THE OREGON TERRITORY. (Hansard, 20 March 1846)

§ MR. BORTHWICK
rose, in pursuance of the notice he had given, to propose a question to the right hon. Gentleman at the head of Her Majesty's Government; and he trusted the House would, in consideration of the very great importance of the subject, allow him to make a few observations in explanation of the nature of the question he intended to put. At the beginning of the present Session of Parliament Her Majesty was graciously pleased, from the Throne, to express her regret, That the conflicting claims of Great Britain and the United States, in respect to the territory on the North-western coast of America, although they had been made the subject of repeated negotiation, still remained unsettled. And the Queen added— That it was Her Majesty's purpose to continue all such efforts as might be consistent with national honour to bring the question to an early and peaceful termination. It was impossible to select words more worthy of a powerful Sovereign when addressing Her Parliament, or more worthy of the Parliament of the great country to whom those words were addressed, than those he had just read to the House. The House cordially and entirely sympathized with the Government, both in the announcement of the fact, and in the measures which they were prepared to take for effecting a peaceable termination of this question. Up to this moment, the House and the country had yielded to Her Majesty's Government a silent but entire confidence in carrying out these measures. It was not his purpose to disturb that silence, or to intimate in the slightest degree a diminution of that confidence; but it was impossible to conceal the fact that 1278 although the House had appreciated and fully understood the spirit in which Her Majesty's Government had been acting, yet on the other side of the Atlantic there did exist a misguided and ignorant party which had put upon the words used by Her Majesty, and the subsequent proceedings of the Government in that House, and also upon what had occurred elsewhere, a construction the very opposite to that which those words and proceedings were intended to bear. There were those who thought that the absence of bluster and bravado indicated the presence of timidity and fear. Such was the construction which had been put upon the words of Her Majesty's speech from the Throne, and the subsequent proceedings of Her Government, by those who were called the war party in America. It was certainly true that words had been used in the course of a recent debate, which rather tended, than otherwise, to confirm the interpretation to which he had referred, It was, therefore, time that England should distinctly make known to the war party in America, as it was known to all the world already, except to that party, that while England was ready to make every such effort for the maintenance of peace, as was consistent with her honour and her rights, yet she only deprecated war in this instance, inasmuch as any war in which this country was engaged could not but seriously interfere with the progress of human civilization; and that it was in this respect and in no other that this country and the House deprecated a war with the United States. It was high time, in his opinion, that some such expression of feeling on behalf of Her Majesty's Government should be distinctly made in the House of Commons. It would do more than any diplomatic negotiation towards the maintenance of that peace, so desirable to be maintained, between this country and America. He had preferred asking a question to making a Motion, because he thought it was not a subject calculated for discussion in a public assembly like that; and because he entertained a hope, from what had occurred elsewhere, that the right hon. Gentleman would grant the Papers without any Motion; he should therefore simply ask the right hon. Gentleman whether it were the intention of Her Majesty's Government to present to this House copies or extracts of any correspondence which may have passed between the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Her Majesty's Minister 1279 at Washington, in relation to the Oregon Territory.

§ SIR R. PEEL
Mr. Speaker, I do not think it necessary to make any observation on the general subject to which the hon. Gentleman has referred. I think any explanation to be wholly unnecessary, because I am perfectly convinced that the expressions used by Her Majesty in Her gracious Speech from the Throne, and the expressions used by public men in this House and elsewhere, of either political party, have not been misconstrued in the United States. I do not think that there would be any public advantage, in the present state of the differences existing between this country and the United States as to the Oregon territory, in making any communication to this House; and it is not the intention of Her Majesty's Government to make any such communication. At the same time the Executive Government of the United States, having a distinct proposition to make to the other branches of the Legislature of that country, have made a communication to the Legislature, containing certain notes that have passed between Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Pakenham. And although I should not have thought it necessary to lay those documents before this House, still as they have been made public, it may be thought necessary by the House, for the sake of authenticating those documents, that they should be produced; I therefore shall have no objection to lay these communications, to which publicity has already been given, before the House. We have no proposition to make to the Legislature on the part of Her Majesty's Government concerning the present questions pending between the United States and this country, the negotiations about which have not yet been brought to a conclusion. It is quite unusual to lay official despatches before the House, or to make communications respecting negotiations that have not been brought to a conclusion. But, certainly, since those communications have been made public, it may be right for this House to ascertain whether they are authentic or not; and although Her Majesty's Government do not intend, of their own Motion, to lay them before the House, yet, if the House itself wishes that they should be produced, I am ready to comply with that wish.

LORD J. RUSSELL
I wish to state, so far as I am concerned, I have no wish to ask for any Papers until the right hon. Gentleman can state that the negotiations 1280 have reached such a point, whether satisfactory or unsatisfactory, as to induce him to think that the time is arrived when the Papers relating to those negotiations should be laid before the House. If the right hon. Gentleman withholds these Papers, I can only say that I shall not press nor ask for them until the whole negotiations shall have been completed, and until then I shall give no opinion upon the subject.