DIE DOLLAR PER ANNUM, INVARIABLY IN ADVANCE.
I TOWANDA:
Siitnrlwn Rlorninn, ittarct) 29, 1859,
I fffsits in Kansas.
REMARKS OF
I JI OX. G. A. GROW,
I jiiin; TMseof tkpfis&Mtojs, h, 1856.
The House being in the Committee of the Whole on the
rt..te ,f the Union, and having under consideration the
president's annual message.
Mr. GROW said :
| Mr. SPEAKER : Humors of a prospect of ci
vil war in the Territory of Kansas have reach
ed us. and filled the public mind with gloomy
apprehension. The President in his annual
message informed us, that " in the Territory of
Kansas there had been acts prejudicial to good
order," but neglected to tell what those acts
, v . re; and at a later day he informed this
H.,use by special message that there had been
■ acts, plainly against law, which now threaten
the peace not only of the Territory of Kansas,
but of the Uniou." It becomes the imperative
dntv of Congress, then, to inquire into thecau
y/uf this state of things, and devise if possi
ble some means by which to avert so dire aca-
I lamity.
Congress being tbe supreme legislative pow
er for the Territories, giving them their organ
ic Uw, executive and judicial officers, and pre
scribing the mode and manner of the exercise
of all their legislative functions, it is our first
duty to see that the inhabitants thereof arc
secure in the enjoyment of all the rights and
privileges guarantied to American Freemen
everywhere under the protection of the lte-
I ' Tbe acts which the President, regarded as
threatening the |>eace not only of the Territory
of Kansas, but of the Union, are summed up
in a paragragh of the message :
Arsons confessedly not constituting the body politic
nr .it lur inhabitants, but merely a party of the iohabi
> : tv and without bur, have undertaken to mimmon a
fr.v:ition for tbe purpose of transforming the Territory
lawh State, and have formed a constitution, adopted it,
m.l under it elected a Governor and other officers, and a
Representative to Congress
all-of which lie pronounces illegal and of rtto
lit'u trnri) character. Sir, the doing of any or
a'! the acts in this enumeration would be no
I violation of just law or constitutional right ;
for the people, or any part of them, of a State
rTerritory have a perfect right peaceably to
tb-"uib!e, at any time, and deposit their votes
I for any person they may please, with such de
■ .'nation of office as tliey choose to affix ; and
nuiess they, or the person so chosen, commit
I suae overt act against the Government under
which they live, they have violated no law and
I are amenable for 110 offense, a.iy more than
I they would be to assemble and discuss their
I grievances, and petition for their redress. In
I Rlmde Island, where there was 110 question as
to the regularity of the existing government—
I f tr had existed for almost two centuries—a cail
I for a convention to form a new constitution was
I isutd by persons confessedly not constituting the
My politic, and without /air, for the purpose
I if transforming a charter government iuto a
I state. They formed a constitution, adopted
and under it elected a Governor and other
officers, and a Representative to Congress.—
I T:ie members of the Legislature met, swore to
I support the new constitution, and the oath of
I See was administered to the Governor, and
- message transmitted to the Legislature.—
I Nine of these acts were considered as ille-
I en. y the constituted authorities of Rhode
I bund : and no arrests were made till Dorr
I hied out a military force to uphold his goveru-
I merit.
