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NUMBER 4.
As I am frequently questioned about the inhabitants and settlements on the Western border of Missouri, and about the Indians in the Kansas and Nebraska territory, I will say a word in reference to them. As l shall write chiefly of such men and things as came under my own observation, it will be, in the most part, merely a transcript of my journal.
April 10, 1854. Arrived at Kansas, on the Missouri river, at its junction with the Kansas River, where we take up our bode for the present. We take our meals, (about forty of us,) a log hotel, for two dollars a week per head, and sleep in a storage building, finding our own beds. our fare is chiefly bacon, or smoked pork sides and all bread and molasses, and eggs, with occasionally a taste of fresh beef. There are better hotels in the place, but this is near the landing, and the warehouse where our “plunder,” as the Missourians call our baggage, is stored, and hence fire patronize it. Kansas is a small town, adjoining the Indian, (Kansas,) territory, built upon rolling land, containing about eight hundred inhabitants. The uses are built, some of logs some of brick, and some of framed timber and boards. It contains three hotels one to represent each class of houses those of logs, brick, and timber, and several stores, besides six or eight doctors, and a school house, used Sundays for a church.
Soon alter landing, I rode, with some of the company, to Independence, thirteen miles, for letters. The road was through most delightful country, with a rich, deep, and fertile soil. The surface is gently rolling, covered with oak, black walnut, white, and cotton wood timber. As we rode through the woods it seemed like an extensive grove, as there are but few underbrush, or low limbs, upon the trees, and the traveller can see quite a distance in all directions The roads are self-made, and are clever repaired If they become bad in any place, or a tree falls across them, the remedy is to strike out a new path among the trees, without expense to town or county. On the road to Independence are many farms under cultivation, and the owners appear to be in easy and prosperous circumstances.
Independence, about six miles from the Missouri River, and twelve miles from the Indian territory in a direct line, is the shire town of Jackson County, Mo., and contains a court house, some large and elegant hotels, numerous stores, and perhaps two thousand inhabitants. As we pass the court house, the sheriff comes to the door and calls out, at the top of his voice, three
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times, for somebody “to come into court.’ About one thousand emigrants are encamped at this place, preparing for their journey “across the plains.” Mules and oxen, for teams, may be had here, the first for fifty or seventy-five dollars each, and the last at the same for a pair.
April 12. Last night we were saluted by the yells of four Indians, from Wyandott city, over the line. They were on a spree, and made night hideous with their shouts. There was one female among them, and all were drunk. They prostitute their squaws for whiskey when they cannot get it without. it is against the law for any white man to sell them liquor, hence what they obtain they get privately. The agent of the government, residing among the Wyandotts, and others, is a physician from Ohio, and came up on the boat with us, and I have had frequent conversation with him about the Indians, the country, &c.;, &e.;
13th. To-day is rainy, and no work has been done by the company. Had a long talk with Dr. — , the Indian agent, upon slavery, politics, &e.; He said the abolitionists had made bad work with the missions among the Indians as some of the church members were slave holders. He thinks the North ought not to agitate the question, and felt very sensitive upon the subject. He said he had sent away-one missionary because he was an abolitionist, and the missionary had gone to Washington to try to get him removed from his agency, but he had no fears of the result.
SUNDAY, 15th. Visited Wyandott city, the residence of the Wyandott Indians, and attended their church. The missionary was not at home, and we had the pleasure of having a talk from two of the natives, in their own language. The meeting was very orderly, and conducted with more propriety than they usually are in N. 13. There was not a whisper or smile during the whole service. The speakers seemed very much engaged, and the hearers interested. The meeting house is situated in the forest, with no other building near, and seems just the place in which the Child of Nature should worship Nature’s God. The house is of brick, and will seat upon benches three or four hundred persons. The seats are made of logs,’ split and hewn in a rough manner, supported by legs of round sticks. The congregation numbered about fifty persons, of all ages. The women wore dresses like Americans, with kerchiefs about their heads. The nation numbers about eight hundred persons of all colors, from jet black to the delicate pale face. They came from
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Ohio, and live by cultivating the soil. Like the Americans, they have a classes, from the strictly temperate and virtuous, to the most degraded wretches on earth. The land they occupy is immensely rich, &c.; In my next letter, this subject will be continued.
