The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-23 00:00:00

f" Jenin I,lint

LONDON, TUESDAY. DECEMBER 23, 1845

The Message of President Ponic leaves no doubt
whatever of his views respecting the Oregon question.
He re-asserts the claims put forth in his inaugural
address last session, and calls upon Congress to main-
tain them. The United States can accept nothing
short of the whole of the Oregon territory, and every
English subject must be expelled from the shores of
tl.e Pacific, to make place for the Americans, who
alone are entitled to occupy the disputed ter-
ritcsry. This result is only what we antici-
pated, ar.d the arrival of the long-winded do-
cument (nine columns in length), therefore, has
neither taken us by surprise, nor brought any
sews for which we were not fully prepared. Any
person who has been watching with common obser-
vation the proceedings of the American Congress
for the last few years, must have been convinced
that they have determined to allow Europeans no
right to interfere in the arrangements made in
tho New World, and that one of the great princi-
pb s by which they are guided, is that there shall
be no balance of power throughout the whole length
and breadth of the American hemisphere. That
there may, however, be no mistake about Mr.
PoLes intentions, we quote his own words :—" The
extraordinary and wholly inadmissible demands of
tin- British Government, and the rejection of the pro-
position made in deference alone to what had been
tione by my preiecessors, and the implied obligation
which their acts seemed to impose, afford satisfactory
evi,lence that no compromise which the United States
ought to accept can be effected. With this convic-
tion, the proposition of compromise, which had been
made and rejected, was, by my direction, subse-
quently withdrawn, and our title to the
whole Oregon territory asserted, and, as
is believed, maintained by irrefragable facts
and arguments." To the title of the
whole territory he firmly adheres, and calls upon
Congress to give the required period—a year's notice
—that the mutual occupation shall cease preparatory
to the seizure of the whole of the Oregon. "A year's
notice," says he, "is required to be given by either
party to the other, before the joint occupancy shall
terminate, and before either can rightfully assert or
exercise exclusive jurisdiction over any portion of the
territory. This notice it would, in my judgment, be
proper to give ; and I recommend that provision be
made by law for giving it accordingly, and termi-
nating lb this manner the convention of the 6th of
August, 1827." There is no mistake about this, and
there can be none either about the steps to be taken
after the year has expired. There are only two alter-
natives—" the whole of the Oregon, or war." The pro-
position of England, according to his deliberate state-
ment, cannot for a moment be entertained by the United
States without an abandonment of their just and clear
territorial rights, their own self-respect, and their
national honour. The only sentence in which we
End the slightest semblance of modesty or diffidence
is, that in which he submits his views to Congress,
which be does " with great deference," and adds,
should they in their wisdom devise any other mode
better calculated to accomplish the same object, "it
shall meet with my hearty concurrence ;" but he at
the same time tells them, that should they think pro-
per to make provision for giving that notice, the
period at the close of the year will be come when the
Rational rights in Oregon must either be abandoned
or firmly maintained. Then comes the threat,
,a That they cannot be abandoned without a
sacrifice of both national honour and interest
is too clear to admit of a doubt." In other words,
4, if you do not fight for the Oregon, you are miserable
poltroons—regardless alike of national honour and
national interest." We have given a more lengthened
outline of his long details on this affair than might
have been necessary, had it not involved a question of
war or peace between the two most commercial na-
tions in the world ; and, from all that we can gather
from the Message, as well as from the constitution of
Congress, the former seems the most probable result
of the present policy adopted by the legislative
boriies, as well as the Executive of the United
States Both the Senate and the Lower House are
Democratic—that is, they side with the violent, the
encroaching, the aggressive party, headed by TYLER
and Ponx, and reject the advice of the moderate Whigs,
under the guidance of that consistent patriot and
friend of peace, DANIEL WEBSTER. In tha Senate
these is a majority of 6, and in the House a majority
of 77, in favour of POLK and the violent party. Their
objects are evl,dent, and they make not the slightest
attempt to conceal Lem. Neither France nor Eng-
land, nor any other Euroizoan power, shall set foot
on America, north or south, 1,-;!tch less interfere in
any internal regulations. The following,ztract, though
long, we are compelled to give, in order to ,how