The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 1: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session Page: 186
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1S6
CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE.
, further object, that sucE a notice as that'resolution
proposes is likely to prove offensive, and to involve us
ift a war. If to declare to Great Britain that she is
ho longer to remain with us a joint occupant of the
valley of the Columbia be cause of war, then war
* must come. It may come sooner; it may come
later; but come it must, at last. Can you arrest
emigration to Oregon? How do you propose to set
about it? Will you build up, along the summit-
range of the Rooky mountains, a Chinese wall of
demarcation, and say to the tameless spirits of the
' 'western wilderness, "Thus far shall ye go and no
farther, and here shall your onward progress be
stayed?" Canute had an easier task! When you
can whistle back the mountain eagle in his upward
flight to the sun; when you can arrest, by a word,
the wild horse of the prairie in his mad career; when
' you can extinguish, in the bird of passage, that
instinct which bids her be up and away to the re-
gions nature designed for her—then, then only, ex-
pect to set up mete or bound, short of the broad
" West' a ier t0 the rest!ess enterprise of the
Oregon is our land of promise. Oregon is our
land of destination. "The finger of Nature"—such
were once the words of the gentleman from Massa-
chusetts, [Mr. Adams,] in regard to this country
"points that out." Two thousand American citi-
zens are already indwellers of her valleys. Five
thousand more—ay, it may be twice that number
* will have crossed the mountain passes before an-
other year rolls round. While you are legislating
they are emigrating; and whether you legislate for
them or not, they will emigrate still.
What is to be the result of all this? What will
England do? If she permit us, as 1 hope and be-
lieve, peacefully to overrun the Columbia valley,
then neither will she find cause of offence in this res-
olution. But if she resist—and as a leading London
journal (not the ministerial organ, however) boldly
avows she will—if she arm the Indian tribes in her
cause,—what then? This resolution may be voted
0res°n bil1 of m friend from Missouri
LMr. Hughes] may be defeated this session, as a
similar bill was the last; we may depart from these
halls without lifting a finger to protect, by military
post or otherwise, our settlers on the Columbia; and
yet let Great Britain fulfil this threat of arming
Indians against us, and then let the tomahawk draw
but one drop of American blood; let one single scalp
be taken—the forerunner of further outrage—and
will our people, think you, await your tardy legisla-
tion before they rush to the rescue? We have faults
and failings enough, God knows—we of the West;
but cowardice—tame, cold-blooded cowardice the
craven spirit that would desert a comrade at his ut-
most need, that, at least, is no part of our character.
Let the news pass over our land of a massacre
among the Oregon emigrants, and your armed-occu-
pation project will be an idle form. Oregon will soon
be occupied—an armed occupation, too! And occu-
pied by whom? Not by smooth-chinned, tiim-uni-
formed cadets from West Point; but by veteran pi-
oneers, from whom old age itself, though it whiten
their locks, cannot steal their strength and their fire;
by fierce young hunters of the frontier, who heard
the war-hoop in their cradles, and who burn to em-
ulate the exploits—to avenge the death, perhaps of
their fathers; by a partisan army, in short, of Nim-
rod warriors, who, with their knives at their belts
and their long rifles 011 their shoulders, fear nothing'
red or white, in the form of a man.
I am a friend ofpeacr. I hold that it is our duty
to do much, to suffer much, if thus we may avoid
the shedding of human blood. " What a spectacle
would it be, in this age of the world, to see two
powerful nations squandering lives and treasure 111
the insensate and antiquated trade of war! To
avert such a calamity, I would agree to any adjust-
ment within the bounds of reason, that should not
compromise our honor. Farther than this, even
expediency itself forbids us to go. A distinguished
British statesman has well said: "He who vindicates
tne honor of a country vindicates its dearest inter-
ests; for he who vindicates its honor preserves its
peace." Nothing more true. Permanent peace
wu neVCT 7et obtained by dishonorable concession.
