I trust Congress will not adjourn until this important bill is acted upon.

We are all seeking to found governments truly loyal and truly republican.

Will any Rebel State be such until it has secured in its constitution the elective franchise to all, and until it has opened free schools to all?

A State which does not give the elective franchise to all, without distinction of color, is not republican in form, and cannot be sanctioned as such by the Congress of the United States.

Therefore I seize the present opportunity to let these States know in advance, that, if they expect the powerful intervention of Congress, they must qualify themselves to receive it by giving evidence that they are truly loyal and truly…

Barbarous and stupid Xerxes, how vain was all thy toil to cover the Hellespont with a floating bridge!

Thus rather wise and prudent princes join Asia to Europe; they join and fasten nations together, not with boards or planks or surging brigandines, not with inanimate and insensible bonds, but by the ties of legitimate love, chaste…

If any doubt existed with regard to Russian discoveries, it was removed by the authentic report of this navigator, who shed such a flood of light upon the geography of the whole region.

On this very interesting map, which is without latitude or longitude, the western coast of the continent is delineated with a strait separating it from Asia not unlike Behring’s in outline, and with the name in Italian, Stretto di Anian.

Turning from the question of title, which time and testimony have already settled, I meet the inquiry, Why does Russia part with possessions associated with the reign of her greatest ruler and filling an important chapter of geographical…

There is reason to imagine that Russia, with all her great empire, is financially poor; so that these few millions may not be unimportant to her.

It is by foreign loans that her railroads have been built and her wars aided.

Her government is little more than a name or a shadow.

It will be observed that this attempt was at a time when politicians who believed in the perpetuity of Slavery still had power.

But whatever its terms or its origin, it is obvious that it is nothing but a declaration of public law, as always expounded by the United States, and now recognized on the continent of Europe.

I rejoice to believe that on this occasion we apply to Great Britain the generous rule which from the beginning we have claimed for ourselves.

I do not doubt that they will in a great measure determine the fate of this treaty with the American people.

Advantages to the Pacific Coast.--Foremost in order, if not in importance, I put the desires of our fellow-citizens on the Pacific coast, and the special advantages they will derive from this enlargement of boundary.

They were the first to ask for it, and will be the first to profit by it.

While others knew the Russian possessions only on the map, they knew them practically in their resources.

While others were indifferent, they were planning how to appropriate Russian peltries and fisheries.

But all are looking to the Orient, as in the time of Columbus, although like him they sail to the west.

The absence of harbors belonging to the United States on the Pacific limits the outlets of the country.

On that whole extent, from Panama to Puget Sound, the only harbor of any considerable value is San Francisco.

Further north the harbors are abundant, and they are all nearer to the great marts of Japan and China.