The banner. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1844-1847, April 15, 1846, Image 1
THE BANNER.
(WEEKLY.1
Vol. III. Abbeville C. H., S. C. April 15, 1846. No. 7.
Published every Wednesday Morning, by
ALLEN & KEKR.
jfceto Serms.
ONE DOLLAR AND FIFTY
CENTS per annum, if paid within tlirec
months from the time of subscribing, or
TWO DOLLARS after that time. No
subscription received for le66 than six
months; and no paper discontinued until
all arrearages are paid, except at the option
of the editors. Subscriptions will be
?,UilUIIUCU| UlllL'W UUlltV ut JJtWIi UlllCI"
wise previous to the close of the volume.
REMARKS OF"MrTBLJ 11T,
OF SOUTH CAROLINA,
ON THE OREGON QUESTION,
Delivered in iJie House of Representatives,
February 7,1846
The House being in Committee of
the Whole on the state of the Union,
and having under consideration the
joint resolution to terminate the conven*:
r i or*?-r r - /?
nun ui io/s/ lor mo joini occupancy jI
the Oregon territory, and the various
amendments thereto?
Mr. BURT addressed the committee
as follows:?
Mr. Chairman : It has been assumed
by those who have preceded me in this
debate, that the chief inducement to give
the nolice recommended in the annual
message of the President is, that it will
contribute to a speedy adjustment of the
question of boundary between the United
States and Great Britain. And it
was insisted by the gentleman from
Alabama, (Mr. Houston,] as an objection
to the proposition of his colleague,
iMr. Darcan.l that anv definition of the
' * ^
limits of the country on the northwest
coast, of which we should take exclusive
possession when the notice expires,
would embarrass our negotiations ; and
we were admonished by that gentleman,
that if we desired a compromise of
this question, we should give the notice.
Sir, I entertain a different opinion. 1
undertake to say that the only reason
assigned by the President, and the only
object to be accomplished by the notice,
is by terminating the treaty of joint occupancy,
to enable us to take exclusive
possession of this territory.
What is the language of the -President?
Does he not inform us that, in
consideration that Mr. Monroe and Mr.
Adams had each proposed to the Government
of Great Britain the fortynnvn
I I aI f ?
tiliivu put unui VJI UUllll ldlliuuc US lue
boundary, he felt constrained to make
another effort to adjust this long pending
controversy? That he had submitted
the offer of the forty-ninth parallel,
without the right to navigate the
Columbia river, which had been tendered
by his predcessors, and that it had
been rejected 1 Sir, his language is:
" The extraordinary and wholly inadmissible
demands of the British government,
and the rejection of the proposition
made in deference alone to what
had been done by my predecessors, and
"the implied obligation which their acts
seem to impose, afforded satisfactory evidence
that no compromise with the United
States ought to accept can be effected."
" With this conviction, the proposition
of a compromise, which had been
made and rejected, was by my direction,
subsequently withdrawn, and our title
to the whole Oregon territory asserted,
and. as is believed, maintained hv irre
fragable facts and arguments." "All
attempts to compromise having failed,
it becomes the duty of Congress to consider
what measures it may be proper to
adopt for the security and protection of
our citizens now inhabiting, or who may
hereafter inhabit, Oregon, and for the
maintenance of our just title to that territory."
The measures which the President
deems necessary to the protection of our
citizens, now in Oregon, or those who
may hereafter migrate to that country,
are suggested in his message. They
are, the extension of our jurisdiction and
laws over them; the establishment of
Indian agencies; the erection of blockhouses
and stockade forts on the route
between our frontier settlements on the
Missouri and the Rocky Mountains; an
adequate force of mounted riflemen to
guard and protect emigrants; and the
establishment of a monthly overland
?nail.
Bui, sir, he advises us to give the notice,
and tells us, " At the end of the
year's notice, should Congress think it
proper to make provision for giving this
notice, we shall have reached a period
when the national rights in Oregon must
either he abandoned or firmly maintained.
That they cannot be abandoned
without a sacrifice of both national honor
and interest, is too clear to admit of
a doubt."
