The Arkansas banner., 1844-01-09
avowed purpose of keeping Americans out of

again used this reserved fund to persecute
 Americans, who dared to deal in iurs in our
 own territory!
 The Hudson Bay Company, while the Bri- tish ministers have been holding out the illu- slon that the dispute about Oregon shali be soon amcably settled, have erected and forti- fled nineteen forts within our territory! They have taken illegal possession of almost every eligible spot in Oregon, as regards water-pow- CT, or that is good site for maniifactory. and they have selected the finest sites for farms
 The Hudson Bay Company are cutting the best timber off our lands, and selline it. to enrich themselves
 The British Parliament have passed an act authorizing the Hudson Bay Company to ar rest and send to Canada any American citi- zen who may come within their (the Hudson Bay Company's) displeasure
 by thls daring outrage upon our sovereign ty, any American can be arrested and sent out of our own territory, to be tried on British ground, by British judges and British laws
 The Hudson Bay Company have power, by British laws, to give judgment against any American citizen in Oregon, and issue an ex- ecutlon, under cover of which he may be ei- ther confined in their forts, or sent to the iail in Canada, at their pleasurel
 The Hudson Bay Company, through long license, have become so overbearing, that they actually obliged a respectable American to wear skins for several years, for having in- cured their displeasure!
 The Hudson Bay Company send annually laro to bo,, l.. | joining to Oregon, belonging to the United States, and to which England has never laid claim
 The Hudson Bay Company's agents com init depredations upon the Indians living with in the acknowledged limits of the United States, actually murdering hundreds of them every year
 What is to be done2 Congress has been pettioned, by the American settlers in Ore gon, to take them under their protection; but their prayers are unanswered.
 But hark a sound, like the meeting of many waters, rises in the West !-and now it seems to roll, as great wave, from the Alle- ghanies even to the Rocky Mountains !-and the Atlantic It is the mighty voice of an injured and indignant people, who have been long slumbering, but are reused, and are de- termined to do themselves justice! Great applause!
 From the very nature of the discoveries and settlements of the French and English in Canada, no precise limits were at first fixed to their respective possessions. At the peace oI Ak la Chapelle, these boundaries were yet left unsettled. Both nations wished to en- gross the fur trade. England claimed to na- vigate the Mississippi; while France endea- vored to surround the British possessions, from that river to the lakes, with border of forts Both nations were anxious to win over to their side the Indians. Negotiations were resorted to; but difficulties constantly occurred, which created delays; when, sud- denly, Great Britain, without declaration of war, or giving notice of any kind of their hos tile intentions, sent a fleet to Canada, and captured two French ships of the line by simultaneous movement, all the French mer- chant vessels, sailing either to or from the West Indies or North America, amounting to more than three hundred, were captured and taken to English ports, and the French sea- men thus obtained were even compelled to enter the British service Having thus ob- tained signal advantage, by making war be- fore it was declared, upon the unsuspecting Frenchmen, they pushed forward this advan- tage with great vigor, until they compelled Quebec to surrender to their arms.
 An English historian, after narrating these facts, expresses a well-grounded fear that pos terity may look upon them as unwarrantable aggressions. But says he, Git is as evident a principle as any in jurisprudence, that inju- ries attempted may be prevented and that, therefore, war to hinder an attack is as law ful as war to repel or punish an injury.' sPo- licy, therefore, coincided with justice, in dic- tating an attack on the French ships ? &c
 Here is an English lesson of policy and Ejustice,' that it is to be hoped, will not be lost upon the American people. If there was the shadow of justice to authorize England, in an interval of profound peace between her and France, and while negotiations were ac- tually on foot, in making this sudden and un- looked for attack-in capturing their ships, armed and unarmed-and in making slaves (not prisoners) of their seamen, merely to prevent rival colony from outdoing them in the acts of daily occurrence with both na- tions-a multo fortiori, will we be justified in peacefully taking possession of our own territory, and busting unjust intruders. Ap- plause.
 The original entry ofthe Hudson Bay Com pany upon our territory was unlawful-their remaining there is unlawful. He who ought to know them, says that they are, in all their instincts and habits, thoroughly British and anti-American; wherefore, we owe them no courtesy That this company acts under the orders of, the present British ministers, is also certain. It has ever been the policy of that artful government, when they had any dan- gerous or disagreeable maneuvre to perform, to employ agents. This method insures to them the advantage of adopting their acts, if successful, or abandoning them, if necessity requires. If Spain had been able to enforce redress for the outrages committed upon their possessions in the New World, by Drake, he would have been punished instead of being knighted. Many of the barbarous murders committed during our war of the Revolution,