Henry Commager

“ To her Oregon would be but a distant colonial possession of doubtful value, and which, from the natural progress of human events, she would not probably long enough enjoy to derive from it essential benefits, whilst to the United States it would become an integral and essential portion to the Republic. The gain to Great Britain she would never sensibly feel, whilst the loss to the
United States would be irreparable."9 Oregon did not stand in that same sentimental relationship to England that it did to the United States. ”

“ The political situation in England was a critical one, the English government was face to face with problems of national and immediate interest that were of much greater importance than Oregon, and the ministry was twice overthrown during the progress of the Oregon negotiations, though not because of them. Canada had but recently rebelled, and England, properly disappointed in the results of what she considered her enlightened colonial policy, doubted seriously the wisdom of further territorial acquisitions. ”

“ Buchanan never wrote more truly than his letter to Packenham, 'Neither is the territory in dispute of equal or nearly equal value to the two powers. Whilst it is invaluable to the United States, it is of comparatively small importance to Great Britain. ”

“ London was far away from Oregon, and proximity is a very compelling motive. England as a nation was interested in Oregon only incidentally,-it was the Hudson's Bay Company, a business corporation, that was primarily interested, and the Company had already begun to abandon the territory in dispute and did not feel its interests to be violently affected by the transferral of sovereignty. ”

“ A war with the United States at this time would have been for England an economic and industrial and social calamity.4' England was less independent of the United States than the United States was of England,-even than was the seaboard south of England. England was at a decided military disadvantage, and it would have been the most unpardonable folly to invite a war with a great power. ”

“ A recent student of the economic situation remarks, "The bad weather continued; and in July, when the Oregon negotiations were resumed at Washington, it grew worse, and began 'the raining away of the Corn Laws,' strengthening the hand of Polk and weakening that of Peel. Not only were the British grain crops ruined; those of the potatoes were also; and the government was in great distress. No one could have been, or was , more keenly alive to the peculiar diplomatic situation than was Lord Aberdeen. Great Britain was becoming obviously dependent upon the United States for supplies of food ”

“ To lose an opportunity of accomplishing an object of such vital importance as the repeal of the American tariff, would be madness indeed. All English interests at once unite on that point. So favor able an opportunity must not be thrown away, for a punctilio, or a barren waste of Northwestern wilderness."45
Finally we must remark the profound influence of the character of Peel and of his foreign minister Aberdeen on the course of the negotiations and their final soluton. Sir Robert Peel was eminently a peace minister, and his cabinet a peace cabinet. ”

“ To even the best informed of British ministers the inveterate American suspicion of their motives seemed inexplicable, for they knew that the whole electorate was averse to enlarging British
19 Even the larger histories of modern England dismiss the whole controversy with scant courtesy. In the three-volume edition of the etters of Peel, edited by Parker, there are only four casual references to the whole dispute. Contrast this attitude with that found in Polk's Diary. Thursfield's Life of Peel dismisses the question in one paragraph as a "frontier dispute with the United States." ”

“ Another paper remarked: "All balancing, how ever, of the positive advantages to be obtained by one nation or by the other on a partition, is mere childishness. The interruption of confidence for a single week costs more than the whole country is worth." London Examiner, April 26, 1845.
42 NUes Register, May 2, 1846 .
ginning of free trade, and of the Irish famine. A certain entente was effected between the free-trade interests in Great Britain and those in the United States; both interests demanded peace, but it was the British that was bargaining. ”

“ We have acknowledged the principle of joint occupation, with a view to the ultimate partition of the land, and we must abide by it."29 Canning, in a letter to Liverpool, July, 1826 , deplored the blunder of "the restoration of Astoria. If we maintain our present ground immovably, we can retrieve it. ”

“ The people, moreover, were demanding the immediate repeal of the new Poor Laws. An increasing expenditure and contracted revenue were perplexing statesmen - Every difficulty which could embarrass a statesman stood in the way of Peel and his new colleagues."34 Dunning remarks of this period, "In the early forties recurring distress and agitation among the working classes gave abundant warning to the leading statesmen
32 Quoted by Schafer, J., op. ”