Oregon Treaty

“ Those making the charge of "no danger of losing Oregon by the United States" would do well to explain this one act, which was official, even if they make light of the utterances of the men who refused, for more than fifty years, to legislate by a single act for Oregon. It is true the treaty said:
"It should not be to the prejudice of either of the high contracting parties, the only object being to prevent disputes and differences among themselves!" ”

“ It was after the treaty of 1842 that we of the West began to have doubts as to the propriety of treating on his subject. It was after this that we began to doubt the efficacy of negotiations to maintain our rights; and for this reason we have passed the strong resolutions which have been passed in the West, expressing a deter- mination not to abide by any treaty that shall surrender any part of the Oregon. Our people will go there, and they will not submit to British domination. If the Government here will not protect them, they will protect themselves ”

“ To involve the nation in a war at a moment so favorable to its prosperity would have been poor statesmanship. The treaty secured the better portion of the disputed territory to the United States, and made their northern boundary one continuous line westward from the Lake of the Woods to the gulf of Georgia, where alone it deflected south and continued through the Strait of Fuca to the ocean.
As to Oregon itself, the boundary left it in the best possible shape, with the Columbia River, Puget Sound, and all the harbors of the mainland belonging to it. ”

“ Here then is a treaty that deliberately renounced the right of the American emigrants to come here and establish homes. They might come and catch fish, trap wild animals for furs and trade with the Indians, but they must not hoist the American flag, they must not open farms, they must not build homes or school houses, or do anything to establish a settlement. Oregon was a country for free trade, but not for free settlement. England, Spain, France, Russia, and everybody else had the same rights in Oregon as the Americans. ”

“ Much new information is presented by Marshall of diplomacy on Oregon between the restoration of Astoria after the war of 1812 and the final boundary treaty of 1846. This information shows that the United States from the very first held out for the forty-ninth parallel, never wavered from that line, never would accept south of that parallel, and finally secured it through President Polk and Secretary of State Buchanan. ”

“ Astor would have renewed his enterprise, notwithstanding his heavy losses, had Congress guaranteed him protection, and lent its aid; but the Government pursued a cautious policy at this time, and the Oregon territory remained in the hands of the British fur traders exclusively for the twenty years following, notwithstanding a treaty of joint occupation.
To follow the chain of events, and record the incidents of a long struggle between Great Britain and the United States to substantiate a claim to Oregon, is the work of the historian. Enough for us, that we know which claim prevailed ”

“ After the proper governmental agencies have selected the policy of foreign exchange for the country as a whole, Oregon of course cannot refuse to give foreign nationals their treaty rights because of fear that valid international agreements might possibly not work completely to the satisfaction of state authorities. ”

“ His tenacity was rewarded by having included in the treaty an article whereby for ten years the citizens and subjects of each of the two powers respectively might frequent the coasts claimed by the other, except where there were settlements, for the purpose of fishing and trading with the natives. He agreed, however, to a proviso that "all spirituous liquors, firearms, other arms, powder and munitions of war of every kind" should not be legitimate articles of trade, and that both powers should exert themselves to prevent such trade. ”

“ The jurisdiction of our laws and the benefits of our republican institutions should be extended over them in the distant regions which they have selected for their homes. The increasing facilities of intercourse will easily bring the states, of which the formation in that part of our territory cannot long be delayed, within the sphere of our federative Union. In the meantime every obligation imposed by treaty or conventional stipulation should be sacredly respected. ”

“ The Klamath reservation, as did every Indian reservation, if that on the Oregon coast was excepted, contained some of the choicest country and most agreeable scenery in the state. White persons, except government officers and employés, were by the terms of the treaty forbidden to reside upon the reservation, while the Indians were equally bound to live upon it; the right of way for public roads only being pledged. ”

“ Notwithstanding the treaty entered into, as I have related, by certain chiefs of Rogue River in the summer of 1852, hostilities had not altogether ceased, although conducted less openly than before. With such a rough element in their country as these miners and settlers, many of them bloody-minded and unprincipled men, and most of them holding the opinion that it was right and altogether proper that the natives should be killed, it was impossible to have peace. The white men, many of them, did not want peace. ”

“ Mexico is now our enemy, not by nature, but made so by the intrigues of that very people who now border us on the north, and wish to join Mexico on our western frontier. The same mail which brought to us the treaty ceding part of Maine, brought news, also, of ships sailing to the Pacific with the obvious intention of occupying the Oregon, or, at least, of preventing us from doing so. ”

“ On the faith of that treaty they have made a settlement on the north bank of the Columbia River, they have opened roads and made other improvements at a great outlay of capital; they have held unmolested possession of their improvements for many years, unquestioned by the public officers of either government, who have since the existence of their settlement repeatedly visited it ; they have carried on business with manifest advantage to the country; they have given the protection of their influence over the native tribes to every person who required it without distinction of nation or party ”

“ After this the miners hereabout took care of themselves, and made a treaty with that part of the Rogue River tribe, which was observed until January 1854, when a party of miners from Sailor Diggings, in their pursuit of an unknown band of robbers attacked the treaty Indians, some being killed on both sides; but the Indian agent being sent for, an explanation ensued, and peace was temporarily restored.
The Indian disturbances of 1853 in this part of Oregon, according to the report of the secretary of war, [24] cost the lives of more than a hundred white persons and several hundred Indians. ”

“ The treaty lately concluded with Great Britain has tended greatly to increase the good understanding which a reciprocity of interests is calculated to encourage, and it is most ardently to be hoped that nothing may transpire to interrupt the relations of amity which it is so obviously the policy of both nations to cultivate. A question of much importance still remains to be adjusted between them. The territorial limits of the two countries in relation to what is commonly known as the Oregon Territory still remain in dispute. ”