The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1839-04-27
TERRIToRY or OREGON.

TERRITORY OF OREGON
Mr.. Cdshing. from the Committee on Foreign AZ
srs which tbs subject had been referred, submitted
the '0AS" REPORT:
The Committee on Foreign Ifsrs. 10 ishieA weve 70.
6,rred Message from ne Presdsaf Of The Uaiisd
yc,tes aud Rsselafioa Of Ihe House. relation 10
"a, Territory of hs Uafsd STATES beyond ihs Rocky
AJonaiaiss. report, "a parts
The Committee have examined the present subject
.,,h ,he deliberate care which their estimation Of ts
importance demands and they are o. opinion mat q
: due alike TO the interests and The honor III the United
SAFES. 10 take Immediate steps 10 assert aud
Inc national rights in this matter
rhs following 10 the 6rst 10 pages Of tho Report, an
;,ve.galon Of the title Of the United States which
concludes thus
Waited States. having in themselves. and as the
.., az Spain all the rights apper,ainng the frat
;.,ou along the northwest coast, the first discovery
~ me bay Of Juan de Fuca and Of the rivers Agailar
.nd Colombia, the first exploration Of the same, and
~ frs, occupation or settlement Of either and having
n ike msnrer all the rights Of extension across to or
along the Pacific by conliluty, which appertaned to
susn as the possessor Of New Span England prior
10 The treaty OF Versailles and to France as the pos
SCISSOR OF Louisiana :-t follows irresstiby that
have the right of dominion TO the territory Of Oregon
wholly exclusive Of Great Britain
q
SPANISH French. and American sources of the title Of
the United States in the course Of which the Nooka
Convention is carefully investigated. From this d.
vision OF the Report, make the following extracts
Great Britain, when she gained Judgment on the
coast OF the Atlantic, readily saw. aud her Colonies
learned by disastrous experience, how dangerous
j, would be them TO have hostile Foreign Power
establish itself behind them For the same reason that
i, was important TO The British Colonies exclude, IL
tbey aght any Power from taking possession their
rear. important to the French Colonies on the
Mississippi 10 prevent any other power from establish
ing itself in their own rear Hence they claimed and
rghluly, according 10 the received law OF nations. 10
have the exclusive dominion. and the right Of excluding
the entrance Of any colonization westward Of them,
until they should reach some other European Power
having better title than theirs and west Of them there
none except SPAN
And the precise exen, Of proonga,on BY con,igo,y,
to which an actual settlement gives right must have
relation to the magnitude and population Of that
settlement, and TO the facility with which adjoining
vacant lands may promise 10 be occupied aud cultivated
by such population. compared with any 10 come
from elsewhere; and this in addition to the considcra
tons OF national security.
Important these principles were to the Infant
Colonies Of France and Britain, and strong the
claims Of this nature we derive from the treaties Of
those two powers, those principles vet npor-
tan and those claims stronger in reference to the ex.
listing state Of North America, and position as
the eadiag Power Of this Continent. Wfo shall I'M
denske 10 define the limits OF the expansibty Of the
population Of the United S,a,es' Docs i not now
How westward with the never ceasing advance OF
rising tide Of the sea! Along line Of more than
thousand miles from the Lakes to the Gulf Of Mexico
perpetally forward The frontier Of the
Uniied States. Here stretched along the whole length
OF this ine the vanguard were, of the onward
march Of the Ango.Americsn race, advancing, has
been calculated, at the average rate Of aboat hafa
degree Of longitude each succeeding year Occasion
ally, obstacle presents ITSELF in unproductve
region Of country, some Indian tribe; the column
breaks but it speedily reunites again beyond the OBJ
ssce, and resumes its forward progress. facing
and approaching and TO the Temotest
gions Of the West. This movement goes on with pre-
destined certainty and the nnerrng precision of the
great works Of eternal Providence rather than as an
act Of feeble man. Another generation may see the
settlements Of our people difused the Pacific
slope Of the Rocky Mountains II is idle TO suppose
any Colony TO be sent out from Great Britain will
establish itself in the Far West ultimately to
stand in competition with this great movement of the
population and power Of the United States. Nor should
any attempt at such competition he c0untenanced by
US For If the safety Of The few thousands Of British
settlers on the Atlantic or Of French settlers on the
Mississippi, required the extension Of their exclusive
sovereignty to a certain degree west how far should
that extension he demanded for the safety Of the
millions Of the United States, who already occupy in
full aud undsputed sovereignty, and overspread with
great and glorious political society, the whole Of the
vast valley Of the Mississippi and the Missouri
At contingency the most delicate in the affairs Of
this Continent Mr. Monroe issued hi, celebrated de-
cara,ion, that while the United States continued
trail and impartial 10 the contests Of the European Pow
ers among themselves, it was otherwise in regard to
their movements in this hemisphere that the United
States would consider an attempt on their part to ex-
tend their peculiar political systems TO any part OF the
New world as dangerous to our peace and safety; and
that we could not view voluntary nterposon Of theirs
in the affairs Of the Republics or America. with
indifference, in any other lgh, than as the manifesto
ton Of an unfrendy disposition towards the United
Ststes.-( Message, Dec 2, 1923
This declaration it is well known had the most i'm.
portaat immediate effects the time Of its utterance
when certain Of the European Powers contemplated
forcble interference IN the affairs Of the Spanish Colo
garded as an essential component part Of the ntcrna
,ionsl law Of the New World. (Wheaton's Iaterna-
hoaai Lap, $50 And great as the force of is,
when applied To the precise which called for it, still
greater Is when considered n its application to the
case OF an attempt on the part Of any European Power
to found new colonies in North America IN parts not
yet occupied Il has been The happy fortune Of the
United States to free itself by the purchase Of Lonis
ana and Florida from the presence Of European Colo
ines on our southern and western frontiers The pos
sessions Of Great Britain now overhang the United
States along their vast northern frontier from the At
lah'c to the PacIhc. South Of that line, the whole
continent from the great Lakes to the Tsthmus Of Da.
men, Is occupied by Americans. by children OF The SOIL
ny Governments Independent, Of Europe. And is due
aaAe TO our highest interests and honor have
universally understood that neither Great Britain nor
any other European Power any longer consider The
unsettled parts Of the Continent adjoining the settle
menus OF the United States, in the nature Of unoceu-
peg anas Tor the reception Of European Colonies II
'ea britain had any pretext to claim the territory Of
oregon as part Of her possessions on the Lakes Of
ner existing Colonies would be otherwise But sho
ooes not She distinctly puts her clann Oregon on
Tue ground MAT Il Is unoccuped territory, Just like Vir-
e'ha or Massachusetts before she colonzed them and
mat as nnoccupled savage territory she may now colo
ME The Columbia river; that it is part OF Colo
ny now possessed by her, but country in which she has
The night at this day TO found Colony
Great Britain considered the whole of the unoccu.