The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1845-12-30

midst of an English settlement, or single
Englshman in the midst of an American
settlement, bears with him a charmed life.
He may do what he will, and as he will; but
he is beyond the reach Of restraint, and al
most of punishment. He is invulnerable; /;
and the arrows of justice cannot pierce even
his heel. The nearest magistrate who has
Jurisdiction over him, may be hundreds of
miles removed; and were he nearer, his
national sympathies might naturally be excl
ted in favor of his countrymen. There can
be no regular grants of lane-ncne, in fact,
Of those public Improvements essential TO- the
progress and stability of society. | present
merely the most general views of this sub
iect; but they are sufficient to show how i'm
practicable it would be TO attempt to es-
tablsh this double jurisdiction 1t would
be easy 10 pursue the investigation much
further were it necessary.
Who does not see that better disputes
would soon arise? That each party would
accuse the other of partiality and injustice
That violence and bloodshed would follow,
and that an intestine war would establish the
ascendancy of one or other of these rival
and national parties? All this is so plain
that he who runs may read. And we are
warned by the surest instincts of our nature
not to trust our rights and our cause, and the
cause Of humanity, to such a partition of
authority.
If, then, Mr.. President, we can neither
retrace our steps, nor check them, we must
go onward. And England has placed her
self in the path that is before US; and if she
retain her position, we must meet her. If
the last proposition she has submitted is her
ultimatum, it is effectively declaration of
war. lis advent may be delayed few
months; but as soon as the notice expires,
if she persists, as she will do, in his occupa-
ton of the country, the struggle must com
mence. 1t is not the notice which is be-
iigereni measure-for that is a trcaty-right-
but it is the subsequent and immediate
course the parties will probably pursue that
must lead TO war. hope-or ought rather
to say | wish-that England would awaken
to sense of her injustice, and would yield
where she could yield honorably, and ought
to yield rghtfully. But will she do SO? 1t
is safest to believe she will not, and this
dictate ofprudence is fortified by every page
of her history. When did she voluntarily
surrender a territory she had once acquired,
or abandon a pretension she had once ad-
vanced? If a few such cases could be found
in the record of her progress and acqusi-
tions, they would be but exceptions, which
would render the general principle of her
conduct only the more obvious For my
own part, see no symptoms of relaxation in
the claim she has put forth. And the de-
clarations in Parliament of the leaders Of the
two great parties that divide her government
and her people Sir Robert Peel and Lord
John Russell-show a union of opinion, and
foreshow union of action, should action be
necessary, rarely to be found in the political
questions that agitate her councils, and are
the ldex, If not the assurance, of an equal
unanimity in public sentiment.
Under these imposing circumstances, we
may we'll ask Of the watchman, what of the
night? We may we'll inquire, what we
ought to do? take it for granted we shall
give the notice recommended by the Presi-
dent; for if we do not, we shall leave the
people of Oregon without government, or
with an impracticable one; and, in either
event, the country is lost 10 us, and the
notice being given, in twelve months, with
out an abandonment of a large portion of her
ciaim, we shall find ourselves involved in
EnnlnnI Nd t,,,in l>o
mon war, Mr.. President; it will be war not
merely of interest, but Of stong and stormy
passions, growing out of the relative situation
of the two nations, and out Of the very points
of resemblance, which will but render .he
separation of the parties the wider, and the
struggle the longer and the bitterer. 1t will
do no good to shut our eyes to the prospect
before us. Danger can neither be avcrted
nor avoided by Indifference, nor by presump-
ton. Let us look our difficulties and our
duties fully in the face. Let US make
preparation adequate 10 the conjuncture.
Let US exhibit to England and to Europe the
spectacle of an undivided people, anxious
for peace, but ready for war. In the lang
uage Of Mr.. Madison, "let us put the United
States into an armor, and an attitude de-
manded by the crises, aud corresponding
with the national spirit and expectation
One war has already found us unprepared.
And what that condition of things cost in
blood and treasure, and disaster, those of US
who went through the struggle can well
remember; and those who have come upon
the stage Of action since that period, may
learn from the history of the times. And
perhaps to certain extent this must be SO,
and always will be SO. We are all opposed
10 great military establishments in time of
peace. They are as dangerous as they are
expensive. And they will therefore never