There is one desire which is uppermost in the mind, one wish common to us
all, to which no dissent will be made; and I counsel you earnestly to
bury all resentment, to sink all personal feeling, make all things work
to a common purpose in which we are united and agreed about, and which
all present will agree is absolutely necessary--which must be done by any
rightful mode if there be such: Slavery must be kept out of Kansas!
[Applause.] The test--the pinch--is right there. If we lose Kansas to
freedom, an example will be set which will prove fatal to freedom in the
end. We, therefore, in the language of the Bible, must "lay the axe to
the root of the tree." Temporizing will not do longer; now is the time
for decision--for firm, persistent, resolute action. [Applause.]
The Nebraska Bill, or rather Nebraska law, is not one of wholesome
legislation, but was and is an act of legislative usurpation, whose
result, if not indeed intention, is to make slavery national; and unless
headed off in some effective way, we are in a fair way to see this land
of boasted freedom converted into a land of slavery in fact. [Sensation.]
Just open your two eyes, and see if this be not so.
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