The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-12-06
JAMES BUCHANAN,
r. PAKENHAM.
(A.)
WAsnINeroN. Sd September, 1874.

WARRINGTON, 3u september, 1914
The undersigned, American plenipotentiary, de-
clmes the proposal Of the British pes.,eteBtiary
on the ground that il would have the effect of re
stricting the possessions Of the United States L
limits far more crcumscribed than their claims clear
y entite them to. Ii proposes to limit their north
ern boundary by line drawn from the Rocky
mountains along the 49th parallel Of latitude TO the
northeasternmost branch of the Columbia river
and thence down the middle of that river tn the
giving to Great Britain all the country north, and
to the United States all south, of that line, except
detached territory extending the Pacific and the
Straits Of Fuca from Bulfnch's harbor to Hoods
canal. To which it is proposed in addition, tc
make free to the United States any port which the
United States government might desire, either or
the mainland or on Vancouver's island, south o.
latitude 49o.
BY turning to the map hereto annexed, and or
which the proposed boundary ia marked in pencil
it will be seen that it assigns to Great Britain almos
the entire region ION its north sde) drained by the
Columbia river lying on its northern bank. It's
not deemed necessary TO state at large the claims
Of the United States to this territory, and the grounds
on which they rest, in order to make good the as
sertion that it restricts the possessions of the Uni
ted States within narrower bounds than they are
clearly entitled to. II will be sufficient for this pur
pose to show that they fairly entitled to the en-
tire region drained by the river; and to the estab
shment of this point, the undersigned proposes ac
cordingly to limit his remarks at present.
Our claims to the portion Of the territory drained
by the Columbia river may be divided into those
we have in our own proper right, and those we
have derived from France and Spain. We grount
the former as against Great Britain, on priority o.
discovery and priority of exploration and settle
ment, We rest our claim TO discovery, as agains
her, on that of Captain Gray, 6tizen of the United
States, who, in the ship Columbia, of Boston, pass
ed its bar and anchored in the river ten miles above
its mouth, on lhe llth of May, 1892; and who
afterwards sailed up the river twelve or ffteer
miles, and left il on the 20lh of the same month"; call
ing il Columbia, after his ship, which name 1t still
retains.
On these facts our claim to the discovery and en-
trance into the river rests. They are too well at
tested to be conroverted. But they have been or
posed by the alleged discoveries Of Meares ant
Vancouver. II Is true that the former explored
portion of the coast through which the Columbi,
flows into the ocean, in 1888, Give years befor,
Captain Gray crossed the bar and anchored in tn,
river,) in order to ascertain whether the river, al
laid down in the Spanish charts, and called the st
Roc, existed or not: but 1t is equally true that h
did not even discover it. On the contrary, he ex
pressy declares, in his account Of the voyage, tn
result Of his observations that "ice safei
assert that there is no such river that Of the ST. Roc,
laid dorm in the Spanish charis;" and if to perpet
uate his DISAPPOINTMENT, he called the promontory
living north of the inlet where he expected to dis
cover it, Cape Disappointment, and the inlet itself
Deception lay. III Is also true mat vancouver, u
April, 1892, explored the same coast but it is n,
less so that he failed to discover the river-of which
his own journal furnishes the most conclusive evi
dence as well his strong conviction that sucl
river existed. So strong was it, indeed that, whel
he fell in with Captain Gray, shortly afterwards
and was informed by him that he had been off tn
mouth Of river, in latitude 40 degrees 10 minutes
whose outlet was strong as to prevent his enter
ing, he remained still incredulous, and strongly ex
pressed himself to that effect in his Journal Ii wa
shortly after this interview that Captain Gray aga
visited its mouth crossed its bar, and sailed up tn
river as has been stated. After he left it, he vsite
Nootka Sound, where he communicated his dis
coveries to Quadra, the Spanish commandant at tina
place, and gave him chart and description Of tn
mouth of the river. Aiier his departure, Vancouve
arrived there in September; when he was informe
of the discoveries Of Captain Gray, and obtaine
from Quadra copies Of the chart he had left wit
him. In consequence Of the information thus oh
tanned, he was induced to visit again that part Q
the coast II was during this visit that he entere
the river on the Goth October, and made his survey
| From these facts, il is manifest that the allege
discoveries of Meares and Vancouver cannot, in III