Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 20.pdf/73

 FEDERAL RELATIONS OF OREGON were

practically a threat

"You made "That

is

aimed

at the President, to the effect,

how you do it again." once responded Hannegan, "take care how you do

this offer it,"

65



take care

The President's Message had clearly stated that again." the negotiations were at an end besides, continued Hannegan, there was a disputed boundary between the Nueces and the it



Rio Grande, yet there was no talk of negotiations with Mexico the disputed area was just taken. Negotiations, however, as Calhoun and Hay wood contended, were pending, and this fact caused the Senate to agree to put Those presented the resolutions over until February tenth. and Calhoun were not the only Allen, by Hannegan by by ones on the subject. Crittenden, in January, offered a conciliatory form, which stated, in the preamble, that it was desirable to settle the dispute by negotiation, and then proceeded in the form of a bill to authorize the President to give notice after Congress had adjourned, "in order to afford ample time and opportunity for the amicable settlement and adjustment"

my

"Crittenden told wife/' said F. P. Blair, Van "that he to Buren, brought in his resolutions writing in relation to Oregon in homage to young Hickory, who

of

all

differences.

coveted the responsibility of making the issue with England 14 'all Oregon or none' on his own hook." Young Hickory, however, if we are to take his own word for it, desired above all

things at that

moment

the passage of resolutions for notice

without any string of any sort. Postponing all action and most of the discussion until February was a momentary gain for the forces of conciliation; Senator Allen and his 54 40' friends feared the results of delay as tending to weaken the chances of ultimate success, and sought comfort from the President in repeated interviews. The Forty-nine men, also, tried to secure some hint from Polk

assuring them that he would accept a compromise or at least agree to arbitrate, for they feared that an unyielding attitude would cause war, just as Cass, Allen, Hannegan and other 14 18 Jan., 1846;

Van Buren

Papers, Vol. 53.