James Redpath, The Roving Editor: or, Talks with Slaves in the Southern States.

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[341] recently — thank God--proved itself not unworthy of its illustrious and free Puritan descent, by spurning so unceremoniously and so firmly the bribe that was held up beneath a threat to reduce it But with another instance I will close it, referring those of you who would learn the entire length, and the depth, and the breadth of it, to consult the ensanguined chronicles of Kansas, which are strewed with similar and even more deplorable outrages.

There was, and yet is, a wealthy firm in Leavenworth, who have thousands of men in their employ. They established a branch of their business in the city when it was still a straggling village, and wealth thus contributed greatly to its rapid increase in population. Lawrence was surrounded with ruffians. It was dangerous at Leavenworth to be known as a Free-State man. This in 1856. Suddenly every man was asked by the chief of the firm what party he belonged to. Every man who was in favor of a Free State, and every man who was not emphatically pro-slavery, without any regard to his merits as a workman, was instantly cashiered. A handbill appeared in Lexington and other Missouri towns a few weeks afterwards, telling workmen that this firm needed help; but it contained this ominous, and in view of the author's connection with the Government, this significant postscript: “N. B. None need apply who are not sound on the Southern question.”

Months elapsed and the war was resumed. The territory was covered with guerillas, gangs of highwaymen, horse-thieves, and house-breakers from Missouri, Georgia, Alabama, and South Carolina. An immense posse was gathering at Lecompton to sack the town of Lawrence. The firm had about