given to him why he should not distrust the South on the question of Oregon; the results were now manifesting themselves; and let the speech just concluded by the senator from North Carolina show whether or not he was justified in his distrust.

"The senator, in his defense of the President, put language into his mouth which I undertake to say the President will repudiate, and I am not the President's champion. I wish not to be his champion. I would not be the champion of power. I defend the right, and the right only. But, for the President, I deny the intentions which the senator from North Carolina attributes to him; intentions which, if really entertained by him, would make him an infamous man-ay, an infamous man. He (Mr. Haywood) told the senator yesterday-unless I grossly misunderstood him, along with several friends around me— "that the President had occasionally stickings-in, parenthetically, to gratify-what? the ultraisms of the country and of party, while he reposed in the White House, with no intentions of carrying out these parenthetical stickings-in." In plain words, he represents the President as parenthetically sticking in a few hollow and false words to cajole the "ultraisms of the country." What is this, need I ask, but charging upon the President conduct most vile and infamous? If this allegation be true, these intentions of the President must sooner or later come to light; and when brought to light, what must follow but irretrievable disgrace? So long as one human eye remains to linger on the page of history, the story of his abasement will be read, sending him and his name together to an infamy so profound, a damnation so deep, that the hand of resurrection will never be able to drag him forth. He who is the traitor to his country can never have forgiveness of God, and can not ask mercy of man. I asked the senator whether he came here charged with missives from the President, or whether he assumed the dogmatic style on his own responsibility, and—'

"Mr. Mangum. 'I call the senator to order. I protest against these remarks.'

"Mr. Mangum. 'I withdraw my objection.'

"Mr. Hannegan. 'Let me say one thing to the senator from North Carolina over the way (Mr. Mangum), that if I have uttered one syllable disrespectful to the senator, it has not been

my intention. If he apprehended that I was in danger of saying any thing disrespectful, I thank him for his kind hint. I shall not forget the place where I am, and the respect which I owe myself. I reply in the same spirit in which the senator spoke. I have no personal motives; I am speaking to principles, and using, as he did, plain language. We were told that this question was agitated in the country for the purpose of putting small men into large offices. I have seen small men in large offices before to-day. "Small men in large offices!" "The country agitated to put small men in large offices!" Those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. The problem is somewhat stale, but it is a salutary one, and even some great men may occasionally be reminded of it to their profit. Let me tell the senator from North Carolina that, for my own part, I would much sooner be found a small man seeking a high place, than the subservient, pliant, supple tool-the cringing flatterer, the fawning sycophant, who crouches before power, and hurries from its back stairs to bring before the Senate its becks, and nods, and wreathed smiles. The last steamer from Europe, it is said, puts this question in such a position that for Oregon we can get free trade. Free trade I love dearly, but never will it be bought by me by the territory of my country. He who would entertain such an idea is a traitor to his country. I speak for myself, and my own section of the country. Free trade for a surrender of the ports and harbors on the Pacific? Never, sir, never. Whence this movement for free trade on the part of England? Does not every one know that she has been driven into this course by the outcries of starving millions? that she has been forced into this policy. by the land-owners, to save their lives from the knife of the midnight assassin, and their palaces from the torch of the prowling incendiary? But the West is to be provided for; it is to have a new and most profitable market. Some of us know that from the Baltic England would get her wheat long before we could send a ton into her market. I advert to this simply because I do not know that I shall have another opportunity to do so. I have only to add, that so far as the whole tone, spirit, and meaning of the remarks of the senator from North Carolina are concerned, if they speak the language of James K. Polk, James K. Polk has spoken words of falsehood, and with the tongue of a serpent."

Such were some of the consequences resulting from the absence of definite knowledge, on the part of the Senate, as to the course and intentions of the President. His own friends in Congress—those who were presumed, from political sympathy or official station, to be in possession of his purposes were permitted but darkly to glance at them through the mist in which they were enveloped. To us and to our readers, however, it is permitted, by means of the correspondence which has since been transmitted to the Senate in executive session, and from which the injunction of secrecy has been removed, to look face to face upon things, which were then so dimly seen. The correspondence, for state reasons, was communicated with some drawback in the form of asterisks, but is sufficiently full for all objects of elucidation.

The "notice" reached the Senate on the 10th of February, 1846, where it remained under consideration until the 16th of April.

