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I kit. 8, 1845. 41—ly
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Feb. 26. 1846. 9—St
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VOLUME VI.
JUBE-ICM.yr. ’ ‘*l
From Neals Saturday Gazette.
FALSE HOPE. .
I dream’d a “A bright particular star,”
In lonely radiance shone',
And tbndiy deemed its gentle rays
Beaui’dtaMg|j|pr me alone,
I loved soon I saw ,
The sky with clouds o : er cast,
And found, in sorrow, I h:ul dreamed
Os “hopes toobright to last.”
I dream’d a rose in beauty bloom’d,
To all admirers free, ,
But that its soft and balmy breath
Was only shedibr me—•
’ J loved it, but too soon there came
A rude and shivering blast,
And taught me I had dreamed again
Os “hopes too bright to last.”
THE PRINTER.
He stood there clone at that shadowy hour,
By the swinging lamp dimly burning;
All silent within, save the ticking type,
All without, save the night-watch turning;
And heavily echoed the solemn sound,
As slowly he paced o’er the frozen ground.
And dark were the mansions so lately that shone,
With the joy of festivity gleaming,
And hearts that were beating in sympathy then,
Were now living it o’er in their dreaming;
Yet the Printer still worked at his lonely post,
As slowly he gathered his mighty host.
And there lay the merchant all pillowed in down,
And building bright hopes for the morrow,
Nor dreamed he that Fate was thpn weaving a
wand
That would bring to him fear anti sorrow;
Yet the Printer was there in his shadowy room.
And he set in his frame-work that rich man’s doom!
The young wife was sleeping, whom lately had
bound
The tie's that death only can sever ;
And dreaming-she started, yet woke with a smile,
For she thought they had parted forever!
But the Printer was clicking the types that would
tell
On the morrow the truth of that midnightspell!
And there lay the statesman, who§e feverish
brow
And restless, the pillow was pressing,
For he felt thro’ the shadowy mists of his dream
His loftiest hopes now possessing;
Yet the Printer worked on, ’mid silence and gloom,
And dug for Ambition its lowliest tomb.
And slowly that workman went gathering up
His budget of grief and of gladness;
A wreath for the noble, a grave for the low,
For tile happy a full cup of sadness;
.Strange stories of wonder, to enchant the car,
And dark ones of terror,’ to curdle with fear.
Full strange arc the tales which the dark host
shall bear
To palace and cot on the morow;
Oh welcome, thrice welcome, to many a heart!
To many a bearer of sorrow;
It shall go like the wild and wandering air,
For life and its changes are impressed there
LOVE.
Love's liclj flame for cvcrburncth :
From Heaven it came, to Heaven rcturncth;
Too oft on earth a troubled guest,
At times deceived, at times opprest.
It here is tried and purified ;
Then hath in heaven its perfect rest;
It sowetb-here with toil and care,
But the harvest time of love is there.
[Southey.
CONGRESSIONAL.
SPEECH OP Hit. CALUOVH.
OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
In Senate, Monday, March 16, the Resolution of
Notice, v)-c. being under consideration.
SPECIAL ORDER —OREGON &C.
Mr. Calhoun being entitled to the floor, rose
and addressed the Senate very nearly as follows:
The question /low in order for discussion is,
whether notice shall be given to Great Britain that
the convention of joint occupancy between us and
her, shall terminate at the end of the year. To
that question I shall confine my remarks, limiting
them to that and the questions immediately con
nected with it. I shall say nothing in regard to the
title of Oregon. Having been personally connected
with previous negotiations, in which that question
was concerned, it will be seen by all that it is pro
{>er that I should pass it by without notice. I
shall abstain from everything of a personal char
acter, and from every thing calculated to would
the feelings of any gentleman ; but, at the same
time, I shall express myself freely, fully, and can
didly on all the subjects on which I shall consider
it my dirty to touch. With these few prefatory
remarks, I shall proceed at once to the question of
-notice.
There is one point on which we must all be
agreed, and that is, that a great change has taken
place since the commencement of the session in
the importance of this question, and in its bearing
upon peace and war. s At that time, this measure
of notice was of the greatest and most weighty im
portance, involving as it did the question whether
peace with Great Britain should or should
not continue. N ow, it has become one of compar
atively minor importance,'and may be decided
either wav without any very decisive ef
fect on those important interests. So great, in
deed, is the change, that the very reasons which are
urged in the Executive message in support of the
recommendation that notice shall be given, have
no longqr their application. The bearings both
of the measure and of the several parties in the
Senate w hich have grown out cf it, are entirely
altered. That the Executive recommendation to
terminate the notice is founded on the conviction
that pending such a notice, there can be no com
promises of our diiilculties on the Oregon question
must be, I think, admitted, on all sides. Indeed,
the language of the message is explicit to that
effect. It expresses the President’s conviction
that no compromise could be effected which we
ought to accept. It announces to us that he
made to the British commissioner an offer of the
parallel of 49°, but that, that oiler having been
rejected, lie ordered that it should be immediately
withdrawn. And on that seme conviction he re
commends to Congress the passage of this notice,
with a view to the removal of ail impediments to
the assertion of our right to the whole of the Ore
“gon territory. Assuming that there would be no
compromise, the President tells us that, at the ex
piration of twelve months, a period will have ar
rived when our title to that country must either be
abandoned or firmly- maintained. Throughout
the whole message there is not the slightest inti
mation that any compromise is expected; but,
on the contrary, the entire document asumes the
opposite view.
Aet I admit that the grounds on which the
President bases tliis, his conviction, are derived
from the negotiation itself, and mainly from the
fact that his offer of a compromise on 49° was re
jected. I admit that, proceeding on that founda
tion. it is a fair inference that, if England shall re
new on her part the proposition winch, when
made on ours, she rejected, there would be no
impediment hi the way to its acceptance; at the
same time the President intimates not the slight
est expectation that such an offer will be made
on her part, or that any compromise will be effect
ed.
Such is the view which I have been constrain
ed to take, aider the most careful examination
which I have been able to give to the message of
the President; and if I may draw an inference
from the opinions of those members of the Senate
who believe in the soundness of our title to the
whole territory, they concur in this view. In
deed, the grounds on which they place them
selves will not admit of their supporting the no
tice under any other assumption. They go for
thewfi -of Oregon, that our
title to the whole territory,
clear and unquestionable; and they think it bet
ter that we should assert that title by arms, than
abandon any part or portion of it. Hence it is
most manifested that if they thought the notice
could possibly result in a compromise, they would
vote against it.
And this view which I take of the message, and
in which these gentlemen concur, is, as I believe,
the view entertained by the country at large.—
Certainly it is, if we are to draw our conclusions
from the geimral tone of the public press; or if
we are to look at what is, perhaps, a still better
index of public opinion—the course of our intel
ligent business men; far the reception of the
message bad the decided effect upon the public
stocks. No sooner was its language heard than
insurance hhmediately rose, and, as our vessels
returned from their foreign voyages, instead of
-their being sent out again to sea, they were suf
fered to remain inactive at the wharves.
P .:ch, too, was the view taken by another por
tion of the Senate—among which I consider my
self as included—and who were opposed to the
giving of this notice. They opposed it on the
grounds directly the reverse of those on which
these gentlemen advocated it. Those who advo
cated the notice did so because they believed
there would be no compromise, and could be none.
We were opposed lo the notice, because we did
not agree wish them in that opinion. We be
lieved, on the contrary, that a compromise might
be effected, and a common ground assumed bo
which both nations would agree. We did not
think that the American title to the whole of
Oregon to be so perfectly clear as to be indisputa
ble. We held that the title of neither nation to
the v.’hoic country was perfect; and therefore, we
could not, and did not, believe that two powerful
and enlightened nations, such as Groat Britain
and the United Stales, would go to war on such
a question, so long as war could by possibility he
honorably and properly avoided. This was the
view of all who opposed the giving of notice at
this time? We wished to give to both parties in
this controversy a breathing time—a season for
calm and mature reflection; under the influence
of which they might come to some just and hon
orable, yet pacific conclusion; and because we
thought that the immediate giving of such a no
tice as was proposed, would bring Great Britain
to one or two alternatives—either to acquiesce ill
the state of things in which we had placed the
question, so as to permit us to get possession of the
territory by the gradual results of colonization, or
to change the onus, and cast the blame of making
war from our shoulders upon hers; compelling her
to take the attitude of the aggressor.
There were other gentlemen in this body who
acted from different views. These were in favor
of a compromise. They, too, thought that our
title was not perfect, but yet were in favor of
giving notice, because ‘they believed, notwith
standing the tone and language of the message,
that the two measures were compatible—that wc
might give this notice to terminate the convention,
and yet eflcct an amicable compromise of all our
difficulties. The grounds on which they come
to this conclusion seem to be three. In the first
place, they think that the language of the E xecu
tive shows that he still entertains the hope of
compromise. They quote to us his express lan
guage, where he says that he hopes an amicable
arrangement may be made of tbe questions in
dispute. lam fully aware that the President
does use this language, and that the same thing
was said twice by the Secretary of State, in the
course of the correspondence; but it seems impos
sible to me that, on the plainest and justest rules
of construction, the message can be considered as
expressing that meaning; it is a most solemn and
weighty State paper, addressed by the Executive
nation to a co-ordinate branch o! the Government,
and in which he is bound to hold the plainest
and explicit language-—to state with the utmost
frankness his real sentiments, and to give the
reasons on which are founded. This is his duty,
and tins he has performed. And he says very
clearly, that he recommends this notice in order
that we may assert our title to the whole territory
and, if necessary, support that title by arms. I
cannot look beyond the message for the Presi
dent’s motives. To do so, would, in my judge
ment, he to disparage the character of the Presi
dent.
. Another ground taken by these gentlemen is,
that the President wants to employ this notice
as a moral weapon, not a physical one. But no
such idea is expressed in the message. The lan
guage of the President is explicit to the contrary.
It looks not to a moral, but a physical termination
of the difficulty. But, admitting that he wants
to use it as a weapon, what does that mean ?
