Mobile register and journal., 1845-05-14
From the Wsshngion Uuion. CA,o .rAu 4Vtha ne Ian aa | ra pa rIf n m s ut

| urHDle memhetS nl that body have evidently, m great measu,e, derived their information It is n pamphlet, entitled ''the Oregon question, state men oi ihe British claims 10 ,he Oregon territory, in opposition 10 Ihe preiens of the Government o the United States of America. by Thomas Fai- cJner, of Lncun's Inn" II is reprint Of the DOT lion relating Oregon, of Il small work by the same author on e iexas and Oregon questions. published m October asl and of long article ln tine Morning Chronicle o January 25lh, the subject of Drake's voyage to the nanhwes coast ol America lt appears t0 have had an extensive circulation m England, and IS cited high authority in ihe of the debates, as we'll as by all the newspapers in London
 w Ith regard 10 ihe drHmatis peI sonT of the de- bate, Lord Clarendon, from whom proceeded Ill the historical light thrown upon the subject in the House Ol Peers, 10 have examined his authorities very rsori y-not sufficiently al least, to have ob talned clear view Oi any pont for his speech pie. sens little else rhan d confused medic, of errors of which the following sentence will afford specimen: "ln l192, Ihe country adjacent 10 the Columbia | River was taken possession Of by Cook, tmeanng probably Capt. James C0uk, who WAS killed at Owy- hee m 1779 and was explored in 1913 by the north | west company, called the Hu,ls,n's Bay Com pany, T who established themselves in port SI. | George T under the government of British laws, continuing to the present day. and being the frs, establishment in that country ot lawful and nation al character, and recognised such b, foreign na- tinns " We believe it will be unnecessary further to noiIce the remarks and arguments of the Earl of Clarendon, To whom the mantle of old EdW ard Hyde does not seem 10 have dtcended with hls title.
 
 generalites; and MT Peel did not travel beyond the iImIs of the negotiations between the two gove,n- ments m which he was concerned. Lord Palmer ston as usual soon got upon the Madawaska, and | there remained unt the close of the debae Lord John Russell took upon himself the charge of devel- opng and defending the British claims. He is an old debaier, and understands well how to magnify file away lacls ml "ey fl ihe places for which they are destined. He studied his part on this occasion well; and though FaIc0ner's pamphlet was his text bUok he showed that he had looked into some o'her authorities.
 "AIter a passing aIlusion" 10 the annexation of Texas, "ior the pun pose Oi showing that the present. conduct oi the executive of he United States tnds ! evidently to territorial aggmndiaement," (another strange charge from the maslers oI the East nies ) Lord John Russell roceeds-
 "TO inquire into the usual modes by which ihe right to every territory has been hitherto maiHaiued and eslablished and ihe manner n which such ques- IIons have been settled. With respect to uninhabit ed lerrIto ies in the first place. there may be ltle by ancient discovery; m the second place, there ma, be title b, treaty convention; and, the third | place. there may be title by discovery, and an cienI perfection of the title by settlement and occupation. W ih regard to these various modes ol establishing right to territory, shall now ad- dress myself 10 the claims o the United States 10 lhe Oregon territory, as far as l gather them from DOT B made by Committees of the House of Repre- senlatives so long ago the years 1925 and 1926, and from all that have since seen put forward on the subject In the first place, with regard tn the
 
