The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-12-16


was in his charge Ifhe UNDERSTOOD the gentleman
from North Carolina, Mr.. MAsuvtI, who took oc-
cason, from his robton, very properly TO profess
the ufaoft coincidence in the Executive in this mat
ter, and so much confidence, if he understood the
senator correctly, that he was willing to leave the
whole matter with him, and that there was nothing
for the Senate to dot appeared to MIN the
senator from North Carolina had mistaken
the positicn assumed by the President in the
message. Instead of the matter being with IN.
Executive, and not with them, he endesstood 1t as
directly the reverse, IL wee no longer with the
was Greater with them, Congress far greater,
The President had made proposition which had
been rejected by the British penipotenttars Eao,
without submitting any other Sscpositlon, suffered
the negotiation, on Els part, TO drop. Having done
this, the negotiation came 10 an end Could the
Executive do morei Did gentlepen wish to make
further concessionsi He would not do injustice to
them by such a supposition. He repeated, the
question had passed from the hands OF the Execu-
tive to them, and they were now called on to act IN
relation to it. And what ought to be their action
That was the great question for tkefi to consider
The President himself had recommended certain
things to be done in the present aspect Of the con-
troversy; and he took the recommendation--not
because the President had advised them to do
certain thngs--not wholly for that reason
but because it appeared TO him tEat the matters In
controversy required it. Whether or not this was
the course to pursue, the time for that ndicatedby
distinguished SENATOR Mr.. CALHOUN, not yet in
his seat to let the matter rest and abide negotiation
had gone blythe policy should not be pressed. We
have acted, and gone forward to assert our rights
Our citizens had gone 10 settle the country of Ore
gon, and claimed our protection. Every man mus
therefore that the time had come when the cues
ton must be settled Great Britain, as well as the
United States, seemed to think that the time had
come for the question to be settled. The controver
sy had been brought to a point-broken off for the
present. And now what was to be donei Should
they recedei That they could not do They mus
do something, for it had already been ascertanet
that the Executive could do nothing more, and il re
manned for Congress to act. But what should they
dor II seemed to him that the duty was plain
they must at least assert their rights and take sucl
action the position of the controversy with regart
to the territory required. In relation TO Oregon
the President had recommended that they take steps
to disembarrass themselves from all entanglements
and then take steps to assert entire rights
the territory. All they could do now was to pur
sue the course recommended and that was, to 60 a
least far as to assert Jurisdiction had beer
done by Great Britain. That government had ex
tended their laws over its own subjects In the terri
tory, and had virtually annexed it to Canada. Con
gress were, then, he thought, called to do the
same for our citizens, who were every day going
there in large numbers; and they demanded at ou
| hands protection. Could we abandon them, No
| they were citizens of the United States, and by re
moving they did not forfeit their claim to our pro
lection, We must either abandon claims te
that territory, or take measures to protect them
! Congress called upon to do so, by ex
tending over them our Jurisdictions; and, in ac
| cordance with the recommendation of the Pres
ident, to give the notice provided for in the
| convention and in this way terminate the join
occupation-yes, the joint occupation. VIVA
could have been contemplated by requiring either
| party to give this notice' Could it have been sup
| paaed tvo iuriodictinns Gould ha
tanned in the same country Certainly not. |
must have been mere temporary provision, for thu
! purpose of preserving peace among those who in
habited the territory. That state Of things hat
gone by. The country had now become, or wal
rapidly becoming, settled; and it was highly i'm
portant that the question of separate jurisdiction
should be settled between the two parties. He be-
lieved that this was absolutely necessary to pre-
serve the peace of the two countries. And in con
nexion with this, if the contrary result should fol
low looking the possible result in this conrovers,
he should go for putting the country in state of bet
ter defence. But he preferred peace G. Brit
ain always prepared; she had in her possessions
in every part of the world, an extensive navy ant
strong armament, and was always in condition
| for war; but we were differently situated. If wal
should be inevitable, however, it would be grea
| folly in us not to prepare for the worst, and ex
ercise foresight in relation to the deprecated con
tngency. As he had before said, he not only de
sired peace, but he believed-and he spoke onl,
| for hmsef-that the question would be settled the
moment the President announced renewal of thu
controversy. If the other party came forward, ant
| showed disposition to end this controversy b,
offering to accede to propositions, when they should
find they could get no more, and discover that W,
were not to frightened, bullied, or driven, the,
would come forward and close the controversy OF
this basis. He believed that there would be q
peaceful termination of the matter. The Presden
had seen fit to renew proposition formerly offered
hac If hnf Had boan ,,od
and now it was reasonable course for Congress t
take any means to put the country in state of de-
| fence. If the question at issue were settled with
out war, we would lose nothing, except few dollars
| by our preparations; but if not settled withou
war, we would be in condition to defend our
selves, and avert disaster and defeat, and save tn
valuable lives of our people. The course befor
them, then, was ''pain that wayfaring man
though fool, need not err therein" Much hat
been said about the display Of patriotism, and SOM
had intimated that there had been monopoly of il
but he thought, so far from being occasions of thi
kind, they ought to be excluded from the con
troversy, especially as senators on the other sid
had admitted that everything consistent with justic
and honor had been done by the Executive, an,
moderation and Cancellation were required. He
| for one, hoped, that on this question the,
should all act with degree Of unanimity. w
wanted no professions of patriotism on this side o
the chamber or the other, but would Judge of tn
patriotism of all by their acts and their votes, ant
not by their professions, The senator who intro
duced those resolutions, MIR. CAss, had said tina
the two parties in England were united. He believ
ed it was no new thing in that country. He believ
ed it had always been so; but however much the
were united on questions Of foreign relations, ant
questions of territory or foreign possessions, 10
were one united people; and might we not hop
that, on this question, we may exhibit sima
spectacle The senator from Virginia Mr.. ARCHER
was pleased to remark, yesterday, that he though
we could avoid war; fnot it would result from pro
ceedings in this chamber. He (Mr. NILEs) was q
a loss to know the precise views the senator had Q
the proceedings which had taken place. Probab
he alluded TO a spirit-a war spirit-upprehendc
somewhere; and in adopting measures which wer,
called for by the OCCASION they would thus furnis
provocation of war, and that we should act in
manner SO wanting in moderation and respect +
Great Britain, that our own measures would ncces
sarily produce war. lfthis construction was col
rect the senator woald find himself mistaken, ia
as this branch Of Congress was concerned. Their
was another view of the subject. In whateve
spirit measures were adopted they would be sen