Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1845-03-03
ENGLAND AND THE OREGON
TERRITORY.

The bill which has passed the House o.
for the occupancy Of the
Oregon embraces the section between the
42d and 54th degrees north latitude. The
"Lower Columbia" mentioned in the fol-
lowing extract from late number Of the
London Spectator, as the boundary Of the
British claim, reaches nearly TO The AID de-
gree. embracing nearly the whole.
DE facto as we'll as de jurc, Great Brit
ain has settled the territory West Of the
Rocky Mountains, from the Arctic Ocean
and the Russian frontiers Southwark as
far as the lower Columbia, and pushed its
outposts beyond that river. To this ror-
lion of what has been called the Oregon
territory the British title is clear and IN
dispuiable. 1t is only as to whether the
United States have title 10 any part of
the territory (and how much OF it, between
the British ou,posts South of the Columbia
and North Of the Mexican frontiers, that
any doub; can be admitted No such title
can be asserted on the ground Of maritime
discovery; for the Columbia river was not
discovered by Grey in 1890, having been
previously discovered by the Spaniards in
IT'S. The United States cannot go fur.
Their back than the expedition of Lewis and
Clarke. That expedition was fitted out, i,
is true, by the Government Of the Union,
for the purpose Of discovery alone: Lew
is and Clarke had no warrant to take DOS
session. The settlement of Astoria was be-
gun without the sanction Of the Govern
ment at Washington, and was never rec
ognized by it. The validity of claim found
ed upon actual occupancy since the discov-
cries of Lewis and Clarke, must depend up
on settlements formed since 1918 ;and how
such could be formed, wthou, violating the
treaty Of that year, j, is difficult to conjec-
ture.
That all the Territory North Of the par
allel Of the Lower Columbia, at least, will
be retained by the British Government,
there can be no doubt 1t is already occu-
pied by British subjects British laws and
forms Of administration already prevail
thee. British feelng-that is, the feel
ings Of Englishmen, Sco,chmen, and Ca
nadians, as opposed TO those Of the Republi.
cans Of the Union-are there in the as
cendancy. This community must be pro
tected, and IFS loyalty TO the British empire
encouraged and foslered. 1t may easily
be done. The Hudson's Bay Company
ought TO feel that a new era has commen
ce1; that field of useful and honorable
exertion, far beyond what was conlempla
ted by its earlier organization, is opening
upon it. By slightly modifying the con
stitution Of that body-by extending it
powers in some respects, and modifying
and rendering less invidious some of its ex
elusive privileges, Government may rem
der it an admirable instrument for carrying
on the work which has been so we'll begun
under its auspices.
By this means, British community al
ready accommodating wealth, and evincn.
energy, hardihood, and enterprise, will b.
preserved, and its progress accelerated; &
power will be retained to this country O
protecting the native tribes; field for ju
dicious and regulated missionary enterprise
will be opened; and security will be afford
ed 10 British participators in the nfan
commerce OF the Northern Pacific. Ii i.
no! Oregon alone that the long headed
statesmen Of America have in view; it is in
fuence in or ascendancy over the Sand
wich Islands; it is the trade with China nc
the Eastern Archipelago, about to be year
ly extended. Their agents are traders anc
missionaries. Ours are as yet merely the
agents Of the Hudson's Bay Company
These agents, from their organization and
discipline, will be found in the external
commerce of Oregon, as they have appro-
we'd themselves in its internal, more than a
match Cor their desullory American rivals
bu, we must have real religious English
missionaries 10 supply the place of Ameri-
can political missionaries, and British in
sttutons 10 pre-occupy the ground over
which those Of the United States are sought
to be extended.