Oregon is clear and unquestionable; that no portion of the same. ought to be ceded to England or any other power; and that the reoccupation of Oregon, and the reannexation of Texas at the earliest practicable period, are great American measures, which this Convention recommends to the ardent support of the Democracy of the Union."

It is well known that the efforts of the American and British governments had failed to effect an adjustment of the intricate and perplexing controversy in relation to our northwestern boundary. The President, in his inaugural address, had reaffirmed the doctrines of the resolution of the Baltimore Convention in regard to the "reannexation" of Texas, and had also declared his intention to assert our claim to the Oregon Territory. In doing this, he had borrowed the phraseology of the resolution to express his judgment of the nature of our title. He says:

"Nor will it become in a less degree my duty to assert and maintain, by all constitutional means, the right of the United States to that portion of our territory which lies beyond the Rocky Mountains. Our title to the country of the Oregon is 'clear and unquestionable,' and already are our people preparing to perfect that title by occupying it with their wives and children. But eighty years ago, our population was confined on the west by the ridge of the Alleghanies. Within that period within the life-time, I might say, of some of my hearersour people, increasing to many millions, have filled the eastern valley of the Mississippi, adventurously ascended the Missouri to its head springs, and are already engaged in establishing the blessings of self-government in valleys, of which the rivers flow to the Pacific. The world beholds the peaceful triumphs of the industry of our emigrants. To us belongs the duty of protecting them adequately wherever they may be upon our soil. The jurisdiction of our laws, and the benefits of our republican institutions, should be extended over them in the distant regions which they have selected for their homes. The increasing facilities of intercourse will easily bring the states, of which the formation in that part of our territory can not be long delayed, within the sphere of our federative Union. In the mean time, every obligation imposed by treaty or conventional stipulations should be sacredly respected."

The exact position of the controversy at the time Mr. Polk entered upon the duties of the executive office, is thus stated in his first annual message:

"My attention was early directed to the negotiation which, on the 4th of March last, I found pending at Washington between the United States and Great Britain on the subject of the Oregon Territory. Three several attempts had been previously made to settle the question in dispute between the two countries, by negotiation, upon the principle of compromise; but each had proved unsuccessful.

"These negotiations took place at London in the years 1818, 1824, and 1826; the two first under the administration of Mr. Monroe, and the last under that of Mr. Adams. The negotiation of 1818, having failed to accomplish its object, resulted in the Convention of the 20th of October of that year. By the third article of that convention, it was agreed that any country that may be claimed by either party on the northwest coast of America, westward of the Stony Mountains, shall, together with its harbors, bays, and creeks, and the navigation of all rivers within the same, be free and open for the term of ten years from the date of the signature of the present convention, to the vessels, citizens, and subjects of the two powers, it being well understood that this agreement is not to be construed to the prejudice of any claim which either of the two high contracting parties may have to any part of said country, nor shall it be taken to affect the claims of any other power or state to any part of the said country, the only object of the high contracting parties in that respect being to prevent disputes and differences among themselves.'

"The negotiation of 1824 was productive of no result, and the Convention of 1818 was left unchanged. The negotiation of 1826, having also failed to effect an adjustment by compromise, resulted in the Convention of August the 6th, 1827, by which it was agreed to continue in force for an indefinite period the provisions of the third article of the Convention of the 20th of October, 1818; and it was further provided that 'it shall be competent, however, to either of the contracting parties, in case either should think fit, at any time after the 20th of October, 1828, on giving due notice of twelve months to the other contracting party, to annul and abrogate this con

vention; and it shall, in such case, be accordingly entirely annulled and abrogated after the expiration of the said term of notice.' In these attempts to adjust the controversy, the parallel of the forty-ninth degree of north latitude had been offered by the United States to Great Britain, and, in those of 1818 and 1826, with a further concession of the free navigation of the Columbia River south of that latitude. The parallel of the forty-ninth degree, from the Rocky Mountains to its intersection with the northeasternmost branch of the Columbia, and thence down the channel of that river to the sea, had been offered by Great Britain, with an addition of a small detached territory north of the Columbia. Each of these propositions had been rejected by the parties respectively.

