The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 1: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session Page: 306
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306
CONGRESSIONAL Gtdli.
tor from Ohio, [Mr. Tappam,] observed that no man
in this country had a greater desire than hg had to
protect from outrage American citizens, whether of
high or low condition. The laws of the country
should be rigidly enforced against every power
which violated or outraged in any way the rights of
ethers. The senator [Mr. Tappan] had said that
he (Mr. K.) remarked that it was a matter of no
consequence. It was not so. It was of great con-
sequence, in punishing by death three American cit-
izens, to have the case investigated in the strictest
and most rigid manner; and if it appeared that the ne-
cessity did not exist to have these men punished,
after the sentence had been executed upon them it
should be known. But was he to be told that the
Senate of the United States was to take up every
ease in which an American citizen had suffered at
the hands of another, and bring it before the coun-
try, after the proper judicial tribunal had decided it,
under the laws of the country? This case had been
decided by a judicial tribunal. If it had been a case
of a single individual, instead of three, it would have
demanded a similar investigation. It had been de-
cided by the constituted authorities of the coun-
try, according to the provisional law, under the
constitution of theUnited States. It had been decided
by highminded and honorable men; and what, he ask-
ed , did the senator expect to gain by agitating the sub-
ject' After the most thorough investigation of the
matter by the constituted tribunal, did it comport
with the character of the Senate of the United
S*ates, in defiance of popular opinion, to bring up
the question again, when no legislative action could
grow out of it—when no good could result from
such a course; and when renewed excitement
throughout the country would be the inevitable
consequence? Now he held that when a man com-
mitted a crime, and suffered punishment for that
crime, there the matter ought to rest. The gentle-
man might say the punishment*was not adequate to
the offence; and that therefore he would be justified
in calling for information to ascertain whether ad-
ditional punishment ought not to be inflicted; not in
consequence of any want of confidence in the cor-
rectness and impartiality of the court martial, but
from a mistaken inference with regard to the public
sentiment. He, (Mr. King,) with many others,
was shocked when the news reached him of the
execution of these men. He looked with anxiety
to the decision of the court; and hoped, at the time,
that the officer by whom the punishment had been
inflicted, would be found to have been justified, both
for the honor of the service, and an implicit confi-
dence which he had in the integrity and humanity of
that officer. He looked to the decision with great
anxiety, and became satisfied, from the proceedings
of the court, which had been made public from
time to time, that the officer had acted under the im-
pression and belief that his course was correct; and
this conclusion was made stronger by the opinion
of his (the officer's) associates that a necessity for the
execution did exist, both for their own safety, and
the security of the navy against such offences at fu-
ture periods. As the court had dtfeided it, so he
(Mr. King) was willing to let it rest.
The resolution was then postponed till to-morrow.
Mr. RIVES presented a petition from sundry
merchants, traders, and other postage payers of
Norfolk, Virginia, praying for a reduction of the
rates of postage, and various other modifications in
the post office system: referred to the Committee on
the Post Office and Post Roads.
Also, presented a petition from divers persons of
Frederick and Clark counties, Virginia, asking for
a recharter of the Bank of Potomac and the Far-
mers1 Bank of Alexandria: referred to the Commit-
tee on the District of Columbia, and ordered to be
psinted.
Mr. ARCHER submitted the following resolu-
tion; which lies one day on the table, under the rule:
Resolved, That the President of the United States
be requested (if it be not inconsistent with his
views of the public interest) to communicate any
correspondence which may have taken place with
any agent or agents of the government of Great
Britain in relation to the interpretation of the tenth
article of the treaty of August, 1842, known as the
Ashburton treaty, accompanied by information of
any action which may have occurred in execution
of this article on the part of the authorities of the
United States.
The bill making a grant of land for the improve-
ment of Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and to con-
nect the game by a canal in the Territory of Wis-
consin, eame up for consideration—the question
being on its engrossment for a third reading.
