to  confess  our  Govern- 
ment to  be  a  practical  failure — which  I  will 
never  do,  except,  indeed,  as  it  is  administered 
now.  No,  sir ;  the  imbecility  of  the  Chief 
Magistrate  shall  not  be  charged  upon  our 
American  Institutions.    "Where  there  is  a  will, 

2 


there  is  a  way;  and  in  his  case,  had  the  will 
existed,  there  would  have  been  a  way,  easy 
and  triumphant,  to  guard  against  the  Crime 
we  now  deplore.     His  powers  were  in  every 
respect  ample ;  and  this  I  will  prove  by  the 
statute  book.     By  the  Act  of  Congress  of  28th 
February,  1795,  it  is  enacted,  "  that  whenever 
the  laws  of  the  United  States  shall  be  ap- 
posed, or  the  execution  thereof  obstructed  in 
any  State,  by  combinations  too  powerful  to  be 
suppressed  by  the  ordinary  course  of  judicial 
proceedings,  or  by  the  powers  vested  in  the 
marshals,"  the  President  "  may  call  forth  the 
militia."      By  the  supplementary  act  of  3d 
March,  1807,  in  all  cases  where  he  is  autho- 
rized to  call  forth  the  militia  "  for  the  pur- 
pose of  causing  the  laws  to  be  duly  executed," 
the  President  is  further  empowered,  in  any 
State  or  Territory,  "  to  employ  for  the  same 
purposes  such  part  of  the  land  or  naval  force 
of  the  United  States  as  shall  be  judged  neces- 
sary."    There  is  the  letter  of  the  law ;  and 
you  will  please  to  mark  the  power  conferred. 
In   no  case  where  the   laics  of   the   United 
States  are  opposed,  or  their  execution  obstruct- 
ed, is  the  President  constrained  to  wait  for  the 
requisition  of  a  Governor,  or  even  the  peti- 
tion of  a  citizen.     Just  so  soon  as  he  learns 
the  fact,  no  matter  by  what  channel,  he  is  in- 
vested by  law  with  full  power  to  counteract 
it.     True  it  is,  that  when  the  laws  of  a  State 
are  obstructed,  he  can  interfere  only  on  the 
application  of  the  Legislature  of  such  State, 
or  of  the  Executive,  when  the  Legislature  can- 
not be  convened  ;  but  when  the  Federal  laws 
are  obstructed,  no  such  preliminary  applica- 
tion is  necessary.     It  is  his  high  duty,  under 
his  oath  of  office,  to  see  that  they  are  exe- 
cuted, and,  if  need  be,  by  the  Federal  forces. 

And,  sir,  this  is  the  precise  exigency  that 
has  arisen  in  Kansas — precisely  this ;  nor 
more,  nor  less.  The  Act  of  Congress,  consti- 
tuting the  very  organic  law  of  the  Territory, 
which,  in  peculiar  phrase,  as  if  to  avoid  ambi- 
guity, declares,  as  "  its  true  intent  and  mean 
ing,"  that  the  people  thereof  "  shall  be  left  per- 
fectly free  to  form  and  regulate  their  domes- 
tic institutions  in  their  own  way,"  has  been 
from  the  beginning  opposed  and  obstructed  in  its 
execution.  If  the  President  had  power  to  em- 
ploy the  Federal  forces  in  Boston,  when  he  sup- 
posed the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  was  obstructed, 
and  merely  in  anticipation  of  such  obstruction, 
it  is  absurd  to  say  that  he  had  not  power  in 
Kansas,  when,  in  the  face  of  the  whole  coun- 
try, the  very  organic  law  of  the  Territory  was 
trampled  under  foot  by  successive  invasions, 
and  the  freedom  of  the  people  overthrown. 
To  assert  ignorance  of  this  obstruction — pre- 
meditated, long-continued,  and  stretching 
through  months — attributes  to  him  not  merely 
imbecility,  but  idiocy.  And  thus  do  I  dia» 
pose  of  this  Apology. 


18 


Next  comes  the  Apology  absurd,  which  is, 
indeed,  in  the  nature  of  a  pretext.  It  is  al- 
leged that  a  small  printed  pamphlet,  contain- 
ing the  "  Constitution  and  Eitual  of  the  Grand 
Encampment  and  Eegiments  of  the  Kansas 
Legion,"  was  taken  from  the  person  of  one 
George  F.  "Warren,  who  attempted  to  avoid 
detection  by  chewing  it.  The  oaths  and  gran- 
diose titles  of  the  pretended  Legion  have  all 
been  set  forth,  and  this  poor  mummery  of  a 
secret  society,  which  existed  only  on  paper, 
has  been  gravely  introduced  on  this  floor,  in 
order  to  extenuate  the  Crime  against  Kansas. 
It  has  been  paraded  in  more  than  one  speech, 
and  even  stuffed  into  the  report  of  the  com- 
mittee. 

A  part  of  the  obligations  assumed  by  the 
members  of  this  Legion  shows  why  it  has 
been  thus  pursued,  and  also  attests  its  inno- 
cence.    It  is  as  follows : 

"  I  will  never  knowingly  propose  a  person  of  member- 
ship in  this  order  who  is  not  in  favor  of  making  Kansas 
a  free  State,  and  whom  I  feel  satisfied  will  exert  his  entire 
influence  to  bring  about  this  result.  I  will  support,  main- 
tain, and  abide  by  any  honorable  movement  made  by  the 
organization  to  secure  this  great  end,  which  will  not  con- 
flict icith  the  laws  of  tlie  country  and  the  Constitution  of 
Vie  United  States." 

Kansas  is  to  be  made  a  free  State,  by  an 
honorable  movement,  which  will  not  conflict 
with  the  laws  and  the  Constitution.  That  is 
the  object  of  the  organization,  declared  in  the 
very  words  of  the  initiatory  obligation.  Where 
is  the  wrong  in  this  ?  What  is  there  here, 
which  can  cast  reproach,  or  even  suspicion, 
upon  the  people  of  Kansas?  Grant  that  the 
Legion  was  constituted,  can  you  extract  from 
it  any  Apology  for  the  original  Crime,  or  for 
its  present  ratification?  Secret  societies,  with 
their  extravagant  oaths,  are  justly  offensive; 
but  who  can  find,  in  this  mistaken  machinery, 
any  excuse  for  the  denial  of  all  rights  to  the 
people  of  Kansas?  All  this,  I  say,  on  the 
supposition  that  the  society  was  a  reality, 
which  it  was  not.  Existing  in  the  fantastic 
brains  of  a  few  persons  only,  it  never  had  any 
practical  life.  It  was  never  organized.  The 
win ile  tale,  with  the  mode  of  obtaining 
the  copy  of  the  Constitution,  is  at  once  a  cock- 
and-bull  story  and  a  mare's  nest;  trivial  as 
the  former ;  absurd  as  the  latter ;  and  to  be 
dismissed,  with  the  Apology  founded  upon  it, 
to  the  derision  which  triviality  and  absurdity 
justly  receive. 

It  only  remains,  under  this  head,  that  I 
should  speak  of  the  Apology  infamous,  founded 
on  false  testimony  against  the  Emigrant  Aid 
Company,  and  assumptions  of  duty  more  false 
than  the  testimony.  Defying  Truth  and  mock- 
ing Decency,  this  Apology  excels  all  others  in 
futility  and  audacity,  while,  from  its  utter 
hollowness,  it  proves  the  utter  impotence  of 
the  conspirators  to  defend  their  Crime.  False- 
hood, always  infamous,  in  this  case  arouses 


peculiar  scorn.  An  association  of  sincere 
benevolence,  faithful  to  the  Constitution  and 
laws,  whose  only  fortifications  are  hotels, 
school-houses,  and  churches ;  whose  only  wea- 
pons are  saw-mills,  tools,  and  books ;  whose 
mission  is  peace  and  good  will,  has  been  falsely 
assailed  on  this  floor,  and  an  errand  of  blame- 
less virtue  has  been  made  the  pretext  for  an 
unpardonable  Crime.  Nay,  more — the  inno- 
cent are  sacrified,  and  the  guilty  set  at  liberty. 
They  who  seek  to  do  the  mission  of  the  Saviour 
are  scourged  and  crucified,  while  the  murderer, 
Barabbas,  with  the  sympathy  of  the  chief 
priests,  goes  at  large. 

Were  I  to  take  counsel  of  my  own  feelings, 
I  should  dismiss  this  whole  Apology  to  the 
ineffable  contempt  which  it  deserves ;  but  it  has 
been  made  to  play  such  a  part  in  this  conspiracy, 
that  I  feel  it  a  duty  to  expose  it  completely. 

Sir,  from  the  earliest  times,  men  have  recog- 
nized the  advantages  of  organization,  as  an 
effective  agency  in  promoting  works  of  peace 
or  war.  Especially  at  this  moment,  there  is 
no  interest,  public  or  private,  high  or  low,  of 
charity  or  trade,  of  luxury  or  convenience, 
which  does  not  seek  its  aid.  Men  organize  to 
rear  churches  and  to  sell  thread ;  to  build 
schools  and  to  sail  ships ;  to  construct  roads 
and  to  manufacture  toys ;  to  spin  cotton  and 
to  print  books ;  to  weave  clothes  and  to 
quicken  harvests  ;  to  provide  food  and  to  dis- 
tribute light ;  to  influence  Public  Opinion  and 
to  secure  votes ;  to  guard  infancy  in  its  weak- 
ness, old  age  in  its  decrepitude,  and  woman- 
hood in  its  wretchedness ;  and  now,  in  all  large 
towns,  when  death  has  come,  they  are  buried 
by  organized  societies,  and,  emigrants  to 
another  world,  they  lie  down  in  pleasant  places, 
adorned  by  organized  skill.  To  complain  that 
this  prevailing  principle  has  been  applied  to 
living  emigration  is  to  complain  of  Providenco 
and  the  irresistible  tendencies  implanted  in  man. 

But  this  application  of  the  principle  is  no 
recent  invention,  brought  forth  for  an  existing 
emergency.  It  has  the  best  stamp  of  Anti- 
quity. It  showed  itself  in  the  brightest  days 
of  Greece,  where  colonists  moved  in  organized 
bands.  It  became  a  part  of  the  mature  policy 
of  Rome,  where  bodies  of  men  were  constituted 
expressly  for  this  purpose,  triumviri  ad  colonos 
deducendos. — (Livy,  xxxvii,  §  46).  Naturally 
it  has  been  accepted  in  modern  times  by  every 
civilized  State.  With  the  sanction  of  Spain, 
an  association  of  Genoese  merchants  first  in- 
troduced slaves  to  this  continent,  with  the 
sanction  of  France,  the  Society  of  Jesuite 
stretched  their  labors  over  Canada  and  the 
Great  Lakes  to  the  Mississippi.  It  was  under 
the  auspices  of  Emigrant  Aid  Companies,  that 
our  country  was  originally  settled,  by  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers  of  Plymouth,  by  the  adventur- 
ers of  Virginia,  and  by  the  philanthropic  Ogle- 
thorpe, whose  "  benevolence  of  soul,"  com- 


19 


memorated  by  Pope,  sought  to  plant  a  Free 
State  in  Georgia.  At  this  day,  such  associa- 
tions, of  an  humbler  character,  are  found  in 
Europe,  with  offices  in  the  great  capitals, 
Lhrough  whose  activity  emigrants  are  directed 
here. 

For  a  long  time,  emigration  to  the  West, 
from  the  Northern  and  Middle  States,  but  par- 
ticularly from  New  England,  has  been  of 
marked  significance.  In  quest  of  better  homes, 
annually  it  has  pressed  to  the  unsettled  lands, 
in  numbers  to  be  counted  by  tens  of  thou- 
sands ;  but  this  has  been  done  heretofore  with 
little  knowledge,  and  without  guide  or  coun- 
sel. Finally,  when,  by  the  establishment  of  a 
Government  in  Kansas,  the  tempting  fields  of 
that  central  region  were  opened  to  the  compe- 
tition of  peaceful  colonization,  and  especially 
when  it  was  declared  that  the  question  of 
Freedom  or  Slavery  there  was  to  be  deter- 
mined by  the  votes  of  actual  settlers,  then  at 
once  was  organization  enlisted  as  an  effective 
agency  in  quickening  and  conducting  the  emi- 
gration impelled  thither,  and,  more  than  all, 
in  providing  homes  for  it  on  arrival  there. 

The  Company  was  first  constituted  under 
an  act  of  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  4th 
of  May,  1854:,  some  weeks  prior  to  the  passage 
of  the  Nebraska  bill.  The  original  act  of  in- 
corporation was  subsequently  abandoned,  and 
a  new  charter  received  in  February,  1855,  in 
which  the  objects  of  the  Society  are  thus  de- 
clared : 

"For  the  purposes  of  directing  emigration  Westward,  and 
aiding  in  providing  accommodations  for  the  emigrants 
after  arriving  at  their  places  of  destination." 

At  any  other  moment,  an  association  for 
these  purposes  wTould  have  taken  its  place,  by 
general  consent,  among  the  philanthropic  ex- 
periments of  tbe  age:  but  Crime  is  always 
suspicious,  and  shakes,  like  a  sick  man,  merely 
at  the  pointing  of  a  finger.  The  conspirators 
against  Freedom  in  Kansas  now  shook  with 
tremor,  real  or  affected.  Their  wicked  plot 
was  about  to  fail.  To  help  themselves,  they 
denounced  the  Emigrant  Aid  Company ;  and 
their  denunciations,  after  finding  an  ecbo  in 
the  President,  have  been  repeated,  with  much 
particularity,  on  this  floor,  in  the  formal  report 
of  your  committee. 

The  falsehood  of  the  whole  accusation  will 
appear  in  illustrative  specimens. 

A  charter  is  set  out,  section  by  section, 
which,  though  originally  granted,  was  subse- 
quently abandoned,  and  is  not  in  reality  the 
charter  of  the  Company,  but  it  is  materially 
unlike  it. 

The  Company  is  represented  as  "  a  power- 
ful corporation,  with  a  capital  of  five  mil- 
lions ;"  when,  by  its  actual  charter,  it  is  not 
allowed  to  hold  property  above  one  million, 
and  in  point  of  fact,  its  capital  has  not  ex- 
ceeded $100,000. 


Then,  again,  it  is  suggested,  if  not  alleged, 
that  this  enormous  capital,  which  I  have 
already  said  docs  not  exist,  is  invested  in 
"cannon  and  rilles,  in  powder  and  had,  and 
implements  of  war" — all  of  which,  whether 
alleged  or  suggested,  is  absolutely  false.  The 
officers  of  the  Company  authorize  me  to  give 
to  this  whole  pretension  a  point-blank  denial. 

All  of  these  allegations  are  of  small  impor- 
tance, and  I  mention  them  only  because  they 
show  the  character  of  the  report,  and  also 
something  of  the  quicksand  on  which  the 
Senator  from  Illinois  has  chosen  to  plant  him- 
self. Put  these  are  all  capped  by  the  unblush- 
ing assertion  that  the  proceedings  of  the  com- 
pany were  "in  perversion  of  the  plain  provi- 
sions of  an  Act  of  Congress ;"  and  also, 
another  unblushing  assertion,  as  "  certain  and 
undeniable,"  that  the  Company  was  formed  to 
promote  certain  objects,  "regardless  of  the 
rights  and  wishes  of  the  people,  as  guarantied 
by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and 
secured  by  their  organic  law  ;"  when  it  is  cer- 
tain and  undeniable  that  the  Company  has 
done  nothing  in  perversion  of  any  Act  of 
Congress,  while  to  the  extent  of  its  power  it 
has  sought  to  protect  the  rights  and  wishes  of 
the  actual  people  in  the  Territory. 

