380 THE KANSAS QUESTION. 



splashed them with mud, they hoed on, they toiled on, 

 not daring to' raise their eyes from the ground. From 

 early dawn to dusky eve it was so with these poor 

 wretches ; no sound broke the silence of those fearful 

 fields but the voice of the overseer and the cracking of 

 the whip. And out far away in the lone western lands, 

 by the side of dark rivers, among trees from which 

 drooped down the dull grey Spanish moss, the planters 

 went forth to hunt ; there were well known coverts 

 where they were sure to find ; and as the traveller rode 

 through the dismal swamp he might perhaps have the 

 fortune to see the game y a black animal on two legs 

 running madly for its life, and behind it the sounding 

 of a horn, and the voices of hounds in full cry — a chase 

 more infernal than that of the Wild Huntsman who 

 sweeps through the forest with his spectral crew. 



But the end of all this was at hand. Kansas, a 

 tract of rich prairie land, was about to become a Terri- 

 tory, and would soon become a State. It was situated 

 above the 36° 30' line, and therefore belonged to the 

 North. But the Southerners coveted this Naboth's 

 vineyard ; their power at Washington was great just 

 then ; they determined to strike out the line which 

 had been in the first place demanded by themselves. 

 With much show of justice and reason they alleged 

 that it was not fair to establish the domestic institu- 

 tions of a country without consulting the inhabitants 

 themselves. They proposed that, for the future, the 

 question of slavery or free soil should be decided by a 

 majority of votes among the settlers on the spot. This 

 proposal became law, and then commenced a Race for 

 the Soil. In Boston a political society was formed for 

 the exportation to Kansas of Northern men. In the 

 slave state, Missouri, blue lodges were formed for a 



