p^s^ 
 
SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. AARON H. CRAGIN, 
 
 OF NEW HAMPSHIRE, 
 
 ON 
 
 THE KANSAS QUESTION; 
 
 DELIVERED 
 
 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, MAY 24, 1858. 
 
 y 
 
 y 
 
 {^"■'V/.SHlV^^^lS- 
 
 WASHINGTON: 
 PRINTED AT THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE OFFICE. 
 
 1858. 
 

SPEECH. 
 
 'I'lie llouje being in tlie Coinmitice of the Whole on the 
 ••liae of the Union — 
 
 Mr. CR AGIN said: 
 
 Mr. Chairman-: Having failed to put the Le- 
 lompton fraud and swindle through this House 
 naked, and thereby fasten slavery upon the State 
 of Kansas against the known and expressed will 
 of her people, the godfathers of the monster have 
 'oncluded to clothe it in garments of gold, and 
 sond it back to the people, and if possible, bribe 
 them to adopt it as their legitimate child. It is 
 to be taken to the Territory of Kansas with a 
 bribe in one hand and a scourge in the other. It 
 is hoped that its residence, in the pure, polite, and 
 ri'fined society of Washington for the past few 
 months, has so improved it, as to induce the peo- 
 ple of Kansas to forget its base origin, and to re- 
 ceive it as the virgin offspring of popular sover- 
 eignty. But if they will not accept the bribe as 
 the price of its adoption, apostatize from their 
 f!\ith, and bow down and worship the Moloch of 
 slavery, they are to be punished, and doomed to 
 nmain a Territory for an indefinite period of 
 time. 
 
 The bill which has passed Congress, and re- 
 ceived the approval of the President, speaks to the 
 people of Kansas in the following language: "Itis 
 the desire of the present Democratic Administra- 
 tion that you come into the Unipn at this time, 
 provided you will come icith the Lecomplon constitu- 
 tion. We know that you loathe and abhor that 
 instrument. We know that you have protested 
 against it in the most earnest and solemn manner. 
 You claim, and we admit, that it is the workman- 
 ship of a minority, and that it is spotted all over 
 with fraud. But feeling that it is the only chance 
 to make Kansas a slave State, we have used every 
 means in our power to force it upon you. In this 
 we have failed. We are still anxious that you 
 should take it; and as an inducement, wc offer 
 
 f'ou admission and public lands worth §5,000,000. 
 lUt if you refuse this bribe, and will not become 
 a slave State, you shall be deemed unfit for admis- 
 .sion,and must remain out of the Union until you 
 liavo a population nearly double that which you 
 
 now have, and lose the benefit of the public land , 
 much of which we have already advertised for 
 sale." In other words, "We admit that your 
 present population is sufficient for a slave State; 
 out it will require forty or fifty thousand more in- 
 habitants before you can even apply for admission 
 as a free State." 
 
 I will state the proposition contained in this 
 law, in the language of Colonel John W. Forney, 
 the gallant defender of the rights of the people. 
 In the Press of April 24, he says: 
 
 " By a careful analysis of the report, it will be seen thai 
 the present proposition tenders a distinct bribe of large land 
 grants, as an iniliiL'('nient to the [)eoplc of Kansas to aocepi 
 a form of government which they utterly loathe and abhor. 
 It says, in so many words, to the peopli> of Kansas : You 
 must accept this hribe, coupled with the bill of ahomination \ 
 which you have a«ain and again coiidemnea. if you wish to 
 come into the Union without delay; or. if you are perverte 
 enough to svurn the brilic, you shall he dveyned guilty of con- 
 tumacy, and shall remain out of the i'nTon until it shall legally 
 appear that you have a population larsc enough to entitle 
 you to elect a Representative on the ratio of representatiou 
 established by Congress." 
 
 1 can think of but one transaction in sacred or 
 profane history with which to compare this. The 
 Bible records it as follows: 
 
 " The Devil takctli liiiu up into an exceeding high mount - 
 ain, and shcwoih him all the kingdoms of the world, and 
 the glory of them : 
 
 "And saith unto him, nil these things will I gi% thee, if 
 thou wilt fall down and worship me. 
 
 " Then saith Jesus unto him, get thee hence, Satan." 
 
 The slave power, in this latter transaction, per- 
 sonates the Devil, and says to the people of Kan- 
 sas: "All these things will I give thee, if thou 
 wilt fall down and worship me." 
 
 The people of Kansas wilHiiake the same re- 
 ply — "Get thee hence, Satan." 
 
