USA > Kansas > Douglas County > Lawrence > The Kansas memorial, a report of the Old Settlers' meeting held at Bismarck grove, Kansas, Sept. 15th and 16th, 1879 > Part 12
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34
104
THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
more liberal quantity than anywhere else in the world. The exc- dus from the South may send a few thousand colored men into our State, or for that matter the whole negro population of the South, but our State is so large that if they were well scattered you would hardly be able to find one of them.
You might bring all the men, women and children in the United States, including all the multitudes of all crowded cities of the East, into this State, and place them equi-distant from one another, and no two of them would be within speaking distance. Bring them all here, and you will find the soil of Kansas will sustain them all.
The fact is, there is not a man present here to-day, or for that matter anywhere else, who does, or can, comprehend the extent, the magnitude and the capabilities of our State. Indeed the human mind cannot comprehend the extent of 52,000,000 acres of land. They know that we raise annually 30,000, 000 bushels of wheat, and 130,000, 000 bushels of corn; but they don't know how much land it takes to make fifty-two millions of acres, nor how big a pile it takes to make thirty million and one hundred and thirty million bushels of wheat and corn. Therefore I say, that while people talk over these big figures, they yet really have no idea of the extent of our country, nor of the magnitude of the crops we are raising annually. None of us comprehend the future, none of us know what the future has in store for us.
I have just returned from a trip through the East. I have talked with business men, the merchants, the bankers, the farmers and the laboring men, and I find that there is a better and more hopeful feeling existing among them than there has been for the last ten years. They all feel confident not only that values have got to the bottom, but are absolutely looking up. Confidence is restored, values are settled, the prices of industries are advancing, and the people of Kansas may confidently look for an era of pros- perity and happiness during the coming ten years unprecedented in the history of any country in the world. Under these circumstan- ces we may well be proud of Kansas.
Twenty-five years ago there was one sentiment in the North in favor of consecrating the great northwest territories to freedom. Eli Thayer organized that sentiment and made practical use of it in settling Kansas with men of one idea, devoted to making it free. He was confessedly the utilizer, the practical man of the period, one who had the courage, the ability and the singleness of purpose needed to do the work then in hand. Kansas owes him a debt, equal to that of any of her early friends, and I am glad to announce, that a bust of Eli Thayer will soon honor a place in the halls of our State Historical Society. In common with you all, I am sorry he cannot be with us to-day, that he might see the wonders, which he helped to create.
A patriotic letter from our dear friend will be read by the Sec- retary, and Kansas will record her gratitude to one of her truest and best friends.
105
THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
I do not stand here to give all the credit to Eli Thayer for making Kansas free. I would give credit to all the grand old he- roes, Horace Greeley, Thurlow Weed, Charles Sumner, Henry Wil- son, U. S. Grant, and the thousands of more practical men, who emigrated here and personally did the work. Nor would I forget the old Pennsylvania Democracy and other Democrats, who, while in our early days, were opposed to freedom, yet in the latter days, when the final struggle came, refused to be dragooned longer in the interests of slavery, but manfully stood up and extended to us a helping hand.
I would give credit to all. I would not deprive anyone of that which is due him or her for the part taken in making Kansas what she is to-day, free, and the most prosperous State in the Union.
I hope we will remember the "lesson" that was read to us yes- terday, the "LESSON OF KANSAS." Let us not forget it. Let us see to it that history records the truth. Do not allow history to record a lie. Let it not be forgotten, that twenty-five years ago the army, the navy, the courts, and the whole power of the national govern- ment and its appointees were invoked to make Kansas a slave State. No Federal judge or other official dared disobey the commands of the slave power. When the Hon. Samuel D. LeCompte, Judge of the United States District Court at Lecompton, delivered his fa- mous charge, defining "constructive treason" to the United States grand jury then in session, and when that grand jury indicted the Free State Hotel at Lawrence as a nuisance, and then under command of a United States marshal proceeded with a posse comitatus to bat- ter down that hotel with cannon, sacking and then firing it, the court remained silent as the grave while this outrage was perpetra- ted, and not till long years afterward did he even attempt to ex- plain his then apparent silent approval of the vandalism of his mar- shal, grand jury and court officials. President, Congress, Territorial Governor, Judges, Courts and Federal officials dared not to lift a hand to prevent the destruction of that Free State Hotel. Let these facts go down into history, and don't let us attempt to wipe them out. We could not if we would ; we ought not if we could.
