Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly volume 16.djvu/401



ADMISSION OF OREGON 373

"the sooner a territory emerges from its provincial condition "the better ; the sooner the people are left to manage their own "affairs, and are admitted to participation in the responsibilities "of the government, the stronger and the more vigorous the "states which those people form will be. I trust, therefore, "that the question will be taken, and that the state may be "admitted without further delay."

Mr. Thayer : So much, then, in relation to the first principle which should govern our action in the admission of states. And what, sir, concerning the other? How will it affect this present Confederacy of States, to admit the Territory of Ore- gon ? Why, gentlemen talk here as if we were discussing the question of admitting some new and unheard of race of mon- sters and cannibals into the Union ! Sir, is not this injustice to the people of Oregon? Will they contaminate this Confed- eracy? Just as much as their mountain streams will con- taminate the Pacific ocean. I tell you, they may be inferior to us in education, in refinement, and in etiquette; they may not appear as well in the drawing-room as some of our Eastern exquisites; but in the sturdy virtues of honesty, of fidelity, of industry, and of endurance, they are above the average of the people of this Confederacy. I regret that the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Washburn) the other day deemed it ex- pedient to call the pioneers of our national progress "inter- lopers, runaways and outlaws." I affirm, concerning American citizens in any territory of the United States, and in any new state of this Confederacy, that they are above the average of the population of the old States, in all that makes up manly and virtuous character. They have my sympathy, and never will I oppress them by my vote or my voice.

But, sir, what if the people of Oregon were really as bad as the most unfavorable construction of their Constitution, and the speech of my colleague (Mr. Dawes) would represent them to be, then what should we gain by refusing them ad- mission into the Union? If the objectionable features in their Constitution are their true sentiments, and are placed in the organic law for use, and not for expediency, then surely the