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 Book -7^^ 
 
The Kansas Constitution. 
 
 SPEECH 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. CYDNOR B. TOMPKINS, OF OHIO. 
 
 Delivered in the U. S. House of Representatives, February 18, 1858. 
 
 Mr. Chairman, I avail myself of this oppor- 
 tunity to discuss what is familiarly known as 
 the Kansas question ; and, in connection with 
 that, the exciting question of Slavery. If these 
 subjects are disagreeable to a portion of this 
 Committee, I nevertheless feel it to be my 
 privilege — my imperative duty — as one of the 
 representatives of the people of the great State 
 of Ohio, to speak my opinions today upon these 
 subjects. That they are here now for discus- 
 sion is no fault of mine, or of those whom I 
 have the honor to represent ; and if the country 
 is rent with dissensions, if this Government is 
 ultimately overthrown and destroyed, I can 
 certainly quote the great master of nature with 
 as much propriety as did the distinguished mem- 
 ber from New York, [Mr. Haskin,] on this floor, 
 a few days since : 
 
 " Thou canst not say I did it; never shake 
 
 Thy gory locks at me." 
 
 Twice the free States of this Union have sub- 
 mitted to the unreasonable demands of Slavery, 
 and humiliated themselves for the sake of peace. 
 But to the repeal of the Missouri Compromise 
 they never have submitted quietly, and I know 
 they never will. The contest has now begun, 
 and I say, 
 
 "Lay on, Macduff! 
 And damn'd be him that first cries, hold '. enough ! " 
 
 I am opposed to the admission of Kansas as 
 one of the States of this Union with he:- present 
 Constitution. The paramount reason is, this 
 Constitution establishes and sustains Slavery. 
 I shall oppose her admission with her present 
 Constitution. It is wholly immaterial to me 
 whether that Constitution has been submitted 
 to the people of the Territory for their sanction 
 or not. I will not at this time stop to inquire 
 whether it meets the approbation of the pres- 
 ent inhabitants. The time was when I would 
 have felt justified in voting for the admission 
 of a State with a Slavery Constitution, if it was 
 formed out of territory south of 36° 30 / north 
 latitude, that belonged to this Government at 
 the time the Missouri Compromise was adopted. 
 
 I think it was the understanding of the parties 
 to that compact, that such States should be ad* 
 mitted; if not expressed, it was certainly im- 
 plied, that such States should be admitted. If 
 this was tbe understanding, national faith would 
 have required their admission. 
 
 But by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise 
 the obligation ceased. I feel that every man 
 in this country is free to act as his conscience 
 may dictate. By the repeal of the Missouri 
 Compromise, " the gauntlet is thrown at once." 
 The Republican party have accepted the gage, 
 and the contest is between Freedom and Sla- 
 very. The contest is an unequal one. The 
 Republican party is unaided by Government 
 patronage or Government influence. For the 
 last four years, the Slavery party in this coun- 
 try has had the countenance and support of the 
 President of the United States. The army of 
 the nation, and not only that, but tbe judicial 
 department of the Government, has prostituted 
 its powers, and is willing to "grind in the prison 
 house " at the behest of this political Delilah. 
 The Supreme Court certainly has shown itself 
 quite as willing to enter the service of Slavery 
 as the most ultra friend of the institution could 
 desire. 
 
 It is true, however, that the late decision of 
 the court has changed the opinion of no man 
 upon the the rights of the slaveholder. It has 
 only changed the opinions men may have enter- 
 tained in regard to the individuals who consti- 
 tute that court. Some persons may have sup- 
 posed that they were too independent and up- 
 right to shape their legal opinions to suit any 
 political party ; but if there were any such per- 
 sons prior to the decision of the Dred Scott 
 case, there are none such now. It is a melan- 
 choly reflection for freemen, that the depart- 
 ment of this Government that we looked to as 
 the rock of safety, and that we expected to stand 
 as a wall of fire between Freedom and Slavery, 
 has shown itself more subservient to Slavery 
 than any other department of the Government. 
 
The other departments have usually waited, 
 I believe, until an opportunity offered— until 
 there has been a sho* of pretence for their aid. 
 They have not rendered their services without 
 being requested to do so. But the judicial de- 
 partment, in this instance, voluntarily stepped 
 out of iti way, in violation of all precedent, and 
 on the hill-tops it now shamelessly proclaims 
 its prostitution to the world. 
 
 I have said there is now to be a contest 
 between Freedom and Slavery; and I am 
 proud to say that the great Republican party 
 of the country, of which I am but an humble 
 member;, stands forth as the champion of Free- 
 dom and the rights of man. I will say now, 
 that I claim no right to interfere with Slavery 
 in the States where it exists ; neither does the 
 Republican party, as a body, claim any such 
 right. I do not desire to interefere with it in 
 the States. But I avow that I have a legal, 
 constitutional right to resist the extention of 
 Slavery into any free territory belonging now to 
 this Government ; and no earthly power in ex- 
 istence can deprive me of it. I have already 
 said that I am free from all national obligations 
 to vote for the extension of Slavery into any of 
 the Territories belonging to this Government ; 
 and I will resist its extention whenever and 
 wherever I choose to do eo. This is the doc- 
 trine, I believe, that was inaugurated three years 
 ago, and is now contended for by a very large 
 majority of Anti-Slavery men in this country. 
 I avail myself of this opportunity to say that 
 there really are but two parties in this country. 
 There is the Slavery party and the Anti- Slavery 
 party. There really is no Democratic party. 
 There is a party that, out of personal respect 
 and courtesy, we call the Democratic party. 
 But it this day has no separate and distinct ex- 
 istence. It has been swallowed up, utterly 
 absorbed, by the Slavery party. I do not say 
 this by way of insult, or to make myself offen- 
 sive to any one, but I say it because truth and 
 candor require it — because things that are 
 transpiring every day before our eyes carry this 
 conviction home to the heart. 
 