 It must be confessed that this proposition is an 
 adroit and cunning scheme. If the history of 
 the noble men of Kansas did not furnish us an 
 ample guarantee of their fidelity and devotion u> 
 principle, we inight fear that they would falter in 
 this hour of trial and temptation. Thcjr have 
 suffered as no people ever suffered in this coun- 
 try since the formation of ourGovernment. For 
 wishing and honestly striving to make their fu- 
 
ture home, and the home of their children and 
 children's children, a free State, many of them 
 have been murdered in cold blood. Their prop- 
 erty has been stolen and destroyed; their houses 
 burned down; and their wives and children ren- 
 dered houseless and homeless, for no other cause. 
 Because they have refused to sanction the gross- 
 est acts of usurpation and fraud, and abandon 
 theirdearestrights as American citizens, the Pres- 
 ident of the United States, in imitation of George 
 the Third, has stigmatized them as " rebels"and 
 "enemies of their country." They have stood 
 through all these trials, and many more which no 
 pen has written or tongue told, the true and de- 
 voted champions of liberty. They have shown 
 an attachment to principle only equaled by the 
 men of the Revolution. I will not doubt their 
 fidelity. They will spurn the bribe, and bury the 
 Lecompton constitution sodeepthatneither earth- 
 quake nor flood can find it. They will demon- 
 .strate to the world that principle and right are 
 more valuable than gold ; and that money and pub- 
 lic lands have more power in Washington than 
 in Kansas. 
 
 This measure is hailed as a compromise, as an 
 offering of peace. It is no such thing. It is only 
 equaled by the Lecompton constitution itself, in 
 its mean, deceptive, and shufiling character. It 
 prolongs the controversy, and adds fuel to the fires 
 of agitation. Itaddsone more chapter to the his- 
 tory of the efforts of the Democratic party to make 
 Kansas a slave State. It is only a change of pol- 
 icy to attain the same end — the end which the last 
 and present Administrations have labored so hard 
 to reach — to wit: the enslavement of Kansas. 
 
 The first movement after the passage of the Ne- 
 braska bill, was one of violence and invasion from 
 an adjoining Slate. The ballot-box was wrested 
 from the rightful voters and converted into an en- 
 gine of oppression. Under this usurpation the 
 territorial government of Kansas started. Cruel 
 and unjust laws were enacted by the usurping Le- 
 gislature, all having for their object the establish- 
 ment of slavery. Ever since then, the struggle 
 has been between the people and the usurpers. The 
 minority have labored to retain their ill-gotten 
 power, and to fasten slavery upon the people. 
 The majority have labored to throw off the usurp- 
 ation and regain their natural and legal rights. 
 The former and present Administrations took 
 sides with the usurpers, against the people, and 
 upheld them in their work of subjugation. When 
 the people refusedassent to the odious laws passed 
 by their oppressors, the President quartered large 
 bodies of armed men in the Territory, for the pur- 
 pose of enforcing these laws and strengthening the 
 hands of the invaders. ^ 
 
 When it was ascertained that the people would 
 not submit, a plan was devised for driving them 
 from the Territory.' Their crops were destroyed; 
 their property stolen and burned; their lives were 
 threatened, and oftentimes taken. This game fail- 
 ing, another was devised. It was known to the 
 leaders of the pro-slavery party that a large ma- 
 jority of the people were in favor of making Kan- 
 sas a free State. It would not do to trust the elec- 
 tion of the next Legislature to honest, legal voters. 
 They resolved to try ballot-box shiffing and forged 
 returns. They thought it would be just as right 
 and legal for one man to manufacture five thou- 
 sand votes as for five thousand men to come all 
 
 the way from Missouri to vote. It was less trouble 
 and much safer. They abandoned the Cincinnati 
 platform, and planted themselves on the Cincin- 
 nati Directory. They counted upon success; for 
 they supposed they had the game all in their own 
 hands; but Governor Walker and Secretary Stan- 
 ton were too honest men for the managers of this 
 diabolical game. They refused to receive a re- 
 turn of one thousand six hundred votes from a 
 precinct which could not cast one hundred legal 
 votes. When these returns were rejected the 
 tables turned, and the people, to some extent^ 
 regained their rights. For this act of justice and 
 right Governor Walker and Secretary Stanton, 
 so far as the public know, never received one 
 word of approval from the President or his Cab- 
 inet. It is evident that there was disapproval at 
 the White House. From the hour that it was 
 known that the Oxford and McGee returns had 
 been rejected. Governor Walker and Secretary 
 Stanton were doomed men. The slave power de- 
 manded it, and the President dared not refuse. The 
 game of making Kansas a slave State was likely 
 to be blocked. This could not be tolerated. 
 
