populous, is here asking admission into the Union, and finds us debating
the dissolution of the Union itself. No wonder if we are perplexed with
ever-changing embarrassments! No wonder if we are appalled by
ever-increasing responsibilities! No wonder if we are bewildered by the
ever-augmenting magnitude and rapidity of national vicissitudes!

SHALL CALIFORNIA BE RECEIVED? For myself, upon my individual judgment and
conscience, I answer--yes. Let California come in. Every new State, whether
she come from the east or the west every new State, coming from whatever
part of the continent she may, is always welcome. But, California, that
comes from the clime where the west dies away into the rising
east,--California, that bounds at once the empire and the
continent,--California, the youthful queen of the Pacific, in her robes of
freedom, gorgeously inlaid with gold, is doubly welcome.

The question now arises, shall this one great people, having a common
origin, a common language, a common religion, common sentiments, interests,
sympathies and hopes, remain one political state, one nation, one republic;
or shall it be broken into two conflicting, and, probably, hostile nations
or republics? Shall the American people, then, be divided? Before deciding
on this question, let us consider our position, our power, and
capabilities. The world contains no seat of empire so magnificent as this;
which, embracing all the varying climates of the temperate zone, and
traversed by wide expanding lakes and long branching rivers, offers
supplies on the Atlantic shores to the overcrowded nations of Europe, and,
on the Pacific coast, intercepts the commerce of the Indies. The nations
thus situated, and enjoying forest, mineral, and agricultural resources
unequaled, if endowed, also with moral energies adequate to the achievement
of great enterprises, and flavored with a government adapted to their
character and condition, must command the empire of the seas, which, alone,