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quence has been, they are now in such bad condition that it is with the utmost difficulty they can be traveled. It is due to the public who travel across the bridge that these roads should be repaired by some authority or other. My own opinion is, that they should be placed under the control of the levy court, which has jurisdiction over all the other highways of the county. It would not be just, though, to saddle the county with them in their present condition; and I would, therefore, respectfully recommend that an appropriation be made sufficient to put them in first rate order, which shall be paid to the levy court on condition that the court agree to take charge of them, and forever keep them in repair.

The Anacostia bridge is in good condition. The usual annual repairs will, without an accident, preserve it sound for many years.

would be to raise the walls two feet above high
water mark, from which a very flat slope, well
sodded, should extend to the general surface of
the grounds. This plan would afford a larger
bed for the stream when swollen, diminish its
force, and lessen the chances of its doing mis-
chief, and it would unquestionably present a much
more elegant appearance than the present one.

I beg leave to renew the recommendations con-
tained in my last report for the improvement of
Franklin square, of the triangular spaces formed
by the intersection of New York and Massachu-
setts avenues and Tenth and Twelfth streets.
of the triangular spaces on Pennsylvania avenue
between Eighteenth and Nineteenth streets, and
of the space on the south side of Pennsylva-
nia avenue between Twentieth and Twenty-first
streets; the grading of North Capitol street, of
Sixteenth street west, and of Delaware avenue;
the removal of the naval monument from the Cap-
itol grounds; the purchase of a lot, and the erec-
tion of a house for the keeper of the upper Eastern
Branch bridge, and the reorganization of this of-
fice.

The grading of Judiciary square has progressed as far as was contemplated by the appropriation for that purpose, but much still remains to be done before the grading is completed. I, however, think the work, preparatory to ornamenting the square, has proceeded to such an extent that due notice ought now to be given the Corporation East Capitol street is directly in front of the of Washington to remove the school-house stand- center building of the Capitol, and in stepping on ing upon it, and I the more incline to this opin- the portico it immediately arrests attention. It ion as opportunity ought to be afforded for the should be graded and graveled. This improveerection of another building for the accommoda-ment is not only required for public convenience, tion of the school before it is deprived of the use but is necessary to give the Capitol proper effect of the one now in its occupancy. in approaching it from that direction, and to present a fine vista in looking out from its main portico.

Boundary street extends from Rock creek to the Anacostia, around the entire northern portion of the city. The remainder of the city is bounded by water courses. All of the large avenues run out to Boundary street, with the exception of Pennsylvania and Virginia avenues. It is skirted nearly its whole length by beautiful groves of forest trees, and if opened and graveled, would make a pleasant ride around the city, which is at present very much wanted.

SENATE & HO. OF REPS.

quest was complied with, and a plan was prepared for the extension of the court-house portion of the City Hall in harmony with the general plan of the building, the cost of which, including furniture, heating apparatus, inclosure, &c., was estimated at $30,000.

The orphan's court and the office of register of wills occupy very contracted and inadequate rooms in the city's portion of the same building. If the extension of the building should be made, which I think is very necessary, suitable provision can be made in it for the accommodation of the orphan's court and register of wills.

I ask your attention to the fifteenth section of the city charter, approved May 15, 1820, and the twelfth section of the amended charter, approved May 17, 1848. You will perceive that they require of me to make certain improvements, and to pay the expense of the same out of the proceeds of the sales of city lots belonging to the Government. All the Government lots that could command a purchaser have been sold. The few remaining lots are so situated that they would not bring their very low assessed nominal value. I could not, when recently offered at public sale, obtain a purchaser for them at any price.

The improvements provided for in the sections to which I have asked your attention are indispensable, and as the source from which the means to pay for them were to flow has dried up, it strikes me that there is no alternative but for the Government to make a small annual appropriation for the purpose.

Eighty-one lamps have been set up in Georgetown, and are now regularly lighted with the other lamps of the town. They give great satisThe great nuisance heretofore complained of as faction, and are duly appreciated as an evidence occasioned by the Center market-house, has in of the kind interest which the Government takes some respects been mitigated. Commodious sheds in the town. The appropriation was not suffihave been erected in the rear of the market-house, ciently large to allow of as many lamps being put on Canal street, for the accommodation of vendup as would fully light the streets. Thirty lamps ers, and consequently, the misshapen shanties more would accomplish that object, which will which used to disfigure Pennsylvania avenue have cost $810, all complete. It is no fault of mine been removed. Wagons and other vehicles which that the appropriation was not large enough, as attend market, are no longer permitted to occupy I was not called upon for an estimate. The inand obstruct the avenue, and it is now free of the formation was derived from other sources, usually As it was doubtless intended for the benefit of litter they produce, which, for a series of years, very reliable, but in this instance incorrect. I all residents and sojourners in the city, and cannot had been complained of as an abominable nuicarefully regarded in my expenditures the re- be of any special advantage to those who live in sance. But the old white-washed, moss-covered striction of the proviso to the clause making the its immediate vicinity, it would seem that Bound-market-house still remains to mar the beauty of appropriation. The lamp-posts and lamps cost ary street is one of those that present peculiar considerably less than those on Pennsylvania claims to the favorable consideration and liberalavenue, and I pay the same price for the gas con-ity of the Government. sumed by them.

The west wing of the Patent Office building, with the exception of the saloon, which will soon be finished, has been completed, and is now occupied. The portico has also been erected. It affords me pleasure to assure you that the whole work of this wing has been constructed in the most substantial and satisfactory manner, and that great credit is due to Mr. Clark, the architect, for the intelligent and vigilant superintendence he has exercised over it. In order to overcome, in some measure, the great depression in the square at the corner of F and Ninth streets, it will be necessary, in laying the pavement on Ninth street, to set the curb as high as possible, consistent with the proper grade of the street. This will devolve upon us the necessity of filling up Ninth street at least two feet, which will not, however, raise it above the established grade. Contracts have been made for the granite and marble work of the north front of the building. The sub-basement has been set, and workmen are now engaged in preparing the granite and marble, so as to be ready to take advantage of the earlicst opening of spring to press forward the building. We hope, at the close of the next session, to make a handsome show of the amount of work that has been done.

