PUBLISHED WEEKLY, BY
WILLIAM W. HOLDER
EDITOR AJYX PROPRIETOR.
THE CONSTITVTIOIf ASD THE UNION OF Til V. STATES THEY "MUST BE PRESERVED
VOLUME XI .NUMBER g.
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RAEIG II, . C, WEDNESDAY, IflAKCH II, 1846.
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SPEECH OF MR. CLARKE, I
OF NORTH CAROLINA,
la ihe House of Representatives, February 6, '
1846 On the resolution authorizing the Pre-!
sident to give the notice for the termination of
the joint occupancy of the Oregon territory.
concluded
But, sir, even among lhose who are agreed as
to oar right to the whole of Orpgon, there is a di- J
versity of opinion as to the best manner of assert
ing and securing our rights there. Whilst one '
portion of its friends aredecidd in the opinion,
that we should come boldly out declare our:
claims before the world and prepare to defend it
if necessary with the strong might of the country's j
arm there is another portion who are for leav-
ing it to time and emigration quietly and peace-j
fuily to effect the same result. It appears to me
that time and emigration have been looked to (
long enough to adjudge and decide this matter.
Twenty-five or thirty years ago, this same matter
was left to the arbitrament of time, and it m ty be
asked, what is now the state of the case? Why,
sir, wc are now further from a decision of it than
when it was first submitted to that tribunal. The
two governments are actually getting further and
further apart all the while in their efforts to bring
nbout a satisfactory adjustment of that matter, j
And pray, sir, what has emigration done all the j
while? It Wo has been lardy and inefficient, and
is now altogether hopeless. It is true, that there '
arc now in Oregon some seven thousand Ameri- r
cans, but the time when these seven thousand peo
ple went there is an important inquiry in this con
nexion. I would ask, if it be not true that they
have nearly or quite all of them gone there since
the spring of 1844, when '.he democratic party in
convention at Baltimore di clarrd our title to the
whole of Oregon ? and if it be not true, that yet a
larger portion of these have gone there since the
people of this country, in the great popular elec
tion of 1844, ratified and confirmed this declara
tion ? Mr. Greenhow states, in his History of
Oregon, that so late as the fall of 1843 there were
bit four hundred Americans in the whole territo
ry. These, then, are the assurances that have
carried them there assurances that the country
was ours, that it was to be taken under our own
dominion, and that they would be protected by
our laws. R- fus now to give the notice, and .
thereby manifest a distrust of our title, or a back
wardness in adopting measures to maintain it, and
you will not only, in my opinion, effectually ar-j
rest emigration thither, but that thousands of those
who have already gone there will return to the
States. Or if emigration shall be continued, it '
will be limited entirely to the south of the Col
umbia, and thus will give to Great Britain all
that she desires. I must confess, that I have no
confidence in the wonder-working-en' cts ot r in
activity," whither it be called wise, and masterly,
or stupid and bungling. It never has done any
thing cither for nations or for individuals. Ac
tivity is the main spring of success and prosperi-'
ty in all our undertakings. According to the j
gentleman from South Carolina. Mr. Rhett. our
revolutionary fathers tried both, and the result of
their experiment is a glorious commentary upon j
the superiority of determination of firmness, of,
activity We are told by him that they endured
for ten years the haidships, and oppressions,
and exactions of the mother country, before they
took up arms to redress themselves; and we are
admonished to imitate their patient forbearance, i
But what did this forbearance effect for them?;
Inactivity but brought upon them an accumu
lation of wrongs, an increase of exactions,
and an addition of hardships. It was activity a
firm and open avowal of their rights, and a deter
mined effort to maintain them that worked out a
vindication of their rights, and a redress of all j
their grievances. Let us imitate them in their;
last resolve let us declare our right not merely
to establish forts and post-routes, but our right to j
the territory, to the soil and by the time we,
need them, we shall have fifty thousand people in :
Oregon. Instead of seven thousand men, women
and children, we shall have twice that number
of fighting-men men of nerve and skill in the j
use of the deadly rifle ready and on the spot
to defend their homes and their firesides. But j
those gentlemen who promise to get for us the,
whole of Oregon if we will not pass the notice,
tell us that their plan will not lead to war. Theirs
is the pacinc policy, it we wouia irusi u ineir
skill in prophecy. But let us analyze their plan
and see how it is to work in practice. They,
like us, advocate our rights to the whole, and that
we shall lake possession of it, or encourage our
people to do so.
