238

SPEECHES.

SPEECH

Speech on the Oregon Bill, delivered in the Senate ,January 24th, 1843.

Mr. Calhoun said it ought to he borne in mind, in thediscussion of this measure, that there is a conflict betweenour claim and that of Great Britain to the Oregon terri-tory ; and that it extends to the whole territory from theBocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean , and from the north-ern limits of Mexico , in latitude 42°, to the southern limitsof the Russian Possessions, in latitude 54°. Nor ought itto be forgotten that the two governments have made fre-quent attempts to adjust their conflicting claims, but, asyet, without success. The first of these was made in 1818.It proved abortive ; hut a convention was entered intowhich provided that the territory should be left free andopen to our citizens and the subjects of Great Britain forten years ; the object of which was to prevent collision andpreserve peace till their respective claims could be adjustedby negotiation. The next was made in 1824, when weoffered to limit our claim to the territory by the 49th de-gree of latitude, which would have left to Great Britain allnorth of that latitude to the southern boundary of Russia .Her negotiator objected, and proposed the Columbia River as the boundary between the possessions of the two coun-tries. It enters the ocean about the 46th degree of lati-tude. It follows that the portion of the territory really indispute between the two countries is about three degrees oflatitude—that is, about one-fourth of the whole. The at-tempt to adjust boundaries again failed, and nothing waseffected. I learn from our negotiator (a distinguished citi-zen of Pennsylvania , now in this city), that the negotiation