 Before proceeding to state the reasons why 
 I am opposed to the extension of Slavery, I de- 
 sire to refer to one charge that is made against 
 the Republican party of this country. That is 
 the charge of Abolitionism. I care nothing 
 about the charge personally, neither do I pre- 
 sume that any member of the party does ; but 
 
 These charges are not made because any in- 
 telligent man believes them. There is no in- 
 telligent man but knows them to be utterly 
 false, and without any foundation whatever. 
 These charges are made by designing dema- 
 gogues, to mislead the ignorant, and to excite 
 a prejudice in the minds of the vulgar and the 
 depraved. The black man nowhere has such 
 fierce and deadly foes as in the wretched, igno- 
 rant, and depraved, of earth. The more 
 wretched and degraded a white man may be, 
 the more deadly he hates and despises a negro; 
 for the reason, he is fearful the negro is better 
 than himself, and therefore comes in competi- 
 tion with him for the esteem of respectable white 
 men. Hence you will hear the detestable wretch, 
 with bloated face, blood shot eyes, seared and 
 blistered lips, with ragged and tattered garments, 
 screaming at the top of his voice, "Abolitionists 1" 
 This charge has had the effect to drive all 
 the ignorant away from us; and many well- 
 meaning men refuse to vote for our candidates, 
 because they think we are really Abolitionists, 
 in the full sense of the term. We have also 
 been unable to hold another class of men — men 
 who regard themselves as the aristocracy of the 
 North. They found that the industrious yeo- 
 men, the skillful mechanics, and the hardy sons 
 of toil, who constitute a very large proportion 
 of the Republican party, had no sympathy and 
 feelings with them. They have gone to the 
 only aristocracy there is in this country. The 
 Republican party may rejoice that it is freed 
 from such dead weight ; they would be worse 
 than a millstone about its neck. In resisting 
 the extension of Slavery, I make no appeals to 
 the slaveholders, to excite their sympathy in 
 behalf of the enslaved and oppressed. This 
 has been done so frequently, and without any 
 effect, that they have become hardened ; so that 
 nothing but the " bursting of volcanoes or the 
 crush of the riven world " could move them. I 
 indulge in no sentimentality for the slave ; I can 
 do him no good. While I say this, I say that 
 I believe Slavery to be the gieatest moral evil 
 that can exist. " It is the monarch of crimes, 
 and the jewels that adorn its crown are tears 
 and blood." I oppose it because of the great 
 wrong that it does to the white race. It deprives 
 white labor of its just reward. It builds up no 
 middle class of intelligent farmers, artisans, and 
 mechanics, who constitute the real strength, 
 who make the real wealth, and are justly the 
 
 I refer to it because some honest men may be j pride and glory of the free States. Where Sla 
 drawn away from us because this charge is very is, there will, of course, be a class of well- 
 made. I refer, also, to another charge that is | educated, refined, and accomplished men- 
 
 made against us — that is, that we contend for 
 negro equality. I say now, most emphatically, 
 that the Republican party is not an Abolition- 
 ist party ; that we have never at any time made 
 any attempt to raise the black man to an equal- 
 ity with the whites. There may be men that 
 now vote with the Republican party that were 
 called Abolitionists, but they have not indoc- 
 trinated it with their opinions or their creeds. 
 
 there will be refined society ; and so there is in 
 many of the despotisms in Europe. 
 
 But the proportion of educated men in the 
 slave States, I presume, is not by any means 
 equal to those in the free States. The South 
 has produced some great statesmen — men of 
 whom the country may justly be proud ; but, as 
 a general thing, they were to 
 
 "Title* born, reputation and luxurious life." 
 
I do not denounce slaveholders as a claps. 
 There are many honest and just men among 
 them — men of benevolence aud kindness ot 
 heart ; but the system is demoralizing, and 
 must, to a greater or less degree, demoralize 
 the country where it exists. I oppose it, be- 
 cause it oppresses the poor; because it deprives 
 labor of its just reward ; it deprives the poor of 
 the means of education ; it degrades ffftor, the 
 only means of producing wealth in thi3 or any 
 other country. Where Slavery exists, the road 
 to honor and fame is hedged up from the poor, 
 and they never can free themselves from those 
 " twin jailors of the daring heart, low birth and 
 iron fortune." There is nothing " to lore them 
 on to those inspiring toils by which man mas- 
 ters men." 
 