Sir,  this  Company  has  violated  in  no  respect 
the  Constitution  or  laws  of  the  land ;  not  in 
the  severest  letter  or  the  slightest  spirit.  Put 
every  other  imputation  is  equally  baseless.  It 
is  not  true,  as  the  Senator  from  Illinois  has 
alleged,  in  order  in  some  way  to  compromise 
the  Company,  that  it  was  informed  before  the 
public  of  the  date  fixed  for  the  election  of  the 
Legislature.  This  statement  is  pronounced  by 
the  Secretary,  in  a  letter  now  before  me,  "  an 
unqualified  falsehood,  not  having  even  the  sha- 


dow of  a  shade  of  truth  for  its  basis 


It  is 


not  true  that  men  have  been  hired  by  the 
Company  to  go  to  Kansas  ;  for  every  emigrant, 
who  has  gone  under  its  direction,  has  himself 
provided  the  means  for  his  journey.  Of 
course,  sir,  it  is  not  true,  as  has  been  com- 
plained by  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina, 
with  that  proclivity  to  error  which  marks  all 
his  utterances,  that  men  have  been  sent  by  the 
Company  "  witli  one  uniform  gun,  Sharpe's 
rifle  ;"  for  it  has  supplied  no  arms  of  any  kind 
to  anybody.  It  is  not  true  that  the  Company 
has  encouraged  any  fanatical  aggression  upon 
the  people  of  Missouri ;  for  it  has  counseled 
order,  peace,  forbearance.  It  is  not  true  that 
the  Company  has  chosen  its  emigrants  on  ac- 
count of  their  political  opinions;  for  it  has 
asked  no  questions  with  regard  to  the  opinions 
of  any  whom  it  aids,  and  at  this  moment 
stands  ready  to  forward  those  from  the  South 
as  well  as  the  North,  while,  in  the  Territory, 
all,  from  whatever  quarter,  are  admitted  to  an 
equal  enjoyment  of  its  tempting  advantages. 
It  is  no  t  true  that  the  Company  has  sent  persona 


20 


merely  to  control  elections,  and  not  to  remain 
in  the  Territory ;  for  its  whole  action,  and  all 
its  anticipation  of  pecuniary  profits,  are  found- 
ed on  the  hope  to  stock  the  country  with  per- 
manent settlers,  by  whose  labor  the  capital  of 
the  Company  shall  be  made  to  yield  its  in- 
crease, and  by  whose  fixed  interest  in  the  soil 
the  welfare  of  all  shall  be  promoted. 

Sir,  it  has  not  the  honor  of  being  an  Aboli- 
tion Society,  or  of  numbering  among  its  offi- 
cers Abolitionists.  Its  President  is  a  retired 
citizen,  of  ample  means  and  charitable  life, 
who  has  taken  no  part  in  the  conflicts  on 
Slavery,  and  has  never  allowed  his  sympathies 
to  be  felt  by  Abolitionists.  One  of  its  Vice- 
Presidents  is  a  gentleman  from  Virginia,  with 
family  and  friends  there,  who  has  always  op- 
posed the  Abolitionists.  Its  generous  Trea- 
surer, who  is  now  justly  absorbed  by  the  ob- 
jects of  the  Company,  has  always  been  under- 
stood as  ranging  with  his  extensive  connec- 
tions, by  blood  and  marriage,  on  the  side  of 
that  quietism  which  submits  to  all  the  tyranny 
of  the  Slave  Power.  Its  Directors  are  more 
conspicuous  for  wealth  and  science,  than  for 
any  activity  against  Slavery.  Among  these  is 
an  eminent  lawyer  of  Massachusetts,  Mr.  Chap- 
man— personally  known,  doubtless,  to  some 
who  hear  me — who  has  distinguished  himself 
by  an  austere  conservatism,  too  natural  to  the 
atmosphere  of  courts,  which  does  not  flinch 
even  from  the  support  of  the  Fugitive  Slave 
Bill.  In  a  recent  address  at  a  public  meeting 
in  Springfield,  this  gentleman  thus  speaks  for 
himself  and  his  associates : 

"I  have  been  a  Director  of  the  Society  from  the  first,  and 
have  kept  myself  well  '■"  .rmed  in  regard  to  its  proceedings. 
I  am  not  aware  tha.  any  one  in  this  community  ever  sus- 
pected me  of  being  an  Abolitionist ;  but  I  have  been  accused 
of  being  Pro-Slavery;  and  I  believe  many  good  people  think 
I  am  quite  too  conservative  on  that  subject.  I  take  this  oc- 
casion to  say  that  all  the  plans  and  proceedings  of  the  Soci- 
ety have  met  my  approbation  ;  and  I  assert  that  it  has  never 
done  a  single  act  with  which  any  political  party,  or  the  peo- 
ple of  any  section  of  the  country  can  justly  find  fault.  The 
name  of  its  President,  Mr.  Brown,  of  Providence,  and  of  its 
Treasurer,  Mr.  Lawrence,  of  Boston,  are  a  sufficient  guar- 
antee in  the  estimation  of  intelligent  men  against  its  being 
engaged  in  any  fanatical  enterprise.  Its  stockholders  are 
composed  of  men  of  all  political  parties  except  Abolitionists. 
I  am  not  aware  that  it  has  received  the  patronage  of  that 
class  of  our  fellow-citizens,  and  lam  informed  that  some  of 
them  disapprove  of  its  proceedings." 

The  acts  of  the  Company  have  been  such  as 
might  be  expected  from  auspices  thus  severely 
careful  at  all  points.  The  secret,  through 
which,  with  small  means,  it  has  been  able  to 
accomplish  so  much,  is,  that,  as  an  inducement 
to  emigration,  it  has  gone  forward  and  planted 
capital  in  advance  of  population.  According 
to  the  old  immethodical  system,  this  rule  is  re- 
versed ;  and  population  has  been  left  to  grope 
blindly,  without  the  advantage  of  fixed  cen- 
tres, with  mills,  schools,  and  churches — all 
calculated  to  soften  the  hardships  of  pioneer 
life — such  as  have  been  established  beforehand 
in  Kansas.     Here,  sir,  is  the  secret  of  the  Em- 


igrant Aid  Company.  By  this  single  princi- 
ple, which  is  now  practically  applied  for  the 
first  time  in  history,  and  which  has  the  sim- 
plicity of  genius,  a  business  association  at  a 
distance,  without  a  large  capital,  has  become 
a  beneficent  instrument  of  civilization,  exer- 
cising the  functions  of  various  Societies,  and 
in  itself  being  a  Missionary  Society,  a  Bible 
Society,  a  Tract  Society,  an  Education  Society, 
and  a  Society  for  the  Diffusion  of  the  Mechan- 
ic Arts.  I  would  not  claim  too  much  for  this 
Company;  but  I  doubt  if,  at  this  moment, 
there  is  any  Society,  which  is  so  completely 
philanthropic;  and  since  its  leading  idea,  like 
the  light  of  a  candle  from  which  other  candles 
are  lighted  without  number,  may  be  applied 
indefinitely,  it  promises  to  be  an  important 
aid  to  Human  Progress.  The  lesson  it  teaches 
cannot  be  forgotten,  and  hereafter,  wherever 
unsettled  lands  exist,  intelligent  capital  will 
lead  the  way,  anticipating  the  wants  of  the 
pioneer — nay,  doing  the  very  work  of  the 
original  pioneer — while,  amidst  well-arranged 
harmonies,  a  new  community  will  arise,  to  be- 
come, by  its  example,  a  more  eloquent  preach- 
er than  any  solitary  missionary.  In  subordi- 
nation to  this  essential  idea,  is  its  humbler 
machinery  for  the  aid  of  emigrants  on  their 
way,  by  combining  parties,  so  that  friends  and 
neighbors  might  journey  together;  by  pur- 
chasing tickets  at  wholesale,  and  furnishing 
them  to  individuals  at  the  actual  cost;  by  pro- 
viding for  each  party  a  conductor  familiar 
with  the  road,  and,  through  these  simple 
means,  promoting  the  economy,  safety,  and 
comfort,  of  the  expedition.  The  number  of 
emigrants  it  has  directly  aided,  even  thus 
slightly,  in  their  journey,  has  been  infinitely 
exaggerated.  From  the  beginning  of  its  ope- 
rations, down  to  the  close  of  the  last  autumn, 
all  its  detachments  from  Massachusetts  con- 
tained only  thirteen  hundred  and  twelve  per- 
sons. 

Such  is  the  simple  tale  of  the  Emigrant  Aid 
Company.  Sir,  not  even  suspicion  can  justly 
touch  it.  But  it  must  be  made  a  scapegoat. 
This  is  the  decree  which  has  gone  forth.  I 
was  hardly  surprised  at  this  outrage,  when  it 
proceeded  from  the  President,  for,  like  Mac- 
beth, he  is  stepped  so  far  in,  that  returning 
were  as  tedious  as  go  on ;  but  I  did  not  expect 
it  from  the  Senator  from  Missouri  [Mr.  Geyek,] 
whom  I  had  learned  to  respect  for  the  general 
moderation  of  his  views,  and  the  name  he  has 
won  in  an  honorable  profession.  Listening  to 
him,  I  was  saddened  by  the  spectacle  of  the 
extent  to  which  Slavery  will  sway  a  candid 
mind  to  do  injustice.  Had  any  other  interest 
been  in  question,  that  Senator  would  have 
scorned  to  join  in  impeachment  of  such  an 
association.  His  instincts  as  a  lawyer,  as  a 
man  of  honor,  and  as  a  Senator,  would  have 
forbidden  ;  but  the  Slave  Power,  in  enforcing 


21 


its   behests,    allows   no    hesitation,   and    the 
Senator  surrendered. 

In  this  vindication,  I  content  myself  with  a 
statements  of  facts,  rather  than  an  argument. 
It  might  he  urged  that  Missouri  had  organized 
a  propagandist  emigration  long  before  any 
one  from  Massachusetts,  and  you  might  be 
reminded  of  the  wolf  in  the  fable,  which  com- 
plained of  the  lamb  for  disturbing  the  waters, 
when  in  fact  the  alleged  offender  was  lower 
down  on  the  stream.  It  might  be  urged,  also, 
that  South  Carolina  has  lately  entered  upon 
a  similar  system — while  one  of  her  chieftains, 
in  rallying  recruits,  has  unconsciously  attested 
to  the  cause  in  which  he  was  engaged,  by 
exclaiming,  in  the  words  of  Satan,  addressed, 
to  his  wicked  forces, 

"  Awake  !  arise  !  or  be  forever  fallen  !" 

Mr.  EVANS.  I  should  be  glad  to  have  the 
gentleman  state  where  he  got  that  information. 
1  know  something  about  South  Carolina,  and 
I  never  heard  of  any  such  thing,  and  I  do  not 
think  it  exists. 

Mr.  SUMNER.  I  beg  the  Senator's  pardon ; 
it  was  in  a  speech  or  letter  of  one  of  the  gentle- 
men enlisted  in  obtaining  emigrants  in  South 
Carolina.  But  the  occasion  needs  no  such 
defences.  I  put  them  aside.  Not  on  the 
example  of  Missouri,  or  the  example  of  South 
Carolina,  but  on  inherent  rights,  which  no 
man,  whether  Senator  or  President,  can  justly 
assail,  do  I  plant  this  impregnable  justification. 
It  will  not  do,  in  specious  phrases,  to  allege 
the  right  of  every  State  to  be  free  in  its  do- 
mestic policy  from  foreign  interference,  and 
then  to  assume  such  wrongful  interference  by 
this  Company.  By  the  law  and  Constitution, 
we  stand  or  fall ;  and  that  law  and  Constitu- 
tion we  have  in  no  respect  offended. 

To  cloak  the  overthrow  of  all  law  in  Kansas, 
an  assumption  is  now  set  up,  which  utterly 
denies  one  of  the  plainest  rights  of  the  people 
everywhere.  Sir,  I  beg  Senators  to  under- 
stand that  this  is  a  government  of  laws  ;  and 
that,  under  these  laws,  the  people  have  an 
incontestible  right  to  settle  any  portion  of  our 
broad  territory,  and  if  they  choose,  to  propa- 
gate any  opinions  there,  not  openly  forbidden 
by  the  laws.  If  this  were  not  so,  pray,  sir, 
by  what  title  is  the  Senator  from  Illinois,  who 
is  an  emigrant  from  Vermont,  propagating 
his  disastrous  opinions  in  another  State? 
Surely  he  has  no  monopoly  of  this  right. 
Others  may  do  what  he  is  doing ;  nor  can  the 
right  be  in  any  way  restrained.  It  is  as  broad 
as  the  people ;  and  it  matters  not  whether 
they  go  in  numbers  small  or  great,  with 
assistance  or  without  assistance,  under  the 
auspices  of  societies  or  not  under  such  auspices. 
If  tins  were  not  so,  then,  by  what  title  are  so 
many  foreigners  annually  naturalized,  under 
Democratic  auspices,  in  order  to  secure  their 


votes  for  nismaned  Democratic  principles  ?  And 
if  capital  as  well  as  combination  cannot  be 
employed,  by  what  title  do  venerable  associa- 
tions exist,  of  ampler  means  and  longer  dura- 
tion than  any  Emigrant  Aid  Company,  around 
which  cluster  the  regard  and  confidence  of 
the  country — the  Tract  Society,  a  powerful 
corporation,  which  scatters  its  publications 
freely  in  every  corner  of  the  land — the  Bible 
Society,  an  incorporated  body,  with  large 
resources,  which  seeks  to  carry  the  Book  of 
Life  alike  into  Territories  and  States — the 
Missionary  Society,  also  an  incorporated 
body,  with  large  resources,  which  sends  its 
agents  every  where,  at  home  and  in  foreign 
lands? 

By  what  title  do  all  these  exist  ?  Nay,  sir, 
by  what  title  does  an  Insurance  Company 
in  New  York  send  its  agent  to  open  an  office 
in  New  Orleans,  and  by  what  title  does  Mas- 
sachusetts capital  contribute  to  the  Hannibal 
and  St.  Joseph  Railroad  in  Missouri,  and  also 
to  the  copper  mines  of  Michigan  ?  The  Sena- 
tor inveighs  against  the  Native  American 
party ;  but  his  own  principle  is  narrower  than 
any  attributed  to  them.  They  object  to  the 
influence  of  emigrants  from  abroad :  he  objects 
to  the  influence  of  American  citizens  at  home, 
when  exerted  in  States  or  Territories  where 
they  were  not  born !  The  whole  assumption 
is  too  audacious  for  respectful  argument.  But 
since  a  great  right  has  been  denied,  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Free  States,  over  whose  cradles 
has  shone  the  North  Star,  owe  it  to  them- 
selves, to  their  ancestors,  and  to  Freedom 
itself,  that  this  right  should  now  be  asserted  to 
the  fullest  extent.  By  the  blessing  of  God, 
and  under  the  continued  protection  of  the 
laws,  they  will  go  to  Kansas,  there  to  plant 
their  homes,  in  the  hope  of  elevating  this  Ter- 
ritory soon  into  the  sisterhood  of  Free  States; 
and  to  such  end  they  will  not  hesitate,  in  the 
employment  of  all  legitimate  means,  whether 
by  companies  of  men  or  contributions  of 
money,  to  swell  a  virtuous  emigration,  and 
they  will  justly  scout  any  attempt  to  question 
this  unquestionable  right.  Sir,  if  they  failed 
to  do  this,  they  woidd  be  fit  only  for  slaves 
themselves. 

