Let its power be stretched forth toward this distant Territory, not to
bind, but to unbind; not for the oppression of the weak, but for the
subversion of the tyrannical; not for the prop and maintenance of a
revolting Usurpation, but for the confirmation of Liberty.
"These are imperial arts and worthy thee!"
Let it now take its stand between the living and dead, and cause this
plague to be stayed. All this it can do; and if the interests of Slavery
did not oppose, all this it would do at once, in reverent regard for
justice, law, and order, driving away all the alarms of war; nor would
it dare to brave the shame and punishment of this great refusal. But the
slave power dares anything; and it can be conquered only by the united
masses of the people. From Congress to the People I appeal. * * *
The contest, which, beginning in Kansas, has reached us, will soon be
transferred from Congress to a broader stage, where every citizen will
be not only spectator, but actor; and to their judgment I confidently
appeal. To the People, now on the eve of exercising the electoral
franchise, in choosing a Chief Magistrate of the Republic, I appeal, to
vindicate the electoral franchise in Kansas. Let the ballot-box of
the Union, with multitudinous might, protect the ballot-box in that
Territory.
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