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in contemplation in Oregon (i. e., an independent establishment) may, therefore, soon become absolutely necessary to their own security, and all will admit that there is excitement enoug"h in the project of organization of an independent government, and the offices and honors which even such a government would bring with it, to make it acceptable to a people so far removed from the United States as that of Oregon." But if the President needed only moral support in his pursuit of a policy which would prefer war to the surrender of one

inch of Oregon's soil that support was forthcoming in various ways aside from speeches in Congress and newspaper articles. In Illinois, for instance, there was held a State convention at

which bound

it

was resolved "that the general government were

to adhere to the declarations of President Polk, in his inaugural speech in relation to Oregon, and to maintain and

defend our right to every inch of that territory." 10

Governor

message to the New Hampshire legislature in June of 1845, went into an analysis of the situation and asserted that previous offers of compromise had been

John H.

Steele, in his

unfortunate: 11 "I say unfortunate, because no people or government ever yet admitted, or even proposed to waive or yield any of its rights to the claims or demands of Great Britain, but in the end had cause to repent of so doing." The memory of the disgraceful proceedings by which "that haughty power obtained possession of a large portion of the State of Maine" ought to be in people's minds, and warned by it the administration should not again be coaxed or threatened out of just "But it is not my desire or intention to enter into a rights. discussion of that question. It is in the hands of an able and patriotic administration, who will no doubt, use every honorable exertion to bring it to an amicable close. At any rate, I feel confident that no timid concession, no unmanly surrender of clear rights, will be made and that no truckling to menace will again stain the annals of our beloved country."

In one of the counties of Pennsylvania a meeting came to the resolution that, "in regard to our just claims to Oregon, we will have no compromises but at the cannon's mouth."

A

1

10 In Niles Register, 19 July. 11 Ibid., 21 June.