KNOW YOUR ASTORIA

This document released june 9, 2015
This Supplement -- Do You Know Your Astoria From A Hole In The Ground? -- is being released this June 9,
2015, to mark the 90-day mark since the pullout of HANJIN Korean container cargo carrier from service at
Terminal 6 at the Port of Portland: an event which occurred on March 9, effectively ending deep-water shipping
at the Port, and thus ending direct and economically efficient international cargo service for manufacturers,
growers, and -- yes -- even retail importers within the region of the Columbia river watershed.
ALSO on MARCH 9, 2015 – that being the very day that HANJIN stopped calling in Oregon – SYM-Zonia, Inc.,
an Oregon non-profit, public benefit corporation, published the only public policy proposal of any kind addressing
the economic crisis caused by the closure of T-6, and the only single viable and available solution -- namely to
reopen, refurbish and reconnect the three existing magnificent deep-water terminals at Smith Point, Port of
Astoria, and begin planning for expansion of those three terminals to the full seven terminals originally planned
over 100 years ago, and expand further therefrom, to meet the commercial needs of Oregon, in the Third
Millennium.
Our report, published March 9, 2015, disclosed
100-year old plans of the Port of Astoria for
maximizing the full potential of the world-class
harbor at the Mouth of the Columbia.
This report -- in two parts -- is available at
http://www.slideshare.net/RochSteinbach/docu
ments

That Report focused on the existing three deep-water piers at Smith Point terminal at Astoria, as the immediate
and long-term answer to the closure of deep-water facilities at Terminal 6 in the Port of Portland.
Planning for these three piers was
begun in 1913 and construction
was completed to this point, by
1917.
Each one of these three piers
measures over 1300 feet in length,
and is perpendicular or “angled” to
the shipping channel, making for
greater ease and quickness in
docking and casting off again.
These piers are also already served
by a direct rail link to Portland, on
a rail line of the Portland and
Western Railroad – PNWR – of
about 90 miles length. this line just
needs to be checked and repaired to
be put into service again.
But in addition to the existing three
completely serviceable and fully
connected deep-water piers at Astoria,
the original drawings representing the
engineering plans presented in the
Report of March 9, 2015, disclosed the
intent for a fuller development at Smith
Point, that would have increased the
number of such piers from three to
seven.
Furthermore, other drawing showed the
original 19th
C. intent to create even
more additional piers along the south
bank of the Columbia: a river which at
this point at Astoria is over 4 miles wide
– and on whose shore such massive
development would make nary a ripple.
An unmatched opportunity...
And then, on the other hand, there is the Willamette River at the Port of Portland …. Let’s LOOK:

POrtLand is a hOLe in the grOund…
The Port of Portland is now closed to international deep-water container shipping. It is the author’s
conviction that this closure is permanent, as it is clearly due to economics of geography, and is not merely the
cause of disgruntled labor at the Port. Now, as we reach the 90-day mark, there is still no other public discussion
of the role which the Port of Astoria – with three deep-water berths already built --must play in the advancement
of the Oregon and regional economies into this new millennium, I’m releasing this follow-up report with a few
ancient authorities on the topic. Indeed… we have to look into history:
The shut-down of Terminal 6 at the Port of Portland was triggered by the HANJIN pull-out, but was shortly
followed by the cessation of calls by Hapag-Lloyd. T-6 is now closed. This abandonment of Terminal Six was
blamed by the Port of Portland and the Portland media, on the ILWU, whose Portland locals have been
scapegoated over problems which really are intrinsic to Terminal 6 itself, deriving from its incapacity to function
economically as a 21st
C. deep-water terminal. For a number of considerations which are discussed in the
ASTORIA ONLY Report -- now available in full here: http://www.slideshare.net/RochSteinbach/documents --
Portland is really not a first-class deep WATER port, but truly now a Port-LAND – and in effect, little more than
an inland waterway hole in the ground, out of which accumulating silt must be constantly dredged – even along
the length of a 100-mile inland waterway channel. This is strictly a matter of geography, and the way in which it
can determine regional economic development. Now, with the advent of new “next-gen” container carriers, it is
clear that neither T-6 nor anything the Port of Portland has to offer, can ever accommodate future international
deep-water commerce. Portland is in effect, a 21st
century version of Exeter, England, desperately dredging itself
deeper into its own hole; whereas, the potential for developing deep-water shipping at Astoria is not only
immediately superior to anything Portland ever had to offer, but it is also virtually limitless.
Portland’s pre-eminence as a seaport in the first place, was due to precisely the same sort of geographic factors,
which almost forced success upon the city over 150 years ago. Portland’s dominance now, is a vestige of the
romantic age of sail and steam: it derives from three or four geographic features or factors which combined to
make Portland originally a prime terminal for coasting trade vessels, primarily those running to and from San
Francisco or Los Angeles. These features are:
1) Situation at the head-waters of navigation: originally this laurel was Oregon City’s, but the
establishment of Portland a few miles downriver, in 1851, coupled with the advent of rail in Oregon,
unseated Oregon City as the de facto headwaters of navigation.
2) The Vista Ridge Gap: This gap in the mountains which otherwise effective ring in the expansive and
productive farmlands of the Tualatin valley immediately west of Portland, served as a flatland mountain
pass for farmers hauling wheat, oats, barley, butter and other produce, as well as for loggers hauling timber
for water shipment to California. Because of this gap ( formerly Canyon Road, now where Portland’s
Jefferson St. joins the Sylvan Highway (U.S. 26) near Goose Hollow) transport of goods to Portland by
wagon was far more efficient and less risky than to other competing ports, in particular to St. Helens, at
the northern end of the Cornelius pass from the Tualatin valley. This access to the waterfront where
Portland was founded is easily the most significant contributor to Portland’s early dominance in shipping
– but it is no longer of any relevance.
3) Deep seawall berth: Portland possesses (or possessed) a seawall on the shipping channel which was once
suited to tie-up by the large oceangoing vessels, of say 25’ draft. However, no perpendicular piers were
ever constructed off the Portland waterfront, because the river is just not that wide,
4) Room for railroad yards and warehouse expansion: Unlike Oregon City, Portland also possesses
ample low-lying ground near the Willamette river, which allowed for the ready and continual expansion
of railyards, to serve the Port, as well as ample room for warehouses, machinists and shipwrights …..but…

BUT …. CAN YOU FIND A PERPENDICULAR BERTH IN PORTLAND ??
Check out this Glover’s Birdseye map of Portland in 1879: http://www.bigmapblog.com/2014/birdseye-view-of-
portland-oregon-1879/ Download or zoom in. Even at this early date, there was no perpendicular berthing at
the Port of Portland, even for those smaller sail & steam vessels, which are already wedged in along the seawall.
Parallel berthing is not itself that inefficient with these small vessels; but in Portland it indicates a limited (non
existent) harbor: and represents a decision not to build piers off the waterfront, because such construction would
have obstructed too much of the shipping channel.
Image: Detail of Glover’s Birdseye Map of Portland (1879) – shows Portland with plenty of room for
onshore development, but no space to spare in the water for a single perpendicular berth.

HOWEVER, as mentioned, perhaps the single most important factor enabling Portland’s early growth and
predominance as a commercial center in Oregon, was a geographical feature which is irrelevant to 21st
C. deep-
water commerce: the Vista Ridge Gap, in Portland’s West Hills first accommodated Canyon Road out of old
downtown Portland through Goose Hollow and the well-timbered Sylvan Canyon, to the farmlands of the Tualatin
Valley, and enabled safe, cheap and swift transport of farm produce, goods and timber to the Portland waterfront.
It was THE lowland wagon-route to the river!
Image: Detail of Glover’s Birdseye Map of Portland (1879) showing Canyon Road – now Jefferson St.
– a low pass through Portland’s West Hills, which allowed ready access for Tualatin Valley famers bringing
their goods to the Willamette river -- by wagon… some 135 years ago. This pass, which pioneer farmers
first took, certainly following Indian trails, established the commercial routes which became U.S. Hwy 26.
The Sylvan Tunnels of Hwy 26 under Vista Ridge and into Portland, were built to accommodate the increase
of auto traffic along this route. Portland itself grew along the waterfront at the end of this road -- the
municipal beneficiary of this unique geographical feature: the one easy pass from the western valley.

And it was charming ! So …. so …. retro... !!
NOTE AGAIN, however, that there was no perpendicular berthing in Portland, not even in 1879: not even for
those little coasting vessels of just 100-200 feet in length !!! And it was the same story twelve years later, in 1890.
Check out Wood’s Birdseye Map of Portland, Oregon (1890) here: http://www.bigmapblog.com/2011/us40-23-
portland-oregon-birdseye-map-1890-wood/ Download or zoom in – but just try and find a single perpendicular
berth anywhere along the Willamette. It was impossible; but perhaps the river current was a factor here as well.
Image: Detail of Wood’s Birdseye Map of Portland, Oregon (1890) showing small 19th
century three-
masted vessels tied up parallel to and hugging the Portland “seawall” along the Willamette River: the
Willamette is only a modest tributary of the mighty Columbia river, and one whose width varies from 300
to 600 feet around Portland. Get real Portlanders! Wake up Oregonians! Snap out of the spell of the
descendants of the Portland ‘steam-monopoly’ on the Willamette River…
PORTLAND WAS A WORKABLE 19TH
c. SEAPORT

Senator Thomas Hart Benton
But WHAT CENTURY IS THIS ?
You couldn’t put a perpendicular berth into the Willamette at Portland 100 years ago – it would block the shipping
channel … And now ? None of the geographic features itemized, that compelled Portland to commercial
dominance in the 1800’s and early 1900’s are relevant any longer – except its vast railyard capacity. But neither
railyard access, nor any other features mentioned, compensate for the 21st
C. fact that the larger deep-water
oceangoing container carriers can barely even fit into the Columbia channel above Astoria -- nor economically
negotiate the shallows around Portland. And the next-gen Triple E’s will not even get past Astoria. So, with this
future overtaking it, why should a 19th
C. second-class inland seaport like Portland hold such influence over our
policies for future Oregon and regional development? Why is the Port of Portland seeking to blame labor for its
own shortcomings as a seaport? In fact, the same matrix of geographical considerations that once compelled
pioneer Oregonians to choose to conduct deep-water commerce on the Portland waterfront, are now compelling
us in the present era, to shift this aspect of our regional economy to Astoria. It’s that simple, and it cannot be
resisted. While Portland itself is a beautiful metropolis, the Port of Portland is now little more than a hole in the
ground to these supersize container carriers.
But… The good news is, if you learn the difference, then we can have BOTH: Portland can stay 19th
C. retro
while the rest of the State of Oregon acts to develop just this one thing: 21st
Century deep water port facilities
at Astoria. Yes – yes we can. It’s not hard.
do you know your Astoria?
There’s a book about it!! Read Washington Irving’s Astoria, or Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains, for
starters. https://archive.org/details/astoriaorenterp00irvigoog Or, for now, as an introductory, just complete your
reading of this 90-Day Supplement, and peruse the appended May 28, 1846 speech of Thomas Hart Benton.
Because the superiority of the harbor at the Mouth of the Columbia – that is, at Astoria -- and its importance to
the Oregon and to United States’ economic and security interests, was recognized by the earliest American
commercial operators, such as John Jacob ASTOR. The same harbor
was also targeted by our earliest official national commercial & scientific
expedition, the United States Exploring Expedition under Capt. Charles
Wilkes, which spent the summer on the river in the vicinity of Astoria in
1841. Thereafter, in 1846, when Congress was considering something
called “the Oregon Question” regarding admission of the region of
Oregon, to territorial status, the harbor at the mouth of the Columbia was
in fact a paramount reason argued by proponents, for extension of United
States’ jurisdiction over this strategic waterway. Yes: it wasn’t actually
inevitable that Oregon would join the United States: some people had to
intend for this development to happen first …..
Senator Thomas Hart Benton, of Missouri, easily the strongest and
most persistent Congressional advocate for the creation of the Oregon
Territory, declared his thinking on Oregon in a speech of May 28, 18461
.
This very learned oration is thick with references, and may lie outside the
attention-span of almost in the United States today. Attached as an
Appendix hereto, is the text of just the Second Half of the speech
showing Senator Benton’s intent to fully annex Oregon to the United
States as far back as 1828 …
1
Speech of Mr. Benton of Missouri, “On the Oregon Question” May 28, 1846, published in Congressional
Globe, 29th
Cong. 1nd
Sess., May 28, 1846, pp. 913-922.

