Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1845-08-15

(p. 1857 {
Discntangling thus from the maze of con- n
fused statements, in the English books and c
our own, the essential, the positive, and the d
chronological, We arrive at few plain results: II
|. That the Spanish title by discovery IS t
positive up to about the point which 1t reach a
ed in 1913, namely, the latitude of 10 degrees C
north. t
H. That, beyond. it is met by positive Z
English discovery, (Drake's) of an extent not a
certain, coming perhaps as high as As de-
gNes. ttt
Ill. That the northern limit of this is again
nearly met by the Russian discoveries, which
came in l74l to 49 degrees; and
! ". We may here add, that thus far there
is not trace, not pretence, of any manner
in which French right can have arisen that
afterwards passed to US.
We have already said that the next dIScoV-
cries of the Spaniards are in l774-of the
English 1918; and this brings us, with ano-
Their survey-that Of general dates-to anoth-
er great fact: the lapse of time over which
this series of discoveries along a single coast
runs. They occupy near two hundred and
thirty years. During that period, the shore
from Mexico up to Behring' Straits had been,
in the three several regions that we have men
toned, at least as continuously discovered as
was the Atlantic coast of America, before
Spain and England and France were consider
ed, through their being the earliest to strike
upon certain parts of them. the legitimate
owners; the first, of the West Indies, Mexico
, and Florida; the second, of Virginia and New
England; the third, of Canada. In all these
instances. the proprietary rights confessed to
have flowed from the having first seen the line
of coast and taken formal possession of some
lam of hot h1t q
. bays or rivers must be entered. To have
{ waited for this wonId have bred eternal coun-
> TEXTILES, incapable of ever being settled
, The principle Of discovery, in word, has ev-
er been that just stated and upon 1t the ma
tional claims to almost every greater eastern
portion of this continent were conceded, by
the civilized world, to each nation of which
. navi gator first ascertained the general exls-
Z tence there of continuous land. All this may
be said to have been settled, down 10 Cape
! Horn, within the first hundred years: why
, must the period be prolonged to two hundred
i" and thirty years upon a coast only about halt
~ as long?
A. If, as is apparent, the three general discov-
~ cries Of that coast had been already made,
+ why should the time be prolonged! EsPe-
" cialIy why, when the prolongatlon can only
y serve to augment the difficulties of adjustment
. and involve the claimants in disputes ineXtri-
's cabIe2
az Let US resume our historical narrative, and
~ see whether just the effect mentioned does moi
~ follow from our conserving to look upon the
~ coast, thus generally discovered, as still open
" to discovery at particular points-to discovery
., such as could confer general territorial right
- that conld even eXtingush much older ones
- along a coast already frequently discovered
~ This is manifestly the great question as t
nv nv our obtaining, through Capt. Gray's dScove
~ ny Of the mouth of the Columbia, title with
10 in shores already appropriated-a title giving
49, the entire space. north and south, from thu
mountains to the sea, WateTed by the branch
:, les of that river. This rlver-mouth doctrine L
or a very bold one, if to be thus applied an
~ would prove very losing one, if brought owe
~ to the Mississippi, of the first discovery
~ whose mouth by the SpaniaTds, there is not
70 shadow Of doubt, near one hundred and fit
l., years before the French who granted it TO NE
N ever saw one rlll of its waters any WheIe.-
~. But let Us proceed.
he In 1863, the English acquired by treat
a from France all her Canadian possessions an
Ter their dependencies; the Spanish, all her terri
MS tory and claims in the valley of the Missis
GU sppi. BY this cession, England came int
IS. undisputed pTopIietorship Of region extend
cut ing west, along the 10th parallel, at least a
To- far as the chain of the Rocky Mountains. S
the all our own subsequent treaties with her hav
ey admitted; thus bringing her eastern territor
re) into tie same con,Igulty as we IN part toun
ce our claim on with the disputed shores of til
* Pacific. Tins if contiguity be any basis of
81. right, (Which we deny,) hers dates from I76;
be- ours at most from 1903.
of from ABOUT lIIO to l1IJ, the SPanlard
cd oirht All al IN
shores Of California, settlements extending q
he far as San Francisco, Gin 80 degfees)-th
mo most northern point which they ever settlec
IAN CT even occupied, except Nootna, for the sho
nee time during which they held it, after expeIlin
ON Meares, Colnett, and others found there, an
ish until they restored it to Eng land by the Moo
the ka Sound Convention.
g's We have already mentioned the SPANS
tn expeditions of Juan Perez and of Heceta,
att l774 and l775. In the former, Queen Cha
eir lotte's Island, Nootka Sound, and few otht
,er. points from 81 degrees north to 40, are supp
,th. sed TO have been discoyered.-(See Greer
sh. how, p. ll6.) But Mr.. Greenhow, thong
fol- evidently partial to the Spanish dscoverie
ose as now comforting Che thinks) title On us, thu
/ of sums up the results of the voyage:
an In this voyage, the first made by the Spa
ON iards along the northwest cost of Amerit
ast since 1903, very little was learned, exec
dis that there was land, on the eastern side of t!
pa Pacific, as far north as the latitude of fifty-fo
10 degrees. The Government of Spain, perhap
lar acted wisely in concealing the accounts of Il
The expedition, which reflected little on the coz
re- age or the science of its navigators; but 1t b
rds thereby deprived itself Of the means of esta
and fishing beyond question, the claim of Perez
t of the discovery of the important harboI Gale
up- Nootka Sound, which is now, by general CO
t to sent, assigned to Capt. Cook"
rom Here, we fear, is the recognition of ne'
rees though seemingly rational principle. which
tate would have been at least more polite to ha'
\ left to our adversaries TO discover. For il