Already, in Lawrence alone, there are newspapers and
schools, including a High School, and throughout this infant Territory
there is more mature scholarship far, in proportion to its inhabitants,
than in all South Carolina. Ah, sir, I tell the Senator that Kansas,
welcomed as a free State, will be a "ministering angel" to the Republic,
when South Carolina, in the cloak of darkness which she hugs, "lies
howling."
The Senator from Illinois (Mr. Douglas) naturally joins the Senator from
South Carolina in this warfare, and gives to it the superior intensity
of his nature. He thinks that the National Government has not completely
proved its power, as it has never hanged a traitor; but, if the occasion
requires, he hopes there will be no hesitation; and this threat is
directed at Kansas, and even at the friends of Kansas throughout the
country. Again occurs the parallel with the struggle of our fathers,
and I borrow the language of Patrick Henry, when, to the cry from the
Senator, of "treason," "treason," I reply, "if this be treason, make
the most of it." Sir, it is easy to call names; but I beg to tell the
Senator that if the word "traitor" is in any way applicable to those
who refuse submission to a Tyrannical Usurpation, whether in Kansas or
elsewhere, then must some new word, of deeper color, be invented, to
designate those mad spirits who could endanger and degrade the Republic,
while they betray all the cherished sentiments of the fathers and the
spirit of the Constitution, in order to give new spread to Slavery.
Pages:
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106