1843.] DEBATES IN THE SENATE OF THE U. S. ON OREGON. 381 



and the Sandwich Islands. The bill proposed does not pretend 

 to define the territory of the United States, or to dispossess Great 

 Britain of what she now holds, but merely to do what she has 

 herself done. Can that power object to proceedings, on the part 

 of the United States, similar to her own ? She has extended her 

 jurisdiction over Oregon, has built forts, and set up farming and 

 other establishments. Why cannot the Americans do the same ? 



Mr. Morehead supported the same views. Examining the con- 

 vention of 1827, he conceived that it provided only for temporary 

 occupation ; but that the felling of forests, the construction of 

 regular habitations, the fencing in of fields, the regular improve- 

 ment of the soil, the fitting up of mills and workshops, and, added 

 to all these, the erection of forts to protect them, as had been 

 done by the British, in Oregon, meant something more ; and were 

 intended to constitute a lasting, and, of course, exclusive occupa- 

 tion of the places thus appropriated. Now, these are not merely 

 the acts of the Hudson's Bay Company ; they are done under the 

 sanction of the British government, and they form the system 

 adopted every where, by that government, for territorial encroach- 

 ment, especially against nations capable of resisting attack. 



Mr. Woodbury took a view somewhat different of the bearing 

 of the convention of 1827, which he regarded as leaving to each 

 party the right to settle, provided the trade were left free to both ; 

 in support of which construction, he cited the declarations of the 

 British ministers, during the negotiations on that subject, and the 

 stipulations proposed by them, that " neither party should assume 

 or exercise any right of sovereignty or dominion over any part of 

 the country," and that " no settlement then existing, or which 

 might in future be made, should ever be adduced, by either party, 

 in support or furtherance of such claims of sovereignty or domin- 

 ion." For these reasons, and others which he presented, and sup- 

 ported by powerful arguments, he considered that the bill should 

 pass, and that the United States should no longer hesitate to exercise 

 rights which Great Britain did not scruple to exercise herself. 



Mr. Phelps concurred with Mr. Woodbury in his construction 

 of the convention of 1827, which, he conceived, would not be 

 violated by the section of the bill providing for giants of land to 

 settlers. The grants proposed are but prospective. Citizens of 

 the United States are invited to settle in Oregon, and, after 

 having resided there five years, certain portions of land are to be 

 secured to them. Within those five years, the questions of right 