 I oppose the extension of Slavery into the 
 Territories of this Government, because, if this 
 institution is permitted to go there, the intelli- 
 gent free laborers of this country never will 
 consent to live with slaves ; the free States will 
 be deprived of their just and equal rights in the 
 Territories ; these Territories never will add 
 anything to the real greatness of the country. 
 But I believe, if these Territories are occupied 
 only by freemen, a great people will ultimately 
 grow up in them, surpassing in power and glory 
 anything the world has ever seen. I am opposed 
 to Slavery, because the white inhabitants where 
 it exists live in constant dread and alarm. They 
 know not but they are slumbering on a volcano, 
 that in a moment may overwhelm them with 
 destruction. 
 
 Who has not heard with horror, whose blood 
 has not curdled in his veins, whose heart has 
 not sickened, at the recital of the butcheries of 
 Nat Turner and his murderous crew, when the 
 blood of tender and innocent children drenched 
 the soil of the Old Dominion? Then, orators 
 and statesmen awakened from their long leth- 
 argy, and hurled their denunciations at the in- 
 stitution, until they Bhook its very foundation. 
 But the cry of the murdered innocents has 
 passed away upon hollow winds. Their pure 
 spirits have ascended to the throne of God. 
 Their mortal bodies have mouldered away in 
 the silent tomb. The learned statesmen and 
 eloquent orators are now sile^nt ; and the peo- 
 ple of he Old Dominion are to day nursing the 
 viper in their bosoms with more tender solici- 
 tude than they ever did before. I oppose Sla- 
 very, because it advocates and justifies the fit- 
 ting out of military expeditions, and makes war 
 upon weak and defenceless people, with whom 
 we are at peace. Although it was said on this 
 floor, since the commencement of the present 
 Congress, that the Nicaraguan question had 
 no negroes connected with it — that there were 
 no negroes in that country — with all due re- 
 spect for the persons who entertain that opin- 
 ion, I say, there would have been no discus- 
 sion on this floor about the capture of Walker, 
 had it not been for the question of Slavery. 
 
 The members on this floor who condemn the 
 President and sustain Walker, are, I believe, 
 the advocates of Slavery. They want Central 
 America, because they want to extend the do- 
 minions of Slavery. I presume no man believes, 
 that if Walker had been engaged in making war 
 upon Canada, that the Slavery advocates would 
 have justified him in his lawless adventure I 
 The walls of this Hall would have trembled 
 under their denunciations against him. 
 
 But there is still a greater reason than these, 
 than any or all of them, against its extension. 
 There can be no freedom for white men, where 
 black men are held as slaves. In the slave 
 States of this Union, men are to-day deprived 
 of the libertv of speech and the freedom of 
 the press. You may boast of your Constitu- 
 tion guarantying to every man this right ; but 
 the Constitution has not the strength of a rope 
 of sand. It is trampled under foot by the 
 mob. In the Southern States of this Union, 
 no man can exercise the freedom of speech, 
 unless the mob will permit it. I saw a man 
 last winter, in Columbus, Ohio, who was a man 
 of education and refinement, who hsd been a 
 professor in a literary college, (as I waa in- 
 formed,) who was driven out of the State of 
 North Carolina, because he declared that he 
 desired the election of Fremont, as President 
 of the United States. Because he exercised 
 the freedom of speech — a right u inestimable 
 to freemen, and formidable to tyrants only;" 
 for declaring his sentiments upon one of the 
 great political questions of the day — an infuri- 
 ated mob collected together, and compelled him 
 to flee for his life. He was driven from his 
 native State, from his kinsmen, his friends, and 
 his home ; he had to go forth, a wanderer in 
 the earth. Well might he say, with Bertram : 
 
 " I have no country ; that dear name 
 Camprises home, kind kindred, fosierins; friends, 
 Protecting laws ! But none of these aie mine." 
 
 It will be recollected that a respectable min- 
 ister of the Gospel from the State of Virginia 
 attended the Republican Convention held in 
 Philadelphia, in 1856, and, for doing this, 
 never was permitted to return to his home, and 
 was compelled to seek refuge from violence in 
 one of the free States. Such things are, I pre- 
 sume, of frequent occurrence in the slave 
 States ; if they are not, it is because no man 
 there has tjie temerity to associate with Repub- 
 licans, or to attend their Conventions. I saw 
 a man within the last six weeks, who resides 
 in the State of Virginia. He said that he had 
 no doubt but that, if Fremont had been elected 
 President of the United States, the country 
 would have been quite as well off as it is with 
 the present incumbent. u But," said he, " I 
 dare not say that at home." Thus it is the 
 mouths of freemen are stopped ; yet those that 
 do it will taunt the Hepublican party with 
 being a sectional party, when they know no 
 man entertaining free sentiments and free opin- 
 ions would be permitted to live amongst them. 
 
How long has it been since we saw an account 
 of a bookselling establishment being broken 
 up in the South, the property destroyed, the 
 owners compelled to fly for personal safety ? 
 Why was their property destroyed ? Why were 
 they driven from the country? The public 
 prints of the day said it was because they had 
 a book for sale that was written by a negro. 
 No man will be safe to read the Declaration of 
 Independence in the State of Virginia, if their 
 statute should be enforced. Dare any man pro- 
 claim " that all men are created equal, endowed 
 by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, 
 and among these are life, liberty, and the pur- 
 suit of happiness ? " Dare any man say that 
 God " hath made of one blood all nations to 
 dwell upon the face of all the earth?" 
 
