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

sure! Listen 10 il. as communicated 70 our gov
smment by Messrs. Gallatin and Rush, in their de-
spatch of October 20, 1878. Here it Isl
Tbs British plsnipossntsrss asserted that former yoy,
sss M piisfSR ses Yea from alluded
70 purchases om the natives south Of the river Gomo
which they alleged to have been made prior 10 inc Ame
can revolution.
This was the claim disclosed; and in support Of
this, not one name fact specification OF any Kind
was submitted. Discovery and purchase was the
ground of their pretension But who discovered,
and when, and from whom the purchase was
made the British commissioners could not tell
They did not attempt to tell; but proposed TO COM
promise the question by taking the river for the
boundary, and getting the use Of the harbor at its
mouth Their proposition to this effect IS thus sta
led, in the same despatch, by Messrs' 6alalin and
Rush.
They did not make any formal proposition for boundary
but nmated that the river tsefwas the most convenient
that could be adopted and that they would not agree to any
did give them the barbor at the mouth OF the river
in common with the United States.
This (said Mr.. b. was their ntmation for a
boundary; and in this intimatioR we recognise the
precise policy which Mckenzie had marked out,
and by which the British were to become the mas
tiers OF the Columbia, and TO cxpcl the "Amercan
Eadventurers" from it,
Our commissioners did not agree TO this bounda-
ry and to this jontenantcy in the harbor; but they
signed the convention Of 1918, acGordng to their in
slrnciions, which arrested the line of the 49th de-
gree at The ROCKY MOUNTAINS, anu gave u lOiiL DC
cupaton of the country beyond the mountains to
both parties. Their instructions authorized them
do this: and the point to be now noted that up
to the ratification of that convention, the line Of 40
degrees as established under the treaty of Utrecht,
to define the possessions and limit the acquisitions
bv discovery of France and Great Britain in
North America, remained in full force That
line was in force until we ratified the conventions;
and by that line without regard to other BARRIERS
Great Britain was barred out from all the valley Of
the Columbia, and all the coast of North America
south of 40 degrees. The convention abrogatcd
the line--unhapply abrogated it--from the Rocky
mountains to the Pacific ocean. But it did so with
a reservation, that the claims Of the parties were
not to be affected by It, The abrogation was un-
fortunate; but the reservation was stipulation to
prevent mischief-a stipulation TO battle the designs
Of subtle diplomacy, always seeking to depose the
seeds Of a new condensation in the simulated set
Element of an old one; and il was equivalent to an
express declaration that the British claim was to he
made no better, and ours to be made no worse, by
this arrcstaton Of the line of 40 degrees, and the
joint occupation Of the Columbia, which resulted
from il.
We have now (said Mr.. By traced the British
pretension up to the Conclusion of the convention OF
1875 and we have seen that, up TO the month Of
July Of that year, they had stated or suggested no
claim, or even shadow or color Of claim, to the
Columbia; that, being pressed, they then ntmated
claim resting on DISCOVERY and PURCHASE, but
without stating single particular by which this
pretended discovery and purchase could be brought
to the touchstone Of proof and reason. They were
evidently absurd, and even ridiculous. All the
world knows that Captain Cook Eevcr saw the
Columbia ALL the world knows that no other Brit
sh navigator ever saw it. Until after Captain Gray
showed il TO them and, as for the Indian pur-
chases south of that river, before the revolution it
is story of a man in the moon !! and has no name,
date, place, sum, sign, trace, circumstance, FACT
| supposition TO rest upon!
,;r 49, ~, L.
and by purchase, SO tardily brought forward in Oc-
ober, 1918, are absurdities which the British could
not, and did not, support and which they have since
totally abandoned. This abandonment was made
in l627--at the time when the convention of 1918,
being about TO expire upon its Limitation of ten
ycars-was renewed until one Of the parties chose
to terminate it by giving twelve months notice 1t
was made by Messrs. Huskisson and Addington,
in their formal negotiations with Mr. Galatin for
the renewal Of the convention of 1878. In that
negotiation, they delivered paper to the Amcri-
can negotator, in which the British claim TO the
Columbia is referred-and for the first time refer
red-to the Nootka Sound convention of 1870!
Hear il
The rights of Great Britain recorded and defined in
the convention of $780, they embrace the right navigate
the waters OF those countresto settle
Of them and to trade with the inhabitants and occupers
the same These rights have been psaeeaby exercised
of nearly 40 years Under that convention valuable British
interests have grown up in that quarter.
Here is complete abandonment of the claim
founded on discovery and purchase before the rev.
olution! That claim, set up for the first time in
1878, is abandoned in l827!--and the Nootka
Sound convention, which had never been vouched
before, is then paraded the instrument in which
the "righis" of Great Britain are ''recorded'' and
"defned;" and under which valuable British in
terests had grown up in that quarter. This is, at
least an admission that the discovery and purchase
brought forward as the foundation, and the sole
foundation, of the British claim in 1918, were un.
founded and suppositious! and not only relieves us
from all further attention to such limitations, but
gives us the benefit Of legal maxim, as universal
in its application as it is just and reasonable
in its principle!-that maxim which discrcdits the
whole title, in support of which an unruth has been
adduced.
But the British "righp' to the Columbia now
rests upon the Nootka Sound convention: since the
year of our Lord 1927, their claim to this country
has become fright" and this ''rghr has establish
ed itself in the musty record of the Nootka Sound
convention! Be il so! We will quickly sec what
that convention is worth to them. For that pur-
pose we may look to the convention ITSELF the
character of it given in the British House of Com
mons at the time of its negotiation The first art-
Gle Of the treaty restored the British to their fishing
and hunting privileges and buildings in Nootka
Sound. The third article granted the limited priv
ege of fishing and hunting certain other parts of
the coast and the sixth article limited the buildings
which might be erected to the temporary huts ne
cessary for the hunters and fishermen. This was
the treaty. Listen to Mr. Fox. After dcnouncing
the treaty of CONCESSIONS, and not of Ac-
QUESTIONS, OH the part of Great Britain he goes on
to say:
Our right before TO settle in any part Of the south or
northwest coast Of America not fortified against by pre-
vious occupancy and we are restricted TO settle in
certain places only and under certain restrictions This
" as an important concession part
Our right ofmakng settlements not now right TO
build hu'; but to plant colonies q we though, proper
horizcd navigate the Pacific ocean and south seas un
moested for the purpose Of trading with the natives But
after this pompous recognition Of right to navigation
cry, and commerce another article, (the sixth0
which takes away the right Of landing and erecting even
temporary hus for purpose but that OF carrying the
shery and amounts to complete derelction Of all right
to settle in any way for thu purpose Of with the
natives"
This was the language of Mr. Fox; and under
this language Mr.. Pitt (the author of the convcn-
tion) sunk down and admitted that no nep rights
were gained under the treaty! that nothing had been
gained but the acknowledgment of the pre-existing
right Of fishing trading, and navigating the Pacific
occani Hear him.
In to this Mr. Pitt maintained that though what
this tof