The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-02-19


Of compromises which his predecessors had m.A.
IL has had good effect al home and abroad II H..
united the public mind at home, and IL has aui,t.I
the ebution which the misapprehension of Inc !.
augural address had produced in Great Britain. h,
has united our people for the event. be il VIII,
IL may and 1t has produced abroad a state of 81
ing highly favorable 10 friendly negotiation The.
great points gained by the renewal Of the ill.,
raj offer Of compromise, and ! rejoice that we hsy,
gained them.
The President has declined the offer Of arhi,,.
lIon made by Great Britain. | think he did r-s,
TO do So The interest at stoke is too large for X,
species of settlement. Territorial rights TO conn,
Try large enough fora great kiT gdem is not ,uA.
ect for individual aTbtrament, whether of crovnsa
heads, or Of citizens or subjects. Small matt,r.
may be referred. Things not worth contest NAV
be referred. But an empire of territory, with u,st
rivers and harbors, contiguous 10, and indspsnss.
ble to, one of the parties, holding claim for NV
years, which Il feels TO be valid Is not matter d,
arbitration. No such imperial territory ever VA,
submitted 10 arbitration and Ia all probability new,
will be. The previous administration rejected \
thought il did right he present admnisrsto.
rejects il AGAIN. think il does right am sgulo.
arb uaIion under all forms, and in favor Of eoniD
uing TO negotiate under the better auspices whisA
the adoption Of the Presidents reeonmsndatOO.
will lend TO our cause.
The President recommends four measures.
notice for terminating the convention Of Joint ma,
9. An extension Of law and government 10 the h.
habtants Of the disputed territory. 3. The pro,e.
ton Of military posts, and military escort 10 the tn
grants who 20 there. 4. The establishment Of |,
monthly mail. He reserves for future oocs.o,
the recommendation Of land grants TO the sm,
grants.
| concur with tho President in all these recon.
mendations. They seem 70 propose nothing bs
what we have a right TO do-nothing but what
necessary TO the preservation Of our rghts and me.
ests--no, hing To which Great Britain can object
One Of these measures--that Of tho military ~
tons and escort-has already received the ssncio.
Of the Senate; the extension Of law our peop,
is TO be nothing but the copy Of the British act snd
for the mails, Il ~ mere police regulation good M
all parties and which may not take the form q
mail line. The mounted regiment, il raised. s,x
the military posts, II established, will furnish viii
out expense, the safest and surest eonyeyano,
Four OF Ave mounted men, armed and supplied A
each post, subject to military subordination, and
relieved by fresh men and fresh horses at escA
post, and able TO project and defend themselves /,
traversing wilderness country, exposed TO savsrs.
and to all the accidents Of food ADD field, vilk
the safest and sursst mail and will cost nothing.
These three measures need no yindication. Do.
coed to the one that does.
The termination Of the oint-use convention Il "A.
contested point. II is on this point that We have
some diversity Of opinion, and on which il is prop
or that each should contribute what he can 70 In.
unanirnity which IL is so desirable TO attain For
myself, my own mind has been made up upon i, iet
twenty eight years-frop the day Of the promulss
ton of the convention iself | was then practising
lawyer on the west bank Of the Mississippi, ant
had place either in the State national eounes
but occupied a position, geographically, 10 main
me observant of the political movements which con-
cerned the GREAT WEST, and to render me sens
tive 10 the mischief which might grow out OF lhos
movements. then saw, and SOW at once, the evils
Of this convention and wrote down and published
what saw; and, IL il was not for the egotsm which
the exhibition would imply, would now read vha,
then wrote my present speech for getting nd Of
a treaty which ! condemned from the first mo-
ment Of its revelation to my view. 1t ap.
pesred to me then, and time has proved the co.,
rectness of my view, TO be a treaty Of unmiId
mischief TO the United States delusye and fallaeiou,
in its terms Of reciprocity unjust and one
sided in its operation fatal TO our immediate pas.
session Of the Columbia-dangerous TO our ultimate
title -entangling us in disadvantageous and snis
ter connexion--and precisely calculated to accom-
plish the object which II professed 10 prevent The
professed object ofthe convention was 40 prsren
disputes and differences among hemseires;" and III.
means Of this prevention was 20 mix up the people
of the two countries in the joint use Of rivers har
bors, countries, Indian trade, and intercourse, in
wilderness region, several thousand miles distant
from metropolitan authority, and without Law OF
government TO control or direct them. Sir, the pa
trsrchs could not live together under such circum.
stances. and Il was m vain to expect that fartu.
ders-British and American fur-traders-cauld be
more harmonious than they. A private individual
in 1918, condemned this oint-use convention from
the moment that first saw IL: member Of the Sen
ate when 1t was renewed in 1928, spoke and vo
ted against it, My name stands recorded against
in the executive journal. Not altogether, bat a.
most solitary and alone, il stands so recorded.
Cobb Of Georgia, Eaton of Tennessee, Ella Of
Mississippi, Kane Of Illinois, and Johnson and Rowan
Of Kentucky, voted with me; and we seven then
constituted the ,oality of the small phsanx which
condemned treaty which now receives such uni.
versal condemnation. / have been agans, this joint
convention from the beginning. have never seen
the day that would not have terminated il i'll could
and rejoice that the time has now arrived TO see
terminated. a.Ga
That convention has done us great mischief, first
in depriving Of the benefits Of the Client treaty
in relation TO the Columbia. By the first article Of
that treaty, we had right to the restitution Of that
river, which had been taken from us during the war
AS carly as the month Of July lSl5-withih six
months after the ratification of the treaty-Presidsn
Madison took measures for its restoration. He ap
piled for an order to that effect to the British charge
d'affaires at that time in Washington, Mr. Antony
st. John Baker, who declined giving it on th.
ground of want of instructions from home Ap
London, and by them the order was given Our
right to restoration and TO DO the party in posses
sion while treating of the tle and until the question
Of title was decided, was amply admitted by Lord
Castlereagh. This was in February, 1918. On The
first day Of October of that year, Mr. Provost, The
United States agent for the purpose, was carried 10
the Columbia in British sloop-of-war and the ~
titution of the country was formally made to him,
All was then safe for the United States and w
might have proceeded at our leisure and without
question from any quarter, TO occupy, SETTLE and
ern the Columbia like any other territory of,he Unr
ted States. Unfortunately, in the very
agent was receiving the country under the Ghent I
treaty, our ministers giving back under new
treaty in London. The convention for the Join. use
OF each others territories west Of the Rocky noun
tains, was signed on the the Doth day of the same
October; and if il had been convention for the total
surrender Of the Columbia to the British, and the
total expulsion Of Americans from il, it could no!
have been more effectua for that purpose than i
was. All Americans were Immediately expelled
from the country, and all appeals to our Congress
give protection 10 our countrynen there, were meth
the stipulaons Of this convention, which gave by
British equal rights there with ourselves Welcd
everything, and gained nothing, under this deusiw
convention, which was, in fact, both geographical
Szl.t .aal Il Il.