The Cadiz sentinel. [volume] (Cadiz, Ohio) 184?-1851, 1846-01-07

ntOTy than the last II is better to defend the
door-sill than the hearth,s one the porch, than
the altar. National character is richer treasure
than gold or silver, and exercises a moral inAu-
ence in the hour of danger, which, if not power
itself, is its surest ally. Thus far, ours is unfair
nished, and let us all JON, however separated by
party or by space, so to preserve it.
If we cannot recede, can we stand still? No,
Mr.. President: in this, as in all the other ele-
nenls OF national power and greatness, our duty
aud our destiny are onwards. We might as we'll
attempt 10 stay the waves of the Pacific, as 10
stay The udg of emigration which is settling to
wards its shores. If this government had the
it has not the power to arrest this hu-
man current. But ii has neither--neher the
power nor the disposition to do it. These are
questions of public right, which may rest in a.
beyance; which are not called into daily eXer
else; and need be asserted, only when required
Bui such is not the right by which We hold Ore
gOn. We must maintain it, or abandon it. A
vigorous and enlerprising people are fast increas
ing there, who will possess the country by the
best of all tllles--lmt Of occupation and i'm
provement; and if we do not provide them gov
eminent, they will provide one for themselves
Already necessity has compelled them to organ
ze their civil society, and 10 make those arrange
men's TOR the preservation of order, without
which no civilized community can exist. 1t is
only ii few days since they made known to you,
by iudjcious and wol-written memorial, their
condition and their wants; and asked your inter
position to remove the serious difficulties with
which they find themselves envroned. And
think you, that if their prayer is unheard, and
,ho oir ,,I nd ,ft thn
state of things continue, that you will find dis
tant colony pItientIy awaiting your tardy move
ments, and ready to admit your jurisdiction, when
you may be ready to exercise il? No, they will
feel themselves neglected, cast off, lett TO their
own resources, the victims Of diplomatic chica-
nery, or of national pusilIanimty, and they will
seek their own security in their own p0wer.--
That great truth, not applicable alone to repab-
lican governments, but common to all, and which
lay al the foundation Of our own revolution, that
protection and allegiance are reel proca, will soon
be heard upon the banks of the Columbia, and
will inspire the councils of the hardy pioneers
who, while they have sought a new home in a
distant country, have carried with them the SEN
iiments of true liberty to the regions beyond the
Rocky mountains.
1t is clearly impossible that the present state
of things should continue, nor, | must confess,
do see how it is possible that community, in
hnbting the slme region, and possessing the
same right tn every par. Of it, can hold divided
allegiance, and be governed at the same time by
two distinct and distant sOvereignlies. When
the present anomalous provision was made, the
country was unseuIed for the few hunters who
roamed over it could hardly be dignifed with the
name of settlers; and it probably never occurred
TO the negOtaors, nor to their gOvernmcns,l that
his arrangement would outlive the then existing
state of things, and would come to operate upon
IA civilized, stationary, and Il rapidly increasing
community.
But what kind of order can double-headed
government preserve?' How are lis departments,
legislative, executive and judicial, to be admins,
tered? How are rights to be enforced, or wrongs
10 be prevented or punished? Two neighbors,
living within hearing Of each other, are respon-
sibIe to different tribunals, and governed by diff
ferent codes of laws. An American killing an
Englishman must be tried by an American court
and by American laws. But how are English.
witnesses to be summoned,o or English dsturbers
of the proceedings Of the court to be removed or
punished? Possessory rights are to be judged
by the courts of the party last getting possession.
Contracts are to be enforced by the courts of the
party charged with violating them. A single
American in the midst of an English settlement,
or single Englishman in the midst of an Amer
lean settlement, belrs with him a charmed life.
He may do what he will, and as he will but he
is beyond the reach of restraint, and almost Of
punishment. He is invunerable; and the arrows
,f hi InpI H,o
nearest magistrate who has jurisdiction over him,
may be hundreds of miles removed; and were
he nearer, his national sympathies might natu-
rally be excited in favor of his countrymen.-
There can be no regular grants Of land--none,
in fact, of those public Improvements essential
to the progress and stability OF society. | pre-
sent merely the most general views on this sub.
ject; but they are sufficient to show how lmprac-
ticable it would be to attempt to establish this
double Jurisdiction. 1t would be easy to pursue
The investigation much further were it noces-
sary.
Who does not see that bitter disputes would
soon arise? That each party would accuse the
other Of partialily and injustice? That violence
and .bloodshed would follow and that an Intestine
war would establish the ascendancy Of one or
Olner OF theSc rlVal ana national parueSI All
this is so plain that he who runs may read. And
we are warned by the surest instincts OF our na-
ture not to trust our rights and our cuuso, and
The cause of humanity, to such partition of au.
thority.
If, then, Mr.. President, we can neither retrace
our steps, or check them, we must go onward.
And England has placed herself in the path that
is before us; and if she retains her position, we
must meet her. IF the last proposition she has
is her ultimatum, il is effectively a dec
Iaration of war. Its advent may be delayed
few months; but as soon as the notice expires, i'll
she persists, as she will do, in her occupation of
the country, the struggle must commence. 1t is
not the notice which is a beIligerent measure
IL L. =. /.