sanguinary sentiments poured forth day by day without check or censure.
This is harsh language, but they shall be judged out of their own
mouths. We have before us a file of the _Congressional Globe_, the
official record of the debates in both Houses, extending from December
12 to January 15. During this period the Oregon question was called up
nearly every day, and we propose to give some specimens, _verbatim et
literatim_, of the spirit in which it has been discussed. We shall give
notices of the speakers and their constituents as we go along, to show
that the madness is not confined to one particular place or party, but
is common to Whig and Democrat, to the representatives of the Atlantic
as well as of the Western states. Most of our European readers will, we
think, agree with us, that, considering the entire absence of
provocation, and the infinitely trivial nature of the matter in dispute,
these rhetorical flourishes are without parallel in the history of
civilized senates.

What is commonly called Oregon, is a strip of indifferent territory
betwixt the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. It is separated from
both the American and British possessions by an arid wilderness of great
extent, or by many thousands of miles of tempestuous navigation, _via_
Cape Horn. Since 1818, the claims of both parties to this region have
been allowed to lie in abeyance under a convention of joint occupancy,
if the advantages enjoyed in common by a handful of traders and trappers
of both nations can be so called. The settlers from both countries are
still numbered by hundreds, and the soil is very ill adapted to
agricultural purposes; in short, it is the last thing in the world that
a decent nation would get into a passion about. Still, as the previous
administration had gained much glory by completing the robbery of Texas
from Mexico, Mr Polk has thought fit to illustrate his by an attempt to
squeeze and bully the sterner majesty of England. Accordingly, in his
message, he boasts of having offered less favourable terms than his
predecessors; and these being of course rejected, retires with dignity
upon the completeness of the American title, and intimates that the time
is at hand when the rights of his country must be asserted, if
necessary, by the sword. All this is new light to all the parties
concerned; this tempest in a tea-pot is of Mr Polk's own particular
brewing; the real Oregon being a little political capital, as aforesa