The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-04-04

does not tell by what standard he would measure
the soil of the republic, the patriotism of her peo
pie II is evident he does not believe that wise old
saying, "Give a man AN inch, and he will take an
ell" Give a nation small strip, aud it will de.
mand larger one. To attempt 10 purchase safety
by concession, is to build bridge of gold not for
Tetreaung, but for an advancing enemy. Nations
are like the daughters Of The horse-eech; they cry,
"give, give" IL is idle, sir to array ourselves
against The powerful instincts of human nature; and
he who is dead 10 their influence will find little
sympathy in this age Of the world a. he would have
done had he lived IN the ages that passed, II
we suffer ourselves 10 be trodden upon, TO be de-
graded, to be despoiled Of our good name and our
rights, under the pretext that war is unworthy OF
us or our time, we shall find ourselves in the de.
c,ePitude Of age before we have passed the period
Of manhood
great deal has been said ia England, and not a
Iiide in the Unued States, respecting grasping
propensity Ia demanding the whole of Oregon; and
we have been solemnly admonished Of the awful
responsibility of involving two great nations in war.
The subject Ia dispute is said not TO be worth the
peris conflict would bring with il; and the honora-
bic senator from Maine has exhibited 10 u.s. in a
balance, the disasters Of war and the value Of the
matter in controversy, and has made our territorial
claims TO kick the beam. Permit me TO turn to the
other side OF this picture. acknowledge the moral
obligation Of governments TO avoid war, where
higher obligation do not drive them 10 it, ] will
not call England the pharsee Of nations, but will
say that she does not hide the light Of her own good
deeds under bushe The ocean scarcely beats
upon shore within sight Of which her flag
Is not seen and within sound Of which her drum
u not heard. And yet her moderation is
proclaimed and often with the sound Of her cannon,
from one end Of the civilized world to the other.
She Is not like other nations and least Of ALL like thai
grsai grasPig pOboeraey of hs ,essi 81 thank God,
said the pharisee Of old 'that am not as other men
Arep Nnty The chAnfeF of accidents has turna nm
fsvorably for England, if she will accept the oppor-
tunlty afforded her. No man in this country wants
wAr-uIiraias no more than eomprOmi5isis If | may
use terms justified by the occasion. The ex-
IRENE partisan Of decisive measures asks nothing
bul the whole Of Oregon. Give him that and he
will become as meek the latest professor Of humil-
ny who writes homllies upon national moderation for
the London Times Now, sir let England abandon her
pretensions and all these disasters the
OF war, which are foretold-and de not doubt many
Of them justly foretold--w give way and exist on
ly IN the memory Of this debate. There is no coz
dluon Of things foreseen by any man. public or pri-
vate, in this country, which can give to England a
better line than 400 The country north of that line
Is therefore all she could gain by a contest,
which IS 10 involve the fearful consequence predict
ed 10 both countries; which during its progress it is
said will bring nation after nation within the sphere
of It's operation, and which Is finally TO commit to
the decision of the sword the great question Of free
path the antagonlsc principle, that the many should
be governed by the few. What, then, would Eng
land surrender to preserve the peace OF the world
and thus give the first practical proof Of moderation
to be found in the long annals Of her history agree
fully with the honorable senator from Missouri,
Mr.. ArcHsOE,l that if England would acknow-
ledge our rights, and withdraw her opposition to
them, and shsuld then ask a better access TO the
ocean for her interior territories, would grant it
without hesitation, favor upon the most rea
able consideration. II this should he DONE she would
have left about three hundred miles of coast to fight
for and will return the question of the gentleman
from Maine, and ask if this strip of land is worth
the price of such contest England is already
gorged with possessions both continental and insu-
lar, ogerrun, almost overloaded with subjects of all
casts, colOrs, and condition. At this very moment
che is waging two wars Of aggrandizement-one for
commercial projects upon the La Plata, and the 9TH
er for n new empire upon the Indus. The latest
Morning Chronicle have seen, one Of last month
and that paper is the whig organ of England-says
and the proposition is enunciaed with characteristic
GOODNESS, and with as much apparent candor as il
II extracted from the latest treatise upon pub
lie morals, 1--WE can never govern India 50 well as
we might until we possess the whole of it," con-
genial sentiment is quite much at home in every
English breast, that America would be much better
governed than 1t is, if England possessed the whole
of It,
Let the British government now say two wars at
the same time enough for the PURPOSES OF az
grandizement. We will not encounter third-we
will give up this doubtful and disputed claim and
hold on in America to what we have got--we will
do 80 much Tor peace. Let her do this and |, fer
one, will say, iosu done. You begin to practice,
though upon small scale, you preach. And
why not do so' This territory is sc parated by an
ocean and continent from England She cannot
long hold it, if she should gain it, mean long,
compared with the life of nations whereas it joins
US, lntervenes between us and our communication
with the Pacific, will form an integral do not
doubt a perpeual-portion of our confederacy will
be, in time, necessary outlet for our population,
and presents all those elements of contguity and
of position which indicate and invite political
unions.
But it has been said and resaid in the Senate and
out ot it, that two great nations cannot 90 To war
Ana why cannot two great nations 90 to war against
one another, well as two great nations combined
against a small one' So far as honor contemns a
disparity OF force, the former would be much more
honorable than the latter.
What is going on in the La Plata, where France
aud England have sent their united fleets and armies
against the Argentine republic, and where the echoes
OF their cannon arc ascending the Parana and its vast
tributaries, till they are lost in the gorges Of the
Andes'
There can be no war in this enlightened ace of
the world! Whnt, then, is passing in Africa. where
one hundred thousand Christian bayonets have
driven tne Arao from his home, and are pursuing
him into the DESERT the refuge of the turban since
| the days Of the patriarchs?
What is passing upon the shores Of the Euxine
where the Cossack has left his native plains and
at the call of Russia, is ascending the ridges of the
Caucasus to subdue its Indigenous races, and to
substitute the mild rule of the Muscove for their
own patrarchal form Of government-dependence
upon the Car for dependence upon ,hemselyes'
And what IS passing in the Punjaub, where the
asst advces left two mighty armies almost within
sight of each other, after having fought grea,
battle OF Hlndoo ambition against English nodera.
ton?
And how long since an enlightened government
par excellence, broke the barrier of Chinese power
which has so long insulated a vast empire, and
scattered dsmay and death along its coasts because
ts rulers had interdcted the sale of opium drug
equally destructive to the moral faculties and to the
physical powers of mani The Tartar passed the
great wall, and planted his horse tails upon the tow
ers of Pekn. He then became Chinese, and the
empire went on before. But the EngIishman.
with his cannon balls and his opium, has introduced
an innovation into the habits and condition of one
third part Of the human race, which may fatally af-
feet its future prosperity,