The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-16 00:00:00

1 THE OREGON QUESTION.
When the Oambria left Boston on the Ist inst. it was
known that the Senate of the United States had adjourned
the debate on the abrogation of the Oregon convention to
the 2d of March ; but thet e wee no doubt that Mr. Colcoitt's
resolutions would be carried by a large majority in that
assembly. These resolutions are substantially the same as
those adopted by the House of Representatives, although in
a more qualified form ; but they express with greater energy
an " earnest desire that this long- standing controversy may
be settled by negotiation and compromise." In fact, they
impose upon the Cabinet of the United States the duty of
re-opening the negotiations on such terms as may convince
the American people that a sincere attempt has been made
to effect a peaceful settlement of the dispute ; and we 8111ce
cerely hope these terms may be admissible by England. Mr.
Allen, however, in the course of the debate, declared
that the President's views and determination to
assert his title to the whole territory up to 54 deg,
40 min. had undergone no change. On the part of the Bri-
tish Minister, Mr. Pakenham, no fresh overture has been
made. Whatever may be the motives which induce the
Congress of the United States to vote the abrogation of the
convention of 1827 for the joint occupancy of the Oregon ter-
ritory, we are chiefly concerned to examine the effect of that
measure on the relative rights of the two claimants. As soon
as the Senate shall have concurred in these resolutions, and the
President proceed, as he undoubtedly will, to give the
notice, the whole question will assume a new shape, or rather
it will revert to the condition in which it stood before ever
the conventions of 1818 and of 1837 were thought of, that
condition being only modified by the actual settlements in
the country made under the specific protection of these very
instruments. It may, we think, be demonstrated by strict
reasoning that the abrogation of these conventions under the
present circumstances of the two Powers in Oregon, mate-
rially weakens the claims of the United States, and as ma-
terially strengthens our rights. Under the agreement which
the Americans are resolved to cancel, two kinds of claims
have existed: the first conventional, which were on the
footing of strict equality; the second claims of settlement,
which depend on the relative extent of occupation
by either party. If the convention be annulled, the
conventional privileges of the Americans, which were equal
to our own, cease and determine, as far as we are concerned;
their right is reduced to a mere abstract title ; whilst we
stand upon the British rights of occupation, sanctioned by
all the arguments in support of our claim, and especially by
the treaty of 1790 with Spain. The settlements of the Hud-
son's Bay Company in the Oregon territory have been made
under a right recognised by these conventions ; but the right
existed before the conventions, and the settlements, with all
the rights accruing to their founders, will subsist after them.
Dr. Twiss, in his most interesting and elaborate survey of
the whole question, points out the passage of Vattel by which
such a case must be determined. " If," says that great
authority, "two or more nations discover and take possession
of an island or any other desert land without an owner,
they ought to agree between themselves and make an
equitable partition; but, if they cannot agree, each will
have the right of empire and domain in the parts in which
they first settled." In this particular case, the effect of occu-
pation and priority of settlement as conferring sovereignty
is snore than usually decisive. For the right of fish-
ing, landing for the purpose of trade with the natives, and
of making settlements, having been formally secured to
Spain and to England by the treaty of 1790, the settlements
made in pursuance of that right by either Power became
absolute possessions of the Crown. Let us now ascertain,
from an unquestionable witness, Mr. Greenhow himself, the
champion of the American claims, what the relative import-
ance of these settlements is. He observes that the difficulty
of the negotiation undertaken in 1826 had been materiall
increased since 1818—

" By the great inequality which had been produced in the
relative positions of the two parties as regards actual occu-
pation. After the union of the two great North American
companies in 1821, and the establishment of civil and cri-
minal jurisdiction throughout their territories, the Hudson's
Bay Company became a powerful body ; its resources were
no longer wasted in disputes with a rival association ; its re-
gulations were enforced; its operations were conducted with
security and efficiency ; and encouragement was afforded
for the extension of its posts and communications by the
assurance that the honour of the Government was thereby
more strongly engaged in its support. Many of these posts
were fortified, and could be defended by their inmates—men
inured to dangers and hardships of all kinds—against any
attacks which might be apprehended; and thus, in a few
years, the whole region north and north-west of the United
States, from Hudson's Bay and Canada to the Pacific, parti-
cularly the portion traversed by the Columbia and its
branches' was occupied, in a military sense, by British forces,
although there was not a single British soldier, strictly
speaking, within its limits.

" The—tlnited States, on the other hand, possessed no es•
tablishments and exercised no authority or jurisdiction what-
ever beyond the Rocky Mountains; and the number of their
citizens in that whole territory did not, probably, exceed two
hundred."