The only difference between us is, that we pro
pose to notify Great Britain of our intentions
they propose to do the same thing without any
notice. Well, how do they propose to take pos
session? Why, by erecting forfs, by establishing
post offices and post routes, and by extending our
laws over our emigrants, and by encouraging
them to make permanent settlements in the coun
try, and to reduce and cultivate the earth. And
all this is to be done throughout the whole ex
tent from 49 deg. to 54 deg. 40 min. To limit
these establishments to the Columbia, or by the
49 deg. is at once to admit that you intend to
surrender the balance of the territory. Can
Great Britain fail to see in all this a determina
tion to oust her from the country ? Is she so
blind that she cannot see so deaf that she cannot
hear so dull that she cannot understand ? Think
you that our actions will not speak to her louder
than any words we conld employ? WiM not
our forts, and our militia, and our farms, and our
workshops, speak to her in language stronger
than what wc can put into any written notice we j
can serve upon her, and teli her of our determin
ation to appropriate the whole coun'.ry? And if
she is determined to retain any portion of it, will
she not prepare to do it at once, at the point of the
bayonet and the cannon's mouth ? To expect
anything else, is to calculate largely upon the
blindness or tame submission of that haughty
power. The gentlemen appear, themselves, to
have some apprehension after all that their plan
mav not work so peacefully an( cmet,y 5 and
they attempt to prepare and reconcile us to the
war which their plan my bring about by telling
us that it will make Great Britain the aggressor;
and they amplify most eloquently upon the mani
lold advantages of being in the defensive. I am
willing to admit that there are great and manifest
advantages in being on the defensive in any con
troversy, whether it be of a warlike or other
character. But it would seem to me that no war
will possibly grow out of this question in which
Great Britain willnot necessarily and unavoidably
be the aggressive party. Even if the notice is
given, and war should ensue, she must begin it.
All will admit that we can populate that country
more rapidly than she can. The gentlemen who
propose to get the w hole country, if the notice be
not given, count largely if not entirely on our su
perior advantages for colonizing thalcountry. So
long, therefore, as we can do that, and thereby
secure by our majorities the control of the coun
try, what more do we ask? What is there to
fight for? Nothing, certainly, on our part. Our
nosition would civeus every advantage. So far,
therefore, as the question of war is concerned, the
practical results of both plans would seem to me
to be the same. The one may bring it on a little
more speedily than the other, war is as likely to
follow the one as the other, and in either case
Great Britain must begin it.
I am, therefore, in favor of the notice, because
I believe that .there is a disposition on the part of
almost every member of this House to take pos
session of some portion of tUat territory to en
courage our citizens to emigrate there, and to
make permanent and exclusive settlements, and to
extend our laws and institutions over them. This
cannot be done, in my estimation, consistently
with subsisting treaty stipulations, until after the
notice is given and the treaty abrogated. The
notice is the only way in which wc can in proper
faith rid ourselves of our obligations to Great
Britain. And this course is as ncctssary for those
who think our claim docs not extend beyond the
49 deg. as for those who would be satisfied with
nothing less than the whole. For the subjects of
Great Britain have the rights of ingress and
egress and of trade into every portion of the
territorj' to the south as well as to the north of
49 deg. and to the south as well as to the north
of the Columbia. To curtail or destroy these
privileges by any mcasuies which shall operate
either directly or remotely to produce such a re
sult, cannot justly be done without first putting
an end to the treaty of 1827. And 1 very much
doubt whether we shall be able to gf t the signa
ture of the President to any laws, the immediate
or remote effect of which would be to exclude
Great Britain from any portion of the country
un'il the notice has been first given. Treaties,
when once concluded, are invested by the con
stitution of the United States with the force and
name of hr.vs, and by that same instrument the
President is bound by bis oath to see that the laws
are faithfully executed Jaith fully is the word
according to their direction, their spirit, their let
ter, and in no other way.
Again : I am for the notice, brcause, if we arc
to take exclusive possession of any portion of
the territory, to proceed with the notice is more
open and above board. For us to attempt secret
ly to get possession of the country, would carry
with it the appearance of an effoit to deceive an
attempt secretly to undermine, which could really
deci ivc no one, and which is equally against good
fuith and fair dealing. Our country should al
ways remember to fulfil, with scrupulous exact
ness, all her obligations her contracts all the
pledges of her faith, whether they relate to the
payment of money, to territorial lights, or to com
mercial privileges. To keep them to the promise
and to break them in act and in deed, is unbecom
ing our frank, our manly character, as a people.
