William F. M. Arny, general agent of the National Kansas Committee, wrote from a steamboat traveling on the Missouri River to inform William Barnes, secretary of the New York State Kansas Committee, about conditions in Kansas. Arny reported on the state of the Kansas State Central Committee, the efforts by free state supporters in Kansas to prepare for possible proslavery attacks if Buchanan won the 1856 presidential election, and the relief needs of free state settlers in Kansas.