Such is the American account of the state of the district
in 1826, when Mr. Gallatin proposed as his ultimatum the
cession by England of the territory up to the 49th parallel.
Nor is it now materially altered. Two or three thousand
American emigrants have formed a village on one of the
southern tributaries of the Colambia; but neither their means
nor their objects extend to any command of territory beyond
the valley of the Willamette. They have an undoubted right
to form such settlements under the convention ; but they owe
the means of completing their journey across the vast and
rugged wilderness to the liberality and hospitality of the
agents of the Hudson's Bay Company. Captain Fremont,
who conducted the United States exploring expedition be-
yond the Rocky Mountains in 1843, attests the fact. On
arriving at Fort Nez Force, a British post situated at the
confluence of the river Wallawalla and the Columbia, he ob-
served that at this point, which is just 2,000 miles overland
From the western frontier of the state of Missouri, the emi-
grants who arrive by the South Pass and from the valley of
the Mississippi may embark on the broad stream of the west.
He himself and the heads of the emigrants there at the same
time were hospitably entertained by Mr. Mackinley, the com-
mander of the post. At Fort Vancouver, Captain. Fremont
was received with the greatest courtesy by Dr. M'Laughlin,
the executive officer of the Hudson's Bay Company in the
territory west of the Rocky Mountains, and the expedition
was furnished with all necessary supplies. He adds—
" I found many American emigrants at the fort; others
had already crossed into their land of promise—the Wallah-
mette Valley. Others were daily arriving, and all of them
had been furnished with shelter, to far as it could be afforded
by the buildings connected with the establishment. Neces-
sary clothing and provisions (the latter to be afterwards re-
turned in kind from the produce of their labour) were also
furnished. This friendly assistance was of very great value
to the emigrants, whose families were otherwise exposed to
much suffering in the winter rains; at the same time, they
were in want of all the common necessaries of life. Those
who bad driven their stock down the Columbia had brought
them safely in, and found for them a ready market, and
were already proposing to return to the States in the spring
for another rupply."
We quote these facts, which are given on American official
authority, because it is impossible to place the relative im-
portance of the British and American settlements in the ter-
ritory in stronger contrast. In fact, if the emigrants from
the United States had not been liberally and humanely as-
sisted and protected by the British agents, they would pro-
bably have perished miserably, on that bleak shore, beyond
the reach of all human aid. But what is the return the in-
stigators of the American people propose to make for these
offices of humanity? What effect has this information, offi-
cially presented to Congress, upon the deliberations of the
Legislature? It only incites them to endeavour to expel
their benefactors from the country, and to wrest from the
Hudson's Bay Company those very forts which have sheltered
their own emigrants from the hardships of the wilderness.
No appeals have been made to public opinion or to
Parliament by the Hudson's Bay Company, pro-
probably because that body feels sufficiently strong in its
own resources and in the resolution of the Government. Bat
a stronger case for public interest and support we have never
known. A great trading company enters upon the enjoy-
ment of certain rights secured by a treaty between the
Crowns of Spain and England, with the full sanction of
royal charters and Acts of Parliament; it occupies a vast
uninhabited region, where settlement was all that was needed
to assert and establish indefeasible rights of dominion ; it
exercises those rights with so little jealousy, that even the
emigrants from the rival state are housed within its walls
and supplied from its magazines. It has organised the sole
system of regular communication and traffic that the present
state of the northern parts of America admits of. All this
has been going on actively for the last quarter of a century,
and less actively ever since 1790; when suddenly, by the
mere will and pleasure of a democratic community, whose
nearest possessions are distant 2,000 miles of land travel,
this Company and the power it represents are summoned to
evacuate, surrender, and renounce their forts, their posts,
their settlements, the navigation of the rivers, the possession
of the country, and to retire beyond the 54th parallel of
latitude. Such a cession of territory would at once paralyze
the whole operations of the Company and the north-western
coast. Yet, such is the extraordinary perversion of public
opinion in America on this subject, that we are expected to
abandon a title, supported by effectual occupation, in favour
of another title, which rests upon no superior legal claims.
and is backed by no occupation whatever ! As soon as no-
tice of the abrogation of the treaty of 1827 is given, we
trust that no mere formalities will deter the British Govern-
ment from informing the Cabinet of Washington and the
world what are the definitive claims of this country, and
what are the concessions England is prepared to make.
Nothing is gained by the secrecy•f diplomacy in tr,qttingwith
the United States, because public opinion in that country is the
last arbiter of the national policy, and the Government has
shown itself less disposed to peace than the more enlightened
part of the community. 'Whatever be the proposals of the
American Executive, we must trust to the fairness of our
own views, to our abilty to defend the ground on which we
stand, and to the magnitude of the alternative. But, as we
observed more than two months ago, in an article which has
been much discussed in the United States, we cannot ac-
quiesce in the surrender of positive long-enjoyed benefits;
and the navigation of the Columbia, the harbour of St. Juan
de Fuca, and Vancouver's Island, are included in those we
undoubtedly and rightfully possess.—Times.