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Show 78 he seems to the manner born; for- I have this also on good authority- his habitual drunkenness seems to be one of the smallest of his public vices. III. The third step was to establish Slavery by Squatter Sovereignty. For this, two things were indispensable: (1) To elect a Legislature friendly to Slavery; and (2) To get laws made by that Legislature to secure the desired end. 1. This must be done by actual settler~; and then, for the first time in this career of wickedness, a difficulty was found. The People were to be consulted; and no coup d'etat of the Government could do the work. There was an unexpected difficulty; for, soon as Kansas was open, great bodies went there from the North to settle and secure it to freedom. It soon became plain that they were numerous enough to bring squatter sovereignty itself over to the side of humanity, and, by their votes, exelude bondage for ever. That must be prevented by the regressive force. Mr. Atchinson, Mr. Stringfellow, and others were appointed to take the matter in hand. Citizens of Missouri organized themselves into companies, and in military order, with pistols and bowie-knives, and in one instance with cannon, went over the border into Kansas to determine the elections by excluding the legal voters, and themselves casting the ballot. In ten months, they made four general invasions of Kansas, if I am rightly info~med; namely, (1.) On the 29th of July, 185-!; (2.) 29th November, 185-!; (3.) 30th March, 1855; and (4.) 22d May, 1855. The· third was the great invasion, made to elect the legislators who were to enact the territorial Jaws. It appear::; that four thousand men marched bodily from Missouri to Kansas, some of them penetrating two hundred miles into the interior, and delivered their votes, electing men who would put slavery into the land. The fourth was a smaller and local invasion, to fill vacancies in the Legislature. • • 79 I cannot dwell on these things, nor stop to speak of the violence and murder repeatedly committed by these border ruffians, under the eyes, and with the consent, and by the encouragement, of the American Executive. You can read those things in the newspapers, at least in the "New- York Tribune" and "Evening Post." But, suffice it to say, the Legislature thus chosen was wholly illegal. If Jersey City were to order a municipal election, and New York were to go there, and choose Aldermen and Common Councilmen, and the new officers were to act in that capacity, we should have a parallel of what took place in Kansas. Thus the Slave Power which controls the Federal Government secured the first requisite,- a Slave Legislature. 2. They must next proceed to make the appropriate laws. The Legi~lature carne together on the 2d July, 1855, at the place legally fixed by Governor Reeder: they passed an illegal act, fixing the seat of Government at Shawneetown, on the borders of Missouri, and adjourned thither. The Governor vetoed the act, and rPpudiated the Legislature, illegally chosen at first, illegally acting afterwards. But they continued in session there from July 15 to Aug. 31, and made a huge statute-book of more than a thousand great pages. It contains substantially the laws of Missouri; but, in some instances, they were made worse. Take this for example:- "No person who shall have been convicted of any violation of any of the provisions of an act of Congress" (the Fugitive Slave Bills of 1793 and 1850), "whether such conviction was by criminal proceeding or by civil action, in any courts of the United States, or of any State or Territory, shall be entitled to vote at any election, or to hold any office in this Territory." "If any person offering to vote shall be challenged and required to take an oath or affirmation that he will sustain the provisions of the above-recited acts of Congress" (the Fugitive Slave Bills), "and shall refuse to take such oath or affirmation, the vote of such person shall be rejected." - Ch. lxvi. § 11, p. 332 . |