The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-03-30

unquesiionable; that we ought 10 annex Oregon ana
reannex Texas IL was the first time that party views
were brought to bear on that great question between
the United States and England. Ia the primitive days
Of our government it was customary for the Pres
dent and Congress TO consult the constitution and
laws OF the country 10 consult the experience of past
ages, as well as the plain principles of justice and
truth when they were greyely considering what
was the best policy to be pursued in relation to the
great interests Of the American people; but in these
days Of corruption, ambition, and vain glory, but few
politicians stop TO consider the great law, or plain
principles Of justice in order TO determine what they
should do. The question, then, presented generally
to the minds Of people was this What was the best
policy in order TO secure or promote the election OF
our candidates. By what means could they cir
c1mvent their political adversariess Very few In
qnre into the constitution law or the rights OF other
nations or persons What had the Baltimore con-
vention decreedi They had ordered TO be inscribed
on their banners the whole of Oregon, and the
whole ofToxas. That was one of the DEGREES OF
that celebrated convention; and they had been told
by the senator from Indiana, Mr.. HAsSEoAs,l
that Texas and Oregon, being twin sisters, born
about the time, II incumbent on the Sen
ate OF the United States, or the Democratic portion Of
it, to stand by and 20 for the whole Of Oregon up TO
$40 4U, war or no war. That IL they acknowl-
edged fealty to the party at all, they owed to that
party IN 60 for Oregon war no war, and more
especially Texas had been annexed, was
now a part Of the republic, and represented
by two distinguished senators there He (Mr.
b. concurred with the senator from Mas
sachusetts in the few remarks he made there that
morning, that the first mistake made by the Pres-
dent was In his inaugural address; and he felt at
the time great surprise that President, such
we now had, should have forgotten that there
was some little indeicacy, IL not improperly, in al
luding 10 Oregon at all in his inaugural address No
man could question the impocy of the manner Of
his treating that question in his inaugural address
They knew the sensation it produced elsewhere;
and all who examined must conclude that that was
an unfortunate blunder the part of the Executive.
IL not his intention TO speak IN disrespectful
terms of the President, towards whom personally
he had no unkind feelings He was then, and
hoped ever to be, opposed 10 him and his party.
He knew nothing Of his views or intentions in rela-
ton TO that question of Oregon further than he had
revealed them to the Senate in his message and
respondence communicated To Congress. But in
looking at that he had come To certain conclusions
TO the motives that influenced the President in
his management OF the Oregon controversy IL he
Mr.. b. should differ from some of the gentlemen
who had addressed the Senate, and given versions
very different OF the meaning Of the Executive, IL
ought not to excite surprise II he should differ from
both 10 the meaning and intention Of the Presi-
dent. They had presented to them a most ex-
traordinary, and he would say humiliating spec
tscle; it certainly unparalleled in the history
of the country nothing analogous TO Il in the pre-.
viouS condition Of the country before occurred.
They had one portion Of the democratic members
Of the Senate giving their Interpretation Of the
Presidents message, and they had the chairman Of
foreign relations, the senator from Ohio, who ought
to know from his position the views OF the Pres
ident, giving his version Of that message. There
never had been before period when some one in the
Senate not authorized to speak for the Execu-
tive, acquainted with his views, and ready to put
those right who miscensIued his language or his
views. While one portion Of the democratic par
ty, whom he would call the $40 40 men, told them
that the President in his message stood committed
TO the country TO go for $40 40 or war: while the
from Indiana ssid, fthere any truth in man
or Holy writ, the President was committed to Sac
4V; that if he should falter and turn back, and moi
20 leading his gallant followers up to the Russian
line, he would prove recreant To his party and prn.
ciples expressed ut the BALTIMORE convention
that should he forsake his standard, bearing alof
the motto $40 40', it would sink him down to o
depth Of damnaton from which the hand Of resur-
rection could notliIt him He thought that was strong
language Of the SENATOR and he (Mr. b. was at
first surprised at this hypothetical denunciaion OF
the President; and was alarmed least the senator
had caught a peep behind the curtain, and knew
what the President would do. But in the course OF
few days, the senator and the country was
told by the senator from North Carolina, [Mr.
HAYwoop,l that the reading of the $40 40 men
was entirely erroneous; that they msrepresenied
entirely the views Of the President When the
senator from North Carolina, who from all circum-
stances as likely to know the views Of the
President as any other had told them that the inter
probation put by The $40 40 gentlemen on the Pres
idents message was wrong, that he had planted him
self on ago, from which he could not recede or adj
vance, without rendering himself infamous and
worse than that, make the senator from North
Carolina to turn his back on him, his (Mr B. 81
fears subsidized. He at once regarded that as the
right reading, and ominous of wish TO settle on
the parallel of 400. He knew 1t was considered a
little rash and that a subjected his opinion to
be stamped either factious or unpatriotic who
should undertake to say at this day that this Ore
gon controversy, from the time this Executive took
it up till now, had been most awfuly mismanaged
the for doing So although he might be con-
sidered as taking the British side Such charge
had no fears for him. He knew what he was himself
and was known to his constituents, and to them he
was ready to render his account He again would
say the Oregon controversy had been nsmanaged
Now, as to the meaning Of the President, he could
not believe he meant war; that he desired to be so
understood, when ne gave it to the country because
if he meant war, he would or should have acted en-
trely different. He recommended no preparation
for war. He told them that standing armies were
against the spirit of republican government. He
recommended no increase Of the army, and but a
very rlhing increase Of the navy; but what was far
more important proof that the President did not
mean war, was the fact of his recommending the
Secretary of the Treasury to repeal the tariff-a
measure that would at once deprive them of the
means of carrying on the war. But he could no,
mean to settle 400; for, had he been SO DESTROYS
he had it in his power. He (Mr. b. could moi
come TO any other conclusion that difficult cues.
ton than this: that the President intended to place
himself on the fence that he might fall on either
side as might be desirable; that if public sen
tment should come up loudly in favor Of SAC
40, war, or no war, the President could get
on that side of the fence; but if the sober udg-
ment Of the American people, after they came to in.
vestigate the question, should decide in favor of an
amicable arrangement the parallel Of 49o, why,
then, some of his faithful friends practised in spe
cia pleading, could get up there and show he was
from the beginning in favor of 49o and against SAC
40. That was his (Mr. B.'s) conclusion from read.
ing the message, and hearing the elaborate and in.
genious reading of it given by the friends Of the
President the other side of the chamber-that he
never went for either 400 or $40 4O', but placed
himself on the fence ready to drop either side il
necessary. He would now state few reasons why
he thought the President and his advisers had mis-
managed that question. He would refer to the first
letter addressed by the British minister to the Secre-