The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1811-10-30
COMMENTS
ON THE REAL EXTENT OF THE MARITIME
poMISroN OF THE UNITED STATES.
by EDMOND c. GENET,
II Citizen Of Ncv- York.
No. VI.

HAVE expressed my determination not TO
notice the expected attacks Of my personal
xlctraCtors time, that slow but faithful
defender Of innocence, will yindicatc my
character, confound those masked assassins
who stab in the dark, and fix on the propcr
heads the thorns which have long and so
uniustly worn.---Havng however pledged
myself to establish completely by historical
and dipIomatck evidence, the extensive
eastern boundaries of the United States,
shall not decline TO explain or illustrate by
sdditionsi proofs what have already said OH
that subject, and to strengthen the title of our
maritime dominion by the successful result
OF conclusive researches. must accordingly
postpone the details which intended to offer
on the pisn OF an Armed Neutrality, in order
20 determine more explicitly than had done
in my first number, the mctcs and bounds Of
that dominion. and TO convince of his errour,
an anonymous writer, under the signature Of
NanOe american, who, tcndery attached to
Mr.. Pickering's anti American doctrines, has
defed me, in one Of his new productions,
published in the Gazette Of Albany, Of the
10th OF September, to shew {" that England
had ever gained right Of twenty leagues to
the sea around our shores, either by possession,
prescription or accession" 1 am bound to
answer his challenge, having, in effect, as the
writer observes, avowed that had then found
In no dihIomatick instrument the precise extent
OF the naval dominion Of England in America,
bntthat agreeable to the American treaties of
1870 and 1886 1t was certainly very ample.
10 trace the whole chain OF American rights
andtitlcs It is necessary to consult history.
Ihe hrst Europeans who discovered this
hemisphere, and took possession Of it, where
ha ar1c sbo xC ~ =.
topher Columbus, in the year 1892 Ferdi-
nand and Isabella, after the return of Colum
bus from his expedition, took all the measures
in their power to secure the important dis.
covery, which drew the attention and excited
the jealousy of all Europe, and apprchensiyc
that the right Of first occupant, and the real
possession of a small portion of that immence
continent, then considered by Columbus him
self, as apart Of the East Indies, would not
be sufficient, they thought it good policy in
l493 a. in conformity to the ruling opinions
''of those times or to the law OF Nations then
in existence, to apply for an absolute gran, of
those new discoveries, to the Pope A!cxandet
VLwho was supposed by all the Christian
nations at that epoch, as Vicar and Rcpresen-
tatiye OF Christ, to have right of unive sal
sovereignty over all the Kingdoms OF the
Garth, and who hsd already, very literally
granted the East Indies, to the Portuguese.
Thc Pope complied with the request of Spain,
but In order 10 prcvopt any trouble or dispute
between that power and Portugal, he drewa
line from pole to'pole, which passed precise
ly at 100 leagues west Of the Western ISL
ands. (2) And His Holiness declared, by
virtue OF his full powers, that /" gyAateper vvas
sifnafed 30 the east Of that line should Be. the
PROPERTY Of the Portuguese, and whatever
mas situated 10 he wesf should belong to
Spain" The Spaniards, under that spiritual
deed, continued undisturbcd by any European
power in their settlements and discoveries un-
lil the Portuguese admiral Cabral, by mere
chance, in the year l499 (s) on his way to
ia See Rcbcrtsons history of America
(2) Or Axors, groupe Of Islands. situated in |
III Atlantick between IS and s. l,crces W. |
lonkannd zS60 40 N. lat about 900 leagues west of
nanylEast of Newfoundland
yeyh4lds Philosophical and Politi-
estsbllshuens Of Che Europeans in