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OCCUPATION OF OREGON.

SPEECH

MR. OWEN, OF INDIANA,
DELIVERED m THE HOtSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OP THE UNITED STATES,
JilTOABT 23 AND 24j 1844,
On ihe gVMikm of ike Joint occupancy by Great Britain with the United States,
of the 'territory of Oregon.

Ob the 4(h January, 1844, Mr, Owev introduced a joint resolutiou, requesting the President
ofthe United States to give notice of twelve months to the Government of Great Britain, iii
tonfoimity with the provision of an existing treaty, that, from and after the expiration of thtit
term, the ocoipcttioH of Oregon by Great' Britain, conjointly with the United States, should cease.
The joint icaolution was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs; and that committee
reported it back on Jeinuary 23, aeeompanied by a resolution, to the effect, that "itisinexpedient
forCongrese, at this time, to act in any manner upon the subject," Thec[uestibn bcing'on the
adoption of that resolution —
Mr. Owen said : I am aware of the effect which the adverse report Just
toade from a committee of a character so high as that on foreign affairs, in
regard to the joint resolution which I submitted to this House, is likely to
produce. I regret it. I do not understand the committee, however, as ex
pressing an opinion that the resolution should not pass at all ; but only,
that, for the present, it should be delayed. They are disposed, we may
presume, to await the action of time and of certain expected contingencies,
before they adopt this measure. I differ from them in regard to the expe
diency of delay. I think we ought to act now. The views of those wild
hold to the opposite opinion are entitled to much consideration ; I shall
always receive their opinions with respect, and examine them with atten
tion ; yet, with the lights now before me, l-must adhere to my own.
.He is but a hot-headed politician, who seeks to urge on a favorite meas
ure that may be just in itself, rashly, prematurely, in a hasty manner, at an
improper time. But there is such a thing as temporizing weakness, as well
as rash haste. To put off the evil day, is bad policy, in public as in private
\affairs. That which is surely impending — -that which we must meet to-
Xay or tomorrow, self-respect and wisdom bid us meet to-day.
\if these be correct views, let us inquire how far they apply to the subject
< b^re us. The effect of the joint resolution in question, and which a ma-
jofty of the conaraittee recoiiimend to postpone, is, to terminate a treaty op

convention vi/ith Great Britain. By that treaty, Great Britain and the
tTnited States may, for the present, jointly occupy Oregon; with a provision
that a year's notice from either nation shall terminate the joint occupancy.
The resolution provides for giving that notice ; and the q«estio;i to be ^de
cided is, whether it be expedient to give that notice at the present time?
To a proper understanding of this question, and a just estimate, of its
importance, we should distinctly bear in mind, -vyhat, and how large, this
Territory of Oregon is. Its southern boundary, fixed by the Florida treaty
of 1819, is the parallel of 42° north latitude. Its northern Hmit, determined
by the Petersburg treaty of 1824/ is the parallel of fifty- four degrees and ,
forty minutes.. Its front, then, on the Pacific, is about twelve degrees and
a half, or upwards of eight hundred and fifty miles. Its average depth to
the Rocky Mountains is some five hundred and fifty miles. It contains
nearly half a rnillion of square miles, or more than three hundred millions
of acres, of territory — one fourth more, (let us remember that) than the ter
ritory of the thirteen original States, when they asserted their independ
ence. This stock farm ef ours,, therefore, in the Far West, is no paltry
possession. The greatest revolution the world ever saw, was kindled ia
defence of a territory of smaller: extent, and, if recent accounts may be
trusted, of scarcely more intrinsic value.
- The subject is of an importance such as demands a careful investigation.
Permit me then, sir, to aSk your attention, and that of the House, to a brief
review of the negotiations/ that have passed, and the measures that have
been, proposed, relative to this rich and extensive country.
In October of the year 1818, before we had acquired the Spanishtitle to
this portion ,6f the continent, a convention was signed at London, providing,
that any country on the northwest coast of America; westward of the Stony
Mountains, which may be claimed by Great Britain or the United States,
shall, for ten years thenceforward, be free and open to the citizens and, sub
jects of both Powers, without prejudice to the title, in whomsoever residing.
Six years]ater,inl824, about the time we agreedwith Russia on our north-
'ern boundary, the venerable gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. Adams,]
then Secretary of State, set on foot a negotiation for the final adjustment of
the boundary question ; authorizing Mr. Rush, our minister at the court of
St. James, to propose, first, the latitude of fifty-one^ and, if Great Britaia
persisted in refusing that, then the latitude of forty nine, as the dividing
line between the territories of the two countries.
The, offers were made in succession, and the British ministers refused
Ihem both. They expressed their willingness to run the forty-ninth degree
to where it strikes the northeastern most branch of the Columbia, and thence
down the middle of that river to the Pacific, into which the Columbia falls
about latitude forty-six.
Mr, Holmes. In forty-five and a. half.
Mr. Owen. My impression is, that it is a little north of forty-six ; but,
if it be forty-five and a half, the proposition of Great Britain was but the
more unfavorable to us.
This proposal, from which Great Britain declared the United States must 1
not expect her to depart, was at once rejected, and the negotiations were
broken off. ,
Tw.0 years afterwards, they were renewed — Mr. Clay being then Secreta'f ¦
of State. ,. ,
The official papers connected with this second negotiation shouli^ bft