The floods occasioned by the heavy rains of the past summer have proved that the plan adopted for the protection of the botanic garden against the violence of Tiber creek was ineffectual. The walls of the creek having been laid dry on foundations not sufficiently deep and solid, the water percolated them, and, washing out the earth from behind and beneath them, they were in many places thrown down. The work ought to be reconstructed on a timber foundation similar to that

under the culvert across Indiana avenue, which should extend from Pennsylvania avenue to the canal, and, instead of dry walls, they should be laid in full cement. The plan most approve

The Supreme Court of the United States has decided that the fee simple to all the avenues and streets in the city is in the Government. The aggregate length of the streets is one hundred and ninety-nine miles, and of the avenues sixty-five miles. The city has taken upon itself to open and grade the streets under authority given to it by the Government, but is unwilling to do anything to the avenues, unless absolutely necessary for public convenience, and Congress will not make provision for them. This unwillingness proceeds from a want of ample means, and a strong conviction that the Government is bound in justice, as its share, to construct the avenues. Most of the streets have been opened and graded, and the work is prosecuted as fast as the revenue of the city will justify, but still it lags far behind the march of the improvements.

Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, are the only important avenues that have been opened and graded, and they only partially so.

The grand jury having repeatedly condemned the jail as unsafe and in all respects unsuited for the purposes of a prison, the Interior Department was called upon by the Senate for estimates and a plan for such a building as would meet the demands of the public. A plan was accordingly prepared with great care and submitted at the last session of Congress. The estimated cost of erecting the building was $150,000. There was, however, no definite action had upon the subject.

The present jail is situated on Judiciary square, in the very heart of the city, which is certainly a most improper location for a prison.

The judges of the several courts of this District,
and the members of the bar, addressed a commu-
nication to your predecessor setting forth the great

want of suitable accommodations for the criminal
court and the important records of the clerk's of-
fice, and earnestly requesting him to bring the
matter to the attention of Congress. Their re-

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the avenue, and to excite the wonder of strangers that such an unsightly building should be permitted to occupy so conspicuous a position. Unless the corporation shall soon make provision to have it taken down, and to erect in its stead some more appropriate and imposing building, the Government ought, in my opinion, to resume control of the reservation, and not suffer it any longer to be occupied as a market-place.

The time is at hand when the work of extending the Capitol grounds ought to be commenced. The extent to which they should be enlarged is a matter for Congress to determine, and, therefore, it does not become me to express any preference between the various plans that have been suggested. I may, however, be permitted to express a hope that some plan will be adopted in the early part of the approaching session, and an appropriation made to carry it out, so that the work may be commenced as soon as the spring opens.

It is well known that great numbers of strangers are attracted to this city in pursuit of different objects. Many of them are taken sick, and not a few are destitute of the means of procuring the necessaries of life and medical treatment.

It

would be unjust for the city to be saddled with the expense of taking care of this class of persons. To provide for its own destitute sick is as much as can be expected of it. Congress, actuated by a humane and benevolent spirit, annually makes an appropriation for the admission of eighteen sick non-resident paupers in the Washington Infirmary, where they are well provided with every necessary comfort, good nurses and skillful physicians. It will be perceived, on reference to the report of the resident physician, hereto appended, that during the year ending the 30th of June last, one hundred and nineteen patients were medically treated in this institution on the charity of the Government, of which number eighty-nine were discharged as cured or improved, only eleven died, and nineteen still remained under treatment. It is useless to make any comments upon this report. It tells for itself of the great amount of human suffering relieved and of human life preserved.

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35TH CONG....1ST SESS. Nicaraguan Affairs and the Lecompton Constitution—Mr. Lamar.

This field of benevolence might be greatly enlarged by an increased appropriation, as I have vastly many more applications for admission than the number I have a right to send to the Infirmary. Judging from the favor with which this charity has heretofore been regarded by Congress, I have every reason to believe that the sphere of its usefulness will be cheerfully extended.

The drainage of the city is mainly accomplished above ground, and the consequence is, the streets are overflowed whenever there is a heavy fall of rain, from the incapacity of the gutters to receive and carry off the vast quantity of water that seeks an outlet through them. It is almost impossible to keep streets clean that are subject to be overflowed; and the sediment which is left in them when the water passes off soon becomes offensive to the smell on exposure to the sun. The fact is well established, that countries liable to inundation are generally sickly, owing to the alluvial deposits; and the same cause might reasonably be expected to produce disease in cities. Washington, however, seems to be an exception to the rule of induction; for, notwithstanding the frequent overflow of the streets from heavy rains, medical statistics prove beyond a doubt that it is To

obviate the inconvenience resulting from the overflowing of the streets, and to prevent the possibility of sickness arising from this cause, a judicious system of sewerage should be adopted and carried into effect. In most of our large cities great attention has been bestowed upon the arrangement and construction of sewers, and they have reaped the benefit of them in the purification of the atmosphere, and a corresponding improve ment in health. The Government has constructed several large sewers in this city, and the corporation a like number, but still there is a great deficiency for the wants of the city. What has already been done in the way of sewerage is but the beginning of what is needed, and speedy attention should be given to the subject, not only for sanitary purposes, but to provide for the disposal of the greatly increased quantity of water that will be used for bathing, washing pavements, cleaning streets, and other similar objects, when the aqueduct shall have been finished, and shall introduce into the city an abundant supply from the Great Falls of the Potomac.

To construct the necessary sewerage will require a large outlay of money, and considering the interest the United States have in property in the city, it may be deemed but just that the Govrnment should bear a fair proportion of the expense. It is important that Congress should take this matter into consideration at the approaching session, and provide in some way for its accomplishment.

1 hereto append a statement of receipts and expenditures for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1857.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

JNO. B. BLAKE, Commissioner. Hon. JACOB THOMPSON, Secretary of the Interior.

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Our regiments, horse and foot, including artillery, (serving mostly as infantry,) are, as I have remarked in former reports, anything but a peace establishment. For years they have been almost constantly in pursuit of hostile Indians, through swamps and mountains, in heats and snows, and with no inconsiderable loss of life from frequent combats, and a still greater mortality from excessive labor, deprivation and disease. In other wars those hardships are occasionally broken by rest and comfort, now long unknown to nine tenths of our troops; and hence another great evil the numerous desertions which daily thin their ranks.

