the conflicting claims of the two countries to that remote region. Those negotiations had been long protracted, and had engendered a spirit of restless impatience on the subject, in the minds of a great portion of the American people. The question, too, had been drawn,— as, I regret to say, almost every question in this country seems destined to be drawn,-into the perilous vortex of party politics; and a Democratic Presidential triumph had just been achieved, under a banner on which were legibly inscribed the well-remembered figures 54° 40′, and the wellremembered phrase, "the whole or none."

Under these circumstances, Sir, a bill was introduced into this House, to extend the jurisdiction of the United States over the whole territory in dispute, and to authorize the assumption and exercise of one of the highest attributes of exclusive sovereignty, by granting lands to settlers.

The bill was in other respects highly objectionable. It provided for carrying on a government by the appointment of only two officers a governor and a judgea governor and a judge - who were to have absolute authority to promulgate and enforce, throughout the territory of Oregon, any and all laws which they might see fit to select from the statutes of any State or Territory in the Union. The whole destinies of Oregon were thus to be confided to the discretion of two men, who were to make up a code of laws to suit themselves, by picking and culling at pleasure from all the statute books of the country. They were at liberty, as the bill stood - although the entire territory was above the latitude of 36° 30'-to adopt a slave code or a free code, as might be most agreeable to their own notions; and there was, at that very moment, lying upon the tables before us, a report from the Indian agent or sub-agent in that quarter, from which it appeared, that a number of the native Indians had already been captured and enslaved by the white settlers, and that they were held in a state of absolute and unjustifiable bondage.

It was under these circumstances, Mr. Chairman, that I moved the proviso in question; and I now read, from a speech printed at the time, the remarks which I made on the occasion:

"One limitation upon the discretion of these two irresponsible law-givers ought cer tainly to be imposed, if this bill is to pass. As it now stands, there is nothing to pre

vent them from legalizing the existence of domestic slavery in Oregon. It seems to be understood, that this institution is to be limited by the terms of the Missouri compromise, and is nowhere to be permitted in the American Union above the latitude of 36° 30'. There is nothing, however, to enforce this understanding in the present case. The published documents prove that Indian slavery already exists in Oregon. I intend, therefore, to move, whenever it is in order to do so, the insertion of an express declaration, that 'there shall neither be slavery nor involuntary servitude in this Territory, except for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.'"

I did not stop here, however, Sir. The whole argument of my speech on that occasion, with the exception of the single sentence which I have cited, was against the passage of the bill in any form.

"I am in hopes, Mr. Chairman, (such was my distinct avowal,) that the bill will not become a law at the present session in any shape. Every thing conspires, in my judgment, to call for the postponement of any such measure to a future day."

The great and paramount objection to the bill, in my mind, was that it would jeopard the peace of the country; that it would break up the amicable negotiations in which we were engaged, and would leave no other alternative for settling the vexed question of title between us and Great Britain, but the stern arbitrament of war.

Entertaining this opinion, I aimed at defeating the measure by every means in my power; and it was well understood, at the time, that this very proviso was one of the means upon which I mainly relied for the purpose. I deliberately designed, by moving it, to unite the Southern Democracy with the conservative Whigs of both the North and the South, in opposition to the bill, and thus to insure its defeat.

The motion prevailed. The proviso was inserted by a vote of 131 to 69. And I, for one, then carried out my opposition to the bill by voting against it, proviso and all. The Southern Democracy, however, did not go with me on this vote. Not a few of them, the present Speaker of the House among the number, all of them, indeed, who were present, except four, voted in favor of the bill, notwithstanding the anti-slavery clause; and accordingly it passed the House. But there can be little doubt that this clause had its influence in arresting the bill in the other wing of the Capitol, where it remained unacted upon until the close of the session, and was thus finally lost.

Sir, a bill to create a territorial government in Oregon, containing this identical proviso, has since been passed through both Houses of Congress, and has received the sanction and signature of a Southern Democratic President; and I do not suppose, therefore, that this original motion of mine will be hereafter so frequent a subject of Southern Democratic censure, as it hitherto has been. But I have desired to place upon record, in perpetuam memoriam rei, this plain, unvarnished history of the case; and having done so, I willingly submit myself to whatever measure of censure or reproach such a state of facts may fairly subject me to, either from the South or from the North. If the offering of this proviso to this bill, under these circumstances, with these views, and with this result, be the unpardonable offence which it has sometimes been styled, I can only say, "adsum, qui feci; in me convertite ferrum!" Nay, Sir, I will say further, that if it be fairly traceable to this movement of mine, that it is no longer an open question whether domestic slavery shall find a foothold in the Territory of Oregon, I shall feel that it has not been entirely in vain, that I have been for ten years associated with the public councils of my country.