NUMBER 5
Kansas, Mo. April 17, 1849. – Our landlord, at the Kansas House, has been drunk several days, and the company are dissatisfied with their board. A meeting of the company was held this morning, when it was voted that each member be allowed two dollars a week and secure his own board. After the meeting, I started into the woods to seek a boarding place more congenial to my feelings and taste. Three miles from Kansas, I came to a farmhouse where I engaged board for myself and ten members of our company at $1.50 per week. Our new landlord, Mr. H, and his wife, are very agreeable, and the accommodations good. The situation is very pleasant, being a clearing in the woods, of about fifty acres of land, most of which is under cultivation. The house is two stories, with an L and slave apartment attached. The barn is not larger than a common New England corn barn, and is used for a granary, and to shelter the horses only, the cattle being obliged to take care of themselves, with the help of a little corn fodder, and the like, which they must eat in the open air. The young stock, and such as not wanted for labor, or the dairy,are driven a few miles out to the prairie and left to obtain their own subsistence.
Mr. H has four slaves, three females and one male. He is apparently a kind master, and has but little trouble with them. The young slaves appear to enjoy themselves pretty well, and to be ignorant of their condition, but the older wear a sad expression upon their countenances, and cast an imploring look upon strangers, as much t say, “Kind sir, is my case hopeless?” they appear as if they were conscious that there was an impassable gulf fixed between them and the rest of the world.
18th.- Amused myself this evening by noting down some of the provincialisms of the Western people. Mr. H had friends with him from Kentucky, and the following are some of the remarks: “We had a right smart chance of sledding last winter.” “A powerful pretty piece of land.” “Looked like it was a heap good flour.” “A heap of springs were dry last summer.” “There was a heap of wind last night.” “A right smart horse.” “I seed the big ox of Kentucky before I seed
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the one in Ohio.” “I knowed him well.” “I toted my plunder (baggage) to the boat.” ” A right smart sprinkling of bears.” “I got shet of him.” “He is powerful weak today.” “A mighty little calf.”
19th. — Visited Westport, four miles south of the line of the territory. This is a small, but enterprising town, with about five hundred inhabitants to appearance. Here are saddlers, blacksmiths, and other mechanics, with nearly everything needed for an outfit to California. Business is very brisk, on account of the great number of emigrants fitting out here. Our company complete their purchases here, excepting their flour, which they will get at the Baptist Mission, four miles farther in our route, in the Indian Territory.
In the evening, two of our company amused themselves by singing a few pieces from the N.E. Glee Book, which quite astonished the natives, who said that they had not heard such good singing before, and thought the singers would do better to give concerts than to go to California. After this our singers were in great demand, particularly when our hist had company.
Soon after our company left boarding at the Kansas House, the cholera, which had accompanied us up the river, made its appearance in Kansas, and one night, the wind, which the day before had blew up the river, changed and came from the north-west, and no cases of cholera occurred ; but the day following there was another change in the direction of the wind, and several persons were attacked. During the prevalence of this disease on the Missouri River bottom, the emigrants moved their encampment to the open lands, where it did not follow them. Our physician was in great demand, as he was more successful in this disease than the resident physicians, and by a request of the people, he met the physicians of the place, and gave them his course of treatment. When the company was about to leave, he was urgently requested to remain, and was promised his board and the keeping of his horse for a year, gratis, and all the business he could do, if he would stay. Notwithstanding some of the Southern and Western people affect to look upon the New Englanders as a set of bigoted laborers, they are very ready to accept of their services and skill, when danger threatens them, and, in fact,the Yankees who settle among them, in spite of all prejudice that some may feel, are the most enterprising and successful men to be found in the community.
