■und any favor; nor is it too much to ■y, that, had these great patriots once more line among us, not one of them, with his ■corded unretracted opinions on Slavery, ■>uld have been nominated by the President or Bnfirmed by the Senate for any post in that ■rritory. With such auspices the conspiracy ■oceeded. Even in advance of the Nebraska Illi, secret societies were organized in Missouri, ■tensibly to protect her institutions, and after- lards, under the name of “ Self-Defensive As- Bciations,” and of u Blue Lodges,” these were lultip]ied throughout the western counties of I at State, before any count er-movement from le North. It was confidently anticipated, that r the activity of these societies, and the inte- Ist of slaveholders everywhere, with the ad- Itntages derived from the neighborhood of rissouri, and the influence of the Territorial pvernment, Slavery might be introduced into lansas, quietly but surely, without arousing Iconflict—that the crocodile egg might be palthily dropped in the sun-burnt soil, there I be hatched unobserved until it sent forth its Iptile monster. I But the conspiracy was unexpectedly balked, lie debate which convulsed Congress, had I rred the whole country. Attention from all [les was directed upon Kansas, which at once Lcame the favorite goal of emigration. The 1 11 bad loudly declared, that its object was Lo leave the people perfectly free to form Ld regulate their domestic institutions in their |ivn wayand its supporters everywhere chal- luged the determination of the question be- been Freedom and Slavery by a competition I emigration. Thus, while opening the Terri- I ry to Slavery, the bill also opened it to emi- bants from every quarter, who might by their btes redress the wrong. The populous North, Hung by a sharp sense of outrage, and inspir- H by a noble cause, poured into the debatable p nd, and promised soon to establish a supre- lacy of numbers there, involving, of course, i just supremacy of Freedom. ' Then was conceived the consummation of the What could not be mine against Kansas. Mcomplished peaceably, was to be accom- kished forcibly. The reptile monster, that puld not be quietly and securely hatched [aere, was to be pushed full-grown into the territory. All efforts were now given to the ’ ismal work of forcing Slavery on Free Soil, h flagrant derogation of the very Popular Sovereignty, whose name helped to impose I'hs Bill upon the country, the atrocious object was now distinctly avowed. \And the . vowal has been followed by the act. Slavery ^as been forcibly introduced into Kansas, and laced under the formal safeguards of pre- : mded law. 7 he argument. In depictin How this was done, belongs to this consummation, the simplest outline, without one word of color, will be best. Whether regarded in its mass or its details, in its origin or its results, it is all blackness, illumined by nothing from itself, but only by the heroism of the undaunted men and women, whom it environed. A plain statement of facts will be a picture of fearful truth, which faithful history will preserve in its darkest gallery. In the foreground all will _ recognize a familiar character, in himself a connecting link between the President and the border ruffian—less conspicuous for ability than for the exalted place he has occupied— who once sat in the seat where you now sit, sir; -where once sat John Adams and Thomas Jefferson; also, where once sat Aaron Burr. • I need not add the name of David R. Atchison. You have not forgotten that, at the session of Congress immediately succeeding the Nebraska Bill, he came tardily to his duty here, and then, after a short time, disappeared. The secret has been long since disclosed. Like Catiline, he stalled into this Chamber reeking with conspiracy—immo in Senatum xenit^ —and then like Catiline he skulked away— al)iit, excess it, ex as it, erupit—to join and provoke the conspirators, who at a distance awaited their congenial chief. Under the influence of his malign presence the Crime ripened to its Altai fruits, while the similitude with Catiline was again renewed in the sym-. pathy, not even concealed, which he found in the very Senate itself, where, beyond even the Roman example, a Senator has not hesitated to appear as his open compurgator. And now, as I proceed to show the way in which this Territory was overrun and finally subjugated to Slavery, I desire to remove in advance all question with regard to the authority on which I rely. The evidence is secondary ; but it is the best which, in the nature of the case, can be had, and it is not less clear, direct, and peremptory, than any by which w^ are assured of the campaigns in the Crimea or the fall of Sevastopol. In its manifold mass, I confidently assert, that it is such a body of evidence as the human mind is not able io resist. It is found in the concurring reports of the public press; in the letters of correspondents ; in the testimony of travellers ; and - in the unaffected story to which I have listened from leading citizens, who, during this winter, have u come flocking” here from that distant I Territory. It breaks forth in the irrepressible outcry, reaching us from Kansas, in truthful tones* which leave no ground of mistake.. It addresses us in formal complaints, instinct with the indignation of a people determined to be free, and unimpeachable as the declarations of a murdered man on his dying bed against his murderer. I begin with an admission from the President himself, in whose sight the people of
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