title of the United States was good at least to 49. The committee closed the report with an expression of their hope that the Executive would take immediate steps to bring the controversy to a speedy termination. "In the meantime they have reported a bill authorizing the President to employ in that quarter such portions of the army and navy of the United States as he may deem necessary for the protection of the persons and property of those who may reside in the country." The bill which accompanied the report went over until the following session owing to the late date at which it was brought in.
In the House Caleb Cushing was the author of a resolution calling for information as to interference on the part of any foreign power, its agents or subjects, with the Indian tribes in Michigan, Wisconsin, or "the territory beyond the Rocky Mountains or elsewhere within the limits of the United States," and desired all correspondence relating to the title to the Oregon Territory.[1] Although Forsyth's response stated that he could add nothing to what had already been communicated to Congress at various times, the "Message on the Title" was sufficient incentive to start the ball rolling in the House. The topic was opened by Cushing with a motion to refer the message to the Committee on Foreign Affairs with instructions to inquire into the expediency of establishing a port on the Columbia and making provision by law to prevent further intermeddling with the Indians. He supported his motion by a defense of the title to Oregon and by an assertion, which had no basis in fact, that Great Britain was then breaking the terms of the treaty of 1783 by which the British were precluded from making settlements south of 49°, and that the Convention of 1827 was being broken.[2] With modifications Cushing's resolution was adopted and the House thus completed its formal preparations for the expected Oregon activities of the next session.
- ↑ March 19, Globe, VI, 242.
- ↑ Reported Ibid., 380, Appen., 565-81. Cushing, called upon Adams "as a living record of the diplomatic history of the country" to support his contentions. "Thus suddenly called out," says Adams in his Memoirs (IX, 535), "I took the floor, and rambled over the topics upon which he had touched for an hour or more, without order or method, as kind and courteous to him as I could be, and dissatisfied with no one but myself." The discussion took place on May 17 and 22.