3
read by every American statesman, who believes we have anything to gain
by promised negotiations for Oregon, or anything to lose by passing this
resolution, and thus indicating to Great Britain a determination to assert
our rights. Allow me, in proof of this opinion, to ffive you a few extracts'
from the documents themselves.
Here is the first letter of instruction from Henry Clay to Albert Gallatin,
under date of June 19, 1826. After alluding to the instructions formerly
sent to Mr. Rush, Mr.' Clay adds :
"Nor is it conceived that Great Britain has, or can make out, even a colorable title to anv vor-
i;w» ofthe northwest coast," ,
1 pra.y you, sir, to observe this expression of Mr. Clay. It is not, that
Great Britain's litle is weak, is imperfect, is questionable ; it is, that she
has not even a color of title. It is not, that her title is defective to the
southern portion of this territory ; but good, or at least plausible, north of
the latitude of forty-nine. No, sir, nothing of that sort. But it is, that
from north to south, from east to west, over the entire territory. Great Britaia
has not a pretence, not a shadow of a title. It is, that to every part and
parcel of Oregon, from the Spanish line on the south, to the Russian boun-
^d&ry on the north ; from the summits of the Rocky mountains across to ^
the waters ofthe Pacific; the United States are the true, rightful, legitimate
owners. That is the broad, unqualified assertion ; and it is true. I pledge myself
to this House, if the matter be called in question, before we have done with
• the subject, to prove, by the tenor of those very treaties to which England
appeals, by. the admissions of her own statesmen and historians, that to this
vast territory, regarding which, for a quarter of a century, we have been
tamely negotiating, our title is as clear, distinct, indisputable, as that of any
gentleman on this floor to the farm he owns, or the plantation that is his,
and was-his father's before him.
Such is the truth ; and such was Henry Clay's assertion. And yet, ere
ever the ink was dry on that honest statement of our rights — before the let--
ter was closed, in which an American Secretary of State declares to an
American Minister, that Oregon is, and of right ought to be, ours, that same
Seeretary empowers that' same Minister to trade off— oh no, sir, that is not
diplomatic language — .to negotiate away nearly one half the territory;
meekly to cede to Great Britain that to which she has not even a color of
title — nearly -four hundred miles on the Pacific coast, with all the country
thence to the Rocky mountains. Here is the paragraph, from the same
letter: " You are authorized to propose the annulment of the third article ofthe convention of 1818,
andthe extension of the line on the parallel of forty-nine degrees, from the eastern side ofthe
RocUy moantaifts, where it now terminates, to the Pacific ocean, as the permanent boiindary
between the territories of the two powers in that quarter. This is our uUimabum, and you may
so announce it. We can consent to no other line more favorable to Great Britain,"
This offer is made (sd Mr. Clay writes in the same letter to Mr. Gallatin)
"in a spirit of concession and compromise, which Great Britain should not
hesitate to reciprocate."
Concession is a good thing in its place; and if a right be, of doubtful
validity, prudence sometimes bids us compromise, for the sake of peace.
But thus to cede, at the first offer, to a nation that has, avowedly, not a
color of title to it, a district of country one-half as large as were the thirteen
; United States at the date of the Revolution, — this strikes me as pushing
somewhat further than justice demands, or national honor warrants, the

