The Arkansas banner., 1845-06-25

Bless to England and to America. The oniv 3use ot It to England IS as hunting ground, Swhich enables the Hudson Bay Company to skeep up it's monopoly against the English Speople-a monopoly which occasions many sspecies of furs to be twice, and sometimes 9three times, as dear in London as in Leipsic. sThe only use of it to America would be to- smake 1t an addition to territories already far Stoo large for good government or even for sciVllization. The emigrants of Oregon must apass through thousands of miles of unoccu- Epied land, with soil and climate far better Ethan they will find on the shores of the Pa scific. And when they get there, what will Hbe the social state of few thousand families, sscattered through a territory more than six times as large as England, and three thousand smiles from the seat of government? They \ will mix with the Indians, and sink into a 5degraded race oI hall-caste barbarians. Ifshe Ecould obtain sovereignty over the whole of the lands west of the Rocky mountains to- amorrow, every wise American statesman must E wish that the next day they should sink into
 the sea.
 B The only real point in dispute, therefore, Bis point of honor, the only real question is, K what is the marinum which either party can aconcede, or, which is the same, the miai7aaa s (which either party can honorably accept
 E The Oregon Territory extends in length sfrom latitude 42 (the Mexican boundary to @41.40, (the Russian;) being distance of about a 760 miles, and in breadth from the sea 10 the 3 Rocky mountains an average distance of 300 amiles So that it's whole contents are about E360,040 square miles; being more than three atimes as large as Great Britain and Ireland K Hput together. From the Rocky mountains a eastward, for more than 1000 miles, the 18th < parallel of latitude divides the English pos asessons from those of the United States. So a that the Oregon district above 49 is contigu- 9 ous to the English territory, and below 49 sto the American. The climate is warmer a than that of the eastern coast, but colder than < that of the corresponding European lat;tHdes. Hthe lower portion resembling that of England, Athe higher that ofScotland. South ofthe Straits doi St. Juan de Fuca, in lat 4S there are no tol- IerabIe harbors; the only places of shelter are a Po1t Balfineh and the Columbia; but both are H bar harbors, and at all times dangerous, and for athe greater part of the year inaccessibc- a Above that strait, and communicating with it,
 
 gsequence of the many large islands projected sbeiore the coast. The soil is generally noun 3 3tainous, rocky, and uncultivable, though there Hare some fertile aluvial bottoms Of that Hpoftion which Is south of the straits of Facal 5 not more than one-cighth or one-tenth is asupposed to be reclaimable; and to the north aof them the cultivabe proportion is still less Tine very doubtful advantages of governing athis barren region is claimed on four distinct agrounds. l. Discovery. ?. Contignitv. 5. HCession. 4 Settlement We will take them, aas far as we can, separately. First, as to dis scovery. It may have been seen by Drake in .dhe reached lat. 4S; the other that he did not sascend beyond 43. But as no use was at stempted to be made ofthis supposed discovery, Sit has heen very properly abandoned as a {source of title. In l592, Juan de Fuca, q
 Greek in the Spanish service, is supposed 10
 have discovered the strait which is called afer
 him. In 1774, Juan Perez was despatched
 on voyage of discovery by the Spanish gov
 ,ernment He reached the 54th latitude, and lis supposed to have first seen Queen Char slotte's island and Nootka Sound, in latitude ,h49.45. In the next year llerceta, also sent by ,hthe Spanish government, sailed along the awhole coast, reached Vancouvcr's island. and saw the mouth of the Columbia. which he E anamed the River St. Roque. In l778, Cap s stain Cook explored the coast between latitude cs70 and Nootka Sound. In l7S8, and the .s three following years, Captain Gray, in he E American ship the Columbia, passed and re- spassed along the whole coast up to Nootka ,SSound, and first entered and named Bufinch ,aharbor and the Columbia river In 1792, ,aand the three following years, Vancouver, sunter the orders of the British government, asurveyed the coast, and one of his officers broWed up the Columbia about one hundred ,Hmlles-that is nearly to the point at which $ it's rapids render it navigable. This com Spletes the history of the maritime discoveries. 2 The progress of discovery overland was Hmuch slower. In 1905 Lewis and Clarke. ssent by the American government, first cros- ssed the Rocky mountains towards the south, ,aembarked on one of the tributaries of the hColumbia, were carried down by the stream, Hon the 10th November, 1S05, reached its Smouth In the same year. or in the follow- ,slng year, some servants or the Hudson Bay gCompany first crossed the Rocky mountains ,Htowards the north, and discovered one of the .1northern branches of the Columbia.
 a On the whole, the title to the coast by \ ydiscorery seems 10 belong 10 Spain Her kgovernment vessels were certainly the first ,s swho surveyed ii, perhaps the first who saw it. .aThe first who navigated the Columbia were .a Americans, Gray ascending it, and Lewis and sClarke descending We attach, however, lit s tie importance to the American discoveries aThe title, such as it may be, which nation aacqulres by the discovery of line of coast, Ais not iaterlered with by subsequent and Smore accurate survey by another nation of s the rivers that intersect it.
 .s We now come to the titles by coatiguity 3and cession. Originally tie title by conti- Equity belonged solely to Franceand to Spain .sFrance having a claim to extend westward 3rom Canada and Louisiana, and Spain to aadvancc norihward from California. In l763 sFrance ceded Canada to England, and thus Etransfcrred to us her claim to advance west ward, towards the Pacific. In l762 she ceded sLouisiana to Spain which gave to Spain a ;9doublo SooniSh claim hv cOntiUuify as far nc