It must mean that he wants to use it for the pur
pose of intimidation. Now, I submit to the com
mon sense of every gentleman, whether, if this
notice should be used in that light, with a great
and powerful nation like Great Britain, its effect,
instead of leading to a compromise would not bo
precisely the reverse? It would be a direct ap
peal to her fears, to induce her to yield, under
such a motive, what she would not yield other
wise.
The third reason is, that the convention of
1818 and renewed in 1827, was wrong from the
beginning; that, as a measure of policy, it was
a great mistake ; that its effect was to fetter the
assertion of our rights; and that it would have
been better, so far as our rights in the territory
were concerned, if there had been no such conven
tion aft all. In that opinion I cannot concur; I
dissent from it wholly ; I hold precisely the
opposite opinion; I believe that, but for that
convention, the preservation of our rights could
have been effected only by an appeal to arms.
We must either have gone to war in 1818 and
1827, or must have acquiesced in the hostile
claims of Great Britain, (for in that ease they
would have been hostile.) If we could at that
time have obtained the latitude of 49° as a
compromise boundary, it would have been wise
in us to have done so ; but we attempted it in
vain. That attempt tailing, what other alterna
tive was left us ? Either this convention or war.
The convention was a substitute for war ; and,
while it prevented war, it at the same tunc pre
served our rights in Oregon inviolate so long as
the convention should continue. ‘ I think that
those who entered into that treaty acted wisely.
It has become but two common * at this day’ lbr
us to sit in judgement on the acts of our prede
cessors. and to pronounce them to have been un
just, unwise, or unpatriotic, while we pas over
the circumstances of their day. and under which
they acted. Look at the men concerned.—
Look at Monroe—at Rush—at Clay, it would her
hard indeed to pronounce nien like these to
have been either unpatriotic or unwise. Or, if
we look at the great names of those who have
since acquiesced in the measure they adopted—
at Jackson and at others since—it would be hard
to say that such rr. m deliberately acquiesced in
an arrangement hostile to the best interests of
their country. Ido not name the prominent in
dividual concerned, (understood to refer to Mr.
Adams,) because his course since that time has
cancelled any previous credit to which hehnight
have entitled himself.
Such was the state of tilings when this resolu
tion cf notice was first introduced into the Senate.
Since’ then, as I have said, there has been a
mighty change : public opinion has developed
itself, not only on this, but on the other side of
the Atlantic ; and that voice of public opinion
has uttered itself most audibly and clearly in fa
vor cf a compromise. Here, tGO, the same
change has been manifested, insomuch that I
hazard nothing when I say that a large, a very
large, majority 6f this body is at this moment in
favor of a compromise—an honorable compromise.
And does not all the language and conduct of the
British Government itself clearly demonstrate
thaTit is in'favor cf a compromise; and sub
stantially on the basis which wc have ourselves
TIIE UNION OP THE STATES, AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE STATES.
COLUMBUS, GA. WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 1846.
offered 1 Sure lam that no intelligent and re
flecting man can read the language of Sir Robert
Peel in reply* to Lord John Russell, and not
see that he is prepared to act on a proposition
substantially the same with that which was re
jected by Mr. Pakenhhni. This declaration of
the Premier of Great Britain was made with
very great effect; his object in making it was not
to censure the able and very faithful representa
tive of Great Britain in this country, Imtto give
emphasis to the assurance that he was ready to
make a jus’ and fair compromise cf the disputed
question. 1 hope sincerely that our Government
has not overlooked that declaration; it was a di
rect step towards compromise, and I trust that it
has been met in the same spirit. I trust that
intelligence has, before this time, gone abroad to
Great Britain to that effect, so as to remove the
.Only difficulty which now lies in the way.
Under these views that I entertain, it is no
longer a question whether our difficulties may he
pacifically arranged or no.t: nor is it even a ques
tion as to the manner: it is simply a question of
time. But there ought to be no delay, because
the business of both nations and of the world
requires that it should be settled. On great, and
momentous, and delicate questions like these,
there are the highest public reasons why there
should be no delay. Once settle the question of
Oregon, and we may settle the question of Mexi
co; but till then,’ Mexico will calculate the chan
ces of a rupture between us and Great Britain,
and if she sees any* chance of a, war against us,
she will go over to the Power which makes war
upon us. Remove these chancy, put -an end to
such a hope, and Mexico will speedily settle eve
ry pending question between her and the United
States; and then, I trust, that we shall deal gen
erously with her. Bhc is weak—feeble’ in the
extreme—and I trust that we shall adopt no
harsh measures with her.
1 have now explained the change which has
taken place in the bearingof this measure of no
tice on the questions cf peace and war. The
change consists in this: that when the notice
was recommended there existed no hope of a
compromise, but now the highest and most con
fident hope is felt by almost all. Now, therefore,
there is no great interest connected with cur de
ciding this question of notice, one way or anoth
er. Just in proportion as the compromise was
small, the importance of the notice \vas great;
but as the prospect of compromise increases, the
measure of notice becomes of less and less impor
tance. We have now reached a Doin’ when we
can decide the question without much feeling
on either side.