The people of Kansas have thus far done on-
I iy what was done in Rhode Island previous to
I w Appeal to arms. Are acce that are barm-
I lets when performed in a State illegal andtrea-
I souable when performed under like circuin-
I dances in a Territory ? It was not thought
I the country in the case of the admission
Michigan into the Union, where a conveo
-11 of the jieoplo, called without laic, accepted
I ! '-auditions of Congress which had just
I y 'i rejected by a convention of delegates as
under authority of an act of the Lc-
I r-uture. Rut, sir, the undoubted right of the
I i Oj<lc of a Territory to call a State conven-
I 0. without any act. of the Territorial Legis-
I irv or of Congress, for the purpose of trans-
I " iing a Territory into a State, and to elect
I 4 -lie officers necessary to administer such
I > ' 4le government, lias lieen settled not only by
I f practice of the Government, but by the
'' n " of one of its ablest legal officers and
I -'"utioiial advisers of the President. Du-
I bencra! Jackson's administration the Go
if|r of the Territory of Arkansas addressed
I - & letter soliciting instructions for his guid
■ * • in case the people of said Territory should
I • to a convention without a law
' ! Legislature, and organize and put in
I . ''f ',' n a State government without authoei-
I The Governor informed the
I 4 sent that, unless otherwise instructed, he
i ! fcc| •' bound to consider and treat all
I •; ! ' as unlawful." The Frcsi-
I p,;7 fljr , f^^ral Jacksou, it seems, had not
I ' !,'" e " f- rreat principles of popular sov
■ , - 'C established by the compromise niea-
I UoO- replied, through his Attorney
I ■l. at , ra '' * Butler, on the 21st of Scptcm-
I ' tbat
I , f ' n 'b° power r.f the General Assembly of Ar
■ Hr r ' " "G ' a *' for the purpose of electing members
I *ew.l, y""" U) form a constitution and State govcrn-
I T yodo an y other act, directly or indirectly, to
I f"v< rnmcnt. Every such law, eveu tho'
I l ' le vernor ®f the Territory, would
I PWple of a Territory have an undonbt-
I in; J,i') a ' an - v Lmc to cail a convention, frame
I f constitution, and elect all
IG to its action as an indepen
■ V t i a,( *' though it might be a question whe-
I I"' r^orm any official act as State
I ■Xt ; :„ Uli:: ' tbe action of Congress, though
I ena oted laws and voted for President
I l Wa<! admitted as a State into the
-A the State must be formed before
THE BRADFORD REPORTER.
her admission j for it is States that are admit
ted, under the third section of the fourth arti
cle of the Constitution, and not Territories.—
Upon this point, I read from the opinion of
the Attorney General in the Arkansas case :
" Thin provision implies that the new State shall have
been constituted by the settlemeut of a constitution or
frame of government, and by the appointment of those of
ficial agents which are indispensable to its action an a
State, and especially to its action as a member of the Un
ion, prior to its admission into the Union. In accordsnce
with this implication, every State received into the Union
since the adoption of the Federal Constitution has been
actually organizd prior to such admission/'
Now, I desire to call particular attention to
the part of this opinion which applies directly
to the people of Kansas ; and had it been writ
ten expressly for their case, it could not have
been more applicable. In defining the rights
of the citizens of Arkansas, he says :
" They undoubtedly possess the ordinary privileges and
Immunities of citizens of the United States. Among these
is the right of the people. " peaceably to assemble and to
petition the Government for the redress of grievances/*■ !
In the exercise of this right, the inhabitants of Arkansas
may peaceably meet together in primary assembly, or in
conventions chosen by such assemblies, for the purpose of
i petitioning Congress to abrogate the territorial govern
| ment, and to admit them into the Union as an independent
State. The particular form which they may give "to their
petition cannot be material so long as they "confine them
selves to the mere right of petitioning and conduct all
their proceedings in a peaceable manuei. And as the pow
er of Congress over the whole subject is plenary and un
limited, they may accept any constitution, however fram
ed, which in their judgment meets the sense of the people
to be affected by it. If, therefore, the citizens of Arkansas
think proper to accompany their petition by a written
constitution, framed and agreed on by their primnrv as
semblies. or by a convention ot delegates choseu by "such
assemblies, I perceive no legal objection to their power to
do so."
But, it may be said that this doctrine will
not apply to Kansas, for there it is " merely a
part of the inhabitants " who called the con
vention. In all cases the call, in the first in
stance, must be by a part of the people ; for
it would be almost an impossibility to get the
signatures of all the inhabitants of a Teritory.
The call issued for a State convention in Kan
sas was in this form :
" To the legat voters of Kansas :
" Whereas the territorial government as now constitu
ted for Kansas has proved a failnre—squatter sovereignty
under its workings a miserable delusion, in proof of which
it is only necessary to refer to our past history and our j
present deplorable condition ; our ballot-boxes have been i
taken possession of by a band of armed men from foreign
States ; our people forcibly driven therefrom ; persons at- i
tempted to be foisted upoii us as members of u so-called
Legislature, unacquainted with our wants, aud hostile to
our best interest*—some of them never residents of our
Territory ; misnamed taxes passed, and now attempted to
be enforced by the aid of citizens of foreign States, of the
most oppressive, tyrannical and insulting character ; the
right of suffrage taken from us ; debarred from the privi
lege of a voice in the election of even the most insignifi
cant officers ; the right of free speech stilled ; the muz/ling
of the press attempted : And whereas longer forbearance
with such oppression and tyranny has ceased to lie a vir
tue : and whereas the people of this country have hereto
fore exercised the right of changing their form of govern
ment when it became oppressive, and have, at all times,
on cled this right to the people in this and all other Go
vernments : ana whereas a territorial form of government
is unknown to the Constitution, and is the mere creature
of necessity awaiting the action of the people : and where
as the debasing character of the slavery which now in
volves us impels to action, and leaves us, as the only legal I
and peaceful alternative, the immediate establishment of
a State government: and whereas the organic act fails in
pointing out the course to be adopted iu an emergency like
ours : Therefore, you are requested to meet at your sever
al precincts in said Territory hereinafter mentioned, on
the 2d Tuesday of October next, it being the ninth day
of said month, and then nnd there cast your ballots for
members of a convention, to meet at Topeka on the fourth
Tuesday in October next, to form a constitution, adopt a
bill of rights for the people of Kansas, and take all need
ful measures for organizing a State government prepara
t'jry to the admission of Kansas into the Unton as a
State."