To proclaim the inviolability of treaties at the
same time that we are secretly and sneakingly
seeking to empower ourselves to violate them
with personal impunity, if I may so speak of a
government, is very near akin to that faith which
has been ingloriously immortalized as punica
fides Judas-like, it salutes with a kiss that it may
the mare completely deceive and betray.
Again: I am in favor of the notice, because I
believe that the giving of it now holds out the only
plausible means of preventing a war between the
two countries. The postponement of the notice
from 1827 to this lime has increased and multi
plied the difficulties with which the controversy
was originally surrounded. And it is difficult to
see what else could have been anticipated. For
the interests of Great Britain have been and are
now daily increasing in extent and permanency,
making all the while stronger and stronger ap
peals to her pride and avarice to maintain them.
At first, she had but the moving tent and the tem
porary stockade. Now, she has the permanent
dwelling and the bristling fortifications. At first,
she had but the roaming hunter, as wild and un
settled as the game he pursued. Now, she has
the fixed agriculturist and the settled farmer. JNow,
she has there a scattered population. In a few
years this population will be doubled, adding con
stantly and. daily td'the difficulties of a satisfacto
ry and peaceable adjustment. Never was the ap
plication of that holy injunction, to "agree with
thine adversary quickly, whilst thou art in the
way with him," more, appropriate and pressing
than it is in relation to this present controversy.
Let us profit by it. The notice is all-important
as ieading irresistibly to a settlement of this mat
ter in some way.
There is stili another consideration influencing
my mind in favor of the notice, growing out of
the history of this Oregon question. In 1818
this question was brought up for negotiation and
compromise-, and so intimately connected with
the peace of the two countries was it then regard
ed, that its agitation was attended with the most
injurious effects upon the commerce, upon the
credit, and indeed upon all the various pursuits
and interests of our people. In 1827, its agita
tion was again attended with the same disastrous
results. Now, again, for the third time, has it
been brought up for renewed discussion in the
year 1846 and if we are to credit those who pro
fess to understand such matters, it has again ex
hibited its galvanic effect upon all the best inter
ests of the country. Postpone it now, and some
eight or ten years from this time, if not sooner, it
must again come up with all its usual concomit
ants of panics and depressions. Is it net the part
of wisdom to put an end to such a state of thirtgs?
Do we not owe it to ourselves, and to those who
come after us, to arrest this political earthquake,
which at intervals has given a shock to all that is
valuable in society?
Mr. Chairman, as something has been said a
bout leaders in this matter, and as the gentleman
from Massachusetts Mr. Adams has been held
up before the country as the leader of those who
are in favor of ihe notice, I will beg the indul
gence of the committee whilst I make a few re
marks in relation to that matter. I will take oc
casion to say, that in giving my vote for the no
tice, I shall follow the lead of no man the lead
neither of the illustrious gentleman from Massa
chusetts, nor yet of the honorable member from
Virginia. fMr. Bayly.! I know no lead, and I
shall follow no lead but that of my constituents..
Whitnersoever tney aireci in a matter of so mucn
importance to their peace, thither I go cheerfully
and promptly. Bui, sir, if the gentleman from
Massachusetts happens to coincide with me in
opinion upon this or any other subject, I shall
most certainly not change my views on that ac
count merely. To do so, would be to put my po
litical principles entirely in his keeping, to be con
trolled and directed as he might think proper.
