The recent accounts from the United States show that the
Ore- gon Boundary question is rapidly swelling into practical importance. A bill was introduced into the Senate to make ample provision for the occupation of the disputed territory. Of course the bill will not be carried ; but it is a had sign when the Senate of the United States, whose peculiar function it is to consider and ratify treaties, even so much as entertain such a proposition at all—one of sheer defiance. Some years back, England would have answered the bravado by taking military occupation of the country, and in turn defy ing ejectment ; and vast numbers of British soldiers and Ame- rican citizens would have been the victims to this foolish bill. Eng- land's statesmen are wiser now ; yet they assuredly will not permit the opposite party in a litigation to legislate away her title. Probably there is no such hope, but the more unscrupulous politicians of Ame- rica may desire to make the question as difficult as possible, in the ex- pectation that it will force better terms from England. And no doubt they reckon upon the peculiar advantage which the United States possess, in the fact that their people are, one and all, keenly alive to the importance of obtaining a vast territory suited to immediate colonization ; while very few in this country bestow a thought on the matter, and fewer still care a brass button for the whole basin of the Columbia. Thus, not merely the peculiar institutions, but the peculiar habits and feelings of the people, can there be turned against the decorous working of the Central Government ; while here the Government receives no support in the contest. Still, the sense of propriety and justice are too strong to permit even the American Government to obey such a proposition as that before the Senate; and at the last push, the common feeling of manly resistance to aggression would support our Government with all needful aids. The object with both Governments should be to prevent such an extremity by a diligent negotiation, in order to a prompt settlement of the question. Our prediction, that it would be left unsettled, like its predecessor of the North-eastern boundary, until it grew into a source of danger, seems likely to be fulfilled sooner than was expected
Previous page