Let us not forget what Judge Usher said to us yesterday. That R. R. Rees, the chairman of the committee on judiciary in the legislature of 1855 made a report over his own signature in which he recommended the passage of a law, that the talking, writing or publishing of anything in favor of making Kansas a free State, was a felony, and should be punished with death.
During the border ruffian war this man was appealed to by Nel- son McCracken, a brother Mason, for help, to prevent his being driven out of town by the Blue Lodge. His appeal was unheeded. A brother whose wife lay at the point of death, appealed to Mr. Rees, the master of his lodge, for the privilege of remaining a few days with his sick wife. His appeal was to a deaf ear. At the time Haller shot Lyle, Capt. I. G. Losee appealed to the master of his lodge for aid. The reply was : "to h ll with Masonry in these
106
THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
times." At a later day Edward's book defending the Quantrill massacre at Lawrence found a refuge in his home. To the day of his death no word of regret for the course he had pursued in the dark days of old border ruffian rule ever escaped the lips of this man. Can we, ought we to forget these things? Ought not history to record the truth? This man was as kind and gentle as a lamb in his personal relations with his fellow men. You could not meet a better man face to face than he was. He was in later years my friend. I have voted for him for office, but I frankly admit I had to choose between him and an old border ruffian judge. This man never performed any great patriotic or philanthropic work in his whole life, which would cause him to be remembered and honored by posterity. He could only, parrot like, repeat the ritual of Ma- sonry. To-day the Masonic order is erecting to the memory of the man who dictated that infamous law of death, a monument more magnificent and costly than was ever erected to any of the grand old heroes of Kansas.
Again I say let us not forget the "Lesson of Kansas." The meetings of yesterday and to-day have a significance and importance which we at this time can hardly comprehend. Let us say and do only that which we will be proud to see chronicled in press and pamphlet. The eyes of the people of these United States are upon us. Let the coming time find us all better and purer, determined in the future as in the past, to stand by the right.
And now I will close by reading the letter of Mr. Thayer, in reply to the invitation to be present at this celebration.
LETTER FROM ELI THAYER.
Col. Anthony read as follows :
WORCESTER, MASS., Sept. 6th, 1879.
My Dear Friends : I do not see any chance of my being able to attend the meeting of the Old Settlers on the 15th inst. This is the greatest disappointment of my life; for the Old Settlers of Kansas are nearer and dearer to me than any other mortals upon the earth.
The ties of blood and the bonds of kinship can never rival the attachment which binds me to the men and women whose de- votion to freedom secured its decisive victory and permanent tri- umph. This country and the world owes more to them than to all other living men, and the day is not distant when history will acknowledge their transcendent worth and work. They were tri- umphant in the great battle against slavery in which our northern politicians had been invariably defeated.
Zealous to maintain and perpetuate the union of the States, ever acting in accordance with law and the constitution, they gave to freedom works instead of words, and an army of settlers instead of an array of sentiment.
May God bless the Old Settlers of Kansas.
ELI THAYER.
107
THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
ADDRESS BY SIDNEY CLARKE.
COL. ANTHONY :- As your acting chairman for the time be- ng, it devolves upon me now to introduce to you one of the most distinguished of the citizens of Kansas, one who by vote of the above State was called on three times to represent the State in the lower House of Congress, and who filled the responsible post with great ability and satisfaction to the people. I introduce to you Hon. Sidney Clarke, who will, in turn, introduce to you a co- laborer of his in Congress who was a most useful friend of Kansas in the early days.
