The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-01-08

the rights Of American citizens there"
In 1914, in letter TO meeting in Cincinnati, he
| said
Let Texas be annexed, and the authority and laws
of the United states be established and maintained
within her limits, also In the Oregon errtoTyj and let
the edpolcy o. our government be- not TO permit Great
hold dominion over any portion Of the people or territory
ofether,n
In addition, he proclaimed, in his inaugural adj
dress, on the 4th of March last, that our vile to
Oregon "cear and unquestonable." lie can
not therefore, aeeede TO the Ash parallel, dlsembar
rsssed Of the previous transactions of his predeccs
sors, without perpetraIing inconsistency and II
could only have been because he says IN his mes
sage, that Gin U5toberi 1913, the envoy exraordi
nary and minister plenpotentiary Of the United
States in London was authorized 20 make SIMILAR
offer to those made ia 1918 and lS26p by his pre-
deeessor which were the 49th parallel, together
with the free navigation Of the Columbia, that he
felt hmSelf at liberty to offer as much as the 18th.
In explanation In his message, he declares
Had this been new question coming under discussion
for the first time, this proposition would not have teen
made The extraordinary and wholly inadmissibe dc
mands Of the British government and the rejection OF the
proposition in Difference alone what had
BY my predecessors and the implied obligations which
that no compromise which the United states ought 10 ac
cept can be effected With this conviction the proposition
compromise which had been mrde and rejected by
my direction subsequently, withdraw and our tits to the
whole Oregon territory asserted, and believed mair
tanned by frefrsgshle facts and arguments"
ms ueclhfuuon Inaue, ne proceeds 10 recom-
mend, as preliminary and necessary measure, the
giving Of the notice, and the taking of such other
measures after as may he deemed necessary to as
sert our exclusive title.
MIR. McC. said, no man had more confidence IN
Mr.. Polk than himself His constituents also loved
him, they had polled larger majority for him than
perhaps any other district in the United States yet,
II they believed that no was at heart in favor
Of the 49th parallel as an original proposition,
he doubted not that their Partially would undergo
change Oregon was stronger than any combi-
nation of politicians, or any administration; il in
voved the great principle Of progression, extension
and expansion, which distinguished the age. and
particularly the American people. He had seen a
beautiful vessel sailing proudly and hopefully with
her canvass spread TO proptious wind upon the Po-
lomae; and again he had seen her suddenly broken
into pieces by the explosion OF Colts submarine
battery Oregon would prove submarine battery
TO any man, or association Of men, who might try
TO compromise the country by the 49lh parallel.
Why then negotiate IL was admitted that the title
was in u.s. could il be denied that diplomacy, 80
| far, had done US more harm than good. There can
be but one object for further negotiation, and that
was to secure peace, by giving more than the 49th
parallel. And was the government or the country
prepared to make further concessonS Why should
yield all and Britain nothing' II had been said
that war would ensue il we refused to compromise,
and that the preservation Of peace is Of the first i'm
portnnce; but (said Mr. McC) not without hon
or Peace had done much for US; il had extended
our settlements from the Atlantic, far upon the
praires Of the "Far Westit had enabled us to grow
with rapid growth from infancy TO the vigor and
| strength OF young manhoodj At had raised us from
eebeness to the rank and power Of the first nations
| of the globe; but that peace which had done 50
much, was the fruit Of two wars--the war OF the
revolution and Of 1912. Nations could only secure
| The blessings of peace by recurring 10 the strong
arm Of war 10 preserve their rights when occasions
required. Great Britain would lose as much by war
as we would. War would cut off her supplies OF
cotton thus stop her spndles, and thus turn thou
sands Of her operatives out Of employment These
operatives would have To be appeased by large con-
cessons otherwise they would, in the very heart OF
| our enemy, become active and efficient allies
| Where, also, would be 0'Connell and Ireland in
case of war; If they struck for,repea Great
| Britain would feel the necessity OF exertns her
greatest strength to preserve peace and her posses
sions at home. Mr.. McC. said he would avert war
by every proper precauton; but if II must come, as
the only means Of preserving our tohoie territory,
then let it come. In the language of Camille Des-
mouths, a great revolutionary character of France
he would say, aus, messeurs, one cry BELTS: To
arms ~ Let Americans, with the throat of the
| whirlwind, sound only '.to armsn
| Mr.. McC next proceeded TO speak Of the allu-
sions which had been made to the course of some
Of the members from the southern States, and said
if some Of them felt 1t their duty to oppose the no.
tice, he would not find fault with them for so doing.
| As a westera man he had voted for Texas, the
Il
| he believed 1t was right SO to vote. If southern
gentlemen saw fit to differ from him in the case Of
Oregon 1t doubtless because they felt il TO be
| their duty TO do SO.
| Mr.. McC. said he was utterly and inexorably
opposed to the compromise of the 49th parallel, and
he had risen TO resist that project more than fol
| any purpose. He opposed to il; first, be
cause it would be, he thought, a surrender Of
| right and n compromise of honor-because II
| would lose TO us half, and much the best portion
lpfn in up,tlh ln1r
to us nearly all of the great island of Vancouver
all of Wasfungton's island, the stately and valuable
| forests which cover them, together with the hume
rous smaller islands which mask the coast, and the
bays, harbors, and inlets which indent t-and be
cause, too, 1t leaves US without harbor in Oregon
save and except the mouth of the Columbia, and
the uhimportant known as Bufnch's harbor
Nor were these all the objections in commercial
aspect. We would lose that portion of Oregon
which otherwise would bear the same relation
to the Pacific coast, in furnishing the mercan
tile marine to navigate that ocean, that New
England bore towards the Gulf of Mexico The ma
rne that Hoated in the Gulf owned in the eas
Atlantic States--New England and the marine
that was float upon the coasts Of Oregon and Cali
fornia, would be owned by the people who SHOULD
inhabi the country north of the 49th parallel. This
would be the case, because the harbors, bays, ant
timber that were to furnish a marine, and become
the nursery Of seamen, were north OF 49o. Will
northern Oregon, California would eventually ant
naturally fall into our hands. I'd
There was also another objection equally if no
still more important to that line. 1t would be
from the map exhibited by Mr.. McC.) that tn
island of Vancouver and the straits of Fuca, for tn
most part, would fall into the possession Of Grea
Britain. With these she would be able to commant
the mouth Of the Columbia, and commanding tina
point, she would be able to command the valley o
the Columbia, which afforded the only discovers
, access from the interior to the heart Of Oregon.
; These were some of the positive and inevitable
disadvantages, hastily sketched, we would incur b.
the line Of the 49th parallel But the subject pre-
scented itself in other important aspects. Greu
Britain owned provinces upon this continent, con
tanning 100000 square miles. The area Of tn
United States, including Texas and Oregon, wa
: perhaps but 2,3lS,00O square mles-482, 0O
on this continent Two of these province,
Upper and Lower Canada) stretched, cotermi
nous with the territory of the United States fror
: the Gulf of ST. Lawrence to the northwestern lake,