The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-03-14
THE DAILY UNION.


Q fREATY OF cohnEAcE," and no longer IL Grea
Britain therefore, would avail herself Of this supa
, laon, she is bound to establish one Of two things
either that that negotiation" Is still pending or els.
! thai that "new treaty Of commerce" ITSELF and Ia
Q terms, renewed the Nootka convention. But she
a can do neither. That negotiation Is at end; thai
"Dew treaty of commerce" was made, and not q
word does il contain about the Nootka convention
, How then cou1 1t have been thereby revived
. No wonder then, that Great Britain never named
tho Nootka conVehtioh to in all the negotiations
of 1918, nor made known that she claimed any.
thing under it, nor that il had been revived by the
treaty OF Madrid, but four years before Nor did
she ever name to us that she had either ACQUIRED
retained any fight whatever Under that contention,
Until all the sovereign rights Of Spain had been &C.
ded N ihtgrutn to US. And yet, If we are to give
our faith to what she now says all the reliable claim
she spe had in Oregon, and all she now opposes TO
the American Spanish claims, wholly derived
and "fxed and defined by the convention Of Moot
ka!"
After silence so profound, and for so many
years, II Is surely too late for Great Britain now TO
turn around and tell us that that convention was re-
newed in 1914. How is the silence 10 be accounted
for, excep that she knew of no renewal at that day,
and claimed none Did she forget IL That could
not be. 1t is inconceivable. Did she deem il OF
slight Importance That is altogether improbable
or why press it forward now her main source Of
claim II was as good then il is now; and when
|
nation overlook or conceal that very element Of
claim which gave TO its pretenslons their highest IL
not their only title to public consideration and re-
spectl
. But it is a marvellous coincidence in the chapter
OF accidents, that While one Of the parties 10 the
convention forgot that il had been renewed, the
other, by some process equally obvious, forgot It
too! Spain, in ceding the Oregon, in 1879,
bound In honor TO have disclosed to us all incum.
branees which she herself had put upon her title,
If such membranes existed at the time; neverthe-
less she made her cession to Of her whole title,
and evidently knew no mOre at that time, Of the
Nootka convention having been renewed, than Great
Britain appears 10 have known the year before!
| II must be owned that this famous controversy
has been quite prolific Of strange events: it is
strange that convention regulating national inter-
ests thirteen degrees Of territory, should be
vvea and subsisng in full force, and that years
should roll by without either Of the parties to it
finding 1t out, 1t 10 strange that nation should
trace all its rights TO single convention, and yet
claim and exercise all the same rights without IT,
1t is strange that while Great Britain was contend
ing with for equal rights in Oregon, Mexico
should have been content TO have ad usted the
whole southern boundary of Oregon with US alone
IL is strange that, under the circumstances Rus
STA should have been content 10 have adjusted the
whole northern boundary ofOregon with us al me- and
It is stranger than ALL that the only real right of terri
tory which Great Britain has in all northwestern
America lies north of SO 40 and east of the coast
range Of mountains, and south Of the 6lo of north
latitude, and that she acquired every foot thereof
from Russia in 1925, being the same which Russia
acquired from us IN 1924, which we ac3uired from
Spain IN 1919, and to which Great Britain had once
a right OF JOINT occupancy with Spain, under the
Nootka convention Of 1890
Nv. lHE NoorKA CONVENTION WAS NOT sUsrEF-
TIRLE OF REVIVAL IN 1914.
In the interval between 1896 and lSl4 during
which the convention was confessedIy IN suspense
most material change had taken place in the title
to the Oregon territory In the year 1900, Spain,
away to France, by the treaty of St H.
deonso, Louisiana, including all of Oregon
lying between the i2d and 49th parallels
Of north latitude; and by the treaty ofParis Of 1903
France ceded to us all the territory she had thus &c
CURED. In 1904, the American government set on
foot the expedition of Lewis and Clarke, devised
for the very purpose Of exploring and taking pos
session Of the territory thus ceded to us In 1905
and g, they accomplished this arduous task--ex-
piored Oregon from the Rocky mountains, through
the valley Of the Columbia, the sea- took posses
sion in the of the United States; and dwelt a
twevemonth unmolested within its borders In
1909 and 10, American establishments were COM
menced upon the Columbia In 1911, Astoria was
established near its mouth by a New York compa-
ny. In 1872 trading post established by
Americans on the SPokan, about $50 miles from the
ocean.
These acts resulted from this governments inter-
probation Of Its rights and acquisitions under that
treaty Of eession; and the perfect acquescence of
Spain IN all that was done, an unequivoca
acknowledgment by her that that Interpretation was
just, and not to be complained Of While Spain
remained sole proprietor, she had as much right to
part with her interests to France as to Great Brit
ain; and having done so, 1t past her power, by
any revival Of the Nootka convention, to reinvest
Great Britain with the rights she once conferred
upon her. Suppose she had al that time executed
with ms trpnt Nv. RITA ,,ld
not have compained and yet cession TO MS at that
time must surely have Invested her of every ves-
tge Of the claim she still continues to trace up in the
face Of every refutation, to the Nootka convention
Spain never complained of what we took, because
we took no more than she considered that she had
coded.
But furthermore Great Britain herself nevor COM
planned of SPANS cession to France of frances
eeesion to us; nor Of the Interpretation put upon
it; Of the extent of territory claimed under it,
nor Of the settlements made upon, nor of the
proprietary rights we exercised within it; and when
a war between the nations gave her the right of
seizure, she seized these possessions ours; and
when peace came, she restored them as ors-ours
in virtue Of prior righteous in exclusion of her
own pretensions. Now, these rights of ours inclu-
ever acquired under the Nootka convention,
between the 42d and the 49th paralles;-
and how is it possible then, for her to maintain, in
the face of all these solemn recognitons that the
convention OF Nootka was, or could have been,
revived between these degrees of latitude in 1912
1t was past all the capacities both of her and Spain,
separately or conformity, to revive it at that time,
and in the existing state Of things. She might in
deed, if she would, have claimed an interest through
other sources; but under the Nootka convention,
never.
Once more: if, in reality, the Nootka convention
ever revived, the most disintcrested and une-
quvoca proof Of that fact has existed from the date
Of that revival within Great Britain's knowledge,
and within her reach. If such were the fact Spain
knew it. She could not be ignorant of it-she would
not fail to attest it, if it true; yet Great Britain
has never appealed either to her memory or her ar
chives. Thirty years have come and gone since
that revival is said to have taken place; her state
ments in regard to have been contested by us year
by year, and inch by inch, yet she has never put
that question to Spain, and the past procaims for
her that she never will. She would as soon think
of asking Spain what rights she conferred on Great
Britain by the Nootka convention, what rights she
possessed in Oregon without it.
V. " THE NooTKA CONVENTION ovERcAME AND
SURVIVED ALL THE OBSTACLES WHICH HAVE BEEN