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OREGON. 
 
 ikMERlCAN PROTJCriON TO AMERICAN PIONEERS; 
 
 Or, 
 SHALL OREGON BE SURRENI>ER'2D TO GREAT BRITALN ? 
 
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 " Let thf fixed policy of our (Jovornmiirit be, not to permit Great Britain or any other foreign power to plant 
 a colony or hold dominion over any portion of the people or territory of the United States."— Jionei if. Polk, 
 Coiutnhia, Ttnnesate, ^Ipril -i'i, )84'1. 
 
 This was the frank and patriotic opinion of Governor Polk, expressed before he had any anti- 
 cipation that he should be called upon to carry it into the administration of the GeneraJ Govern- 
 ment, as the next President of the United States. It is worthy a President of this Union, 
 embracing, in this comprehensive and unequivocal form, the great American questions of the day — 
 our international law and the rights of territory. 
 
 The question, Shall Oregon be silently surrendered to Great Britain, or firmly claimed by the 
 United Htates, is an issue that is mainly to be settled by the result x>f the election of 1844. 
 
 Such a declaration, from such a source, comes at this time with peculiar appropriateness in the 
 enforcement of the truly American doctrine, proclaimed by President Monroe, in his celebrated 
 manifesto, of December 2, 1823, when some of the European Powers were about to interfere to 
 prevent the independence of the South American colonies, viz : 
 
 "That while the United States continued neutral and impartial in the contests of the Euro- 
 pean powers among themselves, it was otherwise in regard to their movements in this hemi- 
 sphere ; that the United States would consider an attempt on their part to extend their peculiar 
 political systems to any part of the new world as dangerous to our peace and safety ; and that we 
 could not view a voluntary interposition of theirs in tll^aiTairs of the new Republics of An >rica 
 with indiHercnce, or in any other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition 
 towards the United States." 
 
 The firmness of this noble declaration, backed by the sense of the American people, checked 
 the intermeddling of foreign Powers with South America ; and every true American now regards 
 it as a part of the international law of the Now vV'orld. 
 
 'I'he time has arrived for its application, with additional force, to the assumption of Great 
 Britain, that she has a right to found new colonies in North America, in territory not yet occu- 
 pied. This is, in fact, the whole of the title that Great Britain sets up to Oregon : and this lies at 
 the bottom of all her diplomacy in the matter of the Northwestern boundary. 
 
 The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives, in their report of January 
 4, 18.39, well say of the pretension of Great Britain : "She distinctly puts her claim to Oregon 
 on the ground that it is unoccupied territory, just like Virginia or Massachusetts before she 
 colonized them ; and that, as unoccupied savage territory, she may now colonize the Columbia 
 river ; not that it i4|^ part of a colony now possessed by her, but country in which she has a right 
 at this day to found a colony. This pretension the committee deem to be inadmissible, and pre- 
 judicial to the rights, the security, and the peace of the United States." 
 
 Shall it be met, or shall it be permitted to encroach from a pretension to a right, is now the 
 issue that the American people, through their Government, can no longer evade. 
 
 The United States will ask of foreign Powers nothing that is not right, and they will submit to 
 nothing that is wro"g. Shall this American doctrine be applied to this American qut'at'm; and 
 if we have the right, shall we maintain it T The people have not thoroughly examined this 
 comparatively new but vastly important question. The impulse must come from them, if our 
 rights are not to be sacrificed in Oregon. Let us, therefore, look at the question, as we would 
 examine the title deeds to our farms. 
 
 Have we the right to this territory, and is its value such as to authorize the enforcement of that 
 rights 
 
 The people of the United States desire no territory that may not be justly acquired, and they 
 will claim none tliat does not justly belong to them. But they will surrender none that does. 
 
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 No man holds his farm by a clearer title than the United States, by the law ol nations, hold title 
 to Oregon. What American fiunier will surrender a portion ot his land to the overreaching of 
 an encroaching neighbor, or the threats of a lawless tre;-.passer ! What American citizen will 
 consent that Oregon shall be yielded, either to the cunning diplomacy or the arrogant assump- 
 tions of (Jrcat Britain ? 
 
 THE VALUE AND IMPORTANCE OF OREGON TO THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 The doctrine maintained by the Democracy is, that (lirnt liritiiiii shun,, I not be alhvcil to 
 udvance utiollier of hev gigantic .sttps iijwn the American /icmi.sp/icrt'. But it is not only in a 
 [jolitical point of view that the American occuiiation of Oregon is important. The value and 
 advantages of that vast region are incalculable, and are not suthcicntly estimated by the people. 
 A brief selection from volumes of material will show the richness of the juize England is trying 
 lo wrest from us. 
 
 THE CLIMATE. 
 
 The climate, soil, trade, hunting, fishing, ca])ability of defence, safe and capacious harbors, 
 and general resources, render this vast region one of the most desirable portions of the New 
 World. 
 
 Cook, Dixon, Pontlock, Vancouver, Kotzebue, liCwis and Clarke, and all other explorers, 
 represent the climate of the northwest coast of America as exceedingly mild, pleasant, and salu- 
 
 ■ brious. Even to the northward of Cape Prince of Wales, latitude 71°, Kotzebue says that, on 
 ' the 30th of .Inly, a long tract of low land was covered with luxuriant verdure. Cook describes 
 
 the climate, from March to April, in latitude 49° 30', as infinitely milder than that on the coast 
 of America under the same latitude. There was no frost in the low grounds, and vegetation 
 {)roceeded briskly ; grass, at this time, was upwards of a foot long. 
 
 " The c imate south of 53 degrees, assumes a mildness, (says Mr. Prcvost, in 1822,) unknown 
 
 in the same latitude on the eastern side of the continent. The mercury, during the winter. 
 
 " Kcldom descends below the freezing joint. The rains usually commence with November, and 
 
 continue to fall partially until April. A benign spring succeeds; and when the summer heats 
 
 • obtain, they are so tempered with showers as seldom to suspend vegetation. It was luxuriant on 
 the first of October. High mountains form the coast, arresting the vapors of the ocean, which 
 
 ■ produces, in the interior, a climate of uncommon mildness. Between this mountainous ridge 
 along the coast, and the chain of mountains which cross tiie Oregon, lies the rich valley of the 
 Columbia. For several hundred mil«^n length, and fifty in width, the country is a high level 
 •|dain, in all its parts extremely fertile. Nearly the whole of this wide-spread tract, in May, was 
 covered Avith a piofusion of grass and plants, amongst them a variety of esculent plants and 
 roots, yielding nutritious and agreeable food. In short, this district, though elevated sevcr.il 
 thousand feet above the |i?vel oi the ocean, possesses j)ure and dry air, with a climate milder 
 than the same latitude in the Atlantic Htafes, and equally healthy; and, if properly cultivated, 
 
 , would yield ever\ object necessary for the subsistence and comfort of civilized man." 
 
 The country between the lowest falls on the Columbia river and tli'^ ocean, is rich in soil, well 
 Umbered and watered, and capable of any species of culture. 
 
 The coast,' latitude 49° 14', presents a vast luxuriant landscape ; tlie more interior part.-, 
 somewhat elevated and agreeably diversified with hills, from which the land gradually descends 
 , to the shore, and terminates in a sandy beach. The ocean teems with otter, seal, and ihe whale, 
 "wliile the main b.iid abounds in every variety of game, and the waters with sain. on, sturgeon, 
 and other species of llsh ; and all grains and tuberous plants may be cultivated wiili advantage. 
 . The multitudes of salmon in the Oregon are inconceivable ; and they a«end to its remole.-t 
 sources. The water is so clear, ihat they may be seen at the depth of fi<'tWn or twenty feet; so 
 abundant are thev, at certain seasons, that, in the scarcity of wood, dried fish are often used a> 
 fuel. 
 
 Of other sections of this great country, it is said, " the serenity of the climate, the innumerable 
 
 pleasing landscapes, and the abundant fertility that unassisted nature puts forth, require only tc 
 
 be e'iriched by the industry of man with villages, mansions, cottages, and other buildings, ti 
 
 tender it the most lovely country that can be imagined ; whilst the labor of the inhabitant- 
 
 'Mould be amply rewarded in the bounties which nature .seems ready to bestow on cultivation." 
 
