Pierce was elected, and, in gratitude for the
aid he had received from the ultra-slavery
party, appointed, to an important seat in his
cabinet, one of their number.

Two years before this election, when the
Fugitive Slave Laws were in agitation, there
had been an assemblage of delegates at
Memphis from every slave state, with the
object of threatening the withdrawal of the
Slave States from the Union. It was then
proposed to form an independent slave
republic, in which should be included with the
seceding states of the present Union, Cuba,
and such proprietors in South America, as
from the interest in slavery of the proprietors
of estates in them, could be induced to favour
the scheme. There is no doubt that such a
purpose is still kept in view by many of the
"nullifiers" (of the Federal laws), "secessionists"
(from the Union), and "filibusters,"
or land pirates. These party names included
the entire ultra-slavery school of southern
politicians. Their present plan is to strengthen
the slave interest, and to circumscribe and
weaken the interest of free labour within
the present Union as much as possible,
before openly organising their ultimate
schemes.

About eighteen hundred and twenty, the
State of Missouri was admitted into the
Union, with a slaveholding constitution and
with the privilege, common to all the slave-
states, of representation in the National
Congress more largely, in proportion to the
number of its citizens, than is permitted any of
the free states. The bill for this purpose
had been strongly opposed by the representatives
of the free states at the time, and
finally passed only after a stipulation had
been attached to it, to prevent the further
extension of slavery ever after, in the region
west of Missouri and north of a certain
parallel of latitude. This stipulation was
solemnly recorded in the archives of the
nation, and the series of measures had been
considered as a sacred compact between
North and South; and under the name of
the Missouri Compromise has been reverenced
equally with the original constitution of the
federation. It was in its nature unrepealable,
the South having long since secured the chief
advantages it had to gain from it. Nevertheless,
by the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, it was in
express terms declared to be repealed, the
Southern members of Congress excusing the
infamous breach of faith of which they were
guilty in supporting it, on the ground
that the proposal came from the north, and
that they were simply accepting what was
offered them. As if a prisoner of war, having
broken his parole of honour, could be
justified by pleading that the means of
escape had been offered him by a traitorous
sentry.

With a few honourable exceptions, the Kansas-
Nebraska bill obtained the support of all
the Southern Members of Congress, without
regard to previous party distinctions. Not one
of the previous friends of the administration
from the south deserted it, and it gained
many more from its Southern opponents
than it lost of its previous Northern
friends.

At the succeeding elections, however, it
was found tnat the northern constituencies,
were less ready than their representatives
to yield to the demands of the fanatics
of the south; and in the second congress
of the Pierce administration—that now in
session—the lower house, after a struggle
of many weeks, could only organise itself by
electing a decided free-soiler from
Massachusetts as its speaker.

The Kansas-Nebraska Bill opened to
settlement two large districts of the public
domain hitherto reserved from purchase by
immigrants. All restriction, as I have said,
was removed from slavery; but it was left for
those who might chance to be inhabitants at
some future and undefined time—when it
should please Congress to permit them to
govern themselves as independent states of
the confederacy—to establish or abolish
slavery within their borders, according to the
will of a majority. Previously to such time,
a limited local legislation, in a method similar
to that of the British colonies, was provided
for.

Nebraska, far north, and adjoining existing
free states, was impracticable to a slave
immigration. Kansas, a much more attractive
field, adjoins the slave state of Missouri.
Emigration thither, from the north, being
difficult and expensive, chiefly proceeded
under the guidance—and with the economical
advantages, obtained from wholesale contracts
with railways, steamboats, and hotels,
of land-speculation and commercial companies,
called Emigrants' Aid Societies. As
the time approached for the election of the
local legislature, it was ascertained that a
large majority of the settlers were hostile
to slavery. The people of Missouri, however,
having previously organised for the purpose,
came into the territory, on the day of the
election, by thousands, in armed bands, took
possession of the ballot-boxes, and elected a
legislature to suit their own views. The
legislature thus elected enacted a series of
statutes, to terrify Free-soilers from coming
into the territory; forbidding, for instance,
sentiments unfriendly to slavery to be
advocated or uttered, on penalty of two years'
imprisonment; and punishing with death
any one even unintentionally assisting a
slave to escape from the service of his master.
These enactments were also constituted
unrepealable for six years.

Under pretence of enforcing these laws,
the Missourians gathered a mob of six or
seven hundred ruffians, led by several
wealthy slaveholders, with which they first
seized an arsenal of the United States, and
took from it several field-pieces;