Mr. DOOLITTLE. I understood that to be the reason; at all events they did not form a constitution; they did not submit one to the people; and therefore the people did not vote under the law of Congress in favor of a State constitution. I understood that the reason why the convention did not form a constitution was that when they were elected a majority were elected against any constitution. Why did they not form a constitution if they were elected to form one and were in favor of it?. What was to hinder? They did not form a constitution because they did not desire to do so, because the men who elected them did not desire that they should do so, and therefore the whole thing failed and the enabling act of Congress expired. My friendfrom Ohio, [Mr. SHERMAN,) in his argument the other day, said they proceeded under the act of Congress. Not at all. They proceeded under the act of Congress in choosing a convention; there they stopped. The convention submitted no constitution; the people voted on no constitution under the act of Congress; but subsequently the Legislature of the Territory, having no authority from Congress to do so, formed a constitution and submitted it to the people, and it is said that a majority of the people voted in favor of that constitution. How do we know that? How do we know that there is a majority of the people? It is true they went through the form of an election, but that election had no legal validity. No man voting at that election could have been punished either for bribery or fraud or stuffing the ballot box with illegal votes. If in any election district a single person had put in 100 votes he could not have been punished. Why? Because it was all without legal authority; it had no more legal and binding force than a caucus that is called in the Territory for the purpose of nominating men to office. There was no legal, valid, binding obligation upon the people in the election, and no man for swearing in his vote, whether entitled to vote or not, could be made guilty of perjury. There is no lawyer any: where who will stand up and say that a man could be convicted of any crime committed at that election. Therefore when they come here with a statement that upon an election thus held, entirely without the authority of law, there was a bare majority of 100 votes, I say that I have no sufficient evidence to satisfy me that a majority of that people desired to adopt a constitution or to be admitted as a State into the Union. In addition to this, and what has thrown in my judgment some still further doubt upon this point, is the statements which were made at the ast session of Congress by gentlemen who said and one of the officers was here to make the statement that at Fort Kearney, in the Territory of Nebraska, there were 2 companies of troops belonging to the State of Iowa who voted at this very election thus informally submitted to the people of Nebraska. You could not punish the troops for voting illegally. There was no sanction of law about it that could be enforced against them. These facts being stated, together with other things which have been generally charged, that at the election there were frauds committed, and where there was no law to punish them they have thrown over this question a doubt, and a serious doubt in my mind, whether we have any such kind of evidence as to satisfy us that the people of Nebraska desire admission into the Union, and to assume the burdens of a State government. Mr. President, a word further in relation to the population of the Territory. I admit that some circumstances have occurred tending to increase the population since the last session of Congress. There has been in process of construction a railroad 2 or 300 miles in this Territory of Nebraska. Undoubt edly that has carried a considerable population into the Territory of Nebraska;, and doubtless there are ten or 12 or 15,000 inhabitants more in the Territory now than there were when this question was before us at the last session; but when it was before us at the last session, taking all the evidence we had upon the subject, we could not reasonably conclude that there were over 45,000 inhabitants in the Territory of Nebraska, judging from the number of votes which were given at the several elections; and if you take the number of votes which were given at this election, which I think was about 10,000