 In a word, that great peninsula, between the mouth of the Columbia and the entrance of Di 
 'Fuou's strait, enclosing more than two-thirds of the country on the ocean bctwecH the river am 
 >■ Uie ! traits, possesses advantages for occupation by a civilized nation not surpassed by those o 
 
 • any other country in the world. I 
 
 Such aie the advantages of this favored region, that all who have examined the subject ar -i 
 : well satisfied that it might be defended against exterior and internal enemies, at a small expcnst i 
 uml readily subsisted from its Own resources. 
 
 la a letter of Governor Pelby, of the Hudson Bay Company, to the Britisl; Cojpniul Secrciar ? 
 
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 of State, the 1st of February, 1837, the climate, soil, and other circumstances i ne country, 
 are represented to bo as well adapted (if not better) to agricultural pursuits, as any other spot in 
 America. The company arc establishing an export trade in wool, tallow, hides, and agricultural 
 produce; and arc fast bringing into culture large pasture and grain farms, by the settlement of 
 their retired servants, and the protection they alford to their own emigrants. In this correspon- 
 dence, which is disclosed in the able speech of Mr. Buchanan, in the United States Senate, Mr. 
 Simpson, the superintendent of the company affairs, says : 
 
 "The possession of that country to CJrcat Britain may become an object of very great im- 
 portance, ar • we are strengthening their claim to it (independent of the claim of prior discovery 
 and occupation for the purpose of Indian trade) by forming the nucleus of a col jny, through the 
 establishment of farms, and the settlement of some of our retiring officers aiid servants a.s 
 agriculturists." 
 
 CAPACITIES FOR TRADE AND COMMERCE. 
 
 The undeveloped capacities of this vast region for commerce and trade, can hardly be estima- 
 ted. The whale fishery and the fur trade offer unexhausted resources for these hardy pursuits, 
 the great nurseries of seamen. Even the northern ser and the coasts of .lapan, are visited by 
 the Nantucket and New Bedford whalemen, in pursuit of their receding game, while the 
 superior advantages that would b(! enjoyed in this business, from a proper exploration, and the 
 necessary protection to our whale fishery on the vast siiores of the northwest coast, wliich \s 
 represented to be thronged with whales, is placed beyond the reach of our daring navigators, and 
 in danj;er of being wrested from us by the grasping acquisitiveness of (ireat Britain. In their 
 recent correspondence with the Home government, the lludsoii Bay Company boast that every 
 American whaleman will be driven from this coast. 
 
 If commerce, manufactures, and trade, combined with the impulse they give to agriculture, 
 would seek a new and va.st expansion of resources and consumption, here is the great and 
 inexhaustible field for the attention of the entc-prisc and industry of the people of the United 
 States, and especially of its Atlantic manufacturing and commercial .sections, which have an 
 incalculably greater pecuniary interest in the question of American rights in t)regoii tiian the 
 Southern and Western States. 
 
 Mr. Baylies, of Massachusetts, chairman of a committee of Congress, in 1826, in an able report 
 •o the House, (which, however, fell unheeded upon the then dull ear of the public,) thushap{>ily 
 < "scribed the capacities of this mighty region: 
 
 ■ A vast river, with its tributaries and branches, wafers its whole extent, through seven degrees 
 of latitude, and penetrates beyond into the territories of other nations. 
 
 "It abounds in excellent timber and in spars, unsurpassed by any in the world. 
 
 " Its waters are navigable for vessels through half its extent, and for boats through half the 
 remainder. 
 
 '' The water power, for moving manufacturing machinery, is unequalled, and commences vvhero 
 the navigation terminates. 
 
 " It is bounded on the south by a country abounding in cattle and wheat, which can be reached 
 by sea in less than ten days, and in the vicinity, too, of other countries whose interior is filled with 
 the precious metals, and the richest articles of commerce, and whose shores abound in the pearl- 
 producing oyster. 
 
 " It is within twenty days' .sail of the coasts of Peru and Chili, which are indented wiih fine 
 bays and harbors, but destitute of the materials of ship building, which they would receive from 
 this source, that could supply the materials at t!ie cheapest rate. 
 
