11
letter, " slavery would slowly and gradually disappear without a convulsion?" And may I not now ask the North, as well as the South, whether such an extinction of slavery would na£ have been infinitely better, rather than the terrible civil war, with all its dreadful sacrifices of blood and treasure, and all the perils from which the country has not yet been rescued ? May 1 not also further ask whether time has not justified my opposition in the ¦Cabinet of Mr. Polk to the surrender of any portion of Oregon.                                   .
Indeed, when we look at the map ef our two eoatinents and dependant isles, the City of Mexico is the centre of the whole system.
In the letter of the 3d of March, 1845, of the late James K. Polk, tendering me the office of Secretary of the Treasury, he enclosed me his proposed inaugural address, discussing the Oregon and Texas questions, in which letter he said: "If, sir, you concur with me in these opinions and views, I shall be pleased to have your assistance in any Administration as a member of my Cabinet, and now tender to you the office of Secretary of the Treasury. I shall be pleased to receive your answer at your earliest convenience." In iay reply of that date to Mr. Polk, accepting this tender, I said: "The reannexation of Texas, in the mode proposed in my letter of 8th January, 1844, may be regarded as nearly consummated. The kindred measure referred to in that letter— namely, our just and rightful claim to the whole of Oregon—will, I trust, be successfully asserted by you. This woiHd leave no European
Power upon owr Pa«ito ©oast eeeept Russia, •whose well-known friendship to us would, it is hoped, induce her the* to cede to us her North American territory."
This correspondence seeds no cbmments. It is due, however, to cay late excellent friend . and chief, James K. Polk, to say that he was most sincerely desirous of retaining the whole of Oregon, and only abandoned it, when he arrived at the conclusion that Congress would not sustain him in the measure. I thought otherwise, and that, if defeated, we should appeal from Congress to the people in the then approaching elections. In consideration of the peculiar circumstances and unfriendly feelings growing out of my connection with the Kansas questiSn, it is due to the then Secretary of State to say, that he yielded with great reluctance to the sacrifice of any portion of Oregon. Mr. Polk was a most able, honest, and patriotic man. He was a devoted friend of the Union, and entirely free frW all sectional prejudices. Had he survived, he would, if possible, have prevented the secession of Tennessee, and in any event he would have supported the Union. He never believed in the divinity or perpetuity of slavery. Like myself, he supported all the constitutional rights of the South, but never regarded secession as among the number.
A perusal of this letter will, it is hoped, convince all who read it, that, in advocating the acquisition of Alaska, St.. Thomas, and St. John, I am adhering to my life-long principles. K. J. Walker..
CHBONICLE PRINT., WASHINGTON, D. C.