On the tenth of May, our company had everything in readi-
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ness for the journey, except the flour, which we obtained at the mill of the Baptist Mission. The trading at this Mission was done by the missionary, who seemed as capable of looking after the temporal interests of his flock as the spiritual. He wished to learn how to treat the cholera, should it appear in his fold, and, in exchange for the information received from our physician, gave us some recipes for curing the fever and ague, which he professed to be able to treat with success. We received a very favorable account of the Indians among whom he labored,- and everything indicated comfort, contentment, and general prosperity. Not far distant from this station is a large brick building, which I did not visit, said to be a flouring mill, belonging to the Methodist Mission. the country about here is exceedingly beautiful, and the land would have long since been taken up by white settlers, if allowed by the Government.
NUMBER 6.
Ninety-three miles, by our reckoning, from Westport, the last town in Missouri, is the upper crossing of the Kansas River, where is a ferry kept by half-breed Indians. There is another crossing lower down the river, (twelve miles, I think,) where there are also ferry boats. At the upper crossing, near the river, is the Pottawatomie trading post and village, and two or three stores. The business at the ferry, and at the stores, was transacted by half-breeds, some of whom could talk English very well. The village is very pleasantly situated, and presented a neat and inviting appearance. A few graves near by were guarded by a railing, and within the enclosure was a cross, the fruits, doubtless, of the Catholic Mission eight miles distant. Several Indians from the village, visited our camp for the purpose of obtaining whiskey and swapping horses. About the only words they could speak, of English, were, whisk, for whiskey, and swap; but these, with their gestures, were sufficient to enable them to make known their wants. Our wagons were taken upon the ferry- boats by hand, and the oxen crossed about a mile above by fording. The current was quite swift, and the water, in some places, deep. The river bottom, at this place, is heavily wooded on either side, and the soil, as usual, very rich.
Eight miles farther on is the Catholic Mission, which is less inviting in its appearance. The place contains about a half a dozen log houses, but no store or mechanic’s shop, of any kind. The Indians are supported chiefly by the annuity they receive
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from the government, and appear to be a shiftless and thriftless race of beings. There was about being erected, at this place, a large church, the timber for which was already on the site, I had an interview with the Priest, who is an agreeable person, and gave us much information about his charge, and the Indians generally. The Chief of the Pottawatomies, whom I met here, is a half-breed, and quite intelligent, speaking English readily. This tribe and the Pawnees are at variance, and the Pottawatomies were about raising an army to drive the Pawnees from their vicinity. The Chief said, a year ago, in 1848, the Pottawatomies attempted to form a treaty of peace with the Pawnees, which the latter would consent to on condition that they would use their influence to effect a like treaty between them (the Pawnees and the Kickapoos.) This was agreed to, and the warriors of the Kickapoos, Kaws, and Sioux were assembled, and marched with the Pottawatomies to the residence of the Pawnee Chief, shook hands, and changed position with him, as is their custom when they wish to signify perfect friendship. If peace is doubtful, they advance, salute each other, and then withdraw to their own party. After the salutation of the Chiefs, the Pawnee warriors advanced to greet the warriors of the different nations, till they came to a Kaw whose father had been killed when attempting to make peace with the Pawnees. He said he could not make peace with them that day, and immediately commenced firing upon them, when all rushed to arms, except the Pottawatomies, who retreated at a slow pace, without firing, it being contrary to custom to run or fire a gun when on a mission of peace. – But after the Pawnees had pursued and fired upon them for the distance of a half a mile, they then turned upon them with a shout, and killed fifteen men and thirty horses. Thus ended the affair, till last fall, the Pawnees, stole from them thirty of their latest horses, and recently six more.
He warned us to beware of the Pawnees, as they were hostile to emigrants, and might attack us, five or six hundred strong. He said their method of attack was, to rush upon a company when least prepared for them, and frighten off their cattle with the most hideous yells. They usually prefer a severe thunderstorm, or a very dark night, for their operations. If the mules and horses are tied, a few will stealthily pass among them, and cut their ropes, when others rush in behind, and frighten them.
