Liberty advocate. [volume] (Liberty, Miss.) 1835-1866, 1846-03-07

Z lstdHuS On MS reputation LOT common sense
7 will argue or believe it.
The conclusion is irresistible, that, L.
g., England pretenlions on the North ives
coast, be, at the present day, what the,
will, they extended, in 1890, no iurlhe
than 10 a joint right Of settlement, nortl
of latitude lorty.nine and half, shared
with her equally by Spain Such was
then, the acknowledgment of existing
rights" which, Mr.. Pakenham declares
"cannot be revoked at the pleasure o.
either party
! | might here rest, without anolh her
word, the whole case. But it is useful as
well as curious, to pursue. the matter lit.
tie further, and trace the growth Of these
pretensions of England, from their modest
shape III 1890, to heir oyergrown form
at the present day.
The first opportunity on which Eng.
land, in accordance with a policy which
has gradually secured to her the domin.
ion Of large portion Of the world, saw fit
to push onward her territorial claims in
Northwestern America, was the appoint
ment OF commissioners to carry Out the
first article of the Nootka convention.
the celebrated navigator Vancouver,
was appointed on behalf of England, aud
a Senior Quadra, on The part OF Spain
They met at Nootka, in August 1892; and
the account Of their negotiation is given
to US by Vancouver, in the narrative of
bis voyage. Their respective views as
10 the matters in dispute were soon found
to differ very widely.
Quadra maintained, that Meares never
had actually purchased any land at Moot.
IA; that he had never even had posses
sion OF any,eXcept a single spot, form.
ne nearly an equiIaeraI triangle, not ex-
ending hundred yards on any one side,
in front by the sea; and on the
'ther two sides by high craggy rocks
n which isolated spo: Mr.. Meares had
rected his temporary residence, He ad
uced, il proof Of his assertions, the tes-
mony OF two American captains, Gray
nd lngraham, who had been present at
ootka IN 1888 and during the whole pro-
ceilings IN 1893. These gentlemen de. :
ose, that though they remained there
ne months and could converse perfectly u
ith the natives, they never heard of any a
Irchase Of land by Mearcs.
In regard TO buildings, and in proof s.
at even the above spot of ground was N
andoned by Meares, when his last YES, 81
!, the lPhegonIa, commanded by a Cap, a
n Douglass, left the Sound, in the an a
mn OF 1888, they add: II.
son the arrival of the Columbia, in W
year 1888, there was a house, or rath- u
a hut, consisting of rough posts, coy
d with boards, made by the Indians; &C
this Captain Douglass pulled TO pieces. ~
or TO his sailing for the Sandwich "
indS, the same year. The boards he :"
'k on board the lphegenia, and the roof .
gave to Captain Kendrck, which was oo
up and used as tirewood on board the y
umbla; so that, on the arrival of Don Nd I'D
rtInez, there was no vestige of any III
Use remolning,"-Proofs and Uugra- WI
Is to Greenhow's Oregon, p. AS. o.
Under these circumstances Senior Ouad -
very naturally concluded, that Meares "
q been dlspossesed Of neither lands nor en-
Idlngs; and, consequently, that there RI
S nothing TO deliver up He oh. 60
we'd, at the same time, $50 Vancouver 81 81
orms US: ON
That NOotka ougMto be the last Or DC
50 north'0ardly Spanish settlement; that f..
re me d'0ld'ng point should be fred and ~
II, from thence TO the northward should ~.
Tree Tor entrance, use, and commerce w w
Doth parties, contormably with the fifth ho
lcIe oil the convention; that establish ~,
MS should not be formed without per- 49,
's,on OF the respective courts; and that ~,
hmgI'Sh should not pass TO the south of ~,
ca Vonco"cer's Voyage, vol. 2, p. ria
n word, the Spanish commissioner ", W.
upon the provisions Of the Convention 81
very same interpre tation which had AT.
IN put upon them, publicly and uncon- co W,
dlcted, by Fox and others in the Brit ~,
Parliament, two years before. IN,
subsequently,, Senior Quadra offered to -;
We Vancouver in possession of the spot ho
. Meares had occupied, and even to If
ce at his command the houses, gardens Co
offices then occupied by the Span fra
DIS, whilst himsel! retired; but swithomI dis
1ludlce to the legitimate right Of SPAIN hn,
10 this Vancouver declared, that he chr
$ not authorized 10 agree. He con, wit
ded, that the words "buiIdings and ere
cts of land" employed in the first arti. w,
OF the Convention could not possibly Ri
construed to mean merely a trang1.
spot hardly containing one acre of mt
'und, and Nv
'Tha! at Ieas; the whole port of Moot Tho
OF which his Majesty's subjects had kin
iorclbIy dispossessed, and at which No
mseIve9, their vessels and cargoes had Sn D