Cambudge The

28TH CONG.....2D SESS.

and secured to the United States, and by which the United States acquired all title, I repeat, to whatever Spain or France, or either of them, possessed, either by purchase, exchange, or discovery, to any and all the country embraced within the Oregon Territory. Once for all, we own by purchase whatever Spain owned of Oregon. Spain's right, by-discovery, was superior to that of Great Britain, and our title is superior to both, and indisputable.

Did we take possession of and occupy Oregon within the time prescribed by the laws of nations? In May, 1792, Gray entered the Columbia river. In 1802, Thomas Jefferson called the attention of the American Congress to the exploration of the Oregon Territory, and appropriations were made for the purpose; and in 1803, an expedition was ordered, under the direction of Lewis and Clark. The plan was to ascend the Missouri river, from its mouth to its source in the Rocky mountains; cross the mountains, and descend the Columbia river, from its main source to the Pacific ocean. All this was accomplished with unexampled difficulty and danger. The expedition quartered near the mouth of the Columbia river during the winter. During their stay they traded with the natives; and at their departure they gave certificates of their visit and of their exploration, stating that they were sent out by their government, the government to which they belonged, and such other statements as were necessary to convice all others who might come after them of the object of the expedition. They also placed a paper on the inner wall of their temporary fort, with the following inscription, viz:

"The object of this last is, that through the medium of some civilized person, who may see the same, it may be made known to the world that the party, consisting of the per. sons whose names are hereunto annexed, and who were sent out by the government of the United States to explore the interior of the continent of North America, did penetrate the same by the way of the Missouri and Columbia rivers, to the discharge of the latter into the Pacific ocean, where they arrived on the 14th day of November, 1805, and departed on the 23d day of March, 1800, on their return to the United States, on the same route by which they had come out."

Then, sir, we discovered Oregon in May, 1792; we explorod and occupied it in 1805-'6.

In 1808, there was an association formed at St. Louis, headed by a man by the name of Lisa, (a Spaniard,) called the Missouri Fur Compeny. This company established some trading posts on the Upper Missouri, and one on the head waters of the Columbia, one of the main branches of the Columbia, called Lewis's river, and which is also called the southern branch of the Columbia; but the hostility of the Indians, and the great difficulty of procuring provisions, compelled the company to abandon that post.

In 1810, John Jacob Astor, a distinguished and wealthy citizen of New York, formed an association for the purposes of trade and commerce within, to, and from the Territory of Oregon. All the necessary preparations were made for an extensive and successful business. His company, officers and agents were sent to, and landed in, Oregon, near the mouth of the Columbia river. A number of posts were established, and temporary fortifications erected, and all in a fair way to be successful. The principal post was located near the mouth of the Columbia river, and was called Astoria. The association continued its pursuits for two years and a half-that is, from March, 1811, until October, 1813; at which time the association was broken up, and all the materials and stock of furs, &c., were sold to the Northwest company, as was said, to prevent them from falling into the hands of the British cruisers which were daily expected.

They were not disappointed in their apprehension; for in December following, the Raccoon, a British sloop-of-war, arrived at Astoria and took possession: took down the American flag and hoisted the English flag, and changed the name to that of Fort George. And that was the first possession that the British had of the Columbia river or any part of Oregon which could conflict with our discovery or possession; and that possession was but short lived, for, after the establishment of peace, the possession of Astoria, together with all our possessions in Oregon, were restored to the United States through our agent, J. B. Provost, as follows:

"In obedience to the commands of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, signified in a despatch from the Right Hoporable the Earl Bathurst, addressed to the partners or agents of the Northwest Company, bearing date the 27th of January, 1818, and in obedience to a subsequent order, dated 26th of July, from W. H. Sherriff, esq., captain of his Majesty's ship Andromache, we, the undersigned, do, in conformity to the first article of the treaty of Ghent, restore

[12]

"I do hereby acknowledge to have this day received, in behalf of the government of the United States, the pos session of the settlement designated above, in conformity to the first article of the treaty of Ghent. "Given under my hand, in triplicate, at Fort George, Columbia river, this 6th day of October, 1818.

"J. B. PROVOST,

"Agent for the United States,"

I say the British possession of Astonia was of short life. We whipped them in the war, and the first articles of negotiation of peace required Great Britain to surrender all places which had been surrendered or captured. Astoria was restored; when the royal cross was taken down and the American stars and stripes raised, and Astoria restored to its name; that Astoria shall ever retain her name, and that the American flag shall ever wave over her, is the great object of this bill.