About three miles beyond the Catholic Mission, I saw about a dozen Indians, but none, after that, till we had crossed the
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South fork of the Platte, a distance of three hundred and forty- six miles. Not only were there no Indians in sight, but no traces of them were to be seen on the route, except in one instance, there was seen a bright light at a distance across the Platte, below its forks, and a noise was heard, which was attributed to Indians. About one hundred and thirty miles beyond Fort Childs, we met about forty Sioux Indians, who had paraded themselves across the road, with two large United States flags unfurled. In personal appearance they were superior to any we had seen, being well formed amp good looking, especially the females. They solicited tribute of all passers by, as well as traded horses, larietts, or halters and trinkets. The Indians along the upper Platte lead wandering lives, moving from place to place, as inclination may lead them. According to Mr. Parker, their lodges are composed of eight or ten poles, about eighteen feet long, set up in a circular form; the small ends are fastened together, making an apex, and the large ends are spread out, so as to enclose an area of about twenty feet in diameter. The whole is covered with their coarse skins, which are elk or buffalo, taken when they are not good for robes. A fire is made in the centre, a hole being left in the top of the lodge for the smoke to pass out. Mr. Parker says these Indians appear friendly, not only to white men, but also towards each other. He saw no quarrelling among them Their minds are above the ordinary stamp, and the forms of their persons are fine. Many of them are ‘*nature’s grenadiers.” The women, also, are well formed, their voices are soft and expressive, and their movements graceful. I was, he says, agreeably surprised to see tall young chiefs, well-dressed, in their mode, leading by the arm their ladies. In decency and politeness, as well as in many other particulars, they differ from those Indians on our frontiers, who have had more intercourse with bad white men, and who have had access to whiskey.
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The following description of the territory of Nebraska is copied from a recent number of the Newburyport (Mass.,) Herald:
NEBRASKA
Until within a few years, to civilized men this name was unknown. Nebraska is derived from the Indian name of the great river that flows into the Missouri, near Council Bluff, which the French call the Platte, and which is so designated on the maps. On the north- east flows the Missouri; on the west are the Rocky Mountains, which separate it from Utah; and south it comes down to 36 deg. 30 min. It is from 300 to 350 miles from north to south, and runs back from Missouri, 240 miles; and as almost a half million of square miles of territory. It is one of the finest lands that the sun shines on in all his course through the heavens. Its location, its climate, its soil, its vegetable productions, and its mineral wealth, all invite the free pioneers and the hardy laborers.
The rivers running through it are numerous, serving as highways from the upper country, and offering an easy transportation to the corn and wheat, the hemp and tobacco, the coal and the iron, the timber and the stone, in fine, for the products of its fields that would feed the world, the wealth of its mines, just coming to light, and the building materials that everywhere abound. The Missouri is navigable nearly all the year, for first class steamboats; the Kansas for two hundred miles navigable for boats; and the beautiful Platte, and numerous smaller streams, abundantly supply it with water.
For two hundred miles west of Missouri, what constitutes the valley of the territory, the soil is a deep black loam, in richness equalling any portion of the United States, and capable of supporting a great population. For a grain country the lands Ohio and Michigan are as far behind this as New England behind them; and within twenty years flour will come down the Missouri river for exportation to all parts of the world, in such quantities as we have never dreamed of. Nature has been ages garnering up her fertilizing properties there, and from one period to another, through untold times, gathering strength that she might pour abundance into the barns of the first settlers. The valley of the Platte for two hundred and fifty miles, is exceeding fertile; and the ridges between the Arkansas and Kansas, and the Kansas and Platte, especially the latter, are capable of yielding immense crops. For the last hundred miles
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towards the mountains the land is less desirable, but all through if are charming valleys, where labor would obtain an easy and a fair reward. As the higher region is dry and covered throughout with buffalo grass, for wool growing it is particularly adapted. The climate is as inviting to the settler as the soil. The weather is less changeable than on the Atlantic slope, and the winters commencing in December terminate before March; while the winds that sweep down from the rocky Mountains carry health and vigor to all the living creation.