Sir. can gentlemen read this earnest
and emphatic language of the President,
and delude the country or themselves
with the belief that it is advised
because it will contribute to the
amicable adjustment pf our delicate and
pfefiloUs relations with Great Britain?
1
I beg this committee to be reminded
that if further negotiations were in the
contemplation of the President, they
can be conducted only by those functionaries
of the government to whom the
constitution has confided the treaty power.
I am yet to learn that the House
of Representatives have ever been supposed
to participate this power with the
President and the Senate. And L submit
to the committee and the counlrv
that it is only because " all attempts at
compromise having failed," this House
can be appealed to by the President, and
that the appeal is made that we may addopt
measures for " the maintenance of
our just title" to the territory of the Oregon,
and, at the expiration of the notice,
take exclusive possession of it.
But, sir, if we disregard the direct and
explicit language of the President, can
ihe human uiiiiu conceive any other motive
for terminating the treaty of joint
occupancy of this territory than the exclusion
of Great Britain ? If the notice
be ffiven. and the ciuestion of boundnrv
O J t I J
be still unadjusted when the twelve
months shall have elapsed, we shall
have no alternative left but to eject
Great Britain from any portion of the
territory, or submit to the sacrifice of
those rights which the country lias been
told arc "clear and unquestionable."
Gentlemen, Mr. Chairman, have discoursed
eloquently of " national honor"
in this debate. Let me tell them that
when we shall have terminated the treaty
by which Great Britain holds the
joint occupancy with us of this territory,
we will be a nation of cravens and dastards
if we do not instantly tear down
every British fort and flag that shall be
found upon our soil. Sir, he cherishes
no just sentiment of national honor who
would thus pause to negotiate, or parley
to compromise.
Before we determine, then, to give
the notice to Great Britain, which is in
itself a harmless measure, we should
have well considered whether we shall
taKe possession or tne entire territory ot
Oregon, and if not of the whole, of
which portion of it. If we intend to assert
our rights in any portion of this
country to the exclusion of the pretentions
of England, that assertion must be
maintained by the arms of this country.
The gentleman from Massachusetts
[Mr. Adams] has expressed the opinion
that if, the very day after the notice
should be given, we march in our troops
and take possession of the whole territory,
there will not be war. I did not understand
the gentleman as assigningany
other reason for that opinion than his belief
that one or the other party would
" back out." Sir, the calculation that
our adversary will " back out," I take
leave to think, is one that a prudent
man ought not to make?it is one that a
1 - I J - 1
uruve man would scorn 10 maKe.
If, Mr. Chairman, we provide for
giving the notice without defining the
extent of our rights, the President cannot,
and I feel assured he will not, hesitate
to maintairi them with all the resources
of the government, to the entire
territory in controversy. And, sir, with
this deliberate and often repeated declaration?that
our title to the whole country
west of the Rocky mountains is
" clear and unquestionable"?if we simply
terminate the joint occupancy, he
would find in our action the approval
of his opinions, and might well be deterred
from admitting that Great Britain
has any just pretensions to ask a partition
of it with us. For myself, I do not
hesitate to declare that if I entertained
the opinion as to our title expressed in
his inaugural address, and repeated in
his annual message, 1 would exhaust all
the resources of this great country before
I would surrender one rood of that
territory on the demand of a foreign government.
I trust this committee will
neither shrink from, nor evade the re
sponsibility which has devolved upon us.
At a recent period in our history, Nlr.
Chairman, the distinguished citizen who
was then chief magistrate declared "that
we should claim nothing which is not
clearly right, and submit to nothing
which is wrong." It is a great and noble
sentiment. It defines the point of honor
amongst nations; and, in my estimation,
the honor of a nation, ns well
as of an individual, is. infinitely more
concerned in not claiming that whieh is
not cjearly right than in submitting to
that wliicli is wrong. A strong man, |
or a great nation?a brave man, or a |
brave people?may submit to wrong
without degradation, but they can never
claim what is not right without dishonor.