Under it all the legal voters of the Territo
ry could participate ; and who shall say that
a majority of them did not ? The fact that it
was necessary for the pro-slaverv party at a
later day to summon armed men from Missou
ri, almost conclusive evidence that a majori
ty of the people of the Territory are in favor
of the free State movement. But to give va
lidity to the action of the people of a Territo
ry iu any act which they have a right to do, it
is not necessary that they should be unani
mous, any more than it is necessary, in order
to give validity to a law of a State, that every
voter shauld be in favor of it. Majorities,
under our system of government, constitute the
people, and their action fo the action of the
people.
The members of the convention were elected
at the same time and by about the same vote
as the free State Delegate to Congress, and he
received almost three thousand votes at a time
when there was no occasion for illcgul votes.
Judging by the census, and the other elections
held in the Territory, that would be a majori
ty of the legal voters. If the proceedings for
a State convention were participated in by a
party only, how did it happen that the dele
gates did not all hold one sentiment on the all
absorbing question before them—that of slave
ry ? Many of the delegates in that conven
tion were never suspected of being Abolition
ists or Free-Soiler before they went to the
Territory, and some of them were well-known
to the country as earnest advocates of the Kan
sas-Nebraska bill and of all the measures of
this Administration.
But why was it necessary for the people of
Kansas at this early day after their organiza
tion as a Territory to call a convention to frame
a State constitution ? What arc the grievances
that they seek in this way to redress ? They
claim that under the act of Congress organiz
ing the Territory they were to have the right
to form and regulate their domestic institutions
in their own way ; but, instead of that, a Le
gislature was elected by non-residents, the bal
lot-box seized by armed bands of men from
Missouri, and peaceable citizens of the Territo
ry were driven by violence from the polls or
shot down in cold blood.♦
The President has failed, though devoting
an entire message to Kansas, to give us mis
information as to the mode or manner in which
that election was conducted, but seemed more
anxious to discuss questions involved in the
contested seat of a delegate on this floor, and
to show, if possible, inconsistencies of conduct
in one of the officials whom lie had appointed
to office in that Territory. We .are, therefore,
left to rely on the history of those transactions
as they have reached us throngh the press and
by private correspondence. But that theelec
tiou was a fraud, and the Legislature a usur
pation imposed npon the actual settlers of
Kansas, is as well established as that there was
an election held ; for we have no different or
better means of information of the one than of
the other.
PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY AT TOWANDA, BRADFORD COUNTY, PA., BY E. O'MEARA COODRICH.
" REGARDLESS OF DENUNCIATION FROM ANT QUARTER."
The census of the Territory was taken in
February, and the election was in the following
March. By the census there were but about
three thousand legal voter* Yet, at the elec
tion about six thousand votes were polled,
while a large number of residents did not vote',
owing to the threatened violence of the elec
tion ; and every member elected to the Legis
lature at that time, save one, belonged to the
pro-slavery party. Is it to be supposed that,
at a fair electiou in that Territory, but one free
State man would be elected to the Legislature
out of thirty-nine members, and that he should
be in the district furthest removed from Mis
souri ? But passing by the election for mem
bers of the Legislature, I desire to call atten-
I tion to their official acts, for these are the first
fruits of popular sovereignty, as established by
the repeal of the Missouri compromise. With
out inquiring iuto the validity of that Legisla
ture ou account of the mode of its electiou, or
by reason of its changing the seat of govern
ment to Shawnee Mission, the legislation itself
is a sufficient justification for the free State men
of Kansas to appeal, in the mode they have
adopted, to Congress, to secure to them their
rights and privileges.