Mr. TALLMADGE remarked that action had
been suspended on this bill for the purpose of ob-
taining information from the land office as to the
condition of the land on the line of the proposed im-
provement. He had received the information ac-
companied by diagrams. It seemed that 46,682
acres of land had been entered, of that proposed to be
set apart for the improvement. The whole quantity
of land included in the two sections deep, the alter-
nate ones of which are to be reserved to the govern-
ment, and the others to be applied to the improve-
ment, is 640,000 or 650,000 acres. So, under the
provisions of this bill, 320,000 acres only will be
set aside to make the improvement. Mr. T., after
concluding the statement, argued that it s"howed still
stronger the great importance of speedy action on
the bill. If the improvement was now gone into,
there would be no tax upon the government beyond
the half of the amount of lands which were already
entered. He hoped the Senate would pass it with-
out further delay.
Mr. HAYWOOD, forone, was not prepared, with-
out further information, to let the bill pass without
opposition from him. He proposed that it should
be laid aside for the present.
The bill was, consequently, passed by informally.
The bill for the relief of Benjamin Murphy was
considered as in committee of the whole, and report-
ed to the Senate; and after a few remarks by Mr.
SEVIER in its support, was ordered to be engrossed
for a third reading.
THE OREGON QUESTION.
On motion by Mr. SEMPLE, the Senate took up
for consideration the resolutions submitted by him
some time since, directing the President of the
United States to give notice to the British govern-
ment for the termination of that provision of the
treaty allowing a joint occupation of the Oregon Ter-
ritory.
Mr. ATCHISON was, for some time past, rather
inclined to despond, in thinking not only on the fate
of the resolution under consideration, but on the
prospect which the whole question seemed to have
for ealm and dispassionate consideration; but when
he discovered the zeal, the eloquence, and the un-
tiring exertions of honorable senators on a mere
question of dollars and cents, he could not but look
forward with confidence for a favorable result when
an empire was at stake, and when there were no
conflicting interests among ourselves. Before pro-
ceeding further, he felt called on to repel the impu-
tation—or, perhaps, it would be better to term it the
misconception—of the honorable senator from Vir-
ginia, who stated, on a former occasion, that
the object of those advocating the resolution
now under consideration was not so much to
obtain or secure possession of the Oregon Ter-
ritory for the common weal, as recklessly to in-
volve the country in all the horrors of a war with
England. This imputation did not confine itself to
the floor of the Senate, but wafted its way, on the
wings of the press, to the most remote districts of
the country. It was to be found in the columns of
the leading journals of the United States, openly
charging those who, on the basis of justice and
equity, denied the right of England to the absolute
(for such she had) possession of Oregon, with
calm, deliberate, and cold-blooded determination to
plunge the United States into an uncalled-for war
with the most powerful nation on earth. Mr. A.
here read from the Congressional Globe an extract,
which agreed with the report contained in the Intel-
ligencer, and also with his own recollection, from a
speech delivered by Mr. Archer ifl the early part
of the session, so describing the motives of senators
opposed to him on this question. Mr. A. had no
idea of attributing to that gentleman any intention
" of reflecting personally on the motives of any sen-
ator.
Mr. ARCHER would interrupt the gentleman
for a moment, to disclaim the most remote intention
of offering any discourtesy to the senators on the
opposite side in the remarks just quoted.
Mr. ATCHISON did not suppose the gentleman
had any such intention, but, unfortunately, his in-
tentions could not be known to the public; for his
words, as reported, could bear no other construction.