 It is made a crime by statutes in some of 
 the slave States to say that man cannot hold 
 property in man, or that man cannot hold 
 property in a slave. If by word or deed — yea, 
 " by invisible thought or unuttered wish " — 
 any man should attempt to inculcate the doc- 
 trine that slaves are not property, or that man 
 eannot hold property in man, he will be forced 
 to leave the country. You men of the slave 
 States must burn the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence ; you must expunge from the records of 
 your court the Will of Washington ; you must 
 proscribe the writings of Jefferson, and the free 
 and glorious sentiments of Randolph ; you 
 must erase from the memory of man the teach- 
 ings of the conscript fathers of the Republic ; 
 you must blot from the history of your country 
 the glories of Lexington and Bunker Hill. Why 
 was John Adams born, or why did Washing- 
 ton live ? The heroes of the Revolution died 
 in vain ; they waded through rivers and seas of 
 blood to establish Independence. But there is 
 a despotism to-day reigning over the minds of 
 men in parts of this country, as absolute as 
 there is in any Christian country in the world. 
 
 I take no pleasure in repeating these things. 
 I would be glad to avoid it if I could, but I 
 would not be a proper representative of a free 
 people if I did not this day declare the truth. 
 
 It will be said, no doubt, that these statutes 
 are necessary for the safety of the white race 
 where Slavery exists. I do not doubt that these 
 laws are deemed absolutely necessary to the 
 very existence of the white popufttiou ; but I 
 say it is the most grievous misfortune that could 
 befall any people. Where these statutes exist, 
 " Freedom can only be a name." If these stat- 
 utes are necessary for the personal safety of 
 the white race in the slave States, (and it ia 
 declared by men of truth they are,) then I say 
 I am furnished with an argument against the 
 extension of Slavery that is incontrovertible and 
 conclusive upon the •ubject. If the press has 
 to be muzzled, if there has to be a clasp upon 
 the mouth and a seal upon the lips, if free 
 and glorious thoughts have to sicken and die 
 unuttered, why try to extend this, the most 
 
 terrible of despotisms ? Let me say, in the elo- 
 quent language of Kotzebue — 
 
 "Let what is within moulder and decay. Why, why 
 strive to open ths wreicned charnel-house, and spread 
 the pestilence around ? " 
 
 The spirit of Slavery has not only subdued 
 and stopped the mouths of men in the slave 
 States^mt there are men in the free States that 
 yield their independence and forfeit their man- 
 hood at the dictation of the taskmasters at the 
 South. It has affected, in a greater or less 
 degree, a proportion of the Democratic party 
 at the North. In the language of an eloquent 
 writer — 
 
 'The spirit of Slavery has pissed upon the power of 
 the party like a thing of necromancy, winning ihem to its 
 command and bowing them to its will, until tney have 
 stood stricken and panting before it like cornered deer 
 before the inexorable hunter." 
 
 They have forfeited their manhood and their 
 independence. They have eacrificed their opin- 
 ions and principles, at the command of the 
 Southern slaveholder. Who was more clamor- 
 ous for the Wilmot Proviso than many of the 
 Democracy of the free States ? Who denounced 
 the fugitive slave law more fiercely and terri- 
 bly than the Democracy of Ohio ? But who is 
 ! now more subservient to the Slave Power than 
 they ? It is true, we have seen some signs of 
 insurrection and rebellion in this House since 
 the Bitting of the present Congress. I am glad 
 to see it. And if any of those who manifest 
 this independence should feel symptoms of 
 spinal disease, I hope they will receive such 
 remedies from their constituents as will remove 
 all complaints. I have not the least doubt 
 that the advocates of Slavery this day feel more 
 respect for those members of the Democratic 
 party from the free States who refuse to aid 
 Slavery, than they do for the man who gives 
 them his support. When the inquiry is made, 
 why these men humble themselves at the com- 
 mand of the taskmaster, the reply is, they are 
 national men, and they fear the Union will be 
 dissolved. I have no such apprehension, and 
 I have no patience with the man who talks 
 about it; and, without meaning disrespect to 
 any one on this floor, I say, if there is any man 
 who is the object of scorn and contempt, it is 
 the Northern man who can be frightened from 
 his propriety by the Slavery "raw-head and 
 bloody-bones." 
 
 It is not my prerogative to give advice to my 
 Democratic friends ; but I caution them against 
 becoming Union doctors. It always kills the 
 doctor, but the patient survives. The fate of 
 the great Webster should be a warning to all 
 Northern men not to sacrifice themselves in 
 any such way. Mr. Webster turned Union 
 doctor ; he cut loose from his friends at the 
 North, the men that had stood by him in all 
 his troubles and trials — men, whose respect for 
 him amounted almost to adoration. He turned 
 from them ; he threw himself into the arms of 
 the South. On the 7th of March, 1850, he 
 made his great speech in favor of the fugitive 
 
slave bill. . He aided, by his great powers, to 
 pass that measure. A little more than two 
 years thereafter, a Convention was held by the 
 "Whig party, to nominate a candidate for Pres- 
 ident. The few remaining friends that Mr. 
 Webster had, were represented in that Conven- 
 tion. They expected the Whig delegates from 
 the South would support him. The whoh 
 country knew what services he had rendered 
 them — the mighty efforts he had put forth to 
 aid in passing their favorite measure. But not 
 one single vote could be had for him from the 
 slave States. No appeals that could be made 
 could bring a single man to his Bupport. I be- 
 lieve it is conceded that his days were shorten- 
 ed by the action of that Convention. Webster 
 died ; but the Union lives, and will live for 
 generations yet to come. 
 