This Legislature, imposed upon Kansas by
non-residents, has disfranchised a large class of
its citizens, and deprived them of the right of
holding office, or of practicing as attorney at
law in the courts, by imposing as a condition,
unwarranted oaths to support particular laws
of Congress or of the Legislature, thereby de
stroying freedom of opinion and the right of
private judgment as to the constitutionality of
the laws of the country, which is the birthright
of an American citizen.
Mr. SMITII, of Yirgina. Quote the acts.
Mr. GROW. That is what I proj>ose to
do. The voter if required must swear, in ad
dition to other things, to sustain the fugitive
slave law before he can vote—an unheard-of
requisition to require a voter anywhere under
our form of government to swear to support
any particular law as a condition to vote ; for
in most cases the very object of his going to
the polls is to secure the repeal or modification
of such laws as he considers unconstitutional or
unjust. And every person elected or appoint
ed to office in the Territory must take the same
oath, l'o be admitted to practice as attorney
in the courts the applicant must swear to "sup
port the Constitution of the United States,and
to support and sustain the provisions of an act
entitled an act to organize the Territories of
Nebraska and Kansas, and the provisions of
an act commonly known as the fugitive slave
law,' and to which I understand the court has
added all the laws of the Territorial Legis
lature.
The Legislature has appointed or provided
for the appointment of aii officers not already
appointed by the General Government, for
terms of from two to five years, ineludingslier
iffs, constables, justices of the peace, county
commissioners, and election boards. So that
there is not an officer in the Territory of Kan
sas to-day, of any kiud or description, civil,
military, or judicial, except the thirteen mem
bers of the council, who bold their offices for
two years, in the selection of which the peo
ple of the Territory have had any voice, nor
can they have under present regulations till the
fall of 1857. The Legislature has prolonged
its own existence by legislative act till the Ist
of January, 18<8, so there can be no change in
the laws till after that time. This is the pop
ular sovereignty that leaves the people " per
fectly free to form and regulate their domes
tic institutions in their own way." And under
these circumstances the people of Kansas are
arc assured by the President tiiat " the con
stitutional means of relieving the people of un
just administration and laws by a change of
public ngeuts and by repeal are ample."
But, in addition to invading the right of
private judgment, and of depriving the people
of all voice in the selection of their rulers, the
Legislature has struck down freedom of speech,
freedom of the press, and the inalienable rights
of men, and enacted into law a despotism as
galling, if not as odious, as that of the House
of Hapsburg. The rights of freemen are tram
pled under foot, while the right to sluve pro
perty is shielded and protected by the highest
sanctions of law. The jicnalty for advising or |
assisting an apprentice to run away from his !
master is a fine of not less than $2O, nor
more than $5OO ; but for enticing or carry
ing away a slave, dcnlh, or ten years'imprison
ment.
For harboring or concealing an apprentice,
ouc dollar for each day's concealment ; but for
harboring or concealing a slave, not less than
five years' ut hard labor.
For advising or persuading an apprentice to
rebel against or assault his master, not less
than $2O, nor more than $5OO ; but for advi
sing or jiersuading a slave to rebel, DEATH.
Kidnapping a free man and selling him into
slavery, an offense that should receive the se
verest punishment known to the criminal calen
dar, unless it be for taking life—and I know
not as that should be excepted ; for what gra
ver offense against the laws of a civilized com
munity eould be committed, than to seize a
peaceable citizen reposing upon its protection,
and place upon him the chain and the manacle,
and then consign him to hopeless bondage—
yet the penalty for such an offense uuder the
laws of Kansas is not to errecA ten years' im
prisonment ; while death is the penalty for aid
iug or assisting in persuading a slave to obtain
his freedom.
For decoying and carrying away a child un
der twelve years of age, in order to detain or
conceal it from its parents, imprisonment not to
exceed five years, or six months in county jail,
or fine of $5OO, at the discretion of the court.
Even the innocence and helplessness of child
hood finds less protection under the sanction of
these laws than is given to the right of pro
perty claimed in the souls and bodies of men.
A. MEMBER. Tbey do uot sell the souls.
Mr. GROW. Can it be separated at the
auction block ? Does it not go with the body
in this world's pilgrimage, till it panes the
dark valley ? Mr. Chairman, I have contras
ted soma of these laws for the purpose of show
ing what kind of protection is thrown around
the rights of freemen, compared with that giv
ven to a particular species of property.
