The Congressional Globe, [Volume 16]: Twenty-Ninth Congress, First Session, Appendix Page: 412
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41&
APPENDIX TO THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE.
[Feb. 7,
29th Cong 1st Se
ss.
The Oregon Question—Mr. Cummins.
Ho. of Reps.
whole front of this Republic, and hems us in on
the west, and entirely shuts us out from the Pacific.
It furnishes abundant supplies of timber, of which
to construct navies, and great, capacious, and safe
bays and harbors, m which they can float in safe-
ty. To any country possessing skill, industry,
and enterprise, the possession of Oregon will give
the military and marine control and supremacy of
the Pacific ocean and its islands, of China, the
East Indies, and the western coast of South Ame-
rica.
Should Oregon fall into the hands of Britain,
what security would you have on your western
frontier.' What would become of your extensive
and valuable whale fisheries in the Pacific ? What
would become of your China trade, now so pros-
perously carried on, and yearly increasing? How
would you resist the military control that Britain
would necessarily exercise over Mexico, California,
Guatemala, Chili, Peru, the whole western coast of
South America, the South Sea islands, and the In-
dian tribes ? Sir, you would be compelled to abandon
the whole to her dominion and power. But, sir,
of what value is Oregon to us in a commercial point
of view? Ill my judgment, it is more important to
our commercial interests than any acquisition we
have ever heretofore made or can ever hereafter
make. There is not now any maritime nation in
the successful possession or enjoyment of any part
of the Pacific coast from Bhering's Straits to the
Cape of Good Hope. The whole remains yet
comparatively unoccupied and open to the first na-
tion that'may secure it. Look upon your maps,
and what is our position with inference to that
quarter of the globe ? This continent lies between
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans: it lies nearly equi-
distant and in the direct route between the continent
of Europe and Asia; and across this continent at
the same point must and will ere long be carried
the trade and merchandise passing between Europe
and Asia. Let us, then, secure our just rights in
Oregon, and our territory will extend across this
continent from sea to sea: on the east within three
thousand miles of Europe, on the west within four
thousand miles of Asia. We have now the com-
mand of the coast on the Gulf of Mexico, the At-
lantic from the Rio Grande to the St. John's, a
distance of more than twelve hundred miles. By
rivers and lakes we have water communication
along our northern and northeastern borders for
twelve hundred miles. Oregon will give us the
command of nine hundred miles of the Pacific
coasts, and will enable us to command the com-
merce of that ocean.
Let Government but do its duty, let it quiet our
title to Oregon, and extend our laws and jurisdic-
tion over that country for the protection of our set-
tlers there, and the industry and energy of the
pioneers who will make their homes in the Colum-
bia valley will do the rest; they will subdue the
forests and convert them into harvest fields; they
will dot the face of the country with thriving towns
and villages, and the waters of the streams of Ore-
gon will propel the machinery of our ingenious
and enterprising artisans and manufacturers. The
enterprise of our merchants will build up commer-
cial cities on the magnificent, deep, and safe har-
bors on the Pacific coast north of the mouth of the
Columbia, in which their ships and steamers, to an
almost indefinite extent, can float in the greatest
security.
IIow long will it be before the commerce of the
Atlantic and the Pacific will be connected across
the continent by the avenues of trade? How long
will it be before the iron arms of railroads will
stretch from sea to sea? I have no doubt but there
are thousands now living who will witness the con-
summation of that magnificent project. Sir, it is
practicable, and the magnitude of the interests de-
pendant upon it are too great to be permitted to lie
dormant. The distance across this continent is va-
1 iously estimated at from seventeen hundred to two
thousand miles: take the greatest distance, and add
to it one thousand miles for curvitures and devia-
tions of a railroad, and you have a distance of
three thousand miles. Cannot that distance be
overcome? Why, sir, there are now in the United
States, completed and in successful operation, o\or
four thousand miles of railroad, and as much more
projected, and large portions of it in an advanced
state of completion. Do gentlemen doubt this?