On the subject of the superiority of the harbor at the Mouth of the Columbia -- that is, at Astoria -- Senator Benton
did not rely on his own expertise or analytics, but on the assessment of practical sailors and seamen, one of them
was Captain James Blair, who had served with the hydrographic surveying party of the U.S. Ex. Ex.: the officers
which took the soundings in the mouth of the Columbia. Capt. Blair obliged Senator Benton with the following
letter, which can be found appended to Benton’s Manifest Destiny speech, in the Congressional Globe, 29th
Cong.
1nd
Sess., May 28, 1846, pp. 913-922. Part of this historic speech appears as an Appendix to this Supplement.
Capt. James Blair , U.S.N.
Sir: I answer your inquiries of the 30th ultimo. I regret that neither Lieutenants Knox or Reynolds are
in the city, for information from them would be more satisfactory to you. They are both senior to myself;
and the first being directly charged with, and responsible for, the service, in which I cooperated, a
statement from him particularly would have been much greater authority than anything from me. Yet I
venture to say that it would be precisely the same in import, however in other respects more satisfactory.
Lieutenant Knox, commander of the Flying Fish, conducted and completed the survey with great ability,.
sharing equally with Lieutenant Reynolds and myself the drudgery of sounding out the harbor, channels,
and bar. * * *
Every ship is obliged to pass within musket shot. You have the same command of the South and Clatsop
channels from Point Adams; and here ships are obliged to pass within a half to three quarters of a mile,
and may be subject ot a raking fire in the approach and in in receding after passing. Even the temporary
occupation of the middle sands with heavy ordnance hold perfect control of the passage up the river. A
secure harbor may be reached in Baker’s Bay [on the Washington side of the Columbia – Ed.] or
near the Clatsop shore, [Oregon side – Ed.] within Point Adams, within three and a half miles of the
open sea.2
Frequently, in twenty minutes after weighing anchor, we have been in open sea. We were
about this time coming out when the squadron (the Porpoise, Oregon, and Flying Fish) left the river.
Shoal Water bay, to the northward, is the only shelter near the Columbia river, and that only for small
vessels; for the entrance to it is shoal and intricate.
The harbor of the Columbia river, as a seaport, is inferior to none, except Newport [Newport News
– the U.S. Naval base – Ed.], on the east coast of the United States, in point of security from winds,
defensibility, proximity to the sea, or capacity as a harbor for vessels of war or commerce.
In the hands of a maritime power, with all the advantage of pilots, buoys, lights and steam tow-boats, it
will be found one of the best harbors in the world.
In addition to my own experience and observation, (the result of which are fond in the notes of the
survey, and marked on the chart,) I obtained much information, confirming my opinion, from Mr. Birney,
commanding at Fort George, formerly called Astoria.
I am, sir, respectfully, your obedient servant,
JAMES BLAIR,
Passed midshipman, U.S.N.
2
In both the preceding and the following sentences, Capt. Blair can only be referring to the Clatsop Anchorage,
an unexplained anchorage on the Oregon side of the river, in the shipping channel off Tansy Point, and used by
mariners as early as the H.M.S. Raccoon (1812) and also – as shown here -- used by members of Comm. Wilkes’
U. S. Ex. Ex. themselves, during their investigation of the Columbia. Clatsop Anchorage is intermediate between
Point Adams at the extreme mouth of the river, and Astoria, approximately seven miles upriver, on the harbor.
Only weighing anchor out of this downriver anchorage would allow vessels to reach open ocean in twenty minutes.

Another of these experts upon whom Senator Benton relied, was Mr. John Maginn, a recognized expert pilot,
President of the New York Association of Pilots.
Mr. Maginn’s statement and opinion.
Mr. John Maginn, of the city of New York, and since the year 1828, a regular licensed pilot in the harbor
of that city, now president of the Association of Pilots in New York, and at present in the city of
Washington as the agent of the State pilots in their application to Congress, being requested by Senator
Benton to examine the chart of the mouth of the Columbia, in the library of Congress, as made upon
surveys and soundings by officers under Captain Wilkes, and to compare the same with a chart of the
harbor of New York, and to give my opinion of the comparative merits of the two harbors, do hereby
state and declare –
That I have made such comparisons accordingly,
and find that the mouth of the Columbia is the
better harbor, and has manifest advantages over
the harbor of New York, in all the essential points
which constitute a good harbor. It has deeper water
on the bar, having four and a half fathoms, without
the addition of tide, which is there said to be eight
feet, while new York harbor has on the bar but four
fathoms, without the addition of tide, which is six
feet. The bar in the Columbia is half a mile across,
while that of New York is about three quarters of a
mile. The channel on the bar, in the mouth of the
Columbia, is about six thousand feet wide at the
narrowest, and twelve thousand feet at the widest,
and then shoals gradually on each side; while the
channel on the bar off Sandy Hook is but six
hundred feet and shoals rapidly. The channel
across the bar is straight at the Columbia; that of
New York is crooked. As soon as the bar is crossed
in the Columbia, two channels present themselves,
one the south, or new channel, discovered by
Captain Wilkes’s officers, who made the
soundings, entirely straight, and deep enough for
ships of th4e line; the other, the north, or old
channel, being crooked, or rather forming an
elbow, and deep enough for any ships after crossing
the bar. Both these channels are from six to twelve
thousand feet wide or more, and free from shoals;
while the new York channels, after crossing the bar,
are narrow and crooked, and beset with shoals,

which require many changes of course in the ship. IN accessibility to the sea the Columbia is far the
best, as it is immediately at the sea, and ship can get out of the sea into the harbor at once, and also get
out at once, into the high sea, and thus more easily elude cruisers in time of war. A great number of good
and safe anchorages are found in the Columbia as soon as the ship enters, and room enough for thousands
of vessels, and deep enough for ships of the line.
The bar and banks of the mouth of the Columbia are all of hard sand, and therefore not liable to shift,
and being free from rocks are less dangerous. The land on each side of the mouth of the Columbia, is
high, and makes a marked opening into the sea, and confines all water of the river to one outlet, and
therefore would seem to be easy of defense. There seems to be no points, islands, or bays off the mouth
of the Columbia wo shelter enemies’ cruisers while lying in wait to capture vessels going in, or coming
ot; while the New York harbor presents such shelter for an enemy. The winds at the mouth of the
Columbia are marked regular and steady, blowing six months one way and six months another, while
the winds at New York are entirely variable, and cannot be calculated upon by the mariner for any time.
The mouth of the Columbia is free from ice, and also from great heat, the temperature never falling
below the freezing point, nor rising above summer warmth. The current of the river is said to be strong,
but I cannot see that it offers any serious obstacle. The breakers on each side of the channel are also
represented to be very great; but with a channel so wide, and a bar so narrow and free from rocks and
shoals, these would be nothing to experienced mariners. Taking the mouth of the Columbia as it now is,
in a state of nature, without the aid of pilots, buoys, beacons, light houses and steam two-boats, I deem
it a good harbor: with the aid of these advantages, I would deem it a far better harbor than New York,
and capable of containing an unlimited number of ships. In fact, I have never seen so large a river,
with its water all so well enclosed by bold shores at its mouth, and making so commodious a bay,
large enough to hold any number of ships, and at the same time small enough to be easily defended,
and where there were more anchoring and sheltering places for ships, and where they could be
close up to bold shores, and be better under protection of forts and batteries,
JNO. MAGINN.
Washington City, April 26, 1848
Some of the geographical features of the harbor at the mouth of the Columbia which recommended the river to
Capt. Maginn, are really no longer relevant of course: we don’t generally have to worry these days about visually
ascertaining the presence of pirates lurking offshore behind small islands, or abiding in the confidence that your
muskets can guarantee a raking fire from shore, against vessels both on their approach, and as they recede….
However, the mighty gun turrets along the Columbia, recessed in the uppermost cliffs of Cape Disappointment,
date from World War II, and prove that Maginn’s observations trued with military judgment 100 years after.
(Funny there are no photos of these batteries anywhere online. You can find them though, on Google Earth.)
But times change, don’t they?
Captain Maginn knew his Astoria. But it would have been unthinkable to any of these old-fashioned seamen
and nautical experts to even proposed to compare a point some 90 miles inland up the Columbia, to the first-rate
harbor just evaluated -- much less to suggest that a tributary to the Columbia might somehow dominate the mouth
of the river which drained the entire 258,000 square miles of the Columbia river watershed. Because, simply
put, that would be like comparing Astoria to … a hole in the ground.
NEXT: A statewide plan, creating an Oregon Port Authority to aid development at Astoria, is called for.
Roch Steinbach -- http://www.sym-zonia.com/ June 9, 2015

Because a watershed is a geographical region in which water and waterways finds their pathways of least
resistance as they move under gravity towards the sea, a watershed will inevitably be limited and ringed by
mountains or equivalent highlands – geographical features which also pose obstructions to human economic
activity. Thus, since efficient human activity depends on overcoming gravity with the least effort, a region of
original human economic activity is also naturally defined by a regional watershed. In the case here, all rivers
and many roads and rails or hundreds of square miles over at least five states, and portions of Canada, are focused
on the mouth of the Columbia river at Astoria – and nowhere else. All presumptions of economic efficiency
should favor Astoria – but in the case of deep-water shipping, established undisputable facts control.

THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE.
rRINT E D AND PUBLI SHED AT THE CITY OF W ASHlNCTON, BY BLAIR & R I VES.
2'.hn CoNGRESS, 1ST SESSION. SATURDXY, JU:•H: G, 18~ 6. Ntow S&m&s....No 58.
for the section: the United Statr~ be, ,11111 he i>< hertohy, amh<H·izetl ,.,~In!( thnt nler the war the employment of thc•e
Mr. S. JONES offered the following substitute II ".lnd be ilf1•!·Lh£>' rnar!t'd, Tl1at thn President of J . i1r. A. JOHNSOX offered nn nmendment, pro-
"That the aids-dc-cnmp of the mnjor ~cner~l nnd directed to calh·P- wrh mnnbcr· of i111i,utry, 11 otfrr.er;; :.10uld tH>tconunue more than StX monthA.
commanding the army in time of war, am! thr , rnntlry, and artillery h1·tirs and nrtirh·s of'ar as JIr. :10RSF. moved lln amendment ·hich tlte
aids-de-ramp allowed to the major general tuul lllllY be neces>ary f(H· the instnwtiua and inrorma- 11 reporter understood to be to add the words " ex-
brigadier generals, may be selected without re- Ition ofthe oluntcer t'nrce call,,,[ inlo~ tlJt• ser'ice of •·cpt ~uch officers should be taken from the regular
gm·d t<> mnk, or the hne of the army; and thttt the United Statr~, or or<krro<l to hold theJ.,,che"i" lim•.'' IlcJr·cted.
the r.oJilmnnding or hi~hest general in rank mny, readmess for tlmt "en ice. to b<• pn,cur~d an,l di" · I Ar11l the :uucuilment of l1r. JoH~SON was rc-
while in the fiela,llppomt a military senetnry, who tl'ibuteu liH· thvir u' , and that tht• ~n111c I r l'"1'l j<ortcd.
~h:1ll have the P"Y and cmo!~ments of a captain of fi.tr ont of nny,ntoncy in tl11: trca~ury not nthcrwix<· 'I ' lfr. llcKAY offered the following amendment;
mhurtry for the tune bewg. RPf"·oprlntcd. . wili··h wa~ n:::-rcctl to.
The amendment, by ayes 55, noes ()9, was re- Mr. JEJi'FETl:SON DAVTS mol"(·<] to illll<'lld til<: I ".!fnd br· il f~<rlhCJ· e1wc/ed, That when any offi-
jecteil. . . . . ~mcw.ln;,_e::t, ,liy 'triki~1g ~1111 •: ,u·ti,·l•;~ or.~:·ar,' and I ''.'·r of the army 'h~!l mal<~ tl _re(_ttisi.tion upon the
Mr. ROOT offered an addii.JOnal sectwn, provt- lmserlln, rcgnl.HlOih ol the ,rl~l). A,recd to. I F...crutlvc of ~ny State for nnllll, OJ volunteers to
ding that the pay of non-commissioned officers, And the amcrHlm<nt as arnenut d wm: <I!{I'Cl d ln. be cn~•,loyerl m rite ~~·rvrrr.> '!f the Umwd St~tcs,
musicians, and privates, shall be ten dollars per The next qlll·•tion was on the li>llowill!; atncnd- 1tlha1 Lethe ihrty_ ot the olhwr to commumrate
month. I ment, nlso reported front the (;ommittec on 1lili- I to the ~tud Execntl·~ a copy of so much of ~ns
.1Ir. JOSEPH J. McDOWEL L raised the ques- 1tary Affair·s: lllslructtons llR contmn the ~uthonty under wht?h
tion of rmier. • ".'lnd be ·ilfurtltcr nwrted, That the operation of I he net•, and all culls othenn~e mllde shall be dts-
The CHAIR decided the amendment to be in 1' the act appro'cd ;by 29, lF:JO, entitled 'An act rel(nrdcd." .
order. to altct· and amend tl1o G::ith arl icle of the Jirst Rer.· The committee then rose, nnd reported the bill
And the question being taken, the amendment I tion ofon act entitled An net for e"tttbli~hing mles and amendments to the Honse. .
was rejected. II and anidrs for the ~o,emnrent oflhe Uuitcd StateR And tl1e question being .on concu.rrin~ m ~he
The 9th &ection being under consideration, in tumy,: pasHetl the IOrh n( April, J-106, he, an<! t.hr amrndments and on ordcrmg the btll to a thud
the words followina· ·I same IS hereby, su~pended dttrmg t!te war w11h . renrltng,
"SEc. 9. •1nd be"'i.t fllrllttl' enacted, That the nl- Mexico." :ur."IIUXGERI~ORD ilemanded the previous
lowanr.e for clothing to each non·r.ommiHsioned I [This amendment rnahles the commarukr~ to de- question.
musician and private of volunteers slwll be three tail a court-martial when on distaut servicl'.] ~'cnrlin~ wltich, the hour growing late, the House
dollurs and .fifty cents _per montll ~urm~ the t,1,me The amendment was ngrccrl to. II ad.JillltHed. ___
he shall Le 111 the servtce of the Umted States. 1Ir. 11ARALSOi." o(l'ercd the followiua amcn:l-
lfr. McHENRY moved to amend it by adding mcnt: ., II PETITIONS, &c.
afte~· the word "uon-commllisioucd" the wunl •: ,lind be ilf,u·lldr nwrlrtl, That t•J the m!es ;uul Thr following- petitions and m~morials w<>re pre-
..ufficer." Agreed to. lllrt1rles for the g"llH·n""'~nt of the ar·n'y of till' 'I sentrd uudrr tlw rule, and referred to tltc appro-
Mr. PH ELP S moved the following sul.Jstitutc; .IJnitetl States, ~•tahli.,;llfll hy the abow r~circ·:l "''' priatc committees:
which was rl'jectcd: 111 the fir;t section of the same shall be tuldetl tltc I fly Mr. 11. JJ. HOL~JF.,.;: '!11c renwnmancc of llnrri•
"Thnt the allowance for cJothin~ to each non- Ifollowing: Clt'"'""t, A. W. l'olld, anll (;.; otller ollzrus of 1louro"
· · • · • '=' · "A ··I 10'> A ffi ld' , 1 . t>OUIIt~·~ lH w York. ~1:.!':1111:-l any rhnn~t> m tht.> pre,.rut tantr.
commr•sroncd otl!cer, muslet.an, and prl·ate of vol-. . rl!~ C ·•• ny 0 ecror ~0 rero~ <~ny <~ltet I. Ill' 'rr. s·r. JOll:: Tile pNit.ion or II. L. Harmer aud
unteers shall be the same as IS now allowed by IaIV II "the persolm tlc~cnhed .or Ctllltn~mted m. the 60th' 11~') otltercitizcns of 'ood COUioly, Ohio, a'king n pen•wn
to non-commissioned officers, musicillns, and pri- !JGth, and !J1 th of thr smd estnl.Jhshcd art1clc~, and for the "'Jow ofthe Jtcv. Jo>rph Dndgcr,llcccll>ell, a cllnp-
"atcs of the rcgttlar.troops.of th~ Uniletl States, 1 in genc~u.J all other followers ofa camp ot· army of 1
•';jv0
:;1
,'~~~~;~1~~"·1'·i'c'~;~~[,;orial ofcitiz•n• of the United
and may be draw11, Ill clHthtng ur Ill money, at the I, the :Uillted Stutes, "•hen any Sttch. nrmy shall b., State; rc,idi11~ m J.omlon, praying the parclla•e or Catlin'•
option of the volunteer." I~ervmg beyonrlthc hnut~ of the Unttcd Stntcs, lln<l 1 Iu<lian colkclioniJy c•ou~re,;s.
T 1 t h t' l t ~ I thPir or~nnize<l territori•tl "OvernmeniS may be lh· 'lr. ~lOHt<E: Tile J>Nition or Jo,hnnTarkin,nou, Wi-
o tlC ent sec lOll no nmenr men was o. cret . tried "'~ capitally or r.ther~· isc pnni•h;cl l,y ReiI- try Duty, nm10 otl'."'"• l'"')"ing to llnve the. rari,h ofJack-
The 11th section (i. f. the origmal tenth) being tenr~ of a "CIICl"ll r·omt·nrarti·ll "lrcor·lr"tt" tll tlw """ami a l'"'tio't' ot.thc t"'~"h <>lfCintlllor~~ mcllulrd "' ttllhe.1 .d . ~ 11 . r ._, L • ' ' f ~ ... . Ouarlnta lilllu f l~tnct: rc,errt:( to le '-'omnnuce on e
unuer cons1 crat10n ~s o Ovs: . ntttnrc and ch·:.:rce of lhf' otlCnce, .fiw Hll}' HllH'<h:r or Jmlu·ionv.
"SEc. 1l. .'lncl be 1tfurthu cna.cle<l, 'l'hat the col· other fdony enmmiucd upon the persnn or prop- II th· tJu~ ~PI:.KE!t: Tile petition orJolin Shirclilf, or In-
one! o t: };Cntor o1f~eer of the ordu~nce dl~pa.rtment ts Icrty of an·p of the tu-r:-:or:~ Itt.:...1·ein irwlud~'l or uonn th:'!'a. a:-.k!:n! :1 y~en~1ou. . ,
authonzed to enliSt for the sernce of that de11art- I J • ' .• L" .Hr. C.ILL": fl1e mcmon~l of Drs. John r. M"cken-
• • • • • ·.' ('r I t 1e person or prop0rty <_Jt fllJ y of 111~ pt'up!e of th~ 7,.. 'l'lw111a~ If. Bud·lcr. John VhitrilJ~e, rilliam ·r. J,ron-
ntcnt Ud many u1nster Dl.lllOICtS,_tnO.StCl Cturt'"~'='e~ country beyond the ~atd gcographu·al or judieii.-1 :u•l. ~~oul nthl'r>~.o!'.tlw rH) oi llaltinwr~~. pruymg that leerhcs
mnk_ers, mns1er black~nH~hs, aruficcrs, m·tnorcr~, llinltt~. ,, 11wy t;(• :·ourn,-ucd m_1Jl!'il"to1.·artJcJrH free ofduty: rctbrred
cnrrutgc·mnkcrs, b~ac~snuths, and 1aborcrs_, as ~he · 'I'hc mncnrhucnt wns agreed to. ru t_'•;· C~~m;ta!r.!t:c o~ ~•,tpl and 'Ie;u,:-~. . _
b)"c se vice in Ins JUd~nent under the dtre<'Uon I · t.) Mr. t Bl r t'f'. J c pent1on or ;f. V. R~we anrl 65
pn 1 r ' ' . . ' 11r. GROV~ll otTercd the following as an ad- otht'r r1t1zr us of Po"f'J' co1wt_v, Tndi:wa, pmyiug tJJnt Con-
of the Secretary for the epartment of Vnt , may <litional scntcnc.,: ' I grt''" no Jo..n~:o'r Cmjlii•Y chaplnin>. to he r.aut out ofthe pub-
reqturc." " 1'. d f . l f I · ft. he- frf·a--ury, hut th·1t thr 1U(l-rub('rg wJ1o rcccn·e :r:S per day
. .. I ~ lom an n tel 1 le pa~.3n~e o t liS net, no o II· tOr then !-rrvic-e~ J.mV thf• (•haplaitHI of thcit OYn choice out
¥r. BU,RT, from the_Commrttee on M rhtary cer in tit~ army of the Unite<[ Stutes not artnally oftheir own prhall.'fuudJ.
lt. fhurs1olle1·ed the followmg usn subdlltute; whtch Ien~ngeu in prosecuting 1.0stiliries against the puh· ~Y ~Jr.. FOi-;'J'Ett' 'l;r.emem~rinl of the Che•apcake n.~u
wns re;cctcd: Ihe enemy shill! be entrtJe1J to recetvc more than D1.nw.rrc Gn'"'} Compau), relative to the stock ueld thercm
" SEc. 10. .1/ncl be it fttrthtl' tnacltll, That the six ration~ per day as comnmtation therefor." hy the Umtetl l:itatc_..._ ______
ordnance department be so orgunized ns to contnin 11 Mr·. P. K I NG mol'ed to amend the amendment,
the same number and gl'tdes of officers ~s are now hy striking out the wortls "not arlllally en~nged in . S P E E C H 0 F l1 R. B E NT 0 N,
prov1ded for by law for the corps of en~meers; nnd I prosecuting hostilitie~ against the puLlic e"ncmy:" OF MISSOURI,
thnt the colonel or senior officer of the or·dnul"!ce agreed to.
department IS attthortzeil to enhst, for the serv1r.e And the question on the amendment of Mr. IN TnE SENATE, .May 28, 1846.
ofthnt department, as many master ~rmorcrs, mns- 1 GROEI!. (tlms amended) wa$ tal<en, and the vote On the Oregon Qttestion.-(Concludtd.)
ter C!'rrrnge-makers, mast~r black~mtths, armorer·s, Istood-ayes 73, noes 73. A tie. [See Congres,lonal Globe, No. 54.]
~arrmge·makers, blacksmnhs, artrficers, m1d lal,or· The cltairnran voted in the ne)!.'ntive. Mr. Pnum~;~T: Jn the progress of my speech
ern, not e~~.eed~t1g o_ne ~housand 10 nttmber, as .the So the amendment was rejected. 1 find another little bit of rttbbish in my path, j ust
publjc fsevtrS, 111
hrs .J~d~Vent, under the_ dt~ecd The fol.lowing amendrnent (by whom ofl'crr<l t.hc
11
tl.1rown into it from the other side of the sea- from
tron o t te_ ecretary o ar, m~y requne, an reporter 1s not ccrtnm, bttt unilcrstood Ly Jlr. London-which I must clear away Lefore I pro-
that the_enl!stecl men shall be subJect to the rules 'VoonwonTH) was rejt•cted: cted further. It is in the form of an article in the
and nrtlcles of war! a nd shal_l be entttlcd to the "Be il fm·tlur cnucte<l, Thill from nncl after lhr London Times newspaper. A friend hM j ust sent
benefits of the pensJOI~ lnw~, 111 l:~e manner wrth passrrge of thi~ actno person of the age of Rixty-ft e me some numbers of that paper, in which a fu-
other troops ~f the Unlted States.. . . year>:,_ o.r upwards, shall be qualifted to hold nny riotts war is wnged upon .the Utrecht line. of 4.9°,
M_r. BUR f , trom the 9ommrttce ot;~. M1htary commtsston 111 the artt1y or na,·y of tl1e linttcd !, motil'ed by the conversatiOnal debate wh1ch took
~ffatrs, offm·cd the.followmg as an tlddJtJOmll sec- Stutes,. find every sur.h office shall become vnr<:~nt place in thts chamber some t~0 !"onths ago, and
tton; wluch was reJeCted: to all mtcnts ant! purpose~ npon the rrtcullluem's 11m which the Senator from M!Ciugan LMr. CAss]
".iln~t be itfw·thel·_cnactcd, T !tat the Pr~siJent is attninin~ tltr age of sixty-li'e years." and myself were speakers, and in w luch the ~x-
nuthortzed to ~rgnmz~ the officers and ~nhste~l men . 1lt·. GllOVF.R nov1 111m,ed an '.rmcndmcntsim- istence, or n_?n-existcnce! ofthatline wns th~ pomt
of the Otdnance tlepattment as a_company 0 1 com- 11ar to the one al.Jovc oiferrd !.Jy hun, but ucstgna· of conte$lntlon. T he Times tak~ P,D.rt w~th the
p!tnte~ of rocketeers, for SCl'VlCC m the field, when- ing eight instead of six rations per day. ISenator from Michigan, a nd <:<'rrtes m to h1s sub-
cv7r, m ,l:Js Judgment, the pubhc serv1ce may re· Thi• mneutlment, by ayes 74, nors Gil, wns ject the usual quantity of h•s fiery zeal. I t s.o
qurrc 1t. adopted. )1:1ppens, 1.Ir. President, _that I pos~css a very delt-
Thc <]Uestion now was on the following amend- l1!-. E. II. E'V£NG ofl'crrtl an nmetHlmcnt, of I cate ~cent, nnd smell tlmtgs, especllllly of the rat
ment (from the Committee on Military Affairs:) which we hare not ncopy, and winch was n:jectcd. , species, at an immense d1stance. So, when 1 read
58

