Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 6.djvu/378

372 372 W. D. FENTON. opponents with cowardice when it became apparent that to assert our title to fifty-four degrees and forty minutes might lead to war with Great Britain unless a compromise could be effected. Texas was also considered more im- portant by the pro-slavery element, and this encouraged the northern Whigs to hope for an addition of northern territory to maintain the progressive balance between free and slave territory. Mr. Webster, then a senator, read a carefully written speech urging a settlement on the forty- ninth parallel as honorable to both countries. Mr. Ber- rien of Georgia urged this as the rightful line, making an exhaustive argument. Mr. Crittenden of Kentucky, the home of Clay, urged the same position. The senate de- feated the house resolution, passing a substitute leaving the giving of notice to quit to Great Britain to the discre- tion of the President, in which the house concurred. Mr. Blaine, in his "Twenty Years of Congress," speaking of the Washington treaty of June 15, 1846, says : "This treaty was promptly confirmed by the senate, and the long con- troversy over the Oregon question was at rest. It had created a deep and widespread excitement in the country, and came very near precipitating hostilities with Great Britain. There is no doubt whatever that the English government would have gone to war rather than surrender the territory north of the forty-ninth parallel. This fact had made the winter and early spring of 1846 one of pro- found anxiety to all the people of the United States, and more especially those who were interested in the large mercantile marine, which sailed under the American flag! Taking the question, however, as it stood in 1846, the set- tlement must, upon full consideration and review, be ad- judged honorable to both countries." In March, 1847, Senator Benton gave a public letter to Mr. Shively, intended to encourage the settlers in Oregon in respect to early congressional action creating a territo-