FEDERAL RELATIONS OF OREGON 295 Territory, asked to be relieved from further consideration of memorials on Oregon; he had received hundreds and hun- dreds of letters from all parts of the Union inquiring what had been done and what was going to be done in the matter. His committee directed him to report a bill on the subject with the recommendation that it pass; the bill, he said, had not reached a place on the calendar before Lord Ashburton reached America, and he had felt it unwise and indelicate to urge the subject while negotiations were going on. Now, however, no such reasons prevented action and he should take up and press next session the bill which he was sure both houses favored. 23 He was as good as his word, and his efforts were rewarded by seeing the Senate pass his bill in the last session he was to be in Congress. President Tyler in his Annual Message of 1842 expressed his regret that the British treaty just con- cluded had not obtained a settlement of the question of title to the Northwest Coast, and explained that the matter had not been pressed for fear of too much protracting the discus- sion and so jeopardizing the main issue. He noted that citi- zens of the United States were beginning to seek and reclaim what was so recently "an unbroken wilderness," and that "in advance of the acquirement of individual rights to these lands, sound policy dictates that every effort should be resorted to by the two Governments to settle their respective claims. . . . Although the difficulty referred to (the Oregon title) may not for several years to come involve the peace of the two countries, yet I shall not delay to urge on Great Britain the importance of its early settlement." 24 Linn was not satisfied with this explanation and desired more information which he sought to obtain by a call upon the President as to the nature and extent of the "informal communications" which took place between the American Sec- retary of State and the British commissioner on the subject; he also wished to know what were the reasons which pre- vented "any agreement on the subject at present." Although 23 Globe, XII. Appen. 736-7- 3i Aug. 1843. 24 Richardson, Messages, IV, 196.
