UNITED STATES.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 450, 25 February 1857, Page 4

UNITED STATES.

Mr.;-Thomas H. Gladstbiie/of Stoekwell Lodge, Surrey, relates his experiences in Kansas during May in the present year, during the great outburst of violence 'which resulted in the town of Lawrence being attacked, the principal; hotel being battered down and then reduced to,ashes, the printing-offices of. the Free. S,tate journals being burnt down, the type and presses' being destroyed and cast into the Kavy river,, and the city being given over to a merciless sack. <The illegal arrestof-Governor Robinson, and burning of : his house, the night that followed, was not one to be forgotten :— ;.'■ " The: appearance of the lawless mob; that poured into the place, inflamed:with drink, glutted with the indulgence of the,vilest passions, displaying, with loud boasts the'plunder' they had taken from the

inhabitants, antj; thirsting for the opportunity to repeat the sack of Lawrence in some other offending place; men of'large frame,-for- thei niosf part,,with red flannel shirts and immense boots, worn outside their trowsers, their faces unwashed and .unshaven still reeking, with the dust and smoke and bloodshed of Lawrence, wearing the most savage looks and giving utterance-to the most horrible imprecations and blasphemies ; armed, moreover, to the: teeth with rifles and revolvers, cutlasses and bowieknives."

A number of these men w.ere Mr. Gladstone's companions for the night by one .of the Missouri steam-boats up the river. On getting on board, a general rush to the bar ensued. Already maddened .with whiskey, each would treat his fellow in arms, accosting'him in the following language :—"Step up and liquor here, you sir. A heap finer this.stuff than that there' rot-gut ashore. Here, you" sir; don't be askeard. One of our boysV'l reckon ? All right on the : goose, J eh.? No high falutin' airs here you know. Keep that for'them Yankee blue-bellies down East.' If there's any of that s-.;rt here, I reckon, they'd better'make off mighty, quick, and that's a fact, while I'se on hoard,, unless they want to make a quicker road out than they, came in. Yes sir, this here tool of mine (handling a pistol), it isn't the first time it has>.seen a blue-belly. If there's any of that 'ere sort'aboard, I say they'd better take off, that's sartin., -We ain't agoin''to stand them comin' here,:we ain't . IsnSif their own.place down East big enough for .them, I shouldjike; to ,know? We ain't agoin' to stand their comin' aud dictatin1 to us with their d—d nigger-worshipping, ive ain't. I reckon we'll make the piace hot enough for them soon, that's a fact. Here, boys, drink. Step up this way, old hoss, and liquor."

