Mobile register and journal. [volume] (Mobile, Ala.) 1841-1849, 1845-11-20
For lbs Register and journal.
OREGON QUESTION

lie Ofekon terruory. We Ind that the United
siates had settled with Spain and procured renun
Grafton Of all s'rgts in their favor; that the Who'll,
country had been opened to lie people Of Grsa
Britain and the United Suites upon equal terms an.
by this agreement this condition Of things WAS Il
continue until 1885, thar the United States had Of
Tered 10 accept the 49h degree of north atitude al
boundary, and Great Britain had proposed III,
same degree till it nierseced the Columbia river ant
following that river to its mouth. These offers wer,
reeiprocally rejected and the germs Of future diff
Gully were then discovered.
In this posture of affairs, negotiations were agar
opened in 1924 Since the conclusion OF The Con
,enlion, the remuneration Of Spain had been procured
by the United States. la 1924, the American Min
lister submitted 10 the British Secretary OF Foreig,
Affairs the propostiun, thai The United States ,lil
agree to make no settlement Oh the disputed lerih8
ry north OF fyone degrees-ireat Br iiain agr eeiDs
10 make none south OF that line Fiity-one was In
ken, the American Minister explained, as the north
ern limits Of the United States, because necessa
~ 10 give all the waters of the Columbia liver
The British Minister after taking the explanat ion ssat
referendum and al considerandum," MS he ocular
y replied, made after month this earnest RESPONSE
ale objected slrongl 10 our claim going as hiel
north as fifty one and hoped would not urge i,
He said that IL to The South oil tins line thai
Nootka Sound; how, therefore, could she now yielt
this point To The United States? 1t WAS a que sti IL
too important for her 10 give up. He again hoped
We would not urge it,"
THIS occurred at an interview between the parties
The negotiations however, were lorma ly opened and
continued for several months. The following ex.
tract from the report OF the American Minister To
Mr.. dams will show that we have acquired no in
formation on The subject since that time, though il
must be confessed that our frontier statesmen have
made deductions not entirely al harmony with those
ol Adams, Gaatin aud Rush, and that their tempe,
is entirely different
81 reminded the British penipoientiary that :, by
the third article Of the treaty Of ashngton Of Feb
ruary The 22nd, 1879, between the United States
and Spain, the boundary line between the coun
lies was fixed IN part along The southern bank Of the
Arkansas, to its source, in latitude AZ north, and
thence by that parable 10 the South Sea and that
Spain had also renounced 10 the United States b,
The same articles, all he' rights nqrh Ol that parallel
81 said that apart from all The right as thus nc
quired from Spain, which however was regarded by
my government ~ SURPRISING the right of all ollel
European powers on that coast, the United States
claimed, in their own right, an as their absolute
and exclusive sovereignty and dominion the whole 0
the coHntry west of the Rocky Mountains, from the
l2nd To at least AS far up the 5lsi of north haiti
lude. This claim they rested upon their first diseov.
cry Of the river Colunbia followed up by an eilec
live settlement at its mtuh-a settlement which
was reduced by the arms Of Britain during the Ia c
war, but formally surrendered up To the United
States ut the return Of peace. Their right BY f,s
discovery, they deemed peculiarly strong. having
been made not only from the BY Capt Gray, hui
also from the interior by Lewis and Clarke, ~hu
first discovered its sources and explored iis whole
inland course to the Pacific Ocean II had heen "a s.
| ceraned that the Columbia extended hy the rive,
Multonan, TO as low as ~ north; and by Clark ;.
river TO point high up 81, IL not beyond iha
point, and 10 this range o country, contiguous TO III
al
part of il by the almost inlermlnglng of each
The United States said, considered their title II,
established by all the principles which had hGel
applied this sub ecl by the powers Of Europe, l,
| settlements in the American hemisphere. | assert
ed, that nation discovering IA country by entering
the mouth of its principal river at the sea ceas
must necessarily be allowed TO claim and hold a.