 The bogus Lecompton convention next took 
 the matter in hand. They attemped, by assum- 
 ing legislative powers, to supersede the newly- 
 elected Legislature, and to deprive it of all power 
 to act. They sought, by their action, to remove 
 the government of the Territory, and to set up a 
 temporary government of their own, with John 
 Calhoun at its head. 
 
 The election had demonstrated that a large ma- 
 jority of the people were for making Kansas a 
 free State. The Lecompton convention resolved 
 to form a pro-slavery constitution, and put it in 
 force without the approval of the people, and 
 against their will. The game of invasion and 
 fraudulent voting and forged returns had not saved 
 them , and they now resolved upon the bold game 
 of making Kansas a slave State by their own ac- 
 tion, and the aid of a Democratic Congress. They 
 refused to submit the constitution to the people. 
 I know there was a pretended submission of the 
 slavery question; but every man of common sense 
 knows that the contrivance was such that Kan- 
 sas must be a slave State, whichever way the peo- 
 ple might vote. The submission was a cheat and 
 a swindle. 
 
 It was beyond dispute that there were at least 
 twelve thousand free-State voters in Kansas, to 
 less than three thousand pro-slavery. If, there- 
 fore, Kansas was to be made a slave State, a con- 
 stitution must be forced upon the majority against 
 their will. The three thousand must in some way 
 rule the twelve thousand. This was the game of 
 Calhoun and his confederates in Kansas, Mis- 
 souri, and the whole South. That has been the 
 game in Washington for the first five months of 
 this session. There is not a man in this Hall 
 who does not know that the Lecompton constitu- 
 tion is condemned and repudiated by an over- 
 whelming majority of the people of Kansas, and 
 that they protest against admission under it. 
 Yet, sir, it has been pressed here with a pertinacity 
 worthy of the noblest cause. 
 
 The President has bent all his energies to put 
 Lecompton through, "naked," and thus trample 
 upon the first and dearest rights of the people. 
 He has begged and implored. He has shed tears 
 of grief over the representatives of the people's 
 
rights, because they would not do tliis thing. ! 
 He lias almost rofused to be comforted; so anx- 
 ious is he to do the bidding of the slave power. 
 I trust he may live to thank God that his efforts 
 failed; and to regret the unmerited abuse he has 
 heaped upon the people of Kansas. I hope, 
 moreover, that he may live to see this Govern- 
 ment brought back to its original policy and 
 purity, and Freedom once more entnroned the 
 goddess of America. 
 
 Having failed to subdue the heroic people of 
 Kansas, by armed invaders at the ballot-box, and 
 a standing army in the Territory; and being con- 
 vinced that fraudulent votes and forged returns 
 will not make Kansas a slave State; and finding 
 that the Lecompton contrivance cannot be forced 
 through Congress, the game now is, as developed 
 by the conference bill, to combine bribery with 
 fraud; and, failing in that, to punish the people by 
 keeping them out of the Union for years to come. 
 
 The past history of the people of Kansas is a 
 glorious one, and I have no doubt the future will 
 be even more glorious. 'Kansas will be made a 
 free State in spite of usurpation, violence, fraud, 
 attempts at bribery, and threats of punishment. 
 She will be made a free State by the long-suffer- 
 ing, virtue, intelligence, fidelity, and patriotism of 
 her people. 
 
 I propose briefly to examine the conference bill, 
 and compare it with the House bill, known as the 
 Crittenden-Montgomery amendment. The bill, 
 which has become a law, does not pretend to sub- 
 mit the Lecompton constitution to the people for 
 a direct vote upon its merits. It would not do to 
 subject that infamous thing to any such test. It is 
 hung up to await the acceptance of a jjroposition 
 in itself known to be extremely desirable to the 
 people; the question virtually submitted being, 
 " will you take three million five hundred thou- 
 sand acres of land with the Lecompton constitu- 
 tion attached, and run your own risk of getting rid 
 of the latter, or will you suffer the inconvenience 
 and hardship of a territorial government for an 
 indefinite period, with no assurance of land gifts, 
 when you are able to become a State .'" I admit 
 that the law provides an indirect method by which 
 the people, by first stultifying themselves, may 
 strangle the constitution. The question of land 
 grants is submitted, and upon the vote upon that 
 question alone, is to depend the immediate admis- 
 sion of Kansas. The adoption of the land prop- 
 osition is made the condition pi-ecedent. If the 
 people vote that down, Lecompton falls with it; 
 if they adopt it, Kansas is at once a State in the 
 Union, with the Lecompton constitution fastened 
 upon them. They are compelled to vote against 
 what would be of advantage to them, what they 
 desire, in order to get rid of a hateful constitution. 
 They must vote against what they want, to wit: 
 immediate admission and reasonable land grants; 
 to prevent having imposed upon them what they 
 do not want, to wit: the Lecompton constitution. 
 By this law they cannot come into the Union, ex- 
 cept they come in as a slave State. 
 