I proceed, Mr. Chairman, to inquire
whether we can now assert title the entire
Oregon territory consistently with
this standard of national honor. I do
not propose to enter into any elaborate
and minute discussion of the pretentions
nitlmr of tlin TTnitofl Rir?f?vs nv lii-I.
tain ; but 1 intend to show how that
matter has been regarded by our government,
from the year 1818 to 1845.
And whilst I would scorn to become the
advocate of the pretensions of Great
Britain against my own country, 1 shall
briefly but frankly state them.
Sir, in that gallant old State of which
1 am the humblest of representatives?a
State so much misunderstood, so much
maligned in this hall?our standard of
patriotism teaches us, in any contest
with her foes, right or wrong, to stand
by our country. But whilst no Carolinian
will ever desert the standard of his
country, even when wrong, it is the duty
of a patriot to counsel her to be right.
Our title, Mr. Chairman, to the valley
of the Columbia river, derived from
discovery, exploration, and settlement,
was asserted in 1818, during the administration
of Mr. Monroe, before we had
c??
ulvjuiiuu uiu n^iii ui o|iaiii in mi* conntry
west of the Ivoqky mountains. It
was maintained by Mr. Calhoun in an
argument, whilst Secretary of State, the
force anil clearness of which our present
distinguished Secretary has said he
would not impair by repeating it. Mr.
Buchanan. in his late correspondence
with the British minister, speaks of this
title as existing prior to the treaty of
Florida in 1819, and independently of
its provisions. He insists that it was
perfect and complete, independently of
the Spanish rights which we acquired
by that treaty. I think so, sir. But
our distinguished Secretary of State, not
content with perfect and complete title,
says: " Our acquisition of the rights of
Spain, then, under the Florida treaty,
whilst it cannot affect the prior title of
the United States to the valley of theColumbia,
has rendered it more clear
and unquestionable before the world."
Now, sir, if our title was "p"-fect and
complete" before we acquired the rights
of Spain, and has been rendered " more
clcar and unquestionable" by our treaty
with Spain, it surely is a good title, and
we ought not to surrender it.
What does he say of our title to the
country north of the forty-ninth degree
ol latitude 1 Why. sir, that it is recorded
in the Florida treaty; that Spain acquired
it by discovery, by the landing
on the coast of her navigators, from the
41st to the 57th degree of latitude, " on
all of which occasions thev took Dosses
sion of the country in the name of their
sovereign, according to a prescribed regulation
; celebrating mass, reading declarations
asserting the right of Spain to
the territory, and erecting crosses with
inscriptions to commemorate the event."
This, sir, is a very fair statement of the
Spanish title. Spain undoubtedly made
very early explorations of the coast of
the Pacific ocean, and asserted title to the
country on that coast. And if discovery
alone, without settlement, could confer
title, I should think we acquired by the
Florida treaty a right to this territory,
which we ought never to have consented
to surrender to Great Britain or any
other power.
It will not be denied, Mr. Chairman,
that f-om Cook's voyage in 1778, to the
convention of Nookta in 1790, Great
TCrif ril n nn/1 navnnctl it i*Anfrn_
M ?v% UiVMUIIJ UIIU VU1 IJVOHJf VV/IUIU
verted the exclusive claim of Spain to
the country on the northwest coast.
She maintained that it was vacant country,
in which no nation had exclusive
rights or exclusive privileges. In 1700
Mr. Pitt pronounced the pretension of
Spain to exclusive sovereignty " the
most absurd nnd exorbitant that could
well be imagined." It is matter of history
that Great Britain in 1790 was prepared
to resort to war in resisting the
pretensions led to the convention of
Nookta in. 1790. By this convention
Spain yielded every demand?admitted
every light which Ureal Britain had asserted.
She yielded the right to land on
the coast, to navigate the waters, to
make settlements, and to trade with the
inhabitants. How did these concessions
with the clajm ot exclusive sovereignty
which Spain for more than two eentui
ries had set up to this territory ?
But, sir, did ?ur government, I beg to
inquire, respect this ancient claim of
Spain which we now so gravely assert?
Let the grounds on which wo based our
title to the valley of the Columbia in
1818, and on which wc now distinctly
and emphatically rest that title, answer.