"In October, 1843, the envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary of the United States in London was authorized to make a similar offer to those made in 1818 and 1826. Thus stood the question, when the negotiation was shortly afterward transferred to Washington; and, on the 23d of August, 1844, was formally opened under the direction of my immediate predecessor. Like all the previous negotiations, it was based upon principles of 'compromise;' and the avowed purpose of the parties was to treat of the respective claims of the two countries to the Oregon Territory, with the view to establish a permanent boundary between them westward of the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean.' Accordingly, on the 26th of August, 1844, the British plenipotentiary offered to divide the Oregon Territory by the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, from the Rocky Mountains to the point of its intersection with the northeasternmost branch of the Columbia River, and thence down that river to the sea, leaving the free navigation of the river to be enjoyed in common by both parties, the country south of this line to belong to the United States, and that north of it to Great Britain. At the same time, he proposed, in addition, to yield to the United States a detached territory north of the Columbia, extending along the Pacific and the Straits of Fuca, from Bulfinch's Harbor inclusive to Hood's Canal, and to make free to the United States any port or ports south of latitude forty-nine degrees which they might desire, either on the main land, or on Quadra and Vancouver's Island. With the exception of the free ports, this was the same offer which had been

made by the British, and rejected by the American government in the negotiation of 1826. This proposition was properly rejected by the American plenipotentiary on the day it was submitted. This was the only proposition of compromise offered by the British plenipotentiary. The proposition on the part of Great Britain having been rejected, the British plenipotentiary requested that a proposal should be made by the United States for an equitable adjustment of the question.'

"When I came into office, I found this to be the state of the negotiation. Though entertaining the settled conviction that the British pretensions of title could not be maintained to any portion of the Oregon Territory upon any principle of public law recognized by nations, yet, in deference to what had been done by my predecessors, and especially in consideration that propositions of compromise had been thrice made by two preceding administrations, to adjust the question on the parallel of fortynine degrees, and in two of them yielding to Great Britain the free navigation of the Columbia, and that the pending negotiation had been commenced on the basis of compromise, I deemed it to be my duty not abruptly to break it off. In consideration, too, that under the conventions of 1818 and 1827, the citizens and subjects of the two powers held a joint occupancy of the country, I was induced to make another effort to settle this long-pending controversy in the spirit of moderation which had given birth to the renewed discussion. A proposition was accordingly made, which was rejected by the British plenipotentiary, who, without submitting any other proposition, suffered the negotiation on his part to drop, expressing his trust that the United States would offer what he saw fit to call 'some further proposal for the settlement of the Oregon Question, more consistent with fairness and equity, and with the reasonable expectations of the British government.' The proposition thus offered and rejected repeated the offer of the parallel of fortynine degrees of north latitude, which had been made by two preceding administrations, but without proposing to surrender to Great Britain, as they had done, the free navigation of the Columbia River. The right of any foreign power to the free navigation of any of the rivers through the heart of our country was one which I was unwilling to concede. It also embraced a provision to make free to Great Britain any port or ports on the

Cape of Quadra and Vancouver's Island, south of this parallel. Had this been a new question, coming under discussion for the first time, this proposition would not have been made. The extraordinary and wholly inadmissible demands of the British government, and the rejection of the proposition made in deference alone to what had been done by my predecessors, and the implied obligation which their acts seemed to impose, afford satisfactory evidence that no compromise which the United States ought to accept can be effected. With this conviction, the proposition of compromise which had been made and rejected, was, by my direction, subsequently withdrawn, and our title to the whole Oregon Territory asserted, and, as is believed, maintained by irrefragable facts and arguments."

Such, in his own language, were the views of the President at the commencement of the first session of the twenty-ninth Congress. To give effect to these views, he recommended that notice be given to Great Britain that the convention pending for the joint occupation of the Oregon Territory should terminate, according to the stipulations of the convention itself; and that, in the mean time, Congress should determine what legislation could be adopted without a violation of the faith of treaties. He recommended, also, the adoption of certain specific measures, as the best, in his judgment, for securing our rights in Oregon, and suggested others for the consideration of Congress. The former were, the extension of our jurisdiction, and of the protection of our laws, civil and criminal, over our citizens in Oregon, to the full extent to which the British Parliament had proceeded in regard to British subjects in that territory; the extension of our laws regulating trade and intercourse with the Indian tribes east of the Rocky Mountains, to such tribes as dwelt beyond them; the establishment of an Indian agency, and such subagencies as might be deemed necessary, beyond the Rocky Mountains; the erection of a suitable number of stockades and block-house forts along the usual route between our frontier settlements on the Missouri and the Rocky Mountains, for the protection of emigrants while on their way to Oregon, against the attacks of Indian tribes; the raising of an adequate force of mounted riflemen to guard and protect them on their journey; and the establishment of an over-land mail line to the Pacific. The President then adds: