MR. SUMNER. Then the proposition, as I understand it, is, that the Senate shall abandon its position. Why so? Because the House of Representatives will not abandon its position. MR. MORRILL. No, Sir, the Senator will allow me: because there did not seem to be any practical sense in adhering to it; because to adhere to it defeated the bill; because to adhere to it accomplished no earthly purpose, gave nobody any right. MR. SUMNER. For the other House to adhere on the other side defeated the bill also. MR. MORRILL. Yes. MR. SUMNER. And the question is, Which shall adhere, the side that is right or the side that is wrong? MR. MORRILL. And that is the question the Committee submit to the Senate. MR. SUMNER. I hope the Senate will adhere to its original position, and I believe that the assertion of that principle at this moment is more important than the bill. In the debate that ensued, Mr. Harlan said that he should “vote against the report of the Committee, chiefly, however, because he did not think there was a pressing necessity for the organization of another Territory in that part of our domain.” Mr. Sumner called attention to the Ordinance for the organization of the Northwest Territory, and then said:-- It will be observed that in this Ordinance, to which we so often refer as a commanding authority, there is no discrimination of color. Now I ask if this is not a good precedent. Like the present bill, it was applicable to a vast unsettled Territory. Senators may say that our fathers, in the Ordinance, were not practical. I am not of that number. Senators may say that our fathers, in the Declaration of Independence, were not practical. I am not of that number. Senators may say that our fathers, in the Constitution of the United States, which contains no discrimination of color, were not practical. I am not of that number. Sir, I believe that the authors of this Ordinance, and the authors of the Declaration of Independence, and the authors of the Constitution were eminently practical, when they excluded from those instruments any discrimination of color. But it is said that there are no persons in the new Territory to whom the principle is now applicable. This can make no difference. It is something to declare a principle, and I cannot hesitate to say that at this moment the principle is much more important than the bill. The bill may be postponed, but the principle must not be postponed. MR. MORRILL. I will suggest to the Senator, if he will permit me,-- MR. SUMNER. Certainly.