Weekly national intelligencer., 1848-07-29
THE CAMPAIGN, No. iii.
HISTORY OF THE OREGON CONTROVERSY.
THE WAR SPIRIT.

| The endorsement by the Baltimore Convention
of the entire administration of Mr.. Polk as consti-
| tuting true and admirable national policy the
response Of its Presidential candidate, adhering to
and firmly approving the Resolutions Of that body
his further declaration, at Cleveland, that his
would be an approval of the course of the pre-
sent Administration, and would give direction to
that which will succeed it, necessarily bring under
review the distinguishing traits Of the present Ad
minstration. Among these, the earliest which falls
under our consideration is the Oregon question: not
specified. it is true, in the Resolutions of the last
Baltimore Convention, but included in the general
clause eulogizing the energy and ability which
have characterized this Administration in all our
affairs, at home and abroad" The history of this
transaction will, we persuade ourselves, appear to
the reader OF the more consequence, as disclosing
the part which was personally taken in it by the
Democratic candidate for the Presidency, and the
war spirit which then for the first time was openly
avowed not only by General CAss himself, but by
other Senators holding his opinions. Nor do the
spirit and the conduct Of the Executive in all this
transaction less deserve close scrutiny, when it is
considered that simultaneously with the first start
of the question by the organ of the government,
speaking by direct authority Of the President the
Infamous doctrine of" moral treason was brough,
into play, and became the standing substitute for
argument in reply to all attempts 10 discuss the
course proposed by the Executive on this delicate
question, or even TO ascertain what were its real
intentions in regard to it.
The first appearance of this Oregon controversy
as party question was in the following Resolution
of the Baltimore Convention of 1874:
Reoiusd, That title the whole of Oregon is clear
and unquesonable that portion of the same ought to be
ceded to England any other Power and that the
patton Of Oregon and the remuneration Of Texas at the
earliest practicable PERIOD great American measures
which this Convention recommends to the cordial support of
the Democracy of the Union"
AT the time Of the adoption of this Resolution,
the territory the Northwest coast, from the line
of 81 deg. 40 min. down to that of 40 deg. was
Jointly occupied under an existing treaty, by the
United States and Great Britain. This joint occu-
patton was of course recognition Of the existence
of certain rights in both parties to the territory with
in those lattudes. The title to The ,ohole of this
territory affirmed as above, in resolution art
fully prepared for the purpose, and smuggled
through the Convention and, as though such an
affirmation could change fact, that assertion of
title to the whole Of what only belonged to us in part
became the ground upon which the peace of the two
nations was placed in the most imminent jeopardy.
The question of how much of the territory of
Oregon belonged to each Government, was, when
this resolution adopted, in the hands Of the d
plomatists of the two countries-in the hands to
which the Constitution has confded questions of
such nature as cannot properly be investigated,
nor of course understandingly decided, by the null
ttude-when the Democratic Convention rushed in,
undertook to wrest the decision from the hands of
the proper authorities, and without any discussion
or debate, and without any fit understanding Of its
merits, to decide it themselves. This Resolution, in
troduced and adopted under such circumstances was
the first attempt TO supersede, by the decree OF a
selfconsttuted popular assembly, the action Of the
constitutional authorities. The movement was,
apparently, in the estimation Of the master spirits
of that Convention, Of those cases, supposed by
Mr.. Candidate CAss lin his Letter Of Acceptance to
the late Convention) to be just6able, in which
"he Public UiH determines TO do what the Pub
lie .auhority itself should readily do" Upon this
aspect Of the case, we cannot do better than borrow
the language applied by an able contemporary Of
the West TO this same resolution.
I'VE cannot give the individual credit for much
political sagacity," says the Louisville Journal,
who does no. perceive that the character and prac
/" tce Of the Federal Government is now, and has
been for some years past, undergoing gradual but
" steady change from its original form, as under
/" stood by the trainers of the Constitution. Its
conservative features fast yielding to the rude
" attacks Of broad Democracy, and, under the
" promptngs Of the semagogues, the People, in
/" their primary assemblies are assuming to decide
" on subjects which the Constitution wisely en-
" trusted to the more calm and enlightened judg-
" ment of a deliberative assembly. This very
q Oregon question furnishes striking illustration
of the truth Of our conclusion. In all time past
i" the People, in their primary capacity, have alb
" stained from interfering with the treaty-making
power, and questions involving our foreign rela-
tions have not been made the subject Of party di-
vision these delicate and intricate subjects have
I" been left to the unbiased judgment of the Presi-
q dent and Senate. Il was reserved for the pecu-
liar Democrats Of 1914 to discover that they are
!" much wiser than those who preceded them, and