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

annul the convention relative TO the JOINT occu'
pancy Of Oregon.
Mr.. LEVIN rose and said;
Mr.. SPEAKER The question before the House
conceive To be identical with national independence.
For what are we called upon to decidel The de-
fence or surrender Of American territory to the ex-
actions Of an ambitious, grosping, and aggressive
foreign power. will not fatigue the House by an
examination Of the title under which we claim to
hold the Oregon territory | consider that question
settled on principles too broad and deep to be now
doubted by The most infatuated advocate of foreign
usuTpation. On this point, learning, statesman
ship and eoquenee have exhausted their resources,
and left no candid mind free from the conviction Of
the justice Of our claim, and the nSoence OF the for
oign pretension that attempts 10 invalldae II. As
summing this point, which take To be inyunerable,
how can we think Of making surrender Of estab-
hshGd rights, by a ACKNOWLEDGMENT of the American
emprei But before enter upon this branch Of the
argument so prolific in considerations Of great
weight and importance, beg to call the attention Of
the committee TO the circumstances OF title, that
stand forth as pre-exstent TO any treaties with, or
alleged discoveries by, foreign powers. And
here | maintain, sir, that American go can
not be aenHted even by treaty. 1t can.
not be dismembered nor can discoveries
of countries any part Of the continent OF North
America vest title in a foreign power to the SOIL so
alleged to have been discovered, or authorize that
foreign power TO COLOMBO any part or portion OF It
The ground now assume clearly laid down
by Mr. Monroe in 1923, and emphaticNlly respond
ed 10 by the voice the American people.
Am 1 asked on what found this principle ofia-
herent and pre-exstent right ! answer, on the ge-
MUS of American institntions-on the spirit of re-
publicanism that permits not the communicating
proximity of monarches upon the soil that we have
consecraied to the rights of man, and the sublime
machinery Of the sovereign power of the peoples on
the eternal laws OF God, which have given the earth
to man for habitation, and told him that the natu.
raj boundaries TO a country only terminate where
oceans intervene and contiguity ~ INSTRUCTED 10y
some formidable obstacle which separates nations,
and marks out their native home distinctly as If
drawn by the lines of military art. Natural boun-
daries and the genius Of people always harmo-
nze As their limits expansive, so will their
terprse be boundless and their spirit swelling The
natives of an island in the midst of wide oceans, of
mountains inaccessible to intruders, like those
of Switzerland will lie still, conented with their
cribbed and narrow confines But an island ada
cent 10 an immense continent will aspire to grasp
the continent, as does England whose natural fea-
lures are so doubuully defined by narrow channels
separating her from great continent. Her kings
have been crowned in Paris, and Waterloo subju-
gated all France. Consequently, we have always
her endeavoring to control the adjacent cont-
nent and when baffied in that object, throwing her
armies and navies distant oceans, to subju-
gate by conquest the helpless Hindoo, or extermi-
nate by the sword the more warlike American.
Her prosecutions, therefore, are possessions Of con-
quest-the might of physical force, not the justice
Of claim, derived from treaty, occupation, cultva-
ton, or any of the arts by which civilization inn
parts value to what she claims, and which consti-
tutes the Justice Of claim to the territory Of Or
egon to the extreme shores of the Pacific, as far
north as $40 40, 10 which Great Britain puts forth
doubtful claim of discovery subsequent to our
own--the gradual encroachment Of military
posts, and the spurious authority of treaties
dictated by her own ambition, and having no indie
pendent existence out of the sphere of her own in
IN sta with he pafn nj F,liD-
dation of all legitimate claims to national territory;
and il that principle pushes our adversary from
every foot of soil upon our continent, 1t Is conse-
quence that neither fear regret for, If the prln
cple be sound, it will push its way into universal
operation in spite of the fra mpedlments incident
to times circumstances, and seasons, till it prevails,
as il ever has DONE by the irresistible power of its
truth. mean the principle of contguity, free from
the intervening barriers Of formidable oceans which,
in the case of Great Britain presents at the outset
fatal blow to her claim TO any portion Of the con-
tinent Of North America.
In illustration of this obvious principle, must d.
rect your gaze Lou sana, held by France and Spain
on the unnatural tenure Of abstract right which
thousands Of miles Of intervening ocean exploded
upon grounds Of practical lmpossibility, that sove-
reignty should exist upon principle which violated
the eternal barriers of nature and of God. Yet
Louisiana was held by unquestionable titles, both
on the part of France and Spain. 1t may be said
acquired Louisiana by purchase. answer, that
does not affect the natural principle on which she
must inevitably have become ours, purchase or
no purchase. Who can, for moment suppose that
if we had not acquired Louisiana by purchase,
we should have acquired her by other means.
PROFESSIONALLY we should. Louisiana is by the
eternal laws of nature much part and
parcel of the United States as Ohio, or as
Wales is of England, Scotland, or ireland; all of
which have come into the great natural whirlpool
of English central power, by the force of the same
inevitable law. Behold the Flordas, too, once the
pride and boast of the Spanish crown-a gem that
she would never surrender--a jewel that pro-
traced the sckly dream other undylng grandeur even
after King Joseph had despoiled her converts, and
Napoleon had demonstrated her imbecllIty, by be-
striding her in her downfall, with her monarch,
Ferdinand VII, for prisoner, and her crown lwlrling
his finger ikea child's toy Could Spain have &c.
taned the Furdas even had she 80 resolved IN the
most rigid determination Oc proud royalty? We
know we all know that the mere idea is US vision
Hry as the spectres that haunt sick mans dream.
Florida ours by natural law-the law OF con-
tguity, that law which marks out the limits OF
oil nations on the lap Of earth, which gives identity
to Spain, consolidation to France, individuality to
the German empire natural features to Italy and TO
Rnusia, and unity TO Great Britain in England,
Wales, Scotland, and Ireland
And may | not bring this illustration down to the
last point Of national attraction, as seen in the
nexGton Of Texas? Could there be a more decisive
and clinchng argument in favor of claim to Or
egon than the annexation of Texas Not that !
mean to say we had any claim to Texas, derived
from treaty any short of that natural law
on whose irresistible power | lay emphatic af.
hrmatlve We had recognised the independence Of
Texas. The great powers Of Europe had also re-
cognIsed her independent republic; yet, behold
the fatality Of the natural law that suddenly and
by one blow places an extingusher upon all her
tlonal glory, and brings her into the bosom Of the
federal Unon-tho lone star, )" as has been so beau
TRULY remarked by the Executive, "becoming one
Of the glorious constellation"
Let me not be misunderstood sir. | do not
speak as having been advocate for the annexa-
ton Of Texas State, though willing to sec her
come in territory Of the United States When
cast my vote against the annexation Of Texas,
fixed my eye upon Canada, the principle Of whose
annexation exists in nature; and trembled az
thought Of the day when Canada might point to the
precedent you have established, and ask for an i'm
mediate representation on this foor--a representa-
ton based on the most Incorporating monar-
chIsts on the face Of the globe IT, them there was
anything in my attitude on that question which
might lead our southern friends to suppose that |
was arraying myself against them trust they will