I now proceed to inquire what is the bearing of
this measure on the position of the Executive,
and what on the position of the parties in this
body.
‘The conduct of the Executive must new be
greatly changed. He must aet very dilicrently
now train win, he would have done when he re
commended the notice under the pursuasion that
there could be no compromise, but that we must
assert our rights by arms. That he can advise
the same thing now which he advised then, is
impossible. Then, he had not the remotest ex
pectations of a compromise. If now he has a
dilferent view, and thinks that Great Britain is
ready to meet us with an efier such as we have
made, I here say, that if he shall now decline
that ofibr, I do hot envy, him the consequences
that shall follow. The ei_mge which has taken
place is not a change in the Presidnet; it is a
change in the state of things. So far from its
being any inconsistency, it is, on the contrary,
the highest consistency to agree to a compromise
when matters have reached a point which was
not contemplated when he sent us his message.
There is prevalent among us a great error in re
gard to this matter of consistency. Some per
sons think that consistency consists in a uniform
adherence to one policy, let the circumstances ol
the country change or not. Others think that
consistency lies in always thinking the same way,
alter a man has seen most cogent reasons for
changing his opinion. The consistency of these
persons much like the course of a physician w ho,
in the treatment of a malignant fever, should give
emetics and calomel at the beginning, and then
hold himself bound to continue to give emetics
and calomel through every subsequent stage ol
the disease. Consistency like this would kill ihe
patient; and there is no statesman Worthy-of the
name who would be guilty of the political quack
ery of advocating always the same course of poli
cy, thengh the circumstances of his country had
Completely altered.
But not only- has the Executive position chang
ed, but the position cf the parties in the Senate
has changed in no less degree; and rny friends
here who go for all Oregon (friends I “will call
them, for I have no other than the most friendly
feelings towards them) must and do feel that
there lias been a change. So long as they thought
that notice was wholly inconsistent with any
compromise they were its warm and enthusiastic
advocates; but now, when they begin to discov
er that, notwithstanding the giving of the notice,
n. compromise may still be effected, they find
themselves without the same reason for their for
mer zeal; and I shall not be at all surprised if,
before this question is finally put, these very gen
tlemen shall vote against the notice altogether.
But I trust the friends to whom I allude have
undergone a still further change besides that of
their position. I trust they now begin to see
that there are some doubts in regard to our title to
the whole of Oregon. That it is unquestionable
they cannot now say; for it has been questioned
w ith great ability in their presence on this floor.
I knew, indeed, that their convictions have been
as honest as they have been strong. But, admit
ting that our title seemed to them ever so clear,
is not something due to the changes which have
since taken place ? Is nothing due to the fact that a
majority even of their own political friends think
that our title is not so clear but that a compromise
may-be honorably effected ? Is nothing due to
their opinion ? And docs not the mere fact of
such -a division of opinion among men perfectly
honest on both sides present the strongest reason
why the dispute need not and ought not to be de
cided by force? I appeal to these Senators as
patriots, as wise and prudent men, to say, when
our contest is with so great a power, whether tbev
are willing to hazard all for r question on which
the opinions of good and honest men all over
their country are undeniably divided. I appeal
to them even as party men, to say whether they
will insist on pushing this question to such an
extreme as to divide their party.
As to the other portion of the Senate, (in
which I consider myself as included,) it is un
deniable that a great change has taken place. I
feel it myself. Nothing could once have induced
me to consent to the notice recommended by the
President; but now- it is very possible I may give
my vote for a modified notice in some form.
And this brings me now, at length, to the di
rect question. Shall we give to Great Britain
the notice proposed, or shall we not? The ques
tion is not free from doubt.
One reason in its favor is, that it will pre
vent the continued agitation of this Oregon ques
tion being kept up in the country, and carried
into the next Presidential election. The meas
ure of notice, if properly qualified, will I trust,
keep all quiet until the y ear has expired, and then
there will be no room for any further difficulty.
Another reason in its favor is, that in ail proba
bility Great Britain will not make a final move
until Congress shall have acted cn the subject;
so that we should, as soon as possible, do some
thing in the matter. If it were not for the force
of this consideration, I should be for postponing
the notice for the present.
And now to the question, in what form the
notice shall, be given ? I w ill vote, no cir
cumstances, for a naked absolute notice. The
circumstances of llie fuse have generally changed
We are not in the same slate of things which
existed when the Executive message first came
in; a'id 1 cannot vote im
pression that there will be no compromise. If
any gentleman onee hoped so, arid would have
gone for the notice under that hope, that motive
has now passed away.
Nor can I vote for the resolution which has
been sent us from the House of Representatives.
I have two objections to it It is equivocal in its
meaning. If it means to declare that the Presi
dent may settle this difficulty by compromise it
means nothing, for the President has that right;
but if iris meant as a hint to him to negotiate for
a compromise, then I am for speaking more plain
ly. lam most decidedly against all equivocation
in matters of state policy. Let us say plainly
what we mean to say. If wc mean compromise,
let us say compromise; and not send the Presi
dent a resolution on which he may put just any
interpretation that suits him.