The British ministry claim title to Oregon by the discovery of McKenzie, a British subject. McKenzie did explore a part of the Northwest Territory, but he never crossed the Rocky mountains. He learned all he knew, as well of the name of Oregon as of its history, from the Indians east of the Rocky mountains. He neither explored nor occupied Oregon, nor any part of it. The British ministry claim to have occupied Oregon by one of their citizens named Thompson, who they say headed a company of traders and trappers cotemporaneously with Astor's association. That is not so; and the history and dates of their formation, and their arrival in Oregon, defeat their claim. Thompson's arrival and operations in Oregon were near a year after Astor's. I have made no statement in relation to the discovery, possession, and occupancy of Oregon, but what its history, as well British as American, will bear me out in."

I have stated that sundry conventions have been held for the purpose (on our side) of settling the question of right and possession of Oregon, but without defnite conclusion. Our discovery, claims, explorations, and possession have been set forth by ou commisshners, and they have been met by the sham title which I have presented on the part of Great Britain, and so far no definite conclusion has been arrivel at.

By the thrd article of the convention of 1818

"It is agree that any country that may be claimed by either party or the northwest coast of America westward of the Stony mountains, shall, together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be free and open for the term of ten years from the date of the signature of the present convention to the vessels, citizens, ind subjects of the two powers, it being well understood that this agreement is not to be construed to the prejudice of any claim which either of the two high contracting parties may have to any part of the same country."

In 1827 the American claims were again urged in convention with ability and with positive evidence of their validity; but the same titles were brandished by the British ministry, and no conclusion was had. Propositions were made to divide Oregon; that was, to divide the Territory by a line drawn through the centre of the north branch of the Columbia river, from the 49th degree of north latitude to the main river, and thence to the Pacific-England to have all north of the Columbia, and America to have all south of that line. To this proposition our ministers objected, and the negotiation was broken off with no other conclusion than that it was agreed by the first article that the same privileges shall be continued which are secured in the third article of the convention of 1818; and with a condition that one year's notice should be given by either party when it should be intended to put an end to the treaty.

The negotiation has been going on for more than a quarter of a century, and the people of the United States have become tired of it. They now want action. They want possession and jurisdiction, and they will have it. They want Oregon-the whole of Oregon, not a part of it: nothing but the whole of Oregon will satisfy them. The question of the immediate occupation was submitted to the people in the last presidential election, and the democratic candidates were sustained because they were pledged to apply all their official powers to the immediate

H. of Reps.

occupation of Oregon. The whig erators said, true, Oregon is ours, but we will get into a war with Great Britain if we take possession of it now; we must do a little more at negotiation. D-n negotiation, the people shouted; give us Oregon, and we will do the fighting. We have whipped England in our infancy, we have whipped her in our boyhood, and we can make short work of her now in our manhood. Give us Oregon; extend your jurisdiction over it; give us a government for our civil protection, and we will defend the territory. That done, you may negotiate till the day of judgment. Sir, there was not a procession marched in the political campaign, that had not, at the head of its column, a banner inscribed "Polk, Dallas, Oregon, and Texas." Other banners were exclusively dedicated to Oregon, and their inscription was, "All of Oregon." Sir, we will not permit Oregon to be divided. If our right is good for one square foot, it is good for it all. If England has just title to one square foot of Oregon, she has title to it all. Either the British lion or the American eagle must hold supreme and undivided sway over Oregon; they can never both abide there. If any better proof were wanting of the entire want of title in England to Oregon, it is found in the fact that she is willing to have it divided. If England thought her title had one ounce of right in it, she would spend millions of pounds before she would consent to divide or share any part of Oregon. She would be the last nation on earth to surrender an acre of so valuable a domain to which she has just title. There is an illustrious precedent contained in the book of books, and history of histories, which of itself condemns Great Britain. By her proposition to divide, she furnishes evidence of want of title, which is most beautifully illustrated in the judicial decision of an illustrious king of Israel:

"Two women brought a child before the king; and the one woman said: 'O my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house, and I was delivered of a child with her in the same house; and it came to pass, the third day after I was deliv ered, that this woman was delivered also; and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house save we two in the house. And this woman's child died in the night, because she overlaid it. And she arese at midnight, and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom, And, it was dead; but when I had considered it in arose the morning to give my child

behold,

the morning, behold, it was not my son which I did bear." And the other woman said, 'Nay, but the living is my son, and the dead is thy son.' And this said, 'No, but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son.' Thus they spake before the king. Then said the king: "The one saith, This is my son that liveth, and thy son is dead; and the other saith, Nay, but thy son is dead, and my son is the living. And the king said, 'Bring me a sword.' And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, 'Divide the liv. ing child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.' Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, (for her bowels yearned upon her son,) and she said, 'O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, 'Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it.' Then the king answered and said, 'Give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.""

So we say, in the language of the true mother, and in the language of the king of Israel, we will not permit this child to be divided. If one half of the child belonged to the Israelitish mother, the othhalf belonged to her also. If one half of Oregon belongs to us, I repeat, the other half belongs to us also.

