p p 5' y F 685 .524 Copy 1 SPEECH OF HON. WILLIAM R. SAPP, OF OHIO, AGAINST THE OUTRAGES IN KANSAS, ANB IN FAVOR OF FREEDOM AND FREMONT. DELIVERED IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES , JULY i3,, 1856. X"., A^*^' WASHINGTO-V: PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE, 1856. n'ci THE SLAVEEY QUESTION. The House being in Committee of the Whole — Mr. SAPP said: Mr. Chairman: Standing here a representative in part ot' the great State of Ohio — the empire of that West over wliich the star of empire still shi)»es to guide movnig masses of emigrants — multitudes •' I^ikc to which the populous North, Poured never from her frozen loins, To cross thu llliiue or l>Hiiau" — and hearing the cherished principles of the peo- ple of that State constantly assailed by the other side of this House, I feel constrained to enter now upon the discharge of a duty which other pressures on my time have prevented me from performing hitherto. It seems to me, sir, that every representative of the free North should speak out at this time, however briefly, in order that a moral picture of the unanimity of senti- ment which beats in the northern heart may be reflected by her true representatives, and held up for exhibition to the world, that all may see and fully understfind that, in no idle spirit of threats and vaporing, but in all which evinces a quiet, firm, and settled purpose, the North has fully made up its mind that no more of our com- mon territory shall have imposed upon it the blighting institution of slavery — an institution ■which Separates parent and child on the auction block; which shuts the gates of knowledge, and ■which snatches from the weak all the hard-earned fruits of their toil; an institution which upholds an aristocracy founded on the humiliation of la- bor; an institution that has violated the compro- mise of lii2U, by which the Territory of Kansas j was consecrated to free labor forevi;r; an institu- tion tliat is the bane of our social condition, that has arrayed the South against the North, and exposed us to danger from abroad; an institution that has no sympathy with Democracy, but se- cures to the slaveholder political power, making one hundred slaves equal to sixty free white men; an institution that exhausts the soil, and that moistens it with blood and tears, and always wants to spread itself over new domain; an insti- tution that regards disunion as aniong the means of defense, and not always the last to be resorted to; an institution that usurped the name of De- mocracy and adopted none of its principles; an institution the extension of which has engaged Congress and the people for the last two years, while other matters of great interest and impor- tance to the general welfare have been almost to- tally neglected; an institution, in short, against which are arrayed the sympathies of the civilized world, and the hopes of our race. Mr. Chairman, it is useless for the Represent- atives from the South, and their echoes from the North, to clamor about agitation and sectional- ism — to charge upon us, the representatives of freedom, the productions of thebitterfruita which grew from the seed of their own planting. It is upon them that the responsibility rests for the present deplorable condition of things in this country. No sooner had the excitement which grew from the enactment of the compromise meas- ures of 1850 subsided, than something must be done to renew it. The President of the United States — a mere tool in the hands of the conspira- tors (I mean no disrespect to his high office) — in violation of his oft-repeated pledges, using all the appliances of power and patronage, repealed the solemn compact of 1820, unsobcited by the people — and launciied us into a sea of trouble from which the wisest pilots in the land have not yet discovered the means of escape. But, Mr. Chairman, it teaches us an important lesson, viz; that little men are dangerous in high places! It was hoped that everythhig would soon be moving on quietly, " keeping step to the music of the Union," when they, fearing it was only when a tempest raged that they could ride into power, sought for some new device to afford them the means of gratifying their grasping designs and extending the institution of slavery. Suddenly a new light burst upon them, 'i'he Missouri compromise, which had existed for thirty-four years, the consideration ibr which had been fully paid the South, but for which the North had real- A' I ized nothiii£^; which had, by the action of the aame men been indorsed by the embodiment of the jirinciples of it in the reaohitions aniiexins: Texas to the United States, and which they hail also endeavored to extend to the Pacific ocean; — this sacred measure, thus so often and so em- phatically indorsed by them, presenti'd ilself to iheir morbid minds as the material for agitation. Unconstitutional it was immediately proclaimed by the Little Giant from Illinois, who, with his eye upon the Presidency, cared not what conse- quences were involved in manufacturing notoriety which would give him claims to the support of the South. His unholy ambition thus made him the tool of that section to introduce slavery into ihis Territory, consecrated by that compromisi; to freedom, and brought forth the measure which destroyed that time-honored olive branch. And how was it passed, sir? In the Senate, where slavery holds the iron rod over the heads of its menials, it passed not without earnest and bitter resnonstrance, but at least in conformity with strict parliamentary order. In this body, all rules of order were violated by a northern doughface who sat in that chair presiding over the Commit- tee of the Whole, and who coolly made decisions to hasten the consummation of the iniquity. And, sir, this measure pa.ssed. The Missouri compromise was murdered at the hour of mid- night. The guns of the pro-slaveryites rejoiced at the foul work, and boomed forth from this capital their peals, which, resounding in the North, told its people that slavery had again triumphed. Campbell tells us that " Freedom shrieked when Kosciusko fell." So, sir, did free- dom shrink when tlie Kansas Nebraska iniquity was passed, and the cry went forth that mure free territory had been prostituted to slavery. And yet, Mr. Chairman, the men who committed this outrage clamor about agitation! I told them, with my humble voice, when they were march ing their forces to destroy the Missouri compro- mise, what the result would be. It was not necessary to be a prophet, or a son of a prophet, to foresee what was coming. How truthfully have the general anticipations I'ecn realized ! Charge us with agitation, sir ! The people will hold your misnamed Democratic party responsi- ble for it. When they elevated your nominee, Frajiklin Pierce, to the Presidency, the condition of the bond that secured his election was, that there should be no more agitation. Everything then was in a happy condition. The waters, which for some years had been rutlled by the storm of strife and excitement, had nearly been allayed, and it seemed as if the heyday of our national existence was fast approaching. Frank- lin Pierce was inaugurated. He immediately be- gan setting his wires for the succession. Political trickery was substituted for exalted statesman- ship. A kitchen cabinet, constituting a power behind the throne greater than the throne itself, was established. With a view to divert attention from domestic misrule, foreign wars were lightly threatened. Weak nations were bullied. Grey- town was destroyed. All the little tricks which the genius of the mere politician could devise, were concocted to promote the chances of the Executive for reelection. When the pinch came, in the issue with foreign nations, the white feather was shown. The Nebraska iniquity was con- cocted with the very assent and connivance of the Administration. Franklin Pierce bent the pliant hinges of his knee to the slave power, that thrift might follow fawning. The bill having passed and received his signature, it was still necessary to consummate the iniquity. Freedom's voice must be stifled in the selection of officers of the new Territory. It was found that they had been mistaken in Reeder and others of the appointees; they would not become in all respects the suppliant tools of .slavery. Pretexts for their removal were hatched up and carried out. Pro- slaveryites were appointed to succeed them. Armed Missourians controlled the ballot-boxes in the Territory, The President winks at it, to please the South. He sends in a pro-slavery annual message to Congress before this House was organized to receive it, for no other purpose than to produce an etfect upon some elections for delegates to the Cincinnati Convention, in certain southern States in which elections wore just then about being held. Shortly at'ter sends in another message to tickle the South, libeling the anti- slavery settlers in Kansas. He sends the mili- tary forces of the Government to Kansas to pre- vent the free exercise of sovereignty on the part of the free-State men of Kansas, and to enforce the execution of the so-called laws of Kansas, making every man kneel to the behests of slavery. Arrests for treason free-State men of Kansas wno had done no more than initiate a State organiza- tion, ft) be put into operation when the State should be admitted, recognizing freedom. Per- mits the corrupt judges of the United States courts in Kansas to remain in office, who smile at the murder of anti-slavery residents, and who oppress, by the power of the courts, every son of freedom on that soil. Fathers arc murdered, and their children and wives left orphans and v/idows. The soil of the Territory is drenched with blood thus ruthlessly shed. 