The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-01-22

ments." Such had been the history Of that Dues
tom but now the whole Of Oregon was clsimed IL
the message, insisting that our title TO the who'
must lie maintained at all hazards; and some gen
tlemen in that House, unmihd full, too, of former
pledges, when they had aseertained that the Presi
dent had left the line of $40 40 and had come dowr
TO the line If 4qo endorsed that position as a fa
and equitable propositions, yet when The Ptesden
refuses to stand TO his offer Of 1870 and returns
the principles Of the Baltimore resolutions and as
serts our tie.to the whole of Oregon, they instant
y follow, and declare that our title to the whole ter
ritory must be maintained Yet my colleague, Mr.
SrAsroE,l in his speech on yesterday, remarked
in the face Of the present position of the Presiden
and Of many Of his frepds, that il Great Britain
should now accept the offer OF the 9Th parallel nc
American statesman would say our government
should not accept that compromise; indeed such
have been the sentiments Of many Of the friends oil
the Executive who have addressed this House. Az
ter the present Executive, through his Secretary
OF State, had offered TO the British government tc
give up one-hslf Of this territory, by adopting the
18th parallel as a boundary; after that offer had
been rejected by the British minister and then with
drawn, and our title TO the whole again asserted the
question presented itself In this view and no other
The President, after having offered TO give away
otie-half Of Oregon nov called Upon the nation "a
msinIan, at sll HAZARDS, and by every sacrifice
which courage and patriotism could prompt, ouI
right to thai portion Of the country which he had
IL 5s little Tsmarkable to, observe what course
had been pursued by some OF those most conSpicp
Gus in the nttion for the zeal professed by them On
this Oregon question. To Mr.. G. that course APP
peared, in no small degree, inconsistent and unac-
countable. What course, for example, had been
pursued by the Committee on the Territories in that
House two years ago-in the session Of l943' The
ground assumed in their report had been, that the
House Of Representatives possessed power To
pass Joint resolution giving notice 10 England OF
the termination Of the convention of 1927. They
took ground directly against the notice, maintaining
that 1t belonged to the treaty power and not the
national legislature 10 give H. and that the President
would doubtless give the notice whenever In his
Judgment the public interest should require it. Al.
though he was not now prepared TO endorse this
opinion, and waving it for the present, he yet de.
sired to refresh the memories Of gentlemen. He
would take the liberty OF reading an extract from
the report then made by committee, the chair nan
Of which was the standard bearer Of The Democratic
party in Tennessee:
,sihf twelve months, notice required to be given by
!, contemplated BY this bill The eoJnmiuss do not Know
that for the purpose Organizing such govern@ent as Is
gate that convention That country large and there
evidently enough for the subjects and citizens ofboh
commerce All that will be required Of them is to conform
to the laws and TO respect the institutions which may
establish Doing this We shall never envy the equal psrt
ciPstion in the benefits and advantages be derived from
weorganLed system Of government Any possible incon.
venence arising from the continuance Of the OF
less will be looked TO by the Executive who can at any
time shrogsts the by giving the notice contemplated
ulaon belongs perhaps exclusively the Executive on
whose province there Is no occasion snd the committee
have no inclination, to intrude
Now he would ask, who was the chairman who
made this report to the House, II was the present
governor of Tennessee; the Hon, A. V Brown a
prominent member Of the last Congress-. And of
whom did the committee consist II consisted Of
the Hon. Mr.. DANIEL, of North Carolina, the Hon
Mr.. HousroE, of Alabama, the present chairman of
this committee, (Mr. TIBBArTs Of Kentucky and
the Hon. Mr.. WENTWORTH, of Illinois, the same
gentleman who had on yesterday spoken with so
mitch ,oarnsstness in behalf of the notice together
with Mr. Duncan, OF Ohio. or these six gentle
men four were now members OF this Hotis6. The
report contested the right of Congress to interfere
with the question OF notice, inasmuch as that be-
longed TO the treaty power. and the committee had
neither The right the inclination 10 infringe upon
the duties of the Executive department.
Mr.. WENTWORTH here interposed, and said he
had not heard the remark Of the gentleman in
which his name introduced. He would thank
the gentleman TO repeat It,.
Nj c. said he had famed Nh. w. as one mem.
Der of the Committee the Territories, in the last
Congress, from which report had been made that
Congress had no power TO give such a notice as that
now proposed, and the production of the report at
the present moment did but prove the truth of the
old adage which declared that ''old documents are
dangerous things"
mfr. WENTWORTH said that no man on that floor
would accuse him Of advocating any such doctfine
The report had been drawn up by Mr. A. "
BRowN and Mr.. W. had disclamed the position in
a minority report
Mr. c. said there was no minority report on file.
Mr.. WENTWORTH then requested that the extract
to which the gentleman had referred might be read
by the clerk, and it was read accordingly at the
clerks table.
Mr. w. having listened to the extract said that
it amounted to nothing more than what he had said
yesterday. He had been in favor Of passing the
tce without the Oregon bill, and that the House
should take one or the other bit not take both to-
gether
Mr.. c. Yes; but the report said that the giving of
the notice belonged to the President and not to
Congress
mir. w. replied tina, it had been written by Mr..
Mr.. c. now resumed. Such had then been the
doctrine Of leading gentleman from Tennessee,
though not, as 1t now appeared, of the gentleman
from Illinois. In the speech Of the gentleman
from Tennessee, delivered the 9th January,
lS45, the same doctrine was again avowed and
further enforced Mr.. G. read from that speech the
following extract:
There might be collisions to be in joint oceupa
ton and when they they must be provided for but
the question OF the probability Of collision not
which addressed itself to this House at all That
question for the consideration of the Executive whether
should give the notice contemplated by the convention
OF 1897 Now tile Committee the Territories believ
when they reported this bill that they acting strictly
and exclusively within the Legislative powers Of Congress
that they leaving the Executive to act when
pleased with regard to giving this notice terminate
what usually called the joint occupation Of this
try. That question with which they did intend
to interfere
In reply to this speech, the honorable gentleman
from Massachusetts, Mr.. ADAMsl had made the fol-
lowing remarks:
He would give the twelve months notice, because in
that respect differed essentially from the principle
by the chairman of the Committee the Territories
that this House had nothing do with the Termination
the joint occupancy. On the contrary, he believed that
this House had everything to do with H. because
and the power was expressly given TO Congress
by tho constitution"
That was the position then taken by the venera-
BILE gentleman. In his reply he then said that the
notice war; he says that il is not war, but
peace. He then contested the opinion Of the chair
man, who denied the power Of the House to pass the
notice, expressly upon the ground that the notice
amounted to war, and, therefore, the House ought
to be party to it, because the House, by the
stitution, possessed the power Of declaring war.
The gentleman then sounded the note Of war, in-
A. ~ IL Az