not recognise that measurement in deciding upon the merits of the administration or the wisdom of a treaty-not at all, at all.

Mr. President: I disavow any authority to speak for the President. I have already said that he could not speak for himself, nor authorize another to speak for him, so long as negotiation was pending or not concluded. Oh! I wish it were so that he could speak out. But I must be allowed to speak for myself since the Administration has been so perseveringly put where I ought not to stand by it; and I will dare to speak to the President, and of the President and his Messages, from my station upon this floor, as I judge him and them. And I say, in answer to certain Senators of my party, that the President did right, exactly right, in continuing this negotiation for a compromise which he found on foot, and in renewing the offer of 49 as a line of compromise. And in reply to them further, I say that he ought not, and my convictions are as strong as death itself that he cannot, will not, disgrace himself and his Administration by refusing his own offer, should it be returned upon him-refusing, I mean, to entertain it; re

pulsing it, and rashly putting a final termination to his negotiation for a peaceful compromise; and madly forcing his country into a war, without even consulting his constitutional advisers, the Senate, who are this day assembled. Yet that is said of him day after day in this Senate. A war for what? Why, Mr. President, a war between two great Christian nations upon the meaning of the word settlements in the Nootka convention! A war, perhaps, of twenty years, to determine which of these Christian Governments shall enjoy the privilege of cheating the poor Indians out of the largest portion of Oregon. No, sir; no sir. The President will not do that. As he loves his country, and values his own fame, he dare not think of it.

Again: He found that these persevering efforts to fix our northern boundary in Oregon at the forty ninth parallel by a compromise—these well considered instructions to our Ministers, and often repeated propositions to the adverse claimants for a compromise, made before Spain had released her rights, and repeated afterwards, were long since exposed to the public eye; and that neither the

People's Representatives in Congress, nor the States, nor the People themselves, had complained against the Presidents, and Statesmen and Senators who had been endeavouring to accomplish a compromise at 49° for nearly half a century. No, sir. Until very recently indeed, the complaints, when made at all, were aimed at Great Britain for refusing to accept this reasonable and just compromise of our conflicting claims. Memorials, when sent at all, were applications to settle and adjust the controversy; and our efforts to legislate over the subject were confined to the valley of the Columbia river, this side of 49°.

Well might the President pause then, notwithstanding his own individual opinion that our title to the whole of Oregon was "clear and unquestionable," ere he took the responsibility, in view of all this, of abruptly putting a stop to the negotiation which he found on foot, as it had been begun by his immediate predecessor upon a negotiation for a compromise. Well might he feel that the NATION was committed to a compromise. Well might he dread that for him to put his personal opinion upon the strength of our paper

title, however "clear and unquestionable," against all these solemn acts of the Government, and against this concurrent action and acquiescence of all our Presidents from Jefferson inclusive, and of all our Statesmen, and of all our Senators, and of all our People and their Representatives for two generations, constituting, as it were, a NATION'S OPINION, Would be sacrificing the faith, con sistency, sincerity and honour of this country to preserve the personal consistency of himself-a single man! A mere POLITICIAN might have halted, but a STATESMAN could not. He lifted himself above himself, and showed how well he merits the office his country has appointed him to fill. God grant he may stand firm to his position !

I honour that Statesman who can go whither the honour of his country carries him, forgetful of himself and his personal convenience, or the consistency of his mere opinion. Had Mr. Polk repeated his opinion of our "clear and unquestionable" title for an Amen to his daily prayers for years and years together, it would still have been the duty of the PRESIDENT to go to the line of 49° as a compromise, if he believed, as he says he

did, that his country was "committed," and the honour and faith of the nation bade him go there.

I

Without going into our title to the territory, (which, if the Senate choose, can be done hereafter, and whenever the bill for taking jurisdiction over Oregon, or "any portion of it," comes up for consideration) I will tell you, in very few words, the ground of right upon which (if there were no other) I would put my vindication. believe it is the political right of my country to stretch itself, without any interruption by foreign Governments, from the Atlantic to the Pacificfrom sea to sea on this continent—according as we ourselves shall judge it expedient or not. That we acquired that right upon this continent when our Independence was established, subject only to the proviso, that we must not do it so as to deny the like privilege to our neighbours, nor interfere with settlements permanently made before our Independence was established, nor with similar rights belonging to or acquired by them, nor act with injustice to the Aborigines. What we claim a RIGHT to do, we must not deny to the CANADAS. It is a sort of national pre-emption right to both.