'I'he bones of the victims lie bleaching un the plains, as an evi- dence of how men engaged in a peaceful liattlc for freedom are made victims to the insatiable appe- tites of the propagandists of slavery. ■ Tlie advo- cates of freedom are murdered for the exercise of the right of speech. The freedom of the press, guarantied by the Constitution, is subverted, and the contents of the printing offices thrown by ruthless mobs into the rivers; its conductors rode on rails; ministers of the Gospel tarred and feath- ered; lawyers, and other professional men of the free-State party, forced to flee the Territory for their lives. An officer of the Kansas committee, clothed witli the dignity of this House, arrested, and only given up at the pleasure of the pro- slavery partisans. Armed bodies of Missouri invaders preventing the peaceful settlement of * free-State emigrants on the lands. Test oaths, requiring obedience to unconstitutional laws, and forcing men to perjure their consciences, pre- scribed as necessary to entitle them to vote. Free- State men forced to yield uj) their arms, so neces- sary for their protection against all the perils incident to a home in a new country. The citi- zens of a neigliboring State controlling aflFairs in Kansas, and arresting such of the free-State men BS they cliooso on their goins: into or leaving the Territory. And, finally, robbing the mails, and violating private correspondence. It is for these crimes that we arraign Franklin Pierce, and his accessories before and after the facts, before that august tril)unal which holds its sittings in Novem- ber, and from which there is, happily, no appeal. We shall prove these crimes against you; judg- ment will be pronounced, and execution will follow. From this position you need not hope to escape. Your graves will be yet dug before the breath leaves your bodies. Mr. Chairman, the South is continually com- manding us not to agitate. It makes slave State after slave State, and when the North protests, it cries out, "Do not agitate!" It made, by a single actjOversixty-eight thousand square miles (Florida) of slave territory a State. At another, it made three hundred and twenty-five thousand square miles (Texas) of slave territory a State. The North murmurs; again the South cries, " Do not agitate!" Again and again has the North yielded. At last, gaining assurance from the fre- quent concessions of the North, the Missouri compromise is blotted out. The North protests solemnly and earnestly. The South again cries out, " Donotagitate!" The blood of our brethren cries to us from the ground; still the South cries, *' Do not agitate !" I tell you, Mr. Chairman, the time for silence and sulmiission has passed by. '* Are we to lie supinely on our backs, and hug the delusive phantom of hope until our ene- mies (the slave power) shall have bound us hand and foot?" No, sir, we will agitate, and not only agitate, but act, until Kansas is free, and until the Missouri compromise is in fact or in effect restored. You cannot put us to sleep that you may rob us of our rights. The time when it were possible to do it has passed by. Mr. Chairman, let us see what has been the effect of the repeal of the Missouri compromise. I have already stated it in general terms: let us come to the fact-s in detail. The Kansas and Nebraska bill passed. Immediately, that Territory, which had up to that time been as placid as the ocean in a calm, became as turbulent as the waters when agitated by a mighty storm. The people .were to meet peacefully at the polls, and by that mighty instriinii-nt — the ballot — the purity and integrity of whirh were the only shield to protect them — elect their local Legislature, and such other offi- cers as were left to their choice by the organicl law. The election takes place. Was it a fair con- test between conflicting opinions ? Did the fiona fide voters alone exercise suffrage in that.Terri- tory .' A few extracts from the report of the select committei', on the part of this House, which went to Kiinsii.s, will be sufficient in itself to answer that question, which I herewith submit: " In October, A. D. 18.54, Governor A. FI. Rcodcr and the othfir officers appointed by the President arrived in the Ter- ritory. ScUlers from all parts of the country wftre moving in in great nunibers, making their claims and building their cabins. .Vboui the same time, and before any election wa.s or could lie held in the Territory, a secret political society was (brniicl in the State of Missouri, (1.) It was known by different names, such as ' Social Band,' ' Friends' Society,' 'Blue Lodge,' 'The Sons of the South.' Its members were bound together by secret oath-s, and they had pass- words, signs, ami grips, by which they were known to each other. Penalties were imposed for violating the rules and sc^crets of the order. Written minutes were kept of the proceedings of the lodges, and the ditlerent lodges were con- iiecti^d together by an etVective organization. It embraced great nunibers of the citizens of Missouri, and was ex- tended into other slave States and into the Territory. Its avowed purpose was not only to extend slavery into Kan- sas, but also into other territory of the United States, and to lorm a union of all the friends of that institution. Its plan of operating was to organize and send men to vote at the elertions in the Territory, to collect money to pay their expenses, and if necessary to protect them in voting. It also proposed to imiuce pro-slavery men to emigrate into the Territory, to aiH and sustain them wliile there, and to elect none to office but those friendly to their views. Tiiis dangerous society was controlled by men who avowed their purpose to extend slavery into the Territory at all hazards, and was altogether the most etfective instrument in organ- izing the subsequent armed invasions and forays. In its lodges in Missouri the atiairs of Kansas were discussed, the force necessary to control the election was divided into bands, and leaders selected, means were collected, and signs anil liad'4es were agreed upon. While the gnat body of the arlnal scuili'rs of the Territory were relying upon the rights secured to them by the organic law, and had formed uo organization oi combination whatever, even of a party character, this conspiracy against their rights was gathering strength in a neighboring State, and would have been suffi- cient at their first election to have overpowered them, if tliey had been united to a man. " Your committee had great difficulty in eliciting the proof of the details in regard to this secret society. One winiess, member of the Legislative Council, retuived tn answer questions in reference to it, (2.) Another deetined to answer fully, because to do so would result to his injury, (3.) Others could or would only answer as to the general purposes of the society, but sufficient is disclosed in the testimony to show the influence it liad in controlling tfie elections in the Territory." * * « * * " The testimony clearly shows, that before the proposi- tion to repeal the Missouri compromise was inlroduced into Congress, the people of Western Missouri appeared in- different to the prohibition of slavery into the Territory, and neither asked nor desired its repeal.'.' * * * " Election ok the Legislature. " Firs* District — March 30, 1855. — Laurence. The com- pany of persons who marched into this district collected in Ray, Howard, Carroll, Boone, La Fayette, Randolph, Sa- line, and Cass counties, in the State of Missouri." * * " The evening before, and the morning of the day of elec- tion, about one thousand men from the above counties arrived at Lawrence, and camped in a ravine a short dis- tance from town, near the place of voting." * * * " They were armed with guns, rifles, pistols, and bowie- knives, and had tents, music and flags with them, (•23.) They brought with them two pieces of artillery, (24,) lo.aded with musket balls, (25.)" ******* " The evening before the election, while in camp, the Missourians were called together at the tent of Captain Claiborne F. Jackson, and speeches wr.re made to them by Colonel Young and others, calling for volunteers to go to other districts where there were not Missourians enough to control the election, and there were more at Lawrence than \yere needed there, (27.) Many volunteered to go; and tlie morning of the election several companies, from one hundred ajid fifty to two hundred men each, went ofT toTceumseh, Hickory Point, IMoomingtoii, and other places (28.) *********** "Uefore the voting had commenced, the Missourians said, if the .judges appointed by the Governor did not receive their votes, they would choose other judges, (47.) .*!ome of them voted several times, changing their hats or coats, and coming up to the window again." * * * * " The whole number of names appearing upon the poll list* is 1,0.34. After lull examination, we are satisfied that not over two hundred and thirty-two of these were legal voters, and eight liundrcil and two wore iion re^ill( nt and illegal voters. This district is strongly in favor of miiking Kansas a free State, and there is no doubt that the free-Slate can- didates for the Legislature would have been elected by large majorities, if none but the actual settlers liad voted. 6 " Second Diatrirt — Bloomimiton. — On the morniii? of election, the judccs appointed by tlie GoviTnor appeared and opened tlie pull-. Tlie Missoiiriaiis be^an to oonie in early on the ninrniii!.', some five liundred or six hundred of the ii, in wajons an(i carriaires, and on liorsebaek, under ihe lead of Samuel J. Jones, then postmaster at Westport, Missouri, Claiborne F. Jackson, and INIr. Steely, of Ijide- dcndence, Missouri. 'J'hey were armed with double bar- reled puns. riHes, bowie knives, and pistols, and had flajjs hoisted, (66.)" * » ■ * * * * "In pursuance of Jackson's request, they tied white tape or ribbons In their buttonholes, so as to distinciilsh them from the 'Abolitionists,' (T.iA They airain demanded Uiat the judges shoulil resiau, and upon their refusing to do so, .smashed in the window, sash and all, and presented their pistols and !tuns to them, tlireatenjii'; to shoot tliem, (74.) Some one on the outside cried out to them not lo shoot, jis there were pro-slavery men iti the room with the judges, (75.) They then put a pry under the corner of the liouscwhicli was a I02 house, and lifted it up a few inches, and let it fall asaln, (76,) but desisted upon bein<.' told there were pro slavery men in the hf)use. During this time the orowd repeatedly demanded to be allowed to vote without being sworn; and Mr. Ellison, one of the judges, expressed himself willing, but the other two judges refused, (77^) thereupon a tiody of men, head<'d by ' SherifT Jones,' rushed into the judges' room with cocked pi-tols and drawn kouie knives in their hands, and approached Bnr.son and Eain,-ay,(78.) Jones pulled out his watch at)d said he would give them five minutes to resign in, or die, (79.) When the five minutes had expired, and the judges iH^ nuA resign, Jones said he would give them another minute and no more, (80.) Ellison told his associates that If they tjid not resign, there would he one hundred sholsfired intothe room in less than fiiteen minutes, (81 ;) and then snatching up the ballot box ran out into the crowd, holdingup Ihe ballot bo.x and hurraing for Missouri, (83.) About this time Rurson and Uamsay were called out by their friends, and not suf- fered to nanrn, (8S.) They then chose two new judges, and proceeded with the election, (92.) "They also threatened to kill the judges if they did not receive their votes without swearing them, or else resign, (9i2.) Tliey said no man should vote who would submit to be sworn — that they would kill any one who would offer to do .so — ' shoot him,' ' cut his guts out,' &c, (9U.) They .said no man should vote this day unless he voted an open ticket, and was ' all right on the goost;,' (94.) "The citizens of the Territory were not armed, except those who took part in the inoh, (104,) and a large portion of them did not vote, (105;) three hundred and forty-one votes were polled there that day, of which hut some thirty were citizens, (106.") ****«■* " We are satisfied from the testimony that, had the ac- tual settlers alone voted, the free- State caiuiidates would have been elected by a handsome majority." * * " TIdrd District— Teciimseh.