From this ample survey, where one obstruction after another has been
removed, I now pass, in the third place, to the consideration of the
_remedies proposed_, ending with THE TRUE REMEDY.
The Remedy should be coextensive with the original Wrong; and since, by
the passage of the Nebraska Bill, not only Kansas, but also Nebraska,
Minnesota, Washington, and even Oregon, are opened to Slavery, the
original Prohibition should be restored to its full activity throughout
these various Territories. By such happy restoration, made in good
faith, the whole country would be replaced in the condition it enjoyed
before the introduction of that dishonest measure. Here is the Alpha
and the Omega of our aim in this immediate controversy. But no such
extensive measure is now in question. The Crime against Kansas is
special, and all else is absorbed in the special remedies for it. Of
these I shall now speak.
As the Apologies were fourfold, so are the proposed Remedies fourfold;
and they range themselves in natural order, under designations which so
truly disclose their character as even to supersede argument. First,
we have _the Remedy of Tyranny_; next, _the Remedy of Folly_; next,
_the Remedy of Injustice and Civil War_; and, fourthly, _the Remedy
of Justice and Peace_. There are the four caskets; and you are to
determine which shall be opened by Senatorial votes.
* * * * *
There is _the Remedy of Tyranny_, which, like its complement, the
Apology of Tyranny,--though espoused on this floor, especially by the
Senator from Illinois,--proceeds from the President, and is embodied in
a special message. It proposes enforced obedience to the existing laws
of Kansas, “whether Federal or _local_,” when, in fact, Kansas has no
“local” laws, except those imposed by the Usurpation from Missouri, and
it calls for additional appropriations to complete this work of tyranny.
I shall not follow the President in his elaborate endeavor to prejudge
the contested election now pending in the House of Representatives; for
this whole matter belongs to the privileges of that body, and neither
the President nor the Senate has a right to intermeddle therewith. I do
not touch it. But now, while dismissing it, I should not pardon myself,
if I failed to add, that any person who founds his claim to a seat in
Congress on the pretended votes of hirelings from another State, with
no home on the soil of Kansas, plays the part of Anacharsis Clootz,
who, at the bar of the French Convention, undertook to represent
nations that knew him not, or, if they knew him, scorned him, with
this difference, that in our American case the excessive farce of the
transaction cannot cover its tragedy. But all this I put aside, to deal
only with what is legitimately before the Senate.
I expose simply the tyranny which upholds the existing Usurpation,
and asks for additional appropriations. Let it be judged by example
from which in this country there can be no appeal. Here is the speech
of George the Third, made from his throne to Parliament, in response
to the complaints of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, which, though
smarting under laws passed by usurped power, had yet avoided all armed
opposition, while Lexington and Bunker Hill still slumbered in rural
solitude, unconscious of the historic kindred they were soon to claim.
Instead of Massachusetts Bay, in the royal speech, substitute Kansas,
and the message of the President will be found fresh on the lips of the
British King. Listen now to the words, which, in opening Parliament,
30th November, 1774, his Majesty, according to the official report, was
pleased to speak.
“_My Lords and Gentlemen_:--
“It gives me much concern, that I am obliged, at the opening
of this Parliament, to inform you that a most daring _spirit
of resistance and disobedience to the law_ still unhappily
prevails in the Province of the _Massachusetts Bay_, and has
in divers parts of it broke forth in fresh violences of a very
criminal nature. _These proceedings have been countenanced and
encouraged in other of my Colonies, and unwarrantable attempts
have been made to obstruct the commerce of this kingdom by
unlawful combinations._ I have taken such measures and given
such orders as I judged most proper and effectual _for carrying
into execution the laws which were passed in the last session
of the late Parliament_, for the protection and security of the
commerce of my subjects, and for the restoring and preserving
peace, order, and good government in the Province of the
_Massachusetts Bay_.”[95]
The King complained of a “daring spirit of resistance and disobedience
to the law”: so also does the President. The King adds, that it has
“broke forth in fresh violences of a very criminal nature”: so also
does the President. The King declares that these proceedings have been
“countenanced and encouraged in other of my Colonies”: even so the
President declares that Kansas has found sympathy in “remote States.”
The King inveighs against “unwarrantable attempts” and “unlawful
combinations”: even so inveighs the President. The King proclaims that
he has taken the necessary steps “for carrying into execution the
laws,” passed in defiance of the constitutional rights of the Colonies:
even so the President proclaims that he shall “exert the whole power
of the Federal Executive” to support the Usurpation in Kansas. The
parallel is complete. The Message, if not copied from the Speech of
the King, has been fashioned on the same original block, and must be
dismissed to the same limbo. I dismiss its tyrannical assumptions in
favor of the Usurpation. I dismiss also its petition for additional
appropriations, in the affected desire to maintain order in Kansas. It
is not money or troops that you need there, but simply the good-will
of the President. That is all, absolutely. Let his complicity with the
Crime cease, and peace will be restored. For myself, I will not consent
to wad the national artillery with fresh appropriation bills, when its
murderous hail is to be directed against the constitutional rights of
my fellow-citizens.
* * * * *
Next comes _the Remedy of Folly_, which, indeed, is also a Remedy
of Tyranny; but its Folly is so surpassing as to eclipse even its
Tyranny. It does not proceed from the President. With this proposition
he is not in any way chargeable. It comes from the Senator from South
Carolina, who, at the close of a long speech, offered it as his single
contribution to the adjustment of this question, and who thus far
stands alone in its support. It might, therefore, fitly bear his name;
but that which I now give to it is a more suggestive synonym.
This proposition, nakedly expressed, is, that the people of Kansas
should be deprived of their arms. That I may not do the least injustice
to the Senator, I quote his precise words.
“The President of the United States is under the highest and
most solemn obligations to interpose; and if I were to indicate
the manner in which he should interpose in Kansas, I would
point out the old Common Law process. I would serve a warrant
on Sharp’s rifles; and if Sharp’s rifles did not answer the
summons, and come into court on a day certain, or if they
resisted the sheriff, I would summon the _posse comitatus_,
and I would have Colonel Sumner’s regiment to be part of that
_posse comitatus_.”[96]
Really, Sir, has it come to this? The rifle has ever been the companion
of the pioneer, and, under God, his tutelary protector against the
red man and the beast of the forest. Never was this efficient weapon
more needed in just self-defence than now in Kansas; and at least
one article in our National Constitution must be blotted out before
the complete right to it can be in any way impeached. And yet such is
the madness of the hour, that, in defiance of the solemn guaranty in
the Amendments to the Constitution, that “the right of the people to
keep and bear arms shall not be infringed,” the people of Kansas are
arraigned for keeping and bearing arms, and the Senator from South
Carolina has the face to say openly on this floor that they should
be disarmed,--of course that the fanatics of Slavery, his allies and
constituents, may meet no impediment. Sir, the Senator is venerable
with years; he is reputed also to have worn at home, in the State he
represents, judicial honors; and he is placed here at the head of
an important Committee occupied particularly with questions of law;
but neither his years, nor his position, past or present, can give
respectability to the demand he makes, or save him from indignant
condemnation, when, to compass the wretched purposes of a wretched
cause, he thus proposes to trample on one of the plainest provisions of
Constitutional Liberty.
* * * * *
Next comes _the Remedy of Injustice and Civil War_,--organized by
Acts of Congress. This proposition, which is also an offshoot of the
original Remedy of Tyranny, proceeds from the Senator from Illinois
[Mr. DOUGLAS], with the sanction of the Committee on Territories, and
is embodied in the bill now pressed to a vote.