iate subject before it. The truth is, that it is an
amendment by which the Senate wished to have now a public, legal
declaration, not respecting Oregon, but respecting the newly acquired
territories of California and New Mexico. It wishes now to make a line
of slavery, which shall include those new territories. The amendment
says that the line of the "Missouri Compromise" shall be the line to the
Pacific, and then goes on to say, in the language of the bill as it now
stands, that the Ordinance of 1787 shall be applicable to Oregon; and
therefore I say that the amendment proposed is foreign to the immediate
object of the bill. It does nothing to modify, restrain, or affect, in
any way, the government which we propose to establish over Oregon, or
the condition or character of that government, or of the people under
it. In a parliamentary view, this is the state of the case.

Now, Sir, this amendment has been attached to this bill by a strong
majority of the Senate. That majority had the right, as it had the
power, to pass it. The House disagreed to that amendment. If the
majority of the Senate, who attached it to the bill, are of opinion that
a conference with the House will lead to some adjustment of the
question, by which this amendment, or something equivalent to it, may be
adopted by the House, it is very proper for them to urge a conference.
It is very fair, quite parliamentary, and there is not a word to be said
against it. But my position is that of one who voted against the
amendment, who thinks that it ought not to be attached to this bill; and
therefore I naturally vote for the motion to get rid of it, that is, "to
recede."

So much for the parliamentary question. Now there are two or three
political questions arising in this case, which I wish to state
dispassionately; not to argue, but to state. The honorable member from
Georgia,[2] for whom I have great respect, and with whom it is my
delight to cultivate personal friendship, has stated, with great
propriety, the importance of this question. He has said, that it is a
question interesting to the South and to the North, and one which may
very well also attract the attention of mankind. He has not stated any
part of this too strongly. It is such a question. Without doubt, it is a
question which may well attract the attention of mankind. On the
subjects involved in this debate, the whole world is not now asleep. It
is wide awake; and I agree with the honorable m