One who styled himself a most respectable merchant of Westbn,; with loaded 'pistol in hand, and threatening attitude, with many oaths, thus delivered himself to his fellow-passengers;:—"l am bound to bring down some one before I'm done ; I tell you, by G—d I am. I'll teach these/ infernal n'ggerstealing Freesoilers a lesson right peurtly, that's a fact. If there's a dpg-giiuned "Abolitionist aboard I should like to see him, that I should. I'm the man to put a chunk of lead into his woolly head right off, that's what I'll do.'1 Then, looking round at each of us, " I reckon I can raise the top of the head of ere a one of you with ihis tool. Speak the word, and, by G —,-I'in your man. That's so. I should like to see the first Freesoiler that opens bis mouth ; that I should. I'd send him to hell pretty quick, afore he know'd what he w;.s about; that's what I'd do. I'm a mighty ce-urious emtomer, I am." And so thought, probably, one of his hearers, for he said to ths curious" cuUon-er, "Gome, old hosSj won't you have some breakfast?" The old horse was not so easily diverted, how'e,ver. "JBreakfast ! think I'd be after breakfast when'l've got my ditty before me ? Exercise is the thing for me—not eating. I tell you I'm bound to bring down some! one afore I'm-done— that I ani. I've got to fight for the liberties of my country, and rid the place of those cowardly blue-bellied Yankees—that's what I've got to do. I should like to know what they've! to do in this here place, with their snarling, sneak-1 ing ways. I,tell you there's not a man amongst! them as knows how to fight. I should like to seel the first one as will open .his m<uth here—that's I what I should like to see. I tell you I'm a ce-l urious customer—my dog knows that," poii ting tol a large dog which seemed prepared to stand by its I master for better or worse. Then, "I should like! to see the 'man that would touch that 'ere dog Oil mine. I'd lay him dead'in a nioiiieii't,7to I wonli'.l Just see me." None fe t inclined io touch the dog,l and the respectable merchant returned to his politic* and patriotism. " No. Northern niggir-stealersfl here. I'll fix 'em up mighty smart, 1 will. I aiii'd here for nothing, and that you'll see, just about il soon as anything... I only want to see thefirst Free-B soiler here. I'll drop the first one of you.;liat opens his mouth for abolition cusses; I be dog-gaunedH if I don't.'' : ; '/ •■' : : ■ /■" . : I Mr. Gladstone received a kindly warning froiiß one who susr.ected his country not to discoverhim-BJ self, as it was <f all the- same as being a' Yankee-B not a bit better. And ycu know the law ; a V.m« kee is a nuisance, nuisances '.must !>■ abolished." AtLeavenworth they lauded, with afl old man "on board, a," prisoner..••" Who's that they?v« got there ? -'Who's that, been caught, eh ?" weiß the eager questions put on many sides. "HB Governor Robinson been brought.rc-und from Lawß rence by way of Kansas city," was the reply of otm in the crowd.' " Governor Robinson' ? Whotaugi« you to'call that infernal nigger-sterilef Governor,* should like to, know ?",wasthe instantaneous rejoioß der. " Say the word again,: and I will blow yo'* brains out for an .Abolition traitor; he is - D()C|'B Robinson, and nothing else,/that's .what he is, a"B ' he shan't be that long. It's time we'd got rid ■ these dog-gauhed Abolitionists." Thus surround by the menaces and imprecations of a savage "\°Hthe ex-Grpyernor was'.led, up"the" steep road wm« conducted to the small wooden . house ' know Mj M'Carty's Hotel. : ' ," '„ - c ,B Entering the office of an hotel a man, a oOulll™ ncr by his very looks, demanded some pistols me

liad left behind him, making explanation, " I've lust had a turn down here with ad—d Freesoiler." Having adjusted his pistols in his belt, he proceeded, << I"d °"ot »otJlin S with me' * didnlt leave llim thou"Kli Btill I "iade llim Sive in- He Cdn?, e out with his cursed abolitionism. ; I settled' him, though, miehtv quick. I just put my hand behind me, like this,1 pretending I had got my pistols with ne- and'so, with my hand upon them, as he reckoned, he didn't stand out long. But I felt might oueer,'l tell you. Still I. wasn't goin'to stand his sarcy talk, in" course ; so I jest shut him up mighty muck." By tliss> tmie the pistols were adjusted, and as he Valked out their valiant wearer continued a kind of soliloquy —" Well, I reckon I'm fixed now! They won't be so sarcy with their talk now that I've these here fixins on. I brought him down a kinder smart, I reckon. " Well, I 'spsct they won't be so sarcv'now. I'll see jest who next I'll meet." "But enough of vile language—we conclude with a (renenil scene : —" The scenes of.the twelve hours I have described —from midnight of the 23vd of jlay to noon of the 24th —were repeated during my few days' stay in Leaven worth without intermission. As tlie night advanced the ceaseless whiskeydrinking showed its fruits. Pistols went off sometimes unguardedly; ki.ots of people collected at each street-corner. The bar-rooms in the hotels, which were all political clubs, became crowded with noifv debaters, planning the great deeds they were to perform on the morrow. Numberless gamblinghouses were the resort of others. Cards could have been picked up in the streets by the score ; and in a town where the very first demands of civilisation were wanting in the furnishing of the house there was no lack of such costly indulgences as gamingtable?, which reminded, one of Baden-Baden or Hotnburg. Every species of shameless wickedness and unchecked outrage met one's gaze at every turn. '• Among all the scenes of violence I witnessed the offending parties were invariably on the Proshvery side. The Free State''men appeared to me to be iniimidated and overawed, in consequence not merely of the determination ami defiant boldness of their opponents, but still more through the sanction given to these acts by the Federal Government. Their later conduct appears by the reports we have received to have been more determined in the way of resistance.1'