principles of charity and good neighborship. I may treat a neig;hbor kindly
and courteously, without being called upon to give him up half my grazing
fetrm, merely because he happens to have taken a fancy to it, I know wo
are told, that, ifa man smite us on the one chee^, we should turn the other;
and if he take our coat, we are to give him our cloak also. Interpreted in
its spirit, (not in its letter,) this is an admirable injunction. Kindness wins
its way, where harsh violence fails ; and we can best overcome evil by
doing good. Yet, assuredly, we should have a strange time of it, in this
world, if, in Uteral obedience to the precept, we were to resent no injury,
arid resist no encroachment. The spirit of concession and compromise,*
especially tpwfirds the powerful and the imperious, may be cairried too fan
it is out of place when it meets no corresponding spirit, and provokes only
arrogant pretension in return.
i^uch was the return which Henry Clay's proposal met from Great Brit-.
ain. He offered her territory enough, out of our possessions, to cut up in-
to half a dozen gpod-sized States ; and she. presuming, it would seem, on
our easy good nature, declared we must give her sufficient for two or
three more, before she closed the bargain. Her plenipotentiaries repeated
the offe^ they had previously made, that the Columbia should be the boun
dary; adding, however, that, as they must confess there is not a single.
good harbor from latitude forty two to the mouth of the Columbia, they
^ould cede to the United Stales the harbor of Port Discovery, in Fuca's
inlet, together with a small rocky isthmus, lying southeast from Ca,pe Flat-i
tery. I know not whether the name of the cape suggested the selection of
this particular spot;" but Captain Wilkes (commander of the latg exploring
expedition) informs me the whole tract is of very trifling value. It excludes
Admiralty inlet and Puget sound, one of the best harbors iu the world, and
not unlikely, some day, to be the principal port of entry fqr the Columbia
valley. ¦ , . ,
The offer of Great Britain was, of course, refused ; and so terminated
the second attempt at negotiation. Do you find in its details, or in its re
sult, much encouragement to engage in a third ?
This negotiating about what already belongs to us, is not only an un
profitable but a dangerous affair. We offer to concede and to compromise;
we forbear to claim our just due : and straightway oiir concessions ands
forbearance are set up as foundation for a title, which has no other, ground
to rest upon. I know, that, in strictness of law, a valid title is not prej.a-:
diced by an offer to compromise, made for the sake of peace. I am aware,
that the permission granted by treaty to Great Britain, jointly with us, to oc^
cupy this territory, cannot ripen into a title. Yet, in point'of fact, a con
cession ever weakens a claim. It has already done so, in this very case.
Mark, sir, I pray you, the admission made by Albert Gallatin, in his official
conference with tJ^e British plenipotentiaries. I find it in his reply to Mr.
Clay, as follows :
" Our never having refused to agree to a line of demarcation with Great Britain was a suf-
ficisnt proof that we admitted that she also had claims which deserted, and (o which we pjiia,>
due consideration. It was on tkataccounl thaMhe United Slates had reduced the extent of their
own to the boundary-line they hati offered, and had added lo it the proposal of allowing lo Brit
ish subjects the free navigation of the Columbia,"
Is that plain, sir? That we agreed to negotiate, says Mr. Gallatin to the
the British minister, proves, that we admit you have some title ; and there
fore, for that reason, because we have 'been weak enough to negotiate with

