Mr. WILLIAMS. Mr. President, I do not like to be diverted from the subject before the Senate; but I say that I was determined, if possible, to defeat the institution of slavery in Oregon, and that, in my judgment, it was necessary in order to prevent its establishment there to concede somewhat to a public opinion which then predominated in that State. I was compelled to choose between 2 evils, and, in my judgment, it was better as there were no negroes at that time in the State, and few could reasonably be expected to come there, to provide in the constitution that they should not have the elective franchise than it was to allow slavery to be established in the State of Oregon. But, sir, all that is entirely foreign to the question before the Senate. I say that I am bound, as it seems to me, as a Senator upon this floor, not to act upon this subject in conformity to the wishes of a part of the people of the DistCol, but to act in conformity with the wishes of the people whom I represent upon this floor, or in accordance with a majority of all the people represented here. Now, if the legislative assembly of the State of Ohio should instruct my honorable friend [Mr. WADE] to vote for universal suffrage in the DistCol, I ask if he would not be bound to obey the instructions of the State which he represents, although in so doing he might act contrary to the wishes of the people in this District?. So if the people of my State, in my judgment, by their elections or by their legislation instruct me to vote for the extension of the elective franchise to the negroes in this District, I am bound to obey their wishes, notwithstanding the fact that a portion of the people in this District may object. But I was undertaking to show, that in my judgment, the people of the U.S. were in favor of this bill. The men who voted for the bill at the last session in the other House and who passed a law extending the right of suffrage to negroes in the Territories, went home to their constituents, gave an account of their proceedings, and were indorsed and rejand the people through them now demand the consummation of this act by the Congress of the U.S. So I claim that this act has been before the people; there has been a popular verdict upon the question, and the judgment of the people has been distinctly expressed in favor. this kind of legislation. I think therefore, Mr. President, that there are no valid objections to the passage of the bill, and that this message if the President has submitted is one that does not concern the principle involved, but simply takes issue with as to the time when the right of suffrage should be extended to the negroes in this District; for I understand him to say that they are to become at some time an element in the political power of this country. It seems to me that Congress is just as competent to decide as to whether the negroes of this District are now sufficiently intelligent to vote or not as the POTUS, unless he has some extraordinary means of information which are not possessed by Congress. And when we look at what has transpired during the late war, and see that these black men, ignorant as they are represented to be, were.then to understand the issues before the country and take the right side in the controversy, it seems to me that there is at least some ound for supposing that they have sufficient intelligence to judge of other questions that may arise io.the welfare or safety of the country.