the immediate admission of Kansas as a State of this Union, now pending as a substitute for the Bill of the senator from Illinois. This is sustained by the prayer of the people of the Territory, setting forth a constitution formed by a spontaneous movement, in which all there had opportunity to participate, without distinction of party. Rarely has any proposition, so simple in character, so en tirely practicable, so absolutely within your power, been presented, which promised at once such beneficent results. In its adoption, the Crime against Kansas will be all happily absolved, the Usurpation which it established will be peacefully suppressed, and order will be permanently secured. By a joyful metamorphosis, this fair Territory may be saved from outrage. "O, help," she cries, "in this extremest need, In offering this proposition, the senator from New York has entitled himself to the gratitude of the country. He has, throughout a life of unsurpassed industry, and of eminent ability, done much for Freedom, which the world will not let die; but he has done nothing more opportune than this, and he has uttered no words more effective than the speech, so masterly and ingenious, by which he has vindicated it. Kansas now presents herself for admission with a constitution republican in form. And, independent of the great necessity of the case, three considerations of fact concur in commending her. First. She thus testifies her willingness to relieve the Federal Government of the considerable pecuniary responsibility to which it is now exposed on account of the pretended Territorial government. Secondly. She has, by her recent conduct, particularly in repelling the invasion at Wacherusa, evinced an ability to defend her Government. And, thirdly, by the pecuniary credit which she now enjoys she shows an undoubted ability to support it. What now can stand in her way? The power of Congress to admit Kansas at once is explicit. It is found in a single clause of the constitution, which, standing by itself, without any qualification applicable to the present case, and without doubtful words, requires no commentary. Here it is: "New States may be admitted by Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any other State, nor any State be formed by the junction of two or more States or parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned, as well as of the Congress." New States MAY be admitted. Out of that little word may comes the power, broadly and fully,without any limitation founded on population or preliminary forms, - provided the State is not within the jurisdiction of another State, nor formed by the junction of two or more States, or parts of States, without the consent of the Legislatures of the States. Kansas is not within the legal jurisdiction of another State, although the laws of Missouri have been tyrannically extended over her; nor is Kansas formed by the junction of two or more States; and, therefore, Kansas may be admitted by Congress into the Union, without regard to population or preliminary forms. You cannot deny the power, without obliterating this clause of the constitution. The senator from New York was right in rejecting all appeal to precedents, as entirely irrelevant; for the power invoked is clear and express in the constitution, which is above all precedent. But, since precedent has been enlisted, let us look at precedent. It is objected that the population of Kansas is not sufficient for a State; and this objection is sustained by under-reckoning the numbers there, and exaggerating the numbers required by precedent. In the absence of any recent census, it is impossible to do more than approximate to the actual population; but, from careful inquiry of the best sources, I am led to place it now at fifty thousand, though I observe that a prudent authority, the Boston Daily Advertiser, puts it as high as sixty thousand, and, while I speak, this remarkable population, fed by fresh emigration, is outstripping even these calculations. Nor can there be a doubt that, before the assent of Congress can be perfected in the ordinary course of legislation, this population will swell to the large number of ninety-three thousand four hundred and twenty, required in the Bill of the senator from Illinois. But, in making this number the condition of the admission of Kansas, you set up an extraordinary standard. There is nothing out of which it can be derived, from the beginning to the end of the precedents. Going back to the days of the Continental Congress, you will find that, in 1784, it was declared that twenty thousand freemen in a Territory might "establish a permanent Constitution and Government for themselves" (Journals of Congress, vol. iv., p. 379); and, though this number was afterwards, in the Ordinance of 1787 for the Northwestern Territory, raised to sixty thousand, yet the power was left in Congress, and subsequently exercised in more than one instance, to constitute a State with a smaller number. Out of all the new States, only Maine, Wisconsin, and Texas, contained, at the time of their admission into the Union, so large a population as it is proposed to require in Kansas; while no less than fourteen new States have been admitted with a smaller population; as will appear in the following list, which is the result of research, showing the number of "free inhabitants" in these States at the time of the proceedings which ended in their admission: But this is not all. At the adoption of the Federal Constitution, there were three of the old thirteen States whose respective populations did not reach the amount now required for Kansas. These were Delaware, with a population of 59,096; Rhode Island, with a population of 64,689; and Georgia, with a population of 82,548. And even |