He would only have to affect to be on one side,
in order to drive me into that very position into
which, above all others, he would most desire to
place me. Again: I would ask with what pro
priety can it be said that the honorable member
from Massachusetts is the leader of all those who
are in favor of the notice? I had thought that
the democratic party was the leader in this mat
ter. I had thought that their delegates in con
vention had declared our title to the whole of
Oregon. I thought it formed a part of the decla-
ration with which we entered the political strug-
gle of 1844, in which we were opposed and re -
sisted by the gentleman from Massachusetts, and
by those who usually act with him. And now,
after the gentleman, with all his migJit and main,
resisted the election of the only candidate that was
publicly pledged to the maintenance of our riohls
in Oregon, he is to be held up as the leader of all Considerations like these considerations, too, far
those who advocate the notice. It will not do. j from being fanciful and visionary invest Oregon
Gentlemen will fail in their object. They ought j with an interest and value which will not justify us
to know, and do know, that the democratic party j in surrendering it as a barren waste. I am aware
have adopted their principles, not from a spirit of. of the attempts made at times to depreciate and
opposition to others, but because of their connex-! underrate it. I know that it is represented by
ion with the prosperity and glory of our common some as a desert waste, in which mountain is piled
country. By such an intimation, the honorable j upon mountain in wild sterile confusion, fit only
gentlemen depreciate the moral influence of the to be the abode of the murderous savage, and the
political principles by which the' have, for some ! prowling wild beast. But, sir, I must confess
time past, professed to have been governed. jlhat I like the country for the very wildness of its
But some gentlemen who have preceded me in ( mountains. Mountainous countries arc the nurse
the debate, declare that before we proceed to adopt I ries of freemen. The love of country which they
measures which may possibly lead to war, we inspire is to be found nowhere else. The inhabi
ought fully to be satisfied, not only of our rights, ; tant of the plain loves his country, but it is often
but that those rights are of sufficient value and ! a cold, selfish, and calculating attachment. Point
importance to justify a resort to that dreadful al-j out to him a place where his interest will be
ternalive. This will lead me to trouble the com- i more promoted, and country is lost sight of,
miltce with a few reflections upon the value of amidst the engrossments of interest. The moun
Oregon ; and in this connexion I will consider itjtaineer loves his country with a romantic devo
with respect to its agricultural, its manufacturing, j tion, partaking of the grandeur, the sublimity,
nnd commercial capacities. And, fiist, as respects ; the sternness of the scenery by which he is sur
its agricultural advantages. And here I am wil- j rounded. And, sir, when liberty is about to de
ling to confess that at first blush, and as appears ' part from any country which it has once blessed
from the very imperfect accounts from the por- j vith her presence, her last and lingering footsteps
tions of that territory which have been yet ex-j are to be seen in the defiles and recesses of its
plored, the prospects are not so encouraging, so ; mountains. And when our country shall have
far as agriculture is concerned, as is to be found i reached the meridian of its glory, nnd, in obedi
in other portions of the habitable globe. It has j mce to that law which nature has impressed all
not, for instance, the smoothness of the valley of things human, shall begin to wane and decline,
the Mississippi, nor yet perhaps its fertility. But ! perhaps patriot Wallace, with his few valiant, de
that the parts of it already explored do hold out j voted followers, will, in the rude mountains of
very considerable inducements to the agriculturist,
nnd that a more thorough examination may yet
lead to the discovery of other and still larger
tracts suited to the same desirable purposes, is far
from being without the range of human proba- j staiemenls made on this floor by gentlemen on the
bility. Of late, every year is rewarding the toil j other side. Some of them tell us that we are not
of the hardy pioneer with the discover' of some prepared for a conflict with Great B-itain ; that
new valley vicing in richness ot scenerv in feiv we have no fortifications deserving the name; no
tility of soil beauty of location, and salubrity of i navy ; no army; no militia; whilst she is repre
climaie, with any spots of equal extent in the ! sented as having preparations in all these respects,
world. Ihe valley of the UniPQua. of the Wil-
lamette, and the Walla Walla have, from time to
lime, burst upon the gaze of the hardy adventur
er, and rewarded, from time to time, his daring
and toilsome wanderings. But, sir, when we re
member that, until within a few years past, this
whole country has been looked to with an eye
single to the furnishing of furs : and when it is
further remembered that those portions of any
country which are most inviting to the foot of the
traveller are the least adapted to the products of
agriculture, the wonder perhaps is, not that.so.few,
but rather that so many spots have already been
found which are hereafter to gladden the heart
and reward the toil of the husbandman. Much,
too, that at first sight would seem to be unsuited
to cultivation may, by dint of industry nnd enter -
prise, become the abode of the quiet and indenend
ent farmer. To the eye of the pilgrim as it, wan
dering over the surrounding country for the first
time, from the rock of Plymouth, how dreary and
desolate the scenery. Nor did a further progress
into the interior destroy or even weaken for a long
lime the startling features of the picture as it first j of our people, the spirit of our institutions is op
presented itself to his vision. But Massachusetts . posed to large standing armies, to expensive na
is now a great and powerful Slate great in her vies, and to extensive fortifications, so that our
population, in her wealth, in her commerce, in preparations are always made after war is declar
the intelligence and enterprise of her citizens, and ed, or considered inevitable.