—0» the 28'tl) of March, per- sons from Clay, Jackson, and Howard counties, Missouri, began to come into Tecumseh, in wagons, carriages, and on horseback, armed with guns, bowie knives, and revolv- ers; and with threats ; and encamped close by the town, and continued camping until the day of election, (110.) The niglit befori! the elecijon tv\ o hundred men were sent for from the camp of Missoiirians at Lawrence, (11 1.) On the moriiing of ihe election, before the polls were opened, some three or four hundred Missourians and others were col- lected In the yard about the house of Thomas Stinson, wliere Ihe election was to be held, armed with bowie- knives, revolvers, and dubs, (113.) They said they came to vote, and whip the damned Yankees, and would vote without being sworn, (113.)" ***** "'J'he judges e(uild not agree concerning the oath to be taken by themselves, and tlie oath to be administered to the vofirs, Mr. linrgess di'slriiig to adiiiinh-ter the oath pre- scribed by tli:' Governor, and the otlirT two judges opposing il, (MS.) nuriiig this discussion between the judges, which lasted some time, the crowd outside became excited and noisy, ibnatening and cursing Mr. Hurgess, the lice State judge, (1 17.) Per.sons were sent at diirerent times by the crowd outside into the room where the judges were, with threatening messages, especially against Mr. Fiurgess, and at last ten minutes were given them to organize in, or leave ; and as tbe time passed, persons outside would call out the nuniber of minutes left, with thretits against I'.iirgcss if he did not agree to organize, (118.) At the end of that time, the judges not being able to organize, left the room, and the crowd proceeded lo elect nine judges, and carry ou the election, (119.) The free-State men generally left the ground without voting, stating that there was 'no trse m their voting there." ***** " A large majority, four to one, of the .letual settlers of thai district were free-State men, (1:11) ; and there cannot be the least doubt that if none but the actual settlers oi the di- triet had voted at that election, the free- State candidate ivnnhl have been elected. The number of legal votes in llie district, according to the census returns, was one hundred ami one. The total inimber of votes cast was three hundred and sev(;nty-two, and of these but thirty two are on the ret inns ; and, from the testimony and records, we are saii ficd that not over forty legal votes wt-rf cast at thai election. A body of armed Misssouii at the time, (141.) Colonel Coffer subsi'quently married in the Territory. After the polls were closed the ri'tiirns were made, and a man, claiming lo he a magistrate, ceriilied ob thein that he had sworn the judges of eleetbm be'ore open- ing the polls, (142.) In tlie t'otawataniie precinct Ihe Mis- sourians attended the election, aiid_ after threatening Mr. Chesnnt, the only judge present appointed by the Governor, to Induce him to resign, they proceedeil lo elect two other judges -one a Missourjan and the other a resldinl ot' an- other piecinet of that district. The polls were then op 'ncd, and all the Missourians were allowed to vote without being sworn." ****** * " Colonel Young, a citizen of Missouri, but a candidate for and elected to the Territorial Legislative Council, was pre- sent anil voted In the precinct. He claimed that all Missoii- rians who were present on the day of election were enti- i tied to vote. Bui thirly or forty of the citizens of the pre- cinct were present, and many of Iheni did not vote, (145.) At the LittJi' Su2!ir precinct, the election seemed to have been conducted t'uiily, and there a free-State majority was polled, (146.) From the testimony, the whole district ap- pears lo have heeii 'largely Tree State, and hiid none but actual settlers voted, the I'ree State eaiididate.s would have been elected liy a larj^e majority. From a carelul oxamiiia- tioii of the testijnony and the records, we find liiat from two hundred to two iiundred and twenty-five legal voles were polled, out of eiylii hundred and ei^ihty eight, the tot;U number given in the pri;cincts of the fii'th district. Of the lej;al votes east, the free-Slate ■candidates- received one hundred and tit'tv-one." ***** " Sixtk Disliict—Fort Sco'i. — A company of citir.ojis from Missouri, mostly I'roni Hales county, came into this district the day belbre the election, some camping, and others put- Xing up at the public house, (147.) They numbered from one hundred to two hundred, (14S,) and came in wagons and on horseback, carrying their provisions and U'lits with tliem, and Were generally armed Willi pistols. They de- clared their purpose lo vote, and clainn^d the right to do so." » * « '• No one was challenged or sworn, and all voted who desired to. Out of three Iiundred and liiiy votes cast, not over one hundred were legal, and but sixty- lour of tlio;e named in the census taken one month beliire by Mr. Barber, the candidate for the Council, voted.-' * * * * " ScreiUli IJhtiict. — From two to three hundred men from llie Slate of Missouri came in wagons or on horseback ti) tlie election ground at Switzer's Creek, in the sivenlh dis- trict, and encamped near the polls on the day preceding the election. They were armed with pistols and other weapons, ai\d declared their purppse lo vote, in order to secure the el, rtion ofpro slavery members." * * * "The census list shows lift}' three legal voters in the district. Two hundred and til'ly-tluee votes wi;re cast; of these, twenty-five were residents; seventeen of whom were in the district when the census was taken, (150.) Some of the residents present at the polls did not vote, declaring it use- less. Candidates declined to run on the IVee Slate ticket, because they were unwilling to run the risk of so unequal a contest, it being known Uiat a great many were coming from Missouri to vote, (151.) Nearly all the settlers were free-State men ; and twenty-three out of the twenty-five legal votes given were cast for the (mly free-Slate candidate running. Mobiller McGee, who was declared elected repre- sentative, had a claim — a saw-mill and a house in the Ter- ritory—and he was there part of the time. Hut his legal residence is now, and was then, near VVeslport,in Missouri, where he owns and conducts a valuable farm, and where his family reside s. " Eiihtk District. — Tills was attached to the seventh dis- trict for a member of the council and a representative, and its vote was controlled by the illeeal vote cast then. The census shows thirty -nine votes in it — thirty-seven votes were cast, of whom a majority voted the free-State ticket." " Tenth District. — This and the eighth election district formed one representative district, and was the only one to which the inv.Tsion iVom Missouri did notextend." * * * '• Eleventh District. — Your committee were unable to pro- cure witnesses from this district. Persons who were present at the election were gh their families were in Missouri, (160.) " The judges appoiiiieil by the Governor opened the polls, and some persons ofi'ered to vote; and when their voles were rejected on the ground that they were not residents of the district, the crowd threatened to tear the house doWH if tliejudgesdid nolleave, (161. The jud«esthen withdrew, taking the poll-books with them, (162.) The rrowd then proceeded to select other persons to act as judges, and tlie eleelion went on, (163.)" * * * « '• ]iut few of the residents were present and voted, (165,) and the free-State men as a general thing did not vote (166.)" •■ ♦ * * * "The number of legal voters in this district was ninety-six, of whom a majority were frec-Stiite men. Of tlieSe — voted. Th« total number of voles cast was two hundred and sisty- niiic." " Fourteenth district— Burr Oak frecinct — Several hun- dred Missourians from Buchanan, Platte, and Andrew counties, Missouri, inclndhig a great many of the promi- nent citizens of St. Joseph, came into this precinct the day before, and on the day of election, in wagons, and on horse, and encamped there, (171.) Arrangements were made for them to cross the ferry at St. Joseph free of ex- pense lo themselves, (172.) They were armed with bowie- knives and pistols, guns and rifles, (173.) On the morninj of the election, the free Slate candiilates resisned in a body, on account of the presence of the large iinmbi'r of armed Missourians, at which the crowd cheen d and hur- rahed, (174.) General B. F. Stringlellow was present, and was prominent in promoting the election of the pro .slavery ticker, as was also the Hon. Willard P. Hall, and others of the most prruninent citizens of St. Joseph, Missouri, (175.) But one of the judges of election, appointed by the Govern- or, served on that day, and the crowd chose two olherB to supply the vacancies, (170.)" * * * " The free- Slate men generally did not vote, (183.)" * * * " Donijihun precinct. — The evening before the election, some two hundred or more Missourians from Platte, Buch- anan, Saline, and Clay counties, Missouri, came into this precinct, Willi tents, music, wagons, and provisions, and armed with guns, rifles, pistols, and bowie-knives, and en- camped about two miles from the place of voting, (188.) They said they came to vote to make Kansas a slave State, and intended to return to Missouri after they had voted, (189.) " On the morning of the election the judges appointed by the Governor would not serve, and others were appointed by the crowd, (190.) The Missourians were allowed to vote without being sworn(191)— some of them voting as many as eight or nine times ; changing their hats and coats and giving in difi'erent names each time, (192.) After they had voted they returned to Missouri, (193.) The free Slate men generally did not vote, (194,) though constituting a ma- jority in the precinct, (195.) Upon counting the ballots in the box and the names on the [Kill list, it was found that there were loo many ballots, (196.) and istricl.