Litchfield enquirer., 1846-07-02
TNH Enquirer.
LITCHFIELD, JULY 2, 1876.
SETTLEMENT OF THE OREGON CUES
TON.

TON.
The Washington correspondent of the New
York Commercial, under date of the 10th ult.,
writes that the President said to Senator, on
Wednesday evening, that Mr.. McLane an.
nounced, in his recent dispatches, the import
ant fact that the proposition forwarded to Mr.
Pakenham, for the settlement of the Oregon
question, was agreed to by Her Majesty's Privy
Council, by bare majority Of One-Sir Robert
Peel being one of the minority. Mr.. McLane
farther expresses the opinion that, ifthe news
of the war with Mexico had been received in
England before the proposal was despatched to
Mr.. Pakenham, it would not have been made.
1t IS ais known that President Polk was opposed
to the treaty, and has distinctly stated that if
Il had been left solely with him to decide the
question, he should have rejected it! But,
fearing for his own popularity, he fortunate
ly determined to throw the responsibility ofthe
whole matter upon the Senate; and this very
| timidity on the part Of the Executive, doubles
| saved the country from wal with Great Brit
ain The means and manner by which the
treaty was contaminated at Washington, are
certainly unique. Hitherto 1t has been the in
variable practice for the President to negotiate
treaty and the Senate to ratify it but in this
instance the order has been reversed. The
President probably by this time begins to feel
his own impotence. After all his buster a.
bout our 6. clear and unquestiOnable right" to
the tchole Of Oregon-after stating in his annu-
al message, "That they (our rights to Oregon
up TO 81 40, SC. y cannot be abandoned, ac'th-
out a sacrifice of both national honor and IN
| teyest, is too clear to admit of a do,sbf'-
when the articles of the present treaty (Which
establish the boundary at 49) came from Great
Britain, he shank from meeting the RESPONSE
bility of his assumptions, by rejecting them, as
he had the constitutional right to do BY his
acts, he practically said to the Senate, &c am
willing to give up our clear and unquestionable
claim to some thousands of.mIles ofour terrific
ry-I am willing to ''sacriGce both national
honor and interest"-rather than to take the
responsibility of fulfilling my solemn pledges
and repeated assumptions"
But, forgetting the singular course Of the
President in this matter, we are sure the whole
country will rejoice that the controversy which
so long threatened to disturb the amicable re-
lations existing between the Government ofthe
| United States and Great Britain, are adjusted
| No event could be more disastrous to the Peace,
Freedom and Religion of the woodworking
more shocking to humanity, or more repugnant
to the better feelings Of our nature-than a
war between the two most powerful and en-
lightened nations on the globe. In so equal,
extensive and prolonged contest as such war
would undoubtedly be--with all the modern
improvements for slaughtering men by the
wholesale, what seas of blood might not have
| been poured out before the demon of Carnage
had slaked his thirst! We cannot but regard
the apparent accident by which peace has been
secured to these nations, as providential This
last proposal of Great Britain was an ultima
tum on her part, and it would seem that single
vote in the Queens Privy Council would even
have defeated that; while in our country, as
we have seen, if our Executive had not discard
ed all former presidents by throwing the re-
sponsbility upon the Senate, the treaty would
never have reached that body for confirmation
While we are congratulatng our country and
the world on this most fortunate escape from
the horrors of merciless war, it is we'll to in.
quire to whose agency we principally are in
debted for such result. Under the clrcum-
:nl> icod mi
w i'll agree in commencing the honorable and
conciliatory conduct of the British Government
in this matter. They have had much to exas-
perate them in the arrogant, undgnifed, and
unstatesmanlike conduct of our executive, and
in the bullying and belligerent tone Of many Of
the loco.foco speeches in Congress. But they
seem to have we'll understood, or at least be-
lieved, that the people of this country would
not sustain the President in his extraordinary
claims, and they, therefore, preferred to regard
hislanguage as that Of an over-zealous parti-
zan, rather than in the light of a national in
suit The friends Of peace in this country VIII
not soon forget their Indebtedness to the Hon.
Messrs WEBSTER, MANGUM, CALHOUN,
HUNTINGTON, BENTON, and NILES, Tor their
manly and consistent efforts for the preserva-
ton of the honor and integrity of the nation in
this important crisis. Opposed to each other
as partizans, and differing on nearly all the
great measures of national policy, they have
met on cou mon grounds, in a great and noble
cause-that of opposition to the reckless
schemes of partizans bent upon war. Honor
be to them
~Green Kendrick. Esq, is appoint.
ed TO deliver the Grafton at the celebra-
ton to take place in Waterbury, on the
4th Of July.
U-We acknowledge the receipt of superb
baad of Fattnce from Mr. lanes e. Wads-