I come next, Mr. Chairman, to the proviso, which has more legitimately received the name of the honorable member from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Wilmot.) And it is not less important in this case, than in the other, to recall to the remembrance of the House and of the country the circumstances under which this proviso, also, was proposed.

I think, Sir, that no one, who was a member of Congress at the time, will soon forget the eighth day of August, 1846. The country was at war with Mexico, and Congress was within eightand-forty hours of the appointed close of a most protracted and laborious session. We were already almost exhausted by hot weather and hot work, and all the energies which were left us were required for winding up that great mass of public business which always awaits the closing hours, whether of a longer or a shorter session. Under these circumstances, a message was received by this House from President Polk, calling for an appropriation of money to enable him to negotiate a treaty of peace, and intimating, by a distinct reference to the precedent of the

purchase of Louisiana, that he designed to employ this money in the acquisition of more territory.

Such a message, I need not say, Sir, took all who were not in the President's secrets greatly by surprise. The idea of bringing money to the aid of our armies for the purpose of buying a peace from a nation like Mexico, could not fail to inflict a severe wound upon our national pride; while the lust of territorial acquisition and aggrandizement, which was thus plainly betrayed, gave a deeper dye of injustice and rapine to the war into which we had been so recklessly plunged.

No time was afforded us, however, for reflections or deliberations of any sort. The message was referred at once to the Committee of the Whole on the State of the Union, and a bill was forthwith originated in that committee, under the lead of General McKay, of North Carolina, for placing two millions of dollars at the unlimited discretion of the President.

For the debate upon this bill, two or three hours of a hot summer afternoon were grudgingly allowed by the Democratic majority in this House, and these two or three hours were divided off into homœopathic portions of five minutes each. My honorable friend from New York, (Mr. Hugh White,)-the senior member of the New York delegation, and who, I hope, will long remain here to enjoy the dignity of that positionobtained the floor for the first five minutes, and I was fortunate or unfortunate enough to follow him. No amendment to the bill had then been adopted, and no proviso moved. But here is what I said on that occasion, as reported in the National Intelligencer at the time:

"Mr. Winthrop said that he should follow the example of his friend from New York, (Mr. White,) and confine himself to a brief statement of his views, reserving to himself the privilege of amplifying and enforcing them hereafter. The Administration and its friends had thought fit during the present session to frame more than one of their most important measures, so as to leave their opponents in a false position whichever way they voted. There were two things which he had not imagined, in advance, that any circumstances could have constrained him to do, and from which he would gladly have been spared. One of them was to give a vote which might appear to lend an approving sanction to a war which had been caused by the annexation of Texas; the other was to give a vote which might appear like an opposition to the earliest restoration of peace, either with Mexico or any other power on earth. But he must let appearances take care of themselves. He was not here to pronounce opinions either upon the

Sir, a bill to create a territorial government in Oregon, containing this identical proviso, has since been passed through both Houses of Congress, and has received the sanction and signature of a Southern Democratic President; and I do not suppose, therefore, that this original motion of mine will be hereafter so frequent a subject of Southern Democratic censure, as it hitherto has been. But I have desired to place upon record, in perpetuam memoriam rei, this plain, unvarnished history of the case; and having done so, I willingly submit myself to whatever measure of censure or reproach such a state of facts may fairly subject me to, either from the South or from the North. If the offering of this proviso to this bill, under these circumstances, with these views, and with this result, be the unpardonable offence which it has sometimes been styled, I can only say, "adsum, qui feci; in me convertite ferrum!" Nay, Sir, I will say further, that if it be fairly traceable to this movement of mine, that it is no longer an open question whether domestic slavery shall find a foothold in the Territory of Oregon, I shall feel that it has not been entirely in vain, that I have been for ten years associated with the public councils of my country.

I come next, Mr. Chairman, to the proviso, which has more legitimately received the name of the honorable member from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Wilmot.) And it is not less important in this case, than in the other, to recall to the remembrance of the House and of the country the circumstances under which this proviso, also, was proposed.

I think, Sir, that no one, who was a member of Congress at the time, will soon forget the eighth day of August, 1846. The country was at war with Mexico, and Congress was within eightand-forty hours of the appointed close of a most protracted and laborious session. We were already almost exhausted by hot weather and hot work, and all the energies which were left us were required for winding up that great mass of public business which always awaits the closing hours, whether of a longer or a shorter session. Under these circumstances, a message was received by this House from President Polk, calling for an appropriation of money to enable him to negotiate a treaty of peace, and intimating, by a distinct reference to the precedent of the