If \ye give this notice at all, I think it should he
given substantially as has been proposed by the
gentleman from Georgia. If I consent to the
notice, it will be, as I have said, to keep this agi
tation from running into the next Presidential
election, and finally to terminate the question;
and if w e give it at all, let us give it precisely as we
intend, expressing the opinion that the difficulty
ehoukl he settled by compromise. So much I
feel inclined to vote for.
But this whole measure is subordinate to a
higher end, viz: the preservation of peace and
the settlement of our difficulties without a resort
to arms. My vote in regard to notice will rest on
the question whether the notice will advance that
end or not. Aud I shall, therefore, reserve my
self until I shall be satisfied on that j>oint.
I have thus stated why I am for a compromise,
and how far I rim in favor of giving the notice.
I vote on both subjects under circumstances in
which 1 find myself’ placed, and for which I am
not in the least responsible. lam doingthe best
I can where I find myself, and not what I might
have done under different circumstances. I re
peat that for these circumstances I am not respon
sible. I early resisted that state of things which
has now come to pass. In 1843 this question
for the first time assumed a dangerous. aspect. I
then saw, or thought I saw, w hat was coming,
and examined the question under all its aspects.
After the maiurest reflection I came to the con
clusion which I then stated. I saw that there
were two routes before us: one of them was to
adhere tpthe convention of 1827, to do nothing
to terminate it, and to adhere strictly and rigedly
to its provisions. I saw that although for a time
that convention operated beneficafiy for Great
Britain, yet the period was at hand when our
turn would come to derive the most important ad
vantages from the provisions of the trcaity. The
resistless increase of our population and the grad
ual progress of their enterprise was bringing
them fast to the foot of the Rocky Mountains.
The great South Pass had been discovered, and
1 saw that the settlement of Oregon by American
citizens was rapidly approaching.
If we should only adhere strictly to the con
vention, the progress of things would eventually
decide who should have the possession of the
territory. Our power to populate the region, and
thus to obtain its actual possession, was far great
er than that of Great Britain. Its distance from
us was far less, the access to it was through an
open, grassy country, and, to men so active and
hardy as our Western pioneers, the journey pre
sented comparatively but small difficulty; where
as to reach Oregon from Great Britain required a
circumnavigation of twenty thousand miles—a
space but a little short of the circumference of the
globe. Os all the spots on the face of the earth,
presenting to her the possibility of- colonization,
Oregon was remote. There were hun
dreds of colonies that lay nearer, and presented a
better soil rind climate. Even New r Zealand
was nearer to the shores of Fngland. Ail, there
fore, that we had to do was to stick to the con
vention, to observe all its provisions with the
most scrupulous fidelity, and then let the ques
tion of title he quietly and gradually settled by
the actual occupation and possession of the
country. To this course there was but one im
pediment : Great Britain might,give the notice.
But I had no such fear : for Iliad read the dis
cussions of this question, and I thought I clearly
saw that she placed no great value upon Ore
gon, as a permanent possession of the British
crown, but rather seemed to conclude that, from
its geographical position, the United States must
ultimately get the whole of it. But, e; en if her
.calculation was otherwise, there were great im
pediments in the way of her giving notice to ter
minate the convention. She could do so if she
pleased; so could we: this was an express pro
vision of the treaty, and could not, in itself, be
considered as a hostile movement on either side.
But there was another convention which Great
Britain contends to be still in existence, but
which we insist has expired, rind that is the con
vention. of Noctka. This treaty of Nootka is in
strict analogy with our convention of ISIB ; and
if she would give us no notice, it could not he
set aside unless its provisions were violated. We
had observed the terms of our convention, and
this foreclosed her form the possibility of such a
movement.
It seeded, then, to me as clear as the light of
heaven that it would not do for us to make a
movement of any kind. We might, indeed, give
our people some facilities in reaching the coun
try; and when they got there, wc might extend
our laws over them personally but not territori
ally. I doubted then, and I shall doubt, even
the expediency as going so far as that; but, most
clearly, we could not set up our laws there ter
ritorially; because the moment we should do
that, we must establish a custom-house, and levy
and collect duties; and if there is any thing that
can alienate the affections of those people from
us, it will be the collection of high duties. Our
people .have gone there as their fathers came
to Tvew England at the beginning; and one im
portant end they seek is the enjoyment of free
trade, They will contend as earnestly for the
free enjoyment of the trade of the Pacific as their
ancestors did for that of the Atlantic before the
Revolution. If we levy high duties on their in
fant trade, they will soon find a neighboring
Power who will extend to them greater advan
tages in this respect, and whose influence might
rend the territory from you. My disposition has
been to let them go there and govern themselves.
That is a business for which they seem to have
a native instinct, that marks their origin. Let
them go there and settle the country, and then
gradually, and with great judgement and cau
tion, extend our laws over them, as it may be
come necessary; for here is the most delicate
and critical point in the whole affair.