General Stringfellow, in a letter to the Mont
gomery (Ala.) Advertiser, uses this language
as to the character of the laws of the territo
ry in reference to slavery :
" Thay have now law* more efficient to protect slave
property than any State in the Union. These laws have
just taken efflsct, and have already silenced Abolitionist*;
for. in spite of their heretofore boasting, they know they
will be enforced to the very letter and with the utmost
rigor. Not only Is it profitable for slaveholders to go to
Kansas, but politically It is all-iinportaut."
Not content with enacting laws more effi
cient to protect slave property than any State
in the Union, they attempt to stifle freedom of
speech and of the press ly enacting that—
" If any free person, by speaking or writing, assert or
iniuutain that persons laive not the right to hold slaves in
this Territory, or shall introduce into this Territory, print,
publish, write, circulate, or cause to be introduced into
this Territory, written, priuted, published, or circulated
in this Territory, any book, paper, magazine, pamphlet
or circular, containing any denial of the right of persons
to hold slaves in this Territory, such person shall be deem
ed guilty of felony, and punished by imprisonment at hard
labor for a term not less than two years.
" Xo person who is conscientiously opposed to holding
"Javes. or who does not admit the right to hold slaves in
this Territory, shall sit as a juror on the trial of unv pro
secution for any violation of any of the sections of this
let.
Such are some of the laws of the Territory
of Kansas which the President has announced
must be enforced at the poiut of the bayonet,
if necessary. The first gun fired by the armies
of the Republic in such a cause would be but
the echo of the British musketry in the streets
of Boston on the 19th of April, 1775, and its
flash would light a flame that the floods of the
father of waters could not extinguish.
Should a despot of the Old World issue an
edict that auv of his subjects who should de
clare that he had not a divine right to rule, to
imprison and to kill, should be incarcerated in
the duugeons, and that auy one should be in
competent to try the accused unless he believ
ed iu the divine rights of kings, would not an
execration go up from the heart of civilization
deep and bitter as the wailings of the damned ;
and his name would head the infamous roil of
the world's Neros, Gesslers, and liaynaus • yet
in the heart of the Republic American citizens
are to-day required to submit to an enactment
iu the form of law Hot less odious.
It is to free themselves from such wrongs,
and that they may onjoy the common rights of
American freemen, that the people of Kansas
have peaceably assembled and formed a consti
tution, in order to petition Congress for a re
dress of grievances.
The President informed us, in his special
message, that associations were formed in some
of the States to promote emigration to Kansas,
which " awakened emotions of intense indigna
tion in States near to the Territory of Kansas,
and especially in the adjoining State of Mis
souri." Why this indignation at uny effort to
furnish settlers to the Territory, and thus to
people the wilderness ? For the first time in
the history of the country has any effort to fa
cilitate the settlement of new States excited
indignation anywhere. But the prayer of the
patriot and the philanthropist has ever follow
ed the hardy pioneer, as he went forth to sub
due the forest and convert the lair of the wild
beast into a home for civilized man.
But the reusou assigned far the special in
dignation of the people of Missouri, is, that
their " domestic peace was the most directly
endangered." Sir, how could the domestic
peace of any section of this Union be endanger
ed by building up new States in the wilderness,
and covering its desert waste with the homes
of civilized men ? Though the President fail
ed to give us that information, General Atchi
son has, in a letter to the Atlanta (Georgia)
Examiner, dated i'lutte City, December 15,
1855 :
" Kan.sa.-i and Missouri have the same latitude, climate,
and soil, and should have the game institutions. The peace
and prosperity of depend upon it. ICantas must have
stare institutions, or .Missouri must hare free institutions—
hence the interest the " border ruffians " take in Kansas
affairs.
" If the settlement of Kansas had been left to the laws
which govern emigration, it would have been a slave Ter
ritory as certainly as Missouri is a slave State ; but inas
much as those laws have been violated and perverted by
the force of money, and a powerful organization in the
Xorth and East, it becomes the South " to be up and do
ing."' and to send in a population to counteract the Xorth.
" Let your young men come forth to Missouri and Kan
sas! l.'-t th<-m come tec// armed, with money enough to
support tliein for twelve months, and determined to see
this tiling out! One hundred true men will lie an acqui
sition. The more the better. Ido not see bow we are to
avoid civil war; come it will. Twelve months will not
elapse lefore war—civil war of the lieree.-t kind—will lie
upon us. We are arming and preparing for it. Indeed,
we of the border counties are prepared. We must have
the support of the South. /IV are fighting the battles of
the South, fhir institutions are at stake. Vou far south
ern men arc uow out of the naive of the war. but. if we
fail, it will reach your own doors, perhaps your hearths.