— The e\ectianiu this district was held in the house ot' a Mr. Hayes. Ou the day of election a crowd of from four hundred and eighty to five hundred men (201) collected around the polls, of which tin; great body were citizens of Missouri." * * * " The free State men did not vote, although they believed their numbers to be equal to the pro-slavery settlers, and some claimed that they had the majority. They were deterred by threats throughout by the Missourians. before and on the day of election, from putting up candidates, and no candidates ■were run, for this reason: that there was a credited rumor, previously, that the Missourians would control the election. The free-Stale judge was threatened with expulsion from the polls, and a young man thrust a pistol into the window through which the votes were received. The whole num- ber of votes cast was four hundred and seventeen. Of the names on the poll book but sixty-two arc in the census rolls; and the te'stimony shows that a small portion, esti- mated by one witness at one quarter of the legal voters, Toted. Your committee estimate the number of legal ▼oters at eighty. One of the judges referred to certified to the Governor that the election was fairly conducted. It was not contested, because no one would take the respons- ibility of doing it, as it was not considered safe ; and that if another election was had, the residents would fare no better. '• Sixteenth Di'Strid. — For some time previous to the elec- tion, meetings were held, and arrangements made, in Mis-, eouri, to get up companies to come over to the Territory, and vote (205;) and the day before, and on the day of elec- tion, large bodies of Missourians from Platte, Clay, Ray, Chariton, Carrol, Clinton, and Saline counties, Missouri, came into this district, and camped there, (906.) They were anned with pistols and bowie-knives, and some with puns and rifles, (207 ;) and had badges of hemp in their button-holes, and elsewhere about their persons, (208.) " On the morning of the election there were from one thousand to one thousand four hundred persons present on the ground, (209.) Previous to the election, Missourians endeavored to persuade the two free-State judges to resign by making threats of personal violence to them, (210.) one of whom resigned on the morning of election; and the crowd chose another to fill his place, (211.) But one oi the judges— the free-State judge — would take the oath pre- scribed by the Governor ; the other two deciding that they had no right to swear any one who offered to vote, but that all on the ground were entitled to vote, (212.) The only votes refused were some Delaware Indians, some thirty Wyandot Indians being allowed to vote, (213.) The free- State men generally did not vote at that election, (219.) and no newly-arrived eastern emigrants were there, (2^0.)" * ' * * * " The whole number of voters in the district, according to the census returns, was three hundred and eighty-five ; and, according to a voy carefully-pre- pared list of voters — prepared for the pro-slavery candi- dates, and other pro-siavery men, a few days previous to the election — there were three hundred and five voters in the district, including those who had claims, but did not live on them. (223.) The whole naniber of votes cast was nine hundred and sixty- four; of those named in the census, one hundred and six voted. Your committee, upon careful examination, are satisfied that there were not over one hundred and fifty legal votes cast, leaving eight hundred and fourteen illegal votes." ***** " Eighteenth, District. — Previous to the election. General David K. Atchison, o\' Platte City, Missouri, got up a com- pany of Missourians, and passing through Weston, Mis- souri, (223,) went over to the Territory. He remained all night at the house of , and then exhibited his arms, of wliich he had an abundance. He proceeded to the Nemo- haer (eighteenth) district, (924.) On his way, he and big party attended a nominating convention in the fourteenth district, and propositi and caused to be nominated a setof candidates in opposition to the wishes of the pro-slavery residents of the district, (225.) At that convention he said that there were eleven hundred men coming over from Platte county, and if that wasn't enough they could send five thousand more ; that they came to vote, and would vote or kill every G — d d — d Abolitionist in the Teni- tory, (226.) " On the day of election, the Missourians un(Jer Atchi- son, who wtre encamped there, came up to the polls in the eighteenth district, taking the oath that they were residents of' the district. The Missourians were all armed with pistols or bowie-knives, and said there were sixty in their company, (227.) But seventeen votes given on that day, were given by residents of the district, (228.) The whole number of votes was sixty-two." * * * Mstract of Census, and Returns of Election of March 30, 1855, )y Election Distncts. Place of voting. i o > a > a 1 1 a m V fa c i u 1 1 1 c o 2 o f cm o ■3 Census. Council. House. o o 6 1^ If 6 >- i 2 > "5 d •c •5 c Z S s d -3 "c d 1 1 d 1 781 318 366 78 377 199 74 34 315 211 17 23 27 2 328 4 12 233 313 .57 2.56 412 899 43 48 2.53 12 4 2 9 65 17 70 35 23 17 52 42 21 19 6 30 15 2 60 16 14 11 2 7 3 2 3 6 48 5 5 1,034 341 372 80 386 264 98 104 3.50 234 37 75 69 23 328 11 33 239 346 78 306 417 964 59 62 232 30 32 15 13 75 32 104 100 25 37 75 48 23 7 11 33 12 200 30 150 59 17 802 316 338 65 380 191 59 250 209 21 321 230 530 337 814 45 962 519 2.52 177 1,407 810 118 83 86 151 36 144 284 1,167 373 1,183 150 99 369 199 101 47 442 253 58 39 36 63 24 78 96 334 208 385 50 28 1 2 3 1 4 5 3 3 6 10 8 9 10 1 10 7 7 8 9 10 1 7 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 9 3 4 1 7 6 5 5 8 8 8 9 9 1^ 11 11 12 Kt 14 3 2 } i 1 2 2 2 3 2 3 4 f Bull Creek ' Bi" Su"ar Creek fi 7 Ise Padur's C ( )ecna '. 11 ( Pleas. Ill Hill 13 ' lii(li;iliiil:i ( Wliitlitid J Wdli' iiivcr 14 15 16 17 Total 1,731 46 1,120 564 1,287 453 1,778 10 Abstract of tlie election of A. H. Reeder, 9tli October, 1855: List. Vo'ing Place. No. rote!). Dist. Voting Place. No. vole'. 1 — liJiwrt'iice 557 9 — Pawnee 76 Jilantoii 77 10— lii;; Blue 77 I'aliiiym 16 Rofk Creek 30 2— IJlcMimiiigtoii 116 11— I'.lack Vermilion.... 14 Biiiieia 27 19- -Si. Mary's 19 3— Rrownsville 21 Silver Lake 28 T"I"ka 131 13— Pleasant Hill 4:i Teenmseh ;n Falls I'rccinet 45 r.ii: Springs X) Hickory I'oint H Cnnip Creek 7 M— Hiirr Oiik 33 4— \Vill(uv Springs M Ucmipliaii 43 5— Hampden 33 Palermo 32 Neoslii) 16 15— Oeena .32 S?tanlon 44 Crosby's Store 39 Osawattamie 74 Jaekson Crane's 30 Potawarnmie .56 16— I.eavenwortli 503 IliK Suirar Creek 28 \V\an(l(it 3.-i Little Sugar Creek.. 41 D.jaware 22 6 — SeoM Town 27 Ka-.ton 63 ••"iuinlii 20 KidgePoint 48 ^ Ferjna's li 17— VVakaru-a 7 . — (nil ,.i| City 62 Mission 13 8— WanliiMHa 2S 18— Iowa Point . 40 .A.. I. Haker 16 Total 2816 " Your eomuiittee report the following facts and conclu- sions as estahlished liy Ilie testimony : "First : That each eleeiion in the Territory, held niider tlie organic or alleged territorial laiv, has l)eeii carrii'd hy organized invasions Crom the State of Missouri, ;)y wliieii the p 'ople o(" the Territory have been prevented from ex- ercising the riglits secured to them by the organic law. "S&vjn.f; That the all.'grd 'I'crritorial L.'gislatiire was an illegally eon>titiiled body, and liad no power to pass valid laws ; and their enactments are, therefore, null and void. "Tliird : That these alleged laws have not, as a general tiling, been used to protect pi-rsons and property and to punish wrong, hut for nnlawliil purposes. " Fourlh: 'i'ha! the eleeiion under which the sitting Dele- gate, John W. VVhitfielil. holds his seat, was not held in pursuance of any va';d law, and that it sliould be regarded only as the expivsMi n ot' the clioice of those resident citi- zens who voted lor liiin. " Fiflh : That the election under which the contesting Delegate. Andrew II. Reeder. claims his seat, was not held ih pur.-uanee of law, and ihai it should he regarded only as tlie e.vpres^ion of the choice of the resident citizens who voted I'or him. " Sii-lh: That Andrew II. Reedi-r received a greater nnm ber of votes of resident citizens than John VV. Wliittield, for Delegate. <' SerciiM ; That in the present condition of the Territory a fair eli.'etioiicaniiot be held without a new census, a strin- gent and well guarded <'I<'ction law, the selection of impar- tial judges, and the presence of United States troops at every place of election. " Ei-ihtk: That the various elections held by ttie people of the Territory preliminary to the Ibrmution oV the State governni'-nt have been as regiilaras the disturbed condition of the Territory would allow; and that the e(nistitutioii passed hy the convention, held in pursuance of said elec- tions, einbodies tlie will of a majority of the people. "As it is not the province of your comniitiee to suggest remedies for the evistiiig trouhh-s in the Territory of Kan aas. thi'v content themselves with the foregoing statement of lacK. " All of which is respectfully submitted. " \VM. A. HOWARD, "JOHNSHIMiMAN." Tlip.se facts, sir, derived by the high authority of iliif^ Flouse, from witnesse.s under the solem- nity of an oath, afford a strikin"; commentary upon the patriotic clamor with which tlio country •was filled by thi; advocates of the Kansas-Ne- braska bill. They, sir, show up squatter sover- eignty in its true light. They show that the unscrupulous slave power, win n unrestricted by positive prohibition, will force slavery into any Territory, even thotigh it be into the ice-bound regions of the north. They have a union in their action v/hich stops at nothing, legal or illegal, whether it be the enforcement of mob law, ''the intimidation of voters by threats, the marching of armies of outlaws from neishborinij slave States to seize the ballot-box at the bayonet's point, and to place in power citizens of slave Smtes, having no residence in the Territory. Noihiiig, sir, is too wicked for them to practice to enable them to plant the black flair of slavery on free territory. Gradually and carefully, under the disguise of the Constitution, they remove every barrier to their progress, no matter how sacred its standing; and atonce,when they obtain possession of the outposts, they rusli down with immeasurable strength upon the sons of freedom, outvote them, and obtain every advantage neces- sary to eslablisli slavery. Devastation and ruin follow their footsteps. Kansas, which to-day would have been a proud irae State had it been left alone, is one scene of carnage and bloodshed, presenting an appearance more like France dur- ing the (Jays of the French Revolution, when innocent -women and children were murdered to satiate the appetite of an infuriated mob. The extracts from the evidence I have read show the means which were used by the invaders to carry Tlie election in Kansas wliich resulted in the choice of the first Territorial Legislature. They estab- lish the fact that that first Legislature had no legal existence. The source from which itd<'rived its power was corrupt. The Legislature ii.self was the illegitimate offspring of an illegitimate parent. How dare it, then, sit in the high places made for the people, and usurp their authority .' Its acts amount to nothing, and would hold "good in no court of impartial justice. The elecuon of Mr. J. W. Whitfield, deriving its authority from such a body, is null and void. But, iVIr. Chairman, let me read you some of the laws which this Legislature assumed to make: •Pftge 147: " Si;c. 2. Every person who may be sentenced by any court of competent jurisdiction, under any law in force within this Territory, to punishment by conliiUMiient and hard labor, gliall be deemed a convict, and . Iiall, imme- diately, under the charge of the keeper of sucii jail or pub- lic prison, or under the charge of such person as the keeper of sueii jail or public prison may select, be put to hard labor, as in the tirst section of this act specitii il, [to wit, 'on the streets, roads, public buildings, or other public works of the Territory' — Sec. 1, puge 145;] and sncli keeper or other person, having charge of such convict, shall cause such convict, wliile engaged at such labor, to be securely confined by a chain six feet in length, of not less than four si.xteeiiths nor more than three eighths of an inch links, with a round ball of iron, of not li'ss than tour nor more than si.