 " It is within seventy or eighty days' sail of Cliiria and the East Indian seas, and within thirty 
 of the Sandwich Islands, abounding in .sandal wood, in the sugar cane, and tropical fruits, and 
 |)erfectly adapted to the culture of coil'ee and cotton. 
 
 •' On one side it approaches a country where coal in prodigious quantities has already been dis- 
 covered, and on the other, the borders of a sea which, for the space of seventy -six degrees, is sel- 
 dom rutiled by a storm, and which can be traversed by steam, in every direction. 
 
 "The advantages, great as they now arc, will be trifiing in comparison to what they will be, 
 whenever a communication between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, through the isthmus divi- 
 ding North and South America, shall have been effected." 
 
 In a word, " If it were given to a civilized, commercial and manufacturing people, ' where to 
 choose their place of rest,' the world affords no position equal to this, and it requires no prophetic 
 spirit to foresee the wealth and grandeur of that fortunate '■ace, whose happy destiny shall have 
 placed their ancestors in this beautiful region." 
 
 These are the advantages which England, in her grasping ambition, seeks to make her own. Her 
 plans are hinted at by one of her agents. Sir Alexander McKensie, in his Travels, and they are 
 silently and steadily pursued by the progress of the Hudson Bay Company. Mr. McKensie says : 
 
 slQnial Secrciar 
 
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 " By opening the intercourKc bctwcpn the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, iml forming regular 
 establishments tinough the interior, and at botli extremes, the entire command of the fur trade of 
 North America might be obtained, from latitude 38 degrees north to the pole. To this may be 
 added the fishery in both seas, and the markets of the four (luartcrs of the globe. Such would 
 be the field for commercial enterprise, and incalculable would be the produce of it when supported 
 by the operations of that credit and capital which Great Britain so eminently possesses," And 
 this, the writer adds, is to be followed by the complete exclusion of Americans from the country. 
 
 And to all these advantages, is to be added the obvious tact, developed '.y the facilities of steam 
 communication, which now reckons contiguity by time in transition, and not by distance, that 
 Oregon may be brought i.ciiier to the heart of' this Union, than was Louisiana when annexed by 
 Mr. Jellerson. And through this mediuiii may be opened a great thoroughfare to China and the 
 commerce of the East. ^o 
 
 Such is the value of this possession. Such is the importance of the commercial qutt'tion, 
 whether England shall usurp, or we enjoy our own. 
 
 WHAT IS THK AMERICAN TITSK TO OUEfiON .' 
 
 The claims of the United States to title are briefly tnese : In May, 17IC.J, Captain Rot.ert 
 Gray, of Boston, in the ship Columbia, made the first discovi y of the mouth of the great river 
 of Oregon, which he named auer his vessel. In 1M()4, Lewis and Clark, in an expedition re- 
 commended by Thomns! .lelferson, tixplomd this river from its source to the Pacific ocean, and 
 took possession in behalf of the I'nitcd Stales. In 1810, .lohn Jacob Astor sent out a colony, 
 and planted three establishments in the territory. This was the fir.st settlement and actual 
 occupancy by any civilized people. 
 
 In the war with (Jrcat Britain, these posts were taken jwssession of by Great Britain, and, by 
 the treaty of Ghent, they were surrenlered i)ack to the United States unconditionally — Great Bri- 
 tain thus acknowledging the title to be in the United States. 
 
 The American title, therefore, is founded on priority of discovery, followed by actual occupa- 
 tion ; on the virtual recognition by llie Britis^h (lovernment, of the title of the United States, in 
 1818, up to which time, and long after, we never heard of any claim to the territory on the part 
 of Great Britain ; on the subsequent acquisition by the United States of all the titles of Spain 
 to the Northwest coast, ly the Florida treaty in IS I!), and the transferred titles and claims of 
 France, through its extension of the Louisiana territory ; and, lastly, upon the ground of conti- 
 j^iiiti/, which, itself, should give to the United States a stronger right to those territories, as 
 unoccupied country, than could be advanciid by any other power. 
 
