Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 2.djvu/215

Rh fought upon the open sea. The fisheries upon the banks of Newfoundland, the whaleries of the Pacific,—these it was that must yield the men whose valor and whose blood must win that victory.

"Ah, but the gentlemen said that they, too, were to furnish their quota. Why, where did they suppose that this war was to be fought? Did they imagine that, at this day, a war with Great Britain would be such a contest as our last struggle with her, when our lands were without roads, and without fortifications, and without munitions, and without all we should have had, save the native bravery of our people, when Great Britain could pour in her regiments on our defenceless frontiers? Far, far different would a war be now. No, it was a war upon the ocean; it was the cities of New England that were to be battered; the commerce of New England that was to be made a prey."

The Globe sums up the argument of Mr. Dayton by saying: "We strongly urge the importance of settling the question by negotiation that hasty action would be productive of loss instead of gain to the country. He adverted to the danger of submitting the question to the hazards of war, and enumerated the naral forces of Great Britain ready at a moment's notice to bear against us in that region; the facility with which she could transport her immense land forces from China to that territory; and maintain that it was almost impossible to convey from the United States over such an immense tract of prairie and mountains, a heavy armament, capable of successfully contending against such a force. He argued that there was no principle of honor involved in the contest for the Oregon; and thought it was best for us to count the odds before precipitating the country into a war for it, which, when obtained, would be found to be worthless."

The subject was then laid aside to next day, when Mr. Breese will address the senate.

, February 27, 1844.

The discussion on a resolution of Mr. Semple, instructing the President of the United States to give notice to the British Government of the termination of such provisions of the treaty with that power as allows her to occupy, jointly, with the United States, the Oregon territory, was resumed by Mr. Breese, in favor of the resolution. In the course of his speech he alluded to the fact that no longer ago than 1816 an equivalent was proposed, and that in the Executive journals of 1828 a key would be found to that equivalent, and read a resolution submitted by a senator from Rhode Island, proposing to request the then President of the United States to open a negotiation for exchanging the territory west of the Rocky Mountains for upper Canada, including the district of Montreal. He reviewed the ques-