r of giving notice of the termination of the convention, he
shrewdly pointed out that as the British settlers were for the most part
fur-traders and the American settlements were agricultural, we would
"squat them out" if no hindrance were put upon the westward movement of
our pioneers. He would at once organize a territorial government for
Oregon, and take measures to protect it; if Great Britain threatened
war, he would put the country in a state of defense. "If war comes," he
cried, "let it come. We may regret the necessity which produced it, but
when it does come, I would administer to our citizens Hannibal's oath of
eternal enmity. I would blot out the lines on the map which now mark our
territorial boundaries on this continent, and make the area of liberty
as broad as the continent itself." He even broke with the Polk
administration when it retreated from the advanced position which the
party had taken during the campaign, and was one of a hardy ten who, in
the debate over the resolutions that led to the final settlement, voted
for a substitute declaration that the question was "no longer a subject
of negotiation and compromise." There can be little doubt that his
hostility to England, as well as his robust Americanism, commended him
at that time to the mass of his countrymen everywhere but in the
commercial East.

On the annexation of Texas, popular sentiment, even in his own party,
was far from unanimous, but the party was, nevertheless, thoroughly
committed to it. After the election, when it appeared that Tyler was
quite as favorable to the measure as his incoming Democratic successor,
Douglas was one of those who came forward with a new plan for annexing
territory by joint resolution of Congress, and in January, 1845, he
stated as well as it ever has been stated the argument that Texas became
ours by the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, and was without the consent of
her people retroceded to Spain by the treaty of 1819. When President
Polk sent in his announcement that war existed by the act of Mexico,
Douglas was ready with a defense of that doubtful _casus belli_ and an
ardent support of the army bill which followed. His speech on the army
bill was an admirable exhibition of his powers, and it was the best
speech on that side in the debate. Adams, who interrupted him, was
instantly put upon the defensive by a citation from the argument which
he himself, as Secretary of State, had made in 1819 for the American
cla