As a partial illustration of the extraordinary
NEW SERIES No. 4.

activity and sufferings I have spoken of, I beg
leave to annex copies of two of my orders-Nos.
4 and 14-of the present year.

Ho. oF REPS.

The instruction of our artillery regiments in their appropriate duties with light and heary batteries has been much neglected of late yearsfirst, by capriciously dismounting several of the

unsuitable posts, in respect to supplies and health; and, second, by the necessary employment, from deficiency in other troops, of the greater part of each regiment as infantry on the Indian fron

tiers.

To mitigate those evils, and to enable us to give a reasonable security to our people on Indian fron-light companies, and sending others to the most tiers, measuring thousands of miles, I respectfully suggest an augmentation of at least one regiment of horse, (dragoon, cavalry, or riflemen,) and at least three regimen's of foot, (infantry or rifle men.) This augmentation would not more than furnish the reinforcements now greatly needed in A school of practice, however, for garrisons, Florid, Texas, New Mexico, California, Oregon, sea-coast, and siege artillery, is now being organ Washington Territory, Kansas, Nebraska, andized, on a small scale, at Fortress Monroe, to be Minnesota, leaving not a company for Utah. If the reinforcements should be authorized as early as January, it would be easy, in the present unfortunate want of profitable employment for the thousands of able-bodied men to be found idle in every populous district of the country, to make the number of recruits needed, and in time for them to reach the theaters of military operations in the summer and autumn of 1858. Of the relief which the measure would afford to our general, population I may not speak in a military paper; but to the Army, and exposed frontiers under its protection, it would be immense all the reasonable

enlarged as the regiments may be withdrawn front the Indian frontiers, when-also on regarrisoning our principal fortifications-cach may be made a subordinate school. In the mean time, I respectfully ask that the light companies remaining ou foot be remounted, as authorized by law.

Of recommendations in former reports I beg leave specially to recall two:

1. A system of recruiting by and for the respective regiments, which it is conceived would create and nurture the esprit du corps-a family feeling in each always highly conducive to moral elevation and military efficiency.

2. A revision of the pension laws, so as to place the Army on a like footing with the Navy, volunteers, and militia in this respect, as there can be no conceivable reason of any sort for a discrimination to our prejudice.

Please see vol. 2, p. 229, of the President's message, &c., December, 1856.

I have the honor to be, sir, with high respect, your most obedient servant,

WINFIELD SCOTT. Hon. J. B. FLOYD, Secretary of War.

NICARAGUAN AFFAIRS AND THE LECOMPTON
CONSTITUTION.

OF MISSISSIPPI,

means at the disposition of the Government, to
attempt the moral elevation of our enlisted men-
that is, all below commissioned officers. In phys
ical comforts, whether they are sick or in health,
the justice of Congress in respect to physicians,
medicines, hospital stores, the pay, clothing, and
subsistence of everybody, has scarcely left any-
thing to be asked for. (The subject of quarters
will be noticed in the sequel.) Số, too, in respect
to religious instruction; through some twenty and
odd military chaplains considering the great
number of sects and the habitual dispersion of the
troops-I have nothing practical to suggest. But
to render the service honorable, so that citizens
may freely enlist without the fear of harsh, arbi- SPEECH OF HON. L. Q. C. LAMAR,
trary, or capricious treatment at the hands of any
superior, some additional legislation seems indis-
pensable. I allude to a revision of the rules and
articles for the government of the armies of the
United States, particularly the forty-fifth, sixty-
fifth, sixty-sixth, sixty-seventh, and ninety-ninth
of those articles-all respecting the administration
of justice. In order, among other things, to pro-
vide for the legal punishment of petty offenses,
substituting, when necessary, courts consisting
entirely of sergeants, so as to deprive commanders
of small detachments and isolated companies of
all pretexts the want of officers to compose
courts, &c. for taking the law into their own
hands, accordingly I recommend that the subject
be in the first instance referred to a board consist-
ing of intelligent officers of great experience with
troops, and if their report be approved, that it next
be submitted to Congress. The same board might,
with great benefit, revise the general regulations
of the Army and the conflicting systems of in-
fantry tactics now in force.

In connection with penal justice, it is due to all good men in the ranks to say that they are directly interested in the suppression of crimes, disorders, and neglect, prejudical to good order and military discipline, inasmuch as offenses hurt the just pride of the corps, and every offender put under guard or in arrest increases the duties and fatigues of his meritorious companions of the same class or rank.

I have a word to say in respect to quarters for troops on the sea-board. In our regular fortifications we have but little shelter, other than casements for fighting siege guns, and these arches are too damp and otherwise uncomfortable for the lodgings of the troops. In respect to the Indian frontiers, except at one or two interior points for reserve, the troops are-when they chance to be allowed short resis-either in tents, winter as well as summer, or such miserable bush and mud huts as they have hastily constructed for the moment. Hence another cause of desertion, disease, and mortality. It is true that the frontiers are constantly shifting by the extension of settlements, and hence a great difficulty in providing permanent quarters, except for reserves, and we are far from having a regiment, or even a company, to be so posted.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
January 13, 1858.

[WRITTEN OUT BY HIMSELF.*]

The House being in Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, and having under consideration the President's annual message

Mr. LAMAR said:

Mr. CHAIRMAN: It is not my purpose to discuss the various questions involved in our Central American relations. Should I avail myself of a future occasion to do so, I may be forced reluctantly to dissent from some of the views so ably presented by my distinguished colleague, [Mr. QUITMAN.] However painful this may be to myself, I nevertheless feel confident of his generous indulgence, especially when he sees in my course only the reflex of his own spirit of independence; a spirit which runs like a stream of fire through all his acts and writings: which enabled him a few years since to light up the ardor of a thousand patriots, to fire his countrymen to the assertion of their rights, and at this day enshrines him in the hearts and affections of the people of his State, without distinction of party."