Those words were also carefully confined, so as to
apply to the senators and members from the West,
and not to the representatives of any other portion
of the people. What motive, then, he asked, could
the West have to wish a war with England, or any
other country? Was the West more favored, or
would a war place her in a better position than any
other part of our common country! Would she be
exempt from supplying her portion of men and
money to carry on such war? Instead of deriving
any benefit beyond her sister States, the West would
most likely, from her position, be called on to suffer
greater hardships. If the history of the last war
was referred to, it would then be found that, in the
Northwest and Southwest, all the glory earned by the
arms of our country was obtained. The senator
from Virginia, in deprecating the evils of a war,
painted vividly the dangers to which the seaboard
States would be subject, as if to show that those States
would be the only sufferers, while the Western States
would rest in comparative security, and have noth-
ing to do, in the event of victory, but to share its
benefits and glory; but a reference to the history of
the last war, and to the geography of the_ country,
would at'once prove that Ohio, Illinois, Michigan,Mis-
souri, and Arkansas, exposed a far greater, and still
less undefended, frontier to the attacks of the enemy
than the seaboard States for which that honorable
senator felt so much interested. In denying the impu-
tation so endeavored to be cast on the senators of the
West, let him not be understood to say they have no
interest in wishing to dissolve the treaty which pro-
vided for joint occupancy of the Oregon. They had
an interest, and he avowed it—it was an interest in
preserving inviolate the honor and dignity of the
nation; and to do so, in their opinion, the first step
to be taken, though perhaps not absolutely necessary,
was to adopt this resolution, so as to lead to the an-
nulling of the treaty; and by doing so, leave our
people at large to occupy, as they had a right to do,
the country in dispute. As to negotiations for set-
tling boundaries or limits, he, for one, had no faith
in them; for, whether the demands on the part of
this country were just or otherwise, she was sure to
come off a loser. The treaty settling the Maine
boundary, on the borders of the Atlantic, which
took from us one-fourth of that State, left us little
benefit to hope from a treaty to be executed here to
settle the boundaries of a country lying thousands
of fmiles from the Atlantic. The treaty of 1818—
which gave to Great Britain a joint occupancy on no
ground of right but on her simple, and, as he was
prepared to show, unfounded assertion of the terri-
tory being open to the claims of all the world—was,
as all subsequent treaties were to this country, un-
fortunate; and among all of them, there could be
found but one saving clause, and that was the one
now proposed to be carried into effect by the resolu-
tion, to give the twelve months notice required to do
away with what was falsely called joint occupancy.
Prior to the treaty of 1818, our title to the Oregon
rested on the discovery of the mouth of the Colum-
bia, in the year 1792, by an American citizen in an
American ship—Captain Gray of the ship Colum-
bia. This discovery, by the law of nations, to-
gether with the purchase of Louisiana, entitled us
to the whole valley of the Columbia,.including the
territory from 42° to 51° north latitude: but although
satisfied, so far, he had doubts whether, without the
aid of such discovery or purchase, we did not sub-
sequently establish a far stronger and more exten-
sive claim by the title acquired by our purchase
from Spain.
Mr. A. went on to show that the title acquired
from Spain, which could not be disputed, gave to this
country a right up to 61° north latitude; but having,
jointly with England, ceded to Russia the territory
lying between 54° 40', and 61° north latitude, there
was no occasion to argue our right beyond the
bounds of 54°, nor even did we go so far; for,
merely claiming the extent to which we were en-
titled by the discovery of Captain Gray, we left
to England from 51° to 54°, 40', and confined our
demand to the territory lying between 42° and 51°
north latitude. Proposals made by the American
minister, is 1823, to the government in England, by
direction of the Secretary of State, to limit our de-
mand to ol° north latitude, and subsequently to re-
duce that to 49°, was treated with scorn and con-
tempt. Our proposals, humiliating. as they were,
could not satisfy their rapacious desires; but they
would, indeed, take, from 49°, a course due west,
until it would intersect the northeast branch of the
Columbia river. This modest proposal on the part of
Great Britain would only give to her eight and one-
half degrees; while to the United States, it would leave
the equitable portion of four degrees and one-half
and that of the most worthless part of the country.'
The treaty which went to secure joint occupancy,
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United States. Congress. The Congressional Globe, Volume 13, Part 1: Twenty-Eighth Congress, First Session, book, 1844; Washington D.C.. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2367/m1/330/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.