The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-05-09
THE OREGON NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..


An idea has gone forth that this question of Ore
gon is about to breed war between the two coun-
tries. The wing papers are scowling upon our ad-
ministration Some say we want war-some that
we sscannot be kicked into war" Several predict
that there will be war. Now, without undertaking
to say positively that there toiH be ,car that there
ciH not be ,oar venture to predict that it is not
Mr. Folks wish to plunge his country into war,
and still less to sacrifice her rights and her honor.
He will never abandon either and, without meaning
to buster or to brave the British minister's we UNI
der.ake to say that this is the general and enthus
astc sentiment of the American nation. The Pres
ident will carry out the wishes of the people. 1t
will not be his fault if our differences about Oregon
should terminate in hostilities; but it will be his
fault, and fault which we sure he would never
encounter, to sacrifice our "clear and unquestion-
able claims and our sacred honor to any visionary
danger, or to any apprehensions of danger. "Young
Hickory" viii make good his claim to the title
which his political opponents assigned to him du-
ring the last campaign; and, like cold Hickory
he will carry out the maxim which is bequeathed to
him by the hero of the Hermitage, demanding
nothing that is not clearly right and submitting to
nothing that is wrong
We have two papers before which belong
to different political parties-one, the "New York
Tribune of the 9th (whig) on SHE Oregon ques-
ton" The other is the "Daily Commercial" of
Cincinnati, of the Sd inst. The following are ex-
tracts from both:
From the Tribune.
aThe matter is reduced to these simple elements.
Great Britain is ready to compromise, to ahtrate, to
leave things they are, or to fight. We have our
choice of the four alternatives and until govern
ment makes its selection all farther palavar is su.
perhuous. Meantime, the worst portion Of the
press of each country is engaged in inhaming pre-
iudices and hatreds and increasing the difficulty of
adjusting the controversy. But newspaper decla-
nation is not national sentiment by considerable.
t'Fhe Union, the new executive organ, says
"'We certainly do not understand the negotiation
about Oregon is at an end or that our administration
determined willing to interrupt III that there is
prospect Of amcably settling the disputes or that must
tries We yet trust that the may go forward in its
peaceful and reasonable decision and spite too Of all
the unnecessary menaces o. the British ministers and
the buserings of the London Journals!
"We infer from this that MIR. Polk means after all,
to settle the differences amcaby--that is by COM
promise or arbitration. If he does not mean this,
the talk about negotiation Is at once empty and
fraudulent Negotiations, named in good faith, can
mean nothing else Several years ago each party
offered 10 abate something Of its extreme preen-
tons to settle the dispute peaceaby. Our govern
men offered run the line straight ecross the
tinet on the parallel of ago north, ceding all our
rights or claims north of that line on condition
south of it. She declined this, but offered to d.
vide by the Columbia river giving us all south and
taking all north Of that river.* We dssented, and
the negotiation failed. Now, does not every man of
sense perceive that any peaceful adjustment must
be made within the limits here Indicated We GER
mn than she
then offered to be satisfied with; will she give
us more than we proposed to be content with. One
of the two bases Of compromise then proposed, or
something intermediate between them, must now be
adopted, or nothing will be. To profess willing
ness to negotiate, an anxiety to settle the dispute
peaceaby, and yet insist on having the whole terri
tory at all events, is palpable knayery and babbng
! folly. Men who cannot talk more sensibly should
save their breath, though their characters are
beyond salvation.
1.-THE Courier des Flats Unis Estates that Messrs
| Buchanan and Bancroft are jointly preparing an
elaborate defence Of our title TO Oregon They will
doubtless make good one but whether they can
add any thing to the facts laborously compiled
by Greenhow is doubtful, and the brilliant rhetoric
OF the Secretary of the Navy will go far in such
matters. To arbiirate or not to arbtrate, compro-
mise or not compromise, is the matter in hand; and
the fewer words thrown away until we decide
what TO do the better. The secretaries should re-
serve their thunder for the arbitration"
We do not understand that Messrs. Buchanan
and Bancroft are preparing jointly a grand me
MORE sticaiif' Of the American claims to the Ore
gon Territory to which the Courier des Etas Unis
refers, and to which the "Boston Advertiser" has
twice alluded. We certainly have not understood
that the two secretaries have been engaged in the
composition Of any such memoir. When the time
comes for such production, we undertake to say
there will be ample materials to form justification,
sufficient to satisfy the schoe cord of the justice Of
our claim, and Of the wisdom Of our course.
Mr.. Greenhow's admirable book Ito which we
will do justice in a day two) will shed torrent
of light upon the subject let the discussion emenate
from what quarter 1t may. The Tribune need have
no apprehensions. There will be thunder enough
to WELD from our country--equal to any that was
ever manufactured in the the cave of the Cyclops,
for Jove himself.
From the Cincinnati Daily Commercial
Opinions OF THE PRESS.
"WmL THERE BE wARi---We have kept watch of
the leading papers Of the Union since the receipt OF
The Tribune does not state this proposition correctly