great in her revolutionary reminiscences. By the Other gentlemen tell us that the certain effect
industry of her people, by their economy and pru- of a war for Oregon will be to lose the whole of
dence, her snow-capped mountains have been con-
verted into fruitful gardens, and her very rocks
have been made to bloom with the freshness of
vegetation. And of a majority of the old States,
how small is the portion of their surfaces that
gives employment to the husbandman. But in all
that contributes to the nature of flocks and herds,
and to the support of manufacturing establish
ments, Oregon bids fair to stand unrivalled on this
northern continent. Her valleys, her hills, and
her very mountains produce spontaneously and in
abundance the nrfost nourishing grasses, adapt
ing her above all other countries to the growing
of wool a commodity for which we are now so
largely dependent upon importations from abroad.
And though her rivers and water courses are
broken by falls and compressed in places into
narrow defiles, offering no safety on their bosoms
to the vessel or the steamship, these very deformi
ties, if I may so express myself, make them in
valuable to the manufacturer.
Our political opponents have for a long time
been pressing upon the country the unspeakable
advantages of making everything within ourselves,
and being dependent on foreign nations for noth
ing ; and really, sir, when wc are once in the
peaceable possession of Oregon, I shall feel that
we are about to experience the realities, whatever
they may be, of their political hallucinations.
We can then certainly make our own cotton, our
own wool, our own meat and bread, our own
clothes, and our own gold and silver. Yes, sir,
our own gold and silver; for who can tell of the
countless stores of mineral wealth which lie em
bedded in the bosom of her mountains. For her
mountains are but a continuation of those which,
in Mexico, have poured out their treasures in such
astonishing profusion into the laps of her citizens.
But it is in regard to the commercial importance
of this wonderful country that prophecy has ven
tured her most amazing speculation. It is in this
point of view that Oregon becomes invested with
an interest and importance which it is not given
to the most sanguine imagination to grasp. We
are told that whatever nation in the history of the
world has monopolized the trade of the East, has
exercised a controlling influence over the destinies
ftjethe other nations of the earth. Phoenicia, Car-
mage, urcece, no me, Venice, uenoa, ana riol
land, have been successively the successful com
petitors for the glittering prize, and they were suc
cessively the masters and school -masters of the
world, giving to it law, civilization, the arts that
embellish and the sciences that dignify and enno
ble human nature, and pouring into ihe laps of the
other nations the luxuries of a refined and culti
vated existence. The sceptre of this all-pervading
power is now in the hands of Great Britain, and
she stands confessedly the master power of the
world. To secure this trade by the only practi
cable route which now presents itself, her mer
chants are compelled to traverse an ocean way of
some tens of thousands miles, and requiring for
an average voyage some five or six months.
If Oregon shall become ours, and the project of
a railroad between the Atlantic and Pacific shall
ever be realized and realized it will be that
trade must pass through our country, because the
1 route from the East to Europe would be shorten
j cd by some two-thirds. Our country must then
become the thoroughfare of this great trade, and
into our nanus must pass the sceptre of that pow-
er, which, in all ages that are past, has given such
controlling moral and physical influence to its
i fortunate possessor over the kingdoms of the earth.
I Uregon, stay for a while our downward course,
and drive back for a lime the mercenary forces of
the usurper.
I will now proceed to answer some of the
never belore seen in the hands of any power in
ihe history of the world. Statements like these
are the standing and stereotyped arguments of all
those, who, in the history of the United States,
have been opposed to war. They are considera
tions which were urged just before our revolution
ary and our last war, and urged w ith an ingenui
ty, and eloquence, and seeming propriety which
they can never bring with them again. They
j carried with them liitle or no force then, and they
i can carry with them still less now, when the
result of both those wars, but especially of the lat
ter has proved that our strength consists- in our
resources, in our material for ready preparation,
and in the indomitable spirit of our people, rather
than in any extended previous preparation. To
'argue that we should adopt no measures which.
by any possibility, will lead to war, until we are on
an equality in point of preparation with the power
which it may be supposed we will oflertd, is to
argue ajrainst all war, as well as against the ad-
vocacy of any measure which, however remotely,
may operate to produce hostilities. For the sense
it for a while, at least, and that its probable effect
will be to lose it to us altogether. But. sir, I
cannot bring myself to believe that we shall lose
it even for a time. I cannot but believe that wc
shall be able to send men enough into that country
to expel any force which Great Britain can send
there, and supply with the necessaries of life and
the munitions of war, for any considerable time.
