Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1845-08-15
The Title to Oregon
BY DISCOVERY.

| We copy from the National Lptelh gencer the
following condensed view Of the grounds of
claim to Oregon, founded on discovery and :
exploration by the navigators of Spain and c
England:
Besides our own claim to that part of the !
Northwest coas: lying between the Bay of =,
San Francisco, In near 81 degrees 80 minutes
north, and an uncertain latitude somewhere !
beyond SIS degrees, there have been three 9TH
ers-the Spanish, the English, and the Rus
sian. All these claims, however, must be
said to have rested on very uncertain and i'm
perfect discoveries. +
| Beginning soon after the conquest of Me ext
leo, the Spaniards, from about 1910, carried
Explorations up the coast of the Pacific, in the
interior l543) as high perhaps as 40 degrees
north, and by sea, about the same time, as far
as 40 degrees, and perhaps 43 north. (See
the accounts cited by Mr.. Greenhow, PIP. 81,
3, 4, s. Here they for some time stopped
their efforts.
The next navigator in these higher seas
was Sir Francis Drake, who in 1879 sailed d
long the coast from Guatulco, l." fourteen hun
dred leagues north," to point beyond latl-
tude 43 degrees north, not stated In the one of
the narratives Of his voyage, and given as 49
degrees in the other. (See Greenhow, -. 3,
4, 81 The English as is natural, prefer the
account most favorable to themselves. Mr.
Greenhow gives the reasons which, in his
view, invaidate that account. Burney, how
ever, one Of the highest and exactest authorl-
ties In maritime history sustans the second
narrative and, indeed, on one point he has
the advantage. BY all the rules of proof, the
definite and specific statement Is to be prefer
red to that which does not mention the latl-
tude which was the northern limit of his
(Drake's) course. Turning back thence, he
rln down to good port in latitude 80 degrees,
probably the great bay of San Francisco,
where he remained five weeks; and. upon
formal tender to him by the natives OF the So
verelgnty, took regular possession OF the re-
gen in the name of his mistress, Queen Eiiz-
abe:h. Here again for a considerable inter-
val ceased the English discoveries, as the
Spanish had done.
In 1888, upon the narrative of one Maldon-
ado, arose and obtained some belief the story
Of Strait of Anian, reaching the Pacific, in
latitude 60 degrees north, from the Atlantic,
through which he, and after him, another nau'
tic romancer, Admiral Fonte, pretended to
have passed. These in all their par
tlculars mere recognised fctions. (See Green
how, PIP. 70 to 86.) More, but we think very
little more, reality attaches the supposed dis
covery in 1892, by Juan de Fuca, Of the long
strait to which his name is now glVen-tha
between Vancouver's land and the continent
MIR. Greenhow and some DINERS credit 1t
Cook, who examined, rejected it; and SO dc
Spanish writers, finding no traces in their ar
cheves Of any such expedition as that Of DE-
Fuca. To Us it seems obvious that the pilots
whole tale is only a revival ofthe story OF Nal
donado and his Strait Of Anian. 1t is true
that strait opens about degree north OF th
mouth of his strait, and, as it winds about II
all directions, it is easy for an ingenious per
son TO discover therein its identity with tn
meanderings Of the piIot's strait. Mr.. Green
how seems, however, to have overlooked
fact that stamps the whole story as fable
The Hispano-Greek plainly says, that afle
sailing out of the South Sea, (he means tn
Pacifc,) through this strait in twenty day
he came into the North Sea, by which he a
plainly means the Atlantic.
In 1896, under an order from Philip III, tn
Spanish efforts to explore this coast were re
newed in an expedition under Vizcaino =; bu
ell which proceeded no further north than III
yes Cult Of California; The attempt. under
life fresh royal order, was renewed in 1902, undo
ned the same commander with Agullar for hi
! of Lieutenant They surveyed with some acct
age racy the coast as far as latitude AZ degrees;
du From that point Vzcaino turned back, bt
U6l- AUulldI Siilcll FeSSel passed 1d|1e
lies elmo, and reached in latitude 43 degrees tn
riv- supposed mouth of great river, which the
yer, took once again (though there is none there
ow- for the ideal straits OF Anldn. TINS voyag
ended in 1908, and with it, until after the e>
and puISion of the Jesuts from California in l761
the ended the Spanish progress of exploration b'
ger yond that province, which the missionaries
ex- that order had begun to civlize and survey
heir 1907.
9TH 1t will thus be perceived that down to tn
laIe voyages of Juan Perez in l774, and of Brun
tbs Heceta in l775, the Spanish discoveries ca
her. scarcely be said to have any suIe eXistene
With beyond the latitude of43 degrees north. FroI
car that point to As degrees intervene the Englis
he'd claims of Brakes voyage; and, meantime, tt
EN-, Russian expeditions, beg inning from Behrng
Dad, first in 1928, were making their way south
rses ward. In 174l, they had got down to lat
and tude 40 degrees; and Cook, in 1773. met the
inc. establishments at Ounalashka sancouve
ther and PortIock and Dixon still further sout
r Of AS to their rights adverse to the Spanis
their Minister, Mr.. Poletica makes the 70
, 3D. lowing citation: = Moreover, when Don to
ken Martinez was sent in 1889. by the Court
ces- Madrid, to form an establishment on Va
,hed couver's Island, and to remove foreigners fro
,ged thence, under the preteXt that all that Goa
this belonged to Spain, he gave not the least Oh
hose turbance to the Russian colonies and naVlg
the tors; yet the Spanish government was not !
the noTanf OF their existence, Tor this very Ma
all tineZ had visited them the year before. II
his report which Capt. MaIespina made of the r
n as suits of his voyage proves that the SpaniarC
,mo- very we'll knew of the Russian colonies; az
de- III This very report it is seen that the Court
Madrid acknowledged that ifs possessions u
for on the coast of the Patific Ocean ought not
the extend to the north of Cape Blanc, taken fro
heir the point of Trinity, situated under 40 degre
ell. so minutes north latitude. ~ American Sta
- PanarS Eoreinn Relations vol IN n s6I