Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-03-03

dent Of the United States communicated 10
Congress, in compliance with resolution OF
the House of Representatives, OF the 18th OF
that month, Report from the Secretary OF
State, with the correspondence with the Bril-
fish government, relating to the boundary Of the
| United States on the Pacific Ocean. The re.
port consists of letter of instructions from
Mir Adams, when Secretary OF State, 10 Mr..
Rush, whilst the latter was Minister in London;
of an extract from despatch from Mr.. Rush,
containing an account Of his discussions with
the British Plenipotentiaries on the subject;
protocols of conferences and Of paper speci-
flying the conditions, as to the boundary 10
which the United States would accede, and a
paper deciaratory of those in which Great Bril-
tain would acquesce.
The settlement of our boundary on the-Paci-
ic Ocean is daily becoming more and more i'm
portant. independently Of the expediency Of
preventing future conflicts, by an early adjust
ment of the line OF coast over which our 60
vernme II, is hereafter 10 exercise sovereign ju-
rsdicton in that quarter, the claims OF those
who are engaged in the fur trade, the fisheries,
in the traffic with the Indians Of that coast,
and in the intercourse with the Islands in the
Southern Pacific, and with China, demand the
earnest attention of our constituted authorities.
In word, the interests Of navigation aud COM
merce are deeply involved in the question of
national right and jurisdiction in that region.
The parties that have had territorial claims
| on the extreme western part OF this continent,
are Spain, Russia, Great Britain and the u
nited States. The facts upon which they re-
spectively rest, are distinctly adverted TO in the
instruction of Mr.. Adams, and the letter of
Mr. Rush. This correspondence, however, is
no later than the 10Th Of August, 1924, and is
antecedent TO the treaty with Russia, which,
although formed at St. Petersburgh on the 18th
Of April, 1924, was not consummated, by an
exchange Of notifications at Washington, until
the 18th Of January, 1925. BY the third arti-
Gle of that treaty, twas stipulated that, here
after there should not be formed, by the citi-
zens of the United States, any establishment
upon the North West Coast of America, nor
in any of the Islands adjacent, to the north of
54 degrees and 40 minutes of north latitude;
and, on her part, Russia engaged that none
should be formed by her sub jects, or under her
authority, south of The same parallel Of lali-
tude The claim Of Russian sovereignty, con-
sequently, may be regarded as having been viz
tually quieted, and fixed at the latitude of 81
degrees 40 minutes north.
BY the third article of the treaty with Spain,
of the 22d of February, 1919, the boundary line
between her former possessions and those of
the United States, is described by the Sabine,
the Red River, the Arkansas, and latitude AZ
de srees north, to the South Sea, or Pacific
ocean To this arrangement it is understood
the new government Of Mexico has made no
objection, and is willing to conform. AL. the
territorial rights of Spain, north OF latitude ~
degrees north, have, therefore, been transferred
to the United States.
The Spanish and Russian claims having been
thus amicably settled, there only remains the
conflicting claims of the United States and
Great Britain.
The right Of the United States to territory on
the northwest coast rests upon that Of Spain,
which, as far as actual discovery could give it,
was prior TO the right Of every other nation;
upon the entrance of the Colombia river, and
the name given to it, by Captain Gray, an A.
merican citizen; upon the exploration of the
same river, over land, by Captains Lewis and
Clarke; upon the settlement of Astoria, at the
mouth Of the Columbia river; under the pro-
lection Of the United States; and upon the re-
storation of that establishment, as an American
possession, in 1918, by Great Britain.
According 70 the letter of Mr.. Rush to Mr..
HudlnS, Tic DTltlSn TienlpotehilaTlcS opposed
the claim Of the United States upon grounds
extremely vague, and entirely unsatisfactory.
They adverted 10 the navigation of Drake and
Cook in that direction, to trading posts said
TO have been formed in several places with the
consent the Indians, and insisted that the un-
occupied parts OF: the North West Coast were
as open as they had ever been for the formation
Of new settlements
The leading object Of each party has been
to gain the sovereignty Of the country through
which the Columbia river and its tributary
streams pass. The pretensions Of Great Bril-
tain, from the feeble manner in which her me-
gotiators were enabled to support them, amount
in reality, to nothing more than the OCCASION
al excursions of her traders among the lndi-
ans, and such transient fixtures as were neces-
sary to their comfort for the moment. These
cannot be ultimately sustained against the right
Of the United States, founded, it is, upon the
surveys Of the shore, up to very high north
ern latitude, by the first European discoveries
of America upon the examination Of the mouth
of the Colombia by Captain Gray, and the ma
tional expedition of Lewis and Clarke, from
the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean. If
Great Britain had not considered Astoria, on
the Columbia, which had been taken by her a.
gent during the late war, as part of the terri
tory of the United States, she would hardly |