 There has been a series of acts perpetrated 
 recently by the Pro Slavery party in this coun- 
 try, that would astound the world, if mankind 
 had not ceased to be astonished at any act, 
 however outrageous, they might commit. I 
 refer to the recent election frauds in Kansas 
 and Minnesota. I take but one specimen in 
 Kansas. I take the Oxford precinct, in John 
 son county. There was a Democratic majority 
 of fifteen hundred returned from a place where 
 everybody that knows anything about it knows 
 there were not three hundred voters. These 
 names, that were returned as being voters in 
 that precinct, were copied from the Cincinnati 
 business directory. The return showed upon 
 its face that it was a fraud. At the time of the 
 return, no man in the Territory pretended that 
 it was genuine. Nobody pretended there was 
 any such number of voters there. Nobody pre- 
 tends any such thing now — the evidence of the 
 fraud being so complete and overwhelming 
 that it could not be resisted. Under these 
 circumstaEces, Governor Walker rejected the 
 return ; no honest man could have done any- 
 thing else. After doing this, he published a 
 statement of the facts and circumstances, justi- 
 fying himself for what he had done. 
 
 In the face of all this evidence, the papers in 
 the South have raised a yell over it, more terri- 
 ble than would be raised if a lighted torch had 
 been thrown into a den of wolves. For doing 
 this act of justice, the Governor forfeited the 
 confidence of the party, and, we have strong 
 reason to believe, for this act has been compel 
 led to resign his office. What kind of a sight 
 is this for honest men to look upon? An 
 American statesman, for refusing to become a 
 party to the most infamous fraud the world has 
 ever seen, is branded as a traitor to his party 
 and driven from office. This, perhaps, is 
 enough upon this one case. I will now refer 
 to Minnesota. There is a county, there called 
 Pembina ; and, from the best information I can 
 obtain, it has but a very small population, that 
 part of it which properly belongs to Minnesota 
 not having more than fifteen or twenty voters. 
 This county, we are informed, returned a ma- 
 
 jority of six hundred for the Democratic candi- 
 date for Governor. This district of country had 
 six delegates in the Constitutional Convention. 
 How many Representatives in the Legislature, 
 now I cannot tell ; but I presume quite as 
 many as it had delegates in the Convention. 
 From other places in that country, where there 
 were but very few white settlers, there were large 
 numbers of votes returned. We have an ac- 
 count in one place of a hundred savages that 
 were led to the polls to vote ; not one of them 
 could tell their names, or could speak a word 
 of our language. They were bedaubed with 
 their war-paint, armed with bows and arrows, 
 and war clubs; dressed in their breech-clouts, 
 if they were dressed at all ; led on and directed 
 how to vote, no doubt, by some individual who 
 was probably appointed nominally as an In- 
 dian agent, but made it his business to manu- 
 facture bogus votes for his party. 
 
 How long is the country to submit to this ? 
 If we can believe the statements that are made 
 in regard to these frauds, we are bound to be- 
 lieve that, in the last election held in Minneso- 
 ta, hundreds of degraded savages, that could 
 not speak a word of our language, that have no 
 possible conception of our form of Government, 
 went to the polls ; and every one of them, by 
 the direction of somebody, because they could 
 have no mind of their own, voted the Demo- 
 cratic ticket, and the vote of each and every 
 one counted as much as the vote of the most 
 intelligent man in that Territory. Thus it is a 
 Democratic Governor is elected — members of 
 the Senate and House of Representatives. These 
 statements have been before the country for 
 months ; I have not seen them disputed ; I be- 
 lieve them to be true, and, what is more, I have 
 not heard a word of condemnation from any pa- 
 per of the party, or from any member of the 
 party, either public or private ; and from all the 
 information I have, I am reluctantly led to be- 
 lieve that the party justifies these wrongs. 
 
 The question may be asked, why does it jus- 
 tify these wrongs ? There is but one solution 
 to the question. Slavery has done it ; Slavery 
 has taken possession of the party, and debauch- 
 ed it. The3e are the legitimate fruits of a sys- 
 tem that teaches that one class of men have no 
 rights that another class is bound to respect. It 
 is founded in wrong, it is a matter of force, and 
 the same principle and spirit that teaches that 
 black men have no rights that white men are 
 bound to respect, will defraud white men of 
 their rights whenever ambition or interest de- 
 mands it. It is a part of the plan of the slave 
 party in this country to hold the entire control 
 of the Government, and to appropriate to them- 
 selves its emoluments and its honors ; where 
 there are ruffians and robbers that can be 
 brought from adjoining States, with revolvers 
 and bowie-knives, to drive honorable men from 
 the polls, and stuff ballot-boxes with fraudulent 
 votes, and elect dishonest men to office, that 
 ) plan is adopted ; where ruffians, revolvers, and 
 
bowie-knives, cannot be obtained, hideotis sav- 
 ages, bedaubed with their war-paint, and armed 
 with their war-clubp, are made to do the voting. 
 But when neither border ruffians nor savages 
 can be obtained, what then ? The Cincinnati 
 business directory is brought up, and casts fif- 
 teen hundred votes. But when there are neither 
 ruffians, savages, nor business directories, to be 
 obtained, then what ? Then they resort to the 
 imagination, and the pure bogus votes are fur 
 nished. Because Slavery has done all these 
 things, I oppose its extension into any free terri- 
 tory. 
 
