opinion that a wise and gracious Providence, in his own good time,
will find the ways and the channels to remove from the land what I
consider this great evil, but I do not expect that what has been done in
three centuries and a half is to be undone in a day or a year, or a few
years; and I believe that, in the mean time, the desired end will be
retarded rather than promoted by passionate sectional agitation. I
believe, further, that the fate of the great and interesting continent
in the elder world, Africa, is closely intertwined and wrapped up with
the fortunes of her children in all the parts of the earth to which they
have been dispersed, and that at some future time, which is already
in fact beginning, they will go back to the land of their fathers, the
voluntary missionaries of Civilization and Christianity; and finally,
sir, I doubt not that in His own good time the Ruler of all will
vindicate the most glorious of His prerogatives, "From seeming evil
still educing good."

STEPHEN ARNOLD DOUGLAS,

OF ILLINOIS. (BORN 1813, DIED 1861.)

ON THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL;

SENATE, MARCH 3, 1854.

It has been urged in debate that there is no necessity for these
Territorial organizations; and I have been called upon to point out any
public and national considerations which require action at this time.
Senators seem to forget that our immense and valuable possessions on the
Pacific are separated from the States and organized Territories on this
side of the Rocky Mountains by a vast wilderness, filled by hostile
savages--that nearly a hundred thousand emigrants pass through this
barbarous wilderness every year, on their way to California
and Oregon--that these emigrants are American citizens, our own
constituents, who are entitled to the protection of law and government,
and that they are left to make their way, as best they may, without the
protection or aid of law or government. The United States mails for New
Mexico and Utah, and official communications between this Government and
the authorities of those Territories, are required to be carried over
these wild plains, and through the gorges of the mountains, where you
have made no provisions for roads, bridges, or ferries to facilitate
travel, or forts or other means of safety to protect life. As often as I
have brought forward and urged the adoption of measures to remedy these
evils, and afford security against the damages to which our people are
constantly