Mr. Chairman, any proposition which has for its object the advancement and progress of southern institutions, by equitable means, will always commend itself to my cordial approval. Others may boast of their widely-extended patriotism, and their enlarged and comprehensive love of this Union. With me, I confess that the promotion of southern interests is second in importance only to the preservation of southern honor. In reading her history and studying her character, I delight to linger in the contemplation of that stern and unbroken confidence with which the South has always clung to the integrity of her principles and the purity of her honor. In that unfortunate division which has separated our country into sec tions, natural causes, beyond our control, have assigned to her the weaker section. A numerical minority finds safety and protection alone in the power of truth and invincibility of right. The

For the original report, see page 279 Cong. Globe.

35TH CONG....1ST SESS.

Nicaraguan Affairs and the Lecompton Constitution-Mr. Lamar.

before whose colossal magnitude the wrongs of
Walker and the criminality of Paulding sink into
insignificance.

South, standing upon this high ground, has ever commanded the respect of her friends, and defied the assaults of her enemies. When ruthless majorities have threatened wrong and injustice, their I propose to examine into the grounds upon hands have been stayed only by the deference which this violation of plighted faith is attempted which the worst spirits unconsciously pay to the to be justified. The ground principally relied cause of justice. In the long and bitter contests upon is, that the constitution which she presents which have marked our internal struggles, the was framed by a convention not called in pursuSouth has made but one demand-the Constitu-ance of an enabling or authorizing act of Contion of our common country, the claims of justice, and the obligations of States; and it is our boast to-day, that we can present a record unstained with a single evidence of violated faith or attempted wrong. The same regard for truth, justice, and honor, which characterizes our intercourse with the various sections of our own country, furnishes the safest rules for our dealings with other countries. As the Constitution is the law of our conduct at home, so let good faith be the rule of our conduct abroad.

gress, but on the mere motion of the Territorial Legislature. Now, sir, apart from the practice of the Government, which has not been uniform on this subject, I, for one, adınit, to the fullest extent, the propriety and importance of such an act of Congress. I have always held that the sovereignty over these Territories was vested in the people of the United States; that the power of legislation in reference to them belonged to Congress, and that this power was limited only by the Constitution and the nature of the trust; and that before the inhabitants of the Territory are competent to form a constitution and a State government, it is necessary that Congress should

The necessity of an enabling act I concede to the fullest extent. Whenever individuals in a Territory undertake to form a State government, without the previous assent of Congress, they are, in my opinion, guilty of gross usurpation and flagrant disregard of the rights of the United States and the authority of Congress. Under such circumstances, it becomes a question purely of discretion with Congress, whether to remand them to their territorial condition, or to waive the want of authority, and to ratify the proceedings as regular and lawful. The question now presents itself, do the circumstances attending the application of Kansas for admission into the Union present such a case?

If I could do so consistently with the honor of my country, I would plant American liberty, with southern institutions, upon every inch of American soil. I believe that they give to us the high-first withdraw its authority over the Territories. est type of civilization known to modern times, except in those particulars dwelt upon so elaborately and complacently by the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. THAYER.] In that particular form of civilization which causes the population of a country to emigrate to other lands for the means of subsistence, I concede to the North great superiority over our section. [Laughter.] There can be no doubt that New England, and especially Massachusetts, is a splendid country to emigrate from, and, in this respect, stands unrivaled, with perhaps the single exception of Ireland. [Laughter.] And right here I desire to express my acknowledgments to the gentleman for the very apt and classical comparison which he instituted between his section and the officina gentium. It never occurred to me before; but since he has mentioned it, I must confess to the resemblance, in many respects, between the recent emigration from New England and the irruption of the Goths and Vandals. [Laughter.] It is also due to candor that I should say that the gentleman's vindication of the emigrant aid societies places the objects and motives of that enterprise upon more defensible grounds than we of the South supposed to exist. For one, I am perfectly satisfied that the thing was demanded by necessity, and has resulted in benefit to all the parties concerned; that the country was benefited by getting rid of the population, and the population greatly benefited by leaving the country. [Laughter.]

To return from this digression: while I am a southern man, thoroughly imbued with the spirit of my section, I will never consent to submit the fate of our noble institutions to the hands of marauding bands, or violate their sanctity by identifying their progress with the success of unJawful expeditions; and most especially, when I see them receiving the countenance and sanction of a distinguished Senator, whose course on the Kansas question is so fresh in our recollection.

Before I consent to any new schemes of territorial acquisition, to be effected, as usual, by the prowess of southern arms, and the contribution of southern blood and treasure, I desire the question of the South's right to extend her institutions into territory already within the Union, practically and satisfactorily settled by the legislation of this Congress. These territorial acquisitions, so far, have been to the South like the far-famed fruit which grows upon the shores of the accursed sea, beautiful to sight, but dust and ashes to the lips. We learn from the President's message, that the people of Kansas, having reached the number that would justify her admission into the Union as a State, she has, by her duly constituted authorities, taken all the steps necessary to the attainment of this object, and will, in a short time, demand the redemption of the pledge of the Governmeat, that she "shall be admitted, with or without slavery, as her constitution may prescribe at the time of such admission." But in advance of her application, we are informe by the distinguished author of the Kansas bill, and gentlemen upon this floor, that her case has been prejudged, and her claims rejected. This presents a question

Was the convention at Lecompton an unauthorized and revolutionary assemblage, usurping the sovereignty of the State, and throwing off, unlawfully, the authority of the United States? I hold that it was a convention of the people called by the regularly constituted authority, and with the previous assent of Congress. I hold that the Kansas bill was an enabling act, vesting the Territorial Legislature with power to call such a convention. In analyzing the provisions of that noble law, we find that it looks to higher objects and more enduring results than the mere organization of temporary territorial governments for Kansas and Nebraska. It looks beyond the territorial status; it provides for its admission as a State; and in express terms pledges the faith of Government that it shall be received into the Union" with or without slavery, as its constitution may prescribe at the time of such admission." It also declares the "intent and meaning of this act" to be," not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom; but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United States, and the provisions of this act."

