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About Oregon spectator. (Oregon City, O.T. [i.e. Or.]) 1846-1855 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 1846)
A Voice from the United States, Mr. Adaan'" Speech on Oregon. IN THE UOUi 0 Err.!TAT!VM, JANUARY 9, 1846. Mr. J. Q. Adams rose to address the house. He Baid thnt he ought ierliaps to commence with an apology to the house for addressing it at all on this question. The state of his health was such as to render it impossible for htm to enter at all on tho many important questions connected with this subject, and whatever observations he might feel it his duty to mako upon it, must necessarily be brief. His physical power would not enable him to go at any length into tho question. The question now immediately beforo tho house he understood to be, whether the bill making provision for raising two regiments of riflemen should be made tne special oraer lor the first Tuesday in January. The speaker said that that constituted one part of the question, but was not debatable. The other part of tho question was on refer ring this bill to a committee of the whole on tho state of the union, and that question was open to debate. After some further informal conversation, Mr. Adams continued : jWell, then, I will, at the risk of being ar rested for irrelevancy, (which seems of late a favorite mode of preventing discussion,) speak in reality and in substanco to the question of making the bill a special order while, in form," my remarks will be on the question of reference. This measure now proposed to be referred is one, which, for a variety of reasons, is as important as any question which has hitherto come, or will hereafter come, before this house for discussion. It is difficult to speak on one of the bills relating to this subject without a reference to oil the others. For example : this is a bill to raise two regiments of rifle men. Now, I find there has been reported in another part of this building a bill provi ding for one regiment of mounted riflemen. The question then presents itself to mc how art these two bills to go together? and whe ther they ought not to be considered together? If but one regiment only, of mounted riflemen is necessary to be maintained, then it does not follow that two regiments of unmounted riflemen are needed; the one bill depends in a measure upon the other. I refer to this merely as an illustration, to show the variety of measures which are at the same time in contemplation of the house. I find further, in the same bill to which I have just alluded, an appropriation of dollars, for the ex pense of any military defences which the pre sident may deem necessary on the lino of our communication with Oregon. Now the im portance of that provision depends on the sum which shall be put into the hands of the pre sident. All I infer from this is, that it is con templated that other expenses (and in my opinion very heavy ones) must be considered as concurrent measures with the raising of these regiments of riflemen. This is not the only measure that will be necessary, and therefore it may be doubtful if there is any necessity for wasting the time of this house in discussing the question whether these two regiments of riflemen shall bo raised unless the necessity is made apparent for their em ployment. Why, what reason is (hero that two regiments or one regiment shall bo rais ed at this time ! We have heretoforo gone through some measures which presented a prospect of war: we have gone through them, and there has been no war. We are at pro. found peace with all the world. Why then increase our military establishment ? It must be recollected that tho spirit which prevailed in this house two, three, or four years ago, was very different as to this matter of increas ing our military force. We who were then here voted not only to prevent the increase of our military establishment, but wo reduced it by very nearly one-third. This was four years ago, when tho prospect of war was quito as great as now, and I will tuke this op. portunity to say that do not believe at all in ANY DANGER of war at this time. I do not see any testimonials of the proba bility of a war at this time ; hut, if any dan ger is apprehended by any gentleman here, it appears to me the very first measure to be taken that which should precede all mili tary measures of any kind- is to give notice to Great Britain that we mean to terminate the joint occupancy of Oregon. This is the first measure to be taken. How can gentle men apprehend war otherwise 1 Does Great Britain tell ua that she shall take offence at the continuance of the treaty of joint occu. pancy ? She docs not, though 1 have heard of some question being mado in England wucthor they shall not give us notice of the tormination of joint occupancy. Yet it is not u joint occupation, and I have been surprised at tho language held by some gentlemen on the subject. The treaty aoknowledcs no occu pat ion of tho territory bj cither party ; it is a commercial convention for free navigation, but it does not admit by cither party the oc cupation of one inch of territory by the other. It is no occupation. But, whatever it is, nei. titer party can permanently occupy the court, try without notice to the other to terminate the convention of commerce and trade, which would not be permitted without such conven tion. It is not u treaty of joint occupation : it is a treaty for tho exercise of navigation rights, commercial rights, and trading right with tho Indians. It precludes the occupa tion of the country by either party. Exclu sive occupation cannot bo assumed by either without notice. Of all tho measures for oc cupancy anil for assuming jurisdiction over citizens of the United States who have gone into Oregon, and nre there in actual posses sion, notico is the first thing. Twelve mouths after tho notice shall have been given, the right will accrue to the United States to oc cupy any part of the territory they may think proper. In the bill which passed