 There are other and special reasons why Sla- 
 very should not be admitted into Kansas. The 
 first, and one which I deem entirely conclusive, 
 is : Thirty-seven years ago, a solemn compact 
 was entered into, between the North and the 
 South, whereby it was agreed, upon sufficient 
 consideration, that there never should be any 
 Slavery north of 36° 3 0' north latitude. This 
 compact was strictly observed on the part of 
 the North. The South got everything that 
 they contemplated, and the States of Florida 
 and Texas, with territory sufficient to make four 
 States, in addition to what wa3 originally 
 contemplated; she received and appropriated 
 them to her own use. The North submitted 
 quietly to it, because she believed the national 
 faith required it. But juBt as the North got 
 ready to appropriate her part of the considera- 
 tion for this compact, the South demanded its 
 abrogation. The Missouri compromise was re- 
 pealed, in violation of national faith and honesty, 
 in violation of the principles that should govern 
 the intercourse of all honorable men. But not- 
 withstanding the repeal of the Missouri com- 
 promise, it was promised that the future inhab- 
 itants should be perfectly free to govern them- 
 selves. The act repealing the Missouri com- 
 promise contained this very anomalous provis- 
 ion, the like of which was probably never seen 
 in any act of any legislative body before, and I 
 presume never will be seen again. I quote the 
 provision : 
 
 "It being the true intent and meaning of this act, not to 
 legislate Slavery into any Territory or State, nor to ex- 
 clude it therefrom, hut to leave the people perfectly free 
 to form and regulate their own domestic institutions in 
 their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the 
 United States." 
 
 The people of Kansas were not only to be 
 free, but they were to be perfectly free. It has 
 been said frequently, by metaphysicians, that 
 no human being is perfect — no human laws are 
 perfect — but the people of this Territory were 
 to approach nearer Divinity than any other 
 created beings. They were to be perfectly free, 
 subject only to the Constitution of the United 
 States. This part of that act, I believe, has 
 been justly denominated a stump speech. This 
 organic act went forth to the world containing 
 this pledge, that the people of these Territo- 
 ries were to be perfectly free. The Territory 
 of Kansas was organized in pursuance of that 
 act. The people of the free States, having this 
 
 solemn assurance of perfect freedom, emigra- 
 ted there. But since the organization of the 
 Territory, to this day, there has reigned therein 
 the most terrible despotism the world has ever 
 seen. The wrongs and outrages that this coun- 
 try suffered before the Revolution were noth- 
 ing, compared with the wrongs suffered by the 
 people of Kansas ever since its organization. I 
 have known of no reign of terror that has exist- 
 ed anywhere in modern times, that has equalled 
 the reign of terror that existed there during 
 the last three years, unless it was the reign of 
 terror in France, 1791. The murders in France 
 were more numerous, but those that were put 
 to death were charged with being aristocrats, 
 despots, foes to the rights of man ; while in 
 Kansas, if a man was known to be in favor of 
 the establishment of a free State in that Terri- 
 tory, he was a mark for the assassin's dagger. 
 
 Since the organization of that Territory, every 
 right that freemen hold dear has been taken 
 from them. At the first election that was held 
 in the Territory, the actual settlers and resi- 
 dents were driven from the polls by ruffians, 
 villains, and murderers, from Missouri and other 
 States of this Union. The rights of the people 
 of the Territory were trampled in the dust. 
 Their ballot-boxes were stuffed with fraudulent 
 votes. Men were elected to the Territorial 
 Legislature who were not residents of the Ter- 
 ritory ; and if we are to judge of the character 
 of men who constituted that body by the laws 
 that were passed by them, there certainly never 
 has been a meeting of any such fiends in any 
 other place, except Pandemonium. 
 
 This ruffian band, calling themselves legisla- 
 tors, were no doubt sustained by the Adminis- 
 tration. The army of this great nation was 
 there to back and protect them in trampling 
 upon the rights of the people of that Territory. 
 I say, now, that if the actual settlers there had 
 possessed the power to have driven them from 
 the legislative halls by force and violence, they 
 would have been justified in so doing. I would 
 not justify force and violence, and mob law, 
 when there is any legal mode of redressing 
 wrongs ; but here there was none. These usurp- 
 ers obtained their places by force and violence, 
 and if the actual settlers had no other means 
 of defending themselves against the acts of 
 these tyrants, they would have been justified in 
 the sight of God and man, if they had taken 
 them from the legislative halls, and hanged 
 them by their necks until they were dead. This 
 legislative body passed the most odious and 
 oppressive laws — laws that would almost rival 
 in cruelty the code of the most absolute despot- 
 ism now in existence. The Administration 
 appointed wicked and depraved men to office, 
 while this band of usurpers were enacting laws 
 to crush the hearts and lives of the Free State 
 men. The courts of the Territory were run- 
 ning their course of infamy. In a court held 
 there by a j udge appointed by the President of 
 the United States, the grand jury, ander the 
 
 
charge of the court., presented a hotel as a nui- 
 sance. On an order issued from that court, 
 the building was destroyed, the order being 
 executed by a sheriff appointed by the bogus 
 Legislature. The building was first fired upon 
 with cannon, but, being too strong to be destroy- 
 ed that way, it was blown up with powder. And 
 why was this done ? For no other reason but 
 because it belonged to Free State men. The 
 house of Governor Robinson was burned, be- 
 cause he was a Free State man. These Free 
 State men had wronged no one — they had 
 attempted to wrong no one. 
 