And as to her Indian allies, very little is to be
dreaded from them, except in their attacks upon
defenceless women and children. Great Britain
managed in both our wars to get them upon her
side, but we were an overmatch for both of them,
and that, too, when the Indians were much more
numerous and powerful than they are at this time,
and when we were far less so, and the Indians
were fir more formidable than the half-brute
creatures which bear that name on the west of the
Rocky mountains. Indeed, I am inclined to the
opinion that the Indians have but served to fetter
and clog the operations of their civilized allies.
This is emphatically so, in all their pitched and
regular battles. In all such engagements, the
British would have done better without them. 1
repeat it, therefore, sir, that I cannot but believe
that we can employ a force in Oregon that will
enable us to retain possession of it against any
force which can be sent there. I have great con
fidence in the enterprise and prowess of our wes
tern citizens whose invaluable services as hardy
pioneers, both in possessing themselves of the
country, and in the rapid population of it, was so
graphically described by the honorable member
from Indiana, Mr. Kennedy. and whom he so
faithfully represents on this floor. I never can
believe that they will allow the cross of St.
George to float in triumph over nnv portion of
that territory. But if misfortune should lose us
the country in the beginning, there never can be
any possible chance of our losing it altogether.
If Great Britain should expel our people from the
territory, we ean take possession of Canada, and
New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia; and when
we become tired of fighting each other, she will
give us Oregon, and we will probably surrender
these countries to her. But, if we should unfor
tunately lose it altogether, we shall have the
gratification of remembering that it was lost by
the fortunes of war, rather than by ignoble surren
der that we were at least true to the motto which
we have adopted in the management of our for
eign relations, u to ask nothing but what is right,
and to submit, with impunily, to nothing that is
wrong " and that we have not been altogether
false to our reiterated assertion that our title to
the whole of Oregon was clear and indisputable
Other gentlemen have descanted most beauti
fully upon the prosperity of our country; its
wealth, its commerce, and the achievements of its
ails and industry; and we are bid to look upon
them all as ihe trophies of peace. That peace is
the immediate cause of this, I am ready to admit.
But there is a class of causes, called remote causes,
and ihcy are frequently entitled to more weight,
when results are to be considered, than those
causes which aie seemingly more direct and man
ifest. And among the remote causes, which
have enabled us to attain our present position, in
all that aggrandizes a people, the two wars
through which we have passed, are certainly en
titled to no little weight and consideration. The
first war brought out our independence, nnd gave
us existence as a free confederacy of States. And
the second gave our people a name for valor and
unconquerable determination, and for jealously of
our lights, which challenges respect tor us in ev
ery sea and in every port. This respect, sir, is
the chief element and support of extended com
mercial prosperity. Let us forfeit lhat bv any
surrender of our just and proper rights, and these
monuments of our enterprise and adventure, to
which we now refer with so much, and with such
just pride, will be humbled and levelled in thedusr.
And, I would ask, if Great Britain stakes nothing
in this conflict? Where are her wealth, her
prosperity, her commerce, and the achievements
of her arts and her industry? Where are the
thousands and tens of thousands of her people,
who are now employed in manufactories, but
who, if the supply of cotton shall be cut off by
war, will be thrown out of employment, nnd re
duced to beggary and starvation? Where are
the mutterings of the gathering storm, which are
constantly heard amongst her enslaved nnd starv
ing populace, and in the very heart of her king
dom ? Where is Ireland, with her convulsive
throes for the very birthright of freemen direct
representation ? Where is the wild, the brave
Aflghan, who. in the rude mountains of his native
land, is beating back with fury and destruction the
wave of British power, as at each returning wave
it seeks to overrun his own, his native land?