 In the event that the people vote down the land 
 proposition, their action is to be interpreted as 
 mdicating a desire on their part to remain out of 
 the Union; and they are to continue a Territory 
 until they have ninety-three thousand inhabitants; 
 or, failing in that before 18G0, one hundred and 
 twenty thousand. They are compelled to tell 
 
 two lies in order to get rid of one great lie. They 
 must say that they do not desire admission at 
 this time, and that they do not want the lands, in 
 order to avert the calamity of having the Lecomp- 
 ton constitution thrust upon them. 
 
 If the proposition is voted down, as it certainly 
 will be, the whole question is left open to agitate 
 the country, and to return here at each session 
 of Congress, until the State is admitted into the 
 Union. This law is no settlement of the ques- 
 tion. It only removes it temporarily from Con- 
 gress. It will return again to plague the inventors. 
 The end of the Kansas agitation is, apparently, 
 further off than when this Administration came 
 into power. The country will hold those who 
 have delayed and prevented a fair settlement of 
 this question, toa strictand fearful accountability. 
 The bill that passed this House, on the 1st day 
 of April last, submitted the Lecompton constitu- 
 tion, the thing in dispute, fairly and squarely to the 
 untrammeled and unbiased judgment of the peo- 
 ple, for their adoption or rejection. No bribes 
 were offered for Lecompton; the adoption of no 
 land-grant proposition was made a condition of 
 admission. The only question presented to the 
 people was, whether they would have Lecomp- 
 I ton, or some other constitution. They were per- 
 ; fectly free to vote down Lecompton, and then as 
 free to adopt another constitution to suit them- 
 selves, and in their own way. By that bill Kan- 
 sas was admitted into the Union, absolutely and 
 finally. By it she mi£ht at once become a /i-ee 
 State. By the law, as it now stands, Kansas can 
 only be ti'slave State. Had that bill become a law, 
 : the whole controversy about Kansas would have 
 ' been settled, and forever removed from Congress. 
 Agitation upon that question would have ceased 
 from that hour. But the party in power refused 
 the settlement, fair and honorable as it was, and 
 choose rather to open the flood-gales of agitation 
 anew, and continue the strife for two or three 
 years longer. The country will hold this Admin- 
 istration responsible for the faihire to settle this 
 question on the basis of that bill. 
 
 Heretofore the friends of this Administration 
 have falsely charged that the Republican party 
 ' were anxious to keep this question open for po- 
 litical effect. The Republicans have been an.xious 
 for two years to settle this question by admitting 
 Kansas into the Union as a free State, knowing 
 that a very large majority of the people desired 
 such admission. Tiie Democrats have prevented 
 that admission; and now that they cannot suc- 
 ceed in forcing lier into the Union as a slave Slate, 
 against the will of her people, they have determined 
 that, if she will not come in that way, she shall 
 not come at all. Theirs is the rcsponsibililii of keep- 
 ing this question open. 
 
 But it is said the conference bill gives no more 
 land than did Crittenden's bill; that they are ex- 
 act copies, so far as the land grant is concerned. 
 This is true, sir; but the grant now offered is on 
 I different conditions and under dilVerent circum- 
 ! stances. It is now offered on condition that the 
 people will come into the Union under the Le- 
 compton constitution. If they will not do that, it 
 fails. It is made the condition of admission. The 
 adoption of the land grant carriis with it, as a 
 consequence, the Lecompton constitution. The 
 people cannot take the land without at the same 
 time taking the constitution. Both are hitched 
 
6 
 
 together, and both must stand or fall by a single 
 vote. 
 
 By the Crittenden bill the two propositions were 
 distinct and separate — one could stand and the 
 other fall. The people could take either, or nei- 
 ther, and still be in the Union. Tliey could ac- 
 cept the land grant, and reject Lecompton. Now 
 the acceptance of the land grant must necessarily 
 and inevitably adopt Lecompton. 
 
 By the Crittenden bill tlie State was admitted; 
 and the people were left free to vote down Le- 
 compton, and adopt a constitution of their own 
 making. The land grant offered no inducement 
 in favor of the Lecompton swindle, as it certainly 
 does in the law as it now stands. The State was 
 to be admitted, whether the people took the land 
 or not. If they accepted the grant, it was to be 
 binding on the Government of the United States; 
 hut it in no wny affected the admission of the State, 
 or the constiliUion that it might adopt. 
 