God  be  praised !  Massachusetts,  honored 
Commonwealth  that  gives  me  the  privilege  to 
plead  for  Kansas  on  this  floor,  knows  her 
rights,  and  will  maintain  them  firmly  to  the 
end.  This  is  not  the  first  time  in  history,  that 
her  public  acts  have  been  arraigned,  and  that 
her  public  men  have  been  exposed  to  contume- 
ly. Thus  was  it  when,  in  the  olden  time,  she 
began  the  great  battle  whose  fruits  you  all 
enjoy.  But  never  yet  has  3he  occupied  a  po- 
sition so  lofty  as  at  this  hour.  By  the  intelli- 
gence of  her  population — by  the  resources  of 
her  industry — by  her  commerce,  cleaving 
every  wave — by  her  manufactures,  various  as 


22 


human  skill — by  her  institutions  of  education, 
various  as  human  knowledge — by  her  insti- 
tutions of  benevolence,  various  as  human  suf- 
fering— by  the  pages  of  her  scholars  and  his- 
torians— by  the  voices  of  her  poets  and  ora- 
tors, she  is  now  exerting  an  influence  more 
subtile  and  commanding  than  ever  before — 
shooting  her  far-darting  rays  wherever  igno- 
rance, wretchedness,  or  wrong,  prevail,  and 
flashing  light  even  upon  those  who  travel  far 
to  persecute  her.  Such  is  Massachusetts,  and 
I  am  proud  to  believe  that  you  may  as  well 
attempt,  with  puny  arm,  to  topple  down  the 
earth-rooted,  heaven-kissing  granite  which 
crowns  the  historic  sod  of  Bunker  Hill,  as 
to  change  her  fixed  resolves  for  Freedom  every- 
where, and  especially  now  for  freedom  in  Kan- 
sas. I  exult,  too,  that  in  this  battle,  which 
surpasses  far  in  moral  grandeur  the  whole  war 
of  the  Revolution,  she  is  able  to  preserve  her 
just  eminence.  To  the  first  she  contributed  a 
larger  number  of  troops  than  any  other  State 
in  the  Union,  and  larger  than  all  the  Slave 
States  together;  and  now  to  the  second,  which 
is  not  of  contending  armies,  but  of  contending 
opinions,  on  whose  issue  hangs  trembling  the 
advancing  civilization  of  the  country,  she  con- 
tributes, through  the  manifold  and  endless 
intellectual  activity  of  her  children,  more  of 
that  divine  spark  by  which  opinions  are 
quickened  into  life,  than  is  contributed  by  any 
other  State,  or  by  all  the  Slave  States  toge- 
ther, while  her  annual  productive  industry 
excels  in  value  three  times  the  whole  vaunted 
cotton  crop  of  the  whole  South. 

Sir,  to  men  on  earth  it -belongs  only  to  de- 
serve success;  not  to  secure  it;  and  I  know 
not  how  soon  the  efforts  of  Massachusetts  will 
wear  the  crown  of  triumph.  But  it  cannot 
be  that  she  acts  wrong  for  herself  or  children, 
when  in  this  cause  she  thus  encounters  re- 
proach. No ;  by  the  generous  souls  who  were 
exposed  at  Lexington;  by  those  who  stood 
arrayed  at  Bunker  Hill;  by  the  many  from 
her  bosom  who,  on  all  the  fields  of  the  first 
great  struggle,  lent  their  vigorous  arms  to  the 
cause  of  all ;  by  the  children  she  has  borne, 
whose  names  alone  are  national  trophies,  is 
Massachusetts  now  vowed  irrevocably  to  this 
work.  What  belongs  to  the  faithful  servant 
she  will  do  in  all  things,  and  Providence  shall 
determine  the  result. 

And  here  ends  what  I  have  to  say  of  the 
four  Apologies  for  the  Crime  against  Kansas. 

Having  spoken  three  hours,  he  yielded  to  a 
motion  to  adjourn.  Tuesday  he  concluded  thus: 

III.  From  this  ample  survey,  where  one  ob- 
struction after  another  has  been  removed,  I 
now  pass,  in  the  third  place,  to  the  considera- 
tion of  the  various  remedies  proposed,  ending 
with  the  True  Remedy. 

The  Remedy  should  be  co-extensive  with 


the  original  "Wrong;  and  since,  by  the  passage 
of  the  Nebraska  Bill,  not  only  Kansas,  but 
also  Nebraska,  Minnesota,  "Washington,  and 
even  Oregon,  have  been  opened  to  Slavery, 
the  original  Prohibition  should  be  restored  to 
its  complete  activity  throughout  these  various 
Territories.  By  such  a  happy  restoration, 
made  in  good  faith,  the  whole  country  would 
be  replaced  in  the  condition  which  it  enjoyed 
before  the  introduction  of  that  dishonest 
measure.  Here  is  the  Alpha  and  the  Omega 
of  our  aim  in  this  controversy.  But  no  such 
extensive  measure  is  now  in  question.  The 
Crime  against  Kansas  had  been  special,  and  all 
else  is  absorbed  in  tiie  special  remedies  for  it. 
Of  these  I  shall  now  speak. 

As  the  Apologies  were  four-fold,  so  are  the 
Remedies  proposed  four-fold,  and  they  range 
themselves  in  natural  order,  under  designa- 
tions which  so  truly  disclose  their  character  as 
even  to  supersede  argument.  First,  we  have 
the  Remedy  of  Tyranny ;  next,  the  Remedy 
of  Folly;  next,  the  remedy  of  Injustice  and 
Civil  War ;  and  fourthly,  the  Remedy  of  Jus- 
tice and  Peace.  These  are  the  four  caskets ; 
and  you  are  to  determine  which  shall  be  open- 
ed by  Senatorial  votes. 

There  is  the  Remedy  of  Tyranny,  which, 
like  its  complement,  the  Apology  of  Tyranny 
— though  espoused  on  this  floor,  especially  by 
the  Senator  from  Illinois — proceeds  from  the 
President,  and  is  embodied  in  a  special  mes- 
sage. It  proposes  to  enforce  obedience  to  the 
existing  laws  of  Kansas,  "whether  Federal  or 
local"  when,  in  fact,  Kansas  has  no  "local*' 
laws,  except  those  imposed  by  the  Usurpation 
from  Missouri,  and  it  calls  tor  additional 
appropriations  to  complete  this  work  of 
tyranny. 

I  shall  not  follow  the  President  in  his 
elaborate  endeavor  to  prejudge  the  contested 
election  now  pending  in  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives; for  this  whole  matter  belongs  to 
the  privileges  of  that  body,  and  neither  the 
President  nor  the  Senate  has  a  right  to  inter- 
meddle therewith.  I  do  not  touch  it.  But 
now,  while  dismissing  it,  I  should  not  pardon 
myself,  if  I  failed  to  add,  that  any  pei^on 
who  founds  his  claim  to  a  seat  in  Congress  on 
the  pretended  votes  of  hirelings  from  another 
State,  with  no  home  on  the  soil  of  Kansas, 
plays  the  part  of  Anacharsis  Clootz,  who,  at 
the  bar  of  the  French  convention,  undertook 
to  represent  nations  that  knew  him  not,  or,  if 
they  knew  him,  scorned  him;  with  this  differ- 
ence, that  in  our  American  case,  the  excessive 
farce  of  the  transaction  cannot  cover  its 
tragedy.  But  all  this  1  put  aside — to  deal  only 
with  what  is  legitimately  before  the  Senate. 

I  expose  simply  the  Tyranny  which  upholds 
the  existing  Usurpation,  aud  asks  for  addi- 


23 


tional  appropriations.  Let  it  be  judged  by  an 
example,  from  which  in  this  country  there 
can  be  no  appeal.  Here  is  the  speech  of 
George  III.,  made  from  the  Throne  to  Parlia- 
ment, in  response  to  the  complaints  of  the 
Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  which,  though 
smarting  under  laws  passed  by  usurped  power, 
had  yet  avoided  all  armed  opposition,  while 
Lexington  and  Bunker  Hill  still  slumbered  in 
rural  solitude,  unconscious  of  the  historic 
kindred  which  they  were  soon  to  claim. 
Instead  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  the  Eoyal 
speech,  substitute  Kansas,  and  the  message  of 
the  President  will  be  found  fresh  on  the  lips 
of  the  British  King.  Listen  now  to  the 
words,  which,  in  opening  Parliament,  30th  of 
November,  1774,  his  majesty,  according  to 
the  official  report,  was  pleased  to  speak : 

"  My  Lords  and  Gentlemen  : 

"  It  give9  me  much  concern  that  I  am  obliged,  at  the 
opening  of  this  Parliament,  to  inform  you  that  a  most  daring 
Spirit  n/ resistance  and  disobedience  to  the  law  still  unhap- 
pily prevails  in  the  Province  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay,  and 
lias  in  divers  parts  of  it  broke  forth  in  fresh  violences  of  a 
Very  criminal  nature.  These  proceedings  have  been  counte- 
nanced in  other  of  my  Colo?iies,  and  unwarrantable 
attempts  have  been  made  to  obstruct  the  Commerce  of  this 
Kingdom.,  by  unlawful  combinations.  I  have  taken  such 
measures  and  given  such  orders  as  I  have  judged  most 
proper  and  effectuaiyb/'  carrying  into  execution  the  laws 
which  were  passed,  in  the  last  session  of  the  late  Parlia- 
ment, for  the  protection  and  security  of  the  Commerce  of 
my  subjects,  and  for  the  restoring  and  preserving  peace, 
order,  and  good  government,  in  the  Province  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Bay." — American  Arch.,  4th  series,  vol.  1,  p.  1465. 

The  King  complained  of  a  "daring  spirit  of 
resistance  and  disobedience  to  the  law ;"  so  also 
does  the  President.  The  King  adds,  that  it 
has  "broke  forth  in  fresh  violence  of  a  very 
criminal  nature;"  so  also  does  the  President. 
The  King  declares  that  these  proceedings 
have  been  "countenanced  and  encouraged  in 
other  of  my  Colonies;"  even  so  the  President 
declares  that  Kansas  has  found  sympathy  in 
"remote  States."  The  King  inveighs  against 
"  unwarrantable  measures  "  and  "  unlawful  co ta- 
bulations;" even  so  inveighs  the  President. 
The  King  proclaims  that  he  has  taken  the 
necessary  steps  "for  carrying  into  execution 
the  laws,'"  passed  in  defiance  of  the  constitu- 
tional rights  of  the  colonies;  even  so  the 
President  proclaims  that  he  shall  "exert  the 
whole  power  of  the  Federal  Executive"  to 
support  the  Usurpation  in  Kansas.  The  paral- 
lel is  complete.  The  Message,  if  not  copied 
from  the  Speech  of  the  King,  has  been 
fashioned  on  the  same  original  block,  and 
must  be  dismissed  to  the  same  limbo.  I  dis- 
miss its  tyrannical  asumptions  in  favor  of  the 
Usurpation.  I  dismiss  also  the  petition  for 
additional  appropriations  in  the  affected  desire 
to  maintain  order  in  Kansas.  It  is  not  money 
or  troops  that  you  need  there;  but  simply  the 
good  will  of  the  President.  That  is  all, 
absolutely.  Let  his  complicity  with  the  Crime 
cease,  and  peace  will  be  restored.     For  my- 


self, I  will  not  consent  to  wad  the  National 
artillery  with  fresh  appropriation  bills,  when 
its  murderous  hail  is  to  be  directed  against  the 
constitutional  rights  of  my  fellow-citizens. 

Next  comes  the  Remedy  of  Folly,  which, 
indeed,  is  also  a  Remedy  of  Tyranny ;  but  its 
Folly  is  so  surpassing  as  to  eclipse  even  its 
Tyranny.  It  does  not  proceed  from  the  Presi- 
dent. "With  this  proposition  he  is  not  in  any 
way  chargeable.  It  comes  from  the  Senator 
from  South  Carolina,  who,  at  the  close  of 
a  long  speech,  offered  it  as  his  single  contribu- 
tion to  the  adjustment  of  this  question,  and 
who  thus  far  stands  alone  in  its  support.  It 
might,  therefore,  fitly  bear  his  name;  but  that 
which  I  now  give  to  it  is  a  more  suggestive 
synonym. 

This  proposition,  nakedly  expressed,  is  that 
the  people  of  Kansas  should  be  deprived  of 
their  arms.  That  I  may  not  do  the  least 
injustice  to  the  Senator,  I  quote  his  precise 
words : 

"The  President  of  the  United  States  is  under  the  highest 
and  most  solemn  obligations  to  interpose;  and  if  I  were  to 
indicate  the  manner  in  which  he  should  interpose  in  Kan- 
sas, I  would  point  out  the  old  common  law  process.  I 
would  serve  a  warrant  on  Sharpe's  rilles,  and  if  Sharpe's 
rifles  did  not  answer  the  summons,  and  come  into  court  on 
a  day  certain,  or  if  they  resisted  the  sheriff,  I  would  sum- 
mon the  posse  comitatus,  and  would  have  Colonel  Sumuer'a 
regiment  to  be  a  part  of  that  posse  comitatus." 

Really,  sir,  has  it  come  to  this  ?  The  rifle 
has  ever  been  the  companion  of  the  pioneer, 
and,  under  God,  his  tutelary  protector  against 
the  red  man  and. the  beast  of  the  forest. 
Never  was  this  efficient  weapon  more  needed 
in  just  self-defence,  than  now  in  Kansas,  and 
at  least  one  article  in  our  National  Constitu- 
tion must  be  blotted  out,  before  the  complete 
right  to  it  can  in  any  way  be  impeached. 
And  yet,  such  is  the  madness  of  the  hour, 
that,  in  defiance  of  the  solemn  guarantee, 
embodied  in  the  Amendments  to  the  Constitu- 
tion, that  "  the  right  of  the  people  to  keep 
and  bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed,"  the 
people  of  Kansas  have  been  arraigned  for 
keeping  and  bearing  them,  and  the  Senator 
from  South  Carolina  has  had  the  face  to  say 
openly,  on  this  floor,  that  they  should  be  dis- 
armed— of  course,  that  the  fanatics  of  Slavery, 
his  allies  and  constituents,  may  meet  no 
impediment.  Sir,  the  Senator  is  venerable 
with  years;  he  is  reputed  also  to  have  worn 
at  home,  in  the  State  whicli  he  represents, 
judicial  honors;  and  he  is  placed  here  at  the 
head  of  an  important  committee  occupied  par- 
ticularly with  questions  of  law ;  but  neither 
his  years  nor  his  position,  past  or  present,  can 
give  respectability  to  the  demand  he  has 
made,  or  save  him  from  indignant  condemna- 
tion, when,  to  compass  the  wretched  purposes 
of  a  wretched  cause,  he  thus  proposes  to  tram- 


24 


pie  on  one  of  the  plainest  provisions  of  consti- 
tutional liberty. 

Next  comes  the  Remedy  of  Injustice  and 
Civil  War — organized  by  Act  of  Congress. 
This  proposition,  which  is  also  an  offshoot  of 
the  original  Remedy  of  Tyranny,  proceeds 
from  the  Senator  from  Illinois,  [Mr.  Douglas] 
with  the  sanction  of  the  Committee  on  Terri- 
tories, and  is  embodied  in  the  bill  which  is 
now  pressed  to  a  vote. 

