Whilst, therefore, the South was willing to give Nebraska to the
North, they demanded that Kansas should be ceded to the South. It was
of little consequence what number of Northern men located in
Kansas--they had no right to come unless with the intention to make it
a slave State."
This malcontent minority did, therefore, become a dangerous and
revolutionary faction, entertaining criminal purposes, which they were
ready to carry out by desperate methods. They were also in possession
of dangerous elements of power. They controlled the Territorial
Legislature, and all the Territorial judges were parties in this
conspiracy. Dr. Gihon testifies that "every federal officer in the
Territory, and every Territorial officer from the supreme judges to
the deputy marshals, sheriffs and clerks, were wedded to the slave
power, and pledged at all hazards to its extension."
But daylight had already begun to dawn. Some of the wisest Pro-slavery
men in the Territory were beginning to call a halt, and to say: "We
will travel no further in this road in which we are being led by these
desperate and scheming adventurers.
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