The North-Carolina standard., 1845-05-14

iormer voyages, and Principally that of Captaip
Cook, gave 10 Great Britain. the rights derived
from discovery, and they alluded 10 purchases
from the natives South Of The liver Columbia,
(which they alleged 10 have been made prioE.to
tthe American Revolution. They did not make
any formal proposition for boundary, but init
mated that the rirer itself was the most con yenienl
that could be adopted and that they would moi
agree TO pny which did not give Them The laYLoy
at the mouth Of the rivsr in common with the
Onlteo "a states Letter from Messrsr GallGii7l
+ .1e tins the, American Penipoteutiaries answer
ed in way bettercalculated to encourage than
repulse the groundess pretensions Of Great Brit.
lain: =" We did not assert (contnue these gentle.
men, IN the same letter) we did not assert ,halthe
tlnlted States had perfect right to that country
but insisted that their claim was at least, good a:
! against Great Britain We did not know, with
precision, what value our Government set on the
Icouptry to the Westward of these mountains but
we were not authorized 10, enter into any agree
ment which should be tantaineunt to, an.abandon
ment of the claim to it. 1t was at ast.agreed but
as we thought, with some reluctance on the part
OF the British Plenipotentiaries that the country
on the Northern Coast claimed by either, party
should, without prejudice TO the claims of either
and Tor limited time, be opened for the purposes
ottrade, to the inhabitants of both countries =.
. The substance Of this agreement was. inserted
In the convention of October, 1918. It. 'consti-
tutes the third article os that Treaty. and is the
same upon which the Senator from New Jersey.
tMr, Dlckersen, relies, for excluding the United
Estates, from the occupation. ofthe Columbia. =,
In subsequent negotiations, the British. Agents
further rested theirciaim upon the discoveries OF
M Kcnzie, in 1898, the SEIZURE of Astoria, during
the latewar, and the >Nootka Sound Treaty, oi
179O. - =
| SDrh an VII ofk;,1o d =
ious and would be contemplate in the hands Of
/ any other power than that of Great Britain OF
the hive grounds of claim which she has set up,
not one>of them is tenable against the slghlestex-
animation Cook never saw, much less took pos
session OF, any part. of the Northwest coast ol
America. in the latitude Of the Columbia River
All his discoveries were far North.o that point
and cot one oftAem was followed up BY possession
without which the fact Of discovery would confer
no tltfe. The Indians were not named from
whom the purchases are stated to have bern made
anterior TO the Revolutionary War. Not sin.
gle particular is given which could indentify a
transaction ofthe kind. The only circumstance
mentioned applies TO the locality of the Indians
supposed to have made the sale and that circum-
stance inValidnfes the whole claim They are said
! to- have resided to the SoutR' of the Columbia
by consequence they dad not reside Gpon it, and
could have no right to sell country Of which
:
| MKenzie was sent out from Canada in the
year 1898, to discover Mt its head the river which
! Captain Gray had discovered at its north. three
wears before. But M'Krnzie missed The object 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 opera
tien of arms, conferred no more tile upon Great
Britain to thr Colombia than the capture ofCas-
tine and Brfroit gave her to Maine and Michigan.
| This new. ground Of claim was set up by Mr..
Bagot, his Brtaunic Maiestys Ambassador to
this Republic. in 1917 and set up in way to con-
radict and r"inqnsh all their other pretended IL
ties Mr. Bagot was demonstrating against the
occupation, by the United States, Of the Columbia
River and reciting that it had been taken possess
ion of in his Majesty's name, during the late war,
" and had SINCE been CONSIDERED as forming q
part Of his Majestys dOminioms." The word
" since" is exclusive Of all Drevions prptention
and the Ghenl Treaty, which stiptiates for the
restoration of all the captured posts isncomp1ete
eStinguisher to this idle pretrnsion Finally, the
British negotiators have been driven to take shell
tor under the Nootka Sonnd Treaty of 1890,
Fhe character Of thai treaty was we'll understood
at the time that it was made, and it's terms viii
speak for themselves at The present day 1t was
a-treaty Of concession, and not of acquisition Of
rights, on the part Of Great Britain. II was SO
characterized by the opposition, and so admitted
10 De oy tne HihiStTy at tne Time oil us cOmmunl-
cation to the British Parliament
IHere Mr.. B. read passages from the speeches
of Mr. Fox and Mr., Pitt, to prove the character Of
this Treaty.
"Mr Fox snid What, then, was the extent Of
our rights before the convention twhether -ad:
mitted or denied by Spain was no consequenceJ-I
and to what extent were they now secured to us?
We possessed and exercised the free navigation Of
the Pacific Ocean, without restraint or limitation.
We possessed and exercised the right of carrying
on fisheries in the South Seas equally unlimited |
This was no barren right, but right (which we
had availed ourselves, as appeared by the papers
on the table, which showed that the produce of it
had increased, In few years, from twelve to nine-
tyseven thousand pounds sterling, This estate
we had, and were daily improving; ii was not to
be disgraced by the name Of an acquisition. T'hel
admission of part of these rights, by Spain, was
all we had obtained. Our light, before, was to
settle in any part of the South or Northwest Coast
of America, not fortified against us by previous
occupancy. and we were restricted 10 settle in
certain places only, and under certain restrc-
tons This was an important concession on onr
part Our rights of6shing extended to the whole |
oceap, and now it. too was limited and to be carried
on within certain distances of the Spanish settle7
mefts. Our rights of making settlements was
not, as now, right to build huts, but to plant COL
onfcs, if we thought proper Surely these were
not acquisitions, rather conquests, as they must
be considered, five were to Judge by the triumph
ant language respecting them, but great and i'm.
portarIt concessions" "By the third article: we