Part 6 (1/2)
On the ensuing morning our townsmen a.s.sembled _en ma.s.se_, and, deeming the presence of such a person highly prejudicial to the safety of our slave population, appointed a committee to wait on Mr. Butler and request his signature to the resolutions pa.s.sed at the late pro-slavery meeting. After perusing the resolutions, Mr. B. positively declined signing them, and was instantly arrested by the committee.
After various plans for his disposal had been considered, it was finally decided to place him on a raft composed of two logs firmly lashed together, that his baggage and a loaf of bread be given him, and having attached a flag to his primitive bark, Mr. Butler was set adrift in the great Missouri, with the letter ”R” legibly painted on his forehead.
He was escorted some distance down the river by several of our citizens, who, seeing him pa.s.s several rock-heaps in quite a skillful manner, bade him adieu and returned to Atchison.
Such treatment may be expected by all scoundrels visiting our town for the purpose of interfering with our time-honored inst.i.tutions, and the same punishment we will be happy to award to all Free-soilers and Abolitionists.
The _Missouri Democrat_ was what was known as the ”Tom Ben ton” paper of Missouri, and was not ostensibly a _Free-soil_ paper, yet it vehemently inveighed against the ruffianism with which free State men had been treated. Of course there was sympathy in the office of the _Missouri Democrat_, that made some amends for the rough treatment I had got at the hands of citizens of Missouri.
Having completed my business in St. Louis I turned my face toward my old field of labor in the ”Military Tract,” _via_ the Illinois River. The reader will believe that my reflections were full of anxieties. What would the brethren say of me? Were my prospects blighted from this time forward?
CHAPTER IX.
The brethren in Illinois were at the first amazed at what they heard, and did not know what to think or say. Before they could make up their minds, the following editorial appeared in the _Schuyler County Democrat_, published at Rushville:
ELDER PARDEE BUTLER,
The gentleman who was placed on a raft in the Missouri River, with a proper uniform for a Northern fanatic, is in Rushville. We saw handbills posted around town stating that he would hold a meeting in the Christian Church. We are informed he will deliver a series of lectures, in which, _of course_, he will give vent to his indignation toward the people of Kansas, Judge Douglas and the Administration. We thought Schuyler county was the last place which a _Northern fanatic_ would visit for sympathy.
We hope that those that go to hear his lectures, which differ with him in their sentiments, will not interrupt him or give him any pretext by which he could denounce our citizens.
To the above notice of myself I made the following reply:
[For the Prairie Telegraph.]
MESSRS. EDITORS: _Sirs_--I find the above notice of myself in the last issue of the _Schuyler Democrat_.
While in Kansas I diligently worked six days of the week, and on Lord's day spoke to my neighbors, not in reference to affairs in Kansas, but in reference to our common interest in a better and heavenly country. I do not know that I indicated my political proclivities, in any word or allusion, on any such occasion, But I did, in private conversations with my neighbors, avow my intention to vote for Kansas to be a free State, and gave my reasons for so doing. _This was my only offence._
What must you think of yourself, sir, in this notice you take of this transaction? And you pretend to be a conservator of public morals! If there is in town a clergyman that will consent to teach you a few lessons upon the items of justice and gentlemanly behavior, I suggest it may be to your advantage to put yourself under his tuition. You may perhaps learn that it is neither just nor gentlemanly gratuitously to insult a man, because you have _surmised_ that he will show some resentment at the ruffianism of a Kansas mob, with which you seem to sympathize.
Since I came into Illinois I have steadily declined to make any statement of this affair in any public address.
Still it is perhaps due to the world to know some additional facts. How the mob deliberated among themselves . . .
I have never yet made war on Judge Douglas. It is true that the Missouri Compromise, being a time-honored covenant of peace between North and South, I would much rather it had been suffered to remain; but now I am rather indignant at the clear and palpable violation of the principles of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, in the attempt made by border ruffians to drive out peaceable citizens from the free States. I am still more indignant that a Northern editor can be found to wink at such flagrant and unquestionable wrong. Judge Douglas may well exclaim, ”Save me from my friends!”
Perhaps, upon reflection, you may be convinced of three things: First, that I am not a fanatic, and have not deserved the treatment I have received; second, that your friends may be trusted not to create any disturbance at my meetings; and, third, that instead of seeking to stir up against me the prejudices of ignorant partisans, you may safely devote yourselves to the more honorable employment of seeking to restore in our unhappy country the supremacy of law. Very faithfully,
PARDEE BUTLER.
RUSHVILLE, Sept. 11, 1855.
The final result was much more favorable than could have been expected, and the brethren gave me an invitation to remain with them through the winter.
I tarried six weeks in Illinois, and then returned to Kansas with Mrs.
Butler and our two children, of whom the eldest is now Mrs. Rosetta B.
Hastings. Milo Carleton had already reached the Territory, direct from the Western Reserve, Ohio. He was Mrs. Butler's brother, and it was determined that the two families should spend the winter together, while I should return to Illinois.