The other course that lay open to us was
that pointed out in the bill of 1843, which pro
vided for the practical assertion of our rights in
the territory, and the exercise of our sovereignty
thereto a certain extent, by the passage of certain
general laws. I thought this course not to be a fit &
proper one. I saw very plainly what would l>e
the consequence; and, indeed, it requires hut lit
tle reflection to perceive this. To extend our
settlements in Oregon, in conformity with the
provisions of that bill, would be inconsistent
with the terms of the convention, and would
speedily bring us either to negotiation or t p w ar.
I anticipated that the result would be negotia
tion. And what then? Negotiatiation must
end either in compromise or war. I never could
believe in any other result. I also, saw that, if
we compromised, it must be on the parallel of
49°. The past history of the whole matter de
cided that; and besides, as 49° was the bounda
ry on this side the mountains, most people would
think it reasonable and natural it should be the
boundary on'the other side. ,
But I would go neither for notice nor for
compromise, so long as we could persevere in
what I conceived to be,the true American poli
cy. Hence I did resist the bill of 1843, in com
mon with many able men in bora Ileuses. It
NUMBER 14.
passed here by an equivocal majority of cue vote,
(the Senate voting under instructions in the af
firmative,) but it was lost in the other House.—
Since then the proposition for notice has been
repeated, with a view of taking possession ot
the whole country. And so now we are where
we are—a position which all ought to have tore
seen—where we must .compromise or fight.
I say, then, if there is any responsibility at
tached to the circumstances in whielPl find my
self, I stand acquitted from any participation in
it. The responsibility lies aiilong my friends on
the right. I doubt not they acted patriotically,
but impatiently—in obedience to the impatience
of their people. They have sulfercd themselves
to be pushed into their present position without
due reflection.
Now, being brought to the alternative bv cir
cumstances over which I have no control, I go
for compromise arid against war. But in this
course I am actuated bv no unmanly fear of con
sequences. I-know tiiat, under the existing
state of the world, wars are sometimes hebesscry;
tha utmost regard for justice and equity cannot
always prevent them. And when war must be
met, I shall be among the last to flinch; I may
appeal to my past history in support of this as
sertion. But lam averse from going to war on
this question, for the reasons I have given. But
not lor these only; I have still higher reasons.—
Although wars may at times be necessary, yet
peace is a positive good and war is a positive
evil; and I cling to peace so long as it can be
preserved consistently with the national safety
and honor: and I am against war so long as it
can be avoided without a sacrifice of either. I
am opposed to war in this case, because neither
of these exigencies exist: it may be as I conceive,
avowed without sacrificing either the national
safety. But if these dangers did exist, to a cer
tain extent, war is still highly inexpedient; be
cause our right in Oregon can be sustained with
more than an equal chance of success without
war than with it. This is a great and weighty
reason against war. He who goes so stoutly to
war for “all of Oregon or none,” may possibly
come out of it with “none.” I concede to my
countrymen the possession of all the bravery,
patriotism, and intelligence which can be claimed
for them, but we shall go into this contest with
great disadvantages on our side. As long as G.
Britain has a large force in the east, and is mis
tress of the sea, she can carry on the war at much
less expense.
There is another reason why I am opposed to
it: the war would soon cease to be _ for Oregon;
the struggle would be for empire, and it would
be between the greatest Power in Europe on the
one side, arid the greatest and mostgrowung and
,most growing spirited people of the West on the
other. It would be pressed on upon both sides
with all the force, vigor, energy, and persever
ance of the tw o great and brave nations; each
would strike the other in the most vulnerable
point, and the blow's would be tremendous.—
Amidst the uproar of such a contest, Oregon
would soon be forgotton—utterly forgotten: to be
recovered, if at all, cn the contingencies of suc
cess or the reverse.
My next reason is, that, though it is alledgcd
that w r e must fight in order to protect our citi
zens in Oregon, instead of their protection war
would ensure their utter
most certain way to sacrifice them. This I will
never consent to do. They are American citi
zens —our brethren rind kindred. We have en
couraged them to go there ; and I never will
give a vote the result of which must be their
utter and speedy destruction. But if we make
a compromise on latitude 40°, they will be safe,
jfor if I am rightly informed, there is not a man
of them to be found north of that line. This
will carry all the points <we have in view, in
stead of sacrificing their all.
lam against war, too, for reasons commote
to the W'hole Union. I believe that the most
successful and triumphant war we could possibly
wage—evert if in ten years we should get all
the most extravagant advocate of war had dared
to hope for—if we could tvke the Canadas, and
New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, and every
other British possession, and drive her flag from
the whole continent, and prosecute our advan
tages till we had accomplished the downia.ll of
the British throne and she should yield up
spear and shield and trident at our feet, it would
be to us the most disastrous event that could
happen. I do not now allude to the ravages and
desolations of warfare; to the oceans of blood
that must flow, and the various miseries that
ever accompany the contest of arms; because I
have never observed that the statement of these
things had any great eftect upon a brave people.