The history of the past progress of our country
must remove all doubt on that subject. At the
treaty of peace in 1783, when our national inde-
pendence was acknowledged and pcace restored,
what was our condition ? This Government was
then feeble, its means exhausted, without com-
merce and almost without internal resources, and
with a population of about three millions. What
is it now? What has it grown to be in sixty-
three years? Its population is now about twenty
millions. Its commercial marine is fVilly equal to
that of Great Britain, and more than double that
of all the other commercial_Goveinments of Eu-
rope. For statistics, I avail myself of the compi-
lation of another, which is said to be correct: and
what does it show ? Foreign tonnage of England,
2,420,000 tons; of the United States, 2,417,000 tons,
leaving out the tonnage of our lakes and rivers.
What is the commercial tonnage of other European
Governments? France has G'25,(I00 tons; Russia,
239,000 tons; Denmark, 95,375; Holland, 214,284;
Sweden, 118,025; Turkey, 1,902, amounting in all
to 1,293,58b, or about one-half of that of the Uni-
ted States. What, sir, was the commerce of the
Mississippi and its tnbutaues only forty yeais ago?
It was unknown to the world. A few canoes and
keel-boats were paddled and poled along its shores.
What is it now 3 Hundreds of floating palaces
bear upon its bosom more than $200,000,000 worth
of commercial commodities annually. What was
the commerce of your lakes forty years ago ? A
few Indian traders along the shores. What is it
now? You have upon Lakes Erie and Michigan j
alone four hundred commercial vessels, with a ton- |
nage of 80,000 tons, carrying annually a commerce
of the value of §4,500,000, and m progress of con-
struction thirty-four vessels more; of which ten are
steamers of the first class. These are the avenues
through which the agricultural products of the
Western valley pass to market.
If this, sir, has been our progress in sixty-three
years, starting from a state of comparative imbe-
cility, and with but one sea open to us, what will
it be with the trade of the Pacific opened to us,
with our present means of advancement, in the
next quarter of a century to come ? That country,
where solitude now reigns almost unbroken save
by the sighing of the winds, the whoop of the sav-
age, the crack of the hunter's rifle, or the dashing
of tiie Pacific waves upon its shores, will then have
become the home of civilized men. From its ports
and harbors will go forth a commercial marine,
whose sails will whiten every wave, and whose ma-
jestic steamers will ride triumphant on the tranquil
bosom of that great ocean. We cannot expect that
the trade commanded by that ocean will be yielded
without a struggle by adverse Powers. Full well
does Great Bntrun understand the military strength
and commcrcial importance of Oregon. She will
not yield it, right or wrong, to her natural rival, so
long as she can by any means retain it or any part
of it. Why has she so long and obstinately per-
seveied in the assertion of her unfounded preten-
sions to the whole of the country north of th,e Co-
lumbia, and to a joint right to the use of that river ?
The reason is obvious. There is not a good har-
bor south of the Columbia, and navigation at the
mouth of that stream is rendeied unsafe and dan-
gerous by bars, shoals, and cuirents. All the good
harbors lie north of the Columbia. Yield her that
claim, and it is all that she wants. She will then
have secured to herself the strong places of the
country, and rendered the balance of it compar- !i
atively valueless to us. Our products could not \
then reach the ocean safely, except through British d
ports ill a British province, and subject to be encum- !
i.icrcd or prohibited by such duties as she may im- j:
pose. ]'
"With Oregon improved, and connected by rail- ]
roads with the Atlantic, we will furnish to ihe '
woild the great desideratum so long sought for by
commercial nations—a direct communication from !'
Europe to Asia; and we will then be brought in
close communication with the commerce of China, 1
the East Indies, the west coast of South America, !
and the Pacific isles. Can Britain sail 24,000 miles \
around Cape Horn, or 27,000 around the Cape of i
Good Hope, and successfully compete with us in
that trade which we can reach from the western
coast, by steam vessels, in 4000? Her voyage will
require some eight months; ours, scarcely so many
weeks. Who then will have the carrying trade?
