The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-11 00:00:00

RATIFICATION OF THE OREGON

TREATY.

By the arrival of the Great Western steam-ship
at Liverpool, we have received the gratifying and
important intelligence that the Oregon treaty, on
the 18th of June, received the sanction of the
Senate by a majority of forty-one to fourteen. All
further conjectures as to the upshot of this eccentric
squabble between Great Britain and the United States
are consequently prevented from this moment. With the
tocsin of Mexican warfare still ringing in their ears,
the Legislative Council of the Presidency, to whom
the settlement of this delicate question had been trans-
ferred, has breathed towards the mother country no-
thing but sentiments the most pacific, and has
altogether conducted itself in a manner the
most conciliatory. Nor, be it remembered, are these
concessions to the demands of our Government the
fruits of diplomatic chicanery—they are not the con-
sequences of any adroit or specious proposition. The
sophistries which are usually summoned to the as-
sistance of the plenipotentiary have in this instance
been neglected, and a strange candour (which in many
respects is without a precedent) has been adopted
by the representatives of both empires.
Much as certain individuals across the Atlantic had
become infected with a belligerent spirit, wordy as were
their invectives upon their British progenitors, extor-
tionate as were their demands in reference to the
colonisation of the Oregon and the navigation of the
Columbia—every sentiment is merged into meekness,
and all obstacles have given way to acquiescence upon
the first sounding of the artillery in Mexico. It is
impossible, indeed, to remark the coincident informa-
tion contained in our last packet from America,
namely, that the total amount of funds estimated by
the Secretary of War as necessary for the prosecution
of the contest with Mexico, from May, 1846, to
June, 1847, is somewhere about 19,971,472
dollars—and (here is the coincidence !) that
simultaneously with the receipt of this intelligence,
we are informed of the arrival in England of the
Oregon treaty, as ratified by the Senate of the
United States, that document having been conveyed
hither under the safeguard of General ARMSTRONG,
American. Consul at Liverpool. Any comment upon
this casualty of occurrence would be wholly super-
fluous ; but it may not be considered so
entirely superfluous to utter one incidental observa-
tion upon the behaviour of the English Government
when the American outbreak with Mexico was first
announced. Instead of seizing that remarkable op-
portunity for the precipitation of extortionate demands
upon the territories of the Oregon—instead of availing
herself of the movement when the rival claimant
of those colonies was just precipitated into all the
embarrassments of a war with adjacent states, and of
insisting upon an instant compliance with an immode-
rate requisition at the juncture when the Presidency
was but ill prepared to engage in a double
struggle,--the most reasonable propositions
are, on the contrary, submitted to the
consideration of the National Magistrate, Mr. POLK.
This moderation on the part of Great Britain—and
especially when there were absolute lures to aggran-
disement—will not be forgotten very speedily by the
nations of the globe. In that ungrasping offer of
bringing matters to an amicable settlement, and in the
dignity and resolution with which that offer was
tendered, the other empires and principalities of the
earth will recognise the probity, the power, and
the peacefulness of the national spirit in England.
They will perceive that the old feudal crusades, for
the mere extension of dominion, are regarded by us
with abhorrent contempt, and that authority and
political vigour cannot, now-a-days, excite any ad-
ministration of these islands to encroach upon the rights
or to avail itself of the dilemmas of another nation.
Despite the hostile temperament of Mr. President
POLK himself, and the pugnacious oratory of Mr.
QUINCY ADAMS and his compatriots, a more
humanising spirit has prevailed. By the wisdom and
moderation of her MAJESTY'S Councils, by the pa-
tient, but at the same time unflinching posture of the
late Secretary for Foreign Affairs, the Earl of
ABERDEEN, and through the good temper by which Mr.
PAREN !JAM'S movements have been regulated
throughout this protracted correspondence, the
difficult problem of the Oregon question has
been conducted to the present satisfactory
issue. The sword of our empire has still re-
mained in its scabbard, and England has thereby
conquered the prejudices of the American Legisla-
ture. British moderation will prove more salutary,
as an example to other empires, than any warlike
conquest.

It is with the deepest regret we find that it is the
intention of Mr. O'Coertem. to oppose the re-election
of Mr. REDINGTON, for Dundalk, and that he has
started his son Mr. DANIEL O'CONNELL, j uu., as a
candidate for the suffrages of that constituency.
We had hoped that greater attentio.n would have
been paid to the temperate and prudent recommenda-
tion contained in the admirable letter of the Earl of
MILLTOWN, and that a fair trial would have
been afforded to a Ministry who have made the
fairest promises as to their intentions with respect to
Ireland, and who have even, to the fullest extent,
acted up to their liberal professions. The Irish people
should recollect that the occasion which has caused
the formation of the new Government was the defeat
of a :measure of coercion and severity to-
I wards their country. They have ever been supposed
Ito be a generous and a grateful people; and should
they succeed in excluding from the House of Com-
mons a gentleman of respectability, character, and
talent, who has proved himself on all occasions a
most valuable and useful representative, and who
has devoted his energies to questions of the gravest
importance and the deepest interest to his coun-
trymen, and that, too, on a vacancy occasioned
by the success of the opposition to a measure so dis-
tasteful to the Irish people as the Coercion Bill, they
would expose themselves to a weighty charge of the
deepest ingratitude. The selection of Mr. REDINGTON
las Under-Secretary for Ireland was highly
complimentary to the people of that country,
and afforded the strongest proof of the sincerity
of the Ministry in their professions, and
their anxious desire for the better governance
of the country. Mr. REDINGTON hes acquired a
profound knowledge on that most pressing of all
Irish questions, the relationship of landlord and
tenant. He was one of the Commissioners selected
to inquire into the state of the law and practice
in respect to the occupation of land, from which
Commission emanated the most valuable recom-
mendations, measures founded on some of
which have already been introduced to the
Legislature, with the unanimous approbation
of the House and the country ; and it may fairly be
presumed that the remainder of those recommenda-
tions, including a provision for the reclaiming of the
waste lands in that country, will be speedily brought
forward under the auspices of the man who joined
therein, and who had, in the course of his inquiries,
obtained information from persons of every class and
condition of life.
Mr. O'CONNELL has been loud in his complaints
because Ireland is not governed by the Irish. Con
he not see that such a line of conduct is eminently
calculated to defeat such a result ? If, the moment an
Irishman is selected for a responsible situation in the
executive administration of the affairs of his native
land, his re-election is to be opposed, and he is to
be excluded from the Legislature because he happens
to differ from Mr. O'CONNELL on one question,
and one only, is it not practically compelling
the Government to select persons representing Eng.
lish constituencies for such offices ? Mr. O'CoisaaLL '