s
you for our own, the United States offer you npwardsof a hundred millions
ef acres of their territory, to keep peace, and say nothing more about it.
Our own most enlightened statesmen are sometimes, for the moment, led
off from the true issue, by this temporizing diplomacy. At the last session
of Congress, a distinguished Senator from South Carolina, now no longer a
naember of the body which, for so many years he had graced by his severe
and logical eloquence, made a remarkable declaration. I read from the
Sipeeoh of Mr. Calhoun, delivered in the Senate. After stating* that we had
pijoposed to Great Britain the forty-ninth parallel, and she had, in return, of
fered us the Columbia river, entering the Pacific about latitude forty-six. as
boundary, Mr, Calhoun adds :
" It follows that the portion of territory really in dispute between the two countries is about
thtee degrees of latitude— that is, about one-fourth of the whole,"
Do you perceive whither all this tends ? We are placed in a false posi
tion. Our claims north of forty-nine are given up; and the question is made
to: be, how much more, south of that parallel, we will consent to sacrifice
in addition. Will it be replied, that the sentiment quoted is only a remark
incidentally falling from an individual member of Congress, which cannot be
used against us ? And do you imagine, sir, that the words of John C,
Calhoun pass not across the Atlantic? Can you believe, that even the chance
admissions of such a man, on a subject so interesting to England as Oregon,
are not noted by the British ministry — are hot registered at St. James's?
Do you suppose that Mr. Packenham, the expected British envoy, has not
read that speech ? And can you doubt, that he will arrive among us pre
pared to settle, not whether Oregon is ours or Great Britain's, but how these
three degrees of latitude are to be pareelled out between us?
What that is satisfactory or desirable can result from a negotiation com
mencing under auspices like these ? We are informed, it is true, in that
portion ofthe President's message which refers to the hitherto unsuccessful
negotiations for a northwestern boundary, that "our minister in London
has, under instructions, again brought the subject to the consideration of
that Government." I am sorry for it. Twice we have approached Great
Britain in a spirit of the most liberal concession. Twice she has rejected
our advances. The next proposition should come from her. We have
made too many already.
The chief objection entertained by the Committee on Foreign Affairs to the
proposed resolution, we may presume to be, that it islikely to cast difficul
ties in the way pf the expected negotiation. If there were reasonable prom
ise of benefit to these United States from this diplomatic encounter, the
argument might be a good one. But Europe is an overmatch for us in the
courtly game of conventions and protocols. From the past I judge the future.
That which baffled the talents of Henry Clay, and the perseverance of the
.gentleman from Massachiisetls, [Mr. Adams,] we may, I trust, without fail-'
ing in due reispect to our present Chief Magistrate, be permitted to doubt,
whether John Tyler can succeed in effecting.
But that is not the proper issue. The truth is, that until we assume an
attitude more independent than has hitherto characterized our proceedings
relative to Oregon, no President, no Secretary, no Minister, can reasonably
be expected to obtain from Great Britain a satisfactory adjustment of this
boundary question.
How are we to assume such an attitude ? By retracing, as far as we
Jionorably may, the false steps we have taken ; by putting an end to en-

6
tanglirig alliances, into which we should never have entered ; by receding
from rejected concessions, which we ought never to have made.* That is
the object and the effect of the joint resolution I introduced.
But the Committee on Foreign Affairs may, perhaps, further object, that
such a notice as that resolution proposes is likely to prove offensive, and to
involve us in a war. If to declare to Great Britain that she is no longer to
remain with us a joint occupant of the valley of the Columbia be cause of
war, then war must come. It may come sooner— it rpay come later ; but
come it must, at last. Can you arrest emigration to Oregon? How do
you propose to set a:bout it ? Will you build up, along the summit range of
the Rocky mountains, a Chinese wall of demarcation, and say to the tame
less spirits of the western wilderness, "Thus far shall ye go, and no farther,
and here shall your onward progress be stayed?" Canute had an easier
task I When you can whistle back the mountain eagle in his upward
flight to the sun ; when you can arrest, by a word, the wild horse of the
prairie in his mad career ; when you can quench, in the bird of passage,
that instinct which bids her be up and away to the regions nature designed
for her — then, then only, expect to set up mete or bound short of the broad
Pacific, a barrier to the restless enterprise of the west.
Oregon is our land of promise, Oregon is our land of destination.
"The finger of Nature" — such were once the words of the gentleman from
Massachusetts, [Mr. Adams,] in regard to this country — ^" points that out."
Two thousand American citizens are already indwellers of her valleys.
Five thousand more — ay, it may be twice that number — will have crossed
the mountain passes, before another year rolls round. While you are legis
lating, they are emigrating; and whether you legislate'for them or not, they
will emigrate still.
What is to be the result of all this? What will England do ? If she
permit us, as I hope and believe, peacefully to overrun the Columbia valley,'
north as well as south of the stream, then neither will she find cause of of
fence in this resolution. But if she resist-^and, as a leading London jour
nal (not the ministerial organ, however,) boldly avows she will — if she arm
the Indian tribes in her cause, — what then? This resolution may be voted
down ; the Oregon bill of my friend from "Missouri [Mr. Hughes] may
be defeated this session, as a similar bill was, the last; we may depart from
these halls without lifting a finger to protect, by military post or otherwise,
our settlers on the Columbia; and yet, let the British Government fulfil this
threat of arming Indians against us, and then let the tomahawk draw but
one drop of American blood; let one single scalp be taken — the forerunner