When we do make a move, then, let it be an effec-
tual one. It is in vain to cry peace! peace!! when
there is no peace. It is worse than idle to patch up
a hollow truce. That which public opinion de-
mands—that which these United States must have,
sooner or later—let us claim now; now, before
blood has flowed; now, before, in the excitement of
an actual rupture, both powers lose sight, as there
is too much reason to fear they may, of cool and
rational judgment.
We know that we must have the valley of the
Columbia, north as well as south of the river. No
thinking man doubts that. We know that, ere
long, we must not only extend our jurisdiction over
that valley, but also provide homes for its emigrants,
by grants of lands to actual settlers. A bill to that
effect passed the Senate at its last session, and failed
in the House under an adverse report, made by the
gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. Adams,] as
chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. A
bill of a similar character is now pending in this
House—another in the Senate. Some such bill is
not unlikely to become a law this very session. It
surely will, in the course of a year or two.
Yet our right to pass such a bill, with a land clause
attached—a clause now necessary and important in
any Oregon bill—has been questioned. Though
it be not a direct infraction of the treaty, which de-
clares Oregon "free and open" to the subjects of
England equally with the citizens of the 'United
States, it affords ground for an argument of some
plausibility that it is.
This should not be. Let us not jeopard a title
clear and unquestionable in itself, by proceeding to
assert it after a dubious or questionable manner.
Let every step we take in such a matter as this, be not
justifiable only, but above all suspicion. We must not
go to war with England, with the right, even by im-
plication, on her side. With the right clearly on ours,
she dare not go to war with us.
Let us, then, begin at the beginning. Let us pass
the resolution now. Before we promise possession,
even in the future, to others, let us ourselves tAo
measures fully to obtain it. The treaty provides the
mode. Let us strictly conform to its provisions.
I hat done, we have satisfied every requirement.
We have silenced every scruple. And we may
then proceed, untrammeled by restricting conven-
tions, to lay the foundations on the far shores of the
Pacific, of free and independent States; destined, one
day, to join their elder sisters of the confederacy;
destined to spread and to perpetuate those noble in-
stitutions that have given us the peace and prosper-
ity we enjoy; and, though prairie and wilderness
and mountain intervene, destined in after times to
become one with us, not in political bonds only, but
in sentiment and in habit, in feeling and in creed.
Mr. THOMASSON said he was unwilling that
the vote should be taken upon a report coming from
a committee of which he was a member, without
the action of that committee being distinctly under-
stood, not only by his immediate constituents, but
by the whole country. The gentleman from Indi-
ana [Mr. Ow\n] had not uttered a single sentiment
m relation to the right of this government which he
did not subscribe to. .The only difference between
'he gentleman and himself was as to the. propriety
(■Slaking any legislative action on the subject at this
It had been announced through the public
prints, as coming from the President of the United
States, that the government of Great Britain had
deputed a special envoy to treat with this govern-
ment on the Oregon question; and it was but fair to
inter that the Committee on Foreign Affairs, in com-
ing to the conclusion they had, were actuated by
a desire 011 their part not to interfere with the nego-
tiations upon that subject. For himself, he had no
hesitation in saying that it would be highly impo-
litic to have any legislative action now upon the sub-
ject, more especially as they had been officially in-
formed that they were shortly to have a minister
from Gieat Britain here among us to treat with this
government upon the subject. What would be the
consequence, supposing they were to notify Great
Britain that they were determined to take posses-
sion of Oregon, whether she was willing or not?
How would the negotiators approach the subject
after that was done? He knew but little about na-
tional affairs, this being his first journey across the
Alleghames. He would rather listen, than speak; for
there was more need of receiving, than of imparting
information; but, according to his own idea, to ai>
nounce the intention of this government to termi-
nate the treaty, and to take possession of Oregon at
this particular period, would be highly injudicious
at least. Why not regulate the whole matter by
legislation? If they were to give the pioneers with-
in that territory ten years longer, they would not
ask for legislation. They would have possession of
the country. Every one must see that this would
be the inevitable result. It had been said that
2,008 .American citizens had already emigrated
thither; he was of the opinion that there were up-
wards of 20,000 American citizens located beyond
the Rocky mountains, taking in the whole range of
country from California to the northern limit claim-
ed by the United States, and that thousands were
preparing to emigrate. This government had only
to wait with patience, and it would certainly belong
to them eventually. But if they determined to
give England notice that the stipulations of the con-
vention should cease, what would be the result?