Mr. Clarke spoke as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen :
In presenting to you the distinguished gentleman who is next to occupy your attention, I should not be justified in detaining you with any extended remarks. The great conflict which resulted in the freedom of Kansas was a fierce antagonism between two distinct and dissimilar civilizations. It was a mighty conflict between the wickedness and brutality of the slave power on the one hand, and the sublime and beneficent influences of freedom on the other. On the one side were displayed the worst passions of mankind, insti- gated by the craft, the ambition and the avarice of a brutal and barbarous system, while on the other was the grand phalanx of freedmen, the free instincts of a free people, the marshaled hosts of a triumphant civilization based upon the highest exemplification of justice and equal rights. As the men of Missouri, of Georgia, and of Alabama were mostly the pioneers of slavery upon this soil, so the Free State settlers were the crusaders of freedom, whose noble purposes were fired by the matchless inspiration of a great and sacred cause. And here let me say that to the men of no State, and of no particular section of the North, belongs the special hon- or of making Kansas free. Indeed, sir, so great was the strength of the slave power, and so vast its interests, and so persistent its purposes, that it took all the forces of freedom, all the combined work of the friends of liberty in the Eastern, and Middle, and Western States, to make the victory complete. New England did nobly and well. At this Quarter-Centennial celebration of the founding of this Commonwealth of freedom, let us do high honor to the men whose activity, and eloquence, and ability in our be- half, made it possible for us to commemorate this day. The names of William Lloyd Garrison, Charles Sumner, Wendell Phillips, Theodore Parker, Eli Thayer, John G. Whittier, Amos A. Law- rence, John P. Hale, Henry Wilson, Edward Everett. Hale, as well as many others of the statesmen, the orators and poets of New England, will be gratefully remembered in the final history of the Free State struggle. But not less conspicuous were the noble men of the Empire State, William H. Seward, the philosophical states-
108
THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
man of his time; Henry Ward Beecher, always eloquent and true ; Horace Greeley, the constant friend of humanity and freedom everywhere-always condemning the wrong and battling for the right, and Gerrit Smith, the large hearted, courageous and mu- nificent friend of humanity. All fought the battle of free Kansas with commanding ability.
So also with the men of Pennsylvania : from the standpoint of the Douglas Democracy, sincere and able John W. Forney did noble and effective work with his ready pen and eloquent voice, and he is with us here to-day, our honored guest, a living witnes s to the marvelous achievements of the triumph of freedom here. And there was another man in Pennsylvania whose memory will live in the history of our conflict to the end of time. I refer to that grand old man, the great commoner, the unflinching advocate of free Kansas-Thaddeus Stevens. Ohio was not less alive to the exigencies of our critical situation, and her public men and her press and people spoke out for freedom in thunder tones. Salmon P. Chase crowned his great reputation with immortal fame by the fight he made in Congress and elsewhere for the pioneers of liber- ty ; while Benjamin F. Wade, stalwart, valiant and true, and with more than iron will, upheld the standard of our cause, and brave old Joshua Giddings scarcely ranked below any in the glo- rious contest. Owen Lovejoy spoke the sentiments of the friends of freedom in Illinois with words of burning indignation ; and the cause of freedom in Kansas had such noble men as Timothy O. Howe, B. Gratz Brown, Frank P. Blair, Jr., and Joseph Medill, in all the Western States, to arouse the people to the impending danger. To all of these-some now dead, and some yet living- and to thousands more, we now render the highest honor for their unselfish devotion to our cause.
But the brave, determined and faithful men who upheld on the soil of Kansas the Free State banner, true in purpose, un- selfish in action, loving liberty and hating slavery, and caring little for fame or fortune, were not wanting in faithful and eloquent champions. Martin F. Conway and Marcus J. Parrott should be remembered to-day for their great work for freedom. Both have been overtaken by misfortunes which merit our deepest sympathy, while the efforts they made for our deliverance from slavery com- mand our lasting gratitude. And what shall I say of our greatest leader-the life and soul of our conflict, the Napoleon of the Free State struggle-Gen. James H. Lane. To him more than to any other eminent citizen of Kansas are we indebted for our final vic- tory. With surpassing ability, with restless activity, with diversi- fied civil and military qualifications, and with an enthusiastic pur- pose and unflinching patriotism, James H. Lane was the one great leader whose life and action was a constant inspiration to all who struggled and suffered for the establishment of a Free State.
But I must not detain you longer. It has been made my pleasant duty to present to you as the next speaker a statesman
109
THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
eminent in the history of the nation, and one of the earliest and ablest friends of free Kansas. In 1856 his eloquent voice was heard in Indiana and throughout the North in our behalf, as it was heard in Congress years before in behalf of the universal freedom of mankind. I present to you not only one of the most devoted and eminent of the friends of freedom in Kansas, but a man whose whole life has been a continued protest against injustice and wrong in all their forms. As the friend of Kansas in her hour of need, as the most conspicuous advocate of the Homestead Bill, as the defender of universal liberty in its highest and best sense, the Hon. George W. Julian, of Indiana, will live in the minds and hearts of his countrymen as long as history endures. I now have the honor and the pleasure of presenting him to you.
ADDRESS OF GEORGE W. JULIAN.
