The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-05-06
FREEDOM IN KANSAS.
Closing Speech of William II. Seward,
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL 80, 1858

Closing Speech of William II. Seward,
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
APRIL 80, 1858.
Mr.. President: This debate has manifestl '
lost some of its interest, although it rapidlf
approaches q yet undetermined conclusion
The length of time it has occupied may al
count in a degree for the decline of excitemen,.
Repetition of the same topics, and even of III .
same arguments, not indeed too FREQUENT for
duly enlightening the minds of the people If
the United States, yet too frequent for patient
endurance here, is a further cause. l think,
however, that something is due also to the change
of form which the subject has at last assumed.
We began with high-sounding themes, nothing
less than popular sovereignty, and We rose speed.
NY and Justly into the region of the rights Of
human nature. The question wore this dignity
when we gave it to the committee of confer
ence. 1t comes back from the conference
chamber, reduced intoa mere arti6ce-if it were
respectful, should say q trick-of legislative
legerdemain. 1t is assumed that one or bota
of two irreconcilable factions are to be deceit.
ed all that seems to be left for us to discusi,
or the public to consider, is, who is the dupe
This, Mr.. President, is that kind of debate
for which have the least taste, and, as l thini,
the least talent. Among my Oldest recollections
Is one that person named Redheifer put into
operation in the city of Philsdelphia, and in
the neighborhood of Congress, curious com.
bination Of mechanism selfmoving ma.
chine, or perpetual motion, which was to So
persede water, wind, steam, and every other
motive power. 1t worked effectively, beauti.
fully, perfectly but when the public expecta
ton was satisfied with this great success, Con.
fho .ola IS
everybody else, demanded that the machine
should Immediately be taken to pieces. Con.
Gliding Justly that there was q human agent
within or connected with it, they wanted to sea
whether that living handspring was concealed
In the upper or in the neither compartment Of
the engine, whether in the chamber above or 10
the cellar below, or in an adjoining or distant
house or street. felt no interest in that search
The machine was very good thing as it was !;
1t would be q very worthless thing when the
secret should be found out.
So, also, / remember that In later years
German, with invention characteristic of his
nature and his race, put into action in the city
OF New York an automaton chess player. 1t
was constructed so skillfnlly, and mysteriously
endowed with such intelligence, that though q
creation of the human hand, it would not only
beat every adversary, but would even shrek
pushed competitor. Just so soon as it was
certain that the machine was perfect, all the
world clamored to have it taken to pieces, to
ascertain the whereahout of the hidden intelli-
gence which mysteriously directed the move
ments of the emblematical figures on the chess
board. l took no interest in that question
was satisfied with the chess player as it was,
and / knew ell the world would like it less
when they came to hear of what remained to
be known about it. ! acted in those cases on
this principle: that no one was deceived By
those ingenious contrivances but those who
wanted to be duped. So it is with the bill of
the conference committee on Kansas. 1t was
gotten up to favor purpose of self-deception !;
gotten up with care, 80 that it could not be ex-
planned satisfactorily by the one faction to the
other, or even to itself.
MIR. President, after this explanation, 1 might
pass over the details of the bill. l might do
so all the more reasonably, because the puzzle
which it presents has been explained satisfac.
torily, triumphantly, by the very sstute Senator
from Vermont, Mr.. CoLLAMER, by the honor.
able Senator from Ohio, mr.. WADE, always
effective, and by all my other associates on this
side of the chamber, as well as by the distin.
guished Senators from Illinois and Michigan.
shall therefore be very brief in my analysis
of the bill.
In the first place, Mr.. President, it makes up
and submits to the people of Kansas, and to
the country, q foreign, fictitious a false issue,
in place of the true one. The true issue is the
question, whether the people of Kansas shall,
or shall not, as q condition of coming into the
Union, have right to accept or reject the Lee
compton Constitution. Now, be it understood
that Congress gives to every new State when
it comes into the Union dowry, taken from
the public lands within its borders. Every
new State receives it ~ every case. Practically
speaking, no question Is ever raised in Congress
upon the subject of giving such dowry, or
upon the extent of the dowry to be assigned.
The Lscompton Convention sent to US an ap-
plication or demand for dowry much larger
than is usually granted. The Senate passed
bill to admit Kansas into the Union, which left
the subject of the dowry outside, and postponed
it to future day, and contented themselves
with barely disclaiming any assent to the de.
mand which the Lecompton Convention had
made.
The House of Representatives treated the
matter substantially in the same way. They
turned to the Minnesota bill, and copied from
it into their Kansas bill which they sent to the
Senate, q provision by which Kansas should
receive dowry exactly equal to that assigned
to Minnesota. The Senate raised no special
objection to that part of the House bill. In
deed, from the beginning of the debate until
the appointment of the committee of conference,
no question about the amount or value of the
dowry was ever heard of in either House. Each
Mas ready to acquiesce with the other on this
point. When the bill came back from the con.
ference chamber, we found q recital in it to the
effect that there is difference between Con.
gress and the people of Kansas about the
amount of the dowry upon which Congress de-
NV To ovhV o. L. l.
The bill proceeds, therefore, to submit that
proposition. The reporter tells me that the
debates of this Congress, as published in the
Congressional Globe, Ell up eighteen hundred
quarto pages and that of this immense volume
OF words which has been poured out here, and
is now flowing in rivers over this broad land,
nine hundred pages are occupied with the sub
ject of Kansas. Now, sir, l will listen, with
respect and kindness, to any Senator who viii
show me in the debates of either House one
word, not to say one page, that alludes to the
dispute concerning dowry which the confer
ence committee have assumed as 30 perplexing
to Congress, and which they propose to MS to
refer to the people of Kansas for settlement.
This dispute about the dowry is therefore
feigned issue, fabricated issue, false issue,
substituted for the true and real one. 1t is .
resort in legislation TO q practice of the law
yers in the times of blac letter learning. Wher
an honest, Straightforward man, who was the
owner of freehold, AS turned out with VIC.
lence, they would not lot him bring an action
in bis own name against the intruder, but would
oblige him to copy out from the book of forms
q summons in the name of James jackson an
imaginary man who it vas pretended had been
in possession of the premises under fictitious
lease from the real owner, and was represented
to have been expelled therefrom by an imaginary
intruder, called q casual eiector I think and