and the
Pacific, and to purify the administration of the government from
the pernicious influences of jobs, contracts, and unreasoning party
warfare.

"But some of you may say, all this is very well, but what will you
do to save the Union? Why don't you compromise?

"Gentlemen, remember that we are just recovering from the dishonor
of breaking a legislative compromise. We have been struggling,
against all the powers of the government, for six years, to secure
practically what was expressly granted by a compromise. We have
succeeded. Kansas is now free. The Missouri restriction is now
practically restored by the incipient constitution of Kansas, and
safer yet, by the will of her people. The baptism of strife through
which she has passed has only strengthened the prohibition. There
let it stand.

"But our political opponents, who have dishonored the word compromise,
who trampled, without a moment's hesitation, upon a compromise,
when they expected to gain by it, now ask us to again compromise,
by securing slavery south of a geographical line. To this we might
fairly say: There is no occasion for compromise. We have done no
wrong; we have no apologies to make, and no concessions to offer.
You chose your ground, and we accepted your issue. We have beaten
you, and you must submit, as we have done in the past, and as we
would have done if the voice of the people had been against us.
As good citizens, you must obey the laws, and respect the constituted
authorities. But we will meet new questions of administration with
a liberal spirit. Without surrendering our convictions in the
least, we may now dispose of the whole territorial controversy by
the exercise of unquestioned congressional power.

"The only territory south of the line, except that which, by treaty
with Indian tribes, cannot be included within the jurisdiction of
a state, is New Mexico. She has now population enough for admission
as a state. Let Congress admit her as a state, and then she has
the acknowledged right to form, regulate, change, or modify her
domestic institutions. She has now a nominal slave code, framed
and urged upon her by territorial officers. Practically, slavery
does not exist there. It never can be established there. In a
region where the earth yields her increase only by the practice of
irrigation, slave labor will not be employed. At any rate, it is
better to settle all questions about slavery there, by admitting
t