We want men, armed men. We want money—not for
ourselves, hut to support our friends who may come from
a distance."
Is the domestic ponce of Missouri endanger
ed, then, by an effort to make Kansas a free
State? Are the insfihUiuns of Missouri and
the South staked ou the issue whether a free
State shall join a slave State 011 the west ?
Then the only vital fpiestion in the politics of
the day is freedom or slavery to Kansas ; for
its destiny is to shape and control that of all
the territory west of it to the Pacific. For,
with slavery established in Kansas, its insti
tutions, as well as those of the South, will be
just as insecure with a free State on its wes
tern border as would be Missouri with Kan
sas free. The moving cause, it scents, then,
for abrogating the restriction on slavery in
this vast territory, once consecrated to free
dom, was to plant upon its virgin soil the in
stitutions of human bondage, so that the do
mestic |>eacc of the southern States might not
be endangered.
The repeal of the Missouri compromise was,
from its inception, a conspiracy against free
dom. The moving cause that abrogated this
time-honored restriction was to secure the in
troduction and establishment of slavery, so as
to prevent, if possible, a free State bordering
a slave State 011 the west. For but one Ter
ritory was needed for all purposes of fair set
tlement ; and such was the form of the bill
first introduced. Vet it was afterwards di
vided without any apparent reason, unless it
was to enable slavery the more easily to make
its conquest.
Why was Kansas intrenched and hemmed
in entirely by the State of Missouri, and re
stricted to a small area compared with Ne
braska, with au imaginary line for its north-
ern boundary, when the Platte river, a few
miles further north, was the great natural boun
dary that should have divided the two, if a
division was to be made ? Was it because
that would bring a part of Kansas opposite
lowa, so that freemen could reach the Terri
tory without the necessity of passing through
a slave State ? Why was the clause always
before inserted in every territorial bill since
the formation of the Government, requiring
the laws of the Territory to be the supervi
sion of Congress, omitted in this? Then,
I when, the time comes for electing the Legis-
I lature, which is, of course, to give shape, by
its action, to the institutions of the infant
State, it is secured to slavery by an invasion,
of non-residents, and then follows the legisla
tion to which I have referred : a series of acta,
all pointing, from the first, to the consumma
tion of one object—the tulfillraent of the pro
phecy of Geueral Atchison, made in the Sen
ate of the United States, that if the Missouri
compromise was repealed Kansas would be a
slave State. And he has insisted upon that
opinion from that day to this.
In addition to all this, the secretary of the
Territory, who is required by act of Congress
to transmit " one copy of the laws and jour
nals or the Legislative Assembly within thir
ty days after the end of each session, and one
copy of the executive proceedings and official
correspondence semi-annually," Presi
dent, and copies of the laws'to the - Senate and
House of Representatives, to be deposited in
the libraries of Congress, has neglected entire
ly to send the laws to Congress, or to furnish
the President with the executive proceedings.
If so, the President has not transmitted them
to the Senate, to answer to their call for them,
and has not answered a call made by this House
more than three weeks since. So I take it
for granted that they have not been furnish
ed by the secretary of the Territory, as requir
ed by law. So, no information of the doings
of the Territory reaches as officially till a late
day, and then we are furnished only such part
as the officials choose to give. lint his neg
lect on the part of one of the officials of the
Territory is passed by unnoticed by the Presi
dent, while he removes other officers for alleg
ed dereliction of duty. Now, if the gentleman
from Virginia [Mr. SMITH] wishes it, I will
yield to him.
Mr. SMITH, of V irginia. Ido not desire i
to interrupt the gentleman at this point ; I
merely made the remark—rather sub rosu thau
otherwise—that I did not nndersand why the
gentleman should complain of the secrotury of
the Territory for failing to put the House and
the country in possession of the territorial laws
when I found him using those laws and arguing
upon them. I thought it was rather unneces
sary fault-finding.
Mr. GROW. I suppose, then, Mr. Chair
man, that it would not be accessary for the
officials of the Government to do their official
duty becunse the information they might com
municate could obtained in some other wav.
1 take it for granted that, when the organic
law requires an officer of the Territory to do a
certain duty, you have a right to complain if
he fails to perforin that duty, even though you
may obtain the information by some other
means.