\ inches in diameter, attached, which (••lain shall be securely fastened to the ankle of such coi.vici with a strong lock and key ; and such keeper or other (lerson having charge of sucli convict may, if necessary, cimfine such convict while so engaged at liaid labor, by other cliains, or other means, in his discretion, so as 10 keep .such convict secure and prevent his escape; and when there shall be two or more convicts under the charge of such keeper, or other person, such convicts shall be la-teiied together by strong chains, with strong locks and keys, dnring the time such cimvicts shall be engaged in hard labor without the walls of any jail or prison. "Sec. 3. .Whenever any convict shall be employed at labor for any incinporate town or city, or any county, such town, city, or county, shall pay into the territorial treasury the sum of fifty cents for e.acli convict, for every day such convict shall ne engaged at such liilior ; and wliciiever such convict shall lie employed upon p.ivaie hiring at labor, it shall be at such price each, per d:iy, as may be agreed upon with such keeper or other person having charge of such: and the proceeds of said lalior Shall be collected by such keeper and put into the tentorial treasury.'' 11 Page 252: "Sec. -27. Ifany slave shall commit petit larceny, or shall steal any neat cattle, sheep or hog, or be auillv ol'anv niis- denieaiior, or .itlier ollense punisliable under the provisions of this ail only hy fine or imprisonment in a county jail, or by both ^nch fine and imprisonment, he shall, instead of sucli pnni^li,nent,.bc pui.isli.-d, if a male, by stripes on his bare baci; not e.xce(;ilin^' tliirtv nine, or if a' female, by im- prisonment 111 a county jail not exceedin-; twenty-one days or by stripes not exceeding tu-eiity one, at the discretion" of til e justice." Page 282: « Sec. 11. Every free white male citizen of the [Jnited tatates, and every Irec male Indian who is made a citizen by treaty or otherwise, and over the asc of twenty one years who shall be an inhabitant of this Territory, and of the coniily or district in wliidi he oflersto vote, and shall have paid a terntonal tax, shall !„■ a qualilicd elector for all elective otheers; and all Indians wlioaie inhaliil;ints of this lerritoiy, and who may have adopted the customs of the white man, and who are liable to pav taxes, shall he deemed citizens : Prud.leJ, That no soldier, seaman or marine in the regular Army or Navy of the United States, shall be en- titled to vote, by reason of bcin;; on service ther-in : ^iirf Itroruled/urliier, That no person who shall have been con- victed oi any vnnation ol' any provision of an act of Coii- gTe:~> entitled, 'An act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escapina from the service of their masters 'an- proved iM-bruary 12, 1793; or of an act to amend and sup- plemenlary to said act, approved IStli September, 18,50: whether such conviction were by criminal p.raeeediii"or by civil action tor the recovery of anv penalty prescribed b"y either ot said acts, in any courts of the United States or oY aiiyfetate or Territory, of any ofieiise deemed infaimms, shall be entitled to vote at any election, or to hold anvoffiee in this Territory: ^Ind pronM further, Thai if anv per- I son oflerin- to vote shall be challenicd wid nMiuired to take | an oath or affirniarion, to be adinini.-tered by one of the ' judges ot the election, that he will sustain the provisions of the above recited acts of Conaress, and of the act entitled ' 'An act to organize the Territories of Nebraska and Ivan-as ' approved May 30, 18.-,4, and shall refuse to take such oatii or^atfirmation. the vote of such person shall he rejected. bEc. 1-2. Every person possessingjhe (|ualilication of a \oter, as hereinlielor,. prescribed, and who shall have re- sided in this Territory thirty days prior to the election at which he may ofler himself as a candidate, shall be eli'-ible as a Delegate to the lIouseofRepresentativesof the United btates, to either branch of the Legislative Assembly, and to all other offices in this Territory, not otherwise especially provided ior: Pr.-,ri,le I>="'!-"l..-ts of Xlmighty' Go , that will support the (;,.n-titmi,.,i of the United of ^.cr;. ,';',' i T<'V"''f'"''' "...l-ustaiu the provisions Ne ,:k ■ H ' ' '\? '""} ? «'S'""'-e the Territories of riM :d^',„ ■^''"^"^,"a"d Ilicprovisionsof the law of the Un ted .states commonly known as the « fii'irive ^lav ■ I iw " and (aithtullyand impartially, ami to the 1 c of mvabi Ity demean myse , in the discharge of my duties in the office <" ; so In-lp me God.' " Page 604: i^jspfi^n"; L "^ »»y free person, by speaking or bv writing, I i,v,'"m"''"''''P"'"''"" ''■•"''• '""tl'f "gl'ti" iK'lii torv n i'!. ,'.^,1 I'-'T'""-^' "' •'.'''"' '"t""'"'-" i"l'> 'I'i^ Terri- dm- J i , '. ' ' '' "•'■'"'' '""■<•""■"'■. '»• <■ '" ^ to be iiitro- ,',i, 1 '" "'" ^''"'^'"y-r a".v hook, paper, maaazine, n , ,; "'fii^'lar, containing any d. eial ol the right of p.iM.iis to hold slaves in this Territory, ueh p.r.sons .hall ,t i,-^!ilZ'>! "'I-"*' "'"'■'^'""y, and punished by impri-onment at haid labor lor a term of not less than two y-ars. ' . *F,''' '■='">' person shall entice. decoy,"or carry awav Tnten ,n", '■■"'■'"T^' '"'^' "'"'" "'clonging ,o another, with intent to depriv the ower thereof of tb.; M^rvices of hicTi su''c'[r'sl',V'"l" ''i"'nS'° 'f'"' "■■ ''""^"^'- '"« '"■•"'""'" Of such slave, he shall be adjudged guilty of arand larceny, pri.soned at bard labor for not less than ten jears ^EC. 5. If any person shall aid or assi'st in enticine. decoyina, or persuading, or carrying away, or sending out ,nnrtT"''""";J"'' '''!'''' ?»'-l""g"'g w another, with intent o proeuie or .."liect the treedom of such slave, or with intent to deprive the owner thereof of the services of such slave, he shall be adjudged guilty of arand larceny, and, at hard labor for not less than ten years." Page 005: "Sec. 11. If any person print, write, introduce into, publish, or circulate, or cause to be brou"!it into, printed written, published, or circulated, or shall knowingly aid or assist 111 briiieing into, printing, publi-r,ing. or ci?culating, within th;s Territory, any book, paper, pamphlet, magl- i zine, handbill, or circular, containina any stat-m. nts I arguments, opinions, sentiment, doctrine, advice, or innu- endo, calculated to produce a disorderly, daiigernus, or re- bellious disaflection among the slav.;s' in this Territory, I or to induce such slaves to escape from the service of their masters, or lo resist their authority, he shall be guilty of telony, and be punished by imprisonment and hard labor (or a term not less than five years. I '■' Sec. 12. If any free person, by speaking or by writing, ^ assert or maintain that p.-rsons have not the riglit to hold slaves 111 this Territory, or shall introduce into tuis Territo- I r>''P''!".''P"hl"'h, write, circulate, or cause to be inti-odiiced ' " ?,.• ;^^ erritory, written, printed, published, or circulated in this Territory, any book, paper,niaaazii.e. pnn.nhlei, or circular, eoiitainina any demal of the riaht of persons to hold slaves in this Territory, such persons shall be deemed I guilty of telony, and punished by imprisonment at hard la- j bor tor a term ol not less than two years. "Sec. J3. No person who is eonsci >iitiouslv opposed to holding slaves, or who does not admit the i-ialit to h.dd I .slaves m this Territory, shall sit as a juror on the trill of any prosecution for any violation of aiiy of the s( ciious of ] this act." j Mr. Chairman, do southern getitlemen think that the people of the North will remain quiet and see their brothers and their fatliors persecuted by these inhuman laws .'— htw.s preventing the . peaceful discu.ssion of the slavery question—, laws conceived in fraud, and bro^'ight and er)- forced in iniquity— laws that are cikiul'Ii to make the blocjd of every freeman curdle in liis veins laws disqualifying anii-slavery men from sitting on juries, compelling them to take detestable oaths before they can vote.? The.cjc are the laws under which freemen of the Norili are mobbed, murdered, and pc'rsecuted, their properly de- stroyed, their printing-presses thrown iii the river, their liouses sacked and pillaged, them- i 12 selves arrcsti'd and shut up in prison, or guarded on the open plains by inhuman wretches. Mr. Chairman, is tlure any man on this floor who po.ssesses tlie political or professional hard- iliood to defend these laws — these pretended laws — of Kansas Territory ? I should like to see that man, Mr. Chairman, with the laws of Kan- sas in one hand, the Constitution of the United States in the other, endeavoring to reconcile the two. These laws, sir, are fit to have emanated from some barbarous king. They are too tyrannical, oppressive, and infamous, to mention, much less to be defended. They were made to prevent a fair trial of the issue lietween freedom and slavery in Kansas. They were made to drive out of, and keep away from, Kansas, free men, that slavery might have everything its own way. They, sir, assumed slavery to exist there; settled the question at once against freedom by violence and fraud. That is the object, sir. And are the sons of the North, who go to Kansas, to regard these laws, which violate one of the provisions of the Kan.sas liill, put on it to sugar the dose, which was — "that the true intent