(Cottage Farm Near) Boston, March 31,
1855.
My Dear Sir, —
I take the liberty to address you upon a subject in which I have a common
interest with yourself, viz.: the settlement of Kansas. Since the repeal of the
“Missouri Compromise” by the last Congress, this Territory has attracted the
attention of distant not less than of the neighboring States; for it is evident
that there must be decided the question whether there shall be slave or free
labor over a vast region of the United States now unsettled. You and your
friends would make slave States, and we wish to prevent your doing so. The
stake is a large one, and the ground chosen. Let the fight be a fair one. | It
is to secure this that I address you. Your influence is requisite to restrain
your people from doing great injustice to actual settlers, and provoking them
to retaliatory measures, the consequences of which would be most deplorable. I
beg you, my dear sir, to use your efforts to avert so great an evil.
Let the contest be waged honorably, for unless it be so, no
settlement of the question can ever be final. It is already reported here that
large bodies of Missourians will cross over merely to vote, and that they may
gain this election as they did the last. But how delusive to suppose that
settlers who have come from one to two thousand miles with their families will
acquiesce in any election gained by such means, or that any future election can
be satisfactory which is not conducted according to law. The advantage of
proximity is yours; your people can afford to be not only just, but generous,
in this matter. The repeal of the law which secured this Territory against the
introduction of slavery is considered by most men in the “free States” to be a
breach of the national faith; and it is not unreasonable for those who have
gone there to find a home to expect a compliance with the laws as they are.
Those from New England have gone in good faith and at their own expense. They
are chiefly farmers; but among them are good representatives from all
professions. Some have considerable property, but all have rights and
principles which they value more than money, and, I may say, more than life
itself. Neither is there any truth in the assertion that they are abolitionists.
No person of that stripe is known to have gone from here; nor is it known here
that any such have gone from other States. But oppression may make them
abolitionists of the most dangerous kind.
There has been much said in regard to an extensive
organization here, which is wholly untrue. I assure you, sir, that what has
been undertaken here will be carried on fairly and equitably. The management is
in the hands of men of prudence, of wealth and determination; they are not
politicians, nor are they aspirants for office: they are determined, if it be
possible, to see that justice is done to those who have ventured their all in
that Territory. May I not hope, sir, that you will second this effort to see
that the contest shall be carried on fairly? If fairly beaten you may be sure
that our people will acquiesce, however reluctant; but they never will yield to
injustice.
Respectfully yours,
A. A. L.
SOURCE: William Lawrence, Life of Amos A. Lawrence: With
Extracts from His Diary and Correspondence, p. 89-92
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