But it is argued that slaves will be carried into Nebraska only in small numbers, and therefore the question is of little practical moment. My distinguished colleague [Mr. EVERETT], in his eloquent speech, hearkened to this apology, and allowed himself, while upholding the Prohibition, to disparage its importance in a manner from which I feel obliged, kindly, but most strenuously, to dissent. Sir, the very census attests its vital consequence. There is Missouri, at this moment, with Illinois on the east and Nebraska on the west, all covering nearly the same spaces of latitude, and resembling each other in soil, climate, and natural productions. Mark now the contrast! By the potent efficacy of the Ordinance of the Northwestern Territory Illinois is a Free State, while Missouri has eighty-seven thousand four hundred and twenty-two slaves; and the simple question which challenges answer is, whether Nebraska shall be preserved in the condition of Illinois or surrendered to that of Missouri? Surely this cannot be treated lightly. But I am unwilling to measure the exigency of the Prohibition by the number of persons, whether many or few, whom it may protect. Human rights, whether in a multitude or the solitary individual, are entitled to equal and unhesitating support. In this spirit, the flag of our country only recently became the impenetrable panoply of a homeless wanderer who claimed its protection in a distant sea;[41] and in this spirit I am constrained to declare that there is no place accessible to human avarice or human lust or human force, whether the lowest valley or the loftiest mountain-top, whether the broad flower-spangled prairies or the snowy caps of the Rocky Mountains, where the Prohibition of Slavery, like the commandments of the Decalogue, should not go. [41] Martin Koszta, Hungarian by birth, who had made the preliminary declaration of citizenship, and had a protection from the United States Consul at Smyrna, was, July 2, 1853, surrendered by an Austrian man-of-war in the harbor of Smyrna at the demand of a man-of-war of the United States. I.