The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-04-09

Il
| question. There was and had been, great differ
| ence of opinion among the members OF that body
\ he believed an honest difference; and many among
| them had been anxious, from the commencement OF
! the debate, TO obtain all lhe light they couId
on that interesting question. That was their duty
| He had seen no manifestation Of feeling there un-
becoming the Senate of the United States and he Ut
terly denied that the Senate had paralyzed the arm
of the government, or that charges made against il
from any quarter true, that il had acted any
but the highest and most honorable motives on the
question.
Mr.. ALLEN followed. He did not intend to re-
new the discussion that morning, or intend TO make
more than few remarks in reply TO the senator from
Delaware, lMr. CLAYTON, a act of justice 10
himself The senator greatly in error, or rather
was in great error, in supPosing he lMr. A. had
charged anything on the Senate. What he said
and what appeared in his reported remarks, not cor
rected by him, but still reported correctly was, that
the effect of the action of the Senate would be, not to
parayse the arm fthe Executive alone but the OF
the government including the aggregate of its parts
| the President, Congress, &c. He did not mean to
say it the intention Of the Senate to paraIyze
the arm of government, but he said that would be
the consequence of the proceedings they witnessed
| there And what were those proceedings Why
they were delay, hesitation, and course OF discus
sion calculated TO encourage Great Britain to advance
claims and pursue thsm, he had said before, to
| the swords point. When he would ask, had Great
made for her during the discussion OF the matter
| in that bodyP Where was the English State paper,
where was the speech Of member Of Parliament,
where was the solitary English newspaper or any
thing emanating from the English mind, which gave
| so colorado a title to Great Britain as what
they had heard on that Aoorl He did not say
| senator's had transcribed what they believed
their duty in that particular; he did not say they
hal done that which they had no right to do; but
he would say the effect Of such things-of such a
protracted hestating, faltering course was to en-
courage Great Britain TO claim beyond that which
she otherwise should claim, and accept dernisr
resort. He was not going TO renew the Oregon dis
| cussion on that motion. He had said yesterday
what all knew, that arguments had been used there
and repeated and over again, TO the dlsparage-
ment OF our title part of that territory -argu-
ments which they were told by some senator's they
would not utter were their tongues to blister in their
| mouths, The senator was therefore wrong in say
! ing he (Mr. Az intended to attack the Senate
| for what il did. But he was bound in justice and
truth itself to express his opinion TO the effect
| Of what had been done there. How could they lie
gisate otherwise Ought not the effect Of their ac-
tons be the very rule Of their sction Ought they
not to look to the effect OF what they did the
| whether they should do it or mott There no
other test in legislation but the effect Of their meas
ures. Now, as to the Ashburton treaty, he would
not make allusion TO it then, but at another time
would do so, if necessary. He did not intend to
| u
order of things. Every one knew the remarks he
/ Ind made there confined to illustrate the posi-
ton that Great Britain had always specific object
in her policy with all mankind, but especially with
the United States, and that settle cause OF
quarrel at a time, keeping the others periods
most auspico for herself, and he had referred to
the correspondence quoted to show that that her
policy now but he did go into the details Of the
| treaty. He knew that would be wading into a
broad bog, and opening a discussion that might
keep them for the balance of the session of Con-
| gress. He knew many grave matters were in
voved, and that 1t was impossible to introduce their
discussion then with due regard to the public in
terests In regard to that treaty and negotiation he
made threats in regard to the future, nor should
he be palsied by any remarks made by others He
would proceed, on proper occasion, whenever ii
arose in the discharge of his public duty to ex-
anime that treaty in all its details, and the circum-
! stances attending its negotiation.
| Mr.. CLAYTON here rose to reply, and inquired
| whether the senator from Ohio had acknowledged
| his speech reported in the newspapers
Mr.. ALLEN replied he had referred to the Union
report, but, from from its general accuracy he did
not doubt it was accurately reported in the Intelli
gencer.
Mr.. CLAYTON said the remarks of the sena-
tor were very correctly reported in the Union
also. He then read extract of the
speech of the senator from Ohio, comprising his
structures on the Senate, and proceeded. 1t was he
| said, to that he had referred. His (Mr C.'s) OBJ
ject was before, and now, to vndicate the Senate.
The senator from Ohio now said il not the in
tention Of the Senate to parayze the Of the Ex
ecutive; he did not assai their motives but he said
it was the effect Of some portion of the debates
there, without the Senate intending to effect such an
object, and that portion the discussion of
the title by those who believed we had no
good title beyond 49 degrees. He was not
one of those who had discussed the ques
ton Of title at ALL Early in the session he
bol nj, 4 u rinap hat, he k.t,a
to reserve the discussion of title until treaty was
presented to the Senate. But those who had chosen
TO discuss that question, were certainly provoked to
it by those who entertained different opinion, and
who attempted to show title good beyond 49o
The discussion had not commenced with those who
believed our title beyond ago defective; they did so
in sslf-defence, and from sense Of duty. He had
desire to impeach the intention Of gentlemen
there, but he would ask if the claim of our govern
ment to $40 40 were sustained there, would it not
have the tendency to paralyze the arm of the
utive government He would leave it to the coun-
try to answer that question.
Mr. CALHOUN then rose and said, that he felt
some embarrassment in saying anything the
question before the Senate and the reason was that
the matter came before them in double aspect
In one aspect it was the of negotiation which
had failed, and in which they were called upon to
perform certain acts. In another aspect it was the
case of pending negotiation. 1t not easy to
imagine two which demanded more directly
opposite action. If the negotiation were still pend
ing, in his opinion, there might be question as to
the propriety Of the resolutions; but if the negots
ton were finished and the Senate being called to
perform certain acts, it desirable to have all the
information that could possibly be obtained The
only question was which was the stronger of the
two cases Now, then, such being the state of the
business, as he relied upon the discretion of the
Executive, and believed that he had too much
frmness in case Of pending negotiation to cemmu,
nicate anything injuriousy affecting the question;
and if there were any information that might with
propriety be communicated, having bearing either
upon the notice or the measures which they had
been called on to perform by the executive depart
ment;it was proper that they should have it, In
that view of the case, with.a Difference to the Ex-
ecutve, he (Mr. c. felt himself compelled to vote in
favor Of the call But that not the only question
The chairman of the Committee on Foreign Rea.
tons had used language certainly in its bearing-i
not nended-calculated to press upon the charac-
ter of the Senate and the course they had pursued
on the question of the notice. He Mr.. Allen
complained that they had made out a stronger case
for the British title than the British had made out
for themselves. He (Mr. c. appealed TO every