re there is some good land, and
we may suppose they will shortly amount to sixty or seventy thousand. We
will put them down at seventy thousand. Then the whole territory in this
estimate, which is as high as any man puts it, will contain two hundred
and ninety thousand persons, and they will send us, whenever we ask for
them, fourteen Senators; a population less than that of the State of
Vermont, and not the eighth part of that of New York. Fourteen Senators,
and not as many people as Vermont, and no more people than New
Hampshire! and not so many people as the good State of New Jersey!

But then, Sir, Texas claims to the line of the Rio Grande, and if it be
her true line, why then of course she absorbs a considerable part, nay,
the greater part, of the population of what is now called New Mexico. I
do not argue the question of the true southern or western line of Texas;
I only say, that it is apparent to everybody who will look at the map,
and learn any thing of the matter, that New Mexico cannot be divided by
this river, the Rio Grande, which is a shallow, fordable, insignificant
stream, creeping along through a narrow valley, at the base of enormous
mountains. New Mexico must remain together; it must be a State, with its
seventy thousand people, and so it will be; and so will California.

But then, Sir, suppose Texas to remain a unit, and but one State for the
present; still we shall have three States, Texas, New Mexico, and
California. We shall have six Senators, then, for less than three
hundred thousand people. We shall have as many Senators for three
hundred thousand people in that region as we have for New York,
Pennsylvania, and Ohio, with four or five millions of people; and that
is what we call an equal representation! Is not this enormous? Have
gentlemen considered this? Have they looked at it? Are they willing to
look it in the face, and then say they embrace it? I trust, Sir, the
people will look at it and consider it. And now let me add, that this
disproportion can never be diminished; it must remain for ever. How are
you going to diminish it? Why, here is Texas, with a hundred and
forty-nine thousand people, with one State. Suppose that population
should flow into Texas, where will it go? Not to any dense point, but
to be spread over all that region, in places remote from the Gulf, in
places remote from what is now the capital of Texas; and therefore, as
soon as there are in other portions of Texas peopl