 In the one case, Kansas was to come into the 
 Union with such constitution as the people should 
 adopt; and they were then, or afterwards, fvee to 
 accept the land or not. In the case as it now 
 stands, Kansas must come into the Union, if she 
 come at all, tv4h the Lecompton constitution. If 
 she will not take the land, and with it Lecompton, 
 she is denied admission. 
 
 The Crittenden bill is an honest, fair, manly, 
 straightforward, and statesman-like measure — 
 leaving the question of the constitution to the 
 people, where it rightfully belongs. The confer- 
 ence scheme is dishonest, unfair, crooked, and un- 
 statesmanlike. it is debasing in its tendencies — 
 corrupting the public morals. The examples of 
 the Government will be followed by the people. 
 Fraud and bribery have already become so fre- 
 quent in matters connected with elections, as to 
 endanger the purity of the ballot-box, and to 
 threaten the very existence of our republican sys- 
 ' tem. Demagogues and scoundrels will pattern 
 from this measure, and in future we may expect 
 an increase of double dealing, trickery, fraud, and 
 bribery. Such legislation is unworthy a great and 
 Christian nation. 
 
 It is a sad commentary on the true doctrine of 
 popular sovereignly. It seeks to circumvent the 
 people, and, by gifts and threats of punishment, 
 to induce them to take a constitution which does 
 not embody their will, and which receives and 
 deserves their execration. 
 
 The friends of the Lecompton constitution dare 
 not submit the naked thing to the people. They 
 know that four fifths of them are against it, and 
 that, if they could only get at it, in that shape, 
 they would give it immediate burial. It would also 
 demonstrate to the world the wickedness of the 
 attemptto force it upon them. They have, there- 
 fore, given it a sugar coating, hoping that, for a 
 consideration, the people will gulp it down. 
 
 There is one other significant difference be- 
 tween these two measures. By the Crittenden bill, 
 in order that the election might be fair, four 
 commissioners were to have charge of matters con- 
 nected therewith, namely, the Governor and Sec- 
 retary of the Territory, appointed by the Presi- 
 dent, and the President of the Council and the 
 Speaker of the House of the Territorial Legisla- 
 ture. Two appointed by the President and two 
 elected by the people. The people were to have 
 an equal chance. But by the bill prepared by the 
 
 conference committee, one more is added to the 
 board, to wit, the district attorney; thus giving a 
 majority to the friends of the Lecompton consti- 
 tution. By the law any three of the board con- 
 stitute a quorum, and can act. This is pure 
 " popular sovereignty, "as practiced by the Dem- 
 ocratic party. This change was made for some 
 purpose, and it will be difficult to convince the 
 country that it was not done to control the election, 
 and give facilities for fraudulent votingand forged 
 returns. Kansas has long been fruitful ground 
 for the' basest election frauds by the friends of this 
 Administration; and it would be strange if seed 
 so plentifully sown would not produce another 
 crop. To cap the climax the bill should have pro- 
 vided that the returns be made to John Calhoun, 
 and deposited in his candle-box. 
 
 It is very evident to my mind that the Admin- 
 istration will bend all its efforts to carry the elec- 
 tion for " proposition accepted." J^o expense 
 will be spared to make Kansas a slave State. Every- 
 thing that endangers this result, so far as they 
 have the power, will be removed. Already has 
 District Attorney Weir been removed because he 
 would not worship Lecompton, and a man by the 
 name of Davis appointed, to aid in the work of 
 making a slave State of Kansas. Secret agents 
 of the Administration will be sent into the Terri- 
 tory to influence the people to vote for Lecomp- 
 ton. Of course they will all he free-State men. 
 They will tell the long-suffering people of Kan- 
 sas that they have only to come into the Union, 
 and that they can immediately change Lecomp- 
 ton into anything they choose. This will be in 
 perfect keeping with the trickery of this law. 
 
 It is well known that the most valuable lands 
 in^the Territory are already advertised for sale. 
 The times are hard, and the settlers find it impos- 
 sible to raise the money to pay for their lands, in 
 order to save them from this sale. They have 
 asked a postponement of the sale for one year. 
 Their reasonable request lias not been granted. 
 The sale has been postponed till November, with 
 an intimation from the Administration, that there 
 will probably be no difficulty in granting a further 
 postponement, if Kansas becomes a sovereign State. 
 That is, if the people will take Lecompton, the 
 Administration of James Buchanan will give them 
 longer time to pay for their land. The necessities 
 of the poor are to be taken advantage of, in order 
 to induce them to do what they abhor. Like the 
 exacting money-lender, the men now in power 
 promise an ex tension, /or a consideration, namely: 
 the acceptance of the Lecompton constitution. 
 An Administration that has urged and begged 
 Congress to force this spurious constitution upon 
 the necks of an unwilling and protesting people, 
 will not scruple to use all the means at its com- 
 mand, to accomplish the same thing by bribery or 
 by a pretended election. 
 