No part of our country is of greater importance in itself than Nebraska; nor is there any section that requires, or would have a more rapid settlement. To Utah, New Mexico, California, and Oregon, there are now passing and repassing from fifty to a hundred thousand persons annually. Great numbers of these persons would settle on the way, if the country was open to settlers, and especially would this be the case, if the Pacific Railroad should take the middle route. The settlements would won extend all along the great thoroughfares, and the advantages arising therefrom would be very great. There may at present be something like a thousand white inhabitants. The principal part of these are at Fort Leavenworth, on the Missouri River, and are Officers, Soldiers, Mechanics, Teamsters and Farmers, connected with the army. Most of the lands in the eastern section are Indian reservations; and here are the remnants of twenty-eight distinct tribes most of them removed from the north-west, under the act of Congress in 1830, for the extinguishment of the titles to their native soil. Since that day they have been undisturbed in their new homes, though they have made but slight advancement in civilized life, and many of them have almost entirely wasted away, and now cultivate but a small portion of their lands: as, for instance, the Delawares who own 2,200,000 acres, do not cultivate 1000. Our pledge to them was, that they should be undisturbed forever. But when that pledge was made, California was not settled, and overland emigration had not commenced; and it is not now possible to prevent the invasion of the country by the whites. If the bill, therefore, does not pass, and they remain, constantly will they be in contact with the whites, and constantly will their numbers diminish. If the bill should pass, a second removal will be their destruction.
We might wish the fate of the Indian to be different, but it is irrevocable; we may mourn to have them blotted out from
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among the peoples, but it is unavoidable. The providence of God brings about unexpected events, and one comes and another goes by his will; nor could we wish the progress of the world staid for a race irreclaimably lost in heathenism, and capable only of learning the vices of civilization Who would say that the State of Maine should never be settled because a few Penobscot Indians yet exist, who might lay claim to it ? No more should the great States of the Northwest be lost from such a consideration. The government has done, and will do, all that they can for their comfort. It will purchase lands which are worthless to them, and which they cannot retain of themselves. Mr. Manypenny, Indian Commissioner, was last year sent to negotiate with them. He held councils with tribes, numbering only 11,384 persons, owning 23,220,480 acres of land. Other tribes, numbering 11,597 persons, owning 18,399,200 acres, were not visited. Most of them are ready to sell and remove further towards the setting sun; and while the territory is thus opened to the white man, they will for a time be beyond trouble from immigrants.
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The article which follows is taken from the Boston Daily Advertiser and was published a day or two after the Committee of the legislature had reported in favor of granting . a Charter to the Emigrant Aid Company.
EMIGRANT AID COMPANY.
We are glad to find that some practical measures are in progress for assistance to the great emigration westward, which takes place every summer. There are many obvious reasons why that emigration should not be left to the difficulties and want of system, which cannot be prevented in the movement of individuals.
A petition is in circulation to the Legislature,. for the incorporation of a company whose object is to facilitate emigration to the distant territories of the Government. At the present moment, a combined emigration to the valley of the Missouri and Kansas Rivers, will be an object which seems especially desired.
We have for many years expressed the wish, that some arrangement should be made to protect, by the guarantee of a responsible company, emigrants bound westward, from the frauds
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of irresponsible ticket brokers in the large cities. Never has a movement so large as that from Europe to our Western States been left so completely unprotected to the rapacity of unprincipled men.
A letter, from one of our most distinguished merchants, says: “The competition of the different railroads to the West, promises to destroy one giant fraud upon the emigrant, viz: the impositions of the various inland packet and forwarding companies. For one item, it was estimated a year or two since, that the scalpers, as they were then called, realized $500,000 profit in one year, out of the emigrants who passed through Buffalo.” He then remarks, and very truly, as we conceive, that neither law nor philanthropy can contend with such rapacity. “It takes commerce to deal with evils like this.” As another letter from the same source has said to us, “Benevolence may point the way, and law help to regulate the abuses, but when you are dealing with an emigration of 400,000 people, you must make your scheme of benevolence a profitable one, or it will only go a mile while the enemy ‘ goes round the globe.” To prevent such abuses, in a business way, and by business arrangements, is one of the objects of the new company. In providing proper arrangements for the safe transfer of American and Foreign emigrants to the West, the Emigrant Aid Company has another object in view, This is, to induce such emigrants, in large numbers, to settle in the new territory of Kansas, and to secure its freedom forever. One of our correspondents says of this region, that “it is the finest country out doors,” and official accounts confirm this statement. We learn, however, that single families of emigrants pass through to the more northern districts of Nebraska, simply in fear that it will become a Slave State. This fear will be ended at once and forever, by the establishment, together, of a few thousand free settlers there this summer. This, as we have before remarked is a perfectly easy process; 250,000 persons and more, will pass from the East to the West this summer. The Emigrant Aid Company will offer facilities and inducements which will turn quite enough of them to Kansas, to settle its fundamental institutions in the right way, before Congress has ended its deliberations. We commend the Company’s petition for incorporation to the Legislature for yet another reason. The establishment of a thriving Western Colony. under Massachusetts auspices, is another link between our markets and factories and the West.