Rut to return from the digression into which
I have been drawn by the gentleman's remark.
It seems, that but one object has actuated
this whole movement, from the inception of
the repeal of the Missouri compromise, and
that has been to supplant free labor and free
institutions, in order to establish slavery on the
soil of Kansas.
Why are men brought there face to face
with the bayonet in their hands and deadly
hostility in their hearts ? Governor Shan
non, in his dispatch to the President, giving
an account of the troubles at Lawreuce, says :
"The ex itement increased and spread, net only through
out this whole Territory, but was worked up t> the ut
most point of intensity in the whole of the upper portion
of Missouri. Armed men were seen rushing from all
quarters towards Lawrence, some to defend the place and
others to demolish it."
" Men rush with arms to demolish it !"
From where? The State of Missouri. What
interest has Missouri in enforcing the laws of
Kansas more than the State of Ohio, or Yir
ginia ? General Atchison tells us : Slave in
stitutions for Kansas or free institutions for
Missouri. Slavery in Kansas secures slavery
forever in Missouri. This is the motive which
brings from Missouri men to preserve law and
order in Kansas. From the description in im
part of this letter, the " law and order" that
such men would preserve is like the protect o i
the wolf wquld give the lamb. In another
part of the despatch he says :
" I found in the rump at Wakarusa a deep and settled
feeling of hmtJity airam-t the opposing forces in law
reuce. and apparently a fixed determination to attack
this place and ilemnli>h it and the presses, and take pos
session of their arm.
'• To issue an order to the Sheriff to disband hi pos\
and to Generals Richardson and Strickler todi-band their
forces, would have been to let loose this large body of
men, who would have been left without control to follow
the impulse of their feelings, which evidently was to at
tack and disarm the people of />nrrrnce."
Those are the men who go forth to enforce
law and order, and to preserve pence and qui
et in one of the Territories of the Union.—
They come for what ? To demolish a town,
to burn its houses, and drive out its citizens
from their homes at the point of the bayonet.
Why is Missouri fighting the baffles "of the
South ; and how are her institutions at stake [
in the issue of slavery or freedom in Kansas 1
The capital invested iu any one kind of pro- j
pcrtv lias always a common interest, and is i
moved by a common motive. The three mil-j
lion slaves in the South, at an average price i
of $OOO each, makes a capital of $1,500,000,
000. But, in addition, it is the same interest j
that owns the landed and personal
so that the moneyed interest of the South JBfa
acts together by a common sympathy prob!®
bly exceeds $4,000,000,000. Whatever, then,
teuds to enhance the market value of the slave
moves this mighty interest with a common im
pulse. A moneyed interest in any country al
ways struggles to seize upon its Government,
and to wield it for its own advantages. Henec
the innovations on the early and well-estab
lished policy of the Government in restricting
slavery where it had not ait actual oxistence.
V"OT>. XVI. —NO. 42.
Hence the efforts now making to overtarn the
settled decisions of the courts, and to nation
alize the institution of slavery under the nw
doctrine, that the Constitution carries it wher
ever its jurisdiction extends unless there be lo
cal law to preveut it.
The Democracy of the country, in the dars
of its glory and trinmph, resisted the attempt
of the moneyed interest of the country, invest
ed in bauking, to seize upon this Government
to U3e it for its own purposes. They also re
sisted the attempt of the moneyed interest en
gaged in manufacturing to use this Govern
ment for its purposes. And yet here is a unit
ed, concentrated moneyed interest—compared
to which either of those was but as a drop in
the bucket to the ocean—endeavoring to use
this Government for the promotion of its in
terests and the advancement of its ends. Now,
sir, it is to resist auy such attempt, on the
part of the moneyed interest invested in slaves,
that the people w horn I represent resist all at
tempts to plant slavery in Kansas.
Regarding it, as did the fathers of the Re
public, as a social and political evil, that re
tards the growth and developement of a conn
try by degrading its labor, they believe it to
be the duty of Congress to do in reference to
the Territories what Madison desired it to do
more than a half century ago in reference to
the foreign slave trade. In urging its aboli
tion he say 3:
" The dictate* of humanity, the principles of the people
the national safety and happinena, and prudent policy re
quire it of us.
" It is to be hoped that, by expressing a natioual disap
probation of this trade, we may destroy it, and aave onr
aelves from reproaches, and our posterity the imbecility
ever attending on a country filled with slaves.''
