Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1854-02-15
SPEECH OF MR.. EVERETT.
or MASSACHUSETTS,.
ON THE NEBRASKA QUESTION,
TX srx,sr r,.p,,.ux / 1851.

braska--
Mr.. EVERETT said: Mr.. President, intima-
ted TO the Senate yesterday that, II time hha peeh
allowed, should have been glad to submit to the
| Senate nv views Mt some length IN relation 10
some of the grave constitutional and political
| principles and questions involved IN the measure
| before us. Even for questions of a lower order
those of merely historical character, the time
which has elapsed since this bill, in IFS present
form, wns brought into the Senate. which think
is but fortnight ago yesterday, has hardly been
sufficient for one not previously possessed oil the
information 10 acqnaint himself fully with the
details belonging even to the subject before Us,
such as the Indian relations. Who will under
take TO say how they will be affected by the
measure now before the Senate, either under the
provisions of the bin in that respect as II stood
Yesterday or as il viii stand now that all the sec
tons relative to the Indians have been stricken
outi And then sir, with respect to that other
and greater subject, the question OF slavery =
connected with our recent territorial acquisitions
it would take any person moro than fortnight
10 even read through the yoluminous debates
since 1913, the knowledge of which is necessary
for a thorough comprehension of this important
and delicate subject.
For these reasons, sir, shall not undertake at
this time to discuss any of these larger questions,
| rise for much more limited purpose, e speak
for myself, and without authority 70 speak for
anybody else, as a friend and supporter of the
compromises of ls,,u, and to inquire whether it
my duty, and how far il is the duty OF others,
WHO agree with me in that respect ont of fidell-
ty to those compromises, to support the bill
which is now on your table awaiting the action OF
the Senate. This ! feel is narrow question
which propose at no very great length TO con
slider at the present time.
| will however, before enter upon this sub
lcct, say that the main question involved in the
4 Il III s1at., Il
to exalt and expand the mind. Weare about TO
take first step in laying the foundations of two
new States, of two sister Independent Republics,
hereafter to enter into the Union, which already
embraces thirty one of these sovereign States,
and which no doubt in the course Of the present
century will include mneh larger number. !
think Lord Bacon gives the second place among
the great of the earth To the founders oil States
coAdiioros imperiorum. Ard though it may seem
to US that legisatng for Il remote
part of the unsubduod wilderness, yet the time
will come and that not very long time, when
these scarcely existing territories, when these
almost empty wastes, will be the abode OF hun
dreds and thousands of kindred, civilized fellow
men, and follow citizens. Yes, sir, the time is
not far distant, probably, when Kansas aud Ne
braska, now unfamiliar names to us all will sound
TO the ears OF their inhabitants as Virginia, and
Massachusetts, and Kentucky, and Ohio, and
the names of the other Old Statos do to their chill
dren. Sir, these infant Territories if they may
even be called by that name, occupy II most I'M
portant position i'll the geography of this CONT
nent. They stand where Persia, Media, and As
syria stood in the continent of Asia, destined to
hold the balance of power-to be the centres OF
influence to the East and To the West. Sir, the
fountains that trickle from the SNOW capped
creSts OF the Sierre Madre flow in one way to the
Gulf of Mexico, in another to the st. Lawrence,
and in another to the Pacfo. The commerce of
the world, East from Asia and West from Europe,
is destinedto pass through the gates OF the
Rocky Mountains over the iron pathways which
we are oven now about tol lay down through those
! Territories. Cities of unsurpassed magnitude
| and Importance are destined 10 crown the banks
| of their noble rivers Agriculture will elothe
| with plenty the vast plains now roamed over by
the savage and the buffalo. And, sir, may we
nothppo that under the Wgis of wise eonstitn.
! tons of free government, religion and laws, NOR
ais aud education, and the arts of civilized life
will add all the graces of the highest aud purest
culture To the gifts of nature and the bounties of
! Providence
Sir, assure you it was with great regret, hay-
! ing in my former Congressional life uniformly
concurred in every measure relating to the West
which supposed was for the advantage and
prosperity of that pnrt OF the country, that, ms u
member of the Committee ON Territories, | found
myself unable 10 support the bill which the ma
| jorty of that committee had prepared to bring
forward for the organization of these territories.
| should have been reioiced if il had been in my
power to give my support to the measure But
| the hasty examination which, while the subject
was before the committee, was able to give To
| it disclosed objections to the bill which | could
not overcome; and more deliberate inquiry has in
creased the force ofthese objections.
had, in the first place, some scruples- obj &C.
tons | will not call them, because think could
have overcome them-as to the eXpediency OF
giving Territorial Government of the highest
order to this region at the present time.
In the debate on this subject in the House ot
Representatives last year, enquiries were made AZ
TO the number of inhabitants in the territory ,ano
| belive one undertook to make out that there
were more than four hundred, or five hundred, ol
at the outside, six hundred inha itants in the re
gion in which you are now going to organize two
of these independent Territorial Governments.
| have been told that the person who was elected
as Delegate received but seventy votes II,
had two competitors; they must have received
less than that number; that YOU cannot hay,
according to that vote, much moro than two hun
dred voters in the region where you are goinl
TO organize two Territorial Governments, witt
two Legislative Councils, each consisting of thir
teen members, and two Legislative Assemble
of twentys members each, with all the detail
and apparatus of Territorial Governments of tn,
highostr rank
1t seems TO me that this is not called for by tn
condition of the country, but is somewhat prema
ture. 1t was the practice in the earliest stage
OF our Legislation to have Territorial Govern
ment of a simpler form. In the Terrtorie
which were organised upon the pattern preserib
ed by the ordinance of 1877 there was n simple
government. governor and Judges were MP
; pointed 10y the President of the L. States and au