and meaning of the bill was not to legislate slavery into the Territory?" Are we to be told, sir, that wc are traitors, because we say that these laws, uncon- stitutional as they are, should not be regarded ? Is every system of outrage to be visited upon our friends in Kansas because they protest against these laws.' I tell you, sir, that our rev- olutionary fathers had not half the reason for rebelling against the British Government, as have the free-State men in Kansas for rebelling against that of the slave power. In the courts they have no remedy. The courts are the will- ing tools of the same oppressive power. Slavery dictates the edicts of the courts. These, sir, are a part only of the series of infamies which have been used to oppress freedom, and which the people of the country will, as sure as the sun rises in the east, condemn in November next. Mr. Chairman, it is in vain that gentlemen on the other side of the House endeavor to palli-j ate the consequences resulting from their viola- tion of plighted faith, by the assertion that the Missouri compromise was unconstitutional, and that by its repeal you established squatter sov- ereignty. It is a miserable delusion you are attempting to palm off upon the people. You stultify the intellects of the best men from the South who voted for the compromise, by making such an allesation. They were as capable of judging what was constitutional as the would-be bright, shining lights in the political horizon of the presentday. If they were, then, by declaring this act unconstitutional, you fix upon their memories the stigma of violating the Constitution for the purpose of gaining temporary advantage. I, sir, will never calumniate tiie memories of the giant dead who represented the South in that day, by even supposing such a thing. I glory in the recollection of their brilliant statesmanship as much as any man upon this floor. Let, then, this imputation ufion their integrity come from their own sons, and not t'rom a represenative of the North. It was not because the South believed this Missouri compromise was unconstitutional, that they repealed it. No, it was because they wanted ; to extend slavery. That was their object. They were willing to forget the memories of their great statesmen who voted for it; to forget the sacred obligations of the com|)act; to take the price which was to defray their share of the consider- ation; and then, before the North had received any part of her share, to violate? their honor by repealing it — all for the purpose of making free territory slave soil. Mr. Chairman, I will not argue the constitu- tional jiower to })rohibit slavery in the Territo- ries. The Constitution says that " Congress shall have power to dispose of and make all need- ful rules and regulations respecting the terri- tory or other property belonging to the United States." Congress exercised this power in en- acting the ordinance of 1787. The power to dis- pose of is the highest power known. It carries within its immense scope all minor relative pow- ers. The extract from the Constitution which I have read, the exercise of autlnn-ity under it for sixty years by the fathers of the Republic to pro- mote freedom, is sufficient to satisfy the dullest intellect that slavery can be prohibited by Con- gress. But, sir, as I said before, the repeal of the Missouri compromise was not induced by the idea of its unconstitutionality. The kxten- siON OF SLAVERY was THE OBJECT. It aloue was the incentive. The contest between freedom and slavery has now approached a crisis. It is useless to talk to me about having a fair fight in the Territories between the North and South, and that, in the absence of positive prohibition, the North will win. You need not tell me of the great emigrat- ing spirit of the sons of the North, so much more active and quick in moving than those of the South. I am proud to believe that, in that energy and industry which is so necessary to induce the population of a newcountry to hewdown mighty forests and build up proud States, the hardy sons of the North have far the advantage of the men of the South. But of what use is that energy.' Where are the results to be derived from it, if it is met by the competitionof the gigantic interests of slavery, an interest which has ju'ostituted to its purposes the whole influence of the Federal Government, which controls the a))pointment of territorial oflicers, which masters the territorial courts, which can order out the military arm of the Government to protect it in the prosecution of its infamous purposes, which can march a phalanx of foreign invadi;rs from their slave States to outvote tlie sons of freedom, bona fide residents on the soil, drive them from the polls by superior force, and which can control their movements, allowing them only to travel about with passes signed by some of thein — passi's such as they give to their slavi'S in the Soutli .' Energy and enterprise are palsied when brought into con- tact with an institution sucii as that, l-'ositivc prohibition is what is necessary. That alone will keep free territory free. Positive prohibi- tion is what made Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Mich- igan, Wisconsin, and Iowa free. Will you, learn- ing from the lessonsof the pa.sl, permit yourselves to be deluded with the idea, that freedon will re- sult from non-intervention by Congress, squatter sovereignty, and the host of relative humbugs like unto those.' No; the men of the North must shake off the shackles which have too long bound 13 them to that spirit of pandering to slavery prac- ticed by the old parties. It is only by the triumph of the ilepulilican party that free soil will remain free-soil. Place the administration in the hands] of the friends of freedom, and the potent lever so j lon<^ wielded by the South, Federal patronage to prostrate freedom, will be wrested from their hands. , , , Mr. Chairman, the South cannot blame the North for desiring to see new-born States free. They themselves, around their own firesides, deprecate the existence of slavery. In Ken- tucky, previous to the formation of their last con- stitution, many of the prominent candidates for the convention avowed themselves emancipation- ists. Their own great Clay, whose memory occupies a high jilace in the hearts of the Amer- ican people, was an emancipationist. He thought that slavery was a curse to any Territory; and in the Senate of the United States, on this very point, he used the following emphatic language: <''l repeat it, sir, I never can, and never will, and no earthly iiower will make inu vote, direcUy or indirectly, lo spread slaverv over the Territory where it does not exist. Never while reason has a seat in my brain !— never, while ray heart sends tlie vital fluid tl|rough ray veuis— never !" Virginia, thirty-four years ago, that ancient commonwealth, was agitated from each of its extreme boundaries to its center, on the subject of the policy of the State with reference to slavery. I speak the truth of history when I say that her most di-stinguishcd statesmen who were in the Legislature ui that day were prominent and zeal- ous advocates of emancipation. From these facts, I judge that those men of the South saw that it was slavery tiiat retarded the progress of their commonwealths, and like men, for the benefit of future ages, they avowed themselves emancipa- tionists. ° They saw that slavery was a disad- vantage instead of a bk-ssing. Why, then, gen- tlemen of the South, do you ask us to spread this blighting institution ? Why denounce us for advo- catlnsrtbe same views which you, in yourdiscus- sions^^of Stat<- pohey, around your own firesides, shut out from the penetration of the northern ear, honestly entertain and boldly express .' We seek but to p'revent Kansas from being cursed with the same infliction which you would gladly, years ago, have rid yourselves of. Therefore it is that we wish that Territory to take her rank amongst the free States of this Confederacy. How can you, gentlemen of the South, under- standing, as you well do, the ruinous effects of the institution of slavery, wish to extend the po- litical Irprosy ? In Bancroft's Miscellanies, pub- , lished by the Harpers, the blighting eifect of i slavery upon the Roman Empire is depicted. He j says that " slavery threw the power and lands of j the Stales into the hands of a few, it crushed the 1 free middling classes." * * * " The code j of slavery like unto that of our southern States, exceptthat in Romethe slave could beinstructed." [ * * " It prepared the way for the further i debasement of Rome by introducing an extrava-', gant luxury, and everywhere degraded public j morals by violating^ the sanctity of marriage. Chastity amongst the young men of the upper 1 classes became almost unknown. With the chattel bondage, terrible vices and terrible dis- eases set in over the whole of society. At length despotism and submission to foreign authority was j the natural course to a society so rotten and dis- , eased." * * "The land of Italy, as begins now to be seen in Virginia and other of the south- ern States of America, was exhausted by slavery. " * * " The fields of the Campiigna were once rich as the lands on the slopes of the Alle- ghanies, or in the Kentucky prairie bottoms." * * * " But the wasteful system of cultivation by bondsmen first turned them from fertile green fields to pastures, and left them as they are now, solitary and miasmatic claims, where hardly man candwell." " Ilisacalumny," says Mr. Bancroft, "to charge the devastation of Italy upon the barbarians. The large Roman plantations tilled by slaves' labor were its ruin. Slavery had etfected the decline of the Roman people, and had wasted the land before a Scyth- ian or a Scandinavian had crossed the Alps." " Slavery," continued Mr. Bancroft, "had de- stroyed the Democracy, had destroyed the aris- tocracy; had destroyed the Empire; and at last it left the traces of its ruinous power deeply fur- rowed on the face of nature itself." This, gentlemen, is the experience of an em- pire where slavery has had its way. It is not the lesson of theory, but that of experience, speak- ing volumes against the institution which blighted Rome. Ye men of the South, read in this the history of your own future, unless you rid your- selves of this nuisance! Ye men of the North, read in it a lesson of warning, teaching you to let no more of our Territory be prostituted to the augmentation of an institution which but touches to destroy, and leaves the signs of its path in the ruins which follow it. Mr. Chairman, why should the South object to the State of Kansas being free ? Out of the Louisiana Territory, of which it forms a part, three slave States, (Louisiana, Missouri, and Ark- ansas,) embracing an area of one hundred and fifty -eight thousand five hundred and seventy- four square miles, adding six Senators to the strength of the South in the Senate, and thirteen Representatives to its strength in this House, have been made, and not one free State has been carved out of it. Is this what you call justice to the North, to purchase territory at the cost of $23,000,000 out of the common Treasury, merely for the purpose of adding to the con- gressional strength of the slave power.' Well, sir, what has the North gained by other pur- chases of territory.' Florida, embracing an area of fifty-nine thousand two hundred and sixty - eight square miles, was purchased at a cost which the war and incidental exjienses made 5118,430,000— and what for, sir? To make a slave State out of her; to give the South two more Senators in the Senate, and one more Rep- resentative in this House. Again, sir, we annexed Texas, involving us in a war with Mexico, and other expenditures, amounting in the aggregate to §273,000,000; and what, sir, has been done with that Territory, over three hundred and twenty-five thousand square miles in area.' Why, sir, it has been laid at the feet of the , slave power, and has given it two Senators and two Representatives. And, Mr. Chairman, if we look, we will find out of an immense surface of new territory, cost- ing this Government near five hundred and thirty mfllions of dollars, five slave States have been admitted, with a senatorial and representative strength and area as follows: 14 states. 