Where are her numerous colonies and settle
ments, scattered throughout the habitable globe,
bound to her only by fear, and who are seeking
the first favorable opportunity to throw off the
yoke of her exactions and oppressions ? Where
are all those nations of the world, who. accord
ing to the honorable gentleman from Virginia,
Mr. Hunter,! are standing by, panting for her
overthrow, and ready to gather up the spoils of
her dissolution ? Is it true that we have every
thing to discourage, and she everything to prompt
and urge her to the conflict? If the sympathy
of mankind be ihe platform on which we are
first to place ourselves in order to ensure success,
where, I would ask, amid the realities of the pic
lure I have drawn, is she to obiain even a foot
hold? There is yet another and a distinct class in this
House for on this question there are several class
es, as well as shades of opinion 1 say there is a
class who are opposed to this notice, because they
are of opinion that the President and Senate have
that authority, as the treaty-making power, and
they are opposed to what they consider unnecessa
ry and unauthorized legislation. It is true that
the President and Senate have the power to make
treaties by the constitution. But that the power
to make carries with it the power to annul and ab
rogate, may admit of some doubt. It is true, there
are cases in which they may destroy a former
treaty, by making a later one, whose provisions
conflict with the former ; but this is but the conse
quence of their power to make. But that they
may , of their own mere motion, by way of notice,
proclamation, or otherwise, put an end to a sub
sisting treaty, when the terms of the treaty confer
no such power on either, may well be question
ed. And when reference is had to another clause of
the constilution, which gives to treaties, when pro
perly concluded, the force, and power, and name
of a law, this view of the case would appear In
receive additional strength. This clause would
sepm to bring treaties, when once made, under the
control of the law-making power, which embraces
the President and ,both houses of Congress. If
these considcratibns, which would seem to confer
the power on Congress, the President co-operating,
are entitled to any weight, and there be like
wise any force in the arguments which confine this
power to the President and the Senate, these con
flicting opinions and arguments but show that the
question is involved in doubt And where there
is doubt as to the question, whether any power is
properly to be exercised by a part or by the whole
of the legislative authority of the government,
that construction ought to prevail which refers it to
the whole, as being more safe and more in nnison
with the spirit of our institutions. Regarding it.
therefore, as a question of doubt, the President
certainly acted with- prudence in conceding the
power to Congress conjointly with himself, and the
people will commend him for his prudence.
Again, the question of terminating the treaty,
and the measures by which it is to be followed,
are so intimately connected, in the estimation of
many, with the peace of the country, that even if
the power were clearly with the President and
Senate, there would be no manifest impropriety in
taking advice of Congress, inasmuch as if war do
follow, Congress must declare it must vote the
money .necessary to carry it on and inasmuch as
the people wc represent will at last have to fur-
nish the pecuniary and physical material fot pros
ecuting it. It is. from no desire to shun any just
responsibility of his position lhat he refers the'
matter to Congress. Whatever of responsibility
is to attach to ihe giving of the notice, he has b'ol'J
ly assumed before the face of the country by re
cording, under the solemnity Of his constitutional
obligations, his opinion that the notice should be
sjiven and given at once.
And it is to be feared that many of those who
are now most ready to brand the President with a
desire to shun the responsibility of his station4
would, if the notice had been given by him ana
war have unfortunately ensud, nnd pi oved dis
astrous in its termination or its progress, be fore-
most in denouncing him as heedless, reckless, and
wanting in respect to the representatives of the
people in a matter concerning their peace and
their very lives. The passage of this resolution
has been branded in advance as an infringement of
the powers of the executive. But I must confess
that I am al a loss to perceive how, in any possi
ble view of the case, it can be so regarded. What
I understand as an infringement of any power, is
an arbitrary and unsolicited interference and usur
pation of it. In the case now'before us. we arc
called on to act at the instance of the Executive
and at his request, advising what may be best for
the interest of his country. And, Mr. Chairman
it is a little remarkable that the objection tnat
Congress should not interfere in Ihe giving this no
tice, but that the whole of it should be left witH
the President, is urged with the greatest pertinaci
ty by those very gentlemen who, for the last four
or five years, have been inveighing with the mort
violent denunciation against the already over
grown and irresistable power of the executive, as
i hey Were pleased to term it. It certainly was
hardly to have been expected that, in So short n
time, the' would be found in a case of doublfui
right, ready to leave to the Executive the exercise
of a power which, according to their own confes
sion, must almost necessarily lead to war.
