The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-01-12

the immense array Of attractive interests that con-
eentrated TO point to uphold Texas as an indie
pendent empire and al Of which ngloriously failed
before the all subduing potency Of an internal law
Of nature, that contiguous territory however remote,
must eventually melt into one government before
the irresistible and expansive force Of population,
power the social attraction OF gravItaton, and the
intensity of the central influence TO control the ex-
tremtes, as in the human body, where the heart
and the head govern all the members.
am aware that this argument may be opposed
by the fact Of her Britannia Majesty now having
actual possession Of a portion Of territory on the
northern limit Of our continent, and that large
tract Of Maine has been ceded by our government 10
that power. To this answer, that that fact is an
accident of time and occasion, having no appca'
ton to a principle in nature, which is eternal and
must eventually triumph.
Who can suppose for a moment that England
will continue 10 retain through all future time her
American possessonS' Like France, at one time,
she now thinks she will never surrender them, but
expend her last shilling and her last sigh in their de-
fence. France thought The same Of louisiana;
Spain thought the Of Flordaj In five years
England may be glad TO rid herself OF every foot Of
soil upon our continent IN order to concentrate her
undivided energies TO preserve her India posses.
sions secure breathing space nearer the seat Of
her natural empire at home.
! say natural empire, and beg attention to thus
palpable distinction, necessary to the present
discussion. Nations have heretofore governed by
natural and artificial unprecedented IN their
homestead or limits of contiguty, aud artificial
when exercising assumed power over remote pro-
vinces. Nations Of artificial grandeur commence
their power with provinces remote and distant;
they end their career Ivy their timely surrender If
they survive the stranghng embrace Of their unna-
ural children. What has Spain dwlndled to since
she lost her provinces in North and South America
What Portugal France, TO compensate for simi
lar Iosses, has established Algeria; who believes
she can retain ~ Yet such is the faiasm Of
kings who only flourish by aggression, and who
are sure to breathe their last when confined to their
homestead. Is England now acting on the lesson
furnished by her royal predecessors in the road to
RUM IL would really seem So
But to come back the subject Of claim, sir; there
is one ground Of title which no power earth can
controyert or take away from us II is that me-
morial of the people Of Oregon, asking for the
tension of our laws and constitution over that
country. This brings the question directly to the
principles of the American observation-disclosures
ment the rights Of man, and the sovereignty the
people. The people of Oregon are free, sovereign,
and independent They ask TO he governed by
American laws, which they have a right TO adopt,
and which we have right to grant, and which,
on no principle, have we right to refuse. As We
now stand in relation to Oregon, we never could
agree that she should become British province,
even if England had UNREASONABLE title to
that immense country. Without going into
an elaborate argument the details of claim
set up by Great Britain, it is enough for to
know that she has no claim superior to our own.
But for the sake of argument let suppose them to
he equal. On what ground can England lay claim
to territory, peopled by emigrants from the United
States-a territory contiguous to this Union-part
of the continent of North America, and assigned by
the fiat of nature TO the same manifest destiny
Here SIR we meet a claim TO the whole of that ter
rtory which subtle diplomacy and international law
in vain assail-the right of American born citizens
to free government and their liberty to choose their
own laws, without the interference of foreign
monarch thousands of miles remote from their home
stead.
DENY that Great Britain possesses any one prin-
cple of property in her favor TO the territory of
Oregon. She has no right of original discovery as
clearly appears from documents IN our possession;
and if she had, she show none by actual settle
ment, which is indispensable to establish a claim
by discovery; for no one will venture TO assert that
trading stations their necessary Accomplishments
in "a country like that, (military posts,) constitute
settlement as defined by Vattel, and other writers
on the laws of nations. What other title can she
have? Will she claim contiguity2 Will she tell us
that Oregon is more contiguous to Great Britain
than she is to u.s. Surely not, sir for whatever may
be her faults, England never commits an absurdity.
On our side, our claim to Oregon is clear, I'M
questionable, unprecedented from treaties
with Spain-derived from partial dlscoyery-from
actual settlement, and from the right of the people
of Oregon to choose their own. government; and in
pursuance OF tlul laws VI
public in which they frat drew breath. Descend
ants themselves Of the heroes and sages of lI76,
who can, for moment, suppose that they would
pass under that foreign yoke which their ancestors
had spurned with such signal success: Make them
subjects of king! Go bind the wave of the At
antic-or chain the whrlwind in its madness! Amer
can-born citizens have made permanent settlement
in that wild country. Not mere companies of trap
pers, with their military posts and garrlsons, who
only cultivate sufficient land for their present neces-
sities-but the settlement of families who build and
plant and there abide forever, TO transmit the soil
to their children. Now, sir, the British have no
such settlements, and the Americans have. There
is more title, sir, in plain fact like this than IN all
the treaties that were made, by which the alb.
right of discovery was sought to be transfer
red to another nation, who should also hold 1t as
an abstract right. We recognise this principle, as
far it goes, in all our pre-emptlon laws. we
make the labor and occupancy of the soil, the con-
sideration paid for its prnprietorship. True, this
does not reach 10 the disputed claims Of nations for
the same tract Of territory; but it illustrates by
analogy, the true principle OF propery for mean to
contend sir that discovery goes for nothing, unless
followed by actual settlement, and on this ground
| deny all foreign claims whatever; and if ours is
| not actual settlement, then was actual settlement
aover made IN any country by any people
To establish valid title to Oregon, the part of
Great Britain, she must show, first, title by dscov
cry acquired by treaty; second actual settlement as
upOuc ny the SuVJcS's W hOi hiHSuo",
third, contguity. Now, England can show not
even one of these titles. On our part we exhibit
them all First, discovery by Captain Gray, OF
Boston, second, acquired by treaties with France
and Spain from 400 up To $40 40 third by actual
settlement; and, fourth, by contiguity. complete
chain of valid title. Conugui,y is always Of a com
purative nature. 1t docs not imply contact; al
though the continent, of North America is one, and
all ira parts may strictly he said to be contiguous
though five hundred miles may separate settle
ment from another. Nor is it necessary that our
settlements should be public, political, or under the
express authority of government. The flag of the
Union as we are told by high authority, national
ICES all merchant vessels that are private and the
emgrant has all the rights of the flag of his native
land 1 shall not 60 to the customs of Europe for
authority on this point. If Great Britain makes all
settlements in the name of the king, it does not fol-
low that we, free and republican people, are to
! acquire a title to own territory by similar
means In fact and in truth, our mode of extend
ing territory is by the axe, the pick, and the rife,
as pioneers, as planters, hunters, and not as a
military cohort, by the force of the sword and
the musket. The chant of freedom is the charm
that we employ to acquire territory, not the clash oil