 In the mean time, Dow, a Free State man, 
 from the State of Ohio, was shot down dead in 
 the public highway, in open day, by a man 
 named Coleman. Dow was guilty of no offence 
 whatever — had given no provocation. It was a 
 cold-blooded, premeditated murder. Yet the 
 murderer has never been punished, or even 
 tried, to this day, but, if I am correctly in- 
 formed, was rewarded for it by an appointment 
 as an officer in the Kansas militia. Barber, 
 another Free State man, from the State of Ohio, 
 was murdered by a man named Clark, who, it 
 is said, at the time of committing the murder, 
 was holding the office of Indian agent, under 
 the appointment of the Administration, and is 
 now in the land office in the Territory. Brown, 
 another Free State man from the State of Ohio, 
 was chopped to death with hatchets, and his 
 mangled, bloody, and dying body was taken to 
 his house and thrown into the presence of his 
 wife. The murderers of Brows, I believe, have 
 never been punished, and never even been tried. 
 I have it from a source that I can rely upon, 
 that the town of Oasawatomie was burned, a 
 part of the inhabitants were murdered, and the 
 remainder were driven out, houseless and home- 
 less, into the world. Women and tender infants 
 were compelled to lie on the cold, damp ground, 
 with nothing to protect them from the rain and 
 storms but tents made of thin cloth. When 
 this town was burned and destroyed, when its 
 inhabitants were either murdered or driven 
 away from their homes, the army of this great 
 nation was iu sight, the witnesses of these deeds 
 of horror, but did not interfere. Why did it 
 not? Because the power that controlled it did 
 not desire to do so. The army was not there 
 for any such purpose. It was to protect the 
 Slavery party. 
 
 But why multiply these cases? Crimes 
 enough have been perpetrated by the Slavery 
 party in that Territory, since 1854, to condemn 
 a world. Its path has been marked by crimes the 
 most horrible, and red with human blood. If 
 I believed in special judgments of God, I should 
 expect to hear of sweeping tornadoes, wide wast- 
 ing earthquakes, deadly plagues, and scathing 
 lightning, hurling the perpetrators of these crimes 
 to Bwift destruction. The crowning act of all 
 these wrongs is now presented in the form of a 
 Constitution, to be forced upon the people with- 
 out their consent. To admit KanBas with a Sla- 
 
 very Constitution would be a payable violation 
 of one of the best-established principles of ihe 
 common law; that is, that no perpon shall take 
 advantage of his own wrong. The Missouri 
 compromise was repealed to put Slavery into 
 Kansas. This was a great wrong, and one for 
 which this nation may yet repent in dust and 
 ashes. To admit Kansas as she is to be pre- 
 sented, this great principle, that I have stated, 
 would be violated. I never will consent to do 
 any such thing. The repeal of the Missouri 
 compromise I regard, as I have already said, a 
 great wrong to the North, when there was no 
 necessity for it. I am determined, while I have 
 the honor to hold a place upon this floor, that 
 by no act of mine shall you ever reap any ben- 
 efit therefrom. 
 
 Before this was done, the South had more 
 territory than the North — they have a decided 
 advantage in soil and climate; more than this, 
 they had therein what they call a heaven-born 
 institution, one that they believed has received 
 the sanction of the Most High. With their rich 
 and productive soil, with their warm and genial 
 sun, with their patriarchal institution of Slavery, 
 that has descended in a direct line from Abra- 
 ham to the people of Georgia, with collateral 
 branches into Missouri and other slave States, 
 they must multiply and become as the stars of 
 the firmament, and shine forever and ever. With 
 this institution, you will grow up a great and 
 powerful people. When the Yankees come to 
 invade your rights, (as you say they are doing 
 now,) these men' that you hold as bondmen, 
 that cannot say their lives are their own, not 
 even if they say it "subject to the Constitution 
 of the United States;" these beings, that are 
 not the owners of the wool that grows on. the 
 top of the head — 
 
 "The place where the wool ought to grow," 
 these persons that we have been so eloquently 
 and vehemently told are so well clothed and so 
 well fed, and so joyous and so happy, will no 
 doubt feel sensible of the mighty blessings you 
 have conferred upon them ; will be ready to go 
 out to battle for you. These men will, no doubt, 
 willingly lay down their lives; will rejoice in 
 the glorious privilege of suffering martyrdom, 
 in defence of this heaven-born institution. 
 
