The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-11-18
THE OREGON QUESTION.

THE OREGON QUESTION.
We do not propose to multiply arguments-"Pe-
lion upon Ossa, or Ossa upon Pelion"--upon the
position which we have already submitted upon
the question of the title Of the United States TO the
territory Of Oregon Our position and views upon
this subject are, we trust, sufficiently defined and
have presented the reasons which have brought us
most conscientiously to occupy the ground which
we have taken upon this great question.
In suspending the discussion Of this subject, how
ever in the form that we have hitherto conducted it,
the expectation has not been INDUCED that We
should be absolved from occasional notice of a
topic SO important and engrossing. II was to be
expected that our attention would be provoked, in
an informal way, by those who have had the dgni-
fed discretion to keep out Of the 'hsts" when the
glove tremendously thrown down, and the
combat invited. We shall touch this topic once
more, this evening, because we promised last eve
ming to notice an article upon Oregon, which was
then before u.s.
The National Intelligencer under the caption OF
"The Oregon Question:" introduces to its readers
who prefer democratic" authority, (precious few
article from a southern paper, in which, il may
crafty the wing paper to be. informed, we feel a
profound regret that position should be taken with
respect to our title to Oregon, at war with plain
resolution of the Baltimore convention, and doing
violence, as we think and believe, to the general
feeling and opinion of the people Of the United
States, as to our claim to that territory, and the
obligation we are under to sustain it,
We may remark, en- .passant, that, if the specula-
tons Of the Charleston Mercury upon the def
cheney Of the title Of the United States to the terrific
ry of Oregon have, through the friendly co-opera-
ton Of the wing paper of this city, acquired ma
tional circulation and notorety, they have, through
the same preposterous medium, been addressed, by
the same kind hand, to the particular approval Of
those who would if they do not, always concur with
the Charleston Mercury, and who do not differ with
that paper point-blank upon any other important
question but that of Oregon. Our wing neighbor,
therefore, has deported himself, in thus publishing
the eccentric notions and views of those to whom
he is opposed, with his accustomed editorial
Gnssse and cunning. Is it too late to entertain the
hope that the Charleston paper-dscerning, as
surely it cannot fail see, the strange political cat
egory into which its mortal enemies at present
NOulu place U-SnOuiu nave Soou stlSt anu
discretion longer to play into their hands, and
hence avoid becoming an arrant dnpe to their de.
signs' We trust it is not too late to entertain a
hope so rational But certain il is, that, for some
time past--and we declare it with the sinceres re-
gret--many, very many Of those who are in poti-
cal affinity with the Mercury, have been utterly un-
able to comprehend its course ascertain the wis
dom ofits movements This is not the language Of an
affected establishment II is the truthful indication of
the Mercury As great admirers and as devoted
friends as Mr.. Calhoun has upon Gods earth, par
ticipate in these feelings of amazement and che
grin. We know they do. We have it from their
own lips. Undoubtedly, the complaint has been,
that the southern journal in question: so far as i,
could by isolated movements, or through extraya-
giant and groundless suspicious, annoy and enlbar-
rass those with whom it lately acted in common
cause has bent itself TO the task. We say this
omore in sorrow than in anger" We would not
say it, were it not notorious truth Il would be
nvidious, nor is it necessary, to recapnaie all the
little instances in which this Toward spirit has
been displayed by the Charleston paper. We
have no disposition to to the past evidences
in detail for they are rife in the public recollection
going to show the want of all generous confidence
on the part of that paper in the administration of
Mr.. Polk. From the first, it seems to have fallen
in with its humor, and to have been congruous with
an early determination, to PREJUDICE, and for the
worst--to magnify the inconsiderable, and distor
everything into a shape answerable to conclusion
"foregone"
The wings, for some time after the presidential
contest--without, of course, even the preext for
warfare upon the administrations soon as the
occasion was presented, eagerly awaited themselves
Of the editorial grumblings Of the ''Mercury," and
the pestilent trash Of its correspondents. Indeed,
but for the unaccountabe encouragement held out
TO them in that quarter the condition Of the oppo-
sition would have been as deplorabe and helpless
as one could well conceive. BY such means, how
ever, and such auxiliaries have they been kept in
heart
OF late, it came to be currently understood that
the Mercury" was not the exposition of Mr. Cal
houn's opinions; and hence that paper ceased to
command the attention which previous opinion OF
its reflected importance had attracted. But ambi
tous Of angular way Of thinking, and anxious, il
we are not mistaken, for that distinction which 60
ing alone confers, we find the Mercury investing it,
self with new importance, by running riot upon the
Oregon question. And the vanity Of that paper is
gratifed by speedy substitution ofits editorials in
the columns Of ,chig gazettes of "no humble pre-
tensons.n And withal, and to boot, those who
defer to democratic authority, are invoked to heark-
en- to the voice Of that Siaie which controlled the
decision in the Baltimore conveniion-the war
ranty, meanwhile, for this wing appeal against
Oregon, being found in the circumstance that
the locofoco editor of a newspaper in Carolina
has proclaimed against Oregon
Il would be well for those who quote the author
ity Of the controlling Sate to recollect that dele
gates from Carolina, though not formally &C.
credited to the Baltimore convention, were never
tbeless present, and asserting with enthusiasm tc
whatever was there resolved and decided upon a,