 I have full faith that the people of Kansas, if 
 they have anything like a fair chance, will spurn 
 the bribe, maintain their integrity, and treat every 
 m.an as a traitor who advocates admission on such 
 degrading terms. 
 
 Beyond all this, the conference bill enunciates 
 a new principle — one that has already attracted 
 the attention of the country. The doctrine that 
 it requires a greater population for a free State 
 than for a slave State, is distinctly implied in this 
 measure. I suppose this doctrine is to become a 
 
now article in the pro-slavoiy Dcmocrnlic creed. ! 
 Wiuuher thia new invention is to be labeled 
 " State equality," or christened with some other 
 popular name, I know not. Call it by what name 
 you please — we accept tlie issue ! It is a dr^rad-' 
 ing and insulting distinction, and the North will 
 resist it. The most ingenious doughface in all the 
 free States, cannot invent a reason why Kansas 
 should be admitted as a slave State with her pres- 
 ent population, and denied admission as a free 
 State till her population has doubled. You have 
 thrown down the plove on this issue: we shall 
 take it up. We will go to the people with this 
 issue. Upon our banners we will inscribe: " The 
 rights of the people. The immediate admisaion of 
 Kansas a? a free Slate. Ab distinctions in /oror of 
 slavery.^' If there are not members enough in this 
 House two years hence to admit Kansas without 
 delay as a free State, I shall be greatly mistaken. 
 I think it will be much easier to convince the peo- 
 ple of the free North that it is vastly more proper 
 to keep the men who voted for this new principle 
 of" equality" out of Congress, than that Kansas 
 should be denied admission as a free State, with ' 
 conditions, that, in the opinion of these gentlemen, 
 qualify her for admission as a slave State. 
 
 The political grave-yard received large acces- 
 sions when the Nebraska bill passed; and the 
 mourners still go about the streets. Again its 
 gates will be thrown wide oj5en, and many will 
 go in thereat. The race of doughfaces has not 
 increased for the past four years, and this meas- 
 ure is likely to prove a Noah's flood to the re- 
 mainder. Already has this Administration a fear- 
 ful account to settle. Its supporters on this floor 
 and elsewhere will be punished not only for what 
 they have done and attempted to do, in respect 
 to Kansas, but they will be arraigned before the 
 country for betraying great trusts — for repudiat- 
 ing solemn pledges, and for obtaining power un- 
 der false pretenses. By the common law, as well 
 as by statute, in most of the States, the obtaining 
 of goods, money, and other valuable things, by 
 false pretenses and false tokens, is declared to be 
 an offense, and is severely punished. The fact 
 is as notorious as the election itself, that through- 
 out the northern States the Democratic party, in 
 the campaign of 1856, inscribed upon its banners 
 the niotto " Buchanan and free Kansas." The 
 .<»inccrity with which they promised to make Kan- 
 sas a free State, and the seeming indignation with 
 which they repelled the charge of a want of fidel- 
 ity in their presidential candidate to this policy, 
 defeated the inflexible Fremont, and elected the 
 supple Buchanan. But for these reiterated pledges, 
 the so-called Democratic party would have been 
 defeated in every free State in this Union. Had 
 the people of Pennsylvania dreamed, in the fall 
 of 185G, that the chief business of the first eight 
 months of a Buchanan Administration would be 
 wheedlingand dividing the free-State men of Kan- 
 sas, and then, by fraud and force, securing the 
 apparent adoption of a pro-slavery constitution; 
 and that, during five weary months of this Con- 
 gress, the whole Federal power and patronage 
 would be prostituted to forcing upon that people 
 a government which they abhor; and that, failing 
 to do this directly, it would try to effect it by a 
 dark and devious policy, as deceptive as it is des- 
 picable — I say, had the people of the land of Penn 
 and Franklin dreamed that such would be the 
 
 ' Kansaspolicy of Mr. Buchanan, they would have 
 beaten the Democratic ticket in the " Keystone 
 State" by thousands upon thousands. 
 
