Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/312

 294 LESTER BURRELL SHIPPEE authorize the President to give notice to Great Britain that the convention should terminate at the end of the stipulated period, and tried to add force to the formal portion of the resolution by stating that the "territory is now in possession and used by the Hudson's Bay Company, to the ruin of the American Indian and Fur trade in that quarter, and conflicting with our inland commerce with the internal provinces of Mex- ico/' 21 Most Senators considered that this resolution, if adopted, would be a match to set off the powder keg upon which they were sitting, and while Linn insisted that war was inevitable and every day of delay put the British in a better position, he could not convert his colleagues to his views. As a result he was forced to modify his resolution into a request for the Committee on Foreign Relations "to inquire into the expediency of requesting the President" to give the notice. If the Oregon proponents had difficulties with the Senate in the summer of 1841, even more of an obstacle was the inertia of that body when it met in the regular session of 1841-2. The nation was awaiting the outcome of the efforts of Secretary Webster and Lord Ashburton to tide over the Maine question, and had little patience with anything which tended to make the situation more critical. Even had no nego- tiation been in progress it is doubtful if either house would have taken time to discuss Oregon at this session. The Whigs controlled both branches of Congress and the President had been elected on a Whig ticket, therefore the most important matters were those relating to the economic planks of the Whig platform of 1840. Tyler, however, in his Annual Mes^ sage called attention to the report of the Secretary of War where a chain of forts from Council Bluffs to some part of the Pacific Coast was recommended. A report from the House Committee on Military Affairs emphasized the same subject, at the same time going again into the question of the title to the Oregon country, and describing the climatic conditions, soil, resources and commercial opportunities of that region." 22 In the Senate Linn, for the special committee on the Oregon 21 Globe, X, 278, 292, 306, 326, 335-7, 341, 364. 22 H. Rep. No. 380, 27th Cong. 2d. Ses.