Now, had the bill stopped here-had it gone no further-there might be some ground for the objection that additional legislation by Congress is necessary. For the bill might guaranty to the people admission as a State, and the right of forming their constitution, and yet reserve to Congress the all-important power of determining when the people had attained a sufficient maturity and growth to fit them for the enjoyment and exercise of this highest and most glorious right of selfgovernment. It might reserve to itself the power of determining who should constitute such a people-who should be the qualified voters--and in short, of prescribing all the steps preliminary to a call of the convention of the people. I say Congress might well have reserved all these high and delicate discretionary powers to herself, and there might be some ground for claiming them in behalf of Congress, had the bill stopped with the clause which I have quoted.

But, unfortunately for the enemies of Kansas, the bill does not stop here. It goes on to confer the most ample powers on the Territorial Legislature. In section twenty-two, after providing for the first election, it says:

"But thereafter the times, places, and manner of holding

HO. OF REPS.

and conducting all elections by the people, shall be prescribed by law."

Again, after providing for qualifications of voters for the first election, it says:

"But the qualification of voters, and of holding office, at all subsequent elections, shall be such as shall be prescribed by the Territorial Legislature."

In section twenty-four, it is further enacted that the legislative power of the Territory shall extend to all rightful subjects of legislation consist ent with the constitution.

These clauses, taken together, embrace the entire subject in dispute, and vest all powers connected therewith in the Territorial Legislature. What can be a more clear and rightful subject of legislation than to determine the time when a people shall emerge from their condition of territorial pupilage into that of State sovereignty, of calling a convention of the people, prescribing the qualification of voters, and arranging the usual details preparatory to the application for admission as a State. Indeed, sir, according to the well-settled maxims of civil law, no people can undertake to form or abolish a constitution, except in obedience to the summons or invitation of the existing legislative authority. It was in this view that Congress has delegated these high and important matters of legislative discretion to the territorial government. You may take up any enabling act passed by Congress, and you cannot find a provision in it which is not involved either in the specific grants or general delegation of powers contained in the Kansas bill.

The conclusion which the language of the bill authorizes is strengthened and sustained by its history. When this bill was first reported, it contained the usual power, which you find in all territorial bills, of congressional veto, revocation, or repeal of the territorial laws; but it was stricken out, and the bill became a law, with no reservation of power to Congress touching this point, limiting the broad grant of jurisdiction to the Territorial Legislature "over all rightful subjects of legislation." If the language of the bill and its history could leave any doubt as to the correctness of this construction, it would at once be removed by a recurrence to the debates when the bill was pending in Congress. The speeches of both friends and foes are replete with the proof of what I say. I could quote from the author of the bill, and from its supporters in this House, to show that their object was to transfer to the people of Kansas the entire control over her internal affairs, including slavery, untrammeled by any congressional legislation. But, sir, it is not necessary.

It may be said that, if this construction be true, the bill embraced two entirely distinct and dissimilar subjects: one organizing a Territory, and the other providing for the admission of a State. Well, sir, if I am not mistaken, this very objection was made, to wit: that the bill was against all regular parliamentary procedure. And a distinguished gentleman from Missouri, after exhausting his powers of invective, like a man in a fight, reserving his most potent weapon for the last blow, threw at the bill an immense word, which sent our venerable Secretary of State, stunned and reeling, to the dictionaries. He said it was "amphibological." But the framers of that bill were not after parliamentary symmetry or harmony of outline. Their object was to settle great questions of strife which threatened the integrity of the Union; to bind in one compact and durable struc ture, the equality of the States, the authority of Congress, and the glorious right of self-government; to build a platform on which the rights of every section in the Union might rise above the turbulent waters of sectional strife, and proudly defy all the attacks of fanaticism. In confirma tion of the view I have taken, I desire to invoke the authority of the distinguished publicist and jurist who is now lending his influence to the enemies of the South and of Kansas. Mr. Robert J. Walker, in his inaugural address, as Governor of Kansas, speaking of the Lecompton tion, says:

conven

"That convention is now about to be elected by you,

under the call of the Territorial Legislature created, and still

recognized by the authority of Congress, and clothed by it, in the comprehensive language of the organic law, with full power to make such an enactment. The Territorial Legis

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35TH CONG....1ST SESS. Nicaraguan Affairs and the Lecompton Constitution-Mr. Lamar.

lature, then, in assembling this convention, were fully sustained by the act of Congress."

Again he says:

"The people of Kansas, then, are invited by the highest authority knɔwn to the Constitution, to participate, freely and fairly, in the election of delegates to frame a constitu tion and State government. The law has performed its entire function when it extends to the people the right of suffrage; but it cannot compel the performance of that duty. Throughout our whole Union, and wherever free government prevails, those who abstain from the exercise of voting authorize those who do vote to act for them in that contingency; and the absentees are as much bound, under the law and Consti ution, where there is no fraud or vio lence, by the act of the majority of those who do vote, as though all had participated in the election."

It is true that the distinguished author of the bill denies that it confers any such power. And yet the very ground upon which he rests his opposition to the admission of Kansas seems to break the moral force of this denial. His position is, that the Kansas bill intended that the constitution, when adopted, should be submitted to a direct vote of the people; that this was its intent and meaning. Now, sir, if the bill went so far as to prescribe the mode of adopting the constitution, it certainly contemplated the framing of it. A constitution cannot be submitted to the people until it is formed.

Having demonstrated that this convention, assembled to form the constitution, possessed every attribute heretofore regarded requisite to complete the work effectually, it is easy to refute the objection that before it can present a valid title to this Congress, it should be first submitted, for adoption or rejection, to the people; not to the people whose delegates framed it, but to them and such settlers as may have come into the Territory during its progress to completion! In order to show how empty and ridiculous are the pretexts for rejecting Kansas, I propose to give this argument in the language of its author. Speaking of what the President says of the convention at Lecompton, the distinguished gentleman to whom I refer [Mr. DOUGLAS] says:

"The President does not say, he does not mean, that this convention had ever been recognized by the Congress of the United States as legal or valid. On the contrary, he knows, as we here know, that during the last Congress I reported a bill from the Committee on Territories to authorize the people of Kansas to assemble and form a constitution for themselves. Subsequently, the Senator from Georgia [Mr. TOOMBS] brought forward a substitute for my bill, which, after having been modified by him and myself in consultation, was passed by the Senate. It is known in the country as the Toombs bill." It authorized the people of Kansas Territory to assemble in convention and form a constitution, preparatory to their admission into the Union as a State. That bill, it is well known, was defeated in the House of Representatives. It matters not, for the purpose of this ar gument, what was the reason of its defeat. Whether the reason was a political one; whether it had reference to the then existing contest for the Presidency; whether it was to keep open the slavery question; whether it was the conviction that the bill would not be fairly carried out; whether it was because there was not people enough in Kansas to justify the formation of a State; no matter what the reason was, the House of Representatives refused to pass that bill, and thus denied to the people of Kansas the right to form a constitution and State government at this time." Proceeding then to discuss the power of the Territorial Legislature to call a convention, he

concludes as follows:

"If you apply these principles to the Kansas convention, you find that it had no power to do any act as a convention forining a government; you find that the act calling it was null and void from the beginning; you find the Legislature

could confer no power whatever on the convention."

