The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-12-05
ST. LOUIS, Nov. "a, ls45.


To the editor of the Union:
The editorials of the "Union" of the 18th and
18th instant, upon the subject Of Oregon, read
with infinite satisfaction by the friends OF democra-
cy, as well as large proportion of wings all over
the West, and afford great encouragement to the
friends Of Oregon in this quarter.
You advocate the bold and patriotic doctrines
which should have obtained with the administration
party more than twenty years ago, at the time when
the late Governor Floyd, Of Virginia, was devoting
all the great powers of his mind to the accomplish
ment of this noble purpose.
A portion Of the wing press Of the country, and
the commercial interests along the Atlantic coast,
will doubtless strive to drown the agitation of the
question, by camoring that will be the inevitable
result; but trust there will be faltering the
part of the Executive in his forthcoming message,
which is now looked for with the deepest interest
, throughout the West
No one who will give thorough and unpreju-
diced examination TO the subject doubt that ouI
title to the whole Of Oregon is clear and unquesona
bls-and why, then, should we not possess it eni
tire1
| The chances Of war should not weigh a straw
with US, against the question of positive right and
! no more believe that England would madly declare
war upon such slender pretensions Of right on he.
part, than that she would willingly instigate violent
insurrectisn among her own subjects. She knows
she cannot frighten us she did Old Spain in 1880
on this same question. She has, however, always
counted much upon the ultimate possession Of al
least all that portion of Oregon north of the Colum
bia river; and the officers Of the Hudson Bay Com
pany have determined not to permit our people &c
make settlements north of that stream. Still, the
saying that Oregon-the ,rhols Of Oregon--shall b.
| ours.
| Thousands have lately gone beyond the Rocky
mountains TO assert and maintain the claim
England, therefore, may well prepare to surren
der her joint occupancy, when called upon, without
r.. "a L.
entire.
| If the President adheres TO the firm and decided
stand at first taken by him. he will be nobly sustained
by the people, and that he is thus resolved the late
articles in the Union would seem to indicate; and
hence the joy which is everywhere felt in the Wes
since their reception here.
| A delegate is even now in our city, with sealed
dispatches from the authorities and people of Ore.
gon to government, to be presented through the
Missouri delegation; and, from the arguments and
appeals which these papers will exhibit in support
Of the immediate extension of our laws over that
country, you will be able to derive the highest salts
faction for the zeal with which you have espoused
their interests, and the interests of our whole coun.
i try in that quarter.
Dr. White the bearer Of the papers, left our set.
dement's in the Willamette valley, about the 10th
of August; and, from the fact that he performed the
journey with the aid and protection afforded by
only three companions, (though robbed on the
very borders Of settlements by the warlike
Pawnees) you will be able TO Judge Of the apparen,
security and facility with which our people can
already pass to and from that country, by the South
pass in the Rocky mountains
Even if we were TO compromise with Great Brit
ian for the 400 of north latitude, we would almost
lose the only valuable harbor for large vessels the
Oregon coast, and the whole of the important is
land of Vancouver would fall to England.
| One has only to read Lieutenant Wilkes descrip.
ton of the strait of 81. Juan de Fuca, and the
orocsb he hail Ma
nermost extremity, to be satisfied that the value Of
| this inlet and broad bay to our commerce in the
Pacific and with China mast. in a short time, pos.
sess an almost incalculable value. Those of our
statesmen who affect indifference to our rights and
interests in Oregon at this late day. know not wha
they do, and are almost half century behind the
keen perceptions of the Statesmen of Great Britain
1 who live so much more remote from that region thar
| we do And yet they are ready to place their vas
navy in requsition, If the London Times may be
believed, to sustain the merest color of right to the
country in question; while Mr.. Webster cannot see
| why we should care enough for our immensely val
liable interests there to take the trouble to extend
our own laws over the country, and protect the new
/ settlers from outward harm
| Stand firm, then, pray you, in the assertion Of
our important rights on that part Of the continent
and Great Britain will yet be compelled to admi
that people able and fully determined to sus
tain the declaration of Mr.. Monroe, that "Europear
monarches must no longer be permitted to colo
nze any portion Of this continent"
/ Oregon is ours, and must forever remain SO. Our
people have gone thther and planted the germ o.
our institutions in her remote vallies; and they like
the noble Texans, will insist upon being part and
(, parcel Of this great confederacy of States. The
1 Rocky mountains will constitute no barrier between
the Oregonians and us to the formation Of contn,
uous empire, and unity Of social and political in ter
eats from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
/ The improvements of the age have annihated
space. How, then, can any one suppose that tn,
people of Oregon will ever to be separate
republic'
i Truly, Mr.. Webster falls not only behind III,
spirit Of the age, but below himself on this grea
question.