The Arkansas banner., 1846-02-18


 1t is unnecessary to detail the discoveries of the Spaniards, as they regularly advanced to the North from their settlements on the Western coasts of North America, until we reach the voyage of Captain Juan Perez, in I77A. That navigator was commissioned by the viceroy of Mexico ie proceed in the corvette Santiago, 50 the G0th degree of North latitude; and from that point To examine the coast down to Mexico. He sailed from San Blanc on the 25th ol January, l774. In the performance cl this commission, he landed frat an ihe Nerth&esl ceest of Queen Char lotte's island near the 51th degree of North latitude; and thence proceeded South, along the shore 0! that island and of the great islands of Quadm and Vancouver, and then along Lhe coast Of the continent, until he reach Monterey. He went on shore and held intercourse with the natives at several places, and especially at the entrance of bay in lat. 49l deg, which he called Fort San Lorenzo--;he same now known by She. name of Nootka Sound. In addition to ihe journals of this voyage, which render the lactincon,estahe, .we.haYo the. high authori- Y of Baron Ilumboldt in its favor. That distinguished traveller, who had access to the manuscript documentsinlhe ely of Mexi- co, states that ''Peres and his pilot, Fstepan Maaine2,slelt tbe port ol San l3lr3 on the i21th.of1Januafy, sl77Ai. On tlie 9th of Ali- gust, theygaschored (the first ofall European navigatots) in Nooika.roat, which they ca- led the port of .San, Lorenzo, and which the lilasdious Cook, totg gears aflerparaS, cal led King George's Soumt'2
 h tie next year,. i775, the vieeroy of MeXicoagan fitted out lhes Santiago, under the command of Bruno Hece!a, withsPerez, her former -commanders as ensign, and also a schooner, called the Sonora, cohinIanded by Juan Francisco de la Bogada Y Quadra. PIesesVesseIs were com nissioned to examine the Northwestern coast of .America as far as the 65th degree of latitude, and sailed in company from San Bias on the l5lh MaFcil. 1775.
 IL Is unnecessary. to eRunierate the diller- ent places on the coast examined bg these uavigaiors, either in company or separately. Suffice il to say, that tkeg laaded at many places on the eoastfrom the fist to the 57h degree of latitude, on alleof which occasions they took possession df tie country in tie naue of their sovereign, according to a pre- seribed regulation; celebrating mass, read- ing declarations asserting the right of Spain to the territory, and erecting crosses with in- scrjPtions, to commemorate tue event Some of these crosses were. afterwards found stand ing by British navigatogs. In relation .o these voyages, Baron Humboldt eays, e,In laefoilowing yea., ,, altert tIra; Of Perez, j 2, second expedition set out from San Bla5, under the comlnand of jeceta, Ayala, and Quadra. Heceta discoYared the mouth of the Rio Columbia, caIled 1t the Eafrade de fieeela, the peak of San laeinto, Mount Edgecomb,) Acar the Norfolk Bay, and 1he fine port of BncareIi. possess .two. very curious snalt t-maps, engraved in i7S8, ia t,Ie city of Mexico, which give the Dealings ol. the coast from the 27tI, to the ssh degree of lalitnde, as they were discovered in the ex4 petition of Quadra.o le
 h lhe face of these incontestable facts. the British plenipoteniiary says that Capt. Cook must also be considered the discoverer of NootSa Sound, in consequence of the want of authenticity in the alleged previous dis cogerg of that port by Peroz.o And vet Cook did not even sail from England until. the l2tll-aaly, l976--ncarly two years aiieg Perez had made this discovery The 'ciiief object of Cooks voyage was the discovery of q northwest passage, and he never landed at any poipt of the continentsouih of Noot- ka Sound. l. is true, that ill eoasting along the continent before hereaehed this place, he had observed Cape Flaltery; but he was en- tirely ignorant that this was the southern entrance of the straits Of Fuca. In his journal he admits that l.e had heard some account of the Spanish voyages ofeI7z4 and I775, before he left England; and t is be- yond question, .tbat.befor his. tieparlHse, ac- counts ofthe voyage of Quadra had been published, both in Madrid and London From Noptka Sound, Cook did not again see land until he reached the 57lhTrlegree of north latitude.
 In l787, it is alleged by the British Pleni- petentary that Captain Berkeley, a British subject, discovered lhe straits of Fuca; but these straits had been discovered by.Juan de Fuca neatly two centuries before Besides. if ttere had been any merit in this discovery of Capiam Berkeley il would have belonged to Austria, in whose service he was, and un- der whose colors he sailed and cannot be appropriated by Great Britain. s-e
 And here i is worthy of reinark, that these discoveries of Cook and Berkeley, in l779 and l787. are all those on which the British Plenipotentiary relies, previous 10 the date of the Nootka Sound Convection, in30ctober, l79o. to defeat the ancient spanish title to the Northwest coast of America.
 The undersigned will now take position which cannot, ifhis opinion, be successfully assailed; and this IS, that no discovery, ex-s ploratlon, or settlement made by Great Brit ain on the Northwest coast of America, after the date. of the .Nooika Sound Conyention, and before 1t was terminated by the sFar of l795, can be invoked by ihatpowef in favor of her own ttle, or against tire tile of spaia Even.according tosthe British construction of flat Convention, the sovereignty over the territory was to remain in abeyance dnrlnp it's coptinuance, as well in regard to Great Brtain IS to Spain. I. would. therefore, have been an open violation of faith Oh the part of Great Britain, after having secured the privileges conferred apon h r by the Con veh,ion, to turn round agains. her partner and perform any acts calculated to dvest Spain of her ultimate sovereignty over any portion of the country. The p.pable mean ing ofthe Convention was, that during its x.-- H.la Il. f A