New-York daily tribune., 1845-01-22
nh. R,vnI olaims 20 oregon

Nations are often pushed into collisions and
wars by lack of knowledge rather than OF dis
position to render and be satisfied with Justice
Conflicting claims are SET up en- points where the
right is not clearly or exclusively either side
IN the process o: controversy passions are aroused
and i'll. blood created; each party becomes more
obstinate and positive in its opinion at each sue
csssivc stage of the dispute, and determines never
to give way at length words Of defiance are IN
,erchanged one makes clutch at tho possession
in dispute and the other is as eager TO parry it.
and the result is bloosy and destructive War
War justified neither by the Importance Of the
matter at stake by the difficulty OF its peaceful
adjustment, nor by the calmer judgment-to say
nothing Of the interest or the conscience-oi
either party. 1t is oftenest thus that Christen
dom is disgraced and devastated by human
butchery.
The primary mischief in such cases is the con-
cealment from each nation OF all the facts which
do not support its own claim. Its public func-
,ionaries are obliged to present and urge whatever
makes in its favor; its public press finds popu-
larity and profit in first exciting and then playing
upon the easy and natural prepossession that our
side must be the right side; and any journal dare
to study those things which make for peace, and
mildly urge that the other side is our side TO
another people not absolutely devoid of intellect
and conscience, and that we should impartially
weigh all the considerations urged by that side
before dogmatically deciding that ours is wholly
right, at once the cry is raised, You are always
siding against our own Country and in favor oi
its enemies" Alas that wilful, selfish men can
never recognize the truth that the best friend OF
any country is he who admonshes her against
rapacity and wrong, and jabors TO keep her in
the path OF rectitude and peace! Is the les
son TOO hard to be learned by some wiser and
purer generation
to conclude that fourth attempt 10 settle by
negotiation the boundary between the United
States and Great Britain West of the Rocky
Mountains has proved unsuccessful-that the
negotiations have been terminated, and that all
hope of speedy adjustment of the difference by
negotiation il at an end. Why this result has
- been reached we will enGeayor TO chow.
81 The Territory commonly known as Oregon
y embraces that portion of North America lying
between the crests of the Rocky Mountains on
the East, the Pacific Ocean on tho West, the
territory of Mexico on the South and that Of
Rusuia on the North. The Southern limit OF
Russian America is fixed by several subsisting
treaties at North lat. $40 40', and is not ques-
toned on any side. The Northern line OF
Mexico ia fixed by Mr.. Adams's much calum
mated but most advantageous Florida Treaty OF
1919 at the parallel of 42o North latitude, from
the head waters of the Arkansas 10 the Pacific
Ocean. Spain by that Treaty ceded to US all
her territorial rights North OF that parallel, and
Mexico by a subsequent Treaty has ratified the
ccssion. Here is the foundation, and the only
solid foundation, of our claims to Oregon. We
had, prior to 1919, based pretensions on the dis
covery of the mouth Of the Columbia River by
Capt. Gray of Boston in 1899, followed by the
exploration of Capts. Clark and Lewis in 1905.
and the erection Of tradipg.post (Astorial near
The mcpth of the River by Astor & Co. in 1871
Bot these can hardly afford defensiblc basis for
a claim Of occupation, none at al for pretence
of exclusive sovereignty and jurisdiction. For
the whole Oregon Coast had bsen visited and
explored both by Spanish ard British negotiators
long before 1882; the very Cape on the side of
the mouth of tho Columbia had been seen ans
named (Disappointmenp by Lieut.. Meares in
the British service, and the Bay formed by the
mouth of the river named by him Deception Bay
Blu, in fact it is kaown that TIE Riper itself had
been discovered, serenteen gears before Capt.
Cray saw it, by Capt Bruno Hcceta, in behalf
of Spain, who gave 1t the name Of Rio de San
Rogue, in honor Of the Saint on whose anniver
sary the discovery was made. Under this name
the River appears in Spanish maps OF subsequent
years. We may therefore justly claim the dis
covery of the mouth Of the Columbia or Oregon,
not by Capt. Gray, but by Heceta-we having
been invested by treaty with all the rights of
Spain. Bat the discovery CT the mouth OF
River, on coast long before visited and claimed,
give NO title to sovereignty over the territory
watercd by that river, as has been most absurdly
claimed. Exploration and settlement in a region
long previously discovered but not settled by
another nation are held to confer rights to the
covering and sailing by all the unappropriated
territory on earth would acquire a hight to hold
it for ever unsettled and unimpfoyed, and pre-
vent all Others from settling and improving it.
Justice, common sense and general utility are
the basis Of the public law of nations.
The question of sovereignty, then, hinges
here; What rights of territory in Oregon was
SPAN empowered to cede 70 US in 1919 }--for it
isnc, pretendedcn either hand that we have added
to or impaired those rights since tla, cession
Whatever rights in Oregon We posses ed prior to
1919 viii notbe found of much account, bat ,hey
may be put in as auxiliary TO ony much stronger
claim.
Spain. there sesms no reason 10 doubt, was the
ongiA,l diseoyerer and explores Of thc Oregon
coast. Her expedition Of 1914 under Cobnllo
and Fesrslo only reached N. lat. 40. Her rexi