The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-01-28

Of Admiralty Inlet, Of the hsrbors OF Puget. From
the first moment Of negotiation she eontended fol
thesel TO the very last she has adhered TO her pre-
tensions. And whenever the day comes, il come
Il does, when she shall renquish TO US that master
! key to the commerce OF the Columbia valley, then
will favorie and lOng-chershed plan Of hers fall
| 10 the grounds the plan of settling, with British
subjects, quietly but exclusively, this district OF
| country. A distinguished gentleman from South
Carolina MIR. RHETrl seems to perceive evil
dence, or danger, of any such plan. | ask him, is
II TO go for nothing, that while seven thousand
American citizens have already settled south Of the
Columbia, not one, no not even one, has found a
home north Of that streaml Are we TO pass over,
as Of no serious import, the fact, that the Hudson
Bay Company deliberately il without Violence in.
duce the removal, to what they call the American
side of the river, of every citizen of these States
who attempts a settlement what they persist in
calling the British side Must we have stronger
porteBts stilR | can furnish them. The following
paragraph is from Wlkess narrative;
As the charter Of the Hudson Bay Company prscludes
their engaging In agricultural operations another Com.
any has been organized under the title OF the Puget Sound
and rs o ' C.s y ,s SS: S%
Conpsny is fSOOOOo; Chat Il, about two millions and
half ldoiisr' Ihs operation, Of the Company are in
tons Of stock om California aud Of the best breeds
ns Se on S@ a1ss :G into farm
The Puget Sound Company, observe, their CEN
tire Of operations being Fort Nisquay at the south
ern extremity Of the Sound; the very point which,
IN all probability, line OF communication hence to
China and the East Indies, would terminate, and
the consequent point of embarcation Of the Asistic
tradei the New Orleans, in short, Of the Columbia
valley, with half the world directly open to the YES
sels that shall leave her wharves. And this Puget
Sound Company has the chartered right, and the
capital, TO found extensive agricultural settlements;
settlements OF the most permanent kind; settlements
which must inevitably and rapidly spread out,
FINN hat a.fFa Tka Haul fl
Columbia.
And then, whose will that country be- How
will the British government dare even il she would,
neglect, abandon, the British interests that will
have sprung up, under the protection and priv.
lege of her own laws and chartersI
Does the gentleman from South Carolina think,
that all this is going just it should that we
have but TO fold our hands in sngacous inactivity,
and lock quietly on, and all will be welp Then may
we also declare, when the thunder groWls that there
is no storm in the air. Then may the patrol slum-
Der in security at his post even when the enemy's
cannon give warning note that he is advancing, in
mass, TO the onset.
pass to the second proposition Of the gentleman
from Massachusetts, that IT, under any circumstan.
ces, we suffer war TO arise, we thereby bring dis
credit on our country, and dshonor on the age in
which we live.
Discredit! dishonor! strong terms have al
ready shown, that we contend for no triAe, for no
Improbable right. The only remaining contingen.
cy under which such charges can justly apply, is,
II we contend for that which is right all; for
that which is but profitable wrong.
Sir If there he situation in life, public or private
where wise and Just will set jealous guard on
his reason, 49, when he bends its powers TO decide
question Of disputed right, TO which he is one OF
the parties. The best of are but men. Our
longlngs tnge our judgments. That which we de-
sire should be- how readily do we find, or frame,
plea to justify! When wishes urge, or our in
terests solicit, how prone all to rush upon
conclusions, to which our unbrIbed reason would
never have assented
In spirit of scrupulous self-wstchfuness, then,
let US approach this question. la the great cause
now pending between us and England, before the
tribunal of the civilized world let adopt the prln.
ciples of her declaration rather than those Of our
own; let US take the testimony of her witnesses,
rather than Of those it is equal privilege to
mon. And If, even out of these materials, Of our
opponents own selecuon we can still erect an inn
pregnable title, not only to what we have claimed
but TO much that have offered to reinquish, then
even self Jealousy may be satisfied; and the judg-
ment Of a candid world must, .perorce, be given in
our favor.
England, pending this negotiation, has virtually
abandoned all claims founded on discovery or prior
settlement; very sufficient proof that she does not
consider them tenabe. In the official statement by
her plenpotentiaries, appended to the protocol of
the sixth conference held in December 1926, they
declare:
Whatever title may have been however either the
part Of Great Britain, the part of Spain prior TO the
convention of 1890 it from thence forward longer
be racrd narrare, Of diseorees mary Of them
itselL"-Doe. 100 H. n. 10Th Cong. la ssss p. 81.
This proposition, if it be admitted, narrows down
the whole controversy to a very simple point; to an
examination, namely, Of the "text and stpulations"
of the convention in question, as the only just
of title, in either nation, to territory on the North
west coast.
Our negotiators have nrgued, that this Convention,
being but of temporary character, annulled
by the war between Spain and Great Britain de-
clared in 1896. But Mr.. Packenham still stoutIy
maintains the contrary. In his letter to Mr. Bu-
chanan Of July last, be says:
"The Nootka Sound Convention has continued in full and
complete force up to the present moment"
He argues, in another part Of the same letter, in
regard to this Convention, that
at must he considered as an acknow edrment of existing
rights, admission of certain principles of international
law not to be revoked at the pleasure Of either party
be set aside by cessation OF friendly relations between
them"
In far as the Convention actually recognises ter
ritoriai rights then eristing there is force in the
above view. And at all events, after such dcca-
ration, England ID for ever barred from demurrng
to any conclusion, to which, following the text and
stipulations of that Convention, VIC may Justly ar
rive.
Now, taking the words Of that Convention thus
expressly appealed to by Great Britain, interpre.
ting these in their plain and obvious sense, corrob.
GRATED and elucidated by the most authentic COM
mentaries thereon, assert, broadly and positively,
that this very document recognises in Spain---and
consequently in us as SPANS assignee--an ABso-
Lutte AND UNDIVIDED RIGHT OF TERRITORY, UP TO
THE LATITUDE OF FoRTY-NINE AND A HALF: and, IN
BOTH NATIONS JOINT RIGHT OF SETTLEMENT THENCE
TO THE BOUNDARY SINCE AGREED UPON WITH RUSSIA
| repeat it, by the Nootka Sound Convention,
England wholly relinquishes to Spain all territorial
ripht south of latitude forty-ninc and half: and
grants to that country equal rights with herself north
of that parallel.
AS to the accuracy and justice Of this view Of the
case, submit it, without doubt as to the result
alike to scrupuous friends at home and to jus-mnd-
ed enemies abroad If to the learned gentleman
from Virginia, Mr.. BArLY,l who did not allude to
it yesterday in his argument on title, or to any one
else it seems, overstrained, his attention ask to
the proofs am about to adduce. Let him suffer
me- in the first place, TO refer him to an episode in
British history, instructive in ITSELF as a specimen
of the temper and policy of that powerful govern
ment and especially interesting in connection with
her diplomacy at the present day.
1t was in 1870. William Pitt, the abcst of tory