Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1846-02-07

be placed oil the new territory, whose courts should
have superior jurisdiction over Oregon. The mea-
sures which the United States have right to carry
into effect within the territory of Oregon, in con-
formity with the convention, have already been
pointed out.
1t may not be possible 70 calculate, with any de-
gree Of certainty, the Number of citizens OF the
United States who, aided by these various measures,
will, within any given PERIOD remove to the territory
beyond the Stony Mountains. II is certain that
this number will annually increase, and keep pace
with the rapid increase Of the population OF the
Western States. II cannot be doubted that uIti-
mately, and no very distant time, they will have
possession OF all that is worth being occupied in the
territory On what principle then, will the right OF
sovereignty be decided
1t may, however, be asked whether II thie Be the
inevitable consequence OF TIRE continuance of the
convention, England will not herself give notice
that il shall be abrogated. 1t might be sufficient to
answer that we must wait till that notice shall have
been given, and the subsequent measures which
England means to adopt shall have been made
known to us,.belore we assume rashiS hostile po-
ston. The United States n,syy govern themselves;
although they HAY !Sfiiae Great Britain, they can
not control the acts Of her Government The Bri-
fish Government will do whatever il may think
proper but for the consequences that may easae
ton OF the convention On her part be followed by
aggressive measures; should she assume exclusive
possession over Oregon or any part Of il, as it is
now proposed that the United States should do,
America will then be placed in defensive position
the war, if any should onsue, will be one unpro-
voked by her, war purely Of defence, which will
be rot only sustained, but approved BY the tnani-
nous voice OF the nation. We may, however, be
permitted to examine what motive could impel En-
gland, what interest she might have either in an
milling the convention or in adopting aggressive
measures
W ncSn II IL recommended that the United States
Should give notice Of the aBrogaton Of the conyen
ton, il is with the avowed object of adopting mea-
sures forbidden by the convention, and which Great
Britain has uniformly declared she would resist
But, according to the view of the subject uniformly
taken by her, from the first time she asserted the
rights she claims 10 this day, the simple abrogation
of her convention with the United States will pro-
duce no effect whatever on the rights, relations and
position Of the two Powers. Great Britain, from
the date at least of Cooks third voyage, and prior
to the Nootka convention, did deny the exclusive
claim of Spain, and assert that her subjects had in
common with those of other States the right freely
to trade with the natives and to settle in any part Of
the Northwestern coast of America, not already oc-
cupied by the subjects of Spain. The Nootka con-
vention nothing more than the acquiescence,
the part of Spain, in the claims thus asserted by
Great Britain, leaving the sovereignty in allegiance.
And the convention between the United States and
Great Britain is nothing more or less than a tenn
porary recognition Of the same principle so far as
the two parties were concerned. England had,
prior to that convention, fully admitted that the
United States possessed the same rights as were
claimed by her. The abrogation of the convention
by her win leave those rights precisely in the same
situation as they now stand, and as they stood prior
to the convention 1t cannot therefore be perceived
what possible benefit could accrue to Great Britain
from her abrogation of that instrument; unless,
dscardng all her former declarations, denying all
that she has asserted for than sixty years. re-
tracing her ADMISSION of the equal rights of the
United States to trade, to occupy and to make set
dement's in any part of the country, she should,
without cause or pretext assume, is now threat
ened on the part Of the United States, exclusive
sovereignty over the whole part Of the territory
II may be permitted TO believe that the British Gov
eminent euerains no such intention.
1t may also be observed that England has here
tofore evinced no disposition whatever to colonize
the territory in question. She has, indeed, declar-
ed most explicitly her determination to protect the
British interests that had been created by British
enterprise and capital in that quarter. But, by CIV
ing monopoly of the fur trade to the Hudson Bay
Company, she has virtually arrested private efforts
on the part of British subjects. Her Government
has been in every other respect altogether Inactive
and apparently careless about the ultimate fate of
Oregon. The country has been open to her enter
prise at least fifty years and there are no other
British settlements interests within its limits
than those vested in connected with the Hudson
Bay Company. Whether the British Government
will hereafter make any effort towards that object
cannot be known but as long this right to colo
nize Oregon shall remain common to both Powers,
the United States have nothing to apprehend from
the competition.
The negotiations on that subject between the two
Governments have been carried on on both sides with
perfect candor. The views and intentions of both
parties were mutually communicated without re- |
serve The conviction on the part of America that
The country must ultimately be occupied and settled
by her agricultural emgrants, was used as an argu-
ment why, in of division of the territory the |
greater share should be allotted to the United States
The following quotation, from the American state |
nent of the case of December 1926, proves that |
his expectation was fairly avowed at the time:
IF the present state of occupancy urged on the part of
Great Britain the probability of the manner in which the ter
ory west of the Rocky Mountains be settled belongs
1so essentially to the subject Under whatever nominal
eighty that country may be placed, and whatever
Iesnes may be- is nearly reduced certainty that il will
almost exclusively peoped by the surplus population OF
he United States The distance from Great Britain and the
expense incident TO emigration, forbid the expectation Of any
being practicable from that quarter but comparatively
he United States and in the North American British posses