Having briefly discussed our right to Oregon, I next proceed to the consideration of the policy of its practical possession and jurisdiction. That we should occupy and control Oregon, and that it is our right to do so ultimately, few will be found to deny. And why procrastinate? Why permit the thief of time to gradually diminish our title? We have already permitted ourselves to be negotiated, until it is thought, on the part of some, that our title is doubtful, or that we fear the contest of its title. Now is the time to possess ourselves of Oregon. Now is the time when the American people have demanded that the ægis of our laws should be extended over it. Shall we be told (as we have been in relation to Louisiana and other Territories which we have possessed ourselves of) that Oregon is poor, barren, steril, and mountainous, and not worth the blood it will cost to own it? That argument will do for the man who looks more to his own immediate interest or peace than to the glory, honor and interest of his country, in time present as well as to come. Such an argument will do for the mon," who, when he receives a smite on one side of the façe, will, in Christian piety, turn the other: but such is not the American character, however imperious the moral duty. We have evidence of the beauty and

"peace

28TH CONG.....2D SESS.

fertility of Oregon, by those who speak of what they know, and know what they say to be true. But if Oregon were a barren rock, with nothing on its summit but a dead fish, it is ours, and we will have it. Oregon is a part of our northwest coast; and we are, in national honor, bound to permit no foreign power, friend or foe, to occupy it. Oregon is our territory; and we owe it to ourselves and to those who are to come after us to fence it in by our laws and our jurisdiction, to preserve our fisheries, our timber, and our valuable animals from the rapacious plunderers of the wide world, who may, and who are now despoiling it. If we have no immediate use for Oregon, that is no reason why we should not occupy and defend it. It is a rich inheritance, which we are bound to transmit to our posterity undespoiled.

Sir, there has been a party in this country who have been uniformily opposed to the acquisition of territory, ever since the commencement of our government. Whenever a question of acquisition has been presented to the American people, the catch words of that party have been, the United States as they are. This government has no power to acquire territory. The constitution was made for the United States as they are, &c. What would have been our situation at this time, if the thirteen United States had remained as they were? We would have a population of twenty millions in them; we would have the state of things which the friends of a protective system desire; we would have hundreds of rich monopolists, capitalists and landlords, and millions of slaves, beggars, and paupers. In place of a population of independent, proud, and patriotic farmers spread over thirteen new, broad and fertile States, we would now have here and there a capitalist worth his millions, with his three or four hundred pale, lean, lank, withered, collapsed, sickly, and ragged slaves, crowded in his factory to sleep and eat and work to the chime of their master's bell. The United States as they were, and a system of policy which those who wished them to be "as they were,' with their sandy, barren shores, their untillable mountains, and their pestilential swamps, would have given us, at this day, a European pauperism, a European aristocracy, and a European vassalage. The United States as they were, would have kept to this time, and in all time to come, a western territory of upwards of five hundred and ninety thousand square miles, a wilderness, where the wolf would have howled, the owl would have hooted, and the panther would have screamed unscared, which now teems with more than ten millions of happy and independent beings, who eat and sleep and work at the mandate of no master, who cringe at the frown of no superior; but eat the bread of their cheerful labor which God blesses; drink the pure water that gushes from their own fountains; who walk erect, and carry within them a soul responsible to their-fellow men while here, and responsible to their God hereafter; who carry in their manly countenance the image of their Maker. With "the United States as they were," solitude and untamed nature would now over spread near six hundred thousand square miles of territory, now the garden of the world, spotted with beautiful villages, flourishing towns, and magnificent cities, adorned with edifices of learning, of justice, and of Christian worship; a territory beautified with highly cultivated farms, and checkered with canals, turnpikes, and railroads, by which their abundant crops are conveyed to our noble rivers, and through them to our oceans for the use of the world. Is it supposed that American enterprise is going to be confined within the limits of the twenty-six States? No, sir; but still the catch word is, "the United States as they are." Sir, we have a western enterprise, and a spirit of emigration, which nothing but the lashing billows of the Pacific can restrain on the northwest; nothing short of eternal winter on the north, and nothing short of Darien's straits on the south, if it engulf not all South America itself; and all that, too, in less than one century: and it is that enterprise, that love of change, and to inhabit new territories, which has and will constitute our frontier security; and it is the cheapest security which we can have; it has been and will continue to be a substitute to a great extent for fortifications, standing armies, and military establishments. This spirit of enterprise that is overspreading the West and the South, and will embrace the North as the cloud of Elijah overspread the heavens, is a continued conquest, not of the sword, that has blood for its means, laurels for its reward, and slavery and subjugation for its end; it

Oregon Bill-Mr. Duncan.

