Mobile register and journal. [volume] (Mobile, Ala.) 1841-1849, 1845-11-19
From the Washington Uuion.

/
American title tn Oregon is sound and perfect up Ia
81 deg. 40m. We have denied the existance Of any
break 10 thai htie at the 49Ih degree. We have
said further. that in so ar as the negotiations on
this subject between the United States and Eng land
have been made known, there is, To the best Of our
recollection, no argument whaerer which carries our
title up 10 40 deg, and there stops We make all
these statements with due deliberalion. We ahere
10 hem lin spite of all the and loose allega.
lions on lie matter, which running the rounds
Of The wing press,) and we prepared to sustain
them, as stated. by full and conclusive proof
This being The state Of eur title 10 Oregon, il
seems proper 10 explain, briefly, how II has happen
ed in past lines, that, matter Of compromise we
have offered and urgd upon the acceptance Of Great
Britain the 49h parallel, line of Limits between
herself and Va, from the Rocky Mountains 10 the Pa
cihc- We pressed this offer upon England rerse-
veringy from 1914 'I5 10 lSz7.'2S. During all
thai time, our offer Of this compromise was steadily
repealed. In sume of our unsuccessful attempts Al
Oregon legislation, under the stipulation ol JOINT &C.
cupancy las il is called) of 1918, have also nam.
ed, the north limit OF our territorial jursdicion
the same 49h degree.
IL is question Of small interest just now how
all this has come 10 passl In what manner and
for what cause has II happened that our govern
trent, through quarter al century, claning and
holding good tale up 81 deg. 40In, has vet
been willing TO compromise us difference Nth Eng
land by the line Of 40 deg. Ii is, We admit, per-
leclly lair question for those ask who doubt that
i5 ia iltS 1VHl's now is IL
the line of 40 deg. has been line of negotiations
and even oatlewpted legs ation so long If our IL
| tie does not terminate al that liDe3
This question we now propose TO answer.
| BY the treaty OF peace with Great Britain in 1888
| the northern boundary line between the u States
aud British America was settled from the source OF
the river ST. Croix, the northeast, the Lake Of
| the Woods on the norrhwest-this lake being about
$50 miles northwest Of Lake SUPERIOR and then sup
posed to be bu short distance east of the headwa.
f..r- nl tha l.,A H. <.
Crox To lhe Lake of'ihe Wonds-sii stands as our
boundary as il has been changed near its com.
| mencement in the northeast, and between Lake Su.
perior and the Lake Of the Woods, by the recent
Ashbulton treaty. Having drawn this boundary as
far west as the Lake Of the Woods the same treaty
Of 1888 stipulated that the boundary line should ex.
| tend due W,st fiom the Lake Of the Woods, Till il
should strike the Mississippi, down the middle of
which river it was then 10 continue.
But IT was soon made known that a line drawn
due NEST from the Lake ol the W. ods could moi strike
the Mississippi A new line from that lake
was then 10 be sought and settled. commission
to adjust Ibis and Other disputed points OF the treaty
OF 1888, having been stipulated lor in II subsequent
treaty with England in 1894. negotiations upon the
subject were had in the ,eais toiioting l803-the
dqfe, be At obssrUsd, Of our louisiana purchase. In
these negotiations subsequent 1903, the 49h parallel
Of latitude @as first named a boundary line 6etpe.n
The United Noies and the British pos sssions The
plenipoieltiaries and governments were Just about
agreeing The line of the 49ih deg. AS line of de-
nlarcaliop from The Lake ofthe Woods TO The Rocky
nouaiaa, ui the express propiso that the agreement
should .oay touch The of territory claimed by
either parry WEST or those m0untaih.s, when the al
fair Of III. Chesapeake occurred, and The negotia.
tons broken of by the troubles which resulted
in the war Of 1872. The treaty of peace came in
1914, AMI brought with II new boundary negotia-
tiun. This negotiation, renewed on The old basis oil
the line Of 49h deg, resulted in 1878, ia The eslab.
ishnen ol that line from The Lake OF The Woods to
the Rocky Mountains our boundary, and lat the
same tine. aud by the next article OF the conyen-
ton) IN the stipulation of JOINT occupancy, (west oi
the Rocky InountaiDsl which, by reuswal in 1927
still exists.
Such being the history of the line Of 40 deg. so
far cur diplomacy and our rights concerned
the question arises, How that line TO Be
adopted as the basis of our negotiation thy side oil
the Rocky mountains?
