Sunbury American and Shamokin journal. [volume] (Sunbury, Northumberland Co., Pa.) 1840-1848, 1846-01-17
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CsrR.cr or "A srswcH or rHk Hon Jons
Quiscr ADAMS "a 10 bsssF
While we sit talking here about regiments Of
rifleman, and regiments Of infantry, and stock
/, aae forts, and nppers aad miners, and pontoniefs
r,rea, Britain is aiming hef stram.vessels. equip
ping her ffigates and line of-bat,le ships, and
sending troops over here to be ready uo,sh
;-e" resolution giving the notice rHIs DAr. IL
hoped that majority of the House coula be OBJ
ta;nrd TO effect the measure ..f
tMr WrS1wohrH here moved that the rnlcs
be suspended to afford an opportunity for sncha
notion bnt the motion was pronounced to be
ont Of order.1 ..--s.ss-
Mr.. ADAMS resumed. feel myself scarcely
authorized to hope that should be successful
shoulA make the motion Bnt for this would
have novel it on the frst.day Of the session Be,
rause have SO profound a sense Of the duty OF
aiherihg to treaties, I feel debarred from the
least act of hostility. or even from meeting hos.
,lity manifested elsewhere, till notice shall have
been given. While our convention remains, I
will vote no increase of the army or navy, no
fort or stoekade, no infantry, no sappers, or mi.
ncrs. All must depend on that II this shal be
made the special order for, Tuesday, hope il
will be arranged by the gentlemen who manage
the business Of this House. that the question Of
giving notice shall come up on the same day, and
shall be taken up before any thing else. II is
mere wasting Of time, and whistlng to the wind.
TO talk about raising military force until our
conscience is clear from the obligation of tine
convention.
And it does not follow that, if we give notice,
there must of necessity be war; nor does it even
follow that we shall then take possession 1t
will only be saying to Great Britain: after ne
gotiating about twenty years about this matter,
we do not choose TO negotiate any longer we
shall take possession Of what is our own and
then, tito settle The question what is our own,
you wish to negotiate we will negotiate as long
yon please. H's nnv negotiate eeer Ue take
possession. Much lanchterl That is the mill.
tary way Of doing business. Increased merri.
ment.] When the great Frederick came ia the
throne of Prussia his father had prepared and e.
qupped for him an army Of an hundred thousand
men. Meeting, shortly after. an Austrin Minis.
ter, the latter said to him "Yonr father has
seen the wolf, yours have not" "Well, WE'LL"
said Frederick. II will give them an opportuni,
ty to see the wolf"-Frederck then added in his
memoir: al had some excellent old pretensions
to an Austrian province which some Of my an
cestors had owned one or two hundred years be.
fore, and sent an ambassador TO the Court of
Vienna stating my claim, and presenting full
exposition of my right to the province.-The
same day my ambassador was received in Wen.
ma entered Silesia with my army" a taught
So you see that on the very day his army entered
Siesia, he gave notice TO the Conrt Of Vienna
that the convention for the joint occupation Of 81.
lesia was ended. Loud and prolonged laughter.
say. therefore, that hope the first m easure
adopted by Congress be to give, in the most so.
lenn manner, the notice to Great Britain which
the treaty requires then the coast will be clear
for us to do what we please. 1t does not, I re.
peat, il does not follow as a necessary conse.
quence that, because we give this notice, we
must take possession, though it is my hope tha,
we shall II does NOT necessarily draw after il
q war; and il Great Britain chooses to take such
notice act ofhostility on our part, and forth
with commence hostiities on hers, we have beer
told that we shall all be but one party, and Goo
Almighty grant that may be so ! Ifi shall b
so, the war will have less Of those very extraor
dinary terrors which my friend from South Car
olina tMr. HoLMEs) has now just discovered, not
withstandng the extreme military propensite.
which he manifested on this floor last year.
The gentleman was most valiant man wher
Texas was in question. But | shall draw ne
more comparisons as to what We witnessed ther
and what we see now but this will say. that
hope, If war shall come--which God forbid, ant
Of which l entertain no fears at all-the Who'll,
country will have but enc heart and one mite,
hand And Of this am very sure, that in tha
case Great Britain will not long occupy Oregon
or any thing else North OF the Canada line
tGreat sensation. and incipient indications Of ap
plause.) but ifyou will agree to notice, stron,
as is my horror of war, and Of oil military estab
li,hments, if there should be the breath of life il
me, hope | shall be willing to 60 as far a. an,
in making any sacrifice TO render that war sue
cessf,l and glorious. can say more. But
till notice is given l am not prepared to vot
any preliminary measure Of military kind.
suppose, however, that we may, without givin
notice, extend our laws and our protection to ou
brethren who have settled at least in that part {
Oregon which is not claimed by Great Britain
but there can be no need of increasing our arm
and our navy in order to do that. ! hope III,
such act viii. no, be offensive to Great Britain
and that she will not think Of going TO war abo,
il.