is a conquest of patriotism, virtue, and moralitythat has the love of liberty for its means, liberty itself for its reward, and the spread of free principles and republican institutions for its end. Providence seems to have a design in extending our free institutions as far and as wide as the American continent. And it is this spirit of enterprise, and love of new territory, which is to accomplish that design. Wherever our settlements have been pushed and our laws have been extended, all that have existed of human laws and of human beings have given way. There seems to be something in our laws and institutions peculiarly adapted to our Anglo-Saxon-American race, under which they will thrive and prosper, but under which all others wilt and die. Where our laws and free institutions have been extended among the French and Spanish who have been on our continent, they have and are gradually disappearing; not that they move away, but they neither prosper nor multiply, but, on the contrary, dwindle. There is something mysterious about it; and, if accounted for, it can only be done on the principle that though they may be fitted for refined civilization, they are not fitted for liberal and equal laws, and equal institutions. So it is with the aborigines. They seem to be made for a state of nature; they, too, disappear as our laws and institutions advance towards them. There seems to be no system of civil or Christian jurisprudence that can be introduced among them, that will prevent them from_diminishing, either on this or the other side of the Rocky mountains. The Christian faith may be planted among them; it may take root and grow; but still they begin to dwindle from the first day of its introduction, and continue to do so. There is no pagan or heathen region into which the standard of the cross has been more successfully planted than in the Pacific or Sandwich islands; but, with all its temporal and eternal blessings, the natives commenced to diminish the day it was introduced. There seems to be something in our laws and religion incompatible with their existence, when brought in contact with them. They wither at their very approach.

Mr. Chairman, the same necessity exists for the possession and occupation of Oregon that existed for the purchase of Louisiana. It is to extend our population, to extend our commerce, and to occupy all our territory, to secure our national defence.

First, to extend our population, we require the possession of Oregon. I have before remarked that personal liberty is incompatible with crowded population; it is equally incompatible with private and public morals, and moral institution. For the truth of the former, I have only to refer to the crowded population of many of the European States; and for the truth of the latter, I have only to refer to our own crowded cities.

Strife, turmoils, debaucheries, fraads, knavery, dissipation, crimes, monopolies, overgrown wealth, poverty and wretchedness, are all the offspring of a crowded population, and will be, so long as man lives under the curse of his first fall, and that to a tenfold greater extent than when he has the freedom of territorial latitude. Both human and divine history attests the truth of this. That book of books to which I had occasion before to allude furnishes us an illustrious proof of the impossibility of peace, happiness and prosperity in a crowded population. We have the history of a strife that grew up between the herdsmen of two brothers, owing to the number of their herds and their families and their limited territory; and such was the strife that Abraham was compelled to say unto Lot:

"Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen, for we be brothers. Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thy. self, I pray thee, from me; if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left. And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered every where before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomor rah, even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abraham dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent towards Sodom."

Wealth and independence, whether national or individual, are alone to be found in the soil. Commerce has enriched nations; but that day is passed, to a great extent. Then commerce was a monopoly; now it is divided, and each civilized nation takes a part in it. The feudal system, of all others the most certain to establish and perpetuate despotism, may be established by other means than conquest, and partition to the conqueror and his chief officers;

H. of Reps.

and it may exist and be perpetuated for other purposes than military defence. By whatever means the lands and wealth of a country fall into the hands of a few individuals, it establishes a feudal system as oppressive and destructive of the liberties of the people as if it were established by conquest, and equally enslaves the people. Monopolies have a tenfold advantage to engulf property in a dense population than in widespread territory; and no part of man's history is better known than that in crowded population, poverty and dependence is the fate of the many, while overgrown wealth is the advantage of the few. The island of Great Britain has a crowded population. I believe the fee simple of all the lands in that island is concentrated in the hands of some thirty or forty thousand proprietors the entire wealth of the nation in the hands of two hundred and seventy or eighty thousand of an aristocracy; while it is the fate of more than twenty millions to be ground down in poverty to the dust. It is to avoid even the approach of such a state of things, that we should open to the reception of our increasing population our territory, as fast as there is either a necessity or a disposition to occupy it. The inability of the weak, the humble, and the nonassuming, to contend with the overbearing, the cunning, and the grasping monopolist, make it necessary, to the equality of circumstances and personal liberty, that the advantages of territory should constantly be kept open to all who wish to embrace it. If it is possible to imagine a subversion of the personal liberties of the people of this country, while our republican institutions exist in form, it will be brought about by the monopoly of the landed property in the hands of the few to the exclusion of the many; and such is the apathy of some and the vigilence of others, that such a monopoly can be avoided in no other way than by extending the means and the facilities of acquiring landed property.