And here, sir, I desire to read an extract
from a Rpeecb of miue iu the last Congress on
the Nebraska bill :
" But it is said that these Territories are common pro
perty and that all the citizens of the United States have
common rights in theui; and that, therefore, no citizen
can Is? excluded from emigrating to them without injus
tice and degradation. No one proposes to exclude any
person from emigrating and settling on the public domain.
The Territory, it is troc, is the common property of the
whole people, hut by the Federal Constitution the'y agreed
to put it under a supervisory power. That power is Con
gress ; Congress is made a board of direction over this
trust fund, to use it in such way as, in their sound dis
cretion. will be raoit advantageous to the trust, and will
best accomplish the object of its creation, the promotion
of the real and permr.neat interests of the country. Who
ever goes Into the Territory, therefore, as a settler, must
conform to the " rules and regulations" established by
this supervisory board, created by the common consent
and agreement of the whole country, ard made one of the
articles of compact. No nerson lias any separate, dis
tinct individual right that he can have set apart as his
share to me us he pleases, any more than can take his
share of the President's House or of this Capitol, and ap
propriate it to his own use. It can he used only in such
way as. in the judgement of Congress, will conduce to the
advan age of the whole."
If, then, this Government shonltl see that
the Territories are used such way as best to
promote the'pnramount interest of the conn
try, to develop its physical strength and tho
mental resources of its people, free labor can
accomplish it better than slave. For slavery,
wherever it goes, bears a sirocco in front, aud
loaves a desert in the renr. Under slave la
bor, the soil, which is the means for support
ing the human race, and was given by the
Creator for that purpose, is impoverished and
made worthless. It is, then, abandoned, and
virgin soil taken up again to be in the same
way impoverished. And thus is the basis of
national greatness and glory destroyed, and
the energies of a people are palsied by degra
ding its lal>or. .Mr. Jefferson, in his Notes on
Virginia, has given to the world its influence
oa society :
" With the morals of the people their industrv also ut
de rtroved ; for in a warm climate no man wiil labor for
himself who can make another l.ibor for him. Thi* is so
true, that of the prorpie'ors of slaves a very small pro
portion indeed are ever seen to labor.
" With what execrution should the statesman be loaded,
who, permitting one half the citizen* thus to trample on
the rights of the other, transforms those into despots, and
these into enemies, destroys the morals of the one part,
and the amor parita the other."
I trust, sir, that Jefferson, born and reared
amid the influences of slavery, will not be re
garded as a fanatic for his view 3 of the insti
tution. As for myself, I have no sentimental
ities, othtr than those which man should ever
feel for the miseries and woes of his race, on
the subject of slavery as it exists in the States.
If it be a good, those who have it are entitled
to all its blessings ; if an evil, they alone have
to answer for it to their own consciences, to
the public opinion of the world, and to their
God. I would leave it, then, to the people
among whom it exists to devise, in their own
time and in their own way, the mode and man
, ner of its removal. That is a problem with
the solution of which I tax not my brain. It
has taxed in vain the wisdom and ingeuuity
of some of the wisest aud ablest statesmen of
the Republic.
When, therefore, we find an institution that
once planted among a people tliey are unable
to devise any means to get rid of, even though
they desire to do so, should we not hesitate
iu doing any act hy which it would be fasten
ed upon a people who have it not. and who
would be much better without it ? Would
the people of Kansas, if left to their own free
choice, to-day choose the institution of slavery
instead of the free institutions ?
i It is said that the object of the bill organiz
ing the Territory was to leave the people to
do as they please. The people of Kansas to
do as they please, when there is not an officer
of the Territory in whose election they have
had a voice, and cannot have for two years to
| eoino ! The people of Kansas to do "as they
please, when by force you trample down their
I ballot-boxes, and deprive them of the full cx
j ercise of the elective franchise ! You have ira
; posed on them a Legislature which has cnact
! Ed laws striking down the dearest rights of
freemen ; and you eall it law and order to sus
i tain the invasion, and enforce the enactments.
! And after the people of Kansas have been dis
franchised at the ballot-box, and they have
Been deprived of their rights because they un
dertake to demand a redress of their grievan
ces at the hands of the only body that can
give it—the Congress of the United States—
armid men are to be called in to shoot them
down. Arc the citizens of Kansas competent
to take care of themselves ? If so, why im
port men from other States u> enforce their
laws ? The fact that men arc imported to
execute the laws of the Legislature is condu-