* Mr. Owen, speaking in Committee of the "Whole on the disadvantages even of the line
of 49°, as proposed" by the United States and rejected by Great Britain, alluded to the fact,
ascertained by the late exploring expedition, that almost all the large masses of good timber
in the Tertitory are found north oi 48°, chiefly north of 49°; that a very large district of conn-'
try around Fort "Wallawalla is altogether rolling prairie, destitute of timber, and almost ne-.
cessarily dependent, in consequence, on the mountain Country north of 49°; whence, by means
of the upper branches of the Columbia, stretching north as far as 53°, any amount of the
best timber can be obtained. ' -.
Another great disadvantage of this boundary was also adverted to by Mr. Owen— the fact,
namely, that it shut out the United State.} from the harbors of Nootlca and Nitinat, on "Van-
iCtmyer's island, two of the best on the northwest coast; and also from the mouth of Fraser
river, a stream the second in importance in the Territory, From the latitude of 42° along Ihe
coast to the , straits of Fuca, in latitude 48° 30', there is not, Mr, O. remarked, a single harbor
ot even moderate value. The mouth of the Columbia is worthless as a roadstead ; ani
Gray's harbor, in 47°, is but little better, " ' w

of further outrage — and will our people, think you, await your tardy legis
lation before they rush to the rescue? We have faults and failings enough,
God knows — we of the West; but cowardice — tame, cold-blooded coward-
ice— the craven spirit that would desert a comrade at his utmost need— that,
at least, is no part of our character. Let the news pass over our land, of a
massacre among the Oregon emigrants; and your armed occupation project
will be an idle form. Oregon will soon be occupied — an armed occupation,
too! And occupied by whom? Not by smooth-chinned, trim-uniformed
cadets from West Point; but by veteran pioneers, from whom old age itself,
though it whiten their locks, cannot steal their strength and. their fire ; by
fierce young hunters of the frontier, who heard the war-whoop in their cra
dles, and who burn to emuhte the exploits — to avenge the death, perhaps —
'of their fathers; by a partisan army, in short, of Nimrod warriors, who,
with their knives at their bells, ?ind their long rifles on their shoulders, fear
nothing, red or white, in the form of a man.
I am a friend of peace. I ho}d, that it is our duty to do much, to suffer
much, if thus we may avoid the shedding of human blood. What a spec
tacle would it be, in this age of the world, to see two powerful nations
squandering lives and treasure in the insensate and antiquated trade of
war ! To avert such a calamity, I would agree to any adjustment within
the bounds of reason, that should not compromise our honor. Farther than
this, even expediency itself forbids us to go. A distinguished British states
man has well said : "He who Vindicates the honor of a country, vindicates
its dearest interests ; for he who vindicates its honor, preserves its peace."
Nothing more true. Permanent peace was never yet obtained by dishonor
able concession.
Say that these United States, struck with panic terror of England's power,
were to abandon to her that to which she scruples not to set up a clnim — the
entire territory of Oregon ; suppose that, for the moment, the settlers there
submitted to pass under monarchical rule: should we, even by such base
abandonment of our rightful claim, have obtained anything beyond a sus
pension of hostility? We may, by law, cede territory; but the spirit of
freedom is no Russian serf, to go with the land, and become a bondsman to
its new master. We thus postpone, not avoid, a contest. We sow the
seeds that will surely ripen, and produce, some day, a Northwestern War of
Independence. We decree, in fact, that the scenes of 1776 shall, hereafter,
be re-enacted on the shores of the Pacific ; that Oregon shall have her
Bunker Hills and her Benningtons ; that some Lexington grass-plat, on the
banks of the Columbia, shall, one day, be dyed with the blood of freemen.
Then, with a thousand aggravations, will come that war, which we vainly
dream we may escape by temporizing.
' When we do make a move, let it be an effectual one. It is but folly to
cry peace I peace ! when there is no peace. It is worse than idle to patch,
1Hp a hollow truce. That which public opinion demands — that which these
United States' must have, sooner or later — let us claim now; now, before
blood has flowed; now, before, in the excitement of an actual rupture, both
Powers lose sight, as there is too much reason to fear they may, of cool and
rational judgment.
We know that we must have the valley of the Columbia, north as well
as south of the river. No thinking man doubts, that. We know, that, ere
long, we must not only extend our jurisdiction over that valley, but also
provide homes for its emigrants, by grants of lands to actual settlers. A bill