Patriotism should prompt us to the possession of Oregon. We call our country "the land of the free and the home of the brave." We proclaim it the asylum of the oppressed of all lands, and we invite them to our shores and to participate in our free institutions. Here the weary are to find rest, and the oppressed are to have a home. Here the Russian serf, or the Ottoman's slave, becomes a freeman, with a soul as responsible as that of the master from which he has fled. No master's frown can sink his soul, or make his limbs tremble. He is as God made him, and he intended should be-the creature of his own image. If ours is to be the home of the oppressed, we must extend our territory in latitude and longitude to the demand of the millions who are to follow us, as well of our own posterity as those who are invited to our peaceful shores to partake in our republican institutions. Sir, will it be urged, as it has been, that, in our attempts to acquire territory, there is danger, in multiplying Territories and States, of distracting and dissolving the Union? We have nothing to fear by the States of a dissolution of the Union. There is more danger of the federal government engulfing the sovereignty of the States and the liberties of the people. There is a strong and constant tendency towards consolidation of power toward the centre of federal government; and that tendency has been favored by a party in this country, who desired at first that our federal government should possess unlimited powers.

It has been a never-ceasing effort with that party to favor and advance that system of policy and of measures which has a direct tendency to diminish the reserved powers of the States and augment the powers of the federal government. To oppose that constant tendency to federal consolidation, I know no better plan than to multiply States; and the farther from the centre of federal influence and attraction, the greater is our security. No State ever has, no State ever will, attempt to fly from its sphere, unless the encroachments of the federal government make it necessary in its own defence. Let every statesman and friend to our happy Union regard it as his highest duty to preserve and secure the States in the full possession of the powers which have not been surrendered, and to limit the federal government to the exercise of those powers alone which were surrendered. This duty performed, and there will be no danger. The federal government will revolve on its own axis, and the States will move in their own spheres without collision. That centrifugal and centripetal balance which the framers of the constitution established, will be preserved as long as the laws which regulate them are preserved and obeyed.

Sir, there is a question of national defence con

nected with the possession and occupation of Oregon. The nations of the civilized world are taunted with the proud and haughty boast that the clashing of British arms, the thunder of her cannon, and the reveillé of her fife and drum, can be heard from one post to another round the world; and although the boast is as yet but a flourish of vanity, her strides to make it real are alarming. The united kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, owing to their position, make them a fortification on the frontier of Europe. From these she sends forth her fleets, each vessel of itself being a floating fortification, commanding, as it moves, the entire extent of the western coast. The impregnable fortress which she holds at the strait of the Mediterranean, which is the southern extremity of Europe, puts it in her power to control the southern coasts of both France and Italy, as well as the coast of Barbary. On the eastern portion of the Mediterranean, Malta and the Ionian islands give her the control upon most of Egypt, the Grecian Archipelago, Greece herself, and a great part of the Turkish empire. In all those places, Great Britain can at a blow demolish their cities and destroy their commerce. They hold all at her mercy and her will. By her possession of Gibraltar, and the island of St. Helena, the south and northwest of Africa are at her control. The Cape of Good Hope belongs to her, by which she commands the extreme south of Africa, and has a controlling power over that vast peninsula, at least its eastern coast, from Cape Town to the Arabian Gulf. She has it in her power to control the commerce of the vast Indian ocean by her possession of the island of France, which gives her almost unlimited control over the African coast in that quarter. She has settlements and fortifications on both the coasts of Hindostan, which give her invincible power in that quarter, spanning as she does, the eastern world, and controlling, if she pleases, its destinies. She has not failed to extend her possessions and her influences to the American continent. Nova Scotia and Bermuda are hers. By these she can operate upon the entire Atlantic coast of North America.

She owns Trinidad, the contiguity of which to South America, at the point where the Caribbean sea washes the north coast of South America, and unites with the Atlantic, makes it a point, and gives her a power, that enables her to control the destinies of Columbia, the Dutch and the French possessions on the continent, as well as the empire of Brazil. These advantageous stations give her," at all times, the means and the power of concentrating her forces, and striking with a thousand arms, where and whenever she may think proper. She can control, check, or strike down, the whole commerce of the South Atlantic and Indian oceans. She at this time holds the vast island of New Holland and Van Dieman's Land; and she is now possessed of the naval empire of the South Pacific. The Burmese empire shakes before her arms. She has now possession of the Faulkland islands, which constitute the gate to the Pacific ocean around Cape Horn. She has lately attempted to direct and control the commerce of China, and, to a partial extent, has succeeded. She is now trying to command the naval empire of the North Pacific, with a view to monopolize the trade on that ocean, of China, Constantinople, and of all India, through that medium. Great Britain is at this time engaged in cutting a ship canal round the rapids of the St. Lawrence. She is also engaged in cutting a ship canal round the falls of Niagara. When these works are completed, she has a ship navigation from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the southern extremity of Lake M chigan, as well as the entire extent of our northern boundaries. So far as our commerce and our commercial privileges are concerned, we are at the mercy of British generosity, and must hold our privileges by treaty. Three-fourths of our entire Coasts and frontiers are under the control of British power, owing to the superiosity of her navy. If we should surrender Oregon, and fail to make Texas a part of our Union-if Great Britain should by any means, obtain the control, political, or commercial, of Texas-we will be circumnavigated by British power. At present we may be said to be in a prison, with three walls. If we neglect the annexation of Texas, and surrender Oregon, we may be in a prison of four walls, without even a commercial gate. The positions of all others, we have reason to dread, are the positions and facilities which Great Britain is acquiring over our northern boundaries and lake coasts, by the caals she is