Upon a subsequent occasion, defending his position, he says, as follows:

"In other words, I contend that a convention constituted in obedience to an enabling act of Congress previously giv ing assent, is a constitutional body of men, with power and authority to institute government; but that a convention assembled under an act of the Territorial Legislature, without the assent of Congress previously given, has no authority to institute government."

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This was my position in regard to the effect of an enabling act. I then went on to show that, there having been no enabling act passed for Kansas, the Lecompton convention was irregular.”

It is rather late in the day for this gentleman to begin to rectify such irregularities. We need go no further back than California. She was begotten by a military general, and forced into the family of States by the Cæsarean operation of an executive accoucheur. [Laughter.] Yes, sir, without any previous assent of Congress, without even the authority of a Territorial Legislature;

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"I come now to consider California as a State. The question is now presented, whether we will receive her as one of the States of this Union; and, sir, why should we not do it? The proceedings, it is said, in the formation of her constitution and State government, have been irregular. If this be so, whose fault is it? Not the people of California, for you have refused, for the period of two years, to pass a law in pursuance of which the proceedings would have been regular. Surely you will not punish the people of California for your own sins-sins of omission as well as of commission.

"It will be recollected by every Senator present-I trust
the fact will not be forgotten-that more than one year ago
I brought in a bill to authorize the people of California to
form a State constitution, and to come into the Union. Had
that bill passed, the proceedings would have been regular.

fornia, acting upon these suggestions, and relying upon the
"Well, the bill was defeated, and the people of Cali-
precedents cited, have formed a constitution and presented
themselves for admission. Now they are to be told that
they cannot be received because Congress failed to pass a
law, and the proceedings are irregular without it. I do not
precisely understand what is meant by the irregularity of
these proceedings. I have examined the precedents in all
the cases in which new States have been admitted into the
Union, from Vermont to Wisconsin. I will not go over
them in detail," &c. "Those precedents show that there

Ho. or REPS.

he turns against his benefactors, he violates his pledge, abuses his trust, disgraces his office, truckles to the vile, tramples on the just, and scatters the firebrand of discord throughout Kansas, the Union, and the Capitol. And STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, who was for lassoing California and dragging her into the Union over all law and precedent, and the violated rights of fifteen of the Sovereign States of this Union, would now subject Kansas to all the rigors of the Inquisition to keep her out of the Union.

But we are told that it is a contempt of the authority of the people of Kansas-that it is an inroad upon popular sovereignty to withhold from them a revision of their constitution. Sir, the authority of the people is fully recognized; popular sovereignty, as a principle, is fully enforced when an opportunity is afforded to the legal voters to deposit their votes for delegates to a convention. Sir, are not those delegates the people's agents? Is there a lawyer present who would teach his client that the acts of an authorized agent are invalid if not submitted for ratification to the principal? Would he tell them that such acts unsubmitted would be insulting to the principal's dignity, or intrusive upon his prerogatives? Would you say that no respect should be paid to the acts, or to the principal himself, if he suffered them to go forth as his own, unratified? The truth lies just in the opposite direction. "The right of electing delegates to a convention," in the language of the profoundest writer on the phi

is no established rule upon the subject. There are several
cases in which there have been no previous assent of Con-
gress, no census taken, no qualifications for voters pre-
scribed. There is no rule, and consequently can be no irreglosophy of government, "places the powers of

ularity."

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"I hold that the people of California had a right to what they have done-yea, they had a moral, political, and legal right to do all they have done."

How different is his language to Kansas! The very refusal of Congress to pass an enabling act for California is urged as a justification of her monstrous proceedings, and is presented as her strongest title to admission. But when Kansas applies, the same action by Congress is relied upon as an insurmountable obstacle to her admission. The California convention had the perfect right, moral, legal, and political, to do what they have done. But the Kansas convention, although acting under an act of Congress which pledged the faith of the nation to her admission as a State, acting under a regular and legal call of her people, every safeguard provided, is held to have no power to do any act as a convention forming a government, that the act calling it was null and void from the beginning, and that Congress, in refusing to pass an enabling act, (no matter what the motive,) denied to the people the right to form a constitution and State government.

Sir, how are we to reconcile such glaring inconsistency? There is but one solution, and every day is riveting it in the southern mind; and that is, where a State applies for admission with a constitution excluding slavery, no irregularity can be too enormous, no violation of precedent too marked, no disregard of constitutional procedure too palpable, no outrage can be too enormous for its admission as a State into the Union; but when a State applies for admission with slavery in its constitution, no excuse can be too trivial, no pretense too paltry and ignoble, to keep her out. Sir, the direct tendency, and with some the avowed object, of all this opposition, is to delay the ad

mission of Kansas until she becomes a free State. I do not charge this on that gentleman. But why does he pursue this course? It is but an offshoot of that damnable policy which has been preying upon the vitals of the South for the last forty years that of buying peace from the turbulent and fanatical at the expense of the quiet and orderly. When Missouri applies for admission, Abolitionism gets up an excitement about slave territory. For peace sake Congress overleaps the Constitution, and marks out a line beyond which slavery shall not go. Abolitionism raves to be heard in Congress about slavery generally, and for the sake of peace, Congress allows it to fill the Capitol with abolition petitions, which it has no power on earth to grant. Abolitionism hires armed bands to go and drive slaveholders out of Kansas, and Robert J. Walker, for peace sake, would hand it over to them. To pacify a band of rebels, reeking with the blood of southern men, women, and children, to whom he is indebted for all he is,

the Government as fully in the mass of the community, as they would be had they assembled, made, and executed the laws themselves without the intervention of agents or representatives."

