The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-02-26
GRES SION AL.
REMARKS OF MR.. WOOD,
OF NEW YORK,

the State Of the Union, and having under eonsid-
Grafton the joint resolution 10 terminate the con-
y.niion Of 1921 for the JOINT occupancy OF the
Oregon territory, and the various amendments
thereto
Mr.. WOOD addressed the committee in sub
stance, as follows;
he believed, he said, that all were now con-
yinced that this House was divided into three
distinct divisions. First those opposed TO giving
Inc notice; next, those in favor OF II, and yet
we're for negotiation; and, lastly, those who
ssre in favor OF the notice, and yet insisted on the
whole Of Oregon to 81 deg. 40 NINA policy
which, il carried out, would inevitably lead to war
As one Of the representatives. Of State, which, IN
such an event, would have to do no small share Of
n. Sighting, and, what was Of still more conse-
ouenee no small share Of the paying, he felt Obliged
10 offer some remarks on this subject. He would
not boast Of the courage Of his State, for fear II
might be doubted. She was wise enough he trust
ed "no, to seek the fight" and gallant enough "not
10 shun il when il came" She would pay all Just
demands upon her, whether in gold or iron. Thus
poueh Of yaunting the common sense Of the House
would excuse, but he could not have asked such an
indulgence had he gone any farther than this. Had
he joined in the wild war-cry which had rung
through this House, carrying us back to the dark
,ses or at least TO that time when some fiery Percy,
o. hot Douglass marshalled their retaners, not then,
Is now, for foray on the bsllot-box, or at most on
he treasury but on border lands; had he literally
d,6ed the tiger attributes Of his species, invoked
var the scourge and curse Of nations, as blessing
upon his country, or exalted mere brute courage
over all that was intellectual and moral in man,
had been done this floor, he would not only have
,nolopiz,d TO this House but 10 Chrsiendom for 80
gross an attack upon the civilization Of the age.
He admired the moral courage of the gentleman
from South Carolina, Mr.. RnETr, who was the
first on this floor 10 Tebuke this spirit and strip
H. aud shntu IL 10 kal
Voting skeleton, He for one, thought not the less
Of his bravery, for his morality. Talk to "novel-
reading girls and beardless boys of the glores and
laureIs Of war, but not 10 men of sense" Why,
SIR, said he, when l. the of a revolutionary SOL
der, heard the revolutionary alluded to in con-
Bexon with the one here invoked, felt that il was
almost sacrilege to name them in the same breath; il
was yiru.ly confounding the patriot and the brig
and
Gentlemen, he said, had talked as if theonly rea-
sons for opposition to war for Oregon were found.
ed in fears of England. Were there not sufficient
reasons TO deprecate war, other than our fears
Grant, il you choose for the sake Of the argument,
that England should be worsted in every conflict,
and that your plans for conquest and victory, like
Captain Bobadil's we're perfectly feasible, il would
sill be desr-bought victory. You would have in
fcted greater evils on your own country than on
your enemy's. You will have demoralized your
country centralized its government, swept away its
democfacy, and erected its ruins uIilitaI is
ocracy, and thrown back for years the civilization
ofmankind. Nor would this be all. You will have
arrested the progress of liberal opinions throughout
The world, and especially in that very country where
the principles of free-trade, (the best Of all peace
cees, J are spreading rapidly, widely, and triumph
antly benefling alike that country and this, and
and which can be arrested only by war between
the two nations.
Gentlemen were very much inclined to denounce
~ a 4 n
the England Of 1886. Paradoxical it might
r.r the only efectual way to attack England was
by peace, and not by war. II was the only way
YOU could reach her proud unfeeling aristocracy
who had been built no by war, and whom a con-
dnuance of peace would ere long put down. With
that arstocracy, none of US had any sympathy; but
he trusted all had with a down-rodden people,
struggling 10 unclasp their grasp, and who had been
temoralized, plundered, beggared, and reduced to
Starvation by glorious war. And if the same state
Of Things, and by the means, not produced
this country it would not be the fault Of some Of
the gentlemen who had addressed the committee;
and where population might ere long be found
efficiently degraded to hire themselves for shil-
ling day, in England, TO the trade of wholesale
murder. Why was this deadly hate manifested
against Engand' Say what you would, with oil
her injustice to Ireland, and to portion of her own
citizens, she still had more ofcivil ard religious lib
Hty than any other country in Europe. There
The liberty of speech and of the press were nvoatc,
md the blush came sometimes tinglng to his own
cheek when it occurred TO him that in this respect
II was more inviolable in England than in some
PORTIONS of his own country. Nor could he forget
that the first aspirations for civil and religious liber
y that ever dawned on this world arose in England
the same spirit that sent forth the pilgrims Of New
England inspired Hampden, Milton, and Vane,
md brought the first Charles to the block. And
now, at this day, among the middle classes of Eng
and, and among those whose names are great with
out titles, were many who were manfuly battling
. The cause Of the people and of human progress
md who would deprecate war with this country al
| disgrace to civilization.
The arrogance of the British government, of
which so much had been said, as little to hi,
taste as the profieacy and insidious tyranny OF
France, or the despotsm Of Russia. Flo conceded
that all three were hostile to republican institutions
and it became us to see to it that unjust act o.
ours should furnish them pretext for an increased
hostility. We were told, too, Of the rapacity o
England; so also was France and Russia. The on,
had once laid under contribution the Sandwich Is
lands had seized on the Society islands, and driven
onr own cIzens from the Guboon in Africa. Th'
other, after blotting out nation (PolandO from
The map Of the world, had, by substituting Sweder
and Norway, extended her dominions across thu
eastern continent. On the south, she commando
The Danube and the Euxne, while on our north
west she was in possession, and Ivy treaty, of sons
@degrces of this very Spanish tit e. Who made
Us the Oyenger Of the wrongs which these natIon'
had inflicted They bide their time. God had no
made US their avenger. "Vengeance ia mine, saitl
the Lord" 1t was madness and folly to run Ill!
against all hese powers; and when he read SOM
Of the resolutions offered in connexion with thi
subject, lated to declarations made on this floor
and in the other wing of the Capitol, breathing de
hinee against the nations Of the earth, Challenger;
hem to the fight, and Boosting of The ease with which
We could conquer them, he knew Of nothing whicl
could equal such conduct, save that Of the mailman
Who, throwing himself on the track Of a railroad
challenged locomotive to fight, roundly assertin
hat 1t was nothing but a cook stove on wheels. II
vas constrained to believe that, with our Spsnis
me, we had also acquired no small share of Span
Hh Quixotsm and Spanish gasconade
The gentleman from South Carolina had allude
70 what rumor had said in relation to the introduc
ton Of this notice; that it was in fact a game {
make great men greater, and little men great. II
would ASSURE the gentleman that New York had n
hand in such game. And il the honorable GENT,
man would present before the grand inquest of tn
nation as nuisances all such, and the whole tribe ,
apolltcisns by trade, he would bid him God speed.
~ Why, sir, said he, the curse Of an unborn pos,e
ny will rest on his head who, for his own aggral
usemet, shall unnecessarily plunge this country in
aVH Wo to him who attempts 1t. Il had be-
asserted on that floor that no one could be the ne
president that had not joined in this war-cry ar
far Ill. a n. all