Mobile register and journal., 1845-12-06
HON. CALEB CusHiNG'S LECTURE ON ORE6ON.
 


 Great Britain defends her prelension to treat Ore gon Us unoGGupie1 country, subject o colonization hy her on two grounds
 First, she agreed that, conceding her own def, al ol title, s, we had no better title 1u this the United States reped, hy show ing that wa had bet. Ter title in own piior discovery, ptiol expora- ton, and prIuT settlement of Or, gon, and m our | II ghls under France and Spain.
 Whereupan, secondly, Great Britain alleged right to cnunihe iu Oregon under concession made tn her by Spain, in Ut the clauses of what is call ed he Nootka Contention; word of explanation concerning which will conclude all have to gay on the subject of fitie Oregon.
 suppose there Is not m the history of modern times any of war undertaken or threatened wiih greater p pecIpitancy, prt texts futile, than the Nootka Sound quarrel of Great Britain with | Spain. The Spanish government, the first dlscpv- erer of NooDka Sound, sent D. Is'eban Martinez there in l79S to form settlement in all Ihe forms of legality and Of pupic right belonging to any Euro | pean establishment in America Meanwhile, Two vessels came 10 trade on lhe Northwest Coast under | the general command of one Aleares- the Fece. with Meares for master, and the lphlsenIa, hay ing one Douglas Tor supercargI. These two persons were English adveuuIers, but the vessels were P0r- tnguese, with Portuguese owner and Portuguese papers. fitted in the Portuguese colony of Macao, m China In l7S9 the lphigenla, Meares being ab. sent in the Fplice, seized by D. Eseban Mar inez for an alleged breach of he Spanish law, and justly seized, perhaps, but immediately released, on 1 Douglas gIVlng bonds tnal ms (n1lnnal) owner at | Macao would pay her value demand to the order of the Ycerny of MeXico, in the seizure should be pronounced legal and valid; after which the lphi gena continued her business undisluibed along the 1 Northwest Coast. Subsequently, two other vessels, the ArgonHut and Princess Royal, under the direction of one Colnet, made heir appearance, also from Ma cao, purporing 10 be lha property ol the (British) King Grorge's Sound Company. These vessels, lo- gether with vessel bnilt the coast by Meaies's s people, called the Northwest Ame'ica, were seized l by Martinez the same year, and inc Argnnaut, with Colnott on board, was sent 10 San Hlas for ddjud- cation.
 The Condo de RevilIagig do, then vceroy, dec ded that ihe seizure was wu and fh gnod cause i; but ordered ihe vessels to be released as acl of coIny towards England, and because of The alleged ignorance of the parties ih regard to the rights of Spau-ol all of which Spain herself, in lhe spirit of candor and fair dealing, gave the first information 10 he English government. Meares, however 'mme- ditelv repaned to Rngldnd and, upon the represen- taiions made by hlm-represenlalions now known and universally seen to be grossly and shameie iely false in all essential parIlcuatsihe British govern ment decided upon war, unless ample saistacun" should be made by the Spanish government. Spain was m no condition spirit 10 fight with England, and accordingly subnItted without reserve lo the demands of the British ministry. The result was the convention of l790 called of Ihe Escniial. or more cou,monly of Nootka. This convention pio O. vides among other things that the respective snbe cts of Spain and Great Britain shall not be disturbed or molested. either in nay gating carrying on their fisheries in the Pacific ocean or in the South or m landing ihe coasts of those sess and plarrs not already occupied for the purpose Ul carrying llem commerce with lhe natives of lhe country. of making settlements there; il being suhjoued that in any settlements la be made by either party, the sub- jects of the other shall haY' free and shall carry on their trade without mnesiation | Under this convention, Great Britain claims the right, by concession from SpaIn, in make settle ments in Oregon against the United States SD far as we hold from Spam.
 The United States reply that ihe conditions of his cconvention are nothing bnl commercial sliput,nns ollemporary occupancy for the purpose of fishing or trading, leaving the Spanish sovereignty nnimpaled least only in abeva"ce, and that upon lhe lace of Il, also, the convention is oi that class ot Ical which with war, and il was according cxlin- gushed by the war, which soon afterwards broke out between Great BrtrIn and Spain
 Such the claims and preienliona of the two governments.
 On this part of ihe subject, then, the question sianis in brief thus
 We of the United States have, as we think, good
 title to the ,ohoie of Oregon, from 42des. up 54eg. 39 CO.,.
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