914 THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE. June 3,
- :--,======-- ..these articles in the Times, I smelt them-smelt the lof this wi"c remark. All th«' rrst of the cons!, from 11 and south, and ahove one hundred widc;-rich ill
beave•· that was in them! and, the scent coming the Strnits of l•'uca out to New Archangel, (and ~oil, grnss and timbe•·-sutlir.ICnl of itself to con-
upon me Hry Htrong, I as struck with an idea. nothin~ hut 11 fu•· tr;llmg po~t there,) remains a va- , stitnte a respectable State, and no· the seat of the
It was the same which struck the wonhy Dr. 1 calll WRStr, abnudonr1l since the quarrel of Nootkn B•·itish comme•·cinl and mililltry po8l of Vancou-
Primrose the stcond time that he met the accom- Sound, and brr.ome the derelict of nations. 'l'he ver, and of their great fanning establishment of
pli~hrd F.phmim Jenkinson, and heard from him Columbia only imitcs n po•sr~sor; and for that INi~quully.
a second rehearsal of his greek learnine on the possession, s;•~ciou'3 H•·iu>h diplomacy has been The middle distrir.t, from the Ca8rndc range to
cosmog-.111y, or r1·ention of the word. "Pardon j long wrnving its web. lt is not n ·orthless pos- near the base of the Rocky 1Iountains, is the rc-
mc sir, sa1d the Doctor, for interru!1ting so much st·ssion; hut valuable mul<•r many nnd large ns- , gion called, desert, and whidl, in the imagientious
lrnrning, but I think I hnve hrnrd n l this before." Ipeels; to the con~idcrution of some of which I now of many, ha~ given rhamcter to the whole conn-
The apparition of the fnir, with all the cnt.ostro- prorcrd. try. Ju some rcRp<,cts it i3 n desert-barren of
phe of the colt und blnekhcrry, immediately rose 1 Jt iR valunhlc, hoth as a country to be inhabited, wood-~prinkle•l with snm1y plains-melancholy
upon the meutal vision of the learned commen- and ns n position to he held and defended. I speak under the sombre !1RJ"ICCt of the gloomy artcmi,i<t
tator on Sanconiathon, Manctho, Luccllus Or.a.-, of it, fir~t, ns a position, commanding the North !~-and de,olntc from volcanic rock~, throt~gh the
nus, and Uerosus. Seeing he was cnn~ht, he
1
Pacific ocrnn, nnd oYcrlooking the eastern coast of ldu1sms or which plnnge the lwadlong >Jtrrmn..
conressed; for JenkinAon har1 some redeeming- Asin. 'l'he North Pacific is u rich sen, anrl is Dut this desert lats it~ redeemin;; points-much wa-
'lliut~ about him, nntlnc' CI' lict1 when there w :1s ulre:1dy the tent of a ~n·ent commerce: Tiritish, ter-grass-mnny on:>cs-momtuins capped witll
110 usc in it. Jle r.onfessetl the whole; and the French, American, Ru•sinn, anti ships of other snow, to refresh the air, the land, nntl the eye-
J?ortor's ".idea" receive<! ~he seal of it~ confirmn- 1nations, frequent it. Our whaling ships cover it; ·[blooming vnl_leys-t! cleur ~ky, pure air, and a su·
twn from Jus c:m<lor.. In hke manr~cr, l m~1sl beg onr slups of war f!:O there to rrotcct our mterest; 1 preme ~alnlmty. It JS the home oft~e horse! .round
the pardon of the cd•tor of the T1mes, wllh the and, great ns that mtcrcst now 1s, 1l1s only the he· there w1ld 111 all the pel·fcctlon ofh1s 1r;;t n..:,l'~'<
suggesilOn that l 'tul·e seen aft illlS lltrec)lt karn- 1 glnn;ng. 'Pulurlty Vlll dc,·clop un··mmense, and I'I.Jcautlfu·l !lllG itect-l.ery unil uoc!tc-p:nient, en·
in? before; thnt it is an old ncqnnintanrP of ,·nrious, commerce on that Rca, of which the far Iduring, tmd aJrcr.uonatc. Gt•lwral Clnrk hus told
mme; all familiar to me from the time that Presi- greater part will be American. That commerce, me that, of the one hundred and se"cnty horses
tlrnt"'JcJrcrson's governor of LoniRiana drove the neither m the merchant ships which carry it on, which he ruul Lewis obtain~d in this di•trict, he
British tmders across the line of Utrecht-across
1
nor in the military marine ':'h~ch protects it, can 1 had never seen the mat<'h 111 tmy equal number;
49:--an<l kept the~ there, rrgard.lcss of.all the~r Jh~d a port, to call lis ~wn, w•tlu.n twen~Y, thousand 1 and he hat! seen t!le finest which the .~P.ortu~g
cnrs and lamentatiOns. I reco"mse<l th1s old ac- ~ nulr" of the field of 1ts operntlOn~. l'he double course, or the war!Jke parade, hnd cxlnlnted m
qunintance in these new articks in the Times- kn:;-th of the two Amencas has to be run-a Vir6nifl. It is the home of that horse-the horse
nothing chnngcd in spirit, only in form. stormy and tcmpr~tuous c,npe to be <loubled-to of Pcrsin-which gallops hi" ei;hty mile" n day-
The Earl of Selkirk, nn<l his as.~ociate sufferers, find itself in a port of its own country: while here swimming the rivers os he comes to them-finds
!n forensic language1
r.onfc~se•~ and nv?idell; that tl lies one in the. Yery ed~e of its field, ours by right, his own food ut.night, the honf~craping away the
18 to say, they adm1ttrd the lme of l:trceht, but rcndy for use, and ample fol' every purpose of re- snow when 1t hides the grn"~-gullop~ Ius c1ghty
plead its abrogation by war, and its ~uperscdeas by fnl!:e and repair protection nnd domination. Can miles again the next day; and so on tln·ough a !on~
the consent ~nd co.nmvance of the Spaniar~s; b~t we tum om l?~ck upon it? a!ld, in turning the an•1 hc~lthy li.fc; cnrryit.lg his master in the cha•e,
the new artiCles, u?provrd by the mtrepnhty, •f ba~l~, dehvcr 1t up t': the Dnt1sh? Insune, and or the l1ght! r.n·cumycntn,lg the game, and pursumg
not ?Y the _p~ofundlty, of Grecnhow's book, (ac-
1
sulclllnl would be tllC tatul ~et! the foe, wllh thc.mtell~~;cnee of reason nml the
cred1tcd as It m on tins floor by the Scn::ttor from To ~ay nothing of the datly want of such a port fidehty or f1·1Cndsh1p. Ucneral Clark hus mform-
Michignn,) boldly take the short cut to the object, in time of' peace, it~ want., in time of war, becomes II ed m? thnt it was J~ecesstlry to keep a scout.ahcad,
und now deny, out nnd out, wlmt was confes,;ed If ruinous. Commodore Porter ha.~ often told me to dr~>e nwny the elk and huflillo, nt the s1ght of
!Ul~ avoided before. In oth;-1· respects, th~ Times th.at, wi,th prot,cction f1·om I.mttcries in the mouth whieh >lll their horses imm.mlintr}y formctl for the
art~elct< now·, ure the memorml~ ?fthe l!rJtts.h. fur- of the Columl>l:l, he never wonld have put htmsc!f
1
c!1nse, the loose ones tlnshmg oil to Rnrround nnd
trader~ at the eroch of the acqulsJllon of LotISlmm, m a concl1l10n to be attarIced undc•· the weak, or 1CJrculll·cnt. the game. The. old hunters also hu"c
and the cxpul~ton of these traders from it by virtue collusive £'llllS of a neutral port. JIe has told me toll mr then· niUrrcllmm •.tones llbout these horses,
of the Utrecht line of 4!). And now I want to that, with such It port for the reception of his dand that in wnr n11rl huntmg they hnd more Acns~:
ask the ~nator from Michig-:m [1lr. CAss] if, at prizes, he would not have sunk in the ocean, or 1 than peot.•l,e., t~nr1 M lllltrh roura!!<", llnd loYcd Jt
~cemg lnmself thus npp1atuled by the London hid in isltmds where it wn8 often found, the three as well. lhe C•>uutry that produces Nurh hors~s,
T1mes, he d~>es n?t feel tempted, like the Athenian millions of Ilritish property cnptured in his three mt~st ul"~ pmducc men, ttll(l t•uttle, and all the •u-
?f old a~ seemg h1mself appbudc•d by n rabble that years d•.nrin!!: und. dnuntlc•s crUJse. O~ten has he j fcw.>r lllllnlals; nnd .m~1st ha' u t;tnny bencfH·c•'t
ne desptsed, to turn round to his fncnds, an<! as k tol<l me, that, w1th such a port at l11s hnnd, he attnbutes to redeem lllrom tho st1gma of dcsola-
":hnt he had doneami~s to bringthisapplnuscup~m would neHr .have bern drinn. to ~pill upon the tion; . . . . . .
