American Republican and Baltimore daily clipper. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1844-1846, 1846-05-25

STRONG Doses. Col. Benton administered
a strong dose to the 'flty-lour forties" in the
Senate, in the part of his speech which was
delivered on Friday last, and will probably be
repeated to-day, in his concluding remarks. He
Showed most conclusively, and beyond the pos
sibility of cavil, from official documents, that
our claim to 'the whole of Oregon or none, y
is fallacious and cannot be sustained unless we
maintain it upon the plea of destiny, or resort
toSMr. Adams mode of proving our title.
1t appears from despatch from MIR. Rush
our minister in London, to Mr.. Adams, Secre'
tsry of State, dated December 10, 1928, (quo
ted by Col. Benton,) that "the plan of the
United States at that time was this: That eacf
of the three Powers (Great Britain, Russia
and the United States) having claims on the
northwest coast of America, should divide the
country between them, each taking third
In this plan of partition each was to receive &
share of the continent from the Sea to the
Rocky Mountains, Russia taking the northern
slice, the United States the southern, and Great
Britain the centre, with ffty-four forty for hel
northern boundary and forty-nne for her SOU
thern."
This plan was submitted by Mr.. Rush to the
British Government, but was rejected by Mr.
Canning, whose answer is given in Col. Ben.
toms speech. On this answer Col. B. make.
the following comments:
"This was her answer refusing to take in 1928
as northern boundry, coming south for guam
| tty, what is now prescribed to her, at the peri
of war, for a southern boundry, with nothing
north!-for, although the fact happens to be
that Russia is not there, bounding us on the
north, yet that makes no difference in the phi
losophy of our Filty-Four- Forties, who believe
it to be SO; and, on that belief, are ready tc
fight. Their motion is, that we go jam up &c
sd deg. 40 min., and the Russians come Jam
down to the same, leaving no place for the Bri-
IRISH lion to put dawn paw, although that paw
should be no bigger than the sole of the doves
foot which sought roasting place from Noah's
ark. This must seem little strange to British
ststesmen, who do not grow so fast as to leave
all knowledge behind them. They remember
Mr.. Monroe and his cabinet-the President and
cabinet who acquired the Spanish title under
which..we now propose to'squeeze them.out the
enthusiastically offered them six degrees
of latitude in that very place; aud they will
certainly want reasons for this so much COM
pressions now, where we offered them so much
expansion then. These reasons cannot be civ
ell. There is no boundry at Sd deg. 40 min;
and so far as proposed to make it one, it was
for the British and not for ourselves and so ends
this redoutable line, up to which all true patri-
OTIS were to march! and marching, fight! and
fighting, die! if need be! singing all the while,
with Horace
"DuLce ct decorHm estpro pGtriG mori.''
Sweet and decent it is to die (or ones country.
And this is the end of that great line! all
-vanished-evaporated into thin air-and
the place where it was not to be found. Oh!
mountain that was delivered of mouse,
thy name shall henceforth be ffty-four forty
And thus, Mr.. President, trust have explo-
ded one of the errors into which the public
mind has been led; and which it is necessary to
get rid of before we can find the right place for
our Oregon boundaries"
In so clear view does Col. Benton present
this whole matter, that we cannot see why
there should exist any difficulty in settling the
dispute between the United States in reference
to the Oregon territory. 1t is true, if we per-
sist in our claim to the whole territory, the
difficulty cannot be removed, as Great Britain
will never voluntarily yield to our claim. In
deed, after the facts which have been presented
by Col. B. we should be ashamed to press it, as
it is claiming what is not right To engage in
war with England upon such a pretext,
would Justly subject US to the censure of all
civilized nations, and to the condemnation of
majority of our own citizens.