By this illustration it is seen that the number of ships of war of the British navy is greater than ours by six hundred and twelve. Their number of guns is greater than ours by fifteen thousand three hundred and twenty-three.、

I have shown the number of officers and men, naval and marine, is upwards, in all, of........40,000 By the report of the Secretary of the Navy, it is seen that the entire number for which subsistence is asked, is, in all, officers and men, including marines....

...10,860

Difference in favor of British navy..........29,140

Oregon Bill-Mr. Duncan.

This demonstration shows an alarming difference of power in the two navies which demands national attention. We have but to will that our own navy shall be strengthened, and it is done. We have the means and the mechanics; and we have the satisfaction of knowing that our navy may be strengthened at one quarter of the expense that it could have been before the late improvements in steam war-ships. One steamship will do more execution towards harbor defence than ten frigates; and I trust that our government will see the propriety and economy of directing its attention almost exclusively to the construction of steam vessels. By the introduction and use of steam frigates, our harbor defence may be made ten times more efficient without materially augmenting our naval or marine list of men, and with but small increase of expense, after the construction of the steam frigates.

Sir, it is to be hoped the American people will not longer neglect this most important arm of our national defence. They cannot, they will not, unless they have forgotten the blood and toil and treasure which our independence cost. Can that have been forgotten so soon when there are yet some of the revolutionary fathers amongst us, who live and linger to link us with the dead, and to admonish us of the price and the value of our emancipation, and to admonish us that nothing short of that vigilance which made us an independent people can perpetuate our independence.

We are now within a few days of the commencement of a new administration. If that administration will be what I have promised that it would be to the many thousands that I addressed before the election, I think our navy will receive an elevation worthy of our nation. I said if we succeeded in electing James K. Polk we would have an administration that would smack of "Old Hickory;" we would have a bold, a fearless, and a judicious administration-an administration that would ask for nothing but what would be right, and would submit to nothing that would be wrong; 1 said we would have an administration not of the South, nor of the North, nor of the West, but an administration of the country; and we would have an administrator who would not fear to "take the responsibility on himself" when great and important events should require it. I trust that it vill be the first and the last object, and the object all the time, of the coming administration, to devate and increase our navy. There is no other interest that can come under the care of the administration, that so imperiously demands its first and its last care as that of the navy.

I believe, with a more economical administration of our navy appropriations, and a proper application of them, our navy might be increased without materially enlarging the appropriations. It is difficult to imagine how six or eight millions of dollars are necessarily disbursed annually to our navy, considering the very small number of vessels which compose it. I believe the time is not far distant when sound policy and national security will require that our army will be merged in our navy. We have little or no use for an army in time of peace, except to keep the Indians in subjection, and that necessity will dwindle and subside as our frontier becomes settled, and our jurisdiction is extended over our Territories. We will probably have but little to fear from the Indians, only as they are operated upon by Great Britain. We will have but little to fear from either or both, if our navy is made what it should be, and what our national security demands, and what our means amply warrant. But, sir, I have another consideration to present as connected with the possession and occupancy of Oregon. Either the subjects of Great Britain will occupy Oregon, or we must. And if there other consideration or object connected with the possession of that Territory, it is suffcient of itself to demand immediate action. I speak with reference to the Indians. The memory and history of our last war make it unnecessary for me to assert that most of the calamities of that war were owing to our want of control over the Indians; and if we wish to avoid like calamities in our next war, we must possess ourselves of those Territories that will divide and separate the Indians from the control of the Hudson Bay Company, who were the instigators of all the barbarities which the Indians have perpetrated on our northwestern frontier. I have procured from the Indian department, by the politeness of Mr. Crawford, a communication representing the various tribes, their names and numbers annexed, so far as that department is in