Wf! t1io.li VipIiI it in pnntmnnt nnil *mi? it
at defiance. What was out- appreciation
of this Spanish title in 1823, when we had
held it since 1S19? Why, sir. we surrendered
to the demands of the Emperor
ol iiussia the country between 01
degrees of latitude and 51 degrees and
40 minutes, which was covered?every
rood of it?by this Spanish claim.
What, Mr. Chairman, had Spain
done from 1790 to 1819, when she
transferred her claim to the United
States her pretensions to this territory,
to give to them definitcncss and validity?
So far from making settlements,
she had actually abandoned every trading
factory noilh of the 49th degree of
latitude prior to the year 1800. From
that period to the cession to the United
States, not an act was done by Spain to
consummate her claims or assert her sovereignty.
L proceed.IVIr. Chairman, to inquire
whether our government has not, by the
most solemn and explicit declarations
and acts, recognised the rights which
Great Britain had asserted against
Spain, not only before, but since we acquired
the rights of Spain to this territory?
In 1 SIS, before the treaty of Florida,
by which we acquired whatever
rights Spain possessed, we proposed to
make the forty-ninth parallel of latitude
the boundary between the territory
claimed by the United States and that
claimed by Great Britain west of the
Rocky mountains. Great Britain contested
our exclusive claim to the valley of
the Columbia river, which we had urged,
and declined to accede to our proposition.
The treaty of 1818 was the result
r rr* *
oi mis menectuaj attempt to agree upon
a boundary. What was that convention
1 The gentleman from Massachusetts
[Mr. Adams] the other day denied
that it was a treaty of joint occupancy.
But if I am not greatly mistaken, that
gentleman, at the last session, characterized
it a treaty of joint occupancy.
We then heard nothing of the hypercriticism
of the chairman of Foreign Relations,
[Mr. C. J. Ingersoll,] who now concurs
with the gentleman from Massachusetts.
Although that convention is
treated in all our negotiations as one of
joint occupancy, the material inquiry is,
what does it concede to Great Britain ?
Are not its stipulations mutual and reciprocal
? Is there a solitary right reserved
to the United States that is not
reserved to Great Britain 1 Is there a
privilege guaranteed to one party, which
is not conferred on the other 1 Is there
a protest as to the one, which does not
apply to the title of other? This con
vention was adopted for the period of ten
years, during which the respective
claims of the two governments were suspended.
In 1819, we acquired all the rights
which Spain then had to this territory;
and from 18*23 to 1827 held negotiation^
with Great Britain, the sole object and
purpose of which was the adjustment of
the boundary. What, sir, have our negotiators
and statemen said of the convention
of 1818? Mr. Clay, Secretary
of State during the administration of Mr.
Adams, in his letter to Mr. Gallatin, the
minister to England, on the 19lh of June,
1826, savs: "It is true that the third
article of the convention of 1818 recognizes
that Great Britain then had claims
on the northwest coast, but it neither defines
nor settles them, nor specifics
where they had their origin." Mr. Gallatin,
in his despatch to Mr. Clav. of the
25th of November, 1S26, reciting his
conference with the British plenipotentiaries,
says: "But our never having
refused to agree to a line of demarkation
with Great Britain, was a sufficient
proof that we admitted that she also had
claims which deserved, and to; which
we paid due consideration." u Claiming
themselves by rij'ht of discovery
and settlement, they allowed what was
due to Great Britain on the same account,
and all that she could justly
claim under the Nootka convention, according
to its true construction." In his
Ia lV/fr r1 loir i\f tlin 07*li Tnnn
CWIV/A IV AUIt VIUJ j Vi IHw A* III
1827, Mr. Gallatin, speaking of the cputemplated
renewal of the convention, of
1818, saitl,<{ It was altogether a matlot
r Advertisements
WILL be conspicuously inserted at 75
I cents per square for the first- insertion*
and 37? cents for each continuance?"
. longer ones charged in proportion. Those
not having the desired number of inser>
tions marked upon them, will be continued
uniil ordered out, and charged according*
y
For advertising Estrays Tolled, TWO
DOLLAR^, to bo paid by the Magistrate.
For announcing a Candidate, TWO
DOLLARS, in advance.