By  this  Bill,  it  is  proposed  as  follows : 

"  That  whenever  it  shall  appear,  by  a  census,  to  be  taken 
under  the  direction  of  the  Governor,  by  the  authority  of  the 
Legislature,  that  there  shall  be  93,420  inhabitants  (that 
being  the  number  required  by  the  present  ratio  of  represen- 
tation for  a  member  of  Congress)  within  the  limits  hereafter 
described  as  the  Territory  of  Kansas,  the  Legislature  of 
said  Territory  shall  be,  and  is  hereby  authorized  to  pro- 
ride  by  law  for  the  election  of  delegate*,  by  the  people  of 
said  Territory,  to  assemble  in  Convention,  and  form  a  Con- 
stitution and  State  Government,  preparatory  to  their  ad- 
mission into  the  Union,  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  origi- 
nal States,  in  all  respects  whatsoever,  by  the  name  of  the 
State  of  Kansas." 

Now,  sir,  consider  these  words  carefully, 
and  you  will  see  that,  however  plausible  aud 
velvet-pawed  they  may  seem,  yet  in  reality 
they  are  most  unjust  and  cruel.  While  affect- 
ing to  initiate  honest  proceedings  for  the  for- 
mation of  a  State,  they  furnish  to  this  Terri- 
tory no  redress  for  the  crime  under  which  it 
suffers ;  nay,  they  recognize  the  very  Usurpa- 
tion in  which  the  crime  ended,  and  proceed  to 
endow  it  with  new  prerogatives.  It  is  by  the 
authority  of  the  Legislature  that  the  census  is 
to  be  taken,  which  is  the  first  step  in  the 
work.  It  is  also  by  the  authority  of  the 
Legislature  that  a  Convention  is  to  be  called 
for  the  formation  of  a  Constitution,  which  is 
the  second  step.  But  the  Legislature  is  m>t 
obliged  to  take  either  of  these  steps.  To  its 
absolute  willfulness  is  it  left  to  act  or  not  to 
act  in  the  premises.  And  since,  in  the  ordi- 
nary course  of  business,  there  can  b6  no  action 
of  the  Legislature  till  January  of  the  next 
year,  all  these  steps,  which  are  preliminary  in 
their  character,  are  postponed  till  after  that 
distant  day — thus  keeping  this  great  question 
open,  to  distract  and  irritate  the  country. 
Clearly,  this  is  not  what  is  required.  The 
country  desires  peace  at  once,  and  is  deter- 
mined to  have  it.  But  this  objection  is  slight 
by  the  side  of  the  glaring  Tyranny,  that, -in 
recognizing  the  Legislature,  and  conferring 
upon  it  these  new  powers,  the  Bill  recognizes 
the  existing  Usurpation,  not  only  as  the 
authentic  Government  of  the  Territory  for  the 
time  being,  but  also  as  possessing  a  creative 
power  to  reproduce  itself  in  the  new  State. 
Pass  this  Bill,  and  you  enlist  Congress  in  the 
conspiracy,  not  only  to  keep  the  people  of 
Kansas  in  their  present  subjugation,  through- 
out their  territorial  existence,  but  abo  to  pro- 
tract this  subjugation  into  their  existence  as  a 
State,  while  you  legalize  and  perpetuate  the 


very  force  by  which  Slavery  has  been  already 
planted  there. 

I  know  that  there  is  another  deceptive 
clause,  which  seems  to  throw  certain  safe- 
guards around  the  election  of  delegates  to  the 
Convention,  when  that  Conventi&n  shall  be 
ordered  by  the  Legislature ;  but  out  of  this 
very  clause  do  I  draw  a  condemnation  of  the 
Usurpation  which  the  Bill  recognizes.  It  pro- 
vides that  the  tests,  coupled  with  the  electoral 
franchise,  shall  not  prevail  in  the  election  of 
delegates,  and  thus  impliedly  condemns  them. 
But  if  they  are  not  to  prevail  on  this  occasion, 
why  are  they  permitted  at  the  election  of  the 
Legislature?  If  they  are  unjust  in  the  one 
case,  they  are  unjust  in  the  other.  If  annulled 
at  the  election  of  delegates,  they  should  be 
annulled  at  the  election  of  the  Legislature  : 
whereas  the  bill  of  the  Senator  leaves  all  of 
these  offensive  tests  in  full  activity  at  the  elec- 
tion of  the  very  Legislature  out  of  tchich  this 
whole  proceeding  is  to  come,  and  it  leaves  the 
polls  at  both  elections  in  the  control  of  the  offi- 
cers appointed  by  the  Usurpation.  Consider 
well  the  facts.  By  an  existing  statute,  estab- 
lishing the  Fugitive  Slave  Bill  as  a  shibboleth, 
a  large  portion  of  the  honest  citizens  are 
excluded  from  voting  for  the  Legislature, 
while,  by  another  statute,  all  who  present 
themselves  with  the  fee  of  one  dollar,  whether 
from  Missouri  or  not,  and  who  can  utter  this 
shibboleth,  are  entitled  to  vote.  And  it  is  a 
Legislature  thus  chosen,  under  tie  auspices  of 
officers  appointed  by  the  Usurpation,  that  you 
now  propose  to  invest  with  the  parental  pow- 
ers to  rear  the  Territory  into  a  State.  You 
recognize  and  confirm  the  Usurpation,  which 
you  ought  to  annul  without  delay.  You  put 
the  infant  State,  now  preparing  to  take  a  place 
in  our  sisterhood,  to  suckle  with  the  wolf, 
which  you  ought  at  once  to  kill.  The  improb- 
able story  of  Bamn  Munchausen  is  verified. 
The  bear,  which  thrust  itself  into  the  harness 
of  the  horse  it  had  devoured,  and  then  whirled 
the  sledge  according  to  mere  brutal  bent,  is 
recognized  by  this  bill,  and  kept  in  its  usurped 
place,  when  the  safety  of  all  requires  that  it 
should  be  shot. 

In  characterizing  this  Bill  as  the  Remedy  of 
Injustice  and  Civil  War,  I  give  it  a  plain,  self- 
evident  title.  It  is  a  continuation  of  the  Crime 
against  Kansas,  and  as  such  deserves  the  same- 
condemnation.  It  can  only  be  defended  by 
those  who  defend  the  Crime.  Sir,  you  cannot 
expect  that  the  people  of  Kansas  will  submit  to 
the  Usurpation  which  this  bill  sets  up,  and  bids 
them  bow  before — as  the  Austrian  tyrant  set 
up  his  cap  in  the  Swiss  market-place.  If  you 
madly  persevere,  Kansas  will  not  be  without 
her  William  Tell,  who  will  refuse  at  all  hazards 
to  recognize  the  tyrannical  edict;  aud  this  will 
be  the  beginning  of  civil  war. 

Next,  and  lastly,  comes  the  Remedy  of  Jua- 


25 


tice  and  Peace,  proposed  by  the  Senator  from 
New  York,  [Mr.  Seward,]  aud  embodied  in  his 
Bill  for  the  immediate  admission  of  Kansas  as 
a  State  of  this  Union,  now  pending  as  a  sub- 
stitute for  the  bill  of  the  Senator  from  Illinois. 
This  is  sustained  by  the  prayer  of  the  people 
of  the  Territory,  setting  forth  a  Constitution 
formed  by  a  spontaneous  movement,  in  which 
all  there  had  opportunity  to  participate,  without 
distinction  of  party.  Karely  has  any  proposi- 
tion, so  simple  in  character,  so  entirely  prac- 
ticable, so  absolutely  within  your  power,  been 
presented,  which  promised  at  once  such 
beneficent  results.  In  its  adoption,  the  Crime 
against  Kansas  will  be  all  happily  absolved,  the 
Usurpation  which  it  established  will  be  peace- 
fully suppressed,  and  order  will  be  permanently 
secured.  By  a  joyful  metamorphosis,  this  fair 
Territory  may  be  saved  from  outrage. 

"  Oh  help,"  she  cries,  "  in  this  extremest  need, 

If  you  who  hear  are  Deities   indeed  ; 

Gape  earth,  and  make  for  this  dread  foe  a  tomb. 

Or  change  my  form,  ichence  all  my  sorrows  come." 

In  offering  this  proposition,  the  Senator  from  New  York 
has  entitled  himself  to  the  gratitude  of  the  country.  He 
has,  throughout  a  life  of  unsurpassed  industry,  and  of  emi- 
nent ability,  done  much  for  Freedom,  which  the  world  will 
not  let  die;  but  he  has  done  nothing  more  opportune  than 
this,  and  he  has  uttered  no  words  more  effective  than  the 
speech,  so  masterly  and  ingenious,  by  which  he  has  vindi- 
cated it. 

Kansas  now  presents  herself  for  admission  with  a  Consti- 
tution republican  in  form.  And,  independent  of  the  great 
necessity  of  the  case,  three  considerations  of  fact  concur  in 
commending  her.  First,  she  thus  testifies  her  willingness 
to  relieve  the  Federal  Government  of  the  considerable 
pecuniary  responsibility  to  which  it  is  now  exposed,  on 
account  of  the  pretended  Territorial  Government.  Second- 
ly, she  has,  by  her  recent  conduct,  particularly  in  repelling 
the  invasion  at  Wakarusa,  evinced  an  ability  to  defend  her 
Government.  And,  thirdly,  by  the  pecuniary  credit  which 
she  now  enjoys,  she  shows  an  undoubted  ability  to  support 
it.     What  now  can  stand  in  her  way  ? 

The  power  of  Congress  to  admit  Kansas  at  once  is  expli- 
cit. It  is  found  in  a  single  clause  of  the  Constitution, 
which,  standing  by  itself,  without  any  qualification  applica- 
ble to  the  present  case,  and  without  doubtful  words, 
requires  no  commentary.     Here  it  is  : 

"  New  States  may  be  admitted  by  Congress  into  this 
Union,  but  no  new  State  shall  be  formed  or  erected  within 
the  jurisdiction  of  any  other  State,  nor  any  State  be  formed 
by  the  junction  of  two  or  more  States,  or  parts  of  States, 
without  the  consent  of  the  Legislatures  of  the  States  con- 
cerned, as  well  as  of  the  Congress." 

New  States  may  be  admitted.  Out  of  that  little  word, 
mat/,  comes  the  power,  broadly  and  fully— without  any 
limitation  founded  on  population  or  preliminary  forms — 
provided  the  State  is  not  within  the  jurisdiction  of  another 
State,  nor  formed  by  the  junction  of  two  or  more  States,  or 
parts  of  States,  without  the  consent  of  the  Legislatures  of 
the  States.  Kansas  is  not  within  the  legal  jurisdiction  of 
another  State,  although  the  laws  of  Missouri  have  been 
tyrannically  extended  over  her;  nor  is  Kansas  formed  by 
the  junction  of  two  or  more  States  ;  and,  therefore,  Kansas 
may  be  admitted  by  Congress  into  the  Union,  without 
regard  to  population  or  preliminary  forms.  You  cannot 
deny  the  power  without  obliterating  this  clause  of  the  Con- 
stitution. The  Senator  from  New  York  was  right  in  reject- 
ing all  appeal  to  precedents,  as  entirely  irrelevant;  for  the 
power  invoked  is  clear  and  express  in  the  Constitution, 
which  is  above  all  precedent.  But,  since  precedent  has 
been  enlisted,  let  us  look  at  precedent. 

It  is  objected  that  the  papulation  of  Kansas  is  not  suffi- 
cient for  a  State  ;  and  this  objection  is  sustained  by  under- 
reckoning  the  numbers  there,  and  exaggerating  the  num- 
bers required  by  precedent.  In  the  absence  of  any  recent 
census,  it  is  impossible  to  do  more  than  approximate  to  the 


actual  population;  but,  from  careful  inquiry  »f  the  best 
sources,  I  am  led  to  place  it  now  at  fifty  thousand,  though 
I  observe  that  a  prudent  authority,  the  Boston  Daily  Ad- 
vertiser, puts  it  as  high  as  sixty  thousand,  and,  while  I 
speak,  this  remarkable  population,  fed  by  fresh  emigration, 
is  outstripping  even  these  calculations.  Nor  can  there  be 
a  doubt,  that,  before  the  assent  of  Congress  can  be  per- 
fected in  the  ordinary  course  of  legislation,  this  population 
will  swell  to  the  large  number  of  ninety-three  thousand  four 
hundred  and  twenty,  required  in  the  Bill  of  the  Senator 
from  Illinois.  But,  in  making  this  number  the  condition 
of  the  admission  of  Kansas,  you  set  up  an  extraordinary 
standard.  There  is  nothing  out  of  which  it  can  be  derived, 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  precedents.  Going 
back  to  the  days  of  the  Continental  Congress,  you  will  find 
that,  In  1784,  it  was  declared  that  twenty  thousand  free- 
men in  a  Territory  might  "  establish  a  permanent  Constitu- 
tion and  Government  for  themselves,"  (Journals  of  Con- 
gress, Vol.  4,  p.  879 ;)  and,  though  this  number  was  after- 
wards, in  the  Ordinance  of  1787  for  the  Northwestern  Ter- 
ritory, raised  to  sixty  thousand,  yet  the  power  was  left  in 
Congress,  and  subsequently  exercised  in  more  than  one 
instance,  to  constitute  a  State  with  a  smaller  number.  Out 
of  all  the  new  States,  only  Maine,  Wisconsin,  and  Texas, 
contained,  at  the  time  of  their  admission  into  the  Union,  so 
large  a  population  as  it  is  proposed  to  require  in  Kansas : 
while  no  less  than  fourteen  new  States  have  been  admitted 
with  a  smaller  population  ;  as  will  appear  in  the  following 
list,  which  is  the  result  of  research,  showing  the  number  of 
"  free  inhabitants  "  in  these  States  at  the  time  of  the  pro- 
ceedings which  ended  in  their  admission  : 

Vermont 85,414  Illinois 45,000 

Kentucky   61,103  Missouri 56,5S6 

Tennessee 66,649  Arkansas 41,000 

Ohio 50,000  Michigan 92,673 

Louisiana 41,890  Florida 27,091 

Indiana 60,000  Iowa Sl.9'21 

Mississippi  35,000  California 92,597 

Alabama 50,000 

But  this  is  not  all.  At  the  adoption  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution, there  were  three  of  the  old  Thirteen  States  whose 
respective  populations  did  not  reach  the  amount  now 
required  for  Kansas.  These  were  Delaware,  with  a  popu- 
lation of  59,i'9tj ;  Rhode  Island,  with  a  population  of  64,689  ; 
and  Georgia,  with  a  population  of  S2.54S.  And  even  now, 
while  I  speak,  there  are  at  least  two  States,  with  Senators 
on  this  floor,  which,  according  to  the  last  census,  do  not 
contain  the  population  no*  required  of  Kansas.  I  refer  to 
Delaware,  with  a  population  of  91,635,  and  Florida,  with  a 
population  of  freemen  amounting  only  to  47,203.  So  much 
for  precedents  of  population. 

