The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-04-08


mightuse. And In this view Of IL, she asserts tina
she had rights by national lay. Now, he should hk'
10 know, on what principle of public a~, suei
rights as these were recognised or usthsdl 10 IL &C
that by International law, country can remain
open and FREQ 10 the use OF all nations like Ia,
ocean, He knew Of no such principle, and wai
sure there was no such principle. IL was entirely
inconsistent with all the principles OF national law
respecting the acquisition OF rights in new or AN
settled country. Spain first discovered that coast,
and she either acquired certain rights by her dis
coveres, or she did not Ii she did, these rights
were exclusive, and neither Great Britain, nor any
other nation could acquire the same rights, unless
Spain should have forfeited or lost the rights she
had 90 acquired The rights Of Spain may not have
been complete; she may not have acquired perfect
ute or Jurisdiction TO the country but If she had
acquired rights there, which might by possession
and settlement be rendered perfect and give her
elusive jurisdiction, then Great Britain nor any
other nation could not lawfully interfere with her
nights, and prevent her from concentrating her
tide Whatever rights Spain had were exclusives;
sue claimed nothing In common with other nations,
DID Spain acquire no rights by being the 6rs,
discoseror II any, what were those rights
Did she not acquire an imperfect title,
or the right 70 possess and settle the country, and
thus secure a complete jurisdiction over IL What
ever rights she had. they were exclusive; and al
though her tights may not have amouutsd 70 = CON-
1 psosc utcy yot tucy secured 10 prlvlifSc
| OF making them complete by possession and settle
ment, then the interference Of Great Britain was
manifesty unlawful, and a violation Of the rights
OF Spaini because prevented her from perfocting
her title IL Spain acquired anything at all by dis
covery, she acquired the right 10 perfect title; but
this right Great Britain defeated, by forcing Spain
10 yield to her certain rights in the country incon-
ssIent with the right Of Spain ever. to acquire an
| exclusive title.
There can be no mistake in this reasoning unless
Spain lost the rights she acquired by discovery, by
lapse OF time and neglect TO possess and settle the
| country. This she might have done; but what are
the factsl The southern par. of the northwest
coast was discovered and explored by Spain at an
early period bat that part in dispute, or nearly
all OF IL, was not discovered and explored by her
until l774 asd l775 only Ave years before the treaty
Of l79O. This period is short, II cannot be con
tended that Spain lost any rights she acquired by
discovery, by neglect 10 settle the country She
must have reasonable time, and certainly five years
could not be unreasonable one. To have lost
her rights by neglect there must have been such de-
lay lapse Of time In settling the country, as 10
have afforded evidence TO the world, that she had
abandoned her rights Of discovery, and did not in
tend to settle the country and extend her iursdic-
ton over il. But instead Of this she had constantly
asserted her claim and jurisdiction over it.
Sir, the fact Is, the convention of Nootka sound
extorted by Great Britain from the weakness
Of Spain. Her only right was the seventy ships of
the line which were fitted up and prepared for war
| by Mr.. Pitt who applied to Parliament for a grant
OF fifteen millions for that purpose. Great Britain
was the aggressor in that transaction, and she has
never had any rights on the northwest coast except
what she acquired by the Nootka convention, and
that was extorted from Spain by the threat of war
Whether that convention was now in force, or had
been abrogated was a question he did not propose
TO examine. Nor would he inquire into the extent
OF those rights; they certainly were not the rights of
| exclusive Jurisdiction TO the whole or any mart
of the territory. But whatever they NAV be.
thew ARE all the rights she ever possessed and
whether these continue now, is, to say the least,
doubtful She can have no other rights, unless
she has acquired them by possession and oc-
cupation of the country since; Lut that conven-
| ton did not admit of either party acquiring rights
in that way Perhaps the strongest view of the
| British claim was that she was in possession and
occupation of portion of the territory, and assert
ing rights there when we ACQUIRED the Spansh title
! Whether rghtfulIy or not she was there. and as.
sorting right to be there, when the Spanish title
came into our possession; and il could not be de-
MED that we had in some measure acquiesced in her
assertion of rights. She was in possession there,
and is still in possession and if not rehtfu DOS.
session, it was a sor. of tite-the lowest grade of
title He thought abstracty considered, the Span
sh title was good to the whole territory in dispute
! he thought the senator fiom New York mr. DIyl
had shown this by his very clear exposition of the
discoveries and settlements upon that coast The
. senator from New jersey Mr.. DAYTONl seems
not to think SO; he said we must all have seen
the weak point in the senator's argument; the
| point where the Spanish title seemed to fail He
supposed the senator alluded TO the most northerly
! Spanish settlement at Nootka sound But why
should the rights of Spain end there' She had dis.
covered and explored the coast to north of GOO.
Could she have no rights north of her most north
ery settlement? Did not the discovery of the coast
with settlements at certain points upon it, give some
right to the whole coasti But he did not assert the
right of Spain from settlements but from discovery
which gives an inchoate or imperfect right, which
NAV be made perfect by being followed IN bv act
/ Element. III. ... = ...o : ..,.. = "
i Sir. in any view which can be taken of the Brit
isb title il rests on doubtful and frail foundation.
and is limited in its nature and extent Ii does not
rise to the importance or dignity of eminent dom ain
or exclusive jurisdiction.
How much stronger and more substantial is the
title of the United States, and how different in s
nature and extent We have the Spanish title TO the
whole territory; and to the 49th PARALLEL we have
the rights of discovery exploration and
giving us complete tide as against Great Britain
| and good against the whole world since have acnui