The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1846-01-31

s.-ssgsv as1sNassasssEss sssssss
.s endeavors to 3rove that, even II the
'Nootka Sound Convention had never
existed, the positoniof Great i3rituinih
regard to her claim, whether 10 the
whole or TO any particular portion OF
the OreeonItcrlitory, isat least as good
as thar Of the United States.n In or
der to establish tiis position, he must
show tifat the British elaifn is equal in
validity to the titles both Of Spain and
the United States.L These can never
now be separated They are one and
the same. fDillerentiand divergiDg as
they may have been before the Florida
treaty, they are now blended together
and identified. The separate discovei
ries, explorations, and settlements Of
the two powers previous 10 that date
must now be considered as if they had
all been made by the United States
alone. Uader this palpable view OF
the subject, the undersigned was sur
prised to find that in the comparison
and contrast instituted by the British
plenipoteptiary between the claim of
Great Britain and that of the United
States, he had entirely omitted to refer
to the discoveries, explorations, and set
dement's made by Spain. The under
signed will endeavor to supply the onis1
sion. tS1 4.s s"' fsha@D5 ~ p99s7f
But, before he proceeds to the main
argument on this poirt, he feels himself
constrained to express his surprise that
the British plenipotentiary should again
have invoked in support Of the British
title the inconsistency between the
Spanish and American branches of the
title of the United States. The under
signed cannot forbear to congratulate
himself upon the fact, that gentleman
of Mr.. Pakenham's acknowledged
ability has been reduced to the neces-
sity of relying chiefly upon such sup
port for sustaining the british preten-
sions. Stated in brief, tile argument is
this: the American title is not good
against Great Britain, because incon-
sistent with that of Spain; and the
Spanish title is not good against Great
britain, because inconsistent with that
Of the United States. The undersigned
had expected something far diferen:
from such an argument in a circle. He
had anticipated that the british pleni-
potentiary would have attempted to
prove that Spain had no right to the
northwestern coast of America; that it
was vacant and unappropriated; and
hence, under the law of nations, was
open to discovery, exploration, and set
tlement, by all nations. But no such
thing. .s,
On this vital point of his case, he
rests his argument solely on the decla--
ration made by the undersigned, that
the title Of the United States to The
valley of the Columbia was perfect and
complete before the treaties of joint
occupation of October, 1918, and Au-
gust, 1927, and before the date Of the
Florida treaty in 1919. But the british
plenipotentiary ought to recollect that,
this title was asserted to be complete
not against Spain, but against Great
britain; that the argument was conduct
ed not against Spanish, but british
plenipotentiary; and that the United
States, and not Great britain, represent
the Spanish title. And further, that
the statment from which he extracts
these declarations was almost exclu-
sively devoted 10 prove, in the language
quoted by the british plenipotentiary
himself, that "Spain had good title,
as against britain, to the whole of the
Oregon territory" The undersigned
has never, as he before observed, insti- !,
tuted any comparison between the !,
American and the Spanish titles. Hol-
ding both-having perfect right to re- 1
Iy upon both, whether jointly or sepa-
rately-he has strongly asserted each
of them in their turn, fully persuaded !
that either the one or the other is good
against Great britain; and that no hu- b,
man ingenuity can make the Spanish !,
title, now vested in the United States,
worse than it would have been had it ,
remained in the hands Of Spain. .a
briefly to illustrate and enforce this
lite, shall be the remaining task Of the
Undersigned. y ba-r lqs e-s y,-,
(Conelusion nert ,reek. n
BEAUTY.-The following pretty pas