at the last session I myself moved, as a first section of the bill, that such notice should be given. The house did not think proper to ugreo to it, and pass ed the hill without uny notice. Mr. C. J. Ingersoll. No; it was put into the bill at the last moment. Mr. Adams. But that bill did not pass the senate, and-so the insertion was immaterial. But it is a material fact to mc, because I pro. posed it as constituting the first section of the hill. I declared myself ready then, and I am ready now, to give such notice. Great son. sation. I hope it will be given, and that c shall do it as the first measure to be taken to bo followed afterwards by a real occupa. Hon of the whole territory. Great' sensation in the house, and an incipient clap, which, however, was promptly arrested by the speaker, who culled loudly to order. But it is indispensable that we shall first give no. ticc. The gentleman from Illinois, (Mr. Doug, luss,) says that it appears to him there is a game playing here a remark which is quite incomprehensible to mc. I shall not inquire to what tho gentleman alluded, but I confess I was very much surprised to hear that tho committee on foreign affairs will not report to the house such notice. Mr. C. J. Ingersoll. I know of no mem her of that committee who has said so. Mr. Douglass. I said so, because I had heard that such was their determination. Mr. Adams resumed, I have heard it from various quarters; and, if the report is delay ed much longer I shall believe it. A laugh. If it is so I shall deplore it ; I shall deeply regret if a majority of thut committee slmil not be ready to give that notice. All the oth er measures must depend on that. While we sit talking here about regiments of riflemen, and regiments of infantry, and stockade forts, and sappers and miners, and potitonicrs, Great Britain is arming her steam-vessels, equip ping her frigates and linc-of-battle ships, unci sending troops over here to be ready. I icoulfl press a resolution giving notice this dav, if I hoped that a majority of the house could be obtained to effect the measure. Mr. Wentworth here moved that the rules be suspended to afford an opportunity for such a motion; but the motion was pronounced to be out of order. Mr. Adums resumed. I feel myself scarce, ly authorised to hope that I should bo success ful should 1 make the motion. But for this I should have moved it on tho first day of tho session. Because I have ho profound a sense of tho fluty of adhering to treaties, I feel do burred from the least act of hostility, or even from meeting hostility manifested elsewhere, till notico shall have been given. While our convention remains, 1 will vote no incrcaso of tho army and navy, no fort or stockades, no riflemen, no infantry, no sappers, or mi. nors. All must depend on that. If this bill shall bo made tho special order for Tuesday, I hope it will bo arranged by the gentlemen who manage the business of this house, that the question of giving notico shall come up on tho same day, anu shall be taken up be fore any thing else. It is mere wasting of time, and whistling to tho wind, to talk about raising a military force until our conscience is clear from the obligation of the convention. And it docs not follow that, if we give no. ticc, there must of necessity bo wur; nor does it even follow that we shall then take ksson. siou. It will only Ikj suying to Great Britain: After negotiating twenty years about this mat ter, wo do not choose to negotiate any longer; wo shall take possession of what is our own; I and then, if to settle the question what is our I own, you wish to negotiate, wp will negotiate I as long as you plouso. We mat negotiate a. Vr mt take kutmi'dii, Much laughter. 1 lint Is the imlitury way ol doing business. I Increased merriment. When the great 'redcrick came to the throne of I'russiu, his lather had prepared and equipped for him un 'army of an hundred thousand men. Meeting shortly alter the Austrian minister, the latter said to him : " Your futhcr has given you a great army, hut our troops have seen the uolf : yours have not." " Well, well," said Frederick, " I will give them an opportunity to see the wolf." Frederick then added in his memoir, " 1 had some excellent old pre tensions to an Austrian province which some of my ancestors had owned one or two hun dred years before, and 1 sent an ambassador to tho court of Vienna stating my claim, and presenting a full exposition of my right to the province. The same day my ambassador was received in Vienna 1 entered Silesia with my army." A laugh. So you sec that, on the the very day his army entered Silesiu, he gave notice to the court of Vienna thut the convention for the joint occupation of Silesia was ended. Loud and prolonged laughter. I say, therefore, that I hope the first mea sure adopted by congress will be to give, in the most solemn manner, tho notice to Great Britain which the treaty requires ; then the coast will be clear for us to do what we please. It does not, I repeat, it does not follow as a necessary consequence inai, occausc we give this notice, we must take possession, though it is my hope that we shall. It docs not ne cessarily draw after it u war; and if Great Britain chooses to take such notice as an act of hostility on our part, and forthwith com. rnence hostilities on hers, we have been told that we shall all be but one party, and God Almighty grant that it may be sol If it shall be so, the war will have less of those very extraordinary terrors which my friend from South Carolina (Mr. Holmes) has now just discovered, notwithstanding the extreme mili tary propensities which he manifested on this floor last year. The gentleman was a most valiant man when Texas was in question. But I shall draw no comparison us to what wo witnessed then and what we see now ; but this I will say, that I hope, if war shall come which God forbid, and of which I entertain no fears at all the whole country will have but one heart and one united hand. And of this I urn very sure, that in that