The Popularity of the Democratic Position, and Mr. Clay's Letter of August 16th--The Abolitionists Declare against Mr. Clay--The Triumph of Polk--Tyler's Recommendation to Annex Texas by a Joint Resolution or an Act--The Resolution for Annexation in the House of Representatives--Passage of an Enabling Act for Texas by the House of Representatives--The Resolution in the Senate, and Mr. Archer's Inconsistencies--The Senate's Amendment to the Resolution of the House--The Concurrence of the House in the Senate's Amendment, and the Passage of the Act for Admission--The British Proposition in Regard to Oregon--The American Proposition--Polk's recommendation in Regard to the Matter--The Debate upon the President's Recommendation--The Conclusion Reached by Congress--The President's Retort upon Congress--The Oregon Treaty. The language of the Democratic platform signified that Texas had been once annexed to the United States, as a part of Louisiana, by the Treaty of 1803 with France, and had been sacrificed by the Treaty of 1819 with Spain, and that Oregon had been once occupied by the United States, either under the Treaty of 1803, or under that of 1819, or by the right of the prior discovery of the Columbia River and the establishment of a settlement upon its banks. It is thus that mortal men always seek to purge any movement which they undertake of the taint of innovation, no matter how justifiable in reason that movement may be. {319} [Sidenote: The popularity of the Democratic position, and Mr. Clay's letter of August 16th.] In the beginning of June, the election of Mr. Clay seemed a certainty. As the campaign wore on it became manifest that annexation was rapidly growing in the popular favor, and that Mr. Clay would lose some of his Southern support, unless the opinion which prevailed in that section concerning his opposition to annexation should be modified. With this in view, and under the belief that the state of feeling upon the subject at the North had become less hostile, Mr. Clay caused to be published in an Alabama newspaper, on August 16th, a letter defining again his attitude toward annexation. No sane and impartial mind can, at this day, see any material difference between the opinion expressed by Mr. Clay in his letter of April 17th, and that in his letter of August 16th. In the former, he took the ground that the United States ought not to annex Texas without the consent of Mexico, or against the decided opposition of a considerable and respectable portion of the Union. In the latter, he said he should be glad to see Texas annexed, if it could be done "without dishonor, without war, with the common consent of the Union, and upon just and fair terms." He added that he did not think the slavery question ought to enter into the consideration at all, that slavery was destined to become extinct in the United States, and that its duration would neither be lengthened nor shortened by the acquisition of Texas.