No doubt the evils would be very great, because
there are no two nations in the world who can
do each other so much harm in war, or so much
good in peace as Great Britain and the United
States. The devastation would be tremendous
on both sides. But all this goes for nothing; for
this may all be repaired. The indomitable in
dustry, and enterprise, aud perseverance of our
widely spread and soon spreading and multiply
ing population, will still find ways and means of.
repairing whatever merely physicol disasters
war can inflict. But war lias far heavier inflic
tions for a free people; it works a social and po
litical change in the people theipselves, and in
the character of their institutions. A war such
as this will be of vast extent; every nerve and
muscle on cither side wili be strained to the
utmost; every commandable, dollar will be put
in requisition; not a portion ui our entire fron
tier but will become the scene of contest. It
w ill be a Mexican war on the one side, and an
Indian war upon the other. Its flames w ill be
all around us; it will be a war. on the Pacific and
a war on the Atlantic; it will rags on every
side and fill the land. Suppose Oregon shall be
abandoned, we must raise seven armies and two
navies; we must raise and equip an army against
the Mexicans; and let no man sneer at the men
tion of such a power. Under the guidance and
training of British officers, the Mexican popu
lation can be rendered, a formidable enemy. See ]
what Britain has made of the feeble 8 epoys oi)
India. The Mexicans are a braver and a har-!
dier people, and they w ill form the cheapest cf
all armies. With good training and good pay,
they may be rendered a very formidable force.—
Then we must have another army to guard the
Southern frontier, and another to protect our
Northern frontier, and another to operate on our
Northeastern boundary, and still another to cov
er our Indian frontier. At the least estimate, we
shall require a force of not less than two hundred
thousand men in the field. In addition to that,
the venerable and intelligent Albert Gallatin has
calculated the cost of such a war at sixty-five
millions of dollars; but that amount is too small.
A hundred millions is net an over-estimate; and
of this sum fifty millions must be raised annual
ly, by loans of paper: so that, allowing the war
to continue for ten years, we shall have en
amount of five hundred million? of public debt.
Add to this the losses which must accrue on
loans: it will be very difficult to get these loans
in Europe; for, owing to the unfortu
nate manner in which this affair has been con
ducted, ,the feeling in Europe will be generally
against us. We cannot obtain the requisite
sums under an interest of thirty and forty per
cent. Add all these expenses, and our total debt
w ill not.be less than seven hundred and fifty
millions.
But this is not all,-* We shall be plunged in
to the paper systcritas deeply as we were in the
days of the Revolution: and what will then be
our situation at the conclusion of the war? We
shall be left with a mortgage of seven hundred
and fifty millions of dollars on the labor of the
American people; for it all falls on the labor of
the country at last, while much of the money
will go into the pockets of those who struck r:ot
a blow in the contest. We should thrn have
the ta.sk ot restoring a circulating medium of a
sounder character, and that from the deepest de.
gradation of the currency. This is a hard job,
as all of us know who have gone through with
it. Besides, the influence of the war will nalu>
rally be to obliterate the line of distinction bs
tweenthe State and General Government. We
shall hear no more about State, lights, but the
Government will become in clfect a consolidated
republic. By our very success, it will give a
military impulse to thp national mind which cad
never be overcome. The ambition of the nation
will seek cc.-,quest alter conquest, _ and will .pool*,
become possessed by a spirit totally inconsistent
with the forms rind genius of cur Government ;
mnd this will lead, by a straight and easy road,,
that gulf cf all republics—a military despot-
Then we shall have to provide for three or
gg&r successful generals, who will toon be corn
icing fertile Presidency. Before the genera
tion which waged the war shall have passed
away they will witness a contest between hostile
generals. He who conquered Mexico, and he
who conquered Canada, and they will end their
struggle by the sword. Freedom thus lost, insti
tutions thus undermined and overturned, never,
can be recovered. The national ruin w ill be ir
retrievable.
I appeal, then, to gentlemen near me—to my
friends, w hose separation from us oil r this ques
tion I deeply regret—and I say to them, is it for
you who are Democrats par excellence—for
you who are the eqemics of paper money, and
the sworn destroyers of all Ranks and all artifi
cial classes in society—is it for you to vote for a
measure of such very equivocal success ?
But Ihave still higher reasons. I am oppo
sed to war as a friend to human improvement,
to human civilization, to human progress arid
advancement. Nfever in. the history of the
world lias there occurred a period so remarkable
as the peace which followed the battle of Water
loo for the great advances made in the condition
of human society, and that in various forms.—
The chemical pud mechanical powers have been
investigated and applied to advance the comforts
of human life in a degree far beyond all that
was ever known or hoped before. Civilization
has been spreading its influrinec far and wide,
and the general progress of human society has
outstripped all that liad been previously witness
ed.- The invention of-man lias seized upon and
subjugated two great agencies of the natural
world which never before were made the ser
vants of man: I refer to steam and to electricity,
under which, of course, I include magnetism,
in all its phenomena, S(cam has been, controll
ed and availed, of for rll the purposes of human,
intercourse, and by its resistless energies has.