1. Louisiana 4l,;i46 2. Missduri 6.'>,037 ?. Arkuiisa-: 53.191 4. 'Florida .59,-if)S 5. Texas 31") yOQ 5 Slave States 54;i,:i69 Square Miles. Senators. Representatives. And has the Nortli got anything for all this ex- penditure of bh)od and treasure ? Nominally she has, sir, but in reality not4iing. She has Cali- fornia as a free State, but her congressional rep- resentation is always pro-slavery; so that the North has not got one iota of jiolitical strength out of all this territory. The South has gained every- thing—the North nothing. Let us look at the relative strength of the two sections in Congress. There are six'teen free States, having a white population of 13,600,000. There are fifteen slave States, having a white population of G,200,000. In the Senate, the slave States have thirty Sen- ators, only two less than the North, which has over twice as much white population. In the House, the slave States have ninety Rep- resentatives. Supposing the white pojiulation was the basis of representation, the North ought to have, according to that ratio, one hundred and ninety-seven Representatives. Instead of that, she has but one hundred and forty-two Represent- atives in this body, fifty-five less than she ought to have. And how, sir, is this? Because the Constitution wrongly gives any man in the South •who has one thousand slaves as much political power as six hundred white men in the North — the South being entitled to a representation for her slaves of three fifths of their number. Thus it is that, by the very organic law of the country, the North is oppressed; and because we want to use every lawful means to add to the area of free- dom, and relieve ourselves of oppression, that we are called sectionalists, and everything else in the vocabulary of the slave power and the dialect of their northern doughface allies. I have said, Mr. Chairman, that the white population of the South is about six millions two hundred thousand, and yet out of this there are but three hundred and forty-six thousand slave- holders; so that near six millions of that popu- lation do not have a direct interest in slavery. Is there any better evidence of the power ol' the slaveholding aristocracy? Over five millions of white population bend their knees at the Baal of slavery— ay, sir, controlled by three hundred and forty thousand slaveholders ! If, sir, it can now wield that influence, what will it not do if you I increase the means of exercise? I Mr. Chairman, the men from the North who oppose the onward march of slavery are desig- 1 nated by their opponents with all' manner of names— Black Republicans, Woolly-heads, Nlo-- ger-worshipers. Abolitionists, Free-Soilers, Lib- erty-men, &c., d-c. Sir, these designations are applied in a spirit of opprobrium. I say to those who use the terms, such designations do not of- fend us. If love of freedom gives title to those appellations, then lam either one of them, or all of them, as you may please to call me. And no matter what name you apply to those sons of the North who wish rather to see the constitution of each new State lighted by the rays of freedom jhan darkened by the curse of slavery, the spirit of freedom will stand forth in bold relief exhibit- ing an incentive for their action which will entitle iJhe wm-ld '''^^^''^ ^^''^ right-thinking men of I Sir, these terms come with ill grace from those I men who hold in bondage human flesh and blood , —men who traffic in slaves, l-'or myself, let me be called anything rather than a negro driver negro trader, negro auctioneer, negro buyer, or negro seller: ^ ' " I would not have a slave to till my ground to carry inc, to fun nie wIkmi I sleep And tremble when I wakt', lor all the wealth i hat smews bought and solU-have ever earned." Mr. Chairman, I am in favor of admittine Kansas under the Topeka constitution. I believe that peace can only be restored by admiltinn-'her with her free constitution. It is useless to°say that that constitution was irregularly framed. It was an emanation from an outraged people, who oppressed by the existing government, and sub- jected to the many injuries and indignities which jl have enumerated, convened to frame a State j govermnent, to relieve them of theiroppressions, and afford them that protection which the terri- [ tonal government did not. Nor need you uro-e I that the whole people of Kansas did not "take part I in initiating this new government. If th^y did not, It was their fault. It is sufficient for me'to ki;ow I that a majority of the people took part in it, and I sanctionedthe constitution it adopted. Nor need j you tell me that Kansas has not a sufficient pop- jUlation. It IS sufficient in accordance with the ! oft-repeated precedent. The population of Louis- iana was but thirty-four thousand when she I became a State. Indiana had but twenty-three j thousand eight hundred and ninety when she was admitted; Mississippi twenty-ei^it thou- sand; Arkansas twenty-five thousand'six hun- dred and seventy-one; Michigan thirty-one thou- ' sand; and Florida twenty-seven thousand nine hundred and forty-three. Those are the prece- dents. But the argument of want of population IS neutralized by the action of the slave-power Itself, in passing in the Senate Judge Douglas's {atuis Mr. Toombs's) bill. This bill waives the objection to population. I consider, therefore, that objection answered. As to this bill of the Senate, conceived by Toombs, and reported by Douglas, I am opposed to it. It makes the Pres- ident of the United States the arbiter of its des- I times. That is enough for me. The conduct of { President Pierce, already in reference to Kansas, I Settles the fact that the North can have no justice I at his hands. I would not speak of that high I officer disrespectfully, but he knows, and we ; know, whose hands are wet iVith the blood of the I murdered in Kan.sas. Pro-slavery officials would [ be appointed to subserve the slave power in mak- ing the new State, and under that bill Kansas would be irretrievably lost to freedom. " Fear the Greeks when they bring you presents, "is the English of an old Latin adage, and is an appro- priate application to the smooth-tongued con- cessions which the votaries of slavery pretend they make to freedom in that bill. Mr. Chairman, the North has but one course to pursue in the next j)residential contest, and that is to vote the Rej)ublican ticket. The Dem- ocratic platform is weighed down with its pro- slavery provisions. It indorses the adminis- tration of President Pierce, embracing all the 15 outraires inflicted on poor Kansas. Its candidate, Mr. Ijuclianan, stands flat-footed ujion it, as does Mr. Breckinridge, wlio, besides, is a slave- holder. Elect tiiesc men, standing on that plat- form, and you declare for slavery and against freedom. Mr. Chairman, the issue between the great political parties of the day is Slavery and Free- dom. Each occupies equal vantage-ground ; their leaders have been announced, and are in the field. TJie party of slavery has the flags of all the old parties. Buchanan brings the Black-cockade Federal i\i\g. Wise, Gushing, Toombs, and Benjamin, the Whig flag. Cass and Hunter, the Democratic flag. Ex-President Van Buren and his son John, the Free-Soil flag. Senator Adams, (of Mississippi,) the J^ative American flag. Pierce and Douglas, the .red flag of filliljustcr- ism. Atchison and Stringfellow, the black flag of slavery. With all these old flags the party as- sume the name of Democracy, and say that the Democratic party have swallowed all the old par- ties, and in reply to which I only have to say, the whale swallowed Jonah — Jonah was heard of afterwards — the whale never. It is fair to pre- !?ume that the Democratic party will not be heard of after the presidential election in November next. The slave party may. Why is it, Mr. Chairman, that the so-called Democratic party have taken upon themselves the right of calling the jmrty of freedom Black Republicans? Is it because the principles of that party harinonize with justice and humanity, and insist upon the elevation of human labor? Is it because the party of freedom maintains the union of the States, one and inseparable, now and forever, as the highest duty of the American people, to themselves, to posterity, and mankind? Is it because the party of freedom will course this country with railroads, improve her harbors and rivers, and whiten every ocean and sea with her commerce, to promote the interest and happi- ness of the people of these great States, and bind them together with bonds of interest and affection? Is it because the party of freedom loves tranquillity and prosperity, and opposes the extension of slave labor.jor putting it in competition with free white labor? Is it because the party of freedom desire to secure high wages for labor, which is the great agent for the prosperity and hajipiness of our country? Is it because the party of freedom op- posed the repeal of the Missouri compromise, which purported to be a perpetual league of friend- ship and amity-bctween the North and the South ? Is it because the party of fi-eedom is not ready to do the biddingof the slave power? Is it because the ■ party of freedom is opposed to an aristocracy which consists of human bodies and souls, and feasts upon African slave labor? Is it