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If the operations of the Company render necessary a line of packets to Germany, it seems to us desirable, for Germany now furnishes more emigrants even than Ireland, by so much is our foreign and domestic commerce enlarged. The establishment of such a Company negotiating between the empty paradise of the West, and the unemployed laborers of Germany must be a great commercial advantage to Massachusetts; while its efforts tend at the same time to the success of the great principles of freedom, to which she has pledged herself from the beginning.
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A PLAN FOR FREEDOM.
We invite particular attention to what follows. At the last session of the Massachusetts Legislature, an act of incorporation was granted by that body establishing an “Emigrant Aid Society,” with a capital of five millions of dollars. The bill was passed without a dissenting voice. The corporators met at the State House, in Boston, on the 4th day of May, accepted the charter, and appointed a committee to report a plan of operations. That Committee consisted of Eli Thayer, Alex. H. Bullock and E E. Hale of Worcester, and Richard Hildreth and Otis Clapp of Boston. The meeting adjourned to the 12th inst., when it again met, and received the report of its Committee.
In pursuance of the last recommendation, the corporators made a temporary organization by the choice of Eli Thayer of Worcester, Mass., President pro-tem, and Otis Clapp, of Boston, Secretary, and opened books of subscription to the stock of the Company in Boston, Worcester, and New York. Previously, however, a public meeting was held at Worcester, on the subject, at which letters were received from a number of distinguished gentlemen in Congress, warmly approving the project. Among them was one from Senator Wade of Ohio, which, as best embodying the spirit of the whole, we lay before the reader:
Washington April 27, 1854.
Dear Sir: Your favor came to hand this morning. The subject of your letter is of the utmost importance to the interests of the free States. It presents also, a feature, so far as I know, entirely new in the non-slaveholding States; it shows a re- awakening of the northern people to the propagation of liberty, as
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an offset to the counter propagandism of Slavery by the slave States. I need not say that, after a twenty years’ service in the endeavor to awaken the people of my own State to the encroachments of Slavery, it gives me the sincerest pleasure to know that the people of my native State (old Massachusetts) are now “up and doing,” in the good cause.
I regret to say, that such is the state of business before Congress, that I do not feel at liberty to leave my post here, although my inclinations are exceedingly strong, to forgo this duty, for the more pleasant, but less pressing one of attending your Convention. Feeling the deepest interest in, and desire for the success of your Convention, I remain,
Respectfully your obedient servant,
EDWARD WADE
Such, in brief, is the plan offered to the earnest and philanthropic men of the free States, who desire to prevent the spread of Slavery into Kansas and Nebraska and to secure the early admission of those territories into the Union as free States. To all those who are anxious to do something in the present crisis to repair the wrong just committed at Washington, it offers a wide and hopeful field of effort. Here is abundant opportunity for all who have money to invest, or hearts to labor in the great cause of Freedom. The scheme strikes us as singularly well adapted to secure the objects in view. Properly managed, and in the lands of discreet and responsible men, it cannot fail to accomplish the noble and generous purpose at which it aims, and at the same time it promises to eventually return to every contributor all of its original outlay, with n handsome recompense for its use. From this plan thus briefly shadowed forth, we entertain a confident hope of the most satisfactory results, and cordially commend it to public attention.
