The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-01-16

clc can now DC thrown IN INC way 10 prevent Ou
holding the territory up TO $40 40 unless her Ma
jesty's government should disayow the action OF he
minister aud now propose TO accept the Presidents
offer. This think will not be done; if not we ar,
at length clear of the shackles which previous ne
gotatons have flung around u.s. and free TO exercise
our exclusive rights to the whole Of Oregon. Blu
suppose we neglect TO carry out the recommends
on of the President and refuse 10 give the notice
will IL not be an intimaton 10 tho British govern
ment and to the world that Congress does not con
cur with the executive branch Of the government al
10 the clearness OF title 90 thai terrltoryor yet
u still more humiliatng acknowledgment, that We
do not feel ourselves able 10 yindicae our rights
thereto? g......
Il What do gentlemen promise themselves from fur
Their negotiations whilst this Joint occupancy lasts
Great Britain is in possession Of all she ever
claimed, and while this treaty lasts, assure gen
temen she will never settle thus question, for the
very good reason, that her condition can never be
better, but may be, and unquostionaby would be,
worse. IL would, therefore, be act Of folly on her
part TO allow il to be changed 30 long she could
keep Il IN Siaia quo. Give this notieeabrosats this
ireatyand then she will and fed the necessity OF
immediate and eiecua negotiations ill that Is done,
your negotiations will be all t~addic. The gentleman
from Sputh Carolina, tMr. RHErr, for tho purpose,
as thought, Of frightening us from the performance
Of what honestly believed to be our duty, has in
timated the probability Of a combination on the part
Of the monarchs Of the Old World To crush as
vi tIib ouDcClt Wufil MN, as
well as all others who do me tho honor 10 listen
10 my remarks, 10 understand what think TO be
the duty o: this government in relation 10 this mat
ter. hold 1t to be the bounden duty Of the gov
eminent ofthe United States, from the performance
| OF which she cannot shrink without dishonor, to
Gee that her institutions set up and maintained
within her entire limits here her duty ends; but
added TO this she has privilege, from the enjoy
ment Of which no government combination Of
governments shall deprive her-thAt is, when
| any contiguous nation wishes 10 unite her destiny
with ours aud become ofour consultations Of free
States, we will pull mp the lsch-string and let her
come IN, to share with In all the privileges and
immunlties OF our glorious coniederacy. We claim
no right 10 force within circle any people who
do not desire TO sit at family hearth; but we do
claim and will exercise, the right to choose
company and this right we will renquish only
with our national existence. We do not wish, as
Rome did, to extend our borders by the force OF
arms, but choose rather the rule of right than Of
might In the end such policy will lie seen to have
been wise; for rs Rome expanded, acquiring one
possession after another by conquest, she was OBJ
lged to maintain herself by rapine and pldnder
wherever she could carry her arms; aud the conSe-
queneo was, that when she could no longer retain
the possessions she had acquired by force by
the same means she used IN their acquisition, she
fell. We, on the contrary, accept only those who
come voluntarily, and from choice. And those who
desire admission into confederacy need no force
ted under such circumstances, adds another new
and permanent pillar for the defence and orna-
ment of the temple of liberty.
Another new, and 10 me a very strange argument.
against these resolutions is, that II we, by asserting
our rights to Oregon, are unfortunately plunged into
u war, the consequence would be- a depression Of
democratic and rise Of federal principles that CEN
terahsm will grow on the ruins Of State-rights.
MIR. Chairman, am democrat, and as the saying
IL, dyed in the wool; have always TO the utmost of
my ability opposed centralism, banks, funded debts,
and protective tariffs; indeed il has been common
remark, that was 80 radical, that it placed me u
century in advance Of my own party. But, be il
known that am not the man to maintain my polit-
ica party in the management of internal affairs by
the surrender of external rights. And now declare
in the presence of this House, and the face of the
world that il II be necessary the maintenance Of
our national rights, and country's honor, that my
political opponents take the relns of government,
am this day willing TO make to them the surrender
believing, as from my soul do believe, that in
everything that pertains 10 the honor of our coun-
try, they are as patriotic as we are, and that
differences as TO administrative measures grow out
OF honest differences of opinion, to what will best
promote our countrys veal. But utterly repudi-
ate the gentemans argument 1t is false in theory,
and equally false in fact Democracy can grow, and
has grown, whilst the storm of war ragged in all its
fury; the seeds Of democracy into the earth
by the hand of the revolutions il was Graded in its
storms, and nursed in its ercest conflicts; there and
then the tree of liberty pIanted and the tempests
of war only loosened the earth about its roots that
1t might grow the faster and spread the wider; its
roots have been plenuiully moistened by the warm
lies blood Of those who defended it against the uri
Gus assaults of Ihe wild boar Of legitimacy seeking
to whet his tusks against its inner bark. And l
now tell gentlemen, that if it is occasionally moist
ened by the blood of the patriot, honestly shed in its
defence, 1t will not grow wkit the worse nor cast
u leaf on that account, Has not the West, the
whole of that beautiful inland paradise resounded
with the clank of arms, and has not its soil, and
every furldng thereof been stained with the blood of
the pioneer and Indian commingng as they fell in
deadly strife? Will any man tell me that liberty,
in its most comely and unobtrusive form, does not
flourish there' Sir, it is the very place where it
may be truly said, we have liberty without licen-
ueusness, and order in the absence Of law.
We have again and again, in the course of this
debate, been reminded of The power and greatness
Of the government with which we are likely to come
IN conflict do not desire to speak harshly Of the
British government; but | despise this constant
Wanting of the greatness of England Who, and
what Is she? The seat Of her power is situated on
little island stuck down in the North sea. True,
she has spread her arms like seas, to grasp in all
the shores; but sl she is not terrible to make
the nations tremble. All of her greatness now de-
ponds upon her commerce. Clip her wings of that,
and, like the bird of Jove, she falls to the earth
lifeless carcass. l seek no conflict between my
country and Great Britain. Let each pursue her
path alone, and unmoested by the other. We will
not go out of our way to attack the British lion but
If he chooses to lay himself across path, and
fuses to remove at peaceful summons, then there
will be no alternative--the American eagle will
strike her ,alons into his nosrils, and you will see
his blood spout as though whale had been har-
pooned.
There is, | repeat, no occasion for war; and there
will be none, unless the government Of Great Britain
desire with this country. IL she does, she may
make this question the pretext. Whether she wants
war remains to be lift is the design Of Provi-
dence that she shall decline, as she arose, by de-
grees, no conflict will come II, on the other hand.
IT is her destiny to pay in blood the debt of blood
she owes the world, then have no objection to be-
long to the nation and to live in the age that shall
chastse her for the evils she has inflicted The hu-
man race. She is old and worn within; the blood
Of ages stains her skirts. If she is mad enough to
attack the young giant Of the western world, whose
tall shadow is already beginning to eclipse her glory,
on her head be the consequences; and let those who
are not engaged in the conflict stand from under and
prepare to hear crash "as if the ribs of nature
broke.n
Some gentlemen scott at what has been called the
destiny of nations-or what is the same thing, the