hnn? P·Tr. CMs nodded asscnt.l 1 can tell hnn wntcrs, that ml, for want of winch, as !l member I 'l he mount:un dtnston 1ws ltB own pecu1mr feu-
what he lm>i ([one r~mi~•.: he has taken the British of the BritiHh Pal"liamcnt xaid, London had burnt lure", and many of them as usct'ul ns pictu•·u<quc.
fur-truterR' side of the linr ofUtrrrht. And as for darkly-lmd been in the dark-fi>r !l whole year. At the hnse of the mountain~, a lon;!, brond, an•l
the .editor of the Tin~es, if he wi"l~cs light on the 'VItal happened to Commodore Porter and his hi;h bet.H:h is sccn-th~ec hunllre•lnulcs 1on~! fifly
RUhJcrt., I can refer hnn to nuthcntJc sources of in- pri;o;ts-what h.lpp~'ntd to nil otn· nll'rchnnt ships, m1les w•de-thc depo•lle of alwadcd mountanJ.< uf
formah'?n ju~t at Ins hnnd, nnn~ely; the Kin~·~ dr!vc·n f.-om the North Pacific during the wnr-nl 11 sno'': nnd crdnrc through. thou~ands of yenr«..
mal!• w1th the Utrecht llne upon 11, as. well ~s the !Ius to lutf'J'"n n;,:am, nnd. upon a far !urger scale, Lew•s nn.d Clark tln~s descnbc ~Ins ~:cut bend~ ol
1fmu~ boundn•·y hnc upon Jt, (ull wnttcn m the '"but hnlfthc evll oftunun~ our IJilcks uow upon II land, wh1ch thl'y tICC crossed Ill r.he•r expedllwn
old K1ng's own hnntl,) whir·h so man·efl"uslydis- this commanding poRition; ii1r, to do so, is to deli· II to and from the PacJfic ocean:
appeared from the F'oteign Oflirc at the time of tho ve1· it into the hnlld~ of a Power that knows the "The country nlnng tho Jto<·ky "ountain•, for >rwral
Ashburton treaty; and nlso to the thin quarto with value of positions-the four quarters of the globe ~· hunrlre~lmih•• in ten~tll aud n~uut nn.y '.'·ide~ is a lii~li I• nl
<1 foocs printed "tthe , t'St M t. ' L' d t , 1 d I I ' plam; 111 nit •ts }lnrts t•xtn'>llrty ft•rJ•Ir, anrl m many phrc<
re e1.~ • , . " eo1nero .. : nr m s nne, an o.ur own cons s attest t lllt-nn Jus 1cr eye cow..d mth a ~rowtiJ of tntt, 1011~ l••aferl pine. 'l'his plain
ChnnngCross, London, nnno DomLnl MDCCLIII, on this one. The very ye1u- after the renewal of is chiefly intrrrupwrt !ll'ar the""''""" ofwat.rr, where til<
prepared by Thomns Jefi'reys, Esq., Gcogmpher to the <!elusive convention of Hll8-in the year 1829- Ilitis are •tccp ""'' lofty; but the ""il is good, ~cin~ uncn~
the Prince of 'Vales and intended for the instrue- a mnstr•· shiycnrr1entcr wns deRnatched from L . cumhrrerl by mucl• >lone, and PO'"'''"''" more tunbt·r !han
. ) I · ' . . ._-l ot~ thf' level <.'OIUHry. C"ndPr l"hr'ltrr of lh<'~P·lnlll'l, the houom
tlon of .t le leJr·nppnrent to thP; tlom•mons wh~se , don to Fort ancouvcr, to be~m th~re the repn•r lands >kirt the wnr~in or the rirc,.., nud though narrow ant!
boundarieS he was drfinmg to h1m. Upon Jenkm- . of vessels, nnd even the con~truetwn of small confined, are sutt fcrlitc and raro•ty innntlnled. Nearly the
son's principle, the Times editor RIJOulrl confess, I ones; and this work hM been goinoo on. ever since. , wimle of this witte"pr~•ott trnrt i" <:ovt'red with a profn.''""
after seein<> this mtp of Geor"e the Third and tl is She r •sists o 1r 1o••cs•ion no 1 Jf · 1.. d II of I''""' ami plant•, "tltch a•·~ at th" hnw (~hy) '" lu2h aso . . .o . ' 1
._ ~· • • l. l ·· •· w · we Ru,~n ?n, the kucr. Among thr"P an• n vnru tyofe~<·ulent plant.OJ and
ge~gra~hr, m w)'u_ch that kmg studied the bound- 11sl~e wdl retnm! A1.1d ~er wooden walls, brJstlmg rooU<, aNJuin·d "ilhout mu~h ditli<·lllty, an<l yi•·l~in:: not
lUtes ot hts ~omtntons. w1 th cannon, and tS5Utnn- from the mouth of the on!.· a mltririon"', hnt n vt·ry n~rf'C'.n11f' fi~nd. The air i~ prue
This bit of rubbish being remoYed from my path , Columhin will gi,·c the 'i'lw to the North Pacific anti !lry, the clim,<W<tnite "" nntd, ir not mlf,t<·r. than the
I ow O'Q on Vith n1y Rub' t ' . ti ' 1. I b . . f' samn p:uallds or laflttule In the .tbntiC Rtatc.... nwl JIIU:'t
n o ~ec · . Ipermll n.~ ?llr Hl!P~ to sncn r. a out In t1mc ~ he t·q,nlly hf''llthy, fil.r all chc di:unh·Oi- which we have'' 1t
. The "Q~tte of the country-I mc..on the Col~lmbll reace-smkmg, SCl7.lllg,. <_>r chasmg them nwny, lll ne<.<e•t wayfairly be tmpulett nwro•to ••.•·: >.JniUrc of the IIi(•(
nvcr an.d Its vallcy-(I mt~st repeat tlw hnutallon tnne of war. As n poSitiOn, then, nnd if nothino- than t·> any HJtt·mt><-mncc ofdomote. llus cenernl ohser-
every time, lest 1 be cnmcd up to 540 40')-ha.~ but n rock or desert t>oint the posseRsion of tl"' " 111011 1• of""""'" to tw quahfl<'1•~"'0
.'''" lhc '""'" lr:wl of
b t
. d 1. tl d I I I c I b. ! . I b ' . lC eountry the dcurCf';oj or the t:omhmauon of heat anti C(•)d:
een ques tone on tlls oor ~n e ~ew 1ere. t o um Ia 1~ m~·a ~a le to us; nnd 1t becomes our ob<·r lhe inllm•nre of Filuntion. 'l'hus the rruns of the to11
has been suppose~ to be of httle value-hardly duty to mamtmn Jt nt all hazards. ~nmml.•, ne·u- our ramp, nrc •nows in th~ hi~h 11lain>; :mol
worth the posseSSIOn, much less the nc(]uisition;
1
A!!;riculturnlly the ~'n~ue of !he country is great; white the ann >h~n.<·s.w•th i~ll.cnse hea~ in the comfl.~:·•t hot~
and treated rather as a bm·den to be o-ot ru! of than and to understand II m nil Its exte t tl . I· ., toms, the l't:un< '"J"Y.omu• h rotrter n•r, :lllrt the·" .cl:llll•n
b fi b d Tl
. .t~ ' ' 4
n .' u.s UI~C ~~ rf'l:-~rdf'rf at h·a~l t&fl'Ul da):-t, wlult> at thr. toot of thf'
ns a enc t to e preser:-e . ~·s ~s !l great error, r.<_>untry should be contt•mplnted under 1ts d11ferent mountain• !he , 11ows are •t•tl '""") ft·<·t in deplh; ;o tht
and ~n.e. that only prevmls on !Ius s1de ofthe watPr: d.m~10n~-the ~hre:fold natur~_tl geographical di1i- Iwithin t.wonty m.ih•s of on~ t·amp we otJ•rrw the ri~o.- of
the 13rlll~h know better; and 1f they held the t1the s1ons under wh1ch lt presents Itself; the maritime, wmrer eotd, !he c~ol.alr ol •r~ug.' -"~<t the o~tnr'>IVC heal
of our utle they would fiooht the world for what the middle nnd the mo nt in d. t .· ts , of nud,ummrr..E" n on llu. t>t.un:'- howe>er, wllere lhe
d
·' ) . b I ~ '· '. . u l ts. llC • . . snow h:L"' falll'n, 1t :-:N'IU!-1 to fJn hnt l1ttlr. 111JIIIY to the ~r;:bs
we eprecm.te. t IS not a wort 1lcss country, The marll1mc reg-lOn-the fertile part of 1t-1s null other plants, which, thou~ll "l>to:m•nlly tender ami '"'-
hut one of 1m.mense vnlu~, and that under many I the long miley brt.VCI.'n the Cascade and the coast I~<'plthte, are ,titf hlonntiu~, at the hl'iltht ~f H~ari.Y ci~h~e.en
cspects, and will be occup!Cd by others, to our in- rnnges ofmountains extrndinoofrom the head ofthe mehe• thron~h tllu •uow. In >hort! ttn• <l••tnct aflnrds
J·ury nnd annoyance if n t b l. 1i . . 'V I -1 h- , I ' '. h I· . ~ 1 f 42 d . ; m:my atlnluta""" to. •·rttl"''• aJHt If propr•rty. rntuvat•·tf,
. , . o y onrse 'cs or ou.l l l u. ln~..tt 1~ Hem t c <Lf~ltH co eg-J~es, to I would yif'1cl t'vf•r_' obJel·t nect!:::.hary fur thtl subsLStcncc and
own benefit and protect1on. FOJ"ty years ago Jt thcStnuts of l•ucn, twm· lnlltude 4!). In tlus val- comtimofciliti~cd Ulan."
was wr1.tten by Humboldt, that t.he banks of the ley lies the rich tidewntrr region of the Columbia, Other, and smaller benches of the same character,
~olu~bm presented. the only Sltuaho!l on the north- ,
1
Wlth the vVah-lnh-mnth riv.cr <~n t!w.. south, and the i nrc frequently sren, invitinf;': the farmer tt~ make his
~•.est coast of Amer•e<~; fit for the resHience of n c1v- Cowc!lslce, and the Olym(•lr dJ~tnct, on the north. healthy habitation and fertile field upon 11.
1hzcd people. Expencncc hns confirmed the truth It i~ a miley uf ncar fivl' humlrt·d miles long, north 1 Entering the gorges of the mountains, and u sue-

