ASPECTS OF OREGON HISTORY BEFORE 1840. 269 questions the interest of the Eastern and Southern States might be found to be the same ; others the Eastern and Western ; others the Middle States and Southern, Eastern, and Western, and so on." Then turning back and in brief strokes depicting the wonderful growth of the Union dur- ing the memory of living men, he concluded with these striking words : Some now within these walls may, before they die, witness scenes more wonderful than these ; and in af tertimes may cherish delightful recollections of this day, when America almost shrinking from the "shadows of coming events" first placed her feet upon untrodden ground, scarcely daring to anticipate the grandeur which awaited her. Let us march boldly on to the accomplishment of this important, this useful and this splendid object, and, my word for it, no one who gives his vote for this bill will repent. On the contrary, he may consider it as one of the proudest acts of his life. 13 A few days later in reply to the argument that the Rocky Mountains were our natural boundary, Mr. Baylies replied : As we reach the Rocky Mountains we should be unwise did we not pass that narrow space which separates the mountains from the ocean, to secure advantages far greater than the existing advantages of all the country between the Mississippi and the mountains. Gentlemen are talking of natural boundaries. Sir, one natural boundary is the Pacific Ocean. The swelling tide of our population must and will roll on until that mighty ocean interposes its waters and limits our terri- torial empire. Then, with two oceans washing our shores, the com- mercial wealth of the world is ours, and imagination can hardly con- ceive the greatness, the grandeur, and the power that await us. 14 I have dwelt at some length on the labors of Floyd and Baylies not only because of their intrinsic importance at this stage of the Oregon question, twenty years before the popular agitation for the occupation of the country, but because it seems to me that the significance of their labors has not been adequately appreciated. Although the House ^Annals of Congress, 17th Congress, 2d session, 416, 417, 422. The speech takes up columns 413-422. ., 682, 683.
