The Somerset herald and farmers' and mechanics' register. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 183?-1852, 1846-06-16

line of mutual agreement; and Mr. Ad-
ans was not a man to confound two
things so different in their nature.
It's the best line for us; for it gives us
all the waters Of Pugefs sound and Bel
Tingham's Bay. / do not say the Straits
of Fuca; (for those straits, like all the
otlnr great straits, in the world, are part
Of the high seas, and incapable OF sell
appropriation by any nation;) it gives us
these waters, and with them the pictur-
esque and fertile square, of more than an
hundred miles evey way, lying between
the Straits of Fuca and the Columbia,
and between the Pacific coast and the
Cascade range of mountains, and oil
which Mount Olympus, near the centre,
is the crowning ornament, and from
which the whole district derives Its
classic name of Olympic.
All this line OF the treaty of Utrecht
gives us, which the line of the valley OF
the Columbia would not; for that river
has no valley, at its mouth, and enters
the sea through gap in the iron-bound
coast. The valley of that river is a fan
expanded, the spreading part in the
Rocky Mountains, the handle in the sea.
1t is the best line for the British, Tor 1t
gives them the upper part oil north ss1ork
of the Columbia, where it heads opposite
the Athabasca and Saskatchiwine, British
rivers and covered by British posts-and
from all which the valley of Frazier's
river would be cut off from communica-
ton if the head of the Columbia remain
cd in our hands, just as Halifax was cut
off from Quebec by the northern waters
of the St. Johns.
Thus, the line of right-the line of u
trecht- is the best for both parties, hav-
ing to each what is convenient and nee
essary to it, for the triangle at the head
of the Columbia is as necessary to them
as the Olympic square is''to US land taking
from each a detached district, of little
value except for annoyance. The Bri-
tsh could annoy US in the Olympic dis
trict; we could annoy them at the head OF
the Columbia; but why do it,except upon
the principle Of laying eggs TO hatch iu-
ture disputes!-upon the Machiavelian
principle of depositing the seeds of a
new contestation while assuming to settle
the mischiefs of an old one? Forty
nine is the line which Mr.. Jefferson pro-
posed in 1907, as | have shown hereto
fore to the Senate. 1t is the line of which
Mr.. Gallatin and Mr.. Rush said in lS-
49,
"The forty-ninth degree of north lati-
tude had, in pursuance of the treaty OF
Utrecht, been fixed, indefinitely, as the
line between the British northern pos
sessions ond those of France, including
Louisiana, now part of our territories.
There was no reason why, if the two
countries extended their claims westward,
the same line should not be continued to
the Pacific Ocean. So far as discovery
gives claim, ours to the whele country on
the waters of the Columbia river was in
disputable.'
1t is the line of all the American states
men, without exception, twenty and for
ty years ago. 1t is the line of Mr.. Cam
ming in 1923. 1t was the line for the re-
lection of which by Mr.. Pakenham,
without reference to his Government, Sir
Robert Peel has lately, and publicly, and
in the face of the world, expressed re-
gret. 1t is line which we have never
presented as an ultimatum which we
have often proposed gently, and which
the British have as often gently showed
aside, because they saw, from our own
coetaneous propositions, that they could
do better, and get the whole, at least for
a long time, under our own declusive
project Of joint usufruction.
But now all this gentle and delusive
work is done with. The joint use is to
terminate-events advance - and the
question must be settled now by reason
and Judgment, or it will soon settle itself
by chance and arms. Forty-nine is the
line of right with me; and, acting upon
the second half of the great Maxim, SUB
NIT TO NOTHING WRONG! | shall submit
to no invasion or encroachment upon that
line.
Senators may now see the reason why
for twenty-five wears, have adhered to
the line of the Utrecht. 1t is the line OF
RIGHT, which gives TO us the Olympic
district and its invaluable waters, and Sc
cures to us the river and valley of the
Columbia. 1t is the fighting line Of the
U nited States. The UUNIoN can be raj
lied on that line
Summer Quarters OEthe Army Of
OcCupatiOn--ssagnificent Pros