The people act in their sovereign capacity when they clect delegates; and the delegates thus elected, and convened, are, for all practical purposes, identical with the people. Sir, I take higher grounds. I hold that the highest embodiment of sovereignty, the most imposing political assemblage known to our Constitution and iaws, is a convention of the people legally assen.bled, not en masse-for such an assemblage is unknown in our representative system-but by their delegates, legally elected. When such a body, with no declared limitation upon their powers, are deputed to form a constitution, and they execute their trust, the constitution, ipso facto, becomes the supreme law of the land, unquestionable and unchangeable by any power on earth, save that which ordained it. This is no novel doctrine. It has the sanction of the wisest and greatest men known to American history. Mr. Calhoun, speaking of a convention of the people, says it implied "a mecting of the people, either by themselves, or by delegates chosen for the purpose in their high sovereign character. It is, in a word, a meeting of the cople in the majesty of their power-in that in which they may rightfully make or abolish constitutions, and put up and down government, at their pleasure."-(Calhoun's Works, volume 2, page 612.) Our present Chief Magistrate, in standing by the action of the Lecompton constitution, is only acting in accordance with his opinions, long since recorded. In the debate on the veto power, he

said:

"The Senator [Mr. Clay] asks, why has not the veto been given to the President on acts of conventions held for the purpose of amending our constitutions? If it be necessary to restrain Congress, it is equally necessary to restrain conventions. The answer to this argument is equally easy. It would be absurd to grant an appeal through the intervention of the vets to the people themselves against THEIR OWN ACTS. They create conventions by virtue of their own undelegated and inalienable sovereignty; and when they speak, their servants-whether legislative, judicial, or executive-must be silent."

Such was the convention of Lecompton, and the constitution it presents was established under laws, Federal and territorial, to which every man in Kansas (except rebels) has given his consent. These laws direct the election, prescribe the order of it, the qualification of voters, and the times of holding the meeting, and the duties and qualifications of the presiding officer. In this way the delegates were elected. They met, and upon mature deliberation framed a constitution-a constitution republican in form, and securing to the people of Kansas all those great institutions of freedom which have ever been regarded as the only

35TH CONG....1ST SESS. Nicaraguan Affairs and the Lecompton Constitution—Mr. Lamar.

and surest bulwarks of civil liberty. Violating no law, inconsistent with no principle of the Federal Constitution, it preserves and guaranties to the people of Kansas all the great agencies of freedom, the right of habeas corpus, trial by jury, freedom of the press and speech, and liberty of conscience, as inviolate and pure as when they were first given to us, baptized in the blood of our revolutionary fathers. Now, sir, can a greater insult be offered to the understanding of the American people than to say that a constitution thus established would gain anything of credit or sanctity by a ratification like that contended for? I grant that the people, through the Legislature, may reserve to themselves the right of ratification, or the delegates may recognize it in the constitution itself; and in either case a ratification would become necessary to the validity of the instrument; but without those terms it would become absolute as soon as sanctioned by the delegates.

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people. Montesquieu, in his "Spirit of Laws,"
speaking of democracy, says:

"The people are extremely well qualified for choosing

those whom they are to entrust with a part of their author-
ity.

*Should we doubt of the people's natural ability, in re-
spect to the discernment of merit, we need only cast an eye
on the continual series of surprising elections, made by the
Athenians and Romans, which no one surely will attribute
to hazard. But are they able to manage an intricate affair; ⠀
to find out and make a proper use of places, occasions, mo
ments? No; as most citizens have a capacity of choosing,
though they are not sufficiently qualified to be chosen, so
the people, though capable of calling others to an account
for their administration, are incapable of the administration
themselves."

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HO. OF REPS.

We are told by a distinguished gentleman that he would" pass over forms, ceremonies, and or"The people, in whom reside the supreme power, oughtganizations, to get down deep to the will of the to do of themselves whatever conveniently they can; and, people. Sir, the will of the people can only be what they themselves cannot rightfully perform, they must obtained through these forms, ceremonies, and do by their ministers. organizations; and the structure of our Government is intended to provide these forms and organizations, through which the people can speak authentically and authoritatively. What can he mean by passing over and disregarding these forms? The Constitution of the United States is a form. Times, places, and manner of holding elections, and qualifications of franchise, are but forms, through which the people exercise their power. This matchless Government, springing from the Constitution and the division of power between the Federal and State Governments, is but an organization. Would he pass over all these to get down to what he sees proper to consider the will of the people? The doctrine is monstrous, dangerous, and disorganizing. It gives to the action of the regular government no more authority than belongs to an ordinary, voluntary assemblage of citizens, outside of the Constitution and law. If these views be correct, we had better, at once, tear down this splendid fabric of American architecture, and discard conventions, legislatures, and Congress, as inconvenient, cumbrous superfluities, and resort at once to the democratic absolutism of Athens. The doctrine has been in Europe omnipotent for pulling down forms, ceremonies, and organizations, but powerless for reconstruction; like those serpents in the East, which, while they inflict a death-blow, breathe out their own life in the wound of their dying victim.

