240 
KANSAS. 
nancy of the slave power, and warned them of the imminency of 
their own peril, that, come outrage, pillage and death, at the bid¬ 
ding of United States officials, they would occupy a right position 
•before the American people, and before wondering Europe, who 
sees freedom lie bleeding in a boasted republic. 
Do any charge them with cowardice? Let them leave their 
quiet homes, where just laws hold wicked men in check, and the 
public safety is inviolate, and dwell where continued outrage and 
murder stalk abroad in the light of day,— where the United States 
government counsels violence, and is the real perpetrator of these 
wrongs,— and then, removed from the help of friends, with hordes 
of these vile men threatening their destruction, their extermina¬ 
tion, lay by all means of self-defence, and with the calm spirit 
of endurance wait the issue. Is there not rather the sublimest 
courage in the act, and a beautiful, silent expression of their faith 
in the eternal law of right; that in reality “ our wrongs will be 
our strength ? ” Thus the people thought, and, laying by their arms 
in safe places, they waited the action of the United States Mar¬ 
shal. 
Tuesday, the 20th, was a still, calm day. 0 how calm it was ! 
The hurrying bands of horsemen, brutal in their aspect, and uncouth, 
that had been for days flying over the prairies, making a blot on 
creation’s fair face, were nowhere to be seen. No more the vile 
men, in companies of two, three, or more, came spying about the 
dwelling on Mt. Oread, to ask for water, and saying “ The head of 
the house is not at home?” knowing well by what acts of villany 
he was taken prisoner at Lexington, and was yet a prisoner. So 
perfect was the semblance of quiet and peace, that a little party, 
who sat in the evening’s twilight, in front of the same dwelling, 
wondered if indeed the threatened evil might not again .pass by, 
as on so many previous occasions. A smaller guard than usual 
were actually on the watch. But, when the morning sun arose on 
the 21st of May, 1856, hordes of men, armed with United States 
muskets, were marshalled upon Mt. Oread. While wronged inno 
cence had slept quietly, they in the darkness had gained the height. 
The fair summit of Oread never before witnessed such an assem¬ 
blage of creatures calling themselves men. Humanity stands 
