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

MIR, oCHENCh, from the same commute, hsue
report upon the petition Of Philip r. Holmes and
William Pedrick accompanied by bill for their re-
lief which bill was read and committed
On motion Of Mr.. I. b, KING, submitted on
leave, 1t was
Resolsed That the Committee the rQst Once aud Post
Roeds be Instructed to inquire Into the sKpsdehey 81 es
I hs ss,a II R.orss from f0op'' "
| Mr.. J. r. INGERSoLI4, on leave given, and in
pursuance Of previous notice, reported bills Of the
following tltles, viz:
A bill 10 abolish the use of certain oaths at the
custom-houses Of the United States, and for other
purposes.
A bill to abolish executions in capital cases;
which bills were severaly read twice, and COM
mitted.
| The committees having been called through
| The SPEAKER announced that the next busi .
ness in order would be the consideration of resolu-
| tons which had beeA laid over for debate.
But-a motion to that effect having been again made
and agreed to-the House received Itself into Com
mittee Of the Whole the state Of the Union, Mr..
rbnArrs Of Kentucky, in the chair
CONVENTION WITH PERU.
| Mr., c. J. lNGERS0LL and said that, as
the gentleman who was entitled 10 the floor MIR.
RocKwELL had consented to yield IL for the purpose,
he (Mr. l. would ask the committee to take up the
bill which he had yesterday reported from the Com
mittee on Foreign Affairs, to carry into effect the
|
public Of Peru.
The CHAIRMAN said that the bill could only
be taken up by unanimous consent, or by a post
ponement Of the subject last under consideration.
| Mr.. G. J. INGERSOLL said, he supposed that
no objection would be made. A large sum of money
was payable 10 the merchants Of the North under
this convention, and the bill merely provided that
the moneys paid into the treasury by the republic
of Peru, should be drawn out and paid to those
| TO whom II was due
The bill not being at the moment at hand, the
motion OF Mr.. lsGERsoLL was not pressed.
| OREGON
So the committee resumed the consideration Of
the joint resolution Of notice, and Of the amend
ments thereto pending.
MIR. JOHN A. ROCKWELL was entitled to
the hoor, and addressed the committee during the
hour in speech which is In the course Of prepare
ton. He directed his attention TO the following
points, After abiding to the importance Of the
question: To the interest which his constituents had
IN It's result 10 the number OF ships sent out to the
Pacific ocean from the district he represented to the
vast amoun's of capital invested in shipping at the
ports OF New London and Stonington, oil Of which
was, IN case Of war TO be exposed to entire destrc-
non, Mr.. K proceeded TO refer to petition which
had been sent to him from New London, signed by
men of all parties, asking Congress to adopt peace
able measures for the settlement Of difficulties exa
istlng or apprehended, between thu United Suites
and Great Britain, and he read an extract from let.
ter from another port, showing the destructive ef-
n
isoni but declaring that if war must COME the peo-
pie there would be found ready to defend the
country as other citizens in Congress, who boasted
so loudly about shedding the last drop Of their
| blood.
Mr.. ANDREW JOHNSON and others express
ed the hope that the fact might prove to be So
| Mr.. ROCKWELL said that the people of that
section were not tmid people, and that he could
refer to the history recently Published by dstin-
guished gentleman, Mr.. c. J. lsorRsoLt, near him,
to show what they had done in time Of trial.
All parties in this House mir. r. said) seemed 10
| desire peace. There was no diversity Of opinion on
| that point. All gentlemen, nearly ALL agreed that
the notice was desirable, in order that we might
have peace and those who opposed the notice
did so, they said, that we might lot have war In
addition to this, there had been universal DECLARE
ton OF patriotism on the part of gentlemen who had
spoken They all seemed TO consider il necessary
TO declare how patriotic they were. and hcw ready
war should come, to shed their last drop of blood
IN the cause These were very harmless declara-
TONS since tho probability that whatever blood
was to be she'd would from the veins of others,
not OF them. They might do the talking, others
would do the fighting,
As to the claim OF the United States to this ter
rory, he did not think il was either necessary or
desirable for HIM TO 60 into its discussion His own
idea was, that our claim the best. None of us
were disposed, however, to make a claim against
our own country, where another country was con.
try was concerned. On the contrary, it was naiti-
raj that we shVld be disposed to make the best of
our own. Heaccorded the praise that was claimed
for the Secretary of State in his exposition of the
justice Of our claim, and expressed his own strong
confidence in the character OF that claim.
He rejoiced to 6nd that this was not made party
question. He would deeply regret to see question
| Affecting so deeply the interests of this nation, not
only for the present but for all future Time decided
on party considerations,
1t had been said, in the course of a former dis
eusslon, that our true policy was ga wise and mas
,ery inactivity" 1t was happy remark, made, he
believed, at an earlier period by John Randolph and
before him, he believed, by Burke. For his (Mr
Rs) part, he not only thought the remark happy
one, but he believed that at the time it was made
1t was the true policy Of country. He did not
believe, however, that it was any longer sol and he
could not but think that the chairman Of the Com
mittee on Foreign Affairs was rather inconsistent
when, In the same breath in which he advocated the
policy OF rending our people there, that they might
increase and multiply fast possible, he declared
himself in favor of a course Of proceeding which
could not fail to put stop to that state of things
Mr. R: thought that the time for that "wise and
mastcf'y inactivity" had passed He thought it ap.
parent that we could no longer pursue that COURSE
lhat we could not now leave the question where it
Stood or postpone its decision indefinitely, that our
people might 60 to that territory, and settle in the
way that had been suggested. In the present excl
ted state OF the public mind there was danger that
the question, If left open, would lead to collision
between the two governments; that it would lead to
collision in Oregon; and we all knew that the
death of the first individual who might be killed
there, would surely bring about collision between
the two countries. .... .... ..t... 81 .,..
+ Another question had occurred TO his mind in re-
latlon to the existing British laws in relation to this
territory and also as to those proposed by our own
government. On this point, he thought there had
been decided Misrepresentation. The impression
had been universal that the law of Great Britain
referred to by the President--he act of 162l--ap-
Piled only to British subjects in Oregon Such
was not the fact. The law of 1921, so far as all
contracts and all civil INJURIES and, for aught he
knew, all causes, concerned, applied to the
whole population Of the country--Amercan and
British. So far as these subjects were concerned
its operation was az general as in Canada and for
twenty-four years Great Britain had exercised a
direct sovereignty over the territory for there was
no higher exercise Of sovereignty than the law
making power; it included all others and, accord
ing to the very definition of the TERMS was a rule