The Arkansas banner., 1844-04-17

cenlbsr, as we were then officially informed
 by the message of the President. was < drag gine its slow length along'' in the capital of : Gscat Britain. Has tris.diecussi0n, siucd that line, heeR transferred from that metropolis to aliis3 We have hats no such official inlorha- tion And yet, in the absence of any such official information, and for no other reason, apparent 10 Us, than that the late Butsh ntn~ is,er has been recalled and another substi- Hted, all Congress Is commanded to halt. to stand as they are, and to cease 10 prate about Oregon! What hunliating spectacle for q senator to gaze on! Because t has been the pleasure oi the Queen, n the 1fh year ot her reign, to send t0 this country new repre- sentative of her Maies;y--eIothed, however. with Ho more power, 70 far as We know, than lad her resident envoy, to settle the Oregon question.-lor tEis reason, and for DO other. we arc required to defer action upon a iayoute measure, and are told, with open doors. on the floor of tie Senate and in the i face of the world, that, if we do not, her ! alaesty'S government may take 1t quite un- kindly. Nor is this all. We are told, if this resolution shouldbea adopted, that immediately thereafter We incur the hazard or losing all the country in dispute that, ill that event, i it will be forcibY seized by Great Britain, and that war will follow! Sir, if war is to scourge this country for no otherproyocadon ] than a suggestion by the SeGae or by Con- 1 gress to the President of the United States of the propriety of giving to Great Britain the notice contemplated. and expressly provided 1 for by the convention of 1927, let 1t come. l If the representatives of the people and of the States of this Union cannot legislate with ] freedom, and according to their sense of pro- priety, without involving their country in war, the sooner that fact is known the better. Ii we are to consult, ill. our proceedings here, court etiquette, and the sensibilty of q foreign power, rather than the wishes and interests l of our constituents, the sooner NC are taught that lesson the better.
 But. sir, it is idle to talk of war. or of offence fer such proceeding. We believe the stipulation of the convention for the joint occupation of that territory by citizens ot the United States and by subjects oi Great Britain, is detrimental to the best interest of this cOun- try We believe that, so long as such stP- ulaton for the joint occupancy ol that coun- try is in force, Great Britain, in point oi fact, will hold the whole of it; and, for that rea- son, she will be in no hurry to settle our dis pue. Under the terms of that convention. she has all sha wants. Delays and post Hponements are everything for her, and every thing against us. The longer she holds that country, the stronger her claim becomes, and ours the weaker in the same Proporion.- l Originally, sir, this C great power on earth. Hlhjs s.anglo-SaXon mother of ours, '' tals ilustrious friend and best customer" claimed but the modest right to navigate the Pacific.
 Tn her treaty in I763, she formally relin- quished all claim 10 all the country west of
 the Mississippi river; and in l176, Ill her ln- struclions to Captain Cook, who was then starting on all errand of discovery, that officer was instructed not to lose time in search ol new lands, nor to stop at any fallen in with, except to wood and wafer, until he should reach latitude 65 deg. nortH-the pointin that direction to which the Spanish discoveries prior to that time had extended, and not to
 take possession of any country already yis=
 tied or taken possession of by any European
 power. Thus, by the treaty of l753, and bv her instructions to Captain Cook, Great Britain acknowledged that all the country on the northwest coast ol N N0fth Amelicaseuthoi oi 65' north had been appropriated, and belonged
 to Spain, Some ten or twelve years after
 this, some British subjects and Chinese ad- venturers in their employ, settled al Nootka Sound. and built hut, for the purpose ol tadc and traffic With the natives of that vi- cinity year or so afterwards this settle ment was discovered, broken UP, and the in- ~tudcrs driven ol'by Spain. This led 10 con- troversy between Great Britain aad Spain the former demanding indemnity of Spain for the destruction, by her otder, of the property of British subjects, and the latter refusing reparaton. IL was ultimately settled by a permit, on the part of Spain, to British sub iects, to settle on the northwest coast, for the specific purpose of trade and traffic with
 the natives. The right to trade and traffic was all that was granted by Spain, and all that was sought by Great Britain. No title to the soil, no sovereignty of the country was } granted by Spain, nor was either claimed by Great Britain. What is the claim of Great } Britain now Is 1t only the right to trade z and traffic with the natives? t has grown : up, in her estimation, to be something more 5 We enow hear of British interests in that quar- ter, which cannot be ahandoned: And while these ominous sounds are still ringing in our ears, we propose to settle this dispute, before
 these British interests shall get stronger and moro formidable. Our adversaries say no! Wait while longer If you act now, it will be preeipitate and offensive to Great Britain. How long have we already waited? Only
 twenty-nine years How long is t proposed [ that we shall still wait Only from twenty to fifty years!
 Sir, but year or two since. Congress was
 acting upon this Oregon question, and al that time we were requested to postpone our mca- sure, and We promptly obeyed, because we , were told that Great Britain had appointed Lord AshbuFon q special minister to this
 country, clothed with full power to settle all our dispu;os-our boundary lines on the east, north, ,and west-the Caroline affair. and every . i athor ioeyIf ,ut.ara or5 a arf,rrspi,, ,,.b ~