The chairman introduced Hon. George W. Julian, of Indiana, who spoke as follows :
Mr. Chairman and Fellow Citizens :
Before proceeding to read from the paper which I have pre- pared for this occasion, allow me to express my sincere regret that I lack the health and voice to address this magnificent assemblage in an old-fashioned off-hand speech. I am perfectly aware that standing behind a written manuscript to read what one has to say, seems to you Western people an awkward and embarrassing per- formance. You have a right to a better entertainment ; and I must hope that the speakers who are to follow me will not disappoint your wishes in this respect. Let me say, however, a word further. I am exceedingly glad and gratified to be with you here to-day. I am glad of the honor of being here by your invitation and wish. I am glad of the privilege of having lived in this wonderful dispensa- tion of Providence. The fact is, whole years are now crowded into days ; whole generations are crowded into a few years. The history of our people to-day is freighted with great problems of humanity and progress that, a little while ago, nobody attempted to grapple with but a select few. Now our little boys and girls are in a fair way to outstrip their fathers and mothers in a fundamental knowledge of free government, and of the rights and advantages of citizenship in this free Republic.
And ladies and gentlemen, there is another side to this subject which strongly impresses me now. Nearly a third of a century ago, when I entered upon political life, I was thrown among the leading men of the North. And now I am reminded that I am standing almost alone to-day, of those who were privileged to work in the cause of human rights in those days. Charles Sumner, Horace Greeley, Joshua R. Giddings, Salmon P. Chase, John P. Hale, Henry Wilson, all of those men with whom we started in the vigor of manhood, have gone down to their graves and crossed over the river of death. I am getting more and more alone. I
110
THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
have something of a feeling of loneliness as year by year goes on. It is therefore exceedingly gratifying to me, indeed, to be here, for I have seen so many of the survivors of the old time and had the pleasure of shaking them by the hand. I have here greeted some score of friends who have told me they voted for Hale and Julian in 1852. I am glad to see so many of the old men still alive and among us; it reminds one of the times when it tried a man's nerve to take sides on the great questions that were agitating the people ; it displayed more than ordinary patriotism in all those who took such a stand, and I have always felt proud of them. But, my friends, to avoid being tempted into making a speech, and to avoid talking about the past in which my heart would get the better of my head, allow me to proceed to the little task that is before me.
The anniversary which we have met to commemorate to-day revives many fading and mingled memories. It touches our grati- tude and pride by reminding us of the signal victory of civilization over barbarism, while it saddens all hearts by recalling the precious sacrifices which that victory involved. It takes hold on the grand- est epoch of our national history, and links itself to the heroic struggle of the Republic for its life. A generation has passed away since the pioneers of Kansas entered upon their rugged and peril- ous work, and in facing the new generation which has come to the front, it cannot be out of place to refer to some of the great histor- ic facts which explain the origin of their struggle, and give it its due rank in the march of American progress.
The slaveholders' raid into Kansas in 1854 had its genesis in the victory of the South in 1820. That was the entering wedge to all the terrible results which have followed in its train. The well understood policy of our fathers was the territorial restriction of slavery, and in their vocabulary restriction meant destruction. Slavery had reached the condition of inevitable decay even in the States which had taken no measures for its abolition, and could only hope to preserve its life by diffusing itself over fresh lands. To forbid such diffusion was to doom it to suffocation and death. In a very comprehensive and practical sense, therefore, the founders of the government were abolitionists, although they did not un- furl the banner of immediate emancipation ; and when their policy of restriction was essentially modified, and to that extent aban- doned, it was morally as well as logically certain to whet the appe- tite of the slave power for new demands. This was practically il- lustrated more than a quarter of a century afterward, in our war with Mexico, and the attempt to spread slavery over the Territo- ries acquired by conquest. Another sectional conflict was the nat- ural result, in which the ancient policy of restriction was vigor- ously reasserted under the name of the Wilmot Proviso; but the South finally achieved another signal triumph, in the memorable compromise measures of 1850. By these measures some seventy thousand square miles of free soil were surrendered to Texas and to slavery, with ten millions of money as good measure. A new
111
THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
fugitive slave law was enacted, which armed the slave hunter with the power to swear away the liberty of any man, woman or child in the free States ; for his ex parte, interested affidavit was made conclusive evidence of the fact of escape and of the identity of the fugitive, while the certificate of the commissioner for his re- moval was made final and conclusive upon all courts. The rights of the non-slaveholding States were thus completely trampled down by this monstrous stretch of centralized power, while it was further provided that their people should become the constables and slave- hounds of their Southern brethren. The army and navy were also placed at the service of the claimant, and the harboring of a fugi- tive was not only made a felony, but magnified by judicial inter- pretation into constructive treason. These compromise measures further provided that the Territories of New Mexico and Utah might be admitted into the Union with or without slavery, accord- ing to the wish of their people, thus dealing with slavery and free- dom as matters of total national indifference, and authoritatively accepting "the gospel of devil take the hindmost." This was the beginning of the baleful dogma of "squatter sovereignty" in the Territories, and the subsequent conspiracy to plant slavery in Kansas was simply an ugly sprout from the grave of the Wilmot Proviso.
