That it will ultimately be wise and proper to
make liberal grants of land to the patriotic pioneers who amidst
privations and dangers lead the way through savage tribes inhabiting the
vast wilderness intervening between our frontier settlements and Oregon,
and who cultivate and are ever ready to defend the soil, I am fully
satisfied. To doubt whether they will obtain such grants as soon as the
convention between the United States and Great Britain shall have ceased
to exist would be to doubt the justice of Congress; but, pending the
year's notice, it is worthy of consideration whether a stipulation to
this effect may be made consistently with the spirit of that convention.
The recommendations which I have made as to the best manner of securing
our rights in Oregon are submitted to Congress with great deference.
Should they in their wisdom devise any other mode better calculated to
accomplish the same object, it shall meet with my hearty concurrence.
At the end of the year's notice, should Congress think it proper to make
provision for giving that notice, we shall have reached a period when
the national rights in Oregon must either be abandoned or firmly
maintained.
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