Southport telegraph. [volume] (Southport, W.T. [i.e. Kenosha, Wis.]) 1840-1850, 1846-01-06
LETTER FROM Mr.. PEcKENHAM TO Mr.,
CALHOUN.
September II. 1914.

September II, 1914.
The Undersigned, Brit sh plenpolenlia
ry, has studied, with much interest and al
tention, The statement (marked A, presen
ted by the American pleniPolen,iary, set
ting forth the grounds on which he decline.
the proposal offered by the British pleni
potentlary as compromise Of the Difficult
ties oil the Oregon question. The arrange
ment contemplated by that proposal would
in the estimation Of the American plenipo
tertiary, have the effect Of restricting the
possessions Of the United States to lin
its far more circumscribed than their claim.
clearly entille them to.
The claims of the United States TO thu
portion of territory drained by the Colum
bia river, are divided into those adduced b,
The U. S. in their own proper right, and
those by which they have derived from
France and Spain.
The former, as against Great Britain
they ground on priority of discovery
and priority of the exploration and settle
ment
The claim derived from France origin
aies in the treaty of 1903, by which Lou
islana was ceded to the United States, " lit
all It's rights and appurtenanceS, as fully
and IN the same manner as they had been
acquired by the French republic; and the
claim derived from Spain is founded on the
treaty concluded with that power in the
year 1919, whereby his lcMajesty ce
ded to the United States all his rights, claims
and pre- EMISSIONS 10 the territories living
east and north Of a certain line terminating
on the Pacific, in the AID degree of north
latitude.
Departing from the order in which these
three separate claims ara presented by the
American penipotentary,the British plen-
lpoteatary will first beg leave to observe,
with regard to the claim from France ,tha;
he has no; been able to discover any evil
dence tending to establish the belief that
louisiana originally possessed by France
afterwards transferred to Spain, then ret.
roceded by Spain TO France, and Ultimate
ly ceded by the latter power to the United
States, extended in a westerly direction
beyond the rocky mountains. There is.
on the other hand, strong reason to sup
pose that, at the time when Louisiana was
ceded to the United States, its acknowl-
edged western boundary was the Rocky
mountains. Such appears to have been
the opinion Of President Jefferson, unde n
whose auspices the acquisition Of Louisiana
was Accomplished.
In letter written by him in August,
1903, are to be found the following
words:
The boundaries Tof louisiana which
deem moi admitting question. are tho high
lends on the western side Of the Mississippi
ncloslng all lis watcrs--the Missouri OF
course-and terminating in the lake Of the
Woods TO the nearest source of the NJ issis-
pPi as lately settled between Great Brit
ain and the United Statcs.''
In another and more formal document da-
ted in jay, iS07-that is to say, nearly a
year after the return Of Lewis and Clarke
from their expedition to the Pacific, and
fifteen years after Gray had entered the
Columbia rver-is recorded by Mr.. feffer-
sons opinion of the impolicy of giving Of
fence 10 Spain by any intima,ion that tn e
claims Of the United States extended to the
Pacific; and we have the authority of an
American historian, distinguished for the
attention and research which he has be
slowed on the whole subject Of the Oregon
Territory, Tor concluding that the western
boundaries o! Louisiana, as it was coded
by France 10 the United States, were those
indicated by nalure-namely The high lands
separating the water he Mississicpi from
those falling into the Pac fc.
From the acquisition, the n, of Louisiana
as it was received from France, it seems
clear the United States can deduce no
claim to q territory west of the Rocky
Mountains. But even if it were other
wise, and if France had even possessed or
asserted a claim Of territory west Of the
Rocky Mountains, as aPpertaning 10 the
territory of Louisiana, that claim, whatev-
er II might be.was necessarily transferred
to Spain when Louisiana was cedeG 10 that
power in 1862. and of course became sub
ect to the provisions Of the treaty between
Spain and Great Britain of 1890. which
effectuaIy abrogated the claim OF Spain to
exclusive dominion over the unoccupied
parts of the American continent.
To the observations of the American
plenipote ntary respecting the effec, of con-
liguty in furnishing claim 10 territory
the undersigned has not failed 10 pay due
attention; but he submits that what is said
on this head may more properly be con-
sidered as demonstrating the greater de-
gree of interest which the United States
possess by reason Of contiguity in acqur-
ing territory in that direction, than as af-
lecting, in any way, the question Of
right.
The Undersigned will endeavor to show
hereafter that, in the proposal put in on
the part of Great Britain, the natural ex-
pee atoms of q. States, on the ground Of
con,iguity, have not been disregarded.
Next comes 10 be examined the claim
derived from spain.
1t must indeed be acknowledged that by
the treaty Of 1919, Spain did convey 10 tiIe
United States all that she had the powe r
TO dispose of on the northwest coast of A
merica, north Of the AID parallel of la,i-
tude; but she could not, by tina, transac-
ton. anlul or invaiidate the rights which
she had,by previous transaction, acknowl-
edged 10 belong 10 another power.
By the treaty Of IS b of October. 1870,
Spain acknowledged in Great Britain GER
tain rights with respect TO those parts OF
the western coast of America mol already
occupied.