But  in  sustaining  this  objection,  it  is  not  uncommon  to 
depart  from  the  strict  rule  of  numerical  precedent,  by  sug- 
gesting that  the  population  required  in  a  new  State  has 
always  been,  in  point  of  fact,  above  the  existing  ratio 
of  representation  for  a  member  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives. But  this  is  not  true;  for  at  least  one  State,  Florida, 
was  admitted  with  a  population  below  this  ratio,  which  at 
the  time  was  70,630.  So  much,  again,  for  precedents.  But 
even  if  this  coincidence  were  complete,  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  press  it  into  a  binding  precedent.  The  rule  seem3 
reasonable,  and,  in  ordinary  cases,  would  not  be  question- 
ed ;  but  it  cannot  be  drawn  or  implied  from  the  Constitu- 
tion. Besides,  this  ratio  is,  in  itself,  a  sliding  scale.  At 
first,  it  was  33,000,  and  thus  continued  till  1811,  when 
it  was  put  at  35,000.  In  1S22,  it  was  40,000 ;  in  1832,  it  was 
47,700 ;  in  1842,  it  was  70,6S0 ;  and  now,  it  is  93,420.  If  any 
ratio  is  to  be  made  the  foundation  of  a  binding  rul»,  it 
should  be  that  which  prevailed  at  the  adoption  of  the  Con- 
stitution, and  which  still  continued,  when  Kansas,  as  apart 
of  Louisiana,  was  acquired  from  France,  under  solemn  sti- 
pulation that  it  should  "be  incorporated  into  the  Union  of 
the  United  States  as  soon  as  may  be  consistent  with  the 
principles  of  the  Federal  Constitution."  But  this  whole  ob- 
jection is  met  by  the  memorial  of  the  people  of  Florida, 
which,  if  good  for  that  State,  is  also  good  for  Kansas.  Here 
is  a  passage  : 

"But  the  people  of  Florida  respectfully  insist  that  their 
right  to  be  admitted  into  the  Federal  Union  as  a  State  is 
not  dependent  upon  the  fact  of  their  having  a  population 
equal  to  such  ratio.  Their  right  to  admission,  it  is  con- 
ceived, is  guarantied  by  the  express  pledge  in  the  sixth 
article  of  the  treaty  before  quoted  ;  and  if  any  rule  as  to 
the  number  of  the  population  is  to  govern,  it  should  be  that 
in  existence  at  the  time  of  the  cession,  which  was  thirty- 


26 


five  thousand.  They  submit,  however,  that  any  ratio  of 
representation,  dependent  upon  legislative  action,  based 
solely  on  convenience  and  expediency,  shifting  and  vacil- 
lating as  the  opinion  of  a  majority  of  Congress  may  make  it, 
now  greater  than  at  a  previous  apportionment,  but  which  a 
future  Congress  may  prescribe  to  be  less,  caunot  be  one  of 
the  constitutional  '  principles '  referred  to  in  the  treat", 
consistency  with  which,  by  its  terms,  is  required.  It  is,  fn 
truth,  but  a  mere  regulation,  not  founded  on  principle.  No 
specified  number  of  population  is  required  by  any  recog- 
nized principle  as  necessary  to  the  establishment  of  a  free 
Government. 

"It  is  in  nowise  'inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  the 
Federal  Constitution,'  that  the  population  of  a  State  should 
be  less  than  the  ratio  of  Congressional  representation.  The 
very  case  is  provided  for  in  the  Constitution.  With  such 
deficient  population,  she  would  be  entitled  to  one  Repre- 
sentative. If  any  event  should  cause  a  decrease  of  the 
population  of  one  of  the  States  even  to  a  number  below  the 
minimum  ratio  of  representation  prescribed  by  the  Consti- 
tution, she  would  still  remain  a  member  of  the  Confederacy, 
and  be  entitled  to  such  Representative.  It  is  respectfully 
urged,  that  a  rule  or  principle  which  would  not  justify  the 
expulsion  of  a  State  with  a  deficient  population,  on  the 
ground  of  inconsistency  with  the  Constitution,  should  not 
exclude  or  prohibit  admission."— Ex.  Doc,  2Wi  Cong  .  2d 
S68S.,  Vol.  4,  No.  2u6. 

Thus,  sir,  do  the  people  of  Florida  plead  for  the  people  of 
Kansas. 

Distrusting  the  objection  from  inadequacy  of  population, 
it  is  said  that  the  proceedings  for  the  formation  of  a  new 
Stato  are  fatally  defective  in  form.  It  is  not  asserted  that  a 
previous  enabling  Act  of  Congress  is  indispensable ;  for 
there  are  notorious  precedents  the  other  way,  among  which 
are  Kentucky  in  1791  ;  Tennesr.ee  in  1796;  Maine  in  1S20^ 
and  Arkansas  and  Michigan  in  1S86.  But  it  is  urged  that 
in  no  instance  has  a  State  been  admitted,  whose  Constitu- 
tion was  formed  without  such  enabling  Act,  or  without  the 
authority  of  the  Territorial  Legislature.  This  is  not  true; 
for  California  came  into  the  Union  with  a  Constitution 
formed  nut  only  without  any  previous  enabling  Act,  but  also 
without  any  sanction  from  a  Territorial  Legislature.  The 
proceedings  which  ended  in  this  Constitution  were  initiated 
by  the  military  Governor  there,  acting  under  the  exigency 
of  the  hour.  This  instance  may  not  be  identical  in  all 
respects  with  that  of  Kansas  ;  but  it  displaces  completely 
one  of  the  assumptions  which  Kansas  now  encounters,  and 
It  also  shows  completely  the  disposition  to  relax  all  rule, 
under  the  exigency  of  the  hour,  in  order  to  do  substantial 
justice. 

But  there  is  a  memorable  instance,  which  contains  in 
Itself  every  element  of  irregularity  which  you  denounce  in 
the  proceedin.'s  of  Kansas.  Michigan,  now  cherished  with 
such  pride  as  a  sister  State,  achieved  admission  into  the 
Union  in  persistent  defiance  of  all  rule.  Bo  you  a>k  for 
precedents?  Here  is  a  precedent  for  the  largest  latitude, 
which  you,  who  profess  a  deference  to  precedent,  cannot 
disown.  Mark  now  the  stages  of  this  case.  The  first  pro- 
ceedings of  Michigan  were  without  any  previous  enabling 
Act  of  Congress  ;  and  she  presented  herself  at  your  door 
with  a  Constitution  thus  formed,  and  with  Senators  chosen 
under  that  Constitution — precisely  as  Kansas  now.  This 
was  in  December,  1835,  while  Andrew  Jackson  was  Presi- 
dent. By  the  leaders  of  the  Democracy  at  that  time,  all 
objection  for  alleged  defects  of  form  was  scouted,  anil 
language  was  employed  which  is  strictly  applicable  to 
Kansas.  There  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun  ;  and  the 
very  objection  of  the  President,  that  the  application  of 
Kansas  proceeds  from  "  persons  acting  against  authorities 
duly  constituted  by  Act  of  Congress,"  was  hurled  against 
the  application  of  Michigan,  in  debate  on  this  floor,  by  Mr. 
Hendricks  of  Indiana.    This  was  his  language : 

"  But  the  people  of  Michigan,  in  presenting  their  Senate 
and  House  of  Representatives  as  the  legislative  power 
existing  there,  showed  that  they  had  trampled  upon  and 
violated  the  laws  of  the  United  States,  establishing  a  Terri- 
torial Government  in  Michigan.  These  laws  were,  or  ought 
to  be,  in  full  force  there  ;  but  by  the  character  and  position 
assumed,  they  had  set  up  a  Government  antagonistic  to  that 
of  the  United  States."— Congress  Deb..  2\th  Conn.,  1st  ecss  , 
Vol.  12,  p.  28S. 

To  this  impeachment,  Mr.  Benton  replied  in  these  effective 
words  : 

"  Conventions  were  original  acts  of  the  people.  They 
Impended    upon    inherent    and    inalienable    rights.     The 


people  of  any  State  may  at  any  time  meet  In  Convention, 
without  a  law  of  their  Legislature,  and  without  any  pro- 
vision, or  against  any  provision  in  their  Constitution,  and 
may  alter  or  abolish  the  whole  frame  of  Government  as 
they  please.  The  sovereign  power  to  govern  themselves 
was  in  the  majority,  and  they  could  not  be  divested  of  it  " 
—Ibid.,  p.  1036. 

Mr.  Buchanan  vied  with  Mr.  Benton  in  vindicating  the 
now  State: 

"  The  precedent  in  the  case  of  Tennessee  has  completely 
silenced  all  opposition  in  regard  to  the  necessity  of  a  pre- 
vious act  of  Congress  to  enable  the  people  of  Michigan  to 
form  a  State  Constitution.  It  now  seems  to  be  conceded 
that  our  subsequent  approbation  is  equivalent  to  our  pre- 
vious action.  This  can  no  longer  be  doubted.  We  have 
the  unquestionable  power  of  waiving  any  irregularities  in 
the  mode  of  framing  the  Constitution,  had  any  such  ex- 
isted."— Ibid.,  p.  1041, 

"  He  did  hope  that  by  this  bill  all  objections  would  be  re- 
moved ;  and  that  this  State,  so  ready  to  rush  into  our  arms, 
would  not  be  repulsed,  because  of  the  absence  of  some  form- 
alities, which  perhaps  were  very  proper,  but  certainly  not 
indispensable."— Ibid.,  p.  1015. 

After  an  animated  contest  in  the  Senate,  the  Bill  for  the 
admission  of  Michigan,  on  her  assent  to  certain  conditions, 
was  passed,  by  28  yeas  to  8  nays.  But  you  find  weight,  as 
well  as  numbers,  on  the  side  of  the  new  State.  Among  the 
yeas  were  Thomas  H.  Benton,  of  Missouri  ;  James  Buchan- 
an, of  Pennsylvania;  Silas  Wright,  of  New  York;  W.  R. 
King,  of  Alabama.  (Cong.  Globe,  Vol.  3,  p.  276,  1st  session 
24th  Cong.)  Subsequently,  on  motion  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  the 
two  gentlemen  sent  as  Senators  by  the  new  State,  received 
the  regular  compensation  for  attendance  throughout  the 
very  session  in  which  their  seats  had  been  so  acrimoniously 
assailed.    (Ibid.,  p.  44S  ) 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  the  application  was 
equally  successful.  The  Committee  on  the  Judiciary,  in  an 
elaborate  report,  reviewed  the  objections,  and,  among  other 
things,  said: 

"  That  the  people  of  Michigan  have,  without  due  author- 
ity, formed  a  State  Government,  but,  nevertheless,  that 
i  bngrew  has  power  t<>  wave*  any  objection  wMch  might, 
Oil  th.it  account,  be  entertained,  to  the  ratification  of  the 
Constitution  which  they  have  adopted,  and  to  admit  their 
Senators  and  Representatives  to  take  their  seats  in  the  Co n- 
- I  BBS  of  the  United  States."— Ex.  Doc,  1st  sea*.,  'litk  <  on- 
gress,  Vol.  3,  No.  380. 

The  House  sustained  this  view  by  a  vote  of  153  yeas  to  45 
nays.  In  this  large  majority,  by  which  the  title  of  Michigan 
was  then  recognized,  will  lie  found  the  name  of  Franklin 
Pierce,  at  that  time  a  Representative  from  New  Hampshire. 

But  the  case  was  not  ended.  The  fiercest  trial  and  the 
greatest  irregularity  remained.  The  Act  providing  for  the 
admission  of  the  new  State,  contained  a  modification  of  its 
boundaries,  and  proceeded  to  require,  as  a.  fundamental 
condition,  that  these  should  "receive  the  assent  of  a  Con- 
vention of  delegates,  elected  by  the  people  of  the  said  State, 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  giving  the  assent  herein  required." 
(Statutes  at  Large,  Vol.  5,  p.  50,  Act  of  June  5, 1S86.)  Such 
a  Convention,  duly  elected  under  a  call  from  the  Legisla- 
ture, met  in  pursuance  of  law,  and,  after  consideration,  de- 
clined to  come  into  the  Union  on  the  condition  proposed. 
But  the  action  of  this  Convention  was  not  universally  sat- 
isfactory ;  and  in  order  to  effect  an  admission  into  the 
Union,  another  Convention  was  called  professedly  by  the 
people,  in  their  sovereign  capacity,  without  any  authority 
from  State  or  Territorial  Legislature  ;  nay,  sir,  according  to 
the  language  of  the  present  President,  "  against  authorities 
duly  constituted  by  Act  of  Congress  ;"  at  least  as  much  as 
the  recent  Convention  in  Kansas.  The  irregularity  of  this 
Convention  was  increased  by  the  circumstance,  that  two  of 
the  oldest  counties  of  the  State,  comprising  a  population  of 
some  twenty-five  thousand  souls,  refused  to  take  any  part 
in  it,  even  to  the  extent  of  not  opening  the  polls  for  the 
election  of  delegates,  claiming  that  it  was  held  without  war- 
rant of  law,  and  in  defiance  of  the  legal  Convention.  This 
popular  Convention,  though  wanting  a  popular  support  co- 
extensive with  the  State,  yet  proceeded,  by  formal  act,  to 
give  the  assent  of  the  people  of  Michigan  to  the  fundamen- 
tal condition  proposed  by  Congress. 

The  proceedings  of  the  two  Conventions  were  transmit- 
ted to  President  Jackson,  who,  by  message,  dated  27th 
December,  1S36,  laid  them  both  before  Congress,  indicating 


27 


very  clearly  his  desire  to  ascertain  the  will  of  the  people, 
without  regard  tv.  form.  The  origin  of  the  popular  Conven- 
tion he  thus  describes  : 

"This  Convention  was  not  held  or  elected  by  virtue  of 
any  act  of  the  Territorial  or  State  Legislature.  It  origi- 
nated from  the  People  themselves,  and  was  chosen  by  them 
in  pursuance  of  resolutions  adopted  in  primary  assemblies 
held  in  the  respective  counties." — 3e?i.  Doc.  2d  se*s.  '2ith 
Cong.,  vol.  1,  No.  86. 

And  he  then  declares  that,  had  these  proceedings  come  to 
him  during  the  recess  of  Congress,  he  should  have  felt  it 
his  duty,  on  being  satisfied  that  they  emanated  from  a  Con- 
vention of  delegates  elected  in  point  offtict  by  the  Peopile 
of  the  State,  to  issue  his  proclamation  for  the  admission  of 
the  State. 

The  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  in  the  Senate,  of  which 
Felix  Grundy  was  Chairman,  after  inquiry,  recognized  the 
competency  of  the  popular  Convention,  as  "  elected  by  the 
people  of  the  State  of  Michigan,"  and  reported  a  Bill,  re- 
sponsive to  their  assent  of  the  proposed  condition,  for  the 
admission  of  the  State  without  further  condition.  (Statutes 
at  Large,  vol.  5,  p.  144,  Act  of  26th  Jan.,  1837.)  Then,  sir, 
appeared  the  very  objections  which  are  now  directed 
against  Kansas.  It  was  complained  that  the  movement  for 
immediate  admission  was  the  work  of  a  "  minority,"  and 
that  "  a  great  majority  of  the  State  feel  otherwise."  (Sen. 
Doc,  2d  sess.  24th  Con.,  vol.  1,  No.  37.)  And  a  leading 
Senator,  of  great  ability  and  integrity,  Mr.  Ewing  of  Ohio, 
broke  forth  iu  a  catechism  which  would  do  for  the  present 
hour.     He  exclaimed  : 

"  What  evidence  had  the  Senate  of  the  organization  of 
the  Convention?  Of  the  organization  of  the  popular  as- 
semblies who  appointed  their  delegates  to  that  Convention? 
None  on  earth.  Who  they  were  that  met  and  voted,  we 
had  no  information.  Who  gave  the  notice?  And  for 
what  did  the  People  receive  the  notice  ?  To  meet  and 
elect?  What  evidence  was  there  that  the  Convention 
acted  according  to  law  ?  Were  the  delegates  sworn  ?  And, 
if  so,  they  were  extrajudicial  oaths,  and  not  binding  upon 
them.  Were  the  votes  counted  ?  Iu  fact,  it  was  not  a  pro- 
ceeding under  the  forms  of  the  law,  for  they  were  totally 
disregarded." — Cong.  Globe,  vol.  4,  p.  60,  2d  sess.  24lh 
Cong. 