8
to that effect passed the Senate at its last session, and failed in the House,
under an adverse report, made by the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr.
Adams,] as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs. A bill of a
sifflikir character is now pending in this House — another in the Senate.
S6me such bill is not unlikely to become a law this very session. It surely
will, in the course of a year or two. ^
Yet our right to pass such a bill, with a land clause a:ttached — a clause
now necessary and important in any Oregon bill — has been questionedi
Though it be not a direct infraction of the treaty, which declares Oregon
"free and open" to the subjects of England equally with the citizens of the
United States, it affords ground for an argument of some plausibility that
it is. This should not be. Let us not jeopard a title, clear arid unquestionable
in itself, by proceeding to assert it after a dubious or questionable manner.
Let every step we take in such a matter as this, be not justifiable only, but
abave all suspicion. We must not go to war with England, with the right,
even by implication, on her side. With the right clearly on ours, she dare
not go to war with us.
Let us, then, begin at the beginning. Let us pass the resolution now.
Before we promise possession, even in the future, to others, let us oursielves
take measures fully to obtam it. The treaty provides the mode. , Let us
strictly conform to its provisions. That done, we have satisfied every re
quirement^ we have silenced every scruplov And we may then proceedj
untrammeled by restricting conventions, to lay the foundations, on the fat
shores of the Pacific, of free and independent States; destined to spread
and to perpetuate those noble institutioEs that have given ufe the peace and
prosperity we ilow enjoy.
Thus regarded, the subject assumes a breadth and an importance that
carries it far beyond any mere boundary dispute. It becomes a question of
principle, rather than of territory. It is not so much whether Oregon shall
be ours or England's, as whether the blessings of self government shall, or
shall not, be granted to the infant country. Oregon is not a possession
only; it is a trust. As it is the duty of a parent to neglect nothing that shall
secure the welfare and happiness of those to whom he has imparted beingj
so are we bound to secure and maintain for this young Territory every
advantages social and political, which it is within our power to procure for
her. If this land be truly ours, we have no right to expose it, by desertion,
to colonial servitude or revolutionary war. Millions will hereafter inhabit
it. Their political destiny is in our handS; To the worlds — to after ages —
we must render an account of our guardianship. Let us see to it, that wc
have a good account to render. Now, while yet we may, let us assert, for
these future Pacific States, that station among the powers of the earth to
which the laws of nature and the progress of improvement entitle them.
Let us watch over their defenceless infancy. Ere long, they will join their
elder sisters of the confederacy; and, though prairie, and forest, and moun
tain, now intervene, they will become one with us — not in political bondi
only, but in sentiment and in habit, in feeling and in creed.
These are, very briefly stated, the reasons which induce me, notwith-
•tanding the adverse report of the committee, still to maintain, that, as a
measure both of policy and of justice, the joint resolution which termi
nates Great Britain's occupancy of Oregon ought now to pass.

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