 Great Britain founds her claim, first, on the commercial treaty with Spain in 1790, which 
 has but a remote bearing on the question, and which was abrogated by war between the two 
 nations, before Spain transferred her title to the L'nited States ; and, second, by pretended prior- 
 ity of discovery of the Cohnnbia river. But the only evidence on which this rests is, the explo- 
 ring of a portion of the JVorthwest coast by Lieutenant Meares, in 1788, who, so far from 
 discovering or suspecting the existence of the gieat river of the West, gave to the cape and the 
 Bay of Columbia the names of Cape Disappointment and Deception Bay ; which attest his 
 failure. 
 
 " It has been thus established, (says Mr. Gallatin, in his conference with the British Plenipoten- 
 tiaries in 1827,) that the Columbia river was fir.st disroverc 1 by the United States; that the first 
 discovery was attended by a complete exploration of the river, before any such exploration had 
 been made by any other nation ; by a simultaneous actual occupation and possession, and by 
 subsequent settlement;^, made within a reasonable time, which have been interrupted only by the 
 casualties of war. And this, it is contended, ijives to the United Stales, according to the acknow- 
 ledged law and usages of nations, a right to the whole country drained by that river and its 
 tributary streams. And these, strengthericd by the transfer of the Spanish and French claims, 
 establish, it is firmly believed, a stronger title to the country than has ever, at any former time, 
 been asserted by any nation to vacant territory." — Wth Congress, lut sesa. JJoc.A'o. 199. l/ovs-: 
 of Jieps. 
 
 The validity of the American title, thus tstablished, has never been doubted or questioned by 
 any American President, Minister. Congress, or Connnittee, except that it was tampered with by 
 Mr. Clay, who, when Secretary of State, in 182G, ofi'ered to yield to Great Britain one-third of 
 our rights. It was atlirmed by .leflferson, in 1804, and has been insisted on by every Presiden* 
 since. Even when Mr. Adams as President, and .Mr. Clay as Secretary, in 1826, proposed to 
 yield a portion of our claim by a compromise — to adopt the 49th degree of latitude a.<« the boun- 
 dary, which would have surrendered about one-third of the Amt.ican claim — the claims of Great 
 Britain, then first formally presented, were regarded as new and extraordinary ; nor did they 
 "raise any doubts in the mind of the President, of the strength and solidity of our title."— J>f' 
 Clay to Mr. GallaUt, Febrtiary 24, 1827. 
 
 All the reports of Committees, of Congress, from 1822 till now, have maintained tie validity 
 
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 ail po»j 
 
 demurn 
 
 resolutl 
 
 AmerieT 
 
 iearn jii 
 
 Thef 
 
 we, thfl 
 
 on thef 
 
 Audi 
 
 fabuloif 
 
 tale off 
 
 by fheit 
 
 as all 
 
 has beJ 
 
 controlF 
 
 surrputl 
 
 cunnini 
 
 his nei 
 
 Greal 
 Octobej 
 questioj 
 By the| 
 Northv 
 
 
regular 
 trade of 
 may be 
 ti would 
 ipported 
 " And 
 country - 
 of stoara 
 ncp, tliat 
 nexed by 
 I and the 
 
 qucrition. 
 
 in llot.tMt 
 Treat rivpr , 
 edition re- | 
 )cean, and 
 t a colony, 
 and actual 
 
 in. and, by 
 -Great Bri- 
 
 lal occupa- 
 d States, iu 
 on the part 
 es of Spain 
 1 claims of 
 nd of conti- < 
 jrritorics, as " 
 
 1790, which 
 ■on the two 
 ended prior- 
 s, the cxplo- 
 so far from 
 cape and the j 
 ich attest his 
 
 5 
 
 1 Plenipoten- 
 that the first 
 ploration had 
 si on, and by 
 only by the 
 a the acknow- 
 ; liver and its 
 rcnch claims, 
 forme-r time, 
 •o. 199. //«'/••■ 
 
 questioned by 
 ipered with by 
 in one-third of 
 kfery Presiden' 
 16, proposed to 
 le an the boun- 
 ^laims of Great 
 , nor did they 
 ur title."— ^' 
 
 ed tie validity 
 
 of the title beyond the reach of everytiiing but Britibh pretonnions, founded on the smallest cavils 
 and quibblcB of British diploniacy. The committee in 1828 say: "They have come to the 
 conclusion that the United States have an incontestable claim to thi.s coast, from the Ibrty-second 
 parallel of latitude, north, nearly to the mouth of the Strait of De Fuea ; and that they have * 
 better title than any other nation to the countries watered by the tStrait ot De Fuca, and the 
 waters themselves." And they also aSy, that, " after a careful examination of the British claim, 
 the committee have ccnie to the conclusion that it is wholly unfounded." — UU/i Coni^r-s.f, 1st 
 .'.v.t,?. f/ount: of liepH. A'o. ai."). 
 
