The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-27

other routes or followed after him. be-
cause they lad not arrived in time to
go with the great company. Whitman
reached his home again in October. 1S43.
He had gone away with but a single COM
panion; he returned with nearly LOCO 1t
had been proved that the overland route
was entirely feasible and Oregon was
practically secured by Whitman's feat.
PeriIs of War Averted.
But before our title was recorded by
the slow processes of diplomacy many
obstacles had to be surmounted and
grave perils of war averted. Since 1918
abertive attempts had frequently been
made to establish boundary line from
the Rocky mountains to the Pacific be-
tween our possessions and the territory
of Great Britain. In 1924 the United
States had proposed the parallel of 40
degrees as the boundary. England had
made counter proposition of this line
from the mountains to the Columbia,
and thence down this river to its mouth.
Both propositions were rejected. Many
other lines were suggested, but as mat
ter of fact the dispute narrowed down
to the territory between the Columbia
and the parallel of 40 degrees.
Such was the condition of affairs when
Polk became president In his first annual
message he stated to congress that all
attempts at compromise had failed, ana
made q clustering proposition that talS
country should give the notice required
to bring the joint occupation to an end
and then hold the whole territory by force
of arms. Some people have suspected
that this bellicoSe message was merely
a trap to lead Mexico into a declaration
of war against us, under the suppoSitlon
that she would nave incensed England as
ally.
At ali events. frenzy for war with
England seemed to seize upon the coun-
try, just as happened a few years ago
after Clevelands famous Venezuela mes
sage. The cry was loudly raised both IN
md lNl- 11ny
ty-four forty, or fight few weeks
of dangerous tension ensued, in which
business was impeded and war might re-
suit at any time from some indiscreet
action.
Compromise Accepted.
Fortunately England did not take our
buster very seriously. Her leaders real
lied that Folks action was dictated
mainly by politics. In congress, too, after
the hot-headed partsans had made their
speeches, Webster and others showed
how deplorable such fraternal war
would be and how weak our claim was
to the territory above 40 degrees. Con-
sequently when England proposed COM
promise on that line the offer was &C
copied at once. Everyone was fully salts
fed with the decision except the chiefs
of the Hudson Bay company. They con-
tinued to cause friction in the extreme
northwest until in 1872 the emperor OF
Germany, as arbitrator, decided in our
favor the question of the water bound
airy between British North America and
the United States. Thus after eighty
years of more or less acrimonious dis
pute the boundary line on the north was
finally settled.
The area of the territory of Oregon
which we secured was over 2SO,OO0 square
miles, or more than twice the area OF
Great Britain and Ireland. The whole ter
ritory added to the United States under
Folks administration, 1S45-lS49, as the re-
suit of the events described in this and
the two preceding papers, was over 1885,
900 square miles Furthermore, the coun-
try now extended from the Atlantic to
the Pacific, and from the 49th degree OF
north latitude to the Rio Grande on the
south.
Copyright, 1901