Before I take my seat, I will make btit a fe-
Imark or so upon the amendment of the honorable
gentleman from Alabama, Mr. Hilli ird Hii
j amendment proposes to empower the President i
give the notice when, in his opinion, the public
; interest requires it. The President, sir, under the
solemn discharge of his duties under the constitu
tion has stated to this Mouse nnd to the country
hi bplief that the notice should be given now
should be given at once and that without delay.
To authorize him, therefore to give the notice;
j when he shall think il best to do so, is to authorize
j him to do it now; and that is precisely what thb
i original resolution, reported by the Committee on
j Foreign Relations, proposes to do. And, sir, for
us to adopt the amendment of the gentleman fiont
Alabama fMr. Hilliard would look very mfJch1
, like questioning the sincerity of the President or
! his firmness when he made that declaration. It
I is very much like saying to him, wc know you
, have told us in your message that, in your opinion-;
! the notice should be given forthwith, but we can
hardly think you in earnest, nnd will therefore
.empower you to do it, when you really do get id
, the notion that it ought to be given. The adop
tion of the amendment will certainly furnish veiy
.strong evidence either that we question his sinceri
'ty, or that it is the desire of a majority of this
i House that the notice should be postponed, or
jlhat we are unwilling to share with him any res
j ponsibility whatever of ihe consequences which
j may follow the notice. The first inference would
be uniust to lhat officer; the second would be cotl
trary to the wishes of a majority of this House,
and to manifest an unwillingness to share with the
Executive the responsibility of the notice and the
consequences to which it may lead, is exceedingly
unkind in his political friends, nnd looks very
much like turning the " cold shoul Jer "when ova's
friend is in a crisis, and lhat, too, a crisis into
which those very friends have been instrumental
in bringing him. The democratic friends of
the President made the assertion of our title to
Oregon one of the cardinal doctrines to which
they pledged him before the people; and now,
when he comes forward to take the first step ne
cessary to redeem that pledge, these very friend
are called upon to turn their backs upon him, and
tell him, " Sir, you must lake all the responsibili
ty ; the business begins to look rather squally,
and we had rather have as little to do with it as
possibh;." Call you this Supporting your friends?
Will it not rather go to sortie extent to verify the
predictions made on this floor that the President
friends and all, will back otit from this whole
matter? For these reasons I am opposed to the
amendment of the honorable gentleman from
Alabama. It is but right and safe that we share
with him the responsibility. The union of ail
ihe legislative and representative departments of
the government will give the notice a moral in
fluence for good that it could not cany wilh it
when it had the sanction of a part only of that
authority.
Mr. Chairman, t am done, and my concluding
desire is, that whatever turn this matter may take,
it may result in the preservation of the peace of
the country ; but, at all events in the maintenance'
of our just rights in the Oregon country.
. t
MacConnell and Gretley. MncConnell, the
drunken and disorderly Member of Congress, is a
perfect ihalf horse nnd half alligator. We alluded
to his discreditable course a few days since. Hi
disgracTul conduct was once spoken of in jd
terms of reprehension, in the Tribune. Mac.
was very indignant at this liberty taken with him,
and swore he would whip Greeley the. first tirHc
be saw him. Soon after Mr. Greeley was )ri
Washington, and was pointed out to him; where
upon throwing, himself in his way, and facing him
boldly, he asked if his name was Greeley!
" Yes," was the reply. The editor of the Tri
bune?" " Yes," 8 Well, then, I'm going to haire
satisfaction out of you. You said I was n drunk;
ard, a black guard, and a disgrace to the HbtJse.'
"Yes. Mac, I did say so; and you Utiow'k ii
true yon know you arc drunk now." "Thai's
!a fact," said Mac. And you know Mac," said
1 Greeley, " that you have talents enough to make
n respectable man, but that you disgrace iht
! House and yourself by gelling drunk and playing
the blackguard." " Its a fact, 'aid Mac." " I know
jits all true, and you're a clever fellow and ain't
; afraid to speak the truth, by f Come, I t's
'go liquor." JV. Y. Paper.
I Too good to be lost Vive la Bagatelle I
i The following toast was recently given at a "(tar-
kce celebration down South.
" Massa Kashus M. Klay de friend ob de
hulled popplashnm nldough he hab a wite skin,
he hab also a berry brack heart ; which 'titles him'
to de universal 'steam ob dis 'sembly."
Trumbull Dent.