The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-01-09

creased. The government will have become central
tzsd; Us checks weakened; its administration feder-
allied In all It's tendencies. The fabric Of State
rights will have been swept away, and remain only
as glorious dream and strong military bias will
have been given the future career Of our country
which, while il may be splendid in appearance will
bear within itself the certain elements OF destruction
Sir, this picture is not over wrought Ii is a
melancholy truth, too well attested be disputed,
that republlcanism, which grows 10 the genial smile
of peace, shrnks from the clash Of arms and yields
to the hercer bearing and swelling energies OF is
Antagonist principle, the one-man power-a princi-
pie which thnyes upon the wants, and fattens upon
the distresscs Of the country.
say this in behalf Of the whole country, and not
merely for my own, my native lsnd-lhe sunny
South In such a contest, come when il may, she
al least, has faltered in her allegiance TO the
whole country and Il Is now pride and pleasure
70 her sons, TO remember that the actions OF our gal
liant ancestry have been such, that no slur can he
cast, even by the malignant fanatic, upon her es-
Ieutcheon that history does not give the lie TO.
Strong IA all the elements of government her pecu-
liar Institutions (she has been accustomed to think,
and experience sustains her blu, strengthen her for
a war. .>M -. .... .. ~.
Dreadfui, however, as the results Of war must
necessarily be, they 10 be endured-and only 10
be thought Of 20 enable the better to prepare for
lift Is necessary Is toaT, then, necessary al this
iislsi The gentleman from Massachusetts, Mr.
ADAMS intimaies that he has "heaTd Of some ques-
give notice OF the termination Of the Joint Occur
pancy" apprehend that England will do no such
thing. Her title Ia derived, she proclams, from
her convention with Spain; and under il she claims
no exclusive right 10 an inch OF Oregon. notice,
then, TO would, in degree, impair the force
with which she urges her rights under that conven-
ton. A notice that she designed TO take exclusive
/ possession OF any part OF Oregon, would be no.
tee that she abandoned her position under the
Nsotsa Sound convention, which gives her no ex,
a -. L. a.
she rested her title upon other and, must think,
weaker grounds.
1 Does honor-"that blood stained god at whose
red altar sit war and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS us to
plunge into with Great Britain IL so, am
yet 70 hear the frs, argument In support Of il. The
proposition recently rejected by England was re-
jeeted in 1924, and yet Mr.. Monroe thought il no
cause for war A similar but more favorable prop
osItion TO England was rejected in 1878 and 1896;
and yet neither Mr. Monroe nor Mr.. Adams thought
that our honor had been insuted to such degree
az 10 demand blood 10 eff,ce IT, General Jackson,
Mr.. Van Buren, General Harrison, and Mr. Tyler
rested quietly after such rejection Of our offers Of
compromise, and deemed not that il was neces-
sary to give this notice to save the honor Of the
country. ... ,......
DO The ,oanb Of our feow-ctzens require war;
No. While we have millions Of vacant and fertile
land this siee of the Rocky mountains unappropri-
ated there are in Oregon, told, but 900 souls
inbabitins vast country, as large the original
thirteen States 900 miles long by 100 broadr So
far from the wants Of the emigrants to Oregon re-
quirinx it, they actually under obligations TO the
Hudson Bay Company TO such extent, for kind
and hosPitable acts, as to form what is even now
called there an English party, who dread a war!
The only other objects TO be attained by this agt
ntion of war; have been given vent to by repre-
sentative of miserable faction in Ohio fMr. GfD-
pIscs,l and by the gentleman from New York, fMr.
KING.1 OF the former viii say nothing and Of the
latter, only that this game Of president-making, at
the expense of such great interests is worthy Of be-
ing mentioned but to be denounced by every patriot.
As to the great and pure man at whom he mined,
Mr.. CALHoUs, he is far, far above his reach. That
English arrow, even though shot from New York
bow, and even though the gentleman may have
coneised IL TO be Wighiy shot, falls harmlessly Al
the feet Of that great statesman. II will not turn
him from the path Of duty, even though duty to his
country may prove a sacrifice of high and honora-
Bile hopes, which portion Of the country may have
entertained in relation to him. With him such sac
rifces have been but too common, that he should
now be deferred in his career by any miserable in
sect that may have crawled there
have thus endeavored, Mr. Chairman, to DEM
onstrate that, giving to England notice that we de-
sign to take exclusive possession of Oregon, will
produce war; that will either terminate in the
loss Of Oregon, or in efectng nothing towards per
fecting possession in us; that England will not give
the notice, and that neither the honor nor the wants
Of the country require us to do.
| l now propose to show, sir, that system Of
peaceful measures will tend much more efectualy
to give us call Of Oregon" than warike movements
will. ....-......-.
/ would say, then, pass your military bills. am
willing to vote to increase the number of our COM
panies fifty or even one hundred per cent, and to
raise mounted regiments sufficient to protect emgra-
ton to Oregon over our vast western plains.
am ready to vote to build block-houses, not only
the route to the South Pass, but to build them in
Oregon, as England has done.
| | am ready n bulld sIch n stnfon n the South
Pass, will enable the emigrants as they reach a
point from which they can look upon the vast
Atlantic slope the one hand, and that of the Pa
cifc on the other, TO recruit and reft there.
/ am ready to our people there with the agis
Of laws, to the extent that England has protect
ed her subjects. a.
am ready to offer such other and more tempting
inducements to its settlement, as gentlemen may de-
wise, in order that in five years time, hundred
thousand men may be thrown in the Wales and
amidst the hills Of this disputed land.
Amongst such population, would readily be
found at least toenty thousand rfemen, well acquaint-
ed with the country, hardy and enterprisng, and
each well trained to a sklful use of his splendid
national weapon With such force there, would
entertain no fears Of any attempt TO dispossess of
the country II would then be, by population and
the means which l have marked out, part and
parcel Of our Union. As such, it never could be-
conquered. 1t is differently situated now. But
England-who, IA have repeatedly said, claims no
under such state Of facts, and must, therefore, by
the laws of necessity and population, be quietly
rooted out. Perhaps her Hudson Bay Company
would have to be remunerated. The Maine treaty
furnishes precedent by which that can readily be
done. Let this be done, and we shall have realized
the prophecy, and sincerely believe, what was the
wish at the time, Of Lord Castereagh, expressed
twenty years ago to our minister--"Why are you
Americans anxious to push this negotiation In
a short time you would conquer Oregon in your bed
chambers" And most assuredy this will not be
deemed treason in me, il say that such mode Of
perfecting possession of that disputed land is far
preferable to any more bloody issue.
| But, if dissatisfied with this course, Great Brit
ain becomes alarmed, and appeals to the sword,
| then will the memories Of every glorious battle
field where we have proven our steel with her, an
innate our people to do their duty. In that event,
the West, nerved by recollection Of the atrocities
committed ut the River Raisin--the East and Allan
tic board excited by remembrance of this burning
Capitol and their desolated towns--and the South,
animated by the spirit which, on the plains Of New
Orleans protected from British lust and rapine its
"beauty and bootyr--will shoulder to shoulder and