 'i'his has been reiterated and reaflirmed by additional proofs, in t'ui reports of (ho CJomriiittce 
 on Foreign Aflairs, 25th Congress, ad session. No. 101, House of Ifeps. ; and the Committee on 
 Military Affairs, by Mr. Pendleton of Ohio, 27th Congress, 2d scss. No. H'M, House of Reps.; 
 and in the able speeches in the Senate, the present and the preceding sessions of (Jotigress. 
 
 In all the discussions in Congress, no man who denied the expediency of extending our law:* 
 over Oregon, ever doubted our right and the validity of ous title. In the Senate, .lanuary 12, 
 1H4;J, Mr. Sevier of Arkansas, said, with the assent of every Senator, "it was gratifying to llnil 
 that every Senator conceded the point that or.r right to the territory was iiicontestalde ; that 
 question had been well settled." 
 
 WHAT HAS BEKV DONE TO MAINTAIN THIS RIGHT? 
 
 Absolutely nothing by the ( iavcrnment. In 1 806, a trifling sum was appioj)riated for the 
 exi)enses of the expedition ot Lewis and Clark ; and from that down to 1826, and till now, not 
 a single rifleman has been supported at the public expense, to protect American citizens in the 
 settlements on their own soil. In the mean time, Great Britain has cautious-ly continued to de- 
 velop her plan to check and control all nations, and especially her great commercial and manu- 
 facturing rival, the I'nited States, by means of her navy, her commerce, and, above all, in these 
 days, by her wily diplo'>iacy. 
 
 Mr. .lefferson, to whom we owe Louisiana, in his message to Congress, .lanuary 18, 1803, and 
 in his enlarged views of American rights, recommended the exploration of the Northwest coast, 
 on the express ground of its being territory of the United States. This was followed by the 
 celebrated cj pedition of licwis and Clark. 
 
 The Government did no more till 1815, when she demanded of Great Britain the restoration, 
 under the ist article of the treaty of Ghent, of Astoria, in Oregon. Here was the time for Eng- 
 land to have set up her title, if slie had any. This colony, settled by a private citizen (.lohn 
 Jacob Astor) in 1810, had been transferred, during the wav in 1813, to avoid plunder, to the 
 British Northwest Fur Company of Canada, and was soon after taken possession of by the Bri- 
 tish sloop of var Hackoon, sent out expressly for that hostile purpose. The British hoisted their 
 flag, and changed the name of the principal post from Astoria to Fort George. 
 
 By the first article of the treaty of Ghent, " restitution was tn be made to the United States of 
 all [»osts and places whatsoever, taken from them by the British." The British Government 
 demurred to this demand till the Oth of October, 1818. But the American Government was 
 resolute in the demand, and England had not then forgotten the lessons taught her by young' 
 America, on the ocean, the lakes, and, above all, at New Orleans. Will this proud nation never 
 learn justice but when taught it by stripes ! 
 
 The article of surrender reads thus: "In conformity to the first article of the treaty of Ghent, 
 we, the undersigned, restore to the Government of the United States the settlement of FortCieorg'j, 
 on the river Columbia." 
 
 And now the great robber-nation claims this very territory as her own, upon a pretence of 
 fabulous purchase ; a false story of discovery ; an annulled treaty with Spain ; and a miserable 
 tale of a miserable priest, one John Harris, whose compilation of imaginary travels is discredited 
 by their own historians, and by all contemporary and subsequent authors ; and this pretension, 
 as all other British pretensions have ever been, is favored, if not sanctioned, by that party which 
 lias been essentially British ever since the declaration of independence, and who, if they get the 
 control of negotiation for the next four years, are prepared, under the pretended fear of war, to 
 surrender the Northwestern, as they have the Northeastern boundary, to British cupidity and 
 cunning. Mr. Clay began this surrender, and laid the first foundation of British a.'<sumplion, ia 
 his negotiations of 1827 ; and will he be less yielding now ? 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF BRITISH PRETENSIONS TO OREGON. 
 