0^5" All letters 01 communications must
be directed to the Editors, postage paid.
of mutual concern. There, was no other
object for it than that of preserving peaco
until a permanent boundary could be
agreed on." In his letter to Mr. Gallatin,
of t^ic 24th February, 1827, Mr.
Clay says: "Supposing Great Britain
to have any well-founded claim, if there
be (as there arc believed to be) no other
powers than the United States and
Great Britain who can assert rights of
territorial sovereignty between 42 and
54 40, there can be no equitable division
of the intermediate space but an
rnn.il nnrliltA?i -
v.jv.?, |.ui..uun. uuv.il mt ?|uai pain*
lion would assign about the parallel ol
49 degrees as the common boundary.
The President regrets that the British
plenipotentiaries have thought proper to
decline the proposal which you made of
that line." A distinguished senator,
| Mr. 1 Jen Ion, 1 who has ever felt a deep
interest in any thing which aflects the
interests of the west, attributed, in 1342,
in his place as a Senator, to the convention
of 1818 certain "great faults;"
amongst them one, c; in assuming that
there was divers harbors, bays: creeks,
and navigable rivers west of the liocky
mountains, some belonging to the United
States, and some to Great Britain ;
and that mutuality of benefits was conferred
by giving to cach party access to
the waters of the other." Another was
"jn admitting a claim on the part of
Great Britain to any portion of these
territories." I confidentially affirm, and
I appeal to our negotiations, that at no
period of them has our government insisted
on a more favorable boundary "
than the 49th parallel of latitude. The
convention of 1818 was renewed in 1827,
and has been acquiesced in by every administration
to the present moment.
Now, Mr. Chairman, when it is not
even alleged that Great Britain has done
any act to forfeit or to impair the rights
which, from 1818 to 1845,^our government
has admitted she possesses in the
Oregon territory, with what face can we,
before heaven and man,deny them? Sir,
as a just people?as a Christian nation?
we cannot, we dare not.
Sir, as we have been informed that no
honorable compromise of this ancient
controversy can be effected, and have
been called upon by the Executive to
maintain our just rights to this territory,
I am prepared to take my share of the
responsibility. My judgment has yielded
to the force of the argument which
maintains our title to the valley of the
Columbia, and I am prepared to assert
and to enforce it. I am unwilling to
surrender to great Britain the country
below the 49th parallel; and with an
amendment defining that as the limit to
which, at the expiration of the twelve
months, we shall extend our jurisdiction
and exclusive possession, I am ready to
vote.for the notice.
Mr. Chairman, I see on this floor a
gentleman [Mr. Adams] of advanced
age, large experience, and great attainments,
who was Secretary of State in
1818, when the treaty of joint occupancy
was concluded, and chief magistrate
of these States in 1827, when it was renewed.
Of that gentleman, I..do not
intend lo speak in terms of personal disrespect.
But, sir, it has been his fortune
to bear towards this question a relation
the most important and remarkable*
His right hand claims the credit of in-,
serting in the Florida treaty the clauseon
which our title to the Oregon territory
is based. He has said that the convention
of 1818 was the alternative to
instant war. In 1827, Mr. Gallatin informs
our government that the only reason
for the renewal of that convention
was to preserve peace. That gentleman
now thinks there will not be war, if we
march in our troops, after the notice has
expired, and lake possession of the whole
country! Until the last session of.Congress,
he was not prepared to agree to a
termination of the joint occupancy.
Then his mind was open to conviction
as to our title to a part of this territory;
now he would take possession oi the
whole! When President of the United
States, he thought an-'qqual division of it
with Great Britain was the only equitable
partition, and regretted that her
plenipotentiaries would not accept it *
now he would deny hojr any nart of it 1
These are rapid atyl reinarkabje transitions.
Sir, tFie co'unIryxwil 1 pjf
that geniloma,!!, vvh^t fia&pjrbftiftfcft illls
^change ? What jriuo ime ftt Mwte,'
1 * - ? t ? - - iii- ?- *??*
Iiuct 10 ejuciuaio u, inax ^13 jw?
soarch when conducting our negotiations
X