Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 20.pdf/216

 LESTER BURRELL SHIPPEE

206

Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses, was a sympathetic biographer, and his work was published in 1851 when all the events of the period were fresh in mind; furthermore Mr. Chase felt himself in close touch with what was going on both through members of both houses of Congress and on account of his relations to the President.

excerpt shows how

little

Nevertheless the following know of the situation: 22

he really did

"In connection with the Oregon Question, Mr. Polk committed a fatal error, amounting to what Tallyrand would call a 'blunder,' and which, having the effect of alienating some of his warmest friends greatly embarrassed his administration throughout. In his first communication to the American people, he proclaimed to the world, that pur title to the country of the Oregon was 'clear and unquestionable.' In that assertion he was but reiterating the opinions of his constituents, solemnly expressed at the ballot-box. The statement was still more solemnly uttered in his message to Congress. In the same communication he announced a principle which should control the Government of the United States. If it is the unchangeable policy of this country to prevent Europeans from colonizing any portion of this continent, it applies to a territory to which we have no claim, as well as that which belongs to us; and if we cannot suffer them to colonize parts of the American continent to which we have no claim, how can we surrender territory to which our title is 'clear and unquestionable' ?

"In this communication (i. e., that asking the advice of the Senate on the British proposition) he committed himself to the action of the Senate, and it was well understood at Washington what advice that body would give him. To reject the proposal of the English Government would have brought him into collision with a large majority of the Senate. The nerves which had remained unmoved in many political struggles, and the firmness which had often overcome the most fiery opposition, where the cheeks of the resolute and bold blanched with terror, were shaken at the prospect of a rupture with Great Britain unsanctioned by one branch of the legislative power." (pp. 50-1.)

Another contemporary biographer was John

who

discusses Folk's

Oregon

activities in this

S. Jenkins 23

way



22 History of the Polk Administration, 32, 33; 50, 51. 23 James Knox Polk and a History of His Administration (1851), 233, 4; 235.