 I repeat, then, that not only will the people of 
 I the North scourge this Administration for what 
 it has done and attom[)ted to do in respect to Kan- 
 sas, but they will compare the record of its actual 
 deeds with the pledges it made when asking public 
 confidence, and will mete out punishment accord- 
 ingly. Human nature always feels more indig- 
 nant at being circumvented by trickery and hypoc- 
 risy than at being beaten in open, manly conflict. 
 Cornwallis, who drove Greene before him in fair, 
 manly battle, is a name honored even in America; 
 while thai of Arnold, who, by false tokens, ob- 
 tained the command of West Point that he might 
 betray it to the enemy, is the synonym of false- 
 hood and treachery the world over. 
 
 The Republicans, who asserted that Buchanan 
 would ply all his arts to make Kansas a slave 
 State, and would prove the most ready tool of the 
 negro oligarchy that ever occupied the presiden- 
 tial chair, have not been deceived. Their predic- 
 tions have been verified. Their present hostility 
 to his Administration is natural. The assault they 
 will make upon it hereafter will only be the war- 
 fare of consistent foes. 
 
 But what name shall I give to that summary 
 punishment v/hich thou.sands upon thousands of 
 betrayed Democrats are eager to inflict upon the 
 Administration at the earliest opportunity; men 
 who were honest in their pledges of " free Kan- 
 sas," who promptly indorsed the promises of 
 party leaders in the great contest of 1856, who 
 implicitly relied upon the sincerity of their presi- 
 dential chief.' Cheated by their leaders, betrayed 
 by their chief, taunted by an incensed people, they 
 I will deride the man, and repudiate the party that 
 has deceived and disgraced them. 
 
 Sore and sure as will be the chastisement that 
 this large class will inflict upon the Administra- 
 tion, it will be mildness and mercy it.self, when 
 compared with the terrible retribution that another 
 portion of Mr. Buchanan's supporters have in 
 store for him and his retainers. I allude to that 
 most respectable body of them called " conserv- 
 atives," "old-line Whigs," or " no-party men." 
 In the very crisis of the contest, they threw their 
 weight into the trembling balance, and awarded 
 him the victory. Towards the close of the con- 
 flict it assumed such a shape as to give these men 
 great influence over the result. Especially was 
 this true in the preliminary October election in 
 Pennsylvania, the pivot on which the whole can- 
 vass finally turned. These gentleman were, no 
 doubt, partly influenced to join the standard of 
 Buchanan by his vaunted respectability of char- 
 acter, his mature age, his great experience in pub- 
 lic affairs, his gravity of visage, dress, and de- 
 meanor. They could not doubt that so venerable 
 a personage mustbeaconservative. Ihavealways 
 thought that the white cravat and doctor-of-divin- 
 ity like air in general, of the Wheatland sage had 
 not a little to do in luring to his support this high 
 minded and somewhat aristocratic body of men. 
 But the chief motive that influenced them, prob- 
 ably, was his express and implied promise, that 
 he would deal fairly by Kansas; that he would 
 rebuke pro-slavery "fanaticism,"as well as"ab- 
 ■ olilionism;" that he would set his face against 
 "sectionalism;" that he woutd notwinkat "filli- 
 
LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 8 
 
 bustering"on the ocean, nor "border-ruffianism" 
 on the land. They believed most sincerely that 
 should a state of things arise in Kansas such as 
 has now involved her affairs in a net-work of 
 frauds, perjuries, forgeries, ballot-box stuffing, 
 and rascalities of all sorts, Mr. Buchanan was the 
 very man to crush such crimes with the weight 
 of his authority, and to vindicate the cause of 
 justice, honesty, and fair dealing in that Terri- 
 tory. 
 
 Thatthese conservative gentlemen, whose votes 
 turned the scale in favor of Buchanan, have been 
 most woefully deceived in him, is beyond all 
 question. That their pride of character has been 
 deeply wounded at finding themselves classified 
 among the supporters of an Administration that 
 protects and honors thieves, forgers, ballot-box 
 stufTers, and rogues in general, is very certain. 
 That their pride of opinion has been sorely mor- 
 tified at being duped by the Pecksniffian morality 
 of the author of the Connecticut clerical epistle, 
 is most true. Men thus galled in their tenderest 
 points will not only embrace the first opportunity 
 to dissolve this uncongenial alliance, but will take 
 swift vengeance upon those who wheedled them 
 into such position. Of all the ingredients of that 
 retribution which is soon to be poured out upon 
 the pro-slavery Democracy of the North, the most 
 bitter, the vfiost destructive will be the hot indig- 
 nation of these cheated " conservatives," these 
 deluded " old-line Whigs," these betrayed " no- 
 party men." 
 