great extent of the interior country as was de
scribed by the course Of such principal river aud il
lr uiary streams, aud that the claim 10 this extent
| became doubly strong, when, in the present IN
stance, the river had also been discovered anc
| explored from its very mountain springs 10 The sea
| such union Of titles, importing validity 10 eacl
| other, did not often exist
| The claim of the United States was stated strong
| ". Let see how il WIS answered The Britlsi
Plenippieniaries said they denied The claim of thu
United States founded their own first discoy
ely. II had been objectionable with them in the
| negotiation Of 1918, and had not been admitted
since. Her surrender to the United States of the
post at the Columbia river after the late war
was in the iulfment OF the provisions of lhs
| first article Of the treaty of Ghent, without al
| feeling the question oil right on either side. Bri
tam did not admit the validity Of the discovery b,
| Capt. Gray. He had only been on an enterprise O
| his own, AS an individual, and the British govern
ment was yet 10 be informed under what principles
or usage, among the nations Of Europe his having
first entered or discovered the mouth of the river
Columbia, admitting this to have been the fact, wa.
to carry after 1t such portion of the interior coun
| try alleged. Great Britain entered her dis
| sent to such claim. and least OF all did she admit
that cncumstancSs of Il merchant vessel of the
United States having penetrated the coast OF thai
continent at Columbia river, 10 be taken TO ex-
lend claim III favor OF the United States along the
same coast, both above and below that river, over
attitudes that had been previously discovered ano
| explored by Great Britain herself, in expedinns
fitted out under the authority and with The resonr
| ces of the nation THIS had been done by Capt
Cock, to speak of no others, whose voyage was at
least prior to that Of Capt Gray On the coast, onl,
few degrees south Of the COLUMBIA. Britain hat
made purchases Of territory irola the natives be-
! fore the United Suites independent power
and upon that river itself upon rivers which flow
ed into ii west Of the Rocky Mountains her subjects
had formed settlements coeval with, If not prior to
the settlements by American citizens at its mouth
The American neg0tiator receded from his caim to
the 5lst degree, and formally proposed the 49lh
degree, as the northern boandry of the u. States
,iaries, after having this obligation of this propo-
sal fortnight under consideration rejected il, and
made no new proposa IN return. They did not IL
terms enter their rejection Of This my second propo
sal, ON the protocol, and | did not urge it, But il
is right for Inc 10 slate that they more than once
decla ed, AT the closing hours of the negotiation thai
the boundary marked in their own written pro-
posa. one from which the government of the
United States must not expect Great Britain to de-
part"
These negotiations were opened anew in 1927,
Mr.. Gallaln representing the U. States. Tie in
lerests of the u. States could not have been coln
mited to more consumate and profound states
man. The correspondence conducted BY him dur.
ing his mission TO Great Britain at that time, il
among the choicest specimens OF American dip Iona.
CIV. He again proposed the settlement Of the boud-
adry by the adoption Of the 49h degree This was
again rejected, and the convention of 1918. with
provision for an indefinite extension Of the period
for joint and equal occupancy was renewed.
In the face Of these facts il does appear TO US
thai the ad, ice given to Congress TO take possession
of the county. under an assertion of the whole oil
Oregon or nome" is ginven without proper sense
of the responsibility that il involves The act on
The part Of Congress would be AN act OF transcend
ant folly. We shall consider hereafter the influence
that these conventions should exercise upon this
question. At present ii does seem that govern.
meut would depart from the position which its owl,
dignity and consistency requires 10 occupy the
ground upon which the Union desires to place it,
Il is late for declare that the whole Of Ore
g1n is ours. Our conduct for iwpnty-seven years
past contains contradiction too fragrant for any re-
spectacle government to incur. The world at large
would impute to rapaciiy, TO The desire of aggran-
dIsenent, want Of principle, such an assertion
of Congress, followed by acts to enforce IL. We
should be held responsible, and that justly, for all
the consequences that should happen from such II
course. We would rather say to the President and
10 Congress
-"God forbid
That Won should fasho wrest or how your reading.