true character of the unfortunate heroine, and upon the charges which had been so recklessly permitted to defame and to destroy her. We have no space for the particulars of this investigation. Its result is thus stated by our author :

"On the 7th of July, [1456] the revision of the sentence was delivered at Rouen; the twelve articles on which the condemnation of the first judges had been founded were torn up in public, the odious sentence was abrogated and annulled, and processions solemnly proceeded to the cemetery of Saint Ouen, and to the old marketplace,-sites made holy by the martyrdom of Joan."

KANSAS.

THE sun, in its daily course, shines upon no fairer portion of the earth's surface than that embraced within the borders of the territory of KANSAS. Situated within the very heart of the United States, midway between the north and south, the east and west-presenting a varied aspect of mountain and valley, prairie and bluff, intersected by noble rivers, with a soil fertile beyond all comparison, productive of grain and fruits in boundless variety, together with a genial, healthy climate-it is scarcely possible to conceive of a more inviting resting-place for the weary feet of the emigrant, or a more promising sphere of operations for the enterprising and restless "settler," ever seeking a farther" far West." Its area surpasses in extent that of the thirteen Atlantic states; yet if we refer to a map three years old, we shall seek in vain for this word Kansas. The space it occupies on these maps marked "the Great American Desert;" and, until recently, was occupied solely by various tribes of Indians-"the Indian territory.' But the savage daily recedes before the encroaching steps of the AngloSaxon. How many thousands of years has this region been a solitary and uncultivated waste! And although but a few months have elapsed since the white man sought there a new home, yet its soil is deeply stained with his brother's blood; and most hideous tragedies have been enacted in the never-ending strife between freedom and slavery, even on the very soil which, by solemn prohibition, was proclaimed for ever exempt from involuntary servitude.

By an Act of Congress, dated 30th of May, 1854, it was declared that "All the territory of the United States included within the following limits, except such portions thereof as are hereinafter expressly exempted from the operations of this Act, to wit: beginning at a point on the western boundary of the State of Missouri, where the parallel of 37° N. crosses the same; thence west on said parallel to the eastern boundary of New Mexico; thence north on said boundary to latitude 38°; thence following said boundary westward to the east boundary of the territory of Utah, on the summit of the Rocky Mountains; thence northward on said summit to the parallel of 40° N.; hence east on said parallel to the western boundary of said state to the place of beginning-is constituted the territory of Kansas; and when admitted as a State or States, the said territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union with or without slavery, as their constitutions may prescribe at the time of their admission."

The attractions and resources of this Eden were speedily made known through the newspapers; and it soon became evident that a great tide of emigration would naturally flow into Kansas from the northern and eastern States; and an association was formed for the purpose of "assisting emi

grants to settle in the West." The objects of this association were-to induce emigrants to move westward in such large bodies, that arrangements might be made with the railway and other trafficking companies, for effecting their transit at reduced rates; to erect saw-mills and boardinghouses, and establish schools in different localities, that the people might at once surround themselves with the resources of older states, and not waste years deprived of the privileges and blessings of social life, as most early settlers in the West had done.

The originators of this association were New-Englanders-men of honour, sterling integrity, and exalted views; who devoted their time and their money with untiring energy to the sacred cause of liberty. They were prompted to this undertaking from a consciousness that the battle of freedom must sooner or later be fought in this remote region, and that it required the stout hearts and willing hands of those who had been nursed in the "cradle of liberty," to plough the soil and sow the seeds of that priceless treasure for which their fathers had freely shed their blood, and which they, as true heritors, were bound not only to defend against the present foe, but also to transmit unimpaired to posterity.

On the 1st of August, 1854, a party of about thirty settlers, chiefly from New England, arrived in the territory of Kansas, and settled upon a spot previously selected for its peculiar beauty; and, in honour of a philanthropic citizen of Boston, named it Lawrence. On its way to the territory, this party had met with obstructions and abuse from bands of Missourians, who were violently opposed to the invasion of these missionaries of freedom; and by putting in pretended claims for every spot selected by the new settlers, and by various disputes on frivolous pretexts, attempted to frighten and drive them away. On the 28th of September, 1854, a "squatter" meeting was held at about two miles from Lawrence, at which the "free-state" men found themselves in the majority. They decided by vote that no person non-resident in the territory should be allowed to vote at their meetings, &c.; and for a time they made their own regulations.

A second New-England party arrived early in September, and settled also at Lawrence. As soon as it became known that a settlement of NewEnglanders was being made at Lawrence, every means were employed to break it up. The settlers, however, proceeded with their appointed task, and erected a saw-mill, boarding-houses, stores, &c. These buildings were of pole and thatch, of most primitive construction.