 The gathering in the political heavens is omin- 
 ous of the coming storm. The tempest thatswept 
 the free States in the autumn of 1854, when the 
 people visited their wrath upon the party that had 
 just " removed the old landmarks" by obliterat- 
 ing the slavery prohibition of the Missouri com- 
 promise; and the tornado that careered through 
 the North two years afterwards, prostrating so 
 many aspiring men, and, though not wholly suc- 
 cessful in its objects, yet most salutary even in its 
 partial effects, and full of hope for the future, will 
 prove to be but gentle gales when compared with 
 that retributive hurricane which, in the approach- 
 ing autumn, will scathe the Lecompton Democ- 
 racy as with the besom of destruction. 
 
 Are we mistaken in the signs of the times.'' 
 Turning the eye towards the setting sun, can we 
 doubt that the j^oung State lying beyond the 
 Sierra Nevada will sustain her able representa- 
 tives in the Senate and in this House in their op- 
 position to the Lecomptor. fraud? As to the five 
 growing States of the Northwest, which were 
 saved to perpetual liberty by the immortal ordi- 
 nance of 1787; and the State, not less prosperous, 
 which was consecrated to freedom forever by the 
 Missouri compromise; and the vigorous new 
 State just admitted to the Union, will they not 
 all vindicate the cause of free labor by sending a 
 delegation to the next Congress that will be a 
 unit on questions like those which have divided 
 men and rent parties during the present ses- 
 sion .' 
 As to Pennsylvania, her favorite son has as- 
 
 cended topower. ; 016 085 206 9 , 
 
 He has soured her spirii. xm, vu. .. ... ^.. 
 
 The spell is broken. She will break her chains 
 and stand forth redeemed, emancipated, and dis- 
 enthralled. Lethim whodoubts this, ponder the 
 result of the recent election in Philadelphia, and 
 be assured that what has been done in May on 
 the banks of the Delaware and Schuylkill, will in 
 October be repeated on the banks of the Susque- 
 hanna, the Juniata, the Monongahela, the Alle- 
 ghany, and the Ohio. As New Jersey suffered 
 with Pennsylvania in the struggle, and shared 
 with her in the triumph of the Revolution , so, too, 
 has she generally followed the lead of that great 
 State in all political changes; and so will she now. 
 It would also be belying the whole history of New 
 York, a State that gave to the war of Independence 
 the sword of a Schuyler and a Hamilton — that 
 gave to the constitutional era the pen of a Jay 
 and a Livingston — and that has given to the coun- 
 sels of the Republic and the cause of freedom the 
 services of a King, a Clinton, a Tompkins, and a 
 Wright, to question that in a crisis like this she 
 will cast her " Empire" weight into the scale of 
 liberty. 
 
 I hardly need speak for New England ; for since 
 this Congress has been in session she has begun 
 to speak for herself. The emphatic voice of New 
 Hampshire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, re- 
 cently uttered agafnst this Lecompton crime, will 
 in due time be reiterated by Vermont, Maine, and 
 Massachusetts. Those who now misrepresent 
 the sentiment of New England in these Halls will 
 soon have leave of absence. They will not ap- 
 pear here at the next Congress, nor will anybody 
 of like faith succeed to their seats. ♦' The places 
 which now know them will know them no more 
 forever." No human being outside of a nursery 
 or a lunatic asylum doubts that, in the next Con- 
 gress, glorious New England will present an un- 
 broken front in the cause of freedom. 
 
 Speaking for my own State, I can certify to her 
 fidelity. When her own son, sitting in the pres- 
 idential chair, forced upon the country the Kan- 
 sas-Nebraska act, she turned her back scornfully 
 upon him, and set her feet indignantly upon his 
 Administration. But so much more does she de- 
 test the policy of James Buchanan, that in com- 
 parison therewith she is beginning to look upon 
 that of Franklin Pierce with a feeling akin to com- 
 placency. I know the people of New Hampshire 
 well. Her White Mountains are not more firmly 
 rooted to the earth than her sons are grounded in 
 the cause of civil and religious freedom. In that 
 most solemn and eventful hour of the Republic, 
 on that memorable 4th of July, 1776, her Repre- 
 sentatives in Congress were the first to vote for 
 the Declaration of Independence; and her people 
 will be the last to abandon the principles of that 
 immortal charter of human rights. Whoever else 
 falters in the hour of trial, they will be found 
 faithful. Whenever the trumpet calls to battle, 
 they will rally to the standard; and 
 
 " From their tall moiititains to the sea, 
 One voice shall thunder, We are free!"