On the 13th of the previous December (1845), some two weeks after Congress had assembled, Mr. Buchanan thus writes to Mr. M'Lane, then minister at the court of St. James:

"You will receive by the Cambria a copy of the President's Message, and the documents accompanying it, in relation to Texas and Oregon. These are all which have yet been printed.

"You will observe, that while the President has recommended that the necessary notice shall be given to abrogate the convention, he has carefully avoided to recommend any legislative measure which could, in the mean time, conflict with its provisions; and it is not apprehended that Congress will adopt any such measure.

"The message has been well received throughout the country, and its doctrines generally will, I think, meet the approbation of Congress.

"The President sincerely desires to preserve our friendly relations with Great Britain. His policy with that and all other nations is peace, so long as this can be maintained consistently with the national rights and honor. The Oregon Question is now approaching a crisis. It is hardly probable that the British government will suffer it to remain upon its present basis; and it is clear that if there should be any new movement toward its adjustment, this must originate with Great Britain.

Should that government take any further step with a view to settle the controversy, the President would judge of the charac ter of the proposition when made; and if, in his opinion, it should be such as to justify this, he would feel inclined to submit it to the Senate for their previous advice before taking any other action upon it. As the determination on any such proposition might involve the issue of peace or war between the two countries, he would feel it to be his duty to consult his constitutional advisers before a final decision. I deem it necessary to give you this information, not that you may make any such suggestion to the British government, but to enable you to regulate wisely your conversation and conduct in the critical position in which you are now placed. What the result might be in the Senate, I can not anticipate."

On the 29th of the same month, Mr. Buchanan again writes to Mr. M'Lane:

"You were correct in supposing that the British government would again offer to refer the Oregon Question to some friendly power. On Saturday last Mr. Pakenham delivered me a communication making an offer to refer this question, of which I transmit you a copy. You will not fail to observe that he does not propose a reference of the title to the whole question [territory], but merely the subject of an 'equitable division' of it between the parties. It is strange that such a proposition should have been submitted by the British government, in the face of the President's claim to the whole territory, after it had been so recently enforced in the most solemn manner by my letter of the 30th of August last, withdrawing our proposition for a compromise by the forty-ninth parallel of latitude. To accept the proposition under such circumstances would be for the President to admit that he had committed an error in asserting the American title to the whole territory, and to acknowledge, in the very submission of the question to the arbitrator, that Great Britain had a right to a portion of it, and that his functions should be confined to an 'equitable division' of it between the parties. In this respect, the present proposition is unlike the former offer of the British government, which was a general proposition to arbitrate. If no other reason existed for declining the proposition, this would be deemed sufficient by the President. You may therefore consider it certain

that it will be rejected. I presume that the British government could not have anticipated a different result; and, from my conversation upon the subject with Mr. Pakenham on Saturday last, he will doubtless undeceive them, if they had any expectation that his offer would be accepted."

On the 29th of January, 1846, Mr. Buchanan writes to Mr. M'Lane as follows:

"The President will never abandon the position he has taken in his message. Clearly convinced of the right of the United States to the whole territory in dispute, and relieved, by the refusal of the British government to accept his offer of compromise, from the embarrassment in which the acts of his predecessors had placed him, he would not now authorize the conclusion of a treaty on that basis. But the Senate, his constitutional advisers, are now in session. The question of peace or war may be involved in the issue. They are a branch of the war-making as well as of the treaty-making power. In deference to the Senate, under these circumstances, he would, in the first instance, feel it to be his duty to submit such a proposition for their previous advice. It is manifest, therefore, that the British government should at once present their ultimatum. If Mr. Pakenham should offer less, in the hope that, having thus recommenced the negotiation, he might, in its progress, induce me to say what the President would consent to accept, he must be disappointed. The President will accept nothing less than the whole territory, unless the Senate should otherwise determine. The only question which he will decide is, whether the new proposition, should any such be made, be of a character to justify its submission to the Senate for their previous advice.

"Under all the circumstances by which you may be surrounded, it is left to your sound discretion whether any such communication or intimation shall be made to Lord Aberdeen."

On the 3d of February, 1846, Mr. M'Lane thus writes to Mr. Buchanan :

"SIR,-Notwithstanding these difficulties, I still entertain the opinion that it would be in my power, without any improper commitment of the President, to lead to a renewal of the negotiation by this government, and to the submission, unless another mode would be more desirable, through its minister at