case Great Britain will not long occupy Oregon, or any thing else north of the Canada line. Great sensation, and incipient indications of uppluusc But if you will agree to give notice, strong as is my norror oi wur, uiki oi un miiuury csiau lishments, if there should then be the breath of life in mc, I hope 1 shull ho willing to go as fur as any in making uny sacrifice to render that war successful and glorious. I can say no more. But, till notico is given, I am got prepared to vote any preliminary measure of a military kind. I suppose, however, thut wo may, without giving notice, extend our laws and our protection to our brethren who huvo settled at least in that part of Oregon which is not claimed by Grout Britain : but there can be no need of increasing our urmy and our navy in order to do that. I hopo that such an act will not he 6ffensivc to Great Britain, und that she will not think of going to war about it. But, if wo ure going to take actual occu pation of the country, then some additional force will bo needed to our urmy, und in that case, however unwilling I have ever been to incrcaso our military establishment, I think I should get over my difficulties, especially if a disposition should be manifested by Great Britain to take offence at the measure I have just mentioned. All our military prepare tion must depend on notice to Great Britain; we must not havo our hands and feet'found; the obligations of joint occupancy must bo dissolved, and wo left frco to act according as tho interests of our country may require. I believe it will not bn necessary for mo to refer to any other part of this subject. Thore havo been, as I understand, two applications made to this houso by fellow.citizens of ours, settled beyond the Rocky mouutuins, for tho protection of this government. Tho chair man of tho committee on foreign affairs (Mr. C. J. Ingersoll) presented, as I think, one memorial, while another from a different quartor is also bofuro the territorial commit tee possibly it is a copy of the sume. Mr. C. J. Ingersoll. No; they ure differ, ent memorials, from different persons. Mr. Adams. I think it is time this house should consider what are our duties to our countrymen there. 1 confess thut I know them very imperfectly. 1 huvo of course seen the reKirts ol Lieutenants Wilkes und Fro moot; they contain much v.tluuhle informa tion ; but that sort of information which wc now want, it wus not the object of those ex peditions to obtuiu. I urn in favor of protect iug these persons as far as we can. I believe I have now said all that is at pre. sent necessary. 1 haw mid perhaps more than I should, and certainly more than I in. tended ; I uin not able to go furthor. Tho most imortuut point I wished to state is, that to give notice should be our firt measure. Then let us protect our emigrating citizens, and our own frontier, by stockade forts und such un increase of our military establish, ment as may be necessary: hut I am against all other measures iiiiIckh that is done first. New woiik on Oheoon- A new work in reganl to Oregon is about to be published at Washington. The first part will conluin ev cry official document that has been put forth by the executive and legislutie brunches of the U.S. government, in the form of messa. ges, reports of committees, Arc, from 180JI to the commencement of the present session of congress. The second part will contain all the laws enacted at the June and December sessions of the legislature of Oregon, A. I). 1844 ; with the journals of the house and messages of the executive committee, public records, Arc. Compiled and brought from Ore gon by Charles Saxton. It is-expected to le published by the 1st of next month; price JJ.'I per copy. -V. 1. Mi rcury, January li.'l, 1640. From Texas. We have the Texas Na tional Register of Dec fl. It announces the election of Gen. Henderson to the office of governor, by a lurge majority. A new paper has been commenced somewhere in Texas, called the Soda Lake Herald. .V. Y. Merc. Extract from the Jlcjiort of the Secretary of the Nary. (ttrThe Pacific squadron, under commo dore Sloat, has consisted of the Savannah, the Levant, the Warren, and the Shark. The three first will return in lb 10, and will ho re lieved by the Congress, the Portsmouth, und the Cyunc. The difficulty of communieuting with our shins in the Pacific makes it proper to suggest the advantage of a public mail through our own territory to u convenient port in the straits of Juan de Fucu. Arrange ments should also be made, at the earliest day that is proper, for getting supplies for our Pacific squadron from our own soil and our own citizens in that region. Religious Gems. It is no great matter to live lovingly with good-natured, hum blc and meek persons; but he that can do so with the immoral, with the wilful and the ig norant, with the peevish and perverse, he on ly hath true charity. Temporal crowns and kingdoms could not make a rest for suints. As they were not re deemed with so low u price, neither are they endowed with so low a nature. Religion is equally the basis of private vir tue and public faith; of the happiness of tho individual, and the prosperity of the nution. Titun Courtesy. " Manners," says the eloquent Edmund Burke, " arc of more un portuuee than laws. Upon them, in a great measure, tho laws depend. The laws touch -us hero and there now and then. Manners aro what vex or soothe, corrupt or purify, ex. alt or debase, barbarizo or refine, by a con stant, steady, uniform, inseiisjhlo operation, like that of tho air we breathe in. They give their whole form and color to our lives. Ac cording tothcir quality, thoy aid morals; they supply them or thoy totally destroy them." Could'nt Kick at Nothino. It is stated that a shrewd farmer in the Vermont legisla ture declined answering the speech of a mem ber who was remurkablo' for nothing but his frothy and pugnacious impudence and self conceit, thus : " Mr. Speukcr, I can't reply to that speeeh, for it always wrenches mo terribly to kick at nothing."