Constitutional Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1824-1832, 1825-03-25

Britain the rights derived from discovery. and
they alluded TO purchases from the natives souti
Oh the River Columbia, which they alleged to
nave been made prior to the American Reyoiu-
tlon. Ihey did not make any formal PROPOSE.
tioh Tor a boundary, but ntiInated that the ,5rer
itseii was the most convenient that could he
adopted, and that they would not agree 20 anv
which did not give them the harbor at the
NOUN OF the rtceT in common with the United
States. "-Leher from .Hess,Y. Gahatia. md
fsush, October 20, 1890.
10 tins the American Penipotent;aries an
swered, IN way better calculated To eucourafrc
than TO repulse the grouudless professions of
Great Britain. 1--WE did not assert. lcontinue
these gentlemen, in the same letter,O we did moi
assert that the United States had perfect rio.hr
e that country, but insisted that their claim
was at least good against Great Britain. We
oia not know, with precision, what value our
government set OH the country TO the westward
! OF these mountains; but we were not authorized
10 enter INTO any agreement which should be
tantamount to an abandonment of the claim 70
Ii. III was last agreed, but as we thought,
WIN some reluctance on the part of the British
Plenlpotentaries, that the country ON the
Northwest Coast, claimed by either party,
should, without prejudice to the claims oCelther
and Tor limited time, be opened for the pur
poses OF trade, TO the inhabitants of both coun-
trics.n
Inc substance of this agreement was inserted
IN the convention Of October 1915 Ii consti-
tutes The third article of that Treaty, and is the
same upon which the Senator from New JERSEY
Mr. Dickerson. relics, for excluding the
Onhed states from the occupation of the Column
bia.
In subsequent negotiations, the British a
gents further rested their clam upon the disco
q Is 81 4.
Astoria, during the late war, and the NoothIsa
Sound Treaty, Oh 1880.
| Such an exhibition of title, said Mr. b. is ridi-
culons, and would be contemplate in the hands
oil any other power than that OF Great Britain
vi Tie i've grounds OF claim which she has set
up, not one OF them is tenable against the
slightest examination. Cook never saw much
less took possession OF, any part of the Northwest
coast OF America, in the latitude of the Column
bld river. All his discoveries were far north of
that point, and not one OF them was followed VI
BY possession, without which, the fact of disco
very would confer no title. The Indians are not
even named, from whom the purchases are stat
ed to have been made anterior to the Revolu-
tonary War Not single particular is given
which could identity transaction of the kind
| The only circumstance mentioned applies To
the locality OF the Indians supposed 20 have
made the sale, and tia circumstance uyil,iates
the whole claim. They are SAID to have resid
ed 10 the ''SOufhn OF the Columbia; bv conse-
/ quence they did not reside upon il, and could
have no right 10 sell Countr, of which they
were noi the Possessors.
| Mckenzie was sent out from Canada. in the
year 1893. TO discover at IFS head the river
which Captain Gray had discovered al ITS mouth.
3 years before. But Mckenzie missed the OBJ
Ject of his search and struck the Pacific five
hundred miles To the north, as | have already
stated. The seizure OF Astoria, during the war
was an operation OF arms, comforting no more
title upon Great Britain to the Columbia than
the capture OF Castne and Detroit gave her To
! Maine and Michigan. This new ground of
claim was set up 10y Mr.. Bagot, his Britanic Ma
Jesys Ambassador to this Republic, in 1917.
and set up IN way 10 contradict and ralinquish
all their other pretended titles Mr. Bagot was
demonstrating against the occupation, b, the
! United States, OF The Columbia river, and recit-
ing that 1t had been taken possession of, in his
MaIesty's maine, during the late war, ..aad had
SINCE been CONSIDERED forming It DoyI Of
ms oHgesty's d0Dt5njOnS.n The word 'siarc~is,
exclusive OF all previous pretcnsion, and the
Ghent treaty, which STIMULATES for the restora-
ton all the captured posts, is a complete extin-
guIshcr to this Idle pretcnson Finally, the
British negotiators have been driven to take
shelter under the Nootza Sound Treaty. of
! 1920. The character of that treaty was well
understood al the time that it was made and
lis terms will speak for themselves al the pre-
sent day. 1t was treaty of concession and not
OF acquisition of rights, on the part Of Great
! Britain. 1t was SO characterized by the on
position, and so admitted 10 be b. the Ministry,
at the time of its communication TO the British
Parliament.
! Here Mr. B. read passages from the speech
es of Mr.. FOX and Mr.. Pitt, to prove the cha
ractcr of this Trcaty.7
"Nlr. Fox said, What, then, was the extent
Of orr rights before the convention-(w whether
admitted or denied by Spain was of no conse-
! quenCcl-and TO what extent were thcy NOW
secured to u.s. We possessed and exercised lie
| free navigation Of the Pacific Ocean without
restraint OF limitation. " possessed and ex-
| crclscd tie right Of CARRYING on fisheries in the
South Seas, equally unlimited. This was no bar
rem right, but Il right Of which we had avaed
ourselves, as appeared by the papers ON the ia
BILE, which showed that the produce of il had in
creased, IN five years, from twelve TO ninety
seven thousand pounds sterling This estate
we had, and we're daily improving: it was not to
! be dlsgraced by the name Of an acquisition.
! The admission of part of these rights BY Spain
was all we had obtained. Our right, before,
was to settle IN any part Of the South or North
west Coast Of America not fortified against rs
BY previous occupancy, and we were now res
tricted 10 settle in certain places only, and under
/ certain restrictions THIS was an important
| concession on our part Our rights Of fishing
! extended to the whole ocean, and now it, too
/ was limited and To- be carried on within certain
/ distances of the Spanish settlements OR right
/ of making settlements was not, as now a rio4t
to build huts, but to plant colonies. If we thpur..
/ proper. Surely these were not ACQUISITIONS or
rather Conuuests as they rlllet he ,,o1,si r,J Is