Was it not announcing to the world that, after the
expiration of a year, Oregon would be regarded as
belonging to this government, and that this gov-
ernment would take possession of it at all hazards,
and at whatever expense. They would stand pledg-
ed to take possession, let the "cost or the sacrifice be
what it might; and would it be possible for this gov-
ernment to do so, situated as she now is? Gentle-
men might suppose it was an easy matter
to collect an army and remove them to
any point; but he could tell them that the cost of
transporting an army across the Rocky mountains
would be more than the whole revenue of this
country for the next five years.
It might be a land of promise, as the gentleman
from _ Indiana said—it might be a perfect Canaan;
but, if so, it was contrary to all accounts that he
had ever received from Oregon. It had been inva-
riably described to him as consisting of waste sand
banks in part, and the remainder mountainous, and
covered with volcanic remains, until you descend
the rivers which empty into the Pacific some dis-
tance. How would they transport an army to Ore-
gon? It would be no child's play, if G,reat Britain
should choose to carry her forces thither. She
could concentrate an army of 50,000 men in Oregon
in eight weeks' time.
Previously to the negotiation of the Ashburton
treaty, the newspapers were full of information rela-
tive to a great line of steam vessels for the con-
veyance of the mails between Great Britain and all
the principal West India islands. He was informed
that Great Britain had taken the precaution to have
stationed at various points large quantities of coal,
with a view, as was said, to supply these vessels
engaged 111 transporting the mails. Since the con-
clusion of that treaty, had they heard anything of
these vessels? He had been informed further, that,
within thirty-six hours, those vessels could be
changed into war-steamers, having a supply of coal
at hand. Had the two governments not settled the
question, Great Britain having all this force on hand,
what would have been the result? And now the knowl-
edge which they had of the fact, that Great Britain
has, at this moment, a very large and diposable force
in China, which could be brought by six weeks' sail,
and landed at the mouth of the Oregon river, was a
matter which he hoped gentlemen would seriously
consider. He was not for war, but for peace; he
was a peace-loving, law-fearing, law-abiding man.
He trusted whenever the country called upon him,
he would be ready to answer that call; but he was
not for hurrying rashly into difficulty, which he
might possibly regret-
Mr. WENTWORTH said he had no idea of"
speaking until he heard the extraordinary declara-
tion which had just fallen from the gentleman from
Kentucky, he was both surprised and astonished at
the tenor of that gentleman's speech. The gentle-
man had told them that a special minister was about
to be sent to this country to negotiate upon the sub-
ject of Oregon; and that, until those negotiations
were consummated, it would be highly improper
for them to take any action upon the subject. They
were told that they must be silent because a British
minister was coming to negotiate. For that very
reeson, he would tell the gentleman who had intro-
duced this topic, we ought at once to let Great Brit-
ain know that we will not surrender to her an inch
of territory. He (Mr. W.) was one of those be-
lieving that Great Bntain had taken her last inch of
this continent; and that, instead of gaining, she is
to lose. She may relinquish all hopes of adding to
her possessions; for even when the people of Canada
again strike for freedom, she will not be permitted
to have another peace establishment on our frontier
or have the aid of independent freemen to keen her
subjects in vassalage. That game has been played
already once too often; it will not be repeated.
"Give the settlers of the Oregon ten years," said
the gentleman from Kentucky, [Mr. Tiiomasson,]
and the country would be ours without legis-
lation " Give them ten years, and Great Britain,
securing the aid of the Indians and the Hudson's
Bay company, would be able to resist effectually
the claim of this government. Ten years our pea-
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United States. Congress. The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 1: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session, book, 1844; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2367/m1/210/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.