916 TilE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE. June 3,
~==========~==
North American rond to India. Twenty-eight lj up the Kooskooske, thence oYer a high mountain
1
east from it, is ~ixty miks-in all, one hundred
yeursa~o Iwrotl' something on this head, and_pub-jj to the f<>rl<s of Clark's river; nnd thu1cc throu~h J and fifty m~les from the fori<~ of Cl~rk's rh·cr 1<1
)i8hed 1t. A quarter of a century of cxpcneuce the North Pass to the Grent Palls of the ;,Ills- the Great 1· alis of the :IIRSmu·J, wlmh, wlded tu
and observation has given me nothing to detract souri. The Hudson D~y ContJ)any have discov- ~ixty miles from Clarlr's rh·er to the upp<'r Fall>~
from what I then wrote-nothing to add, except~~;s ~~ cred a b~ttc~ route to Clurk's riYe_r, followin~ the of the Columbia, g-ives two hundred and trn mile11
derived from the progress of the arts, and espcel·· Columbmlugher up, and lcnvlll~ It nt the Upper of land carnage between the la~cnnv1gaLle wattrs
ally omnipotent steam. IFalls, in latitude about 38~, tmtt where they h><ve 'of the Columbia and Mis~ouri.
The trade of the East has always been the rich- establi~hed theirrlepot for the mountain trade, callE-d I This is the sum of my best infonnation on the
est jewel in the diadem of commerce. All nations, , Fort Colville. From these F><lls it is ~ixty miles Isnltject, the reRult of' thirty year~ inq•tir.es, an•l
in nil ages, have sought it; ~~;nd tho_se which o~tnin-JI overland to C!nrk's river, whence theriver is nav- believed to be corr<-'Ct; but nn accurate topugrapl,i-
cd it, or even n share of 1t, attamcd the h1ghest 1gablc to tts forks, three hundred nulcs up, and cal survry of the country bl!twcen the two rivers,
degree of opulence, refinement, ami power. The Iwithin one hundred and fifty miles of the Great and a profile, ns weil a.~ a superficies m~p, with
routes ,through _which it, flowed fertilized deserts, j Palls of the .Mis:;ouri. Alon; this route the Ilu_d·
1
bnromcu·ical, geolo!!;ical, botani<·r.J, as_trnnomir-al,
and butlt up c1t1es and kwgdoms nm1dst the deso- son Bay Company have can1cd on tl1c1r trade, for ' and meteorological tables nnd oh~cnnt•on,, woulu
latlon ot roCKS nnn ,;anns. P'hcn1ti11,"£.,'ry)l,Ytt- l'll~"l>l :.Wj )~~. ~'i~ ~,llm th~uu;l Vl he CU.Sl solve CVl'ry upe•tion, ~nd Le al:ll"l!;e routt·ibution
sia, were among the nncient thoronghfnre~ of this I side of the ltocky :lountains; paying no duties, I to the sri~ncc of the n2;e, and to the fuwrc tr,m-
commerce; COJ1stnntinople and Alcxnndria among using our river nud territories, poisoniug the minds I action of llllsinc"s. lf snow, dnring some months,
its modern chnnncls; and Venice and Genoa in the of the Indians ngainst us, and exhausting the coun- j should be found to impede the ~tram car in tLis
south, and Brugcs and Antwerp in the north, the try of its furs. Thcit· goods arrive nt Fort Von- cJc,·ated region , (guessed to be sc·en thousand fctt
meru1s of its di"stribution over Europe. All grew couver in ships from London-ascend the Cohun- jj'tbove the level of the sen,) that same ~uow be-
rich and powerful upon it; and, with wealth anu bin to Fort Colville in battcaux-make a portage comes the basis ft•r the next best land comeynnre
power, came civilization und refinement. T he of sixty miles to Clark's river, the lower purL of u(tcr the steam cnr-the sleigh. So thntthi' little
Cape of Good Horc became the rccem route, with that river being unfit for navigation; then ascend Iintervention of dry ground between Canton u111l
wealth to its discov~•·m·s, the Portuguese, and to Clark's river to its forks, three hundred miles, and I:'ew York will prove to be no obstacle either i11
all their rivals ruul followers-the Dutch, English, thence to the headwaters of the JIissouri. The j summer or winter.
French, and others. only part of this route with which I have but little AJTiv~d at the Great Falls of the Mi•souri, the
The commerce of Asia, always dazzling to the acquaintance is the sixty miles of portage from the II East India merrhant mny look Lack and say, my
Oriental nations, became the intense object of de- Upper l•'alls of the Columbia to the point where voyage is finished! Ire may lnok forward ant!
sire to the western Europeans, from the time that Clark's river cnn be navigated. It may be moun- say, a thousand 111arkcts lie Lef<•re me,ofnllwhich I
the crusaders visitrd C8nstantinoplc, and Vasca di l tainous; but that it is pracLicublc, is proved by tlte Jl muy tnke choice. A downward navigation oftw<>
Gama doubled the Cape of Good IIope. 'l'he daz- Ifact thut the Hudson Bay Company have used it thousand five hundred miles carrie~ him to St.
zling attraction of thi~ commerce was the cause of for thirty years: that it i• the be~t route, is proved Louis, the centre of the Yalley of the ?vlixsi~sippi,
the discovery of the New Vorld. Columbus, !!O- by the further fact that long acquaintance with the and the focus to which conver!_'"C all the steHul-
ing west to Asia, wns arrested by the intenentlon II country has notindueed them to change it. 'Vith 1hoats-now thousands, hercafier to be myriads-
of the two Americas. From his day to the prest.nt, this slight deviation, the Hudson Day Company , l"t·om ull the extended circumli'rcnce of that vast
skill and power hnve exerted themseh·e~ to 1=et follow the return route of Lewisand Clark; and this
1
valley. Loug hdore he rcach~s Rt. Loui", he is
round, or through this formidable obstacle. All will be the rvutc of commerce to the end of time. runnmg the double line of American towns nnd ,J.
the attempts to discover a northwest passage were The Columbia river is decried for its navigation, luges seated on either hank of the ri,·cr. 'l'he lTis-
so mru1y nttempts to discover a we"tern rond to not by the llritish, who know it~ value, and strug- j souri river is Raid to be the he~t steambo:1t tinr
India. All the discoveries of' the French among glo to maintain its possession; but by tho~c who upon the fitcc of the earth-the lon:;est-rd,tiniu~
the interior lnkcs and great rivers of North Amer- see the whole country beyond the Rocky Moun- II its water best at ull sens1n1g, aud periodir.dly Jlood-
icn were with the same view. Ln Salle, the great jl tuins tln·ough the medium of deprccitttion. It is, ed nt a known day-free from rock.•, nntl, for nrnrly
French disc,werer, parting from his friends eight even in a state of nature, a prncticalJlc river for two thou~and mdcs, free n·om sn111itn trees; for 1t
miles from Montreal, for his lust word, exclaimed, navigation. The tide flows up it one hundred aud is on approuchiu~ the lu a'y fortst lauds of tl,e
Ln Chine! (China,) us the word which displayed I' eighty miles; and to that distm1ce there is shiplla'-l llowcr i'vfi~souri that this oho.truction oecnrs. All
the object and end of his adventurous enttrpnse; Iigution. llattcuux ascenu it to Fort Col"llle, at nbovc is cll·uroftlds tlnn"~·r. The rivcr is lnrge frnm
nnd bythatnume the spotis known to this day. He the Upper Fulls, makin~ more, or fewer, port:1ges, the Fall" down; the mountain strc:un., ahn<"t in-
had nil the q_ualities of a ~real discoverer but one: ~.~ucconling to the state ofthe water; and beyond thnt II nnmcral>l<',1ourin~d<m"ll ~uchamplccontril•utJOn~.
he knew not now to conciliate the feelings of his I point they still r.sccnd, to the "l:lcmt Encump- At the .l:mdan v1lngcs, tuulaftcr thr.junction 'ith
people, and fell a saet·ifice to their resentment on ment," opposite the head of the Athal,nsca; wh~re theYellnw Stone, it elf cqu.,t in l ·ngth to the Ohio,
the Arkunsns. The Jesuit fathers,courug<;ous und 11 a Pas~ in the mountains leads to the waters of the it prc,en!s the same tnn,itStie appr.nranro to the eye
pious missionaries, to whom tho world wus in-JJl•'ro7.cn ocean. Periodically, the riYcr is Hooded that it docs toward:; ns mouth. Coni lines it~
rlchted for nll iL~ early knowledn-c of the interior of by the melting of the snows in the mountuins; und , hunks in 111any 'ltu·es; fertile land nboun<l~. A
North America, (I tun spcaki;.,. only of' this m- then many of the fttlls ru1d rapids arc Lurie•I iu millu.ry po~t wil doubtless soon he estnbli•hcd nt
terior,) seeing the waters of a th~usand bke~, held II deep wutcr, aud no trncc of tll<'m s"en. This is tho Great ~'ails, liS ulso mt this sitlr, at the Ycllo11f
in equilibrium on a VtiSt plateau in the centre of the even the cn>e with the Great Falls, where a pitch II Stone, nnd bcyon•l, in the valley of Clark "s rive•·,
contment, from which three great rivers went off of twenty-eight feet, at low wata, dis!ipponrs Imu.l on the Columbia, at the Upper F,tlls: every
north, south, and cast, to the Atlnutic; nnd hear- wholly under the flood. Sixty ft:tt is the ri~o, and I post will be the nucleu• of a settlement, nud th<!
in!" the Indians speak oft river of the west, in their / that annual, and punctml. ~'<'o ice obstructs its II future site of n gTI:at city. The g,,,t India mer-
llmguagc Oregan~' spelling which Humboldt fol- surft~cc: no sunken t1:ees_cncumber its bottom. Art Ichant,, upon the new North Amrr!can rond, will
lows-naturally supposed that, from the same) will 1mprove thenav•gntton, and steam-vessels w11l, find hnnselfat horne, and nmong Ius countrymen,
plateau a fourth great river went oil" west, and aetu- undoubtedly run to the Up]•Cr 1'all~-thc pitch Iland under the flnoo nnd the arms of his wuntry,
ally sketched an Oregan from Lake Winepee to the sixteen feet-a distance fi·om tidewater of some from the momenttte real'hrs the mouth of the c,,_
Pacific, still to be seen on some old maps. They lsix hundred miles; and the point where the land lumuia-•ay within fifu·cn days aftrr ll·aving- Call-
were right in the fact of the rivcr, though mistaken carriage of sixty miles begins. Clark's river hns ton ! All the re~t, to the remotest market wluch l,e
in its sonrce; and this is the first knowledge which
1
a breadth of one hundred and fifty yards, up to its Ican choose, either in the vnst interior of tlw Union,
history hns of Oregon. forks, being ncnr the width of the Cumllerlunll at or on its extended circumferencP, will lJo umon,;
l1r. Jeflerson, that man of rare endowments and Naslnille. The melting of the snows gives it a friends. 'That a c.ontr.tst to tho time, und the
common sense-of genius and judgment-philoso- periodi~.al flood. The valley through which this J perils, the expo~ure am! expense of protection,
phy nnd pructice-whose fertile mind was always Iriver flows is ri(".h and handsome, in places fifteen which the present six months' voya~e irl•olns!
teeming with enterprises beneficial to his species; miles wide, well wooded and o-rnssy, ornamented Arrived at the Great Pull~ of the ,.Jissouri, the
thio mre man, following up the gt-nnd idea of Co- with thebeautiful Pint Ilcutl La'ke~"llake ofthirty- East Indin men·hnnt, upon thi~ new ro:>.d, wiU >CC
lumbus, and takin~ up the unfinished entm·prise of fi,·e miles in length, scmed in a large fe1·tilc cove, u thousand markets bd'ore hiIll, lnrh im iting his
Ln Salle, and anx1ous to crowd into his Admini"- and embosomed m snow-cupped mountains. Hot approach, and of easy, direct, atul ready ucce""·
tration a gala.."Xy of brilliant events, early projected and warm springs, ad,·antageously compared by A downward na·igation of n~pir descent tttkes lum
the discovery of nn inland route to the l:'ncific II Lewis and Clurk to those in Yirgiuiu, also enrich to St. Loui", nnd New Orleans, and to all the
ocean. The Missouri river was to be one long it; nnd when the Enst India trade hus taken its Jl places between. A continuouH voya~e, withotlt
link in this chain of communication: the Columbia, course throu:;h this valley, here may grow up, not Hhifting the position of an ounce of his cargo, 'In'!
or any other that might serve the purpose, on the Ia Palmyra of the desert, but a Pulmym, queen of enny him fi·om the Great Falls to Pittsbur!!": a
other ~ide of the mountains, was to be ttnother. the mountains. From the forks of Clllrk's river,, single tnuMhipmeut, and three days will t.oke him
Lewis and Clnrk were sent out to discover n com. nearly due cast, it is about ninety miles to the lito the Atlantic coust: omnipotent steam flying hmt
mercia! route to the Pacific ocean; and so j udi- North Pass, along a well-beaten bufTalo road, and from Canton to Philndtlphia in tl•e mnn·ellooa
ciously was their enterprise conducted that their over a fertil~, grassy, and nearly level mountam I •pace of tiOme forty-odd tlays! I only mentionone
return route must beeome,and forever remain, the plttin. The 1orth PaRs is us easy as the South- II line, >lllrl one city, a~ n sample of all the rc"t.
routeofcomnteree: the route furthen10utlt, through practicable by w1y vehicle ina state of nature, and Vhat is said of l'itL"Lurg and Philmlelphin, may
the South Pass, near latitude 42, will be the trav- no obstacle to the full day's march of the traveller. be cqu:.lly said of nil the westcm river towns to-
clling road; but commerce will take the water line LewiH nnu Clark made thirty-two mile~ the day I wards the heads of navigation, nnd of dl the At-
of their retum, crossing the Rocky Moun!fins in they came through it, and without being sensible Jllnntic, Gulf, or Lake cities, with whieh they
latitude 47, through the North Pass. Iof any essential rise nt the point of sep:u·ation be- communirAlte. Some sixty days, the ubual run nf
With the exception of a small pnrt of the route, tween the Atltmtic nnd Pacific waters, To the jl nbill of exchange, will reach the most nmotc: Bl
1he Hudson Bay Company now follow, and have right and left the mountains rose high; but the j that a merchant may (;iive a sixty days' bill in his
followed for thlrty years, the route of Lewis and IPuss itselfis n depre8sion in the mountain, siul<ing own country, after th1s route i. 111 opcmtion, and
Clark. These eminent discoverers left the Co- to the level of the country at their bru;e. From this I] pay it nt maturity ith silks n11d teas which were
lumbia river near the mouth of Lewi~'s fork, went Pass to the Great Falls of the Missouri, uud nearly . Ill Cunton on thu day of its date.