 Great Britain, it is seen, virtually recognised the American title by her formal act of surrender 
 October 6, 1818; but in the same month (October 20, 1818,) began her policy of keeping the 
 question of settlement in abeyance, that she might first assume, and then assert, a groundless title. 
 By the 3d article of the treaty of London, of that date, it was agreed that the country on the 
 Northwest coast of America, claimed by either party, should be open to both for ten years, with- 
 
out prejudice to the claim of either. In 1827, Mr. Adams and Mr. Clay, then in the adminis- 
 tration, offered to give to Greut Britain all north of forly-nine degrees. But this ofTer of a part, 
 only made her greedy for more ; and a long negotiation ended in the renewal, in 1827, of Jhe 
 above agreement, subject to be annulled at any time after a year's notice by either party. 
 
 Great Britain here began to set up her pretensions, which have been growing ever since; but 
 it was no direct claim. "Great Britain (said her nrgotiators in 1826) clnim/i no ercluaive sov- 
 rreic,niUi over ivnj portion of that Icrrilnrv. Her present cliiim, not to any part, but to the 
 iv/tolr, is limited to a right of joint occupancy in common with ol/ier states, leaving the right of 
 exclusive dominion in (ifn\i/unce" 
 
 And there it was suffeied to rest by "Mr, Clay, in 1826; and from that nest-egg, as has been 
 ai)tly said, has been hatched the cliickcn that now Haps its wings and crows over the empire cor- 
 poration, which England is cherishing in Oregon, to emulate, one day, in the West, the power of 
 her empire corporation in the East. 
 
 With Russia, the only other power in that region, we have a treaty not to extend her settle- 
 ments south of her acknowledged ]in(\ But Great Britain keeps the question of dominion in 
 "aheiiance," and continues to encroach, while she co.itinues to negotiate, and while the leader;? 
 of the Whig party in the Senate of the United States, following the policy of Mr. Clay, in 1826, 
 coolly say that, "if we have waited so (luiolly for twenty-six years, for the adjustment of this 
 question^ they do not see why wc should not wait longer." * 
 
 And their remedy against the encroachments of (Jreat Britain, who never turns her foot back 
 till driven, is, to wait " twenlij iietirs longer, ichen an ti^'-ricu/denil population from the I'nited 
 States ifill peaceably have spread itself over the territory, and the hunters of the Hudson 
 Bay Company will all pass off to the (h\iert." 
 
 " The controversy is not urgent," was the language of those who opposed action in the pre- 
 sent Congress with reference to Oregon ; and thiii has been their language ever since Mr. Clay's 
 proposed concession in 1826; and when a committee of the House of Kepresentativcs said, with 
 a truth which has been constantly accumulating in force from that day to this, that "the indif- 
 ference of America stimulates the cupidity of Great Britain. Our neglect daily weakens our 
 own claim, and strengthens hers ; and the day will soon arrive, when her title to this territory 
 will be better than ours, unless ours is earnestly and sj)cedily enforced." 
 
 This, then, is the question for the American people, in regard to the national palicy as to this 
 Tast and invaluable possession. It is a iiuestion of national security, whether Great Britain shall 
 circumvent our whole continent. 
 
 It is a question of national commerce, whether Great Britain shall monopolize the vast resources 
 of that region, and exclude our hunters and traders and whalemen from the soil and the coast. 
 
 And it is a question of national protection to the hardy pioneers, who, in the faith that their 
 
 mtry would not claim a soil she should fail to shelter under the wings of her eagle, have settled 
 ..1 that region, and demand the name of an American citizen should, on American soil, be the 
 guaranty of American rights. 
 
 
 i : 
 
 THE HUDSON BAY COMPANY AND THE JOINT OCCUPANCY. 
 
 Great Britain concedes to us the joint occupancy of the Oregon'; but, like the joint occupancy oi 
 the hedgc-hog and the rabbit, the power to annoy is all on her side. 
 
