The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-30 00:00:00

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evheijead made a settlement, you shall not avail yourself,
of -your possession, because this was taken in violation
• qf- another outstanding title : and although I must ad-
. •
1 elute:that you have also acquired this outstanding title, yet
- liven this shall avail you nothing, because, having taken
' elesfiession previously to your purchase, you thereby s
es (enticed that you did not regard such title as valid. And
•
eaae 'yet such is the mode by which the British Plenipoten-
tiary has attempted to destroy both the American and
Spanish titles. On the contrary, in the case mentioned,
the possession and the outstanding title being united in
the same individual, these conjoined would be as perfect
as if both had been vested in him from the beginning.
The undersigned, whilst strongly asserting both these
titles, and believing each of them separately to be good
as against Great Britain, has studiously avoided insti-
tuting any comparison between them. But admitting,
for the sake of the argument merely, that the discovery
by Captain Gray of the mouth of the Columbia, its ex-
ploration by Lewis and Clarke, and the settlement upon
its banks at Astoria, were encroachments on Spain, she,
and she alone had a right to complain. Great 13t stain
wars a third party ; and, as such, had no right to inter-
fere in the qeestion between Spain and the United States.
But Spain, instead of complaining of these acts es
encroachments, on the '22d February, 1819, by
;he Florida treaty, transferred the whole title
to the United States. From that moment, all
possible conflict between the two titles was ended, both
being united in the same party. Two titles which might
have conflicted, therefore, were thus blended together.
The title now vested in the United States it just us strong
as though every act of discovery, exploration, and settle-
ment on the part of bath powers had been performed by
Spain alone, before she had transferred all her rights to the
United States. The two Powers are one in this respect;
the two titles are one ; and, as the undersigned will
show hereafter, they serve to confirm and strengthen each
eother. It Great Britain, instead of the United States,
had acquired the title of Spain, she might have contended
that those acts of the United States were encroachments,
but, standing in the attitude of a stranger to both titles,
she has no right to interfere in the matter.
The undersigned deems it unnecessary to pursue this
branch of the subject further than to state that the United
States, before they had acquired the title of Spain, always
treated that title with respect. In the negotiation of 1818,
the American Plenipotentiaries " did not assert that the
United States had a perfect right to that country ; but
insisted that their claim was at least good against Great
Britain," and the convention of October 20, 1818, unlike
that of Nootka Sound, reserved the claims of any other
power or state to any part of the said country. This re-
servation could have been intended for Spain alone. But,
ever since the United States acquired the Spanish title,
they have always asserted and maiptained their right in
the strongest terms up to the Russian line, even whilst
offering, for the sake of harmony and peace, to divide
the territory in dispute by the 49th parallel of latitude.
The British Plenipotentiary, then, has entirely failed
to sustain his position, that the United States can found
no claim on discovery, exploration, and settlement, with-
ant admitting the principles of the Nootka convention.
"That convention died on the commencement of the war
between Spain and England, in 1796, and has never since
been revived.
The British Plenipotentiary next" endeavours to prove
that, even if the Nootka Sound convention had ever ex-
Lsted, the position of Great Britain in regard to her claim,
whether to the whole or to any particular portion of the
Oregon territory is at least as good as that of the United
States." In order to establish this position he must show
that the British claim is equal in validity to the titles
both of Spain and the United States. These can never
new be separated. They are one and the same. Diffe-
rent and diverging as they may have been before the
Florida treaty, they are now blended together and iden-
tified. The separate discoveries, explorations, and set-
tlements of the two powers previous to that date must now
be considered as if they had all been made by the
United States alone. Under this palpable view of the
eubject, the undersigned was surprised to find that in the
s enparison and contrast instituted by the British Pleni-
potentiary between the claim of Great Britain and that
.1 the United States, he had entirely omitted to refer to
the discoveries, explorations, and settlements made by
Spain. The undersigned will endeavour to supply the
omission.
But before he proceeds to the main argument on this
point he feels himself constrained to express his surprise
e hat the British Plenipotentiary should again have invoked
in support of the British title the inconsistency between
the Spanish and American branches of the title of the
United States. The undersigned cannot forbear to con-
gratulate himself upon the fact, that a gentleman of
Mr. Pakenhana's acknowledged ability has been reduced
talhe necessity of relying chiefly upon such a snpport
ter sustaining the British pretensions. Stated in brief,
the argument is this : the American title is not good
against Great Britain, because inconsistent with that of
Spain ; and the Spanish title is not good against Great
Britain, because inconsistent with that of the United
States. The undersigned had expected something far
different from such an argument in a circle. He had
anticipated that the British Plenipotentiary would have
attempted to prove that Spain had no right to the north-
western coast of America ; that it was vacant and un-
appropriated ; and hence, under the law of nations, was
open to discovery, exploration, and settlement by all
nations. But no such thing. On this vital point of his
case he rests his argument solely on the declaration
made by the undersigned, that the title of the United
States to the valley of the Columbia...was perfect and com-
plete before the treaties of joint occupation of October,
1818, and August, 1827, and before the date of the
Florida treaty, in 1819.