And  the  same  able  Senator,  on  another  occasion,  after  ex- 
posing the  imperfect  evidence  with  regard  to  the  action  of 
the  Convention,  existing  only  in  letters  and  in  an  article 
from  a  Detroit  newspaper,  again  exclaimed : 

"  This,  sir,  is  the  evidence  to  support  an  organic  law  of  a 
new  State  about  to  enter  into  the  Union?  Yes  of  an 
organic  law,  the  very  highest  act  a  community  of  men 
cau  perform.  Letters  referring  to  other  letters  and  a 
scrap  of  a  newspaper." — Cong.  Debates,  vol.  13,  part  I,  p. 
233. 

It  was  Mr.  Calhoun,  however,  who  pressed  the  opposition 
with  the  most  persevering  intensity.  In  his  sight,  the  ad- 
mission of  Michigan,  under  the  circumstances,  "  would  be 
the  most  montrous  proceeding  under  our  Constitution  that 
can  be  conceived,  the  most  repugnant  to  its  principles,  and 
dangerous  in  its  consequences."  (Cong.  Debates,  vol.  13,  p. 
210.)  "  There  is  not,"  he  exclaimed,  "  one  particle  of  offi- 
c.al  evidence  before  us.  We  have  nothing  but  the  private 
letters  of  individuals,  who  do  not  know  even  the  numbers 
that  voted  on  either  occasion.  They  know  nothing  of  the 
qualifications  of  voters,  nor  how  their  votes  were  received, 
uor  by  whom  counted."  {Ibid.)  And  he  proceeded  to 
characterize  the  popular  Convention  as  "  not  only  a  party 
caucus,  for  party  purpose,  but  a  criminal  meeting — a  meet- 
ing to  subvert  the  authority  of  the  State  and  to  assume  its 
sovereignty" — adding  "that  the  actors  in  that  meeting 
might  be  indicted,  tried,  and  punished" — and  he  express>-d 
astonishment  that  "  a  self-created  meeting,  convened  for  a 
criminal  objeot,  had  dared  to  present  to  this  Government 
an  act  of  theirs,  and  to  expect  that  we  are  to  receive  this 
irregular  and  criminal  act  as  a  fulfillment  of  the  condition 
which  we  had  presented  for  the  admission  of  the  State  !" 
{Ibid,,  p.  299.)  No  stronger  words  have  been  employed 
against  Kansas. 

But  the  single  question,  on  which  all  the  proceedings  then 
hinged,  and  which  is  as  pertinent  in  the  case  of  Kansas  as 
in  the  case  of  Michigan,  was  put  by  Mr.  Morris  of  Ohio — 
{Ibid.,  p.  215)—"  Will  Congress  recognize  as  valid,  con- 
stituiion-al,  and  obligatory,  without  the  color  of  a  law  of 


.Vichi//an  to  8it8tai7i  it,  an  act  done  by  the  People  of  that 
State  in  their  primary  umembliex,  and  acbn&wledgt 
that  act  as  obligatory  on  the  constituted  authorities  and 
Legislature  of  the  State f"  This  question,  thus  distinctly 
presented,  was  answered  in  debate  by  able  Senators,  among 
whom  were  Mr.  Benton  and  Mr.  King.  But  there  was  one 
person,  who  has  since  enjoyed  much  public  confidence,  and 
has  left  many  memorials  of  an  industrious  career  In  the 
Senate  and  in  diplomatic  life,  James  Buchanan,  who  ren- 
dered himself  conspicuous  by  the  ability  and  ardor  with 
which,  against  all  assaults,  he  upheld  the  cause  of  the  popu- 
lar Convention,  which  was  so  strongly  denounced,  and  the 
entire  conformity  of  its  proceedings  with  the  genius  of 
American  Institutions.  His  speeches  on  that  occasion 
contain  an  unanswerable  argument,  at  all  points,  m-ulato 
nomine,  for  the  immediate  admission  of  Kansas  under  her 
present  Constitution  :  nor  is  there  anything  by  which  he  is 
now  distinguished  that  will  redound  so  truly  to  his  fame — 
if  he  only  continues  true  to  them.  But  the  question  was 
emphatically  answered  in  the  Senate  by  the  final  vote  on 
the  passage  of  the  Bill,  where  we  find  twenty-five  yeas  to 
only  ten  nay3.  In  the  House  of  Representatives,  after 
debate,  the  question  was  answered  in  the  same  way,  by  a 
vote  of  one  hundred  and  forty-eight  yeas  to  fifty-eight  nays  ; 
and  among  the  yeas  is  again  the  name  of  Franklin  Pierce, 
a  Representative  from  New  Hampshire. 

Thus,  in  that  day,  by  such  triumphant  votes,  did  the 
cause  of  Kansas  prevail  in  the  name  of  Michigan.  A  popu- 
lar Convention — called  absolutely  without  authority,  and 
containing  delegates  from  a  portion  only  of  the  population 
— called,  too,  in  opposition  to  constituted  authorities,  and 
in  derogation  of  another  Convention  assembled  under  the 
forms  of  law — stigmatized  as  a  caucus  and  a  criminal 
meeting,  whose  authors  were  liable  to  indictment,  trial,  and 
punishment — was,  after  ample  debate,  recognized  by  Con- 
gress as  valid,  and  Michigan  now  holds  her  place  in  the 
Union,  and  her  Senators  sit  on  this  floor  by  virtue  of  that 
act.  Sir,  if  Michigan  is  legitimate,  Kansas  cannot  be  ille- 
gitimate. You  bastardize  Michigan  when  you  refuse  to 
recognize  Kansas. 

Again,  I  say,  do  you  require  a  precedent?  I  give  it  to 
you.  But  I  will  not  stake  this  cause  on  any  precedent.  1 
plant  it  firmly  on  the  fundamental  principle  of  American 
Institutions,  so  embodied  in  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, by  which  Government  is  recognized  as  deriving  its 
just  powers  only  from  the  consent  of  the  governed,  who 
may  alter  or  abolish  it  when  it  becomes  destructive  of  their 
rights.  In  the  debate  on  the  Nebraska  Bill,  at  the  over- 
throw of  the  Prohibition  of  Slavery,  the  Declaraton  of  In- 
dependence was  denounced  as  a  "self-evident  lie."  It  is 
only  by  a  similar  audacity  that  the  fundamental  principle, 
which  sustains  the  proceedings  in  Kansas.can  be  assailed. 
Nay,  more ;  you  must  disown  the  Declaration  of  Independ- 
ence, and  adopt  the  Circular  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  which 
declares  that  "  useful  and  necessary  changes  in  legislation 
and  in  the  administration  of  States  oughtonly  to  emanate 
from  the  free  will  and  the  intelligent  and  well-weighed  con- 
viction of  those  whom  God  has  rendered  responsible  for 
power."  Face  to  face,  I  put  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence and  the  principle  of  the  Holy  Alliance,  and  bid 
them  grapple !  "  The  one  places  the  remedy  in  the  hand3 
which  feel  the  disorder;  the  other  places  the  remedy  in  the 
hands  which  cause  the  disorder :"  and  when  I  thus  truth- 
fully characterize  them,  I  but  adopt  a  sententious  phrase 
from  the  Debates  in  the  Virginia  Convention,  on  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Federal  Constitution  (3  Elliot's  Debates,  107 — 
Mr.  Corbin).  And  now  these  two  principles,  embodied  in 
the  rival  propositions  of  the  Senator  from  New  York  and 
the  Senator  from  Illinois  must  grapple  on  this  floor. 

Statesmen  and  judges,  publicists  and  authors,  with  names 
of  authority  in  American  history,  espouse  and  vindicate 
the  American  principle.  Hand  in  hand  they  now  stand 
around  Kansas,  and  feel  this  new  State  lean  on  them  for 
support.  Of  these  I  content  myself  with  adducing  two 
only,  both  from  slaveholding  Virginia,  in  days  when 
Human  Rights  were  not  without  support  in  that  State. 
Listen  to  the  language  of  St.  George  Tucker,  the  distinguish- 
ed commentator  upon  Blackstone,  uttered  from  the  bench 
in  a  judicial  opinion  : 

"  The  power  of  convening  the  legal  Assemblies,  or  the 
ordinary  constitutional  Legislature,  resided  solely  in  the 
Executive.  They  could  neither  be  chosen  without  writs  issued 
by  its  authority,  nor  assemble,  when  chosen,  but  under  the 
same  authority.  The  Conventions,  on  the  contrary,  were 
chosen  and  assembled,  either  in  pursuance  of  recommend- 
ations from  Congress,  or  from  their  own  bodies,  or  by  the 
discretion  and  common  consent  of  the  people.    They  wero 


28 


held  even  whilst  a  legal  Assembly  existed.  Witness  the 
Convention  held  in  Richmond,  in  March,  1775 ;  after  which 
period,  the  legal  constitutional  Assembly  was  convened  in 
Williamsburg,  by  the  Governor,  Lord  Dunmore  "  *  *  * 
"  Yet  a  constitutional  dependence  on  the  British  Govern- 
ment was  never  denied  until  the  succeeding  May." 
*  *  *  "  The  Convention,  then,  was  not  the  ordinary 
Legislature  of  Virginia.  It  was  the  body  of  the  people,  im- 
pelled to  assemble  from  a  sense  of  common  danger,  consulting 
for  the  common  good,  and  acting  in  all  tilings  for  the  common 
safety." —  Virginia  Ones,  7u,  71,  Kamper  vs.  Hawkins. 

Listen  also  to  the  language  of  James  Madison  : 

"  That  in  all  great  changes  of  established  government, 
forms  ought  to  give  way  to  substance ;  that  a  rigid  adher- 
ence in  such  cases  to  the  forms  would  render  nominal  and 
nugatory  the  transcendent  and  precious  right  of  the  people 
'  to  abolish  or  alter  their  Government,  as  to  them  shall  seem 
most  likely  to  effect  their  safety  and  happiness.'  "  *  *  * 
"  Nor  can  it  have  been  forgotten  that  no  little  ill-timed 
scruples,  no  zeal  for  adhering  to  ordinary  forms,  icere 
anywhere  seen,  except  in  those  who  tcished  to  indulge 
under  these  masks  their  secret  enmity  to  the  substance 
contended  for." — The  Federalist,  No.  40. 

Proceedings,  thus  sustained,  I  am  unwilling  to  call  revo- 
lutionary, although  tliis  term  has  the  sanction  of  the  Senator 
from  New  York.  They  are  founded  on  an  unquestionable 
American  right,  declared  with  Independence,  confirmed  by 
the  blood  of  the  fathers,  and  expounded  by  patriots,  which 
cannot  be  impeached  without  impairing  the  liberties  of  all. 
On  this  head  the  language  of  Mr.  Buchanan,  in  reply  to 
Mr.  Calhoun,  is  explicit : 

"Does  the  Senator  [Mr.  Calhoun]  contend,  then,  that  if, 
in  one  of  the  States  of  this  Union,  the  Government  be  so 
organized  as  to  utterly  destroy  the  right  of  equal  represen- 
tation, there  is  no  mode  of  obtaining  redress,  but  by  an  act 
of  the  Legislature  authorizing  a  Convention,  or  by  open  re- 
bellion!' Must  the  people  step  at  once  from  oppression  to 
open  war?  Must  it  be  either  absolute  submission  or  abso- 
lute revolution?  Is  there  no  middle  course?  I  cannot 
agree  with  the  Senator.  I  say  that  the  whole  history  of  our 
Government  establishes  the  principle  that  the  people  are 
sovereign,  and  that  a  majority  of  them  can  alter  or  change 
their  fundamental  laws  at  pleasure.  I  deny  that  this  is 
either  rebellion  or  revolution.  It  is  an  essential  and  a  re- 
cognized principle  in  all  our  forms  of  government." — Con- 
gress Deb.,  vol.  18, p.  313,  2ith  Cong.,  2d  Session. 

Surely,  sir,  if  ever  there  was  occasion  for  the  exercise  of 
this  right,  the  time  has  come  in  Kansas.  The  people  there 
had  been  subjugated  by  a  horde  of  foreign  invaders,  and 
brought  under  a  tyrannical  code  of  revolting  barbarity. 
while  property  and  life  among  them  were  left  exposed  t" 
audacious  assaults  which  flaunted  at  noon-day,  and  to  rep- 
tile abuses  which  crawled  in  the  darkness  of  night.  Self- 
defense  is  the  first  law  of  nature;  and  unless  this  law  is 
temporarily  silenced — as  all  other  law  has  been  silenced 
there — you  cannot  condemn  the  proceedings  in  Kansas. 
Here,  sir,  is  an  unquestionable  authority  —  in  itself  an 
overwhelming  law — which  belongs  to  countries  and  times 
— which  is  the  same  in  Kansas  as  at  Athens  and  Rome — 
which  is  now,  and  will  be  hereafter,  as  it  was  in  other 
days — in  presence  of  which  Acts  of  Congress  and  Con- 
stitutions are  powerless,  as  the  voice  of  man  against  the 
thunder  which  rolls  through  the  sky — which  whispers  itself 
coeval  with  life — whose  very  breath  is  life  itself;  and  now, 
in  the  last  resort,  do  I  place  all  these  proceedings  under  this 
supreme  safeguard,  which  you  will  assail  in  vain.  Any  op- 
position must  be  founded  on  a  fundamental  perversion  of 
facts,  or  a  perversion  of  fundamental  principles,  which  no 
speeches  can  uphold,  though  surpassing  in  numbers  the 
nine  hundred  thousand  piles  driven  into  the  mud  in  order  to 
sustain  the  Dutch  Stadt-House  at  Amsterdam ! 

Thus,  on  every  ground  of  precedent,  whether  as  regards 
population  or  forms  of  proceedings;  also  on  the  vital  prin- 
ciple of  American  institutions  ;  and,  lastly,  on  the  absolute 
law  of  self-defense,  do  I  now  invoke  the  power  of  Congress 
to  admit  Kansas  at  once  and  without  hesitation  into  the 
Union.  "  New  States  may  be  admitted  by  the  Congress  into 
the  Union;"  such  are  the  words  of  the  Constitution.  If  you 
hesitate  for  want  of  precedent,  then  do  I  appeal  to  the  great 
principle  »f  American  Institutions.  If,  forgetting  the  origin 
of  the  Republic,  you  turn  away  from  this  principle,  then,  in 
the  name  of  human  nature,  trampled  down  and  oppressed, 
but  aroused  to  a  just  self-defense,  do  I  nlead  for  the  exer- 


cise of  this  power.  Do  not  hearken,  I  pray  you,  to  the 
propositions  of  Tyranny  and  Folly;  do  not  be  ensnared  by 
that  other  proposition  of  the  Senator  from  Illinois  [Mr. 
Douglas],  in  which  is  the  horrid  root  of  Injustice  and  Civil 
War.  But  apply  gladly,  and  at  once,  the  True  Remedy, 
wherein  are  Justice  and  Peace. 