1846. THE CONGRESSIONAL GLOBE. 917
This is the North American Road to India, all
ready now for use, except the short link from the
mouth of the Columbia to the Great Falls of Mis-
souri !--all the rest now ready-made ready by
nature, aided by private means and individual en-
tet·prise, without the aid, or even countenance of
~overnment! And will government now refuse
1ts aid; nay, more, obstruct the enterpnse of mth·
viduals, and frustrate the designs of nature, by
leaving the Columbia where it improvidentlyplaced
it, in the year 1818-in the hands of a foreign Pow-
er, and that Power Great BTitain! Forbid it, every
principle of ri~ht and justice-every consideration
of policy and mterest. Now is the time to decide
this great question, and to redeem the error of 1818.
My voice denounced the error then, and was un-
heeded. It was solitary, and received no response.
A nation now demands it; and it is not for a na-
tion's representatives to disregard a nation's call.
But even if it should be so, it may defer, but can-
not defeat, the great event. There is an order in
the march of human events which the improvi-
dence of governments may derange, but cannot
destroy. Individuals will accomplish what gov-
ernments neglect, and events will go forward with-
out law to guide them. So it has been already
with this Columbia. In 1792, a private individual
of Boston discovered this river: he revealed its ex-
istence to the world: government took no notice
of his splentlid revelation. ln 1806 Lewis and
Clark returned from the Columbia: government
sent no troops there to occupy and retain the do-
main which they had nationalized. The seat of a
future empire lay a derelict on the coast of its rich
and tranquil sea. An individual administered upon
the vacant domain. A man of head-Mr. John
Jacob Astor-sent a colony there. During two
years his batteaux, carrying up goods, and bring-
wg down furs, traversed every water of the Co-
lumbia; his ships visited Canton, New Archangel,
the coasts of California, the Sandwich and the Po-
lynesian islands. Astoria was in communication
with the commercial world. The name of the
young TYRE-future queen of the New World-
was known to nations. Then came the acts of
government to baulk, delay, defer the great com-
mencement. I do not mean the war-that was a
brief and necessary event-but I speak of the acts
of government after the war. The commissioners
did their duty at Ghent: all poste, places, ten·ito-
rics, taken from the United States during the war,
were, by the first article of that treaty, to be re-
stored. The posts or places of Astoria, the Olea-
nag-an, the Spo-lcan, the Wah-lah·math, and the
whole territory of the Columbia river and its valley,
came under the terms of the treaty, and were bound
to be restored. The fate of the restoration of all
western posts attended the posts on the Columbia.
After the peace of 1783, the northwestern posts
were retained: British traders, backed by their
government, retained them : the Indian wars of
1791-3-4, were the fruit of that retention; and the
war of 1812 found one of its roots in the same
cause. This was the fate of western posts after
the war of the Revolution. After the war orl812,
a far worse fate awaited the western posts on the
Columbia. A fictitious restoration of one post was
tmnsactcd-to be accompanied, in the very moment
of the transaction, hy the surrender of the whole
country to the British. I say the surrender of the
whole; for nothing less was, or could be, the effect
of a joint-use possession between the weak and the
strong; between the scattered and dispersed Amer-
ican traders, abandoned by their government, and
the organized British companies, supported by
theirs! A quarter of a century the British have
held the Columbia, the government doing nothing.
Four years ago the people began to move. They
crossed the Rocky Mountains; they have gone
down into the tidewater region of the Columbia.
Without the aid of government, they are recover-
ing what government lost, and renewing the phe-
nomenon of mere individuals exploring the bounds
of distant lands, and laying the foundation of dis-
tant empires. The question of American coloniza-
tion of the Columbia is settled! The people have
settled it; they are now there, and will stay there.
The trade with India will begin. If no more John
Jacob Astors shall arise to commence the trade
upon a great scale, it will proceed upon a small
one-grow up by degrees-find an emporium in the
mouth of the Columbia, and spread 1tself all over
North America, through the line of the Columbia
and of the Missouri. The North American road
to India will be established by the people,_if not
by the government. The rich commerce of the
East will find a new route to the New World, fol-
lowed by the wealth and power which has always
attended it; and this will be another of the advan-
tages resulting from the occupation of the Colum-
bia.
And now, Mr. President, this is the exact reason
why the British want the Columbia. They want
it as the indispensable link in their own projected
North American route to India. This is shown
in McKenzie's history of his voyages of discov-
ery in 1789 and 1793. On both occasions he was
seeking a river line of communication between
Hudson's Bay and the Pacific. In the first voyage
he followed the Unjigah, or Peace rinr, bearing
northwest through the Great Slave Lake and the
Great Dear Lake, and after two thousand miles of
navigation, found himself at the Frozen Ocean,
north, or rather cast of Behring's Straits. That was
too far north to answer any purpose. In the year
1793, he sat out again to find a more southern river
to the Pacific. On Loth voyag-es he sat out from
the same point-Fort Chipewyan, on the Athaba-
ca Lake. Instead of descending the Unjigah, he
now ascended it-went up to its head in the Rocky
Mountains-passed through a low gap-found a
stream flowing west, and followed it from its
source in 550 of north latitude, and followetl it
down to 520. Finding it to bear south , and be-
coming a large river, l1cKenzie believed it to be
the Columbia, already discovered by Gray; and
thereupon left it, and crossed over direct to the
Pacific ocean, which he reachetl some distance
north of Vancouver's Island. This voyage, like
the other, had failed in its object: it f()und no navi-
gable British river leading to the Pacific. And then
a new idea struck the disappointed explorer, which
he gave to the country, and impressed upon the
British government, eight years afterwards, in his
History of the Fur Trade. That work, published
in London in the year 1801, after lamentiiig that
a Northwest Passage could not be found, and de-
claring that the Columbia was the only line of
interior communication with the Pacific ocean,
boldly proposed to take it! on no other ground
than that it was indispensable to the commercial
communication between Hudson's Bay and the Pa-
cific, and no obstacle in the way, but American
adventurers, who would instantly disappear from
before a well-regulated trade! that is to say, be-
fore the power of the British fur-trading com-
panics, backed by the power of the British gov-
ernment. Here is the extract from McKenzie's
History, which very coolly recommends all this
policy, as if the taking an American river, and
n1aking the Americans disappear fr01n ir, was ns
justifiable an operation as that of" catching a beaver,
and killing him for his skin. Here is the propo-
sition of McKenzie, earnestly pressed upon his
govcrnn1ent:
"The Russians, who first discovered that, along the coasts
of Asia, 110 U.'.iCful or regular llUvigation C.h=tcrl, op~!li Cd an
interior comtnunicatiou by river:;, &c., and through that Joug
and wide-exteiJded coutincHt, to tile strait tllat separates
Mia from America, over wltich tlley pa~scd to the Ameri-
can coutinent. Our situation i", at length, in some degree,
8itnilar to theirs: the non-existence or a practicalJie passage
by sea, and the existence of one through the contineHt, are
clearly proved, a11d it requires only the countenance aud
support of the British Govcrmncnt to incrc:u:;c, in a very
ample proportion, this national advantage, and secure the
trade of tlJUt country to its :-.uhjccts." "By the rivers that
dischar"e them~elvcs iuto IIurlsou'd llay, at Port Nd~on, it
is prop~sed to earry on the trade to their source, at the head
of the Saslmtchivinc river, w.ilicll rhc;;; in the Rocky .Moun-
tain~, uot eight df'grce~ of'lOHJ!itude from t!1c Pacific Ocean.
The Colmn!Jia flows fro111 tl1c oumc mountaiHs, and di-;-
charg•_·s it£clf into the .Pacific iu 110rth latitude •J6 ~0. llvt h
of them arc capable of rccch·in!.' ships nt their mouths, and
are navigable tliro ~Lgh out for huat.-:." "But whatever cour~c
may Le tal<en from the Atlautic, the Colmabia is the line oj
comnw.micationfrom the Padjic Ocean poiutcd out hy nature,
as it is the only n:lVigablc river in the dlOIC c.xtent oi'Vau-
couver's uii nute snn ey of that coast; its banks, also, i'onn
tlic firstlevel country iu all the ~outllern extent ofcontinental
coa;:;t from Oook'o entry; and, conscqurnUy, the mo~t north-
ern sitnation, ::;n!tablc to the rc:::ideJH.:cufa civilized people.
Byopeuing tl1L~ intercourl'>e between tile Atlantic and Pacific
0Cf'aBs, aud timuing regular cstabll:,;hJllCllt.:> through the in-
terior, a11d at Loth extrc!llcs, a=-- wciJ a;:; along the coa~t and
islands, the entire COilJinand ofthe fnr trade ofNortll Amcri('a
might be obtaiuerl, from latitu cle 48 to tile pole, cxcPpt that
portion of' it which the lt11~;o:ia us have in the Paeilic. rro thi~
may be added, the fishiag in both sea:-:, and the marlet of
the four quarters of the globe. :-:;uell would be the field fOr
commercial enterprisr, and incalculaiJ!c would he the pro~
duce of it, wl1cn ::-upportcd hy tlle opt·ratinus of that credit
and capital which Great Britain so pre-emiuentlypo::'f-iesscs.
'!'hen woultl this country begin to he re lllun~ratcd for tl1c
expense it has su:;tained ia dbcovering all(! surveying tile
coast of the l)acific Uccan, which is at prc.:5cnt lefltoAmer-
ican adventurers, :vho, without regularity or capital, or the
desire of conciliating future confidence, Jook altogether to
the interests of the moment. Such adventurers (and many
of them, as I have been informed, have been very success-
ful) would instautly disappear from before a well regulated
trade." "Many political reasons, which it is not necessary
here to enumerate, must present themselves to the mind of
every man "'acquainted 'vith the enlarged system and ca...
pacities of British commerce, in support of tlte measures
which I have briefly suggested, as promising the most
important advantages to the trade of the United King-
doms."
" For a boundary line between the United States and
Great Britain, west of the Mississippi, McKenzie proposes
the latitude of45 dcgreees, because that latitude is necessary
to give the Columbia river to Great Britain. His words are:
'Let the line begin where it may on tl1e Missis~ippi, it must
be continued w est till it terminates in the Pacific Ocean, to
the south ofthe 0Jlwnbia.'"
It was in the year 1801 that McKenzie made
this proposition to the British government. That
government never ventured to act upon the propo-
sition until after the joint occupation treaty of
1818. Before that, its Ministers here hinted vague
claims, but refused to write them down, or to sign
them. After that convention, and especially after
its renewal in 1828, and after the disappearance
of our people from the Columbia under the power
and policy of the Hudson Bay Company, then the
government took the decisive stand, and went the
whole length of McKenzie's recommendation.
This is the origin of the British claim to the Co-
lumbia !-Because they could not find a north-
west passage-because the Unjigah went to the
Frozen ocean-because Frazer's river was unnav-
igable-because the Columbia river was the only
practicable line of communication with the Pacific
ocean, and its banks the only situation fit for the
residence of a civilized people: for these reasons,
after long delay and great hesitation, and aided by
the improvidence of our government, they set up
a claim to the Columbia! It was found to be the
only river on which a commercial communication
could be opened between Hudson's Bay and the
Pacific ocean-the only British American road to
India! The command of the North Pacific ocean,
and the monopoly of its rich trade, depended upon
the acquisition of the Columbia; and, therefore,
they must take it. This is the origin of the Brit-
ish claim to the Columbia river. It was an indis-
pensable link in their commercial line across the
continent. The other end of that line was in the
frozen and desolate regions of Lake Winipec and
Hudson's Bay, along the icy streams of the Sas-
katchiwine and Missinippi, (Nelson's river;) yet
even for such a route as this McKenzie invoked
the aid and protection of the British government,
and obtained it. That government now backs
the powerful fur company-the instrument of its
policy in America as the East India Company is
in A~ia-in its pretensions to the Columbia as the
substitute for the Northwest passage; and if they
had the tithe of our title to it, would never surrender
it. Even with one end oftheirlineterminatingin the
icy and desolate waters of Hudson's Bay, she still
struggles for it. vVhat would it be if she had the
North Pass and the Missouri river, bearing down
south to the centre of the valley of the Mississip-
pi? The British Government would fight the
world for such a line as that, and spend unnum-
bered millions in its improvement and protection:
yet we have turned our backs upon it-left it for
thirty years a derelict in the hands of our com-
petitors; and lmn now listened to with some sur-
prise and incredulity when I represent this grand
commercial route to India upon the line of the
Missouri and the Columbia, as one of the advan-
tages of Oregon-one of our inducements to main-
tain our rights there.
The effect of the arrival of the Caucasian, or
White race, on the western coast of America, op-
posite the eastern coast of Asia, remains to be
mentioned among the benefits which the settlement
of the Columbia will produce; and that a benefit,
not local to us, but general and universal to the
human race. Since the dispersion of man upon
earth, I know of no human event, past or to come,
which promises a greater, and more beneficent
chan;,;:e upon earth than the arrival of the van of
the Caucasian race (the Celtic-Anglo-Saxon di-
vision) upon the border of the sea which washes
the shore of the eastern Asia. The Mon~olian,
or Yellow race, is there, four hundred milhons in
number, spreading almost to Europe; a race once
the foremost of the human family in the arts of
civilization, but torpid and stationary for thou-
sands of years. It 1s a race far above the Ethio-
pian, or Black-above the Malay, or Brown, (if