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I believe there are many numerous and warlike tribes in the western part of the Missouri valley that are not embraced in this table, and not within the knowledge of our Indian department. But this table presents a fearful array of Indian force. The Indian is the natural enemy of the American white race. He recounts wrongs to the red man which neither time nor circumstances can entirely efface from his mind. To keep him in subjection, he must be taught that he has more to hope and more to fear from the American family than any other. To make him fear and hope, we must have an immediate control over him. We must be in his presence, control his territory, and cut off his connection with all others. And these objects can only be effected by taking possession of our northwestern territories. We have an influence and a control in Wisconsin and Iowa sufficient for those purposes in those territories. This bill provides for the establishment of stockade forts between a proper point on the Missouri and the eastern base of the Rocky mountains. That will give us an influence and a control over the Indians in that part of the Missouri valley, and will give protection to our traders to Santa Fe and elsewhere in that direction, as well as security to our Oregon emigrants. The possession and occupation of Oregon will, with suitable military establishments, give us control over the twenty thousand Indians in that territory. Sir, our safety and our highest interests in a military point of view require us to pass this bill, and to carry its provisions into speedy operation. Without it, we are unsafe in peace; and in war we will suffer more from Indian hostilities than from all other causes. Our whole northwestern frontier will be exposed to the savage barbarities, murders, and conflagrations which marked and made horrible our last war, and will be made more horrible in proportion to the increased extent of our frontier exposure.

The admonition of the father of our country, which is indeliby stamped on every American's heart, and upon every American mind-"In peace prepare for ጌር ; "-was never more forcibly presented than in the present case; and the preparation for war now urged consists in giving civil protection to our hardy western riflemen, who are now removing to Oregon; and their persons and their courage will constitute a large part of the magazines and fortifications which will be required. Occupation and civil protection will substitute for millions in military establishments, posts, and fortifications, which will have to be expended on our northwestern frontier in the event of a war from any quarter or from any cause. Sir, there is a spirit of enterprise and an ambition for the acquisition of territory, which was never before displayed to the same extent.

This spirit should be encouraged and gratified to the fullest extent. It was that spirit of enterprise and love of territory that swept away resistance like a torrent, and resulted in the election of a democratic candidate to the presidency. In conformity with that enthusiastic love of new territory, we have passed a bill making the empire of Texas a part of our glorious Union. Will that bill pass the other branch of this legislatnre? Then the British lion will never growl on Texian soil. In conformity with the same enthusiastic love of territory, let us plant the American standard upon the Pacific coast of Oregon. Let the American eagle find safety in his flight over the summit of the Rocky mountains, and we will have but performed a duty which those we represent have required at our hands.

But there is still another consideration connected with the possession and occupancy of Oregon, which connects itself with the inexhaustible wealth of the Pacific; which is this. We have an incalculable interest in the Pacific whale fishery. Hundreds of our vessels are yearly engaged in that fishery. So long as we can control our own rights on that ocean, we have a mine of wealth. Our vessels want a homestead on the Pacific coast-a place of resta place of refreshment, and to refit. Principles of economy alone warrant and demand the possession and occupancy of Oregon. Our own citizens should furnish our own ships with refreshments on the Pacific. The commanders of our vessels should have the privilege of purchasing refresh

Oregon Bill-Mr. Belser.

ments from our citizens. Our mechanics should have the privilege of repairing and refitting our vessels on the Pacific, and the owners of our vessels should have the privilege of employing our mechanics; all of which accommodations will be secured almost simultaneously with the passage of this bill. The saving to us, as a nation, will be almost incalculably, inpependent of the individual advantages. The rich and fertile valleys of the Columbia will teem with abundance. The farmer and the producer will find a market for his produce at his own door, in the vessels that trade and fish upon the Pacific. The valuable timber which abounds on the whole line of the Oregon water courses will be a source of perpetual wealth, and can be conveyed to the ocean on the same streams which affords the power to convert them into whatever character of lumber may be demanded.

Sir, I would wish to speak more of the vast advantages which would accrue to the United States, growing out of our Chinese and India trade by our occupancy of Oregon; but I will have to leave my readers to anticipate that, and must bring to a close. If I were permitted to make an appeal that could pierce the ear of the remotest American citizen, it would be in behalf of the sole and exclusive possession and occupancy of Oregon. I would admonish him, as he is proud of his country and of his nation's character, and glories in the spread of our free institutions, and the continued growth of human liberty, to command and demand that his representative support and consummate this bill. I would also say to him, as he loves his country's peace, and his nation's safety, as well as the security and protection of our national commerce, that he do his part towards securing now, when we have it in our power, this valuable territory, without the possession of which, neither our commerce on the Pacific, nor our frontier border, is for a day in perfect safety.