On the 1st of October the first sermon was preached, and the first Bibleclass formed, in Lawrence; and on the 9th, Governor Reeder, with the other officers appointed by the President, arrived in the territory. The first election was for a delegate to Congress; it was held on the 29th of November, 1854. Meanwhile a conspiracy against the rights of the settlers was gaining ground in Missouri, and before the day of election armed hordes poured over her borders. A candidate for delegate was told he would be maltreated, and probably killed, if he ventured to challenge a vote at the polls: he was compelled to seek protection of the judges. In one remote district, with a thin population, no less than fivehundred and eighty-four illegal votes were cast, and only twenty legal. At Leavenworth, then a small village, several hundred men crossed over from the adjoining State of Missouri, encamped about the place, and controlled the polls. By these illegal votes, General (?) Whitfield was elected delegate to Congress.

In January, Governor Reeder ordered a census to be taken. The popu

lation numbered 8,501. On the day the census returns were completed, he issued a proclamation for an election to be held on March 30, 1855, for the Legislative Assembly. But long before the day of the election arrived, the border papers were rife with their threats of outrage. The following, from the "Leavenworth Herald," will serve to shew the sentiments of the pro-slavery party, and their intentions as to the manner in which Kansas was to be made a Slave State. One Stingfellow addressed a crowd at St. Joseph, in Missouri, in the following terms:

"I tell you to mark every scoundrel among you that is the least tainted with freesoilism, or abolitionism, and exterminate him. Neither give nor take quarter from the rascals. I propose to mark them in this house, and on the present occasion, so you may crush them out. To those having qualms of conscience as to violating laws, state or national-the time has come when such impositions must be disregarded, as your lives and property are in danger; and I advise you, one and all, to enter every election district in Kansas, in defiance of Reeder and his myrmidons, and vote at the point of the bowie-knife and revolver. Neither give nor take quarter, as our cause demands it. It is enough that our slave-holding interest wills it, from which there is no appeal. What right has Governor Reeder to rule Missourians in Kansas? His proclamation and prescribed oath must be disregarded; it is your interest to do so. Mind that slavery is established where it is not prohibited."

The Missourians, excited by extravagant statements circulated among them by designing men as to the object and character of eastern immigration, with their low passions and narrow prejudices worked upon to a high degree, were now fully equal to any deeds of violence. A few days before the 30th of March, crowds of men might be seen wending their way to some general rendezvous, in various counties in Missouri. They were a rough, brutal-looking set of nondescripts; each wore, as a mark to distinguish him from the settlers, a white or a blue ribbon: this, however, was wholly unnecessary, as no one could possibly mistake one of these ruffians for an intelligent, educated settler. Other Missourians, who did not cross the border to vote, contributed provisions, waggons, or money, for this new raid. Provisions were sent in advance of the invaders, who overran a fair country with drunkenness and fraud; and were ready, if their cause demanded it, for murder. On the evening previous to the election, and on the following morning, about one thousand men, armed with guns, rifles, pistols, and bowie-knives, trailing two pieces of cannon, loaded with musket-balls, entered Lawrence, under the command of Col. Samuel Young, of Boone county, and of Claiborne F. Jackson. They came in about one hundred and ten waggons-some were on horseback, marching with music and banners flying.

On their way to Lawrence, this band of desperadoes met one of the election judges, Mr. N. B. Blanton, formerly of Missouri, who had been appointed by Governor Reeder. Upon saying that, in the execution of the duties of his office, he should feel bound to demand from voters the oath as to residence in the territory, they endeavoured, first by bribes, then by threats of hanging, to induce him to accept their votes without the oath. As Mr. Blanton did not appear at the poll on the election-day, they appointed in his place a new judge, who held that a man had a right to vote if he had been in the territory but an hour.

Before the voting commenced the Missourians declared that, "if the judges appointed by the governor did not allow them to vote, they would appoint judges who would:" and in one instance they did so.

Seldom has a popular election in a "free country" been conducted under such auspices as these. The scene was in a log-cabin; around which the

crowd was often so great, that many of the voters, after voting, were hoisted on to the roof of the building, to make room for others. Then, when the lawful settlers began to vote, they had to pass between a double file of armed men, who continually demanded with threats of shooting or hanging, those men of Lawrence who had made themselves conspicuous by the assertion of the " majesty of the law." During the day many of the settlers were driven from the scene with violent threats, and one only escaped death by a perilous leap off the high bank of a river.

The Missourians, roaming through the village, entered the houses of the residents, and unceremoniously took their meals with them. They also loudly threatened to destroy the dwellings, but no disturbance took place. The number of votes polled was 1,030; out of this total, 802 were nonresidents, and consequently illegal voters.