 But, to return to the Lecompton Constitution. 
 I will not stop to inquire whether the Territo- 
 rial Legislature had any power to call a Con- 
 stitutional Convention or not. I will deal iu 
 no such abstractions. It is sufficient for me to 
 to know that it has Slavery in it, and that a 
 large majority of the people of the Territory 
 had no part in making the Constitution. By 
 the despotic acts of tyrants, they were deprived 
 of all power ; and as a full and entire refutation 
 of the assertion made upon this floor and else- 
 where, that the people of the Territory had a 
 fair opportunity to take a part in framing that 
 Constitution, I adopt an extract from the let- 
 ter of Robert J. Walker, resigning his office as 
 Governor of that Territory, and use it as an 
 
s 
 
 argument. On this point, the Governor says: 
 
 "On reference to the Territorial law, under which the 
 Convention was assembled, thirty- four regularly-organ- 
 ized counties were named as election districts for dele- 
 gates 10 the Convention. In each and all of these coun- 
 ties it was required by law that a census should be taken 
 and the voters registered ; and when this was completed, 
 the delegates to the Convention should be apportioned ac- 
 cordingly. In nineteen of these counties, there wa« no cen- 
 sus, and, therefore, there could be no such apportionment 
 there of delegates based upon such census. And in fif- 
 teen of these counties, there was no registry of voters. 
 Tnese fifteen counties, including many of the oldest or- 
 ganized counties in the Territory, were entirely disfran- 
 chised, and did not give, and (by no fault of their own) 
 could not give, a solitary vole for delegates to the Con- 
 vention. This result was superinduced by ihe fact thai 
 the Territorial Legislature appointed all the sheriffs and 
 probate judges, in all ihese counties, to whom was as- 
 signed the duty, by law, of making this census and regis- 
 try. These officers were political partisans, dissenting 
 from the views and opinions of the people of these coun- 
 ties, as proved by the election in October last. These offi- 
 cers, from want of funds, as they allege, neglected or re- 
 fusea to take any census or make any registry in these 
 counties, and, therefore, they were entirely disfranchised, 
 and could not give, and did not give, a single vote at the 
 election for delegates to the Constitutional Convention. 
 
 " And here I wish to call attention to the distinction, 
 which will appear in my inaugural address, in reference 
 to those counties where the voters were fairly register* d, 
 and did not vote. In such counties, where a full and free 
 opportunity was given to register and vote, and they did 
 not choose to exercise that privilege, the question is very 
 different from those counties where there was no census 
 or registry, and no vot« was given, or could be given, how- 
 ever anxious the people might be to panicipate in the elec- 
 tion of delegates to the Convention Nor could it be said 
 these counties acquiesced ; for wherever they endeavored, 
 by a subsequent census or registry of their own, to supply 
 this defect, occasioned by the previous neglect of the Ter- 
 ritorial officers, the delegates thus chosen were rejected 
 by the Convention. I repeat, that in nineteen counties out 
 of thirty-four, there was no census. In fifteen count.es 
 out 01 thiny-four, there was no registry, and not a solitary 
 vote was given, or could be given, for delegates to Ihe Con- 
 vention, in any one of these coumies" Surely, then, it can- 
 not be said that such a Convention, chosen by scarcely 
 more than one-tenth of the present voters of Kansas rep- 
 resented the people of that Territory, and could rightfully 
 impose a Constitution upon them without their consent. 
 These nineteen counties, in which there was no census, 
 constituted a majority of the counties of the Territory ; and 
 these fifteen counties, in which thtre was no registry, 
 gave a much larger vote at the October election, even 
 with the six months' qualification, than the whole vote 
 given to the delegates who signed the Lecompton Consti- 
 tution on the 7th November last." 
 
 This must put the question forever at rest. It 
 is unanswered, and is unanswerable. The peo- 
 
 ple of that Territory are now lifting their im" 
 ploring hands and streaming eyes, and calling 
 upon the Congress of this great nation for re- 
 lief. It would be no violence to truth to say, 
 that for the last three years the people of that 
 Territory have suffered 
 
 " The spurn of menials ; 
 A despot's vengeance, a false country's curse." 
 
 I ask you this day, will you relieve them ; or 
 will you enforce this Constitution, when you 
 know it will have to be done at the bayonet's 
 point and the cannon's mouth ? In such a 
 contest, do you believe that a God of justice, of 
 love, and ot mercy, could be en your side ? As 
 gentlemen on the other side are in the habit of 
 quoting Scripture for their purpose, I will quote 
 some tor their consideration : " Reason takes 
 up the language of Scripture, and repeats with 
 earnest conviction," " Though hand join in 
 hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished." 
 " The curse of the Lord is in the house of the 
 wicked, but he blesseth the habitation of the 
 just." 
 
 If this Government persists in its crimes 
 against Kansas, it must suffer the penalty of 
 these national sins. It is one of the irrevoca- 
 ble decrees of God, that for every violation of 
 his laws there is a penalty ; and this penalty 
 will come, just 80 certain as the sound of the 
 thunder follows " the lightning's fiery wing." 
 I tell you the day of settlement approaches. If 
 you pass this Lecompton Constitution, the low 
 muttering thunder that was heard three years 
 ago in the North and West, will break out with 
 tenfold fury. The fires that were then kindled 
 will sweep over the country, " like red tongues 
 of demons, to blast and devour." I say to you 
 that the tyrants in Kansas that have trampled 
 the rights of freemen in the dust, whose hands 
 are red with innocent blood, will receive the 
 just reward of their wickedness and their crimes. 
 A weak and wicked Administration may throw 
 its shield around them ; but 
 
 " Neither men, nor devils, 
 Nor sheltering angels, can protect them." 
 
 WASHINGTON, D. C. 
 
 BUELL & BLANCHARD, PRINTERS. 
 1858. 
 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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