 In 1821, she leased this whole territory to her great territorial corporation, the Hudson Bay 
 Company, for twenty-one years. In 1838, it was extended another twenty-one years. They have 
 already an armed force of some thousands, with six stockade forts, and a marine of six armed 
 vessels, and they are confident that British influence may be maintained as paramount in this in- 
 teresting part of the coast of the Pacific. 
 
 Already they have murdered between four and five hundred of our citizens, who went to Oregon 
 peaceably to share this right of joint occupancy ; and in pursuance of the same policy that marked 
 her course toward the North American colonies, England has refused to stipulate with us for the 
 neutrality of the savages, that she may stir lip against our citizens in that region. 
 
 Great Britai.i is thus colonizing, by means of her empire corporation, while our institutions 
 will riot admit of the use of like means ; and while a party in this country hold that the treaty of 
 joint occupancy will not allow us to extend the shield of our laws over our own citizens, she 
 has gone on and attached the whole territory to the province of Canada, appointed justices of the 
 peace, and now administers her laws throughout the country. And 
 
 WHAT HAS THE UxNITED STATES DONE TO PROTECT HER SETTLERS ? 
 
 Literally nothing. In 1 839, a memorial from Massachusetts showed that three thousand New 
 England emigrants were prepared to proceed to the Oregon, if they could be assured that they 
 
 ' Speech of Mr. Choatc, of -Massachusetts, in the Senate, March, 1844. 
 
\ 
 
 min»8- 
 a part, 
 of the 
 
 :e ; but 
 
 T'C SOV- 
 
 to the 
 
 'ight of 
 
 as been 
 )ire cor- 
 (ower of 
 
 T seltle- 
 inion in 
 ^ Icaderi* 
 in 1826, 
 [It of this 
 
 foot back 
 e United 
 e Jlwhon 
 
 \ the pre- 
 ^r. Clay's 
 saiJ, with 
 the indif- 
 akens our 
 18 territory 
 
 y as to this 
 irilain shall 
 
 L9t resources 
 the coast. 
 1 that their 
 have settled 
 , soil, be the 
 
 i 
 
 woulil there enjoy the protection of the laws of the I'nitcJ States. Repeated attempts to exterid 
 the protection of our laws over Oregon have been made, since that period, and fuiieil. In 184;), 
 a bill to that eflect passed the .Senate, by the votes of Democratic iSenators, l)ut it went no further; 
 and in 1844, a resolve, in the same Imdy, to give notice to Great Drilain of our intention to annul 
 the treaty of IH'27, was lost by Whig votes. 
 
 It is now a frrcat (piestion for the great American people. Tlicy will deprecate war, as a great 
 evil; hut they will not surrender great rights for fear of war. Wc agree witli the British minis- 
 tcr. Mr. Huskisson, in 1.S38, that " it would be lamcntublc tiiat, in this age, two such nations a.s 
 the I'nited States and Great Britain, should be drawn to a rupture on such a sulyect as the un- 
 cultivated wilds of the Northwest coast;" but the American people will also agree with the 
 American Senator, who has said, on this subject, that " a firm, determined spirit, is always 
 necessary to obtain from Great Britain res|)ect and justice." 
 
 And when they look at and appreciate this vast interest, in its relations to the great mission of 
 this country to extend, by all rightful means, the area of freedom, until liberty shall l)ecome the 
 inheritance of the North American continent, they will respond, with an American heart, to 
 the Mississippi resolve, " That it is the duty of the Government to protect our citizens wherever 
 they may lawfully be, to the fullest extent, in the rights of property and all the privileges which 
 appertain to citizens of the United States." 
 
 PL'BLISHED BY ORDER OF A COMMITTEE OF THE DEMOCRATIC MEMBERS 
 
 OF CONGRESS. 
 
 [50 Cents per Hundred.] 
 
 occupancy oi 
 
 Hudson Bay 
 8. They have 
 of six armed 
 int in this in- 
 dent to Oregon 
 ;y that marked 
 iith us for the 
 
 ur institutions 
 at the treaty oi 
 n citizens, she 
 il justices of the 
 
 TTLTSRS r 
 
 5 thousai.d New 
 ssured that they 
 
 I