"The value of the Oregon Territory is not to be measured by the number of miles upon the coast, whether it shall terminate at 49°, or at 54° 40', or reach to 61° and the Arctic Ocean. It does not depend on the character of the country, nor the quality of the soil. It is true that consideration is not virtually of attention; but the great point at issue--the great struggle between us and Great Britain--is for the freedom of the Pacific Ocean; for the trade of China and of Japan, of the East Indies, and for the maritime ascendency on all these waters. That is the great point at issue between the two countries, and the settlement of this Oregon question involves all these interests. And in order to maintain these interests, and secure all the benefits resulting from them, we must not only go to 54° 40', but we have got to exclude Great Britain from the coast _in toto_." In the course of the debate in committee of the House upon resolutions giving notice to Great Britain of the abrogation of the treaty between this country and Great Britain, Mr. Ramsey moved to strike out all after the word resolved (in one of the resolutions) and insert, "That the Oregon question is no longer a subject of negotiation or compromise." We quote from the record: "Tellers were ordered and _ten_ members passed between them, amid shouts of laughter, cries of 54° 40' forever, clapping of hands and stamping of feet, which the chairman was some time in suppressing; and the negative vote was then taken and stood 146. So the amendment was _rejected_." The names of the ten "fifty-four forties," were as follows: ARCHIBALD BELL, of Arkansas. ALEXANDER RAMSEY, of Pennsylvania. WILLIAM SAWYER, of Ohio. T. B. HOGE, of Illinois. ROBERT SMITH, of Illinois. STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS, of Illinois. JOHN A. MCCLEELAND, " JOHN WENTWORTH, " CORNELIUS DARRAH, of Pennsylvania. FELIX S. MCCONNEL, of Alabama. It will be noticed, that then, as now, Mr. Douglas had the faculty of carrying his State delegation with him. Mr. Douglas has, while in Congress, favored the appropriation by the general government of money for internal improvements upon the Jackson plan of strictly confining such appropriations to objects of national and general, not of State or local importance.