The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-11-17

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tortious aggressions before the war on Mr.. Asor .
settcmcnt-fraudulent evasions of the treaty OF
| Ghent---and have no more TO do with the Nootka
Sound convention, than they have with the late
treaty OF China. Nootka is in vain invoked 10 COW
er these encroachments upon usr-cncroachmcnts
for which British diplomacy has been endeavorng
above thirty years TO prepare the way--in which
the powerful Hudson Bay Company has acted as
the agent of the government-and for the protection
! of which company the British ministers now bold
ly hurl defiance in our faces. There Is nothing an
the Nootka treaty TO cover all this, even II II was
| not abrogated by war; and II remains to be seen
whether the threat of war is to have an effect upon
this vigorous young republic Of eighteen millions oil
people, which il failed TO have over the dccayng
Spanish monarchy in l790.
| Fort Vancouver is but one OF the British cstab-
lishrients OF the Columbia. They have a connected
chain of these settlements stretching from Underwater
to the mountains and connecting with the interior
posts which extend from Canada and from liud-
sons Bay. They have the possession of the coun-
try while the possession by right, by treaties, and
by the admission OF the British themselves, belongs
to u.s. This was admitted during the negotiations
Of 1918. Mr.. Rush, in letter to Mr.. Adams, OF
February, 1918, bears testimony to this admission
He says;
II is proper d this stage, to my that Lord casereagh
admitted In the most ample extent Off right TO be rein
stated and to be the party in possession while treating oil
the title
| This was the admission of Lord Casereagh
while negotiating the convention Of 1918. He had
admitted our right to be reinsated--that is, to he
restored TO the possession which we had before the
war, and Of which war had deprived US. This
possession was not limited to the diagram of earth
covered by Mr. Astor's fort, but to the country OF
which it was par. To give up this diagram COW
cred by fort, and then 60 and take possession oil
all the country besides, was not a restitution, no
more than it would have been to have taken posses
sion of Michigan after giving up Mackinaw, or OF
| Ma.,x aG,a r,,y VNa haua 0l,i
to the possession while treating Of the title but
have not the possession; and this bill, which pro-
poses merely to obtain part of what is due TO us
is resisted because il implies the assertion of ex
elusive possession, and may be breach of the con-
venton of 1918. This is mistake. Exclusive can
only be to the extent occupied The British now
have exclusive possession Of the ground covered by
Fort Vancouver, Fort Covillc, and other FORTS and
Of all the ground which they cultivate They have
forts, houses, fields, and farms, and possess them
| exclusively. Our grants will be no more exclusive
than theirs: they will only exclude to the extent Of
| the grant.
The objection to the terms Of this bill grow out OF
the third article Of the convention Of I8l8-that ar
tice which gives mutually of occupancy, for GER
tain purposes, to the country claimed by each par.
ty, for ten years-an article which is continued in
definitely by the convention of 1928, subject to de-
termination one years notice from either party
1t is supposed that that article will prevent us from
| using own property we might have used il
before that convention was made. This is Il mis-
take; and the reading of the article itself will show
that its object TO give the privileges of hunting
fishing, and navigation, to the citizens and subjects
of each power over the territories claimed by the
| other, without diminishing tho power of each over
the territories claimed by-tsclf This is clear from
the article, which is in these words
\ is agreed that any country that may be claimed by
Of the Stony mountains shall together with its harbors
bays and creeks and the navigation OF all rivers within the
the signature Of this convention to the vessels citizens
and subjects Of the two being well understood
claim which either Of the two high contracting parties
have to any part of said country; nor shall be taken
Of the said country the only object Of the high contract
parties in that respect being TO prevent disputes and
differences amongst themselves.
This (said MIR. b. is clear and explicit. We
acquire the right Of going upon the British claim.
to hunt, fish, and navigate: they acquire the right
to come upon our claims for the same purposes
the claims Of each remaining precisely they
were. This is all clear Now, what were the
claims Of each at that timer Ours territorial
and definite and notorious to the Columbia river
| from its head to its mouth. The letter of Mr.
Adams to our ministers in London, and their letters
to him, show that the British had no such claim
that they pretended none such; but only abored to
abrogate the line of forty-nine degrees, and to lay
nest-egg for future pretcnsions south of that line
Their claims were IN the northwestern in the north
WCSt-WHeTc NuCTACHLie T1edTnC, anu Otner QISCOV-
erers had gone, and where the fur companies had
/ taken possession. Our claim covered the whole
Columbia. Mutually of occupancy in each others
claimed territories for ten years, without diminuon
OF rights over our own claimed territories, was the
extent of the stipulaton; and, therefore, we might
do upon claim whatever we did BEFORE subject to
the navigation trade, &c, with which it was en-.
numbered. We might grant land before the con-
venton, we can grant it since. We might plant a
colony before the convention, and may do it sace;
and the grant Of land is the incident Of colonization
In fact, have placed limitation upon our pre-
existing rights.
! And now, what has been the conduct Of the Brit.
ish under this article They have crossed the
forty-nnth degrec-come down upon the Column
bia--takcn possession of it from the head to the
mouth-fortifod and coonizcd it--monopolized
| the fur-trade-drivcn all our traders across the
mountans--kled more than n thousand of
them, (throngh their Indians,) and used the Co
lumbia as free port, through which they bring
goods free of duty into our terrtorics-up into
| the Rocky mountains, and across them. This is
what they have done by their agent the Hudson
Bay Company. In its own name, and by an act of
Parliament, Immediately after the convention, the
British government has extended jurisdiction over
the whole country, taking notice at all Of our
claims, and suhjecting all our citizcns and their
property to British judges, British courts, and ap-
peals to Canada. This act has been read by my
colleague Mr.. LNN,1 and commend il to the con-
sderation Of all Americans who object to this bill
for fear it may imply an exclusive jurisdiction
and so give offence to the British This is what has
been done by the British since the convention.
They have taken possession of claimed territory,
OF our harbor, our river--colonized the country
| and killed and expelled traders. What have
VIC done' Nothing! So far from going into the
| northwest to hunt, fish, and navigate on their
claims, we have been expelled from our own and
the mutual convention has become the means of
the exclusive possession Of the British! Our
traders, left to contend singc.handed against the
organized Hudson Bay Company, against their In
dams, against their free goods have all been driven
in-forced, not only out of the valley of the Co
lumba, but out Of the Rocky mountains--and
ruin has overtaken many of them. Even the strong
and rich company of Mr.. Choueau can no longer
approach the Rocky mountains. The Hudson
Bay traders are tho masters there. Every Amer.
can that approaches that region, does so ut the peril
of his life. Many were killed there this summer
And, in the face of all this, sit here, fearing to
pass this bill, lest il may give offence to the British
Il is time to terminate this convention of 1918; i,
is time to terminate the discreditabe state of things
| in relation 10 the Columbia In ia n uar s,h;oc,