because the party of friedom is opposed to the political power of the slaveholder in estimating one hundred slaves equal to sixty white men ? Is it because the party of freedom will not sustain the cursed acts of the bogus Legislature of Kansas, which blackens the character of American legislators? It cannot be; it is to be traced to some other cause. Then, was it because the party of freedom sub- mitted to the compromise measure of 1850, which was a bill alio wing the slaveholders of the South to command us of the North, under severe penalty, to catch their runaway slaves? This, no doubt, is the reason why the so-called Democratic party have taken upon themselves to call us Black Re- publicans. Mr. Chairman, it is only in the Republican platform that you find tile true elements of a ffovernmcnt of constitutional fniedom. In the South the entirety of the people are fast uniting to make a sectional contest of the next presiden- tial election, upon the jiro-alavery candidates and pro-slavery platform of the Democratic party. Even the old-line Wliigs are aiding Mr. Buch- anan, forgetful of the slanders heaped upon their great leader, Mr. Clay, when he lived — siandera charging that distinguishid man of having sold the vote of Kentucky to John Ciuincy Adams for the Presidency, for the paltry consideration of a seat in the Cabinet. This slander was originated by Mr. Buchanan — General Jackson gave him as the author of it— and yet these old-line Whigs are willing to blai-ken the mi'inory of Mr. Clay by voting for his traducers ! What does this unanimity amongst men in the South, forgetful of their past irreconcilable differences, fore- shadow? It tells the North, in plain, unmis- takable language, that the slavery inten.'St is a unit, and to repel its meditated aggression, the North must also be united. Mr. Chairman, No more Slave States, is my motto. Let that be the motto of every votary of freedom at the North. Let Kansas rather be of the things that were, but are not, rather than blast her prospects and blacken her history by subjecting her to the purposes of slavery. Let j not this demoralizing institution shutout Kansae jfrom the settlement of the free white man. Let j not the white man from the North, who emigrates with his family to Kansas, be subjected to the [ taunts and jests of an aristocracy wliich inculcates the idea that labor is only a drudgery fit to be done by slaves in obedience to the commands of i the lash and the driver. 1 tell you, sir, if you wish to retard the progress of the migiity empire, i omit to restrict slavery where the Missouri com- promise justly prohibited it. Then, sir, you give slavery a strong foothold on the western frontier. Barricading, as it will, the Territory back of it against the march of freedom, it will spread itself J — ay, sir, expand, until it has a controlling do- minion over the vast domain between the Mis- ! sissippi and the Pacific. Experience teaches us this lesson; and I warn this Congress to look i well into the mutter. I warn the people to ponder well upon this subject, and to strike a decisive ; blow for freedom ere it becom<'S too late. Let slavery keep the advantage, and obtain the vic- tory in this cont(Y5t, and before long it will want virtually to introduce slavery in the fri?e States. Already the right is claimed to hold them in our territory as long as they please, whilst pretending to be in transitu, how long will it be before other : and more startling pretensions are set up? ! It hath been said, when bad men conspire, good men should combine. Let llie true freemen : of the North combine to stay the march of slavery. Let Fremont, Freedom, and Dayton, be the war-cry. With such a watch word upon ! our banner, victory is sure to crown our efforts. ' Let not the men of the North be deceived. In 1854 they were told that the Kansas bill would make Nebraska and Kansas free. My own com- petitor for Congress, (William Dunbar, E.«q.,) in his published speech accepting the Democratic : nomination, used remarks which illustrate to LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 16 southern men how the Kansas bill was defended in the North. He said: " The territories of Kani^as and Nebraska being free, by the express provisions of tbis verj' bill, whenever a shive- holder voluntarily emigrates there witll his shives, so soon as tliey set their feet upon the soil of those free Territories, they beeonic as free as tlie air tliey breathe, and have as good a right to command their masters as tlieir masters have to command them. Tliey are free by the voluntary act of their masters ; and there is no law, human or divine, to reduce them again to a state of slavery." I am satisfied, Mr. Chairman, that my com- petitor believed all that he said. 1 have no idea that he made the declaration alluded to for effect only, and to delude the people of my district out of their votes. Mr. Cliairman, what a miserable delusion — the slaves would " have as ^ood a right to command their masters as tlieir masters have to command them!" Why, sir, if my honorable friend were to repeat that speech in Kansas, he would be hunted out of the Territory; he would not be allowed to vote, and would be placed in the cat- egory of llecder, Lane, and others, and very likely he would be hung. The slaves command their masters ! Why, sir, the masters not only drive the slaves in that Territory with the lash and whip, but they drive the freemen of the North out of the Territory who will not recog- nize their right to do so. This was what the Democratic party was preaching in the North in 1854. But they could not delude the people, sir. They detormiued to have no more to do with a counterfeit^ Pierce and Douglas, Kansas and Nebraska, Buchanan and Breckinridge Democ- racy. Away with it ! hide its shame and its crimes forever. The Democracy can no longer deceive the people of the North with the cry of freedom, when they are planting the seeds of slavery. Too often has dissimulation been prac- ticed upon them, for them to become again the servile supporti.TS of a spurious Democracy. Mr. Chairman, already the hearts of the free- men in the free Slates are thundering against the present occupant of the White House, and have a writ of ejectment to obtain possession of it, the present tenant not having kept his covenants. They will put in a tenant that will be true to the great cause of freedom ! The northern people are pleased with the stand- ard bearers of the Republican party. They see in Colonel Fremont a man whose past life has been an unbroken line of meritorious service and praiseworthy distinction. In him are planted none of the insidious guiles of the professed politician. They see him coming from the hum- blest walks of life, shining a brilliant star in the military and scientific constellation of his coun- try, exploring that vast area of forests, deserts, and wilds between the Mississippi and the Pacific, and marking the path where man can find his way overland to the inviting El Dorado of the \Vest. They see him going through the most hairbreadth perils for science and his country. They see him loading a military force, and aiding in the recovery of a then foreign province to a free State. They see him then fighting his libelers, who, envious of his distinction, endeavor to drive him from the army. They see him proudly scorning a commission tendered to him to restor(! him to that service from which he had been so unjustly ejected. They see him then taking part in devel a country, towards , the United States J 016 089 329 1 < and aiding in preveniiiig winvei y ii,,,ii .„..._, duced within her limits. They then see him in the Senate as one of her two first Senators, labor- ing assiduously to promote her interests. They then see him retired to private life, and but re- turning now to politics in response to the unan- imous voice of the Republican party calling him forth from his retirement to take the highest place in the gift of the people. They see him a glorious apostle in the cause of freedom; and as the representative of that cause they will place him in the high position for which ho has been named. As to William L. Dayton, they have only to recollect his career in the Senate — a career devoted entirely to the cause of freedom — as eloquent as the most eloquent anioh'gst the orators of that body; an honest man, a dignified statesman, and an earnest anti-slaveryite. But why, Mr. Chairinan, should I speak of men in this contest ? Like General Washington, who said, when going up to the polls for the last time in his brilliant life, " I vote for measures, not men," so do the Republicans of the country in the next contest vote for measures, not men. Men are mortal; principles are eternal. The one springeth up to-day, and is cut down to-morrow; but the great principle of freedom, for which the Republicans are fighting, is as eternal as Heaven itself. Freedom is that great element in the value of which nature makelh the boy to feel before he hath yet reached midway his road to a majority. Freedom is what infused our revolu- tionary fathers, and caused them to shake off the dominion of a foreign and tyrannical power. Freedom is the Archimedean lever which has moved every popular outbreak crying for liberty, and causing kings to tremble on their thrones. It was freedom which moved the free-State men of Kansas to meet at Topeka to form a Slate con- stitution. It is thatfreedom for which the Repub- licans are now warring, and which will enable them, beating down all opposition, to march tri- umphantly to power and glory in our next presi- dential contest. Yes, with that freedom, and FreiTiont and Dayton emblazoned on the ample folds of our national banner, we will drive the base minions of slavery from their control of the Government, and we will use its powers to build up our new country, free from the taints of sla- very, and make America worthy of being the north star of freedom, by which the eye of the exile can be guided with safety to the asylum of liberty. Let the giant heel of freedom be placed upon the neck of tlie serpent of slavery, and avert, by its genial and healthy influence, the miseries and injuries which would arise from the sanction of human bondage in what is now free territory. Then indeed we can appropriately say, " Thou, too, sail on, O ship of State! Sail on, O Union, strong and great: Humanity, with all its fears, ^Vith all the hope of future years, Is hanging breathless on thy fat(!. We know what masters laid thy keel, What workmen wrought thy rii)s of steel ; Who made each mast, and sail, and rope. What anvils rang, what liaimners beat, In what a forse, and what a heat, Were shaped the anchors of thy hope." LIBRARY OF ( 016 08 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS I "!' Ill ' 1 016 089 329 1