Similar scenes of violence and outrage were enacted at other places in the territory. The judges who refused either to yield to violence or to resign, were threatened with instant death. The polls, ballot-boxes, and pollbooks were seized upon by the marauders. One of the election-judges who refused to sign the illegal returns, was fired upon on his way home, but fortunately escaped uninjured. With levers they tried to overthrow the poiling-place, and only desisted when it became known that some of their own party would be endangered by the act. A judge who made affidavit in a protest against the illegality of the election, was indicted for perjury. A lawyer who made a similar protest, was notified to leave the place; upon his refusal, he was seized, taken across the river to Western Missouri, where, after being tarred and feathered, and shaved on one side of his head, he was marched about the streets, ridden on a rail, and finally sold at auction either by or to a negro.

Extremes meet; here we have the extreme of despotism in a country boasting of the "largest liberty." To such extremities of tyranny may men be driven by no stronger motive than self-interest. For this, law and justice are set at defiance, the law-makers and judges even aiding and abetting acts subversive of all social order, exposing peaceable citizens to imminent peril from mobs infuriated with drink, goaded by fiendish prejudices even to the infliction of violent death.

Of the population of the United States, numbering upwards of 25,000,000, about 3,000,000 are in slavery. The slave-holders amount to 200,000: by combined action they have acquired a power and influence for evil that threatens most seriously to impair the integrity of the Union. Through the opposition of "abolitionists," "free-soilers," "free-state" men, to the increase of slave territory within the limits of the Union, an antagonism is set up, whose fruits are strikingly shewn in the brief but pregnant history of Kansas. It is south of " Mason and Dixon's line;" and the slave-holder, feeling his security endangered by the too close proximity of a new freestate, where but yesterday existed only an unpeopled desert, he is roused to opposition, and his cry is "war to the knife" against the intruder. These men are fond of “big words," and used to the exercise of unrestrained will upon the unhappy beings they call their "property;" they are but little fitted, by education or the wholesome discipline of society, to brook restraint in the exercise of "their rights." But a bully is proverbially a coward, and in all the scenes of hostility in which the Missourian has figured, cowardice and cruelty are his chief characteristics. What has been signified with the title of the 66 War in Kansas" appears, after deducting the bravado so freely indulged in, to have been little more than an attempt by a party to

GENT. MAG. VOL. XLVII.

G

carry certain measures, at first by intimidation, and subsequently, goaded on by drunkenness and defeat, by violence.

We now resume our narrative of the history of the struggle for liberty in Kansas.

As may be supposed, the integrity of Governor Reeder forbad the hope of his ever becoming a tool in the hands of the slave-holders. Their next object was to remove him, either legally or by violence. He was many times threatened with death. On April the 9th a document entitled a "People's Proclamation," signed CITIZENS OF KANSAS TERRITORY, was issued, denouncing the unfitness of Governor Reeder for his office, and calling upon the people to elect, on the 28th of September, a fit person to recommend to the President as his successor. Meanwhile Governor Reeder returned to his home in Eastern Pennsylvania, and was honoured with a public reception. On the 2nd of July, the Legislature (elected by Missou rians) assembled, as ordered by Governor Reeder, at Pawnee, more than 100 miles from the border. One member, a Mr. Conway, resigned his seat in the council, on the ground that, having been elected by illegal votes, this pretended Legislature had no claim to that character. The members of the House chosen at the new election ordered by Governor Reeder, were deprived of their seats. On the 4th, the Legislature passed an act removing the seat of government to the Shawnee Mission. Governor Reeder vetoed it, as being inconsistent with the organic act. On the 16th, the Legislature reassembled at the Shawnee mission, and on the 22nd, D. Houston, the only free-state member of the Assembly, resigned his seat, not only on the ground that the Legislature was an illegal body, but that, by its removal from Pawnee, it had nullified itself. The laws passed by the Shawnee Legislature were of an intolerant character, allowing no rights to the people of the territory. They were copied from the Missouri statute-book, with the exception of those relating to the qualifications of voters of the Legislative Assembly and the slave code, which were made especially to crush the people of this territory, who were allowed no voice in those matters of government which most concerned them.

Chapter CLI. of "The Laws of the Territory of Kansas" relates to the punishment of offences against slave property. Section 13 states that "no person who is conscientiously opposed to holding slaves, or who does not admit the right to hold slaves in this territory, shall sit as juror on the trial of any prosecution for any violation of any of the sections of this act." Had these acts been legal, Kansas would have been constituted a slave-holding State. Upon their promulgation, several meetings were held by the settlers, to take the matter into consideration, and to deliberate upon the propriety of holding a general convention, with the view of forming a State Government, and to ask for admission into the Union, as a State, at the next Congress.

The corrupt Cabinet of Washington, having seen that in Governor Reeder the people of the territory had an impartial friend, and that he followed to the letter the law under which he acted as Governor, determined to remove him, and also to force slavery upon Kansas. A false charge was trumped up against him, of speculating in Kaw lands. He had given offence by repudiating the acts of the Legislature because of their holding their session in violation of the organic act. But no man of integrity could long hold this office, as he must inevitably displease both the people of Missouri and the federal head.

Governor Reeder was removed, and Mr. Dawson nominated in his place,