 - the United States clalm all the rights which may be derived in that lom the discoveries of the Span il ards II were to go into that question:, should say at once that clam founded on dscovei ies at
 the end of the sixteenth centurv-Iini merely visit e ing ctast, landing for a few hours al u particular portion or il. and which title not any way pe lecied by occupation or settlement for than TWO centuries afterwards that neither the part of ihis country nor the United States, such title could be maintained to be efirctual. [iear, hear If were ui a different opiuion on this subject-Ii l thought otherw ise than l do with respect To such Iie, would discuss the question of how r the President of the United States could maintain such Ile and l think Could show, by ienale argument, that this country had title on the ground of ancient dis covery and that the discoveries of Sr Francls Drake e in 1878, as compared with the discoveries of Juan de Fuca, and other Spaniards, in 1892, and the
 meDcement of the seventeenth century, would esiab- C fish that ile Ihe pat of England [hea", hear - and cheers. Sir Francis Drake that time as far north the latitude of AS; and although au
 not, AS before observed, going into the question o that title, think could show that we would be able r without farther evidence, to make valid can title founded on that claim of ancient discovery lRear."l
 Now, with regard to the validity of claims-found. ed discoveries at the end of the sixteenth cenii- n ry, merely visiting coast, landing for lew hours il al particular portion oi it, and not in any way per-
 fecting the title by occupation settlement for more T. than two centuries aiterwards-te remarks of Lord s J. R,s sell certainly unobt conable. They a. . ply, however, in no wise. either the claims o
 Spain or those of the United States derived fIonl h that power, in the countries of the Rocky
 Mountains; although they do apply with considerable if force the of the Falkland Islands, which . occupied by the British in 1884, and are held u in virtue of discovery supposed very slender l. grounds, 10 have been made in 1892, and of the r porary occupation of point of the Islands f between 176S and 1774 The United States merely hat so far as discovery alone gives title to D sovereIgnty, their tle obtained from Spain is supe = rior to that of any other power and they maintain moreover, that. on the ground of first settlement
 their title is good to every part of the West coast y America clamed by them. Lord John Russell cites n only the voyage of Fuca, in l5S2, on the part o r Span-omtIlng to notice the voyages and discove- ries of the Spanards in that quarter made before the $ birth of Drake. We will take the liberty to suppl, this omission and at the time to inquire into if the justice ohis opinion that he could make Ca va |, id claim to n lit!e to Oregon the discoveries II Drake in 1579
 - The evidence that ihe Spanish navigators, Cab 'f rio and Ferrelo, explored those in l542-: ii far North the 43d degree of latitude, and land , ed on them in many places, where they said masses erected crosses bearing inscriptions, and performed various acts asserting the right of theIr sovereign to the country, is as unqmeslionabe that of any . other occurrence of the nature. al the same period; as it is related by contemporary Spansl historians upon the faith of the journals of the gators whose descriptions of the places visited cor respond with what know of those places Drake visited these coasts only in l579; and no claim on the part of Great Britain, founded lhat ysil deserves to be even examned unless it be show clearly tha her gator at least the Amer ican coasts north of the 43d parallel of latitude Now all that is known of Drake's visit is derived from two narratives, namely ibe Famous Voyage, written by one of his Jew, and psbshed by Hak- buyt during be lifetime of Drake in 1887, and lhe World Encompassed, compilation of various ac- , counts including the Famous Voyage, which was not , published nnlil 1852. Without entering into the question of the relative merits ofthese narratives, 1t } will be simply stated that in the Falnous Voyage Drake's vessel is represented as being, he 5ih of june, in the latitude of forty three degrees, no other date or latitude being mentioned until we find her. the seventeenth of the month, anchored in harbOr the rtyeighih degree; whi le. in i the World Encompassed, il IS said that she the latitude of fort, two degrees, the second of Jnne; and that, on the fifth of the same mouth she anchored in bay the u the latitude of for weight degrees, from which she driven south ward the harbor the thirty-eighlh degree - Both accounts represent the ind as blow ing violent
 and constantly dui ing all this time, from the north and northwest; yet Ibe defenders of the British claims, who adopt the "World Encompassed' their authority, expect us to admit that ves sel, der sdc circumstances, proceeded northward th ough six degrees of latitude, in the interval of time, most sixty hours between ihe third and fifth June the distance between the two attitudes being, at the least, three hundred and sixty marine miles. By both narratives we are, moreover assured that the heavens during all this portion of the voyage, were constantly hidden by figs, and the little vessel of only sixty tons must have been sadly tossed about by ! the pillows of the Pacific; yet to receive accurate observations of latitude made win wrecli- ed instruments, which even on land, and under clear sky, gave imperfect results and were utterly