WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1850
254
extended to all people in our time. I recollect that when I first came into this chamber, Oregon was then a bone of contention. Some there were who contended that aid should be extended to Oregon, while others opposed it, and through that, or some other cause, up to the present time, the Territory has been almost entirely neglected. And at a time when she was most se- riously threatened by the Indians, a regiment raised for her necessary defence was diverted from the object of its creation and marched to Mexico. Thus Oregon has been for years without the benefit of any protection from the Government. The people who have gone there deserve great credit, but it is only in accordance with the enterprise of the American character, and with that daring spirit of adventure which has ever animated the American people, and which will doubtless continue to animate them, while there are distant lands to occupy or difficulties to encounter. Those who have gone there, and who it is said are so anxious to return, will soon find reason, if these inducements shall be given to emigrants, to remain there. Their condition will be bettered, additional confidence will be inspired, and they will prosper into a flourishing and powerful community. And if the patronage proposed to be bestowed upon emigrants there by the Government should aid them in consummating so great an enterprise, it will not only result to their benefit, but it will increase the resources, extend the commerce, and strengthen the power of the National Union. When I come to compare this with similar inducements which at other times have been offered, I do not think it by any means ex.1;ravagant, nor do I think it more than a fair compensation for the hazards incurred, or the delay and loss of time incident to such an emigration. An entire year, or more than that even, must be lost in migrating from any portion of the United States to Oregon. The distance is three thousand miles at least, from the habitable part of any State, in this Union to any part of the settlements in Oregon, and I think the grant of three hundred and twenty acres is a very .insufficient compensation for the hazards, difficulties, toils, and expenditure that is incurred in making such a trip. I would rather increase it to a section, to six hundred and forty acres, than to retain the amount at three hundred and twenty acres, and I do not think that such a grant, under the circumstances, would be a very munificent one on the part of the Government. They do not lose their allegiance to the United States by emigrating to Oregon, but they go there as pioneers to the extension of the
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