The Sun.
London, England, 1845-11-22 00:00:00

THE OREGON QUESTION.

(From the Washington (official organ) Union Oct. 31.)
During the late presidential canvass, it was said, in allusion
to the Texan issue, "we are about voting on a question of
national identity—on the question as to what and where our
country shall henceforth be ?" So far as the Texan discus-
sion is concerned, that question is now substantially settled—
the recent unsuccessful attempt at protest by the Whigs of
New York city, to the contrary notwithstanding. But the
same great question as to what and where our country shall
be may come up in another and a still more imposing shape in
the approaching Congress, and if so, it will form the great
land question of this generation.
We allude, of course, to what we call, with the fullest
confidence, the American territory of Oregon. On this
great subject, within the last three or four years, public
sentiment has ripened fast. In the judgment of a vast
majority of this nation, the time is rapidly approaching—
or say, rather, has now come—when clear right in rela-
tion to this territory should embody itself in positive
law. For more than twenty years, the people of the
United States have seen what they regard as their indis-
putable title to this immense territory swamped in nego-
tiation. It was to be expected from the wisdom and true
policy of the British Government that this negotiation, so
barren heretofore of good result, when entered upon with a
new Administration, which, in its identity of opinion on this
subject, is as one man, and which is sustained in that opinion
by an overwhelming mass and mastery of public sentiment—
it was justly to be hoped of the wisdom of England, that
the new negotiation, under such auspices, and in such hands,
would, ere long, begin at least to secure, instead of defeating,
as in past years it has defeated, the great ends of interim
Lionel justice.
But, however this may be, whether the negotiations suc-
ceed or fail, there can be no doubt that the democratic Con-
gress now about to assemble will have a great duty to do in
relation to Oregon ; and we believe that, coming to 'Washing-
ton fresh from conference with their constituents, they
will come:together resolved to do it. With the strong resolu-
tions of the Baltimore convention, and the manly and pa-
triotic inaugural words of the President yet vivid in our me-
mory, we cannot doubt that the Administration is fully pre-
pared to perform with firmness its constitutional duty of re-
commending to Congress all such measures aspay be deemed
essential to the full and efficient protection of all our rights
over every rod of that great domain on the shore of the Pa-
cific, which is, by an accumulated mass of title, the rightful
property of the 'United States.
Of these measures, and indeed of this whole topic of the
American territory of Oregon, we shall have frequent occa-
sion to speak; and it may be well enough to consider
for a moment, in the outset, the nature and the value
of this our great territorial possession. This territory,
lying between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific
Ocean, drained mainly by the Columbia river, bounded
on the north, the east, and the south by mountain
chains, and on the west by the ocean, extends from lati-
tude 42 deg. to latitude 54 deg. 40 min. North. It con-
tains more than 400,000 square miles, that is, it is more
than twice as large as France, and about half as large /IS
All the States now subject to the Federal constitution. The
American people claim, against all other nations, this whole
domain as a part of their own soil. The climate, through-
out nearly its whole extent, is mild and temperate. Accounts
vary somewhat as to its fertility and natural advantages;
but no man doubts that it is capable of sustaining an im-
mense population, nor that, when so peopled, it will control
the coa.inerce of the Pacific, and the oriental trade of the
world.
The present legal condition—the policy—of this important
region, is quite extraordinary as it exists in theory ; but it
is far more extraordinary as it stands in fact. In theory,
and by treaty stipulation, this land, with all its navigable
waters, has been, since 1828, open to the free and undis-
turbed use and enjoyment of the subjects of England and
the citizens of the United States. To terminate this state of
things, at the will of either of the' parties, only one year's
notice is necessary.
This common enjoyment by the two nations of all the ad-
vantages of a territory more than twice as large as France,
being the somewhat singular theory and stipulated law of its
condition, stands in yet more singular contrast to the state
of things which has, in fact, grown up there within the last
twenty years. Leaving out of view the Indian tribes which