<ts behests, allows no hesitation, and the Senator surrendered. In this vindication, I content myself with a statements of facts, rather than an argument. It might be urged that Missouri had organized a propagandist emigration long before any one from Massachusetts, and you might be reminded of the wolf in the fable, which complained of the lamb for disturbing the waters, when in fact the alleged offender was lower down on the stream. It might be urged, also, that South Carolina has lately entered upon a similar system—while one of her chieftains, in rallying recruits, has unconsciously attested to the cause in which he was engaged, by . exclaiming, in the words of Satan, addressed, to his wicked forces, “ Awake ! arise ! or be forever fallen I” Mr. EVANS. I should be glad to have the gentleman state where he got that information. I know something about South Carolina, and J never heard of any such thing, and I do not think it exists. Mr. SUMNER. I beg the Senator’s pardon; it was in a speech or letter of one of the gentle- me<i enlisted in obtaining emigrants in South Carolina. But the occasion needs no such defences. I put them aside. Not on the example of Missouri, or the example of South Carolina, but on inherent rights, which no man, whether Senator or President, can justly assail, do I plant this impregnable justification. It will not do, in specious phrases, to allege the right of every State to be free in its domestic policy from foreign interference, and then to assume such wrongful interference bv this Company. By the law and Constitution, we stand or fall; and that law and Constitution we have in no respect offended. To cloak the overthrow of all law in Kansas, an assumption is now set up, which utterly denies one of the plainest rights of the people everywhere. Sir, I beg Senators to understand that this is a government of laws; and . that, under these laws, the people have an incontestible right to settle any portion of our broad territory, and if they choose, to propagate any opinions there, not openly forbidden by the laws. If this were not so, nrav, sir, by what title is the Senator from Illinois, who is an emigrant from Vermont, propagating his disastrous opinions in another State? Surely he has no monopoly of this right. Others may do what he is doing; nor can the right be in any wav restrained. It is as broad • V * the people; and it matters not whether they go in number:! small or great, with assistance or without assistance, under the auspices of societies or not under such auspices. Jt this were not so, then, by what title are so many foreigners annually naturalized, under Democratic auspices, in order to secure their votes for nismaned Democratic principles ? And if capital as well as combination cannot be employed, by what title do venerable associations exist, of ampler means and longer duration than any Emigrant Aid Company, around which cluster the regard and confidence of I the country—the Tract Society, a powerful corporation, which scatters its publications ; freelv in every corner of the land—the Bible • Society, an incorporated body, with large • resources, which seek's to carry the Book of Life alike into Territories and States—the ‘ Missionary Society, also an incorporated body, with largo resources, which sends its : 7 O 7 . agents everywhere, at home and in foreign o V 7 O lands? • ■ By what title do all these exist ? Nay, sir, 1 by what title does an Insurance Company jn New York send its agent to open an office in New Orleans, and by what title does Mas- 1 7 sachusetts capital contribute to the Hannibal : and St. Joseph Railroad in Missouri, and also ‘ to the copper mines of Michigan ? The Senator inveighs against the Native American party; but his own principle is narrower than any attributed to them. They object to the ■ influence of emigrants from abroad: he objects to the influence of American citizens at home, 7 I when exerted in States or Territories where they were not born ! The whole assumption is too audacious for respectful argument. But since a great right has been denied, the children of the Free States, over whose cradles , has shone the North Star, owe it to themselves, to their ancestors, and to Freedom itself, that this right should now be asserted to the fullest extent. By the blessing of God, and under the continued protection of the laws, they will go to Kansas, there to plant their homes, in the hope of elevating this Ter- ' ritory soon into the'sisterhood of Free States; and to such end they will not hesitate, in the 1 v 7 employment of all legitimate means, whether 1 by companies of men or contributions of ' money, to swell a virtuous emigration, and they will justly scout any attempt to question this unquestionable right. Sir, if they failed to do this, they would be fit only for slaves God be praised! Massachusetts, honored Commonwealth that gives me the privilege to plead for Kansas on this floor, knows her rights, and will maintain them firmly to the end. This is not the first time in history, that her public acts have been arraigned, and that her public men have been exposed to contumely. Thus was it when, in the olden time, she began the great battle whose fruits you all enjoy. But never yet has she occupied a position so lofty as at this hour. By the intelligence of her population—by the resources of her industry—by her commerce, cleaving V * 7 O every wave—by her manufactures, various ad I
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