Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1846-03-14
THE UNION AND OREGON.

Aloh--payablc in all cases in advance.
THE UNION AND OREGON.
III 1s 8..M-
The following paragraph was copied by the Lon
don Globe, some time since, from an article in the
National lntellgencer, and from the Globe trans
ferred 70 Galignani's Paris Messenger:
"The boundary between the American and British uosses
Sons 30 Tar A. nov settled from the Lake of the Woods
along the 49th parallel Of latitude 10 the Rocky Mountains
and y this PARALLEL which has boon no often proposed az
compromise boundary 70 the Pacific this boundary could
% made % run along the 4st parallel given meridian in
or near the Rocky Mountains say 1850 west Of Greenwich
and thence due south 70 that parallel Of latitude which would
strike the Pacific at just south Of the southern point
vancouvers island which would be the 4Sth parallel
latitude would SEEM under the circumstances equitable
line as could be proposed"
Our government paper, the Union,' has made
the appearance Of this paragraph in those foreign
papers, with some approbatory remarks the oc-
cason Cor trade against the !" pasr;oiism' of the
National Intelligencer. We had thought that this
mode Of treating the arguments Of adversaries had
sunk beneath any respectable, much less any off,
cial or seIni0ficial use. II is not however, with
the good taste Of the government paper that we
mean to trouble ourselves. What we wish now to
say 10 the Union is, that we have never arrogat-
would be an equitable line'' of division. We
leave that privilege the publicists of the Union !;
but we deny not to well informed citizens the right
TO express their views that or any other national
question through the columns Of our paper, whether
their opinions accord with our own or not, and
the paragraph in question was extracted from the
communication Of correspondent, who had evil
FdsHtly studied the subject with SO much care and
attention that we thought his remarks well desery-
ing the place assigned them in our paper It is not
little to the credit of our correspondent that his
proposed boundary was very nearly the same with
that afterwards suggested by the venerable states
man, ALBERT GALLATIN, whose patriotism the
government paper, free as it is in casting imputa-
tons, will hardly venture to question. But is not
our purpose to defend the "patriotism y of either Of
our correspondents; and our own we leave TO more
unpreudiced Judges than the writers for the "Union
We desire at present only to assist the official
paper in extending knowledge Of its geographical
atainments and its accurate acquaintance with the
diplomatic history of the country The official pa
per says: g The equitable line proposed by the
Intelligencer would give to Great Britain every
Thing that she could possibly DESIRE 1t does no,
sire her .e RICH. nf na;~ating the Columbia river
privilege ardeatiy 1esssea by, and more than oncs
preposed Y hss " ashqriy taegosiasors q our
Government. Again, the ofEr.- Oaper says a.ai i
gives 70 Great Britain = the whole or vsncouver's
Island, and the entire Straits of Fuca, by which
our vessels would be prevented from entering the
valuable harbors of Admiralty Inlet, Pugets Sound,
: and Hoods Canal; making, in reality, the coun-
try between the forty-eighth degree and the Co.
'lumba river utterly worthless to u.s." The Unions
favorite author, Mr.. GREENHow, and Capt. WILKES
who was commissioned by our Government to ex-
plore and make charts that country and its waters
both place the harbors and waters enumerated south
OF the 4Sh parallel and of course within the terri
tory which, if that equitable line were adopted,
would become the undisputed property of the United
States. But no doubt, Mr.. GREENHow, who had
access to all the best maps and charts extant, and
Captain WILKES who surveyed the straits, sounds,
harbors, and rivers, must succumb TO the superior
accuracy of the official paper and recan their errors
How yielding to England the whole Of Vancouver
Island, will of necessity give her the sovereignty of
the "entire Straits of Fuca," some ten or fifteen
miles wde and shut us out Of all the inland waters
south, is geographical problem which only the as
tuteness of the officials writers can work out.