It will be seen that a meeting of the stockholders is to be held on the first Wednesday of June, at Boston. Meanwhile subscriptions can be made by those who desire to do so, at the office of this paper, either by letter or person. The cooperation of the friends of the enterprise in this city is earnestly desired, and a gentleman from Massachusetts is now in town for the purpose of obtaining it. It is expected that, after the permanent organization of the Company is effected, on the 7th of June, public meetings will be held in Boston and this City, and else-where, to further the objects of the undertaking. The spirit which has been aroused throughout the free States by the perfidy of our rulers, is such that we cannot entertain a doubt that, un
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We should but insult our readers by adducing considerations in detail, at this important crisis in our national history, to induce them to engage in the great work before us. The duty to be done is rather to aid in giving the machinery, it is proposed to set in motion, a proper direction. The great labors of the world have been performed by Association. Our Societies for the spread of the Bible, and the diffusion of Christianity – and our other varied combinations for benevolent objects – all demonstrate the immense power of well-directed associate effort. If it be our duty to spread Christianity over the world, it is a precedent obligation resting on us to prepare the waste places of the earth for its reception. But what sort of Christianity can be spread over a land cursed with human Slavery? This indicates the importance in which we hold this new Association for the spread of Liberty. Let it grow and expand till it shall become the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night to the lovers of Freedom all over the earth, Its first aim is to secure Kansas and Nebraska as Free States. But when these are redeemed from the perils that now encompass them, the Society will advance upon objects of even a wider scope. Controlling the direction of the great stream of European emigration – which office it should aspire to, and may certainly reach – its opportunities for good will be co-extensive with the continent. Clothed with the moral power, enjoying the confidence, and wielding the pecuniary resources of the whole body of Anti-Slavery men in the North, which may be now reckoned as constituting nineteen-twentieths of the population, its onward course must be irresistible, and its work continue till all the Territories of this Republic are occupied by populous free States. -New York Tribune, May 30th.
THE PLAN FOR FREEDOM, which we put forth in Monday’s paper already awakens an echo in the public mind. In addition to further active steps of the gentlemen in this City who have taken hold of the subject, we have received voluntary offers of subscription by letter, together with the most fervent expressions of zeal and determination from all quarters, to rally in defense of freedom, and in opposition to the gigantic schemes of aggression started by the slave power. The contest already takes the form of the People against Tyranny and Slavery. The whole crowd of slave-drivers and traitors, backed by party organization, a corrupt majority in Congress, a soulless partizan press, an Ad-
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ministration with its law officers armed with revolvers, and sustained by the bayonets of a mercenary soldiery, will all together prove totally insufficient to cope with an aroused People.
We extract from our correspondence as follows:
To the Editor of the New York Tribune.
Sir: Having watched with much interest the incipient movements in Massachusetts to form the Emigrant Aid Society, and having great faith in such an enterprise, if confided to proper hands I am much gratified to find by your paper of this day that the organization is so far completed as to admit the opening of subscriptions.
Wishing to aid the enterprise out of my feeble ability, I request you to insert my name in the subscription for #500. I trust the Company will not despise such small amounts. Indeed, I should think the true policy should be to enlist as large a body of subscribers all over the country as possible, in order to secure the interest of the entire population of the free states (if any of the States can now be called free; while a few capitalists in Boston and New York might commence the list with a liberal sum, to give confidence in the managers of the Society. Let special efforts be made to enlist the subscriptions, and consequently the interest and co-operation of the whole community. The day of deliverance dawns. The spirit of freedom shall awake.
Yours for liberty.
Another correspondent, who sends a subscription for #10,000 writes as follows:
“Need I say how delighted I am at the prospect of the ‘Plan of freedom!’ In a work so just, so hopeful, so grandly comprehensive, so prophetic of results potential, victorious and final, I enter with a full soul, heart, hand, and purse! Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish – I give myself to this great work, in the full confidence that souls are here enlisted who know no tie but that of universal brotherhood – no ends but that of an unselfish devotion to common humanity. May I ask of you the favor to hand in my subscription for one hundred shares of stock of the Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Company.’ The golden age – the blessed age of peace – is not for us! Patience and faith and combat, labor and toil are ours. Let us accept the gifts, meekly but manfully, rejoicing that our Master counts us worthy to follow him in the mighty travail of a world’s regeneration.” -New York Tribune, May 31.