bar at the mouth, and revealing to the knowledge of his country and the world another great river; perhaps they knew of Jefferson's romantic interest in the country and the expedition which he sent under Lewis and Clark; they probably knew that fur traders had gone there, and that an American fur company, at the time of the war of 1812, had been forced to sell out and its place taken by an English one; they knew that there was an American claim, which was felt to be quite strong, and that a treaty had been made with England providing for a joint occupancy; but there was no consciousness that the question was one of practical importance to the existing generation, except on the part of the more farseeing. The -people's representatives in congress were more conservative than the people themselves, and a conception of the larger United States had taken possession of but a few.
The executive department was in advance of the legislative, for James Monroe was President and John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State—two men who were at the front in the breadth of their political ideas, as shown by the Monroe doctrine, originated by Adams, endorsed and declared by Monroe. In the clause that refused to European powers the right longer to colonize on American territory, it was the Oregon country that was thus protected against the aggressions of Russia at the same time that a hint w T as given to England. No executive had been more courageous in asserting the intention of the United States to maintain her larger interests, and none had been more disposed to follow with national protection, so far as conformed with treaty. relation, her citizens who were leading in the westward expansion of the country.
Under such conditions what might the champions of an aggressive campaign expect to accomplish? Minds
