Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/366



"We own now the whole western Pacific Coast from lower California to the Arctic Sea, except British Columbia, which (against my earnest protest in the cabinet) was ceded to England in 1846. I say ceded, for our title to the whole of Oregon from the forty-second parallel northward to Russian America was in truth clear and unquestionable. British Columbia was lost to us by the most unfortunate diplomacy extending through a long period of time. * * * The opposition to the acquisition of Louisiana was geographical and anti-slavery. In 1821, Texas was relinquished partly from geographical, but mainly from anti-slavery opposition. In 1845 the opposition to the annexation of Texas was based mainly on anti-slavery grounds. In 1846, in connection with the unfor- tunate action of preceding administrations, Oregon, north of the forty-ninth parallel, was lost to the Union. While the history of annexation in the United States shows various obstacles by which it h^s been retarded, yet the chief among these was the discordant element of slavery. Thus it was that, while the free states to a great extent opposed the acquisition of slave territory, the slave- states opposed the acquisition of free territory. But for these opposing prin- ciples, our area would be far greater than it is now. On extinguishing slavery, we have removed the principal cause which retarded annexation. We see already the good effects of the disappearance of this institution in the almost unanimous vote of the senate by which the Alaska treaty was ratified. Before the extinc- tion of slavery, that treaty luould have been defeated, upon the same pnnciple that Oregon north of the forty-ninth parallel was ceded to England." That is the testimony of a statesman, and a southern man, too, who was on the ground in the cabinet, and knew all about the whole base betrayal of the rights of the United States to the whole coast up to Alaska; — and that settles the question. That the United States saved anything of the Old Oregon, and gave the nation a foothold on the Pacific ocean, and an open roadway on American territory across the continent is to be credited to the Oregon Pioneers and their provi- sional government. The Oregon that was saved to the Nation, is the Oregon that was organized and claimed by the provisional government that was organ- ized by the fifty-two heroes at old Champoeg on May 2nd, 1843. And no words, or monuments can ever express or manifest the honor and respect due to those men from the people of Oregon.