we must admit five races)-and above the Ameri-
can Indian, or Red: it is a race far above all these,
but still, far below the White; and, like all the
rest, must receive an impression fl'Om the superior
race whenever they come in contact. It would
seem that the White race alone received the divine
command, to subdue and replenish the earth! for
it is the only race that has obeyed it-the only one
that hunts out new and distant lands, and even
a New World, to subdue and replenish. Starting
from western Asia, taking Europe for their field,
and the Sun for their guide, am! leaving the Mon-
golians behind, they arrived, after many ages,
on the shores or the Atlantic, which they lit
up with the lights of science and religion, and
adorned with the useful and the elegant arts.
Three and a half centuries ago, this mce, in obe-
dience to the great command, arrived in the New
'Vorld, and found new lands to subdue and re-
plenish. For a long time it was confined to
the border of the new field, (I now mean the
Celtic-Anglo-Saxon division;) and even fourscore
years ago the philosophic Burke was consider·
eel a rash man because he said the English colon-
ists would top the Alleganics, and descend into
the valley of the Mississippi, and occupy with-
out parchment if the Crown refused to make
grants of land. What was considered a rash dec-
laration eighty years ago, is old history, in our
young country, at this day. Thirty years ago I
said the same thing of the Rocky Mountains and
the Columbia: it was ridiculed then: it is becom-
ing history to-day. The venerable Mr. Macon
has often told me that he remembered a line low
down in North Carolina, fixed by a royal govern-
or as a boundary between the whites anu the In-
dians: where is that boundary now! The van of
the Caucasian race now top the Rocky Mountains,
and spread down to the shores of the Pacific. In
a few years a great population will grow up there,
luminous with the accumulated lights of European
and American civilization. Their presence in such
a position cannot be without its influence upon
eastern Asia. The sun of civilization must ~hine
across the sea: socially and commercially, the van
of the Caucasians, and the rear of the Mono-o-
lians, must intermix. They must talk together, ~nd
trade together, and marry together. Commerce
is a ~·eat civilizer-social intercourse as great-
and marriage greater. The White and Yellow
races can marry together, as well as eat and trade
together. Moral and intellectual superiority will
do the rest: the White race will take the ascen~
ant, elevating what is susceptible of improve-
ment-wearing out what is not. The Red race
has disappeared from the Atlantic coast: the tribes
that resiSted civilization, met extinction. This is
a cause of lamentation with many. For my part,
I cannot murmur at what seems to be the effect
of divine Jaw. I cannot repine that tl1is Capitol
has replaced the wigwam-this Christian people,
replaced the savages-white matrons, the red
squaws-and that such men as Washington,
Franklin, and Jeiferson, have taken the place of
Powhattan, Opechonecanough, and other red men,
howsoever respectable they may have been as
savages. Civilization, or extinction, has been the
fate of all people who have found themselves in
the track of the advancing Whites, and civiliza-
tion, a!ways the preference of the vVhites, has
been pressecl as an object, while extinction has
followed as a consequence or its resistance. The
Black and the Red races have often felt their ame-
liorating influence. TheYellow race, next to them-
selves in the scale of mental and moral excellence,
and in the beauty of form, once their superiors in
the useful and elegant arts, and in learning, and
still respectable though stationary; this race can-
not fail to receive a new impulse from the ap-
proach of the Whites, improved so much since so
many ages ago they left the western borders of
Asia. The apparition of the van of the Caucas-
ian race, rising upon them in the east after having
left them on the west, and after having completed
the circumnavigation of the globe, must wake up
and reanimate the torr.id body of old Asia. Our
position and policy will commend us to their hos-
pitable reception: political considerations will aid
the action of socml and commercial influences.
Pressed upon by the great Powers of Europe-
the same that press upon us-they must in our ap-
Pt:Oach hail the advent of friends, not of foes-of
benefactors, not of invaders. The moral and in-
tellectual superiority of the White race will do the
rest: and thus, the youngest people, and the new-
est land, will become the revtver and the regene-
rator of the oldest.
It is in this point of view, and as acting upon
the social, politlCal, and religious condition ofAsia,
and giving a new point of departure to her ancient
civilization, that I look upon the settlement of the
Columbia river by the van of the Caucasian race
as the most momentous human event in the his-
tory of man since his dispersion over the face of
the earth.
These are the values of the Columbia river and
its valley-these the advantages of its settlement
by us. They are great and grand, beneficial to our·
selves, and to the human race, and amply suffi-
cient to justify the United States in vindicating
their title to the country, and maintainin~ its pos-
session at all hazards. But I apprchentl no haz-
ard. The excitement in Great Britain was on ac-
count of the British settlements on Frazer's river,
which our r.laim to 540 40' included and menaced.
That claim is now on its last legs. The myriads
ofgood citizens who have been deluded into its
l,e!Jet', and who have no interest in being deceived,
now abandon it as a ~heer mistake. The Balti-
more Convention, and the editors ami orators who
were so unfortunate as to stake the peace, and the
honor, of their country on that error, and who had
probably never read the Russian treaties of 1824
and 1825, nor the diplomatic correspondence of
that time, nor ever heard of New Caledonia, nor
taken it into their heads to consider whether con-
tinents were appurtenant to islands, or islands to
continents: these editors and orators may still hang
on to their old dream of" fifty-four forty from mor-
tified pride, and the consistency, not of judgment,
but of vanity: they may still hold on to the shad-
owy phantom of their former love; but their power
to involve their country in a war for a line which
has no existence, and for a country that belongs to
Great Britain as clearly as does Canada, is gone.
They can no longer lead the country into war
upon a mistake! and thus the war party at home
may be said to be extinct. In Great Britain I see
no desire for war except with those who have no
power to make it, namely, the abolition fanatics,
and the Hudson Bay traders. The former of these
parties, uninstructed by the scenes of the San Do-
mingo insurrection, and its effects upon the blacks
as well as the whites of that island, would deem ne-
gro emancipation cheaply purchased in the United
States by the slaughter of every man, the violation
of every woman, the massacre of every child, and
the conflagration of every dwelling in the whole
slaveholding half of the Union: but, happily, these
fanatics have no longer a French National Gonven-
ti"n to organize their crimes; and speeches and
votes must still be their arms instead of the knife
and the torch.
The fur traders, now as always, arc still ready
for a war which gives them a little while longer
the monopoly of beaver; but their power is not
equal now to what it has been. They set the In-
diems upon us in the war of the Revolution, and in
fact began the war at Point Pleasant (month ofthe
Kenhawa) in October, 1774. They instigated and
kept up the long Indian wars in the northwest,
terminated at last by Wayne's victory under the
guns of a British fort. One of the causes of the
late·war had its root in their love of beaver; and
their savages, as in the war of the Revolution,
fought the first battle in the bloody drama that was
to follow. As an interlude, when not at war with
us, they fought each other; and nothing in the long
catalogue of Indian massacres can be more shock-
ing than those perpetrated upon P.ach other, through
the instrumentality ofsav~ges, by the Hudson Bay
and Northwest Companies; and all from the love
of beaver. The act of Parliament which united
these two companies under one charter, assigned it
for a reason of the junction, in the face of the act,
the necessity of joining them together to prevent
their destmction of each other. This company
would still find, in their opinion, judging from their
past acts and present writings, a compensation for
national war in theirown further monopolyofbeav-
er; but I see no sign of their success with the Gov-
ernment; and, for the rest, let them beware! The
nex t war with Great Britain will leave them not a
fort standing, from the Lake of the Woods to
Hudson's Bay-from the Saskatchiwine to Fort
Chipewyan-from the mouth of Frazer's river to
Bear lake. But they have no longer power to make
war. Afterdoing all they can to give that blessing
to the two nations, they will probably set up for
the innocent and injured party-demand indemnity
for losses-claim the navigation of the Columbia-
and require time to remove. I should be willing
to be a negotiator for half an hour when they
should come forward with such reclamations. I
would remind them of something that might stand
as a set-oil', and that without going back to the
war of the Revolution, the wars of the northwest,
or the war of 1812. Leaving out old scores, and
confining myselfto the unsettled account which has
grown up between us since the war of 1812, and
the five hundred men killed on the Missouri and the
Columbia, the five hundred thousand dollars worth
of property /)lundered there-the thirty years'
ravaging of a I the fur regions in the valley of the
Columbta under the reciprocity convention, which
expelled our traders from our own territories in-
steaa of admitting them into the territories of the
British : confining myself to these modern items,
and I would soon find enough to silence the de-
maud for indemnities, and rejecting the prayer for
future favors. But, enough "of this. There is uo
longer a party, either in the United States or Great
Britain, which can make a war either upon a mis-
take, or upon fanaticism, or on beaver.
The treaty ofsettlement and limits will probably
be concluded before the expiration of the twelve
months whtch the abroo-ation of the conventwn
requires: ifnot, the effect will be the same to us,
though not to Great Britain. Under the first ar-
ticle of the Ghent treaty we shall receive the pos-
session of the Columbia; and, as an incident of that
possession, as well as by the admission of Lord
Castlereagh in 1818, we shall have the right to
hold and govern it until the question of title is de·
cided. This brings me to the practical question of
providing for the establishment of o-overnment, and
the administratioil of law, in th~ country which
we claim. The President, in view of this question,
and with due consideration of what we can do
pending the convention, and what after its abroga-
tion, and confining himself to the first class of these
measures, has recommended five, namely, the no-
tice-the extension of Jaw and government to the
American settlers to the same extent that the Brit-
ish Government has extended law and government
to British settlers-the protection of the emigrants
byamounted regiment-block-houses on the way-
a monthly mail. These are the measures recom-
mended by the President. Four of them have been
granted (for the mounted regiment will furnish the
best mail-carriers;) one only remains, that of the
temporary provision for the government of the set-
tlers; and this might have been passed in as little
time as it would have taken to read the bill three
times, if presented in the form recommended by
the President. He recommended an extension of
our law to our settlers to the same extent that the
British had extended it to theirs. This might have
been done by the easy process of copying their act,
with the modifications which would have adnpted
its application to our citizens; and by this means
an adequate temporary Government would have
been provided, with the advantage of being free
from the possibility of o~jcction, or cavil on the
part of the British authorities.
/ The bill. from the Ho~se iR not a modifi~d copy
of the Bnttsh act, and ts therefore objectwnable.
It also provides for what is already· done, and
therein is objectionable again. A l.Jill for the
mounted regiment, and the chain of block-houses,
for the protection of the emigrantH, passed the
Senate five months ago. Not being presented us
a war regiment, for the conquest of the country up
to 540 40', it passed with so little notice, that the
event seems to have been almost unobserved. It
has lately passed the House of Representatives,
and is now the Jaw of the land; and if all the othet
measures recommended by the President had beeu
brought forward in the same way, they would
huve passed as easily, and the whole five measures,
notice and all, fmished four or five months ago.
But they were brought forward as war measures-
war for "all or none"-clear np to 540 40'. This
was the cause of the delay, and the reason why
one of the measures-that of the temporary gov·
ernment-remains unacted upon to this day. The
pl'Ovision in the bill from the House for the regi·
ment and the block-houses, is, therefore, not merely
unnecessary, but a work of supererogation-a sort
of superfetation in legislation. Equally supererog-
atory, and absolutely impracticable, is the pro-
vision in the bill fo1· the establishment of a monthly

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