I would also ask him, as he pants for his country's honor, and would arrest the haughty boast that "British martial music can be heard from one post to another round the world, and that the sun never sets on her dominions," that he do his part to establish American jurisdiction and American supremacy over this territory, where her reveille shall be forever silent, from its southern to its northern extremity. would ask him, too, as he regards it as his highest duty to those who are to come after him, to perpetuate that personal liberty and free inheritance which were bequeathed to him, to do his part to transmit this territory undespoiled by any foreign intruder or plunderer. In conclusion, permit me to admonish the friends of Oregon and of this bill neither to be decoyed nor alarmed by that stale diplomatic objection of "negotiation:" negotiation has deprived us of the use of this valuable territory for more than a quarter of a century; negotiation has dismembered one of the States of this Union, to our disgrace and its loss. We have whipped the British twice on the field; but they have always whipped us in the diplomatic cabinet. Give us an open field and a fair sky, and Oregon will be ours-if it comes to a fight; but put us in a diplomatic cabinet, and the battle will be theirs, and Oregon will be theirs. Then, I say to the friends of Oregon, beware of that argument"negotiation"—or it will keep us out of Oregon twenty-five years more, and at the end of another quarter century, the argument will be stronger, and our title will be weaker. Great Britain has conquered and despoiled more nations, acquired more territory, and enslaved more people by negotiation than she has by her arms. In all our attempts to possess ourselves of the exclusive jurisdiction of,and to extend our laws over Oregon, we have had the treaty brandished before us. When we have attempted to pass a resolution instructing or requesting the President to put an end to the treaty by which we are deprived of our just sovereignty over Oregon, "negotiation" is brandished before us. Look upon any member of this House, or the other, as an enemy to Oregon, who will make the miserable, stale, diplomatic subterfuge of either treaty or negotiation an objection to the passage of this bill.

If either of the great measures, Texas or Oregon, or both, are to fail this session, let the responsibility not rest on this House. We have done our duty for Texas; let us do it for Oregon, and our hands will be clean. We can say to those whom we represent-whose hearts are beating in deep anxietywe have discharged our trust. If your will has not been obeyed, and your instructions not complied with, the fault is not ours.

H. of Reps.

Sir, there can be no constitutional scruples in the way of the passage of this bill. If we claim title by discovery, that settles the constitutionality, and no question is involved but that of expediency; and that question is as to the time we should occupy Oregon. This is the time; because the American people demand it. If we claim title by purchase from Spain, the constitutional question is equally settled, and has been since the purchase of Louisina; for Oregon is but a part of that purchase. This is too lofty a measure to admit of the interference of party driv eling. It surmounts that groveling, miserable party spirit which so often strikes at the best interests of the country, and is alone worthy of the selfish, unprincipled political demagogue. The public voice in favor of the immediate possession of Oregon is the offspring of a lofty spirit of patriotism and national honor, which scouts and casts the groveling partisan from its presence, and mantles him with shame and insignificance. Oregon is ours; Oregon we will have; and Oregon we can defend.

SPEECH OF MR. BELSER,

OF ALABAMA.

In the House of Representatives, Jan. 28, 1845.On the bill to establish a Territorial Government in Oregon, the House being in Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union.

Mr. BELSER, upon obtaining the floor, commenced his remarks by saying that, but a few days since, one American measure had passed that House, and now they were required to act on another equally as important in its bearings on the destiny of the republic. Since the period of the Missouri restriction, which shook the Union to its foundation, no two projects had been before Congress better calculated to test the efficiency of our institutions than the admission of Texas into the Confederacy and the occupation of Oregon. The epoch through which we are passing might well be viewed as the hour of a nation's travail; and although he believed that the pending bill, if adopted, would be more likely to involve us in a war than the one which we had so recently sanctioned, still, in the maintenance of a just claim, we should not permit the fear of such consequences to force us from our propriety. He dreaded war as Come when it will it is a tremuch as any man. mendous evil. In it death reigns without a rival, and glories "in the extent of his conquest and the richness of his spoil." Such fields as Waterloo exhibit a melancholy spectacle-they had no charms for him. To secure the blessings of peace to this Government, he would surrender everything save national honor and national security.

A recent examination into the history of Great Britain, and more particularly her course towards other nations, had satisfied his mind that there is no limit to her rapacity. Tempt her cupidity; "cast before her the apples," and forthwith she grasps everything within reach-takes first, and negotiates afterwards. With a territory not much larger than one of our States, she is endeavoring to plant her royal standard in every portion of the globe. Look to her vast possessions near to us. Within a few days run by steam are her West India Islands, Antigua, Auquilla, Barbadoes, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Vincent, Tobago, Trinidad, Bahamas, and Bermudas, and then comes her Upper and Lower Canadas, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Prince Edward's Island, Labrador, the whole north to Hudson's Bay.

Having briefly alluded to the importance of the question, and the relation which Great Britain bears to it, he would next proceed to examine the measure before the committee.

The first section of the bill under consideration proposes the organization of a temporary government out of all the country belonging to the United States west of the summit of the Rocky Mountains, and bounded on the south by the forty-second and on the north by the fifty-fourth degree and forty minutes north latitude. This boundary has for its landmarks, on the east the Rocky Mountains, on the west the Pacific, on the north the Strait of Fuca, and on the south the Snowy Mountains. The extent of surface is about three hundred and fifty thousand square miles, and this vast area is drained by the Columbia and its tributaries. He contended that the bill, so far as