Mr.  President,  an  immense  space  has  been  traversed,  and 
I  now  stand  at  the  goal.  The  argument  in  its  various  parts 
is  here  closed.  The  Crime  against  Kansas  has  been  dis- 
played in  its  origin  and  extent,  beginning  with  the  over- 
throw of  the  Prohibition  of  Slavery;  next  cropping  out  in 
conspiracy  on  the  borders  of  Missouri,  then  hardening  into 
a  continuity  of  outrage,  through  organized  invasions  and 
miscellaneous  assaults,  in  which  all  security  was  destroyed, 
and  ending  at  last  in  the  perfect  subjugation  of  a  generous 
people  to  an  unprecedented  Usurpation.  Turning  aghast 
from  the  crime,  which,  like  murder,  seemed  to  confess  itself 
"  with  most  miraculous  organ,"  we  have  looked  with  min- 
gled shame  and  indignation  upon  the  four  Apologies, 
whether  of  Tyranny,  Imbecility,  Absurdity,  or  Infamy,  in 
which  it  lias  been  wrapped,  marking  especially  the  false 
testimony,  congenial  w  th  the  original  Crime,  against  the 
Emigrant  Aid  Company.  Then  were  noted,  in  succession, 
the  t"ur  Remedies,  whether  of  Tyranny — Polly — Injustice 
and  Civil  War — or  Justice  and  Peace,  which  last  bids  Kan- 
sas, in  conformity  with  past  precedents  and  under  the  exi- 
gencies of  the  hour,  in  order  to  redeem  her  from  Usurpation 
to  take  a  place  as  a  sovereign  State  of  the  Union  ;  and  this 
is  the  True  Remedy.  If  in  this  argument  I  have  not  unwor- 
thily vindicated  Truth,  then  have  I  spoken  according  to  my 
-  ;  if  imperfectly,  then  only  according  to  my  powers. 
But  there  are  other  things,  not  belonging  to  the  argument, 
which  still  press  for  utterance. 

Sir,  the  people  of  Kansas,  bone  of  your  bone,  and  tl 
your  flesh,  with  the  education  of  freemen  and  the  rights  of 
American  citizens,  now  stand  at  your  door.  Will  you  send 
them  away,  or  bid  them  enter?  Will  you  push  them  back  to 
renew  their  struggles  with  a  deadly  foe,  or  will  you  pre  en  e 
them  in  security  and  peace?  Will  you  cast  them  again  into 
the  den  of  Tyranny,  or  will  you  help  their  despairing  efforts 
to  escape.  These  questions  I  put  with  no  common  Bolicitude, 
for  I  feel  that  on  their  just  determination  depend  all  the 
most  precious  interests  of  the  Republic;  and  1  perceive  too 
clearly  the  prejudices  in  the  way,  and  the  accumulating 
bitterness  against  this  distant  people,  now  claiming  their 
simple  birthright,  while  I  am  bowed  with  mortification,  as  I 
recognize  the  President  of  the  United  States,  who  should 
have  been  a  staff  to  the  weak  and  a  shield  to  the  innocent, 
at  the  head  of  this  strange  oppression. 

At  every  stage,  the  similitude  between  the  wrongs  of 
Kansas,  ami  those  other  wrongs  against  which  our  fathers 
rose,  becomes  more  apparent.  Read  the  Declaration  of  Da- 
dependence,  anil  there  is  hardly  an  accusation  which  is 
there  directed  against  the  British  Monarch,  which  waj  not 
now  be  directed  with  increased  force  against  the  American 
President.  The  parallel  has  a  fearful  particularity.  Qur 
fathers  complained  that  the  King  had  "sent  hither  -warms 
of  officers,  to  harass  our  people,  and  eat  out  their  sub- 
stance;" that  he  "had  combined,  with  others,  to  subject  us 
to  a  jurisdiction  foreign  to  our  Constitution,  giving  /<is 
aStemt  t-i  th,  ir  arts  of  pretended  legislation  ;"  that  "he 
had  abdicated  government  here,  by  declaring  us  out  of  his 
protection,  and  waging  war  against  us;"  that  "he  had 
excited  domestic  insurrection  among  us,  and  endeavored  to 
bring  on  ti<,  inhabitants  of  our  frontier  th*  merciless 
savages  ;"  that  "  our  repeated  petitions  have  been  answi  red 
only  by  repeated  injury."  And  this  arraignment  was  aptly 
followed  by  the  damning  words,  that  "a  Prince,  whose  cha- 
racter is  thus  marked  by  every  act  which  may  di  fine  a 
tyrant,  is  unfit  to  be  the  ruler  of  a  free  people."  And 
surely,  a  President  who  has  done  all  these  things,  cannot 
be  less  unfit  than  a  Prince.  At  every  stage,  the  responsibi- 
lity is  brought  directly  to  him.  His  offence  has  been  both 
of  commission  and  omission.  He  has  done  that  which  he 
ought  not  to  have  done,  and  he  has  left  undone  that  whicfc 
he  ought  to  have  done.  By  his  activity  the  Prohibition  of 
Slavery  was  overturned.  By  his  failure  to  act,  the  honest 
emigrants  in  Kansas  have  been  left  a  prey  to  wrong  of  all 
kinds.  NuUwm  ftagitium  extitit,  nisi  per  t e ;  nullum 
Jtiiiji'iiim  sine  te.  And  now  he  stands  forth  the  most  con- 
spicuous enemy  of  that  unhappy  Territory. 

As  the  tyranny  of  the  British  King  is  all  renewed  in  the 
President,  so  on  this  floor  have  the  old  indignities  been 
renewed,  which  embittfred  and  fomented  the  troubles  of  our 
Fathers.  The  early  petition  of  the  American  Congress  to 
Parliament,  long  before  any  suggestion  of    independence, 


2D 


was  opposed— like  the  petitions  of  Kansas — because  that 
body  "  was  assembled  without  any  requisition  on  the  part 
of  the  Supreme  Power."  Another  petition  from  New  York, 
presented,  by  Edmund  Burke,  was  flatly  rejected,  as  claiming 
rights  derogatory  to  Parliament.    Ami  still  another  petition 

from  Massachusetts  liay  was  dismissed  as  "  vexatious  and 
scandalous,"  while  the  patriot  philosopher  who  bore  it  was 
exposed  to  peculiar  contumely.  Throughout  the  debates, 
our  fathers  were  made  the  butt  of  sorry  jests  and  supercili- 
ous assumptions.  And  now  these  scenes,  witli  these  precise 
objections,  have  been  renewed  in  the  American  Senate. 

Willi  regret,  I  come  again  upon  the  Senator  from  South 
Carolina  [Mr.  Bitlkr],  who,  omnipresent  in  this  debate, 
overflowed  with  rage  at  the  simple  suggestion  that  Kansas 
had  applied  fm-  admission  as  a  State;  and,  with  incoherent 
phrases,  discharged  the  loose  expectoration  of  his  speech, 
now  upou  her  representative,  and  then  upon  her  people. 
There  was  no  extravagance  of  the  ancient  Parliamentary 
debate  which  he  did  not  repeat ;  nor  was  there  any  possible 
deviation  from  truth  which  he  did  not  make,  with  so  much 
of  passion,  I  am  glad  to  add,  as  to  save  him  from  the  suspi- 
cion of  intentional  aberration.  But  the  Senator  touches 
nothing  which  he  does  not  disfigure — with  error,  sometimes 
of  principle,  sometimes  of  fact.  He  shows  an  incapacity  of 
accuracy,  whether  in  stating  the  Constitution  or  in  stating 
the  law,  whether  in  the  details  of  statistics  or  the  diversions 
of  scholarship.  He  cannot  ope  his  mouth,  but  out  there 
flies  a  blunder.  Surely  he  ought  to  be  familiar  with  the  life 
of  Franklin  ;  and  yet  he  referred  to  his  household  character, 
while  acting  as  agent  of  our  fathers  in  England,  as  above 
suspicion:  and  this  was  done  that  he  might  give  point  to  a 
false  contrast  with  the  agent  of  Kansas — not  knowing  that, 
however  they  may  differ  in  genius  and  fame,  in  this  expe- 
rience they  are  alike:  that  Franklin,  when  intrusted  with 
the  petition  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  was  assaulted  by  a  foul- 
mouthed  speaker,  where  he  could  not  be  heard  in  defense, 
and  denounced  as  a  "  thief,"  even  as  the  agent  of  Kansas 
has  been  assaulted  on  this  floor,  and  denounced  as  a 
"  forger."  And  let  not  the  vanity  of  the  Senator  be  inspired 
by  the  parallel  with  the  British  statesmen  of  that  day;  for 
it  is  only  in  hostility  to  Freedom  that  any  parallel  can  be 
recognized. 

But  it  is  against  the  people  of  Kansas  that  the  sensibilities 
of  the  Senator  are  particularly  aroused.  Coming,  as  he 
announces,  "from  a  State" — ay,  sir,  from  South  Carolina — 
he  turns  with  lordly  disgust  from  this  newly-formed  commu- 
nity, which  he  will  not  recognize  even  as  "  a  body-politic." 
Pray,  sir,  by  what  title  does  he  indulge  in  this  egotism  ? 
Has  he  read  the  history  of  "the  State  "  which  he  represents? 
He  cannot  surely  have  forgotten  its  shameful  imbecility  from 
Slavery,  confessed  throughout  the  revolution,  followed  by 
its  more  shameful  assumptions  for  Slavery  since.  He  can- 
not have  forgotten  its  wretched  persistence  in  the  slave 
trade  as  the  very  apple  of  its  eye,  and  the  condition  of  its 
participation  in  the  Union.  He  cannot  have  forgotten  its 
Constitution,  winch  is  republican  only  in  name,  confirming 
power  in  the  hands  of  the  few,  and  founding  the  qualifica- 
tions of  its  legislators  on  "a  settled  freehold  estate  and  ten 
negroes."  And  yet  the  Senator,  to  whom  that  "  State  "  has 
in  part  committed  the  guardianship  of  its  good  name,  in- 
stead of  moving,  with  backward  treading  steps,  to  cover  its 
nakedness,  rushes  forward  in  the  very  ecstasy  of  madness, 
to  expose  it  by  provoking  a  comparison  with  Kansas. 
South  Carolina,  is  old;  Kansas  is  young.  South  Carolina 
counts  by  centuries,  where  Kansas  counts  by  years.  But  a 
beneficent  example  may  be  born  in  a  day;  and  I  venture  to 
say,  that  against  the  two  centuries  of  the  older  "  State," 
may  be  already  set  the  two  years  of  trial,  evolving  corre- 
sponding virtue,  in  the  younger  community.  In  the  one  is 
the  long  wail  of  Slavery  ;  in  the  other,  the  hymns  of  Free- 
dom. And  if  we  glance  at  special  achievements,  it  will  be 
difficult  to  find  anything  in  the  history  of  South  Carolina 
which  presents  so  much  of  heroic  spirit  in  an  heroic  cause 
as  appears  in  that  repulse  of  the  Missouri  invaders  by  the 
beleaguered  town  of  Lawrence,  where  even  the  women  gave 
their  effective  efforts  to  Freedom.  The  matrons  of  Rome, 
who  poured  their  jewels  into  the  treasury  for  the  public  de- 
fense— the  wives  of  Prussia,  who,  with  delicate  fingers, 
clothed  their  defenders  against  French  invasion  —  the 
mothers  of  our  own  Revolution,  who  sent  forth  their  sons, 
covered  over  with  prayers  and  blessings,  to  combat  for 
human  rights,  did  nothing  of  self-sacrifice  truer  than  did 
these  women  on  this  occasion.  AVere  the  whole  history  of 
South  Carolina  blotted  out  of  existence,  from  its  very  be- 
ginning down  to  the  day  of  the  last  election  of  the  Senator 
to  his  present  seat  on  this  floor,  civilization  might  lose — I  do 
not  say  how  little,  but  surely  less  than  it  has  already  gained 


by  the  example  of  Kansas,  in  Its  valiant  struggle  against 
oppression,  and  in  the  development  of  a  new  science  of  emi- 
gration. Already  in  Lawrence  alone  there  are  newspapera 
and  schools,  including  a  High  School,  and  throughout  thin 
infant  Territory  there  is  more  mature  scholarship  far,  in 
proportion  to  its  inhabitants,  than  in  all  South  Carolina. 
Ah,  sir,  I  tell  the  Senator  that  Kansas,  welcomed  as  a  free 
State,  will  be  a  "ministering  angel"  to  the  Republic,  when 
South  Carolina,  in  the  cloak  of  darkness  which  she  hugs, 
"  lies  howling." 

The  Senator  from  Illinois  [Mr.  Douglas],  naturally  joins 
the  Senator  from  South  Carolina  in  this  warfare,  and  gives 
to  it  the  superior  intensity  of  his  nature.  He  thinks  that 
the  National  Government  has  not  completely  proved  its 
power,  as  it  has  never  hanged  a  traitor  ;  but,  if  the  occasion 
requires,  he  hopes  there  will  be  no  hesitation  ;  and  this 
threat  is  directed  at  Kansas,  and  even  at  the  friends  of 
Kansas  throughout  the  country.  Again  occurs  the  parallel 
with  the  struggles  of  our  Fathers,  and  I  borrow  the  lan- 
guage of  Patrick  Henry,  when,  to  the  cry  from  the  Senator, 
of  "  treason,"  "  treason,"  I  reply,  "  if  this  be  treason,  make 
the  most  of  it."  Sir,  it  is  easy  to  call  names;  but  I  beg  to 
tell  the  Senator  that  if  the  word  "  traitor  "  is  in  any  way 
applicable  to  those  who  refuse  submission  to  a  tyrannical 
Usurpation,  whether  in  Kansas  or  elsewhere,  then  must 
some  new  word,  of  deeper  color,  be  invented,  to  designate 
those  mad  spirits  who  would  endanger  and  degrade  the 
Republic,  while  they  betray  all  the  cherished  sentiments  of 
the  Fathers  and  the  spirit  of  the  Constitution,  in  order  to 
give  new  spread  to  slavery.  Let  the  Senator  proceed.  It 
will  not  he  the  first  time  in  history,  that  a  scaffold  erected 
for  punishment  has  become  a  pedestal  of  honor.  Out  of 
death  comes  life,  and  the  "traitor"  whom  he  blindly 
executes  will  live  immortal  in  the  cause. 

"  For  Humanity  sweeps  onward  ;  where  to-day  the  martyr 

stands, 
On   the   morrow  crouches  Judas,   with   the   silver  in   his 

hands ; 
While  the  hooting  mob  of  yesterday  in  silent  awe  return, 
To  glean  up  the  scattered  ashes  into  History's  golden  urn." 

Among  these  hostile  Senators,  there  is  yet  another,  with 
all  the  prejudices  of  the  Senator  from  South  Carolina,  but 
without  his  generous  impulses,  who,  on  account  of  his 
character  before  the  country,  and  the  rancor  of  his  opposi- 
tion, deserves  to  be  named.  I  mean  the  Senator  from  Vir- 
ginia, [Mr.  Mason]  who,  as  the  author  of  the  Fugitive 
Slave  Bill,  has  associated  himself  with  a  special  act  of 
inhumanity  and  tyranny.  Of  him  I  shall  say  little,  for  he 
has  said  little  in  this  debate,  though  within  that  little  was 
compressed  the  bitterness  of  a  life  absorbed  in  the  support 
of  Slavery.  He  holds  the  commission  of  Virginia ;  but  he 
does  not  represent  that  early  Virginia,  so  dear  to  our 
hearts,  which  gave  to  us  the  pen  of  Jefferson,  by  which  the 
equality  of  men  was  declared,  and  the  sword  of  Washing- 
ton, by  which  Independence  was  secured  ;  but  he  repre- 
sents that  other  Virginia,  from  which  Washington  and 
Jefferson  now  avert  their  faces,  where  human  beings  are 
bred  as  cattle  for  the  shambles,  and  where  a  dungeon 
rewards  the  pious  matron  who  teaches  little  children  to 
relieve  their  bondage  by  reading  the  Book  of  Life.  It  is 
proper  that  such  a  Senator,  representing  such  a  State, 
should  rail  against  free  Kansas. 