In the year 1852 these compromise measures were incorpora- ted into the platforms of the Whig and Democratic parties by their respective national conventions. The Democrats pledged themselves thereafter to "resist" the discussion of the slavery question in Con- gress and out of Congress, under whatever shape or color it might be attempted ; and the Whigs solemnly resolved that they would " discountenance " such discussion-make mouths at it everywhere -world without end. The questions which formerly divided these parties had ceased to be the basis of their strife, and each was crawling in the mud at the feet of its Southern master. That this state of our politics would pave the way for further and more in- tolerable aggressions was perfectly inevitable. In an atmosphere so thoroughly impregnated with sulphur, border ruffianism in Kan- sas could not fail to be spawned upon its virgin soil by spontane- ous generation. If the principle of "popular sovereignty " was right in New Mexico and Utah, it was right in Kansas and Ne- braska. The slaveholders simply followed up the logic of their work, and their unchecked power over Northern politicians very naturally emboldened them in their new schemes of lawlessness. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise was thus resolved upon as the next thing in order, and it was finally accomplished by an act of Congress, approved on the 30th of May, 1854. It could not be considered at all surprising, in view of the complete debauch- ment which the slave power had wrought in our politics. Was any remedy possible ? Could the latent conscience of the Northern States be roused and organized for resistance ? The prospect was not flattering. The sufferings and sorrow of your people kindled
112
THE KANSAS MEMORIAL.
a pretty widespread and intense indignation; but the evil momen- tum of the old parties seemed irresistible.
The moral ravages and political whoredom of slavery were everywhere painfully visible. The difficulty was further aggri- vated by the Know-Nothing movement which then made its ap- parition in our politics, and threatened to balk the anti-slavery feeling produced by the Kansas excitement, through its mischiev- ous and indecent crusade against the foreigner and the Pope. The great body of the old Whigs, and a large division of the Demo- crats entered the lodges of this secret order. In fact, the people of the Northern States, as a general rule, hated the negro far more than they hated slavery. Their hostility to the institution was a sickly and evanescent sentiment rather than a robust conviction. The popular watch-word and rallying-cry was "the restoration of the Missouri Compromise;" but every intelligent and sincere anti-slavery man saw that this was a deceptive, and therefore a false issue. To restore this compromise would be to propitiate the spirit of compromise, which had been the great curse of our coun- try. It would be to re-affirm the binding obligation of a compact which ought never to have been made, and from which we should seek the first practicable opportunity to escape. It would be to go back, by the shortest route, to the compromise measures of 1850, and the Whig and Democratic platforms of 1852, instead of for- ward to the complete separation of the National Government from slavery by making the breach of this time-honored compact, our exodus from the bondage of all compromises. The repeal of the Missouri restriction was only a single link in a great chain of meas- ures aiming at the complete supremacy of slavery in the govern- ment, and thus inviting a resistance commensurate with that pur- pose. It was not the wickedness of violating an ancient bargain between the North and South, but the cold blooded conspiracy to blast an empire with slavery, which appealed to the popular con- science; but the popular conscience was slow in responding. Hating slavery geographically was the order of the day. Men who could talk very eloquently about border ruffian outrages were often as careful to disavow "abolitionism" as if slavery had the stamp of divinity upon it. When moralizing about the duty of keeping covenants, and deploring the reopening of an agitation which had been happily settled by Congress in 1850, they protested with uplifted hands, against the policy of marrying the negroes or setting them free among us. Even many of our old free-soil friends, and some of the anti-slavery men of a still earlier day, seemed in danger of losing their way in the muddled and nebu- lous condition of our politics which then prevailed ; for they crept into the invisible conclaves of the new secret order and seemed to follow it as their new Messiah, while mustering under some very strange captains. I am sorry to say that this was especially true in Indiana, as my old Hoosier friends will bear witness, whose welcome faces I recognize to-day.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.