Britain will be compelled either to open a passage
across the Isthmus of Darien, trade through our
works, permit us-to h^ve the carrying trade oi
be driven from the market. Sir, that ocean gem of
India trade has been acquired and enjoyed by each
commercial nation, successively, from the earliest
ages of the world. Carthage, Greece, Rome, Ven-
ice, Pisa, Genoa, Portugal, Holland, have each, in
their turn, enjoyed it. England now has it. Our
destiny now offers it to us. Will we accept it?
Will we adopt and carry out such just and prudent
measures of policy as will secure 'to us this great
and valuable field for commercial enterprise ? This
leads us to the consideration of another branch of
this subject.
The next question which presents itself to our
consideration is: to whom does Oregon, m whole
or in part, belong? To the United States or to
Great Britain? What are our rights in, and our
title to, Oregon? And what are the-pretensions
and claims of Great Britain to the same? By what
evidence are the rights, claims, and pretensions
of the parties, respectively, supported or proved?
And here again I must quote from the speech of the
gentleman from South Carolina, [Mr. Holmes,]
who says: " 1 deny, in toto, any right, any claim
' to that territory, or to any part or parcel there-
' of, that does not apply with equal force and effi-
' ciency to the power of Great Britain; and if I do
' not, by as fair reasoning as I can bring, demon-
' strate this position, I am willing to give up now
' and forever any claim to logical powers." This
makes the issue between the parties, and presents
the British view of the question, m substance, and
almost m the same words, 111 which it was present-
ed by Messrs. Hopkins and Addmgton, British
Plenipotentiaries, on the lGth day of December,
1826, when negotiating upon, and discussing, the
British title to Oregon, with the proper authorities
of the United States. They say: "Great Britain
' claims no exclusive sovereignty over any portion
' of that territory. Her present claim, not in re-
' sped to any part, but to the whole, is limited to a
' right of joint occupancy in common with other
' States, leaving the right of exclusive sovereignty
' in abeyance.' Every British Minister and diplo-
matist, from that time to the present, has contend-
ed for the same position, that she had a joint right
with the United States to the whole of Oregon, but
that neither Government had a separate right to
any part thereof. To this proposition I cannot
yield my assent. It is not my purpose, however,
to argue the title to the whole of Oregon—time will
not permit, nor is it necessary for my present pur-
pose. 1 propose, however, to show that we have
a clear, perfect, and unencumbered title to the soil
and sovereignty of a part of Oregon. If I succeed,
by fair and legitimate proofs and arguments, in do-
ing so, I shall have met and overthrown the position
of the gentleman from South Carolina, and, with
it, the position assumed by Britain, for they are
identical.
For the purposes of my argument, I select that
part of the Oregon territory which lies south of
Nootka Sound: that is, so much thereof as lies be-
tween the Mexican line at the 42d parallel of lati-
tude and IN ootka, which is in latitude 49° 33', being
7° 33', or aboutfive hundred miles'along the Pacific
coast. Mr. Chairman, that we may have a clear
and distinct view of the question, allow me to pre-
mise, by stating the fact, that up to the year 1803,
there were five several sovereign and independent
Governments which claimed to have rights and in-
terests in Oregon; to wit: France, Spam, Russia,
Great Britain, and the United States. The claim-
ants are now reduced to the two last named. How,
when, and by whom, the rights of France, Spain,
and Russia were extinguished, and who became
possessed of them, I shall show m the progress of
my remarks.
Our title to Oregon is of two kinds—first, that
which we have in our right, by discovery, explo-
ration, and settlement; and secondly, that which
we have by purchase from other Governments, by
which we have consolidated in the United States
all the outstanding claims to Oregon, except the
pretensions to title by Britain, the present adverse
claimant. I shall speak first of our French title.
And what is it ? After the discovery of this conti-
tinent by Columbus, in 1492, Great Britain and
France both acquired territorial rights, and plant-
ed colonies upon it. The British possessions were
on the Atlantic coast, now composing a part of the
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United States. Congress. The Congressional Globe, [Volume 16]: Twenty-Ninth Congress, First Session, Appendix, book, 1846; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc30770/m1/420/: accessed May 3, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.