Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 19.djvu/334

 316 LESTER BURRELL SHIPPEE motion to table was not divisible, so the resolutions were tabled by a vote of 106 to 66. The House evidently did not intend to frame a plank for the coming national conventions. Throughout all the discussion in both houses of Congress in this session the animus of the discussions and attempted action was plain ; it was intended to define an issue for political pur- poses. Those who desired immediate action in Oregon would have been glad to see their measure become law, but none of them had the slightest expectation of accomplishing anything at that session. Members of both houses not only shaped their action and pronounced their speeches with a view to its effect upon the choice of delegates for the national conven- tions and upon the subsequent election, but actively took part in the campaign wherever it was possible. The Whigs avoided taking a well-defined stand upon the issue and blocked all immediate action in Congress, while outside the legislative halls they emphasized other issues and ignored Oregon. Clay would make no positive statement as to his stand before the Whig national convention took place, and the platform of that convention was equally reticent. This seems to add weight to the belief that the Oregon Question was not, in the opinion of a majority of the people, a paramount political issue in 1844. The strength of the Whigs did not lie in the West; their stronghold was on the eastern seaboard where questions of tariff and fiscal organization overtopped all other issues. Not only did they insist that these economic issues must not be buried under an Oregon plank, but they felt that to press the question was likely to strain relations between Great Britain and the United States, possibly resulting in war which would be more disastrous to manufacturing and commercial interests than the maintenance of the tariff in its unsatisfactory shape. Whig sentiment on Oregon was expressed by Daniel Webster, in writing to Everett in January, 1844. After speaking of the abusive tone of the British press on the topic and the desire shown by many Americans of making trouble between the countries, he said : 10 10 29 Jan., 1844; Private Correspondence of Daniel Webster, II, 179-80.