Page:The History of Oregon Bancroft 1888.djvu/457

Rh Before the adjournment, letters began to arrive from Grover and Smith relative to the prospects of Oregon for admission. They wrote that republicans in congress opposed the measure because the constitution debarred free negroes from emigrating thither, as well as because the population was insufficient, and that an enabling act had not been passed. These objections had indeed been raised; but the real ground of republican opposition was the fact that congress had refused to admit Kansas with a population less than enough to entitle her to a representative in the lower house, unless she would consent to come in as a slave state; and now it was proposed to admit Oregon with not more than half the required population, and excluding slavery. The distinction was invidious. The democrats in congress desired the admission because it would, on the eve of a presidential election, give them two senators and one representative. For the same reason the republicans could not be expected to desire it. Why Lane did not labor for it was a question which puzzled his constituents; but it was evident that he was playing fast and loose with his party in Oregon, whom he had used for his own aggrandizement, and whom now he did not admit to his confidence. The hue and cry of politicians now began to assail him. The idol of Oregon democracy was clay!