A distinguished Senator has laid down the prop¦¦osition that, under the power to admit new States, Congress is forced, by a paramount duty, to see I go further. I boldly maintain that wisdom, that the constitution of a State asking admission prudence, and policy demand that the delegates into the Union imbodies the will of the majority should be entirely untrammeled in framing the of the people. Sir, I hold that a constitution fundamental law. The people in mass cannot de-presented by the regular and legally constituted liberate upon a constitution, adopt what is good, authority, is conclusive upon Congress as to the and amend what is faulty in it. They must adopt will of the people. We will not allow any such or reject it in the entire; and thus, on account of issue to be presented. We assert the right of the objections to a single clause, they might reject people to form their government; but we hold, the most admirable constitution ever devised by and I think I have already shown, that the highest the wisdom of man. The radical error which un- and purest exhibition of their sovereign will, is derlies the whole argument of these gentlemen is a people acting by their own chosen delegates in this: they assume that there is a general agree- convention assembled. The Federal Government, ment of opinion, a collective sentiment of the peo- and half of the States of this Union, were formed ple, as a unit, as to what shall be the principles in this way, and they need no improvement from and provisions of their fundamental law, and that the constitutional tinkering of this day. this common sentiment is to be ascertained only by a direct vote of the people. And yet, sir, such a course might result in a grave and capital delusion. If a method could be devised for collecting the opinion of each citizen, upon each clause of a constitution, the diversities of sentiment would be equal to the number of voters, and, perhaps, greater. The theory of ratification, however, does not allow to the people the right of framing a constitution, or even offering amendments and modifications. They can only, like a witness on cross-examination, answer "yea" or "nay. And I repeat, a constitution which might stand an imperishable monument of human wisdom, could be voted down by an immense majority, of which each individual member might be in an actual minority on the particular subject-matter of his dissent. Such a process, so far from evoking the general pervading sentiment of a people as to what shall be their fundamental law, may signally fail in eliciting the true view of a single individual.

Sir, I admit that a direct vote of the people is a fair test of their will, when you submit to them a single isolated proposition, such as the question of excluding slavery, submitted by the Kansas convention. But whether it is the best mode or not, depends upon circumstances. It depends, for instance, upon the number voting on the question of ratification, as compared with the number who vote for delegates. Now, so far as I have observed, the elections in which the people manifest the least interest are those in which they are called upon to pass upon constitutions and constitutional questions. It is not the way the people choose to exercise their right of self-government. In the ancient city of Athens, where democratic absolutism existed in its purest form, the number of citizens entitled to vote amounted to about twenty-five thousand persons; and yet not more than five thousand were generally given on the most interesting questions. And on questions of ostracism, six thousand votes were sufficient. If you will consult the poll-books of the different States of this Union, where men and propositions claim the suffrages of the people at the same time, you will generally find that the men get three votes where the proposition gets one. I could call attention to numerous instances of this kind, which have fallen within my own observation.

We accordingly find that nearly all writers on governmental and social science, representing every class of opinion, (except a few run-mad red republicans of Germany and France,) unite in condemning this theory of direct appeal to the

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We were told by the gentleman from Ohio,[Mr. Cox,] that the constitution is not republican in form, because it prohibits amendment, alteration, or change, until after 1864, and then hampers the perfectly free action of the people by requiring a majority of two thirds of the Legislature to concur before they will allow the majority to call for amendment. But the climax of anti-republican

To object that the convention may have abused its powers, and that the constitution should be submitted to a direct popular vote, in order that it may be ascertained whether it accords with the will of the people, is to beg the question, and to strike at the very root of all constitutional and legal authority. It is an objection not to the constitution of Kansas alone, but to the very genius and framework of all representative government. Upon the same ground that a constitution framedism is the provision that "no alteration shall be by delegates should be submitted to the people, it may also be demonstrated that every law enacted by Congress, or by a Legislature, and that every verdict by a jury, or decision of a court, should likewise be submitted for the approval of the people. Sir, a delegate may misrepresent the people; a Senator or Representative may misrepresent his constituents; but the remedy does not lie here in this central power of the Republic, (more liable to abuse than any other;) it lies in the hands of the local constituency, to whom the representatives are immediately responsible. And here lies the efficacy and power of our form of Government. The direct responsibility of our rulers to their constituents, the right of suffrage among the people, aided by that great moral engine of freedom, the liberty of the press, are the vis medicatrix natura of our political system, sufficient to remedy every disorder and throw off every impurity, with out resorting to violent irregularity and revolutionary action.

When a State applies for admission, Congress is bound to subject her to no restrictions except such as Congress may constitutionally impose upon the States already composing the Union. There is but one limitation which you are bound to impose, and that is, that her form of governinent should be republican. But, under the power to guaranty a republican form of government, you have not the right to range with unlimited discretion through every provision of her constitution, interfere with her internal and local distribution of political power, adjust questions of majority and minority, lay down arbitrary rules of your own as to what constitutes republican government, and, by compelling her to conform to them, to substitute the will of Congress for hers as to what shall be her fundamental law. Are not the constitutions of the original thirteen States pretty fair tests as to what constitutes republican government? Can any one say that the Kansas constitution, tried by this test, the only one which you can rightfully apply, is not a republican form of government? Where is the feature in it contrary to our republican institutions, or repugnant to the paramount Constitution of the Union?

made to affect the rights of property in the ownership of slaves;" a doctrine that would tumble into irretrievable ruin the Federal Constitution, and the constitutions of half the States in the Union, including that of the gentleman's own State; for there is not one of these which does not contain as stringent and dilatory limitations as are found in this Kansas constitution. The argument by which he supports this view is, that the " Democracy, as taught in Ohio, believes in the repealability of everything by tre popular voice." Do the Democracy of Ohio consider the clauses of the Constitution securing all those great rights-such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, liberty of conscience, inviolability of prop erty-repealable by the popular will Do the Democracy of Ohio believe in the repealability of that clause guaranteeing the right of a State to equality of representation in the Senate of the United States? This may be Democracy in Ohio; but I hope it is a Democracy confined to Ohio alone. It may be republicanism, but it is not the constitutional republicanism of America; it is the red republicanism of France. The very tenure by which the gentleman exercises the privilege of uttering these objections against the Kansas constitution, is an oath to support a Constitution liable to them all; a Constitution imposing the heaviest restrictions on the power of amendment; a Constitution whose framers intended it, not as an instrument of power, but as an instrument of protection against power.

It would be well for these gentlemen to consider when, and by whom, this particular mode of adopting a constitution, which they insist is the only true mode, was first established. It was not by the fathers of this Republic-the men of 1776. The Federal Constitution was not submitted for adoption to a direct vote of the people, nor were the constitutions of the Old Thirteen. The first instance in modern times, so far as my researches go, was the constitution of 1799, which was submitted to the people of France, and accepted by a vote of three million to fifteen hundred. This was in accordance with the teachings of Rousseau -the doctrine of unlimited, indivisible, undel

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