But the British Plenipotentiary ought to recollect that
this title was asserted to be complete, not against Spain,
but against Great Britain ; that the argument was cone
ducted not against a Spanish but a British Plenipoten-
tiary ; and that the United States, and not Great Bri-
tain, represent the Spanish title. And further, that the
statement from which he extracts these declarations was
almost eaclusively devoted to prove, in the language
quoted by the British Plenipotentiary himself, that
" Spain had a good title, as against Great Britain, to the
whole of the Oregon territory." The undersigned has
never, as before observed, instituted any comparison
between the American and Spanish titles. Holding both
—having a perfect right to rely on both, whether jointly
or separately—he has strongly asserted each of them in
their turn, tartly persuaded that either the one or the
other is good against Great Britain ; and that no human
ingenuity can make the Spanish title, now vested in the
United States, worse than it would have been had it re-
mained in the hands of Spain.
Briefly to illustrate and enforce that title shall be the
remaining task of the undersigned.
And, in the first place, he cannot but commend the
frankness and candour of the British Plenipotentiary
in departing from the course of his predecessors, and
rejecting all discoveries previous to those of Captain
Cook, in the year 1778, as foundations of British title.
Commencing with discovery at a period so late, the
Spanish title, on the score of antiquity, presents a
strong contrast to that of Great Britain. The under-
signed had stated as an historical and " striking feet,
which must have an important bearing against the
cittiln of Great Britain, that this convention (the Nootka)
which was dictated by her to Spain, contains no pro-
vision impairing the ultimate sovereignty which that
power has asserted for nearly three centuries over the
whale western aide of North America as far north as
the 61st degree of latitude, and which had never keen
seriously questioned by any European nation. This
hae been maintained by Spain with the most vigilant
• jealousy ever since the discovery of the American con-
tieeet, and had been acquiesced in by all European Go-
vernments. It had been admitted even beyond the lati-
tude of 54 40 north, by Russia, then the only power
having claims which could come in collision with Spain;
and that, too, under a severeien peculiarly tenacious of
the territorial rights of her empire."
These historical facts had not been, as they could not
be, controverted by the British Plenipotentiary,although
they were brought under his particular observation, and
were even quoted by him with approbation, for the pur-
pose of showing the inconsistency of the severel titles
hell by the United States. In the language of Count
Fermin du Nun. z, the Spanish Ambassador at Paris, to
M. de Montmorin, the Secretary of the Foreign Depart-
ment of France, under date of June 17, 1790: "By the
treaties, demarcations. taking possession, and the most
deciaed acts of sovereignty exercised by the Spaniards in
those stations from the reign of Charles 11., and autho-
rised by that monarch in 1692, the original vouchers for
which shall be brought forward in the course of the ne-
gotiation, all the coast to the north of the western
America, on the side of the South Sea, as far as beyond
what is called Prince William's Sound, which is in the
61st degree, is acknowledged to belong exclusively to
Spain."
Compared with this ancient claim of Spain, acquiesced
in by all European nations for centuries, the claim of
Great Britain, founded on discoveries commenced at so
late a period as the year 1778, must make an unfavour-
able first impression.
Spain considered the north-west coast of America as
exclusively her own. She did not send out expeditions
to explore that coast, for the purpose of rendering her
title more valid. When it suited her own convenience,
or promoted her own interest, she fitted out such ex-
peditions of discovery to ascertain the character and ex-
tent of her own territory ; and yet her discoveries
along that coast are far earlier than those of the
British.
That Juan de Fnca, a Greek in the service of Spain,
in 1592, discovered and sailed through the strait now
bearing his name, from its southern to its northern ex-
aremity, and thence returned by the same passage, no
longer admits of a reasonable doubt. An account of the
ea 3 age was published in London in 1625, in a work
called " The Pilgrims," by Samuel Purchase This ac-
eouat was received from the lips of Fuca himself at
Venice, in April, 1596, by Michael Lock, a highly re-
spectable English merchant.
During a long period this voyage was deemed fabu-
lous, because subseqnent navigators had in vain at-
tempted to find these straits. Finally, after they had
been found, it was discovered that the descriptions of De
Fuca corresponded so accurately with their geography,
lead the facts presented by nature upon the ground, that
it was no longer possible to consider his narration as
fabulous. It is true that the opening of the straits
from the south lies between the 48th and 49th parallels
of latitude, and not between the 47th and 48th parallels,
as he had supposed; but this mistake may be explained
by the inaccuracy so common throughout the sixteenth
century in ascertaining the latitude of places in newly-
discovered countries.
It is also true that De Fuca, after passing through
these straits, supposed he had reached the Atlantic, and
had discovered the passage so long and so anxiously
sought after, between the two oceans; but from the total
ignorance and misapprehension which prevailed at that
early day of the geography of this portion of North
America, it was natural for him to believe that he had
made this important discovery.
Justice bets at length been done to his memory, and
these straits which he discovered will, in all future time,
bear his name. Thus,; the merit of the discovery of the
straits of Fuca belongs to Spain; and this nearly two