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390 ances under which they labored, in terms very different from those heretofore employed in the memorials from Oregon.

A bill from the house committee on territories, of which Douglas of Illinois was chairman, "to protect the rights of American settlers in the territory of Oregon," was passed on the 18th of April, 1846, but after frequent postponements failed in the senate. At length, on the 6th of August, congress received official notification of the settlement of the Oregon boundary at the 49th parallel, together with a strong recommendation by the president that liberal land grants should be made to the Oregon settlers without delay. It might have been believed that the defining of a boundary was the only thing lacking to forward the establishment of a territory on the Columbia River, instead of which, however, it was made the excuse to avoid it by those senators who were dissatisfied with the relinquishment of the territory between latitudes 49° and 54° 40'. Hence little that should have been done for Oregon at this session was done; and here I leave congress, and return to the affairs of the country.