The answer is strange one. The line Of 499
,ctich las played such part in the boundary negoa.
fions baween the United States and England, first
though Of and of yards negotiated upon and there
is hiereason to doubt, finally agreed upon far a,
,he Rocky pountains-soieiy in consequence of most
singular mistake the part Of both governments.
| We have that this line into dis
cussion between the nited States and England, till
after we had purchased Louisiana. After that pur-
chase il bectme necessary for us, of course TO us.
certain the northern boundary line Of purchase.
| To find that boundary, which, alter the original
grant Of Louisiana to Crozat by Louis XIV had been
carried far the north into the region OF the Illinois
(as il called,) then belonging TO France under
the general name Of New France-to settle, we say,
the northern boundary OF Louisiana, which had thus
been carried far to the norlhward it became neces.
sary TO refer the treaty Of Utrecht. concluded be-
| tween Great b ilain and France in l7l3. This
treaty Of Utrecht contains the following stipulation
! Ii ls agreed on both sides 10 determine within a
year, by commiss toner's, to be forthwith named by
each party, the limits which are 10 be fixed between,
the said Bay of Hudson and the places appertaining
10 the French. The same commits lone rs
shall also have orders to describe and settle, in like
manner, the boundaries between the other Britt. h
and French colonies in those parts.l2 Jenk inson' y
| Treaties.
This treaty was, in general terms, confirmed in the
treaty of the 10Th of February, 1868, between Great
Britain, France and Spain. Under this treaty OF
| Utrecht, commissioners were appointed stipula-
ted and by one Of the strangest plumbers whch nego.
tiaon has m'ds IN modern times, subsequent diploma
ey to have taken for granted that they Performed
the duty for Which they yere appointed, and line
Of boundary bstDeen the French and English possess
ions; aud that the line by them The line Of
the parallel Of 10 degrees 1t is perfect, astonishing
to how this uniouDded opinion ran through pro-
tocol after protocol, and negotiation after negotia-
ton, and treaty after treaty, till finally il became The
| basis of special instruction from our government 10
| Messrs. Gallatin and Rush in 1878, and, through
them, the basis OF our boundary line, il was by
them settled, along the 49lh parallel, from the Lake
| THEFACT SNOW WELL EsTABLisHED, THAT,
ICNDER THE TREATY OF UTRECHT, NO LINE
| WHATEVER WAS EITHER ADOPTED OR PRO-
POSED by THE COMMISSIONERS OR BY THEIR
| GOVERNMENTS, As THE BOUNDARY OF THE
| FRENCH POSSESSIONS ON THE NORTH, or OF
THE BRITISH POSSESSIONS ON THE SOUTH
In fact no such boundary line run at all.
Often as this line was cited and referred TO as the
basis of subsequent negotiation, ii had any ex
| istence whatever till Messrs Rush and Gaalin drew
It in 1878. Till then boundary line running along
the 49th parallel was just AS mag mary in diplomacy,
The parallel itself is imaginary on The surface Of
| the earth.
We believe that all persons conyersant with this
subecta agreed upon this point. But of COURSE
we do not make these statements without being pre-
pared present The rOofs Of what assert. These
proofs, amuuntins TO Il complete demonsra ration, we
will present in detail whenever they may be wanted
to sustain position. IL is enogh nuw 10 state on
the high authority Of Mr.. Greenhow, in his most nc.
curate and exhaustive work upon Oregon, that The ar
chives ol the department Of Foreign Alairs in France
have been searched for any evidence oil The adoption
Of any sncb boundary line under The treaty of Ulrech'
and that trace Of such evidence has been found
10 this may add, that the various EnglisI, and
French publications, written since Mr.. Greenho
work in reply to IL, and some Of them written under
the eye of the British government, produce no evil
deuce from The British archives of any such line "a
conclusive proof that such evidence is to be fund
there. Aud asIy may say that the only author who
makes mention Of the appointment Of any such COM
snissoners under the treaty of Utrecht states that
their negotiations ceased premaurely in l722--ihey
having been appointed in l7l9. Ii may be proper
TO add, that Mr.. MOnue. when our minister ut the
court of ST james, in 1904 seems 10 have been The
first American statesman who brought into our nego
liatons with England this imaginary boundary iue
of the 49h degree, supposed by him To have been run
under the treaty of Utrecht. There seems to be no
doubt that Mr. Monroe was misled by an old map