But  this  is  not  all.  The  precedent  is  still  more  clinching. 
Thus  far  I  have  followed  exclusively  the  public  documents 
laid  before  Congress,  and  illustrated  by  the  debates  of  that 
body  ;  but  well-authenticated  facts,  not  of  record  here, 
make  the  case  stronger  still.  It  is  sometimes  said  that  the 
proceedings  in  Kansas  are  defective,  because  they  origin- 
ated in  a  party.  This  is  not  true  ;  but  even  if  it  were  true, 
then  would  they  still  find  support  in  the  example  of  Michi- 
gan, where  all  the  proceedings,  stretching  through  success- 
ive years,  began  and  ended  in  party.  The  proposed  State 
Government  was  pressed  byjhe  Democrats  as  a  party 
test;  all  who  did  not  embark  in  it  were  denounced.  Of  the 
Legislative  Council,  which  called  the  first  Constitutional 
Convention  in  1835,  all  were  Democrats;  and  in  the  Con- 
vention itself,  composed  of  eighty-seven  members,  only 
seven  were  Whigs.  The  Convention  of  1836,  which  gave 
the  final  assent,  originated  in  a  Democratic  Convention  on 
the  29th  October,  in  the  county  of  Wayne,  composed  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty-four  delegates,  all  Democrats,  who 
proceeded  to  resolve; — 

"  That  the  delegates  of  the  Democratic  party  of  Wayne, 


30 


solemnly  impressed  with  the  spreading  evils  and  dangers 
which  a  refusal  to  go  into  the  Union  has  brought  upon  the 
people  of  Michigan,  earnestly  recommend  meetings  to  be 
immediately  convened  by  their  fellow-citizens  in  every 
county  of  the  State,  with  a  view  to  the  expression  of  their 
sentiments  in  favor  of  the  election  and  call  of  another  Con- 
vention, in  time  to  secure  our  admission  into  the  Union  be- 
fore the  first  of  January  next." 

Shortly  afterwards,  a  committee  of  five,  appointed  by 
this  Convention,  all  leading  Democrats,  issued  a  circular, 
"under  the  authority  of  the  delegates  of  the  county  of 
■Wayne,"  recommending  that  the  voters  throughout  Michi- 
gan should  meet  and  elect  delegates  to  a  Convention  to 
give  the  necessary  assent  to  the  Act  of  Congress.  In  pur- 
suance of  this  call,  the  Convention  met;  and,  as  it  origin- 
ated in  an  exclusively  party  recommendation,  so  it  was  of 
an  exclusively  party  character.  And  it  was  the  action  of 
this  Convention  that  was  submitted  to  Congress,  and,  after 
discussion  in  both  bodies,  in  solemn  votes,  approved. 

But  the  precedent  of  Michigan  has  another  feature,  which 
Js  entitled  to  the  gravest  attention,  especially  at  this 
moment,  when  citizens  engaged  in  the  effort  to  establish  a 
State  Government  in  Kansas  are  openly  arrested  on  the 
charge  of  treason,  and  we  are  startled  by  tidings  of  the 
maddest  efforts  to  press  this  procedure  of  preposterous 
Tyranny.  No  such  madness  prevailed  under  Andrew 
Jackson  ;  although,  during  the  long  pendency  of  the  Michi- 
gan proceedings,  for  more  than  fourteen  mouths,  the 
Territorial  Government  was  entirely  ousted,  and  the  State 
Government  organised  in  all  its  departments.  One  hun- 
dred and  thirty  different  legislative  acts  were  passed,  pro- 
viding for  elections,  imposing  taxes,  erecting  corporations, 
and  establishing  courts  of  justice  ;  including  a  Supreme 
Court  and  a  Court  of  Chancery.  All  process  was  issued  in 
the  name  of  the  people  of  the  State  of  Michigan.  And  yet 
no  attempt  was  made  to  question  the  legal  validity  of  these 
proceedings,  whether  legislative  or  judicial.  Least  of  all  j 
did  any  menial  Governor,  dressed  in  a  little  brief  authority 
play  the  fantastic  tricks  which  we  now  witness  in  Kansas  ; 
nor  did  any  person,  wearing  the  robes  of  justice,  shock  high 
Heaven  with  the  mockery  of  injustice  now  enacted  bj 
emissaries  of  the  President  in  that  Territory.  No,  sir  ; 
nothing  of  this  kind  then  occHrred.  Andrew  Jackson  was 
President. 

Senators  such  as  these  are  the  natural  enemies  of  Kansas, 
and  I  introduce  them  with  reluctance,  simply  thut  the 
country  may  understand  the  character  of  the  hostility 
which  must  be  overcome.  Arrayed  with  them,  of 
are  all  who  unite,  under  any  pretext  or  apology,  in  the  pro- 
pagandism  of  Human  Slavery.  To  such,  indeed,  the  time- 
honored  safeguards  of  popular  rights  can  be  a  name  only, 
and  nothing  more.  What  are  trial  by  jury,  habeas  corpus, 
the  ballot-box,  the  right  of  petition,  the  liberty  of  Kansas, 
your  liberty,  sir,  or  mine,  to  one  who  lends  himself,  not 
merely  to  the  support  at  home,  but  to  the  propagandist) 
abroad,  of  that  preposterous  wrong,  which  denies  even  the 
right  of  a  man  to  himself?  Such  a  cause  can  be  main- 
tained only  by  a  practical  subversion  of  all  rights.  It  is, 
therefore,  merely  according  to  reason  that  its  partisans 
should  uphold  the  Usurpation  in  Kansas. 

To  overthrow  this  Usurpation  is  now  the  special,  impor- 
tunate duty  of  Congress,  admitting  of  no  hesitation  or  post- 
ponement. To  this  end  it  must  lift  itself  from  the  cabals  of 
candidates,  the  machinations  of  party,  and  the  low  level  of 
culgar  strife.  It  must  turn  from  that  Slave  Oligarchy 
which  now  controls  the  Republic,  and  refuse  to  be  its  tool. 
Let  its  power  be  stretched  forth  towards  this  distant  Terri- 
tory, not  to  bind,  but  to  unbind;  not  for  the  oppression  of 
the  weak,  but  the  subversion  of  the  tyrannical  ;  not  for  the 
prop  and  maintenance  of  a  revolting  Usurpation,  but  for 
the  confirmation  of  Liberty. 

"  These  are  imperial  arts,  and  worthy  thee  !" 

Let  it  now  take  its  stand  between  the  living  and  dead,  and 
cause  this  plague  to  be  stayed.  All  this  it  can  do  ;  and  if 
the  interests  of  Slavery  did  not  oppose,  all  this  it  would  do 
at  once,  in  reverent  regard  for  justice,  law,  and  order, 
driving  far  away  all  the  alarms  of  war  ;  nor  would  it  dare 
to  brave  the  shame  and  punishment  of  this  Great  Refusal. 
But  the  Slave  Power  dares  anything;  and  it  can  be  con- 
quered only  by  the  united  masses  of  the  People.  From 
Congress  to  the  People,  I  appeal. 

Already    Public   Opinion   gathers    unwonted    forces    to 
scourge  the  aggressors.   In  the  press,  in  daily  conversation, 


wherever  two  or  three  are  gathered  together,  there  the  in- 
dignant utterance  finds  vent.  And  trade,  by  unerring  in- 
dications, attests  the  growing  energy.  Public  credit  in 
Missouri  droops.  The  six  per  cents,  of  that  State,  which  at 
par  should  be  102,  have  sunk  to  84i£ — thus  at  once  com- 
pleting the  evidence  of  Crime,  and  attesting  its  punishment. 
Business  is  now  turning  from  the  Assassins  and  Thugs,  that 
infest  the  Missouri  River,  on  the  way  to  Kansas,  to  seek 
some  safer  avenue.  And  this,  though  not  unimportant  in 
itself,  is  typical  of  greater  changes.  The  political  credit  of 
the  men  who  uphold  the  Usurpation,  droops  even  more  than 
the  stocks;  and  the  people  are  turning  from  all  those 
through  whom  the  Assassins  and  Thugs  have  derived  their 
disgraceful  immunity. 

It  was  said  of  old,  "  Cursed  be  he  that  removeth  his  neigh- 
bor's Landmark.  And  all  the  people  shall  nay.  Amen." — 
{Dent,  xxvil.,  17.)  Cursed,  it  is  said,  in  the  city  and  in  the 
field  ;  cursed  in  basket  and  store  ;  cursed  when  thou  comest 
in,  and  cursed  when  thou  goest  out.  These  are  terrible  fm- 
precations;  but  if  ever  any  Landmark  was  sacred,  it  was 
that  by  which  an  immense  territory  was  guarded  forever 
against  Slavery;  and  if  ever  such  imprecations  could 
justly  descend  upon  any  one,  they  must  descend  now  upon 
all  who,  not  content  with  the  removal  of  this  sacred  Land- 
mark, have  since,  with  criminal  complicity,  fostered  the 
incursions  of  the  great  Wrong  against  which  it  was  intended 
to  guard.  But  I  utter  no  imprecations.  These  are  not  my 
words;  nor  is  it  my  part  to  add  or  subtract  from  them. 
But  thanks  be  to  God  !  they  find  a  response  in  the  hearts  of 
an  aroused  People,  making  them  turn  from  every  man, 
whether  President  or  Senator,  or  Representative,  who  has 
been  engaged  in  this  Crime — especially  from  those  who, 
cradled  in  free  institutions,  are  without  the  apology  of  edu- 
cation or  social  prejudice — until  of  all  such  those  other 
words  of  the  prophet  shall  be  fulfilled — "I  will  set  my  face 
against  that  man,  and  make  him  a  sign  and  a  proverb,  and 
1  will  cut  him  off  from  the  midst  of  my  people." — (Ezekiel 
xiv.,  8.)  Turning  thus  from  the  authors  of  this  Crime,  the 
People  will  unite  once  more  with  their  Fathers  of  the  Repub- 
lic, in  a  just  condemnation  of  Slavery — determined  espe- 
cially that  it  shall  find  no  home  in  the  National  Territories 
—  while  the  Slave  Power,  in  which  the  Crime  had  its  begin- 
ning, and  by  which  it  is  now  sustained,  will  be  swept  into 
■!.  ii  atalogue  of  departed  Tyrannies. 

In  this  contest,  Kansas  bravely  stands  forth— the  stripling 
leader,  clad  in  the  panoply  of  American  institutions.  In 
calmly  meeting  and  adopting  a  frame  of  Government,  her 
people  have  with  intuitive  promptitude  performed  the  duties 
of  freemen;  and  when  I  consider  the  difficulties  by  which 
she  was  beset,  I  find  dignity  in  her  attitude.  In  offering 
hersell  for  admission  into  the  Union  as  a  Frke  State,  she 
presents  a  single  issue  for  the  people  to  decide.  And  since 
the  Slave  Power  now  stakes  on  this  issue  all  its  ill-gotten 
supremacy,  the  People,  while  vindicating  Kansas,  will  at 
the  same  time  overthrow  this  Tyranny.  Thus  does  the 
contest  which  she  now  begins,  involve  not  only  Liberty  for 
herself,  but  for  the  whole  country.  God  be  praised,  that 
-h.  did  not  bend  ignobly  beneath  the  yoke !  Faraway  on 
the  prairies,  she  is  now  battling  for  the  Liberty  of  all, 
against  the  President,  who  misrepresents  all.  Everywhere 
among  those  who  are  not  insensible  to  Right,  the  generous 
struggle  meets  a  generous  response.  From  innumerable 
throbbing  hearts  go  forth  the  very  words  of  encouragement 
which,  in  the  sorrowful  days  of  our  Fathers,  were  sent  by 
Virginia,  speaking  by  the  pen  of  Richard  Henry  Lee,  to 
Massachusetts,  in  the  person  of  her  popular  tribune,  Samuel 
Adams : 

"  Chantillt  (Va),  June  1%d,  1774- 

"I  hope  the  good  people  of  Boston  will  not  lose  their 
spirits  under  their  present  heavy  oppression,  for  they  will 

certainly  be  supported  by  the  other  Colonies ;  and  the  cause 
for  which  they  suffer  is  so  glorious  and  so  deeply  interesting 
to  the  present  and  future  generations,  that  all  America  will 
owe,  in  a  great  measure,  their  political  salvation  to  the  pre- 
sent virtue  of  Massachusetts  Bay."— American  Archives, 
4th  series,  vol.  1,  p.  446. 

In  alb  this  sympathy  there  Is  strength.  But  in  the  cans--) 
itself  there  is  angelic  power.  Unseen  of  men,  the  great 
spirits  of  History  combat  by  the  side  of  the  people  of  Kan- 
sas, breathing  a  divine  courage.  Above  all  towers  the  ma- 
jestic form  of  Washington  once  more,  as  on  the  bloody  field, 
bidding  them  to  remember  those  rights  of  Human  Nature 
for  which  the  War  of  Independence  was  waged.  Such  a 
cause,  thus  sustained,  is  invincible. 


31 


The  contest,  which,  beginning  in  Kanfas,  lias  reached  us 
will  soon  be  transferred    from  Congress   to  a  broader  stage, 

where  every  citi«en  will  be  not  only  spectator,  but  actor; 

and  to  their  judgment  I  confidently  appeal.  To  the  People, 
now  on  the  eve  of  exercising  the  electoral  franchise,  in 
choosing  a  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Republic.  I  appeal,  to 
Vindicate  the  electoral  franchise  in  Kansas.  Let  the  ballot- 
box  of  the  Union,  with  multitudinous  might,  protect  the 
ballot-box  in  that  Territory.  Let  the  voters  everywhere, 
while  rejoicing  In  their  own  rights,  help  to  guard  the  equal 
rights  of  distant  fellow-citizens;  that  the  shrines  of  popular 
institutions,  now  desecrated,  may  be  sanctified  anew;  that 
the  ballot-box,  now  plundered,  may  be  restored  ;  and  that 
the  cry,  "  I  am  an  American  citizen,"  may  not  be  sent  forth 


in  vain  against  outrage  of  every  kind.  In  just  regard  for 
free  labor  in  that  Territory,  which  it  is  Bought  to  blast  by 
unwelcome  association  with  slave  labor;  in  Christian  sym- 
pathy with  the  slave,  whom  it  is  proposed  to  task  and  sell 
there;  in  stern  condemnation  of  the  Crime  which  has  been 
Consummated  on  that  beautiful  soil;  in  rescue  of  fellow- 
citizens,  now  subjugated  to  a  tyrannical  Usurpation;  in 
dutiful  respect  for  the  early  Fathers,  whose  inspirations  are 
now  ignobly  thwarted;  in  the  name  of  the  Constitution, 
which  has  been  outraged — of  the  Laws  trampled  down — of 
Justice  banished — of  Humanity  degraded — of  Peace  des- 
troyed— of  Freedom  crushed  to  earth ;  and  in  the  name  of 
the  Heavenly  Father,  whose  service  is  perfect  Freedom,  I 
make  this  last  appeal. 


THE      BJTD 


PROSPECTUS  OF  THE  NEW-YORK  TRIBUNE. 

j  

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