1843.] DEBATES IN THE SENATE OF THE U. S. ON OREGON. 383 



to bring it up now, when their condition was far otherwise, and 

 to brandish the sword in the face of a powerful opponent, when 

 there was every probability that the matter might be arranged 

 peaceably by negotiation. Great Britain had done nothing which 

 indicated an intention to establish for herself an exclusive oc- 

 cupation : her forts were nothing more than stockades, made by 

 her traders for their protection against Indians ; and her subjects 

 have interfered with American citizens only by underselling them 

 in the commerce with the natives. He then proceeded to inquire 

 what advantages the United States could derive from the terri- 

 tories of which it was proposed, at these hazards and costs, to 

 take possession. He represented the whole region beyond the 

 Rocky Mountains, and a vast tract between that chain and the 

 Mississippi, as a desert, utterly without value for agricultural pur- 

 poses, and which no American citizen should be condemned to 

 inhabit, unless as a punishment ; and he ridiculed the idea that 

 steam could ever be employed to facilitate communications across 

 the continent, between the Columbia countries and the states of 

 the Union. The expenses which the passage of the bill must 

 entail, would, he conceived, be incalculable, whilst no returns 

 could be expected for them. The fur trade, if advantageous, 

 could benefit only a few capitalists, for whose advancement the 

 agriculture, commerce, and industry, of the whole republic should 

 not be taxed. In conclusion, he entreated the Senate to pause — 

 to wait a year, or two years, in order to see what might be done 

 by peaceful means, and without a ruinous waste of resources. 



Mr. Calhoun presented a summary of the ground of the claims 

 of the United States and of Great Britain to the territories in 

 question, and of the arrangements attempted, as well as of those 

 made ; and, reviewing the provisions of the bill, he conceived that 

 it directly violated the subsisting convention on the subject be- 

 tween the two nations. The American government, it is true, 

 does not, by this bill, confer grants of land upon its citizens, but 

 it binds itself to do so ; and that engagement forms a complete 

 reality as to assuming possession. Upon examining all the acts of 

 Great Britain, with regard to those countries, he could find nothing 

 in them of equal extent and force ; the act of Parliament of 1821 

 merely extends the jurisdiction of British laws over British sub- 

 jects, and authorizes no possession. He could not but anticipate 

 a breach of the peace with Great Britain, if the part of the bill 

 then before the Senate, relating to grants of land, were carried 