brought nations together whom nature had seem-,
ed to separate by insurnmuntable barriers. It
has shortened the passage across the Atlantic
more than one-half, while the rapidity qf travel
ling on land has been three times greater than,
ever was known before. Within the same peri-,
od man has .chained the very lightning of hea
ven, and brought it down and made it adminis
ter to the transmission of human thought, inso
much that it r. tiy with truth he said that our
ideas are not only’ transmitted with the rapidity
of lightning, but by lightning itself. Magic
wires arc stretching themselves in all directions
over the globe, and when their mystic meshes,
shall at length hive beeii perfected, our globe it--
self w ill be endow ed with a sensitiveness which
will render it impossible to touch it or any one
point and the .touch not be felt from one end of
the w’orld to the ether. All this progress, all
this growth of human happiness, all this spread,
of human light and knowledge, will be arrested
by war. And shall vve incur a result like that
for Oregon ? And this work is as yet but com
menced; it is tut the breaking of the dawn of
the world’s great jubilee. It promises a day of
more refinement, more intellectual brightness,
more moral elevation, and consequently of more
human felicity, then the world has ever seen
from its creation. _
Now the United States and England arc two
nations to be pre-eminently instrumental in
bringing about this happy change, because I
consider them as being the most advanced in
the scale of human improvement, and most in
circumstances to further this amelioration, be-,
cause they have the control of the greatest and
most extensive commerce at present in existence.
We have been thus distinguished by Providence
for a great and noble purpose, rind I trust we
shall fulfil our high destiny.
Again, I am opposed to war, because I hold
that it is now io be determined w'hether two
such nations as Bless shall exist for the future u
friends nr enemies. A declaration of war of one
of them against the other must be pregnant with
miseries, hot only to themselves, btit io the world
around them. _ ;
Another reason.is, that mighty means are now
put into the hands of both to cement and secure
a perpetual peace, by breaking down the barriers
of commerce and uniting them more closely in
an intercourse mutually beneficial. If this shall
be accomplished, other nations will, one af\§r
another, follow the fair example, and 4 state
of general prosperity, heretofore unknown, will
gradually unite and bless the nations of the
world. .
And far more than that. An intercourse like
this points to that inspiring day which pliiloso-.
phers have hoped for, which poets have seen in
the bright visions of fancy, and which prophecy
has seen in happy vision—when men shall learn
war no more. Who can contemplate a state of
the world like this, and not feci his heart ex ult
at the prospect! And he who can doubt that, in l
the hand of an omnipotent Providence, a free
and-unfestricted commerce shall prove one of
the greatest agents in bringing it about.
Finally, I am against war because . peace—
peace is pre-eminently our policy. There are
nations in the world wild may -resort to war for
the settlement of their differences, and still grow
great; but that nation is not purs. Providence
has cast our happy inheritance who- ; its fron
tier extends for twenty-three degrees of latitudo
along the Atlantic coast. It has given us a
land which, in natural .advantages, is perhaps
unequalled by any oMier. Abundant in all re
sources ; excellent in climate fertile and exu
berant in soil; capable of sustaining, in the
plentiful enjoyment of all the necessaries of life .
a population of two hundred millions of souls.— .
Our great mission as a people is to occupy this
vast domain —there to fulfil the primeval com
mand to increase and multiply, and replenish
the land with an industrious and virtuous popu
lation : to level the forests, and let in upon their
solitude the light of day: to clear the swamps
and. mdrasses, and redeem them to the plough
and sickle : to spread over hill and dale the echoes
of human labor and human happiness and coc
tentraent j to fili the land with cities, and towns,
and villages: to unite its opposite extremetwa.
by turn pikes and railroads: to scoop out pnat
for the transmission of its products, and open
rivers for its internal trade. War can onljno
pede the fulfilment of this high m ission jpf hea
ven ; it absorbs the wealth, and diverts the ener
gy which might be so much better devoted to
the improvement of our country. All we want
is peace —established peace; and then time, un
der the guidance of a wise and cautions policy,
will soon effect for us all the rest. I say time
will do it under -the influence of a wise and
masterly inactivity—a phrase than which none
other has been less understood or more grossly
misrepresented. By. some, who should have
known better, it has been constructed to mean
inaction. But mere inertness, and what is
meant by a wise inactivity, are things wide apart
as the poles. The one is the offspring of ignor
ance and of indolence; the other is the result of
the profoundcst wisdom—a wisdom which looks
into the nature aiid hearing of things; which
sees how conspiring causey w ork out their ef
fects, and shape and change the condition of
man. Where we find that natural causes will
of themselves work out our good, cur wisdom is
to let thefn work; and all our task is to remove
impediments. In the present cases one of the
greatest of these in found in our impalience.
He who cannot understand the difference be
tween an inactivity like this, and mere stupid in
action, and the doing of nothing, is as yet but
in the horn-book cf political science. Yc,
time—ever-laboring time, will effect every- thing
for us. Our population is now increasing at the ;
annual average of six hundred thousand. Let
the next twenty five years elapse, and our, in
crease w ill have reached a million a year, and at
the end of that period we shall count a popula
tion of forty-five millions. Before that